The day when I was a witness

My phone rang
‘Hello. Kak @na kat mane? dina dah sampai. You want me to go straight to the icu?’
‘Eyh saba la budak. Kak @na tak sampai lagi la. I’m gona be there in a bit. Wait for me at the entrance’

5 minutes after that..
‘I dah agak dah. There must be a massive echo tapi diorg tak caye’
‘Yesterday there was not even a murmur and the patient was getting worse so terpaksa la hantar ijn. And you were right, they diagnosed the same thing.’
‘I’ve told them about that. diorang siap gelak lagi.. Oh btw, this is my niece, dina. Dina, this is dr. r@ja, she’s a paeds.’

After 5minutes in the conversation, we went straight to a room. ‘bilik persalinan’ came across my sight.
‘Dina tukar baju ni. And wear this cap and mask. And then take one pair of the shoes’
‘Err ok.. Are we going to the OT?’
‘Oh kak @na tak bagitau eh? Yes dear, the patient will be there in any minute. If any of them ask u anything, just say u’re a first year medical student ok. And feel free to ask anything. Ok we have to rush now. The patient is already in there’

After 2minutes of running..
‘Wow, this is cool’ I said to myself as we entered the OT. But gee, there was a young lady; probably my age was lying helplessly on the bed. She looked pale and frightened to death. Weeping and shivering. I myself was stunned like hell. It was my first experience and that was not what I expected. Everything in there was hectic and frenzied; full of activity. What I was looking ahead to was something more calm and in control. Well, not to say that they were not managing it well but it just sent shock waves across the extent.

‘Ok, Yap. Jangan takut. Tarik nafas dalam-dalam. Kita tidurkan awak sekejap ok.’ said kak @na. And that young lady kept crying. It was awful. Out of nowhere, there were 2 surgeons plunged in, preparing themselves for the op. Her swelled belly had finally uncovered and the lady was by now unconscious. What in my head was ‘the doctors must have planned to get rid of something in the belly. Could be a tumor or something?’

Few seconds after that, the op started. I stood idly at the corner of the room, too staggered to come closer. Everything happened so fast. Several minutes later, I saw the doctor whipped something out of the belly and to my greatest surprise, it was a fainted baby! Subhanallah. The baby was completely purplish and it did not move at all! My brain was like ‘Woaw!!!! This is too drastic man!’. I did not expect a baby in the first place! And the baby was nearly passed away! Thank Allah kak @na managed to keep the baby alive. That was truly an experience and it kept hang around in my head until now.

‘So, rasa nak terpengsan tak? Kak @na macam nak naik gila bila stethoscope tu tak dengar apa2. Alhamdulillah baby tu selamat.’
‘Dina terkejut gile. Tak sangka pun semua benda tu.’
‘Macam tu la kerje doctor. You need to get well prepared to handle such situation anytime. Lepas ni ada day care case pulak. Budak 3 and 1 tahun kena hernia and Dr. Ger@rd will do the op. Sebelum tu, kita makan nasik lemak dulu ok.’
‘Err ok. Anything you say’ I was still on a shock stage of mind. Still muddling things through with mentally unprepared.

Then we lepak2 at the ‘bilik rehat’, chatting and getting to know with the doctors and nurses. They were very nice. By coincidence, one of the docs was Along Ima’s GP so we got along pretty well. I had never been in a place where people kept talking about things that I’d never heard before. All those medical terms, they were hell out of my hearing. One of the staff nurses even said ‘you have to read up then you will know what we’re talking about.’ ‘I’m sorry?? You want me to read all those stuff? Helllo…I haven’t even done my a-level, please!’. Heh..obviously I said that to myself ;p

Inside the OT9..
‘Abah..abah jangan pergi jauh2 tau..’
‘Ye, abah ade kat sini. Adik takyah takut tau. Nanti doctor cucuk tak sakit. Macam kene gigit nyamuk je.’
‘Abah, adik sejuk. Adik taknak duk sini.. Diorg nak buat apa ni?’
‘Alaa kejap je. Doctor nak ubat adik la. Adik nak sihat tak?’ The father looked calm. The boy looked puzzled and scared. I pulled my head away. My eyes started to dwell. I could not stand this. The silly sentimentality began to kick in. And then kak @na’s voice broke in. ‘Ok, adik jangan takut ye. Doktor nak cucuk sikit kat tangan boleh?’ The boy shook his head. ‘Taknak? Ok la, doktor bagi adik ubat adik tarik nafas dalam2 ok? Bau strawberry tau!’ kak @na tried to persuade the boy but he refused to inhale the gas. ‘Ok, kalau macam tu doktor cucuk sikit kat tangan ok?’. After the boy inadvertently gave his hand and after kak @na injected some kind of drugs inside the tube, the boy gradually became unconscious. The father was asked to wait outside. Dr. Ger@rd and another 2 staff nurses stood aside, prepared for the op. ‘Oh Dr. Ger@rd, you’re already here. Here’s my niece, Dina. She’s a medical student. She’ll be around for a few days, just to have a simple view on life as a doctor.’

Dr. Ger@rd was a very nice doctor. He showed me and explained one by one how the op was conducted. I was impressed. Albeit it was a minor operation, that was the first time I could lay my eyes on such situation that close. Everything was smack bang in the middle of my sight. After Dr. Ger@rd done his job, kak @na need to make sure that the patient could be conscious again and breathe normally. I was impressed by kak @na as well. She managed everything very well. Since the number of anesthetist in Hosp. Putrajaya can be counted on the fingers of one hand, the demand is very high. So she needs to rush from one OT to another and make sure everything goes well.

‘Dina belajar betul2 ok. Always keep in your mind that everything is actually God’s will. Doctors can only do their best, they cannot decide. And never ever be arrogant. Always be humble..’

Through out this experience, one thing that I promise to myself; I want to be like them. I don’t want to just help people out, but I want to decide the best for them..