Only God Can Heal

Yesterday has been a traumatic day for all in my family especially my brother and I as we had to be at the Accident and Emergency Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital twice.

Dad fainted at the bus-stop while he was on his way to church. Two strangers called for the ambulance and he was rushed to the hospital. I was informed about this when I was in church and I had to rush to the A&E. My brother came shortly after.

After checking his psycho-motor skills and running some blood tests, he was given the green light to go home when the results did not reveal anything serious. I was a bit skeptical about the discharge as I suspected dad was having a stroke as his speech was a bit slurred and he was still weak in terms of his mobility. I reminded the doctor that my dad is a ex-stroke patient and I even asked twice whether he was sure that dad could be discharged. When he assured me, I took his word for it and we all headed home.

Things got worst when dad came home. He fell three times within a span of two hours. My brother and I also noticed that his mouth was not normal. He simply could not walk anymore. That was when we decided that he needed to go back to the A&E.

This time a M.R.I. was carried out. After all the tests were done and the results released, it was confirmed that dad has a stroke and needed to be warded.

This was when all the frustrations surfaced. We were instructed to go up to the ward to obtain detailed information about dad's condition from the neurologist on duty. We did just that.

When we were in the ward, we asked the nurse on duty whether there was a need for us to stay back to wait for the doctor's update or should we just go home and obtain the update today. We were told to stay back.

The Medical Officer came. Five times he was aware of our presence: once when he entered the ward; once when he took dad's medical file, twice when he took some tissue papers to blow his nose and once when he was talking to one of the nurses.

Then came another doctor who is the Registrar. When he came in, he asked the M.O. whether he had eaten. The M.O. said no. Then together they examined dad's medical file. After 45 minutes, they stood up and left. I could hear one of them said, "Let's go for dinner."

My brother and I were surprised by that and asked the nurse on duty what was going on. As she was unsure, she called one of the doctors and after making the enquiry, she updated us that they had to attend to an emergency.

Having already overheard that they were going for dinner, I told the nurse that was a blatant lie. The nurse was stumped because I told her, as a matter of fact, that they were not attending to an emergency but was on the way to have their dinner. She quickly apologised. We expressed our disappointment to her though it is not her fault.

I understand totally that doctors are humans and they too need to eat but do not lie especially when they knew my brother and I were there and yet did not spare a minute or two to update us.

She advised us to go home. Before we left, we requested that a doctor call us in the morning to update us but no one called. It was only when I was in the hospital and having to request for a doctor to speak to me that I was updated that there were three issues pertaining to dad's condition: one was hemorrhaging of the brain on both sides; a blood clot on the right; and a chest infection.

The tricky part is that the hemorrhaging and blood clot cannot be treated together. Hence aspirin cannot be given to thin the blood to remove the clot as this may worsen the hemorrhaging. But this would also mean that more clots may be formed. Both will affect dad's stroke. Doctor is taking a one-step-at-a-time approach and see how. The next one week will be crucial. Another CT scan will be done next week to see whether his condition does improve.

I am basically quite tired from this episode and I think it is also for my brother. On top of having to handle dad's hospitalisation, we also need to ensure that mum and grandma are okay too.

Looking on the bright side, I am able to see God's hand in all these. He provided two strangers at the bus-stop to catch dad when he fainted and then they called the ambulance. Next was how my brother and I detected the anomaly of dad's mouth which made us decide to send him back to the A&E. This decision was later affirmed by the neurologist who told me that if dad had not been admitted earlier, he may even fall into a coma.

As much as I did ask God, "Why this again?!", I also know He will be the only One who can heal dad. I am also glad my church is also praying for him. I was especially touched to know that the congregations from both services yesterday interceded for dad.

A big "Thank You" to those who have been praying. I still covet more of your prayers.

Okay, time to stop.