Or so I thought.
Noisy Incoherent Lady
A middle-aged woman joined me in the same room, occupying the bed in front of me. I was puzzled when the nurses disconnected her call bell. So there's just 2 of us and she's in a quiet slumber. Looking forward to a quiet and peaceful night, combined with tiring physio. Woohoo!
She revealed her true colors in the middle of the night, of all times. She kept rocking the bed with the aim of creating as much metal-clanging as possible, talking things I couldn't make sense of, including demanding the best TV program (给我最好的电视节目). Gosh not another dementia patient! But she looked so young, maybe around Mother's age or younger. She slept too much in the day lah, now wide awake at night! The nurses were just making half-hearted attempts to coax her, probably knowing she wouldn't understand anyway. For that, I didn't blame the nurses, but could they like bound and gag, or tranquilize her??
Earplugs were of no use, need to wear earphones turned up LOUD.
The next day, she started talking to the air. There was no imaginary listener as she wasn't looking at a fixed spot, but... like just talking lor. She wanted to practice qigong, something that she was supposedly very good at. Then she started demanding random things again. First, she needed to attract the attention of a Missy, which was futile for obvious reasons. Well, some did pay her attention, because she was getting on everybody's nerves with her incessant calls. A few nurses did respond to her, but alas, she could only speak Mandarin which none of the nurses understood, so they couldn't understand her lengthy request delivered haltingly. So she continued her ruckus. Why oh why, was she aware that she wasn't being understood?
She wanted an egg. (Egg??)
Finally, a Chinese nurse (the mummy) and a Malay nurse attended to her. I have a video, but it would be mean of me to post it online.
Nurse: Have you tried it?
Her: (Stuttering) Yes.
Nurse: Who helped you try it?
Her: (Stuttering) Myself.
Nurse: You tried it at home? Is it effective?
Her: (Stuttering) Yes. To see better.
Nurse: We will help you ask the doctor. If the doctor said it is ok, we will do it for you. Where will we get an egg from?
Her: (Stuttering) Kitchen... kitchen's egg
Nurse: You want a cooked egg is it? We will try our best.
And the nurses walked away. Meanwhile, she continued explaining the use.
That night, she was shifted away. I appreciated the effort, but I could still hear her loud and clear. And that wasn't a permanent measure - she was returned the next morning 7am. There was a double whammy of another noise source - an inconsiderate middle-aged neighbour. More on her later. The over-stimulated Sotong can forget about getting back to sleep already. Stone.
Why can't dementia patients be quiet? Lost self-control -> noisy? Does a quiet patient even exist? Maybe I will be really quiet if I were ever afflicted with dementia.
Pardon me, I was just frustrated with her when I was supposed to be sleeping. She didn't know what she was doing. I felt sorry for her. It appeared that she had a brain surgery (part of her hair was shaved), but I had no idea whether what for. I hope the surgery wasn't the cause... She's too young to be confused for the rest of her life. On a brighter note, her family still cared. Her husband visited often, sons on some evenings.
She refused to cooperate with physiotherapy, either claiming that she wanted to sleep or needed to urinate, which was the best excuse ever, because the therapist had to give her the benefit of doubt and put her back to bed. Made us wonder if she was faking it all?? She knew how to get herself back to bed ley! The staff combated by putting her in diapers. And then the physiotherapist put her in a wheelchair and encouraged her to push herself, but she eventually ended up slouching till she was going to slide off. Then they sat her in a wheelchair with a table as a stopper along the corridor so that she had some time off the bed. Of course she hated it, giving her usual excuses which no longer work now.
She transferred out soon after.
The Young Cancer Victim
Soon after the (relatively) young dementia lady transferred in, a young Malay girl who looked to be in her late teens occupied the bed vacated by the Malay radio lady. Her hair was shaved. Even more shocking was the sight of a depression in her skull - a piece was removed. From what I gathered, she had cancer and was here waiting to go back to main for chemotherapy.
She's one of the best neighbor I ever had. Smile at her and she would smile back. So soft-spoken that you could hardly hear her. Never gave anybody trouble. If I must name something annoying, it was the number of visitors she got. As we know, the Malay family can be very close and (ahem) large. Don't get me wrong! I don't have a problem with that! Especially when her family were not rowdy at all.
I wondered if I heard wrongly, but the man whom I thought looked like her gramp, was in fact her... father? :O
She transferred back to main soon after the dementia lady left, leaving just me and a very elderly lady in a room for 4 for a couple of days. A long time considering how there was supposedly a bed crunch.
Get well soon.
Tam Jiat Sharity Auntie
New neighbor next to the dementia lady. First thing she asked for? Phone charger! Great, her mind was still with her.
She was still plagued by vomiting after meals, so the doctor put her on a porridge diet. I found myself thanking Dr L again.
Apparently she wasn't happy about it. She requested for solid diet, which the doctor gently declined - she must get better first. So she got her visitors to dapao for her lor. No prizes for guessing the end result. And she didn't stop after it recurred. She had to keep dapaoing and doing the merlion.
