By this time Little Turtle had joined me at the observation ward and I was dozing off happily when suddenly a nurse pops up and drops another bomb, "Sorry sir, all our wards are full. However, we can give you a corridor bed at the same cost as that of a regular ward admission. Is that alright with you? " Hell no! So we asked if I could be transferred to SGH. To which I was informed that SGH was not affiliated to TTSH and I would need to go through the whole admission process again, including having the I.V needle reapplied. That pretty much decided it for me. We checked and found out that the affiliated hospital was Alexandra and agreed to be transferred over. As we were waiting for the ambulance to come pick me up, we were accosted by another patient. A harmless, drunk old man who just wanted to talk. He manages to wake me up, annoy the staff and pretty much everyone who was trying to sleep. Finally he gets himself discharged and leaves. By this time it's nearly 3am and I craving for a smoke. Add to the fact I had a I.V drip attached to me, it made sneaking out impossible. Finally a bit past 3 the private ambulance arrived and I was rolled out like an invalid on a wheelchair. Badly needing a smoke, I asked the ambulance driver if he could pull over somewhere so I could have one. Surprise, surprise, he opens up the windows and allows me smoke in ambulance itself! Thank you God!!! Finally I reach Alexandra and go up to the ward. They ask me to change into hospital garments only 3 sizes too big and tell me the specialists will be coming to see me shortly. In the meantime they send a China nurse who can barely speak English to fill out the admission forms... Go figure. Finally the specialists arrive and they immediately start poking and prodding my family jewels in their eagerness to examine the lump. A few minutes later they are joined by another colleague who is so excited that he even forgoes the gloves. What is it with doctors and prodding people in their vulnerables I'll never know. After much poking and prodding they pronounce me fit to have the lump removed by surgery at 8 in the morning. By now it's almost 4.30 in the morning, and I thought to myself, "Finally, some shut eye." But no!!! Did I mention I was in a ward full of geriatrics??? I ended up waking up every half hour, either to people screaming " Missy! Missy!", the bed alert going off or nurses waking me up to take my bp or some blood or the million other things nurses do to ensure that you don't sleep. Finally, 8am rolled in... Till next time,Our thought for the day,
A hospital is no place to be sick.
-Nightwatch
