Stories

50+ year old tau keh comes into the consultation room complaining of vomiting and diarrhoea for one day. After taking a brief history, doctor instructs patient to lie on the bed for examination.

Patient lies on the bed, and just as doctor comes near to patient to palpate the abdomen..

..patient bolts right up abruptly and warns seriously "Mai pak chiam ar.." (translation from hokkien: No injection ar..)

...and you just have to bite your lip to stop giggling out loud.

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Mother and father in the room with 16 year old daughter who's got a boil on her sole. The boil needs to be cut open to drain out the fluids.

"Honey are you sure you can take it seeing this?" the mother asks her husband while gripping her daughter's hand.

"You can wait outside if you can't tahan," she adds.

The moment she finishes talking, a soft thump is heard. 10 minutes later the mother wakes up and asks "What am I doing on the floor?"

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An 80 year old man comes in with a wheelchair, his left knee swollen.

"Ini gout. Saya mesti keluarkan air dari lutut kamu," the doctor says.

"Ya tuan," the old man smiles.

The old man is positioned on the bed, and then talks to the doctor.

"Tuan, jangan takut jarum saya ya."
"Tidak apa punya. Kamu tidak payah takut. Jarum saja."

As the needle goes in.

"Tuan, tidak payah takut. Saya tahan sakit," the old man says again even as the needle pokes him.
(Well, normally, it's the doctor that reassures the patient, and not the patient reassuring the doctor to poke further.)
And when the procedure is done, this patient Malay man who's had multiple hospitalizations and medical complications thanks the profusely.

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And in the span of 2 hours, you see mothers with toddlers; some crying their lungs out, some placidly cooing away, a patient daughter in law waiting for her mother in law, patients who spill out their life stories on the consultation table, patients who calm up like shells on their smoking habits, mothers worrying over fevers, a husband placating his wife who's got a cut in her arm and cries at the sight of needles. Grandmothers talking in Cantonese, Malay tudung ladies who greet the doctor with Assalammulaikum. Laborers, executives, cooks, sailors, bankers. Families. Children who cry at the sight of the doctor. A man with psoriasis who looks at the doctor hopeful for a cure.

A potpourri of humanity; at its weakest yet at its strongest.

So amazing!

and i remember the times where i wanted to be a writer to narrate the quirky, delightful, beautiful stories of souls (okla, my grammar is terrible and i massacre the english language so i guess that's out)...but being a doctor takes it one step deeper; it privileges you to live and be part of the quirky, delightful beautiful lives of souls.