One fine night, like 10pm already and I was enjoying my bedtime, her son came with some offerings - food. (Also showed how lax the ward was with visitors...) She savored, but it didn't take much food for the inevitable to occur.
Just above, I mentioned the dementia auntie being moved to another room at night and back in the morning and there was another noise source? Yup, that inconsiderate neighbor was this tam jiat auntie. She decided to play her music stored in her phone out LOUD. I have a video, but it my feet were in it, so I'm not uploading it :P If the music were nice, I might not mind so much. But they sounded like some amateurish electronic dance track that borderline on midi ringtones. Ok I hope you get the picture. That's how horrible it was and should should just STFU!!! Fucking bitch, she confirmed aware of her own actions and doing it on purpose. She must be the kind to share her music out loud on public transport. SHOWING OFF HOW HIP SHE WAS. Damn misguided.
She had other visitors, like relatives from Malaysia who wanted to take her back with them. But there were issues with whether it was convenient for her and even the discharge time. Dragged on for so long that she was finally gone on my second last day afternoon. Good riddance. I wished it were earlier.
Old, Old Lady
An old lady, M occupied the bed vacated by the Noisy Incoherent Lady. She's so old, her hair was snowy white, back hunched, frail and hard of hearing. From what I gathered when the nurses checked her sanity, she was 94, if I remembered correctly. She was a former English and History teacher. Her younger sister was her only family. Both unmarried, they live together. She's here because she had just hired a maid and still waiting for her to arrive.
Sounded like a sane, pleasant lady. Peace!
And peace, it was. Sweet dreams~~ And I greeted M every morning. I didn't think she could hear me but probably could see me smiling at her. Everybody loved her. Nurses, therapists, other staff and all her neighbors.
When one is so old and has only one surviving family member, it's imaginable how lonely it must be. Your peers are probably long gone. Nobody might visit you in hospital. Is this a good reason to procreate?
This is a good reason not to live too long.
A middle-aged lady visited M. She was her church friend. She reassured M that she would take care of her and not to worry about getting discharged. How kind of her. Must be some taitai.
On another visit on a weekend, the lady actually brought M's sister! M's sister was in a wheelchair - they definitely needed a maid... or two. The sisters were so emotional when they saw each other. M's sister started sobbing and started saying stuff like she didn't know what would happen to her if M were to die one day. M, the patient, ended up comforting and reassuring her sister. Brother and I were :O. Drama lor this sister. But... her fear was not unfounded. :(
Unexpectedly, the nice lady brought M and her sister to my bed because M said she wanted her sister to meet the girl who greeted her every morning. Hahaha so paiseh! Hello hello! You were nice mah, that's why I never show you black face!
One afternoon, a pastor and a few other people from M's church came to pray for her. They gathered around her bed, did their thing and left. Never chat with her. Weird! Like that one ah?
Perhaps M was practicing for her future days out of the hospital. She liked doing things on her own, which included moving around, especially to go to the toilet. Or she hated the bedpan and diapers. (I would, too.) If she rang for the nurse, she would probably be coaxed to do her business in bed. So her neighbors had to watch out for her walking unsupervised and call the nurse for her. It's really scary watching her rickety frame inching towards a dangerous place all alone.
Once, in the dead of the night, there was a commotion in the room. The nurse found her missing from her bed and discovered her in the toilet. She scared everybody shitless. What if she had an accident? Heads gonna roll! Hence with immediate effect, they moved her to another room in front of the nurse station such that she was always in sight.
Once more, a bed was open to the next occupant. Wish me luck.
The Hospital Permanent Resident
A couple of days after the girl with cancer left, an overweight lady who seemed to be in her forties transferred in. Good thing she's sane. I didn't need another crazy noise emitter on top of the dementia lady and ringtone sharer.
She has been in hospital since July. I forgot her ailment, but it's something with one of her legs. She operated, went to rehab in So Lugi Hospital and now rehab here. She's an outsourced school admin on contract, so she has no income while she's out of action. To make matters worse, she was approaching the annual Medisave $5k withdrawal limit for community hospitals (which I think was why she was here?).
Eh... I didn't know about a community hospital withdrawal limit.
She had her own walking frame, which she bought while she was at So Lugi Hospital. The PT here took a look at it and declared it unstable - the bar at the front was senget. It was a manufacturing defect and she should get the vendor to exchange it. She called the vendor but they wanted to charge her for delivery. $50, something like that. So exorbitant, of course she gave up. Those crazy guys, first giving people defective goods, hoping they didn't know better, and later charging for exchange? The very responsible staff followed up with her and learned of her predicament. Fortunately, the mummy had dealt with the vendor before, so she persuaded them to do it for free.
Her bad leg wasn't weight-bearing, so the PT at So Lugi taught her to move by hopping with the walking frame. Quite scary considering her weight... was that PT sure it was a good idea at all?
She had an excellent appetite. She always cleared out all food placed in front of her. All her visitors brought her food, which she always ate regardless of whether she just had a meal.
She happened to know the old lady who moved in a few days later. They knew each other during their stay in So Lugi Hospital. The old lady's daughter dapaoed lunch for her mother daily and always offered to buy for this Ms. Hospital PR as well. Of course she couldn't resist the offer. Hence it was unhealthy outside food everyday. Coupled with inactivity, I was sure north was the only direction her weight could go during her long stay in hospital.
One day, she changed her mind about having cornflakes for breakfast, so she requested for something else and kept the cornflakes for tea instead. Before lunch, she relished the snacks her visitor brought her. She dutifully finished the lunch the neighbor's daughter dapaoed. During afternoon tea time, another visitor brought her noodles, which she polished off. The cornflakes weren't forgotten. Amazing!
She could count 早睡早起 as one of her positive habits. She was up after 6.30am and would have her bed light on to read newspapers. When there were enough activity in the room, she would turn the room lights on and talking like the whole room was awake already. I, was obviously still sleeping. Sibei sian. At night, she was snoring by 8.30pm. Even my friends were amazed. Got to tone down already tsk tsk. Could a prolonged hospital stay alter any die-hard habit?
Once, she asked the young, permanent black-face Indian nurse to do a series of things, which got accomplished, albeit with a look of scorn. Infuriated, she lashed out at the nurse, accusing her of bad attitude, saying she could have refused the request if she were so unwilling. It took the mummy to defuse the situation.
In view of her impending discharge, she wanted to ask Father to help her install grab bars in her house. Sure, she could speak to him. 2 chances daily.
The day before my discharge, E the TA saw her sitting at the edge of the bed to eat and advised her against it to prevent falls, but she persisted. All was well until one evening, while she was enjoying her special take-out dinner, there was a frightening thud and the clang of the stainless steel cutlery hitting the floor. I thought she had hit the table while trying to prevent the cutlery from dropping, but I realized things were not simple when she was grimacing in agony.
"Call the nurse! Call the nurse!"
E, who happened to be in the room, ran out to get the nurse and doctor.
(In a genuine emergency, nobody presses the bell... it's instinct to run out to get help. Who remembers the emergency bell? I understand the movie logic now. So true.)
She had dislocated her thigh. The doctor gave her a painkiller jab and arranged for her to return to the main, where she would undergo surgery under general anaesthesia to put her joint back. In view of the surgery, she would have to forego the rest of her dinner.
OMG!
- You can get a dislocation by sitting and doing nothing.
- Need surgery with GA to fix it? So 夸张!
E came to check on her after the dust had settled. She asked if the thud was the sound of her joint dislocating. I thought that was rather incredible, but E was convinced. There goes the discharge plan. Hospital stay +++. E had to rub it in by reminding her of that :X
She must be damn sian now. Months of continuous misfortune. She lamented her situation, but I offered no word of consolation, just an acknowledgement. It's not me to do so and that wouldn't help with the situation.
The chartered ambulance came to transfer her that night at about 9pm. One neighbor less.
Pain-full Old Auntie
New occupant at the bed vacated by M. An old lady about 70 years old, bed-ridden as the slightest movement caused her pain. She also under Dr L, who deemed her "inoperable".
Means what? Got to live with it? That sucks! Maybe she should try a second opinion?
She required urinary catheterization twice daily as she was unable to urinate on her own. Even with this intervention, there was always some residual urine. I'm doubtful that twice a day is sufficient! Going to toilet just twice a day is unthinkable. How do you bring yourself to drink more water? One night, the nurse noted that her urine was cloudy, which could be due to urinary tract infection. She was prescribed antibiotics.
Initially, she was scolding something in Hokkien every night after the lights out. I was worried about her being another noisy neighbor... turned out that she was just unhappy about the night catheterization being performed at 10pm. She slept at 8pm and had to be awoken for the procedure. Ohhh anybody would have been pissed! The nurse explained that she had to wait for the night shift nurse to come in first and doing it at 8pm was too close to the previous round and too far from the next.
Her daughter took a break from her career to take care of her mother. She dapaoed lunch and dinner for her mother daily as she detested hospital food, feeding her as she was unable to sit up completely. Such dedication! Never saw the other members of her family though.
The moment the old lady moved in, her daughter and her instantly recognized the Hospital PR lady. They were neighbors back in So Lugi Hospital. They chatted like old friends, in Hokkien when the conversation involved the old lady and in English when it was between the daughter and Hospital PR. She never spoke to me and the Tam Jiat Sharity Auntie though. Even when Hospital PR was talking to me and there was some point where she could have joined in. As if she was avoiding speaking to me. Odd. Maybe I shouldn't talk to her too.
When Hospital PR saw the yummy hawker food her neighbor was having, she requested the daughter to dapao for her too. Worried for her waistline...
Once, the old lady requested for McDonald's breakfast. I find it amazing that an elderly actually liked Mc?? Hospital PR asked if I would like to join in. Err no need, thanks heh. So the old lady and Hospital PR were relishing Mc for lunch one day... haha.
The daughter was chatting with Hospital PR about the food in the area. She mentioned a "ser-TAEY" - took me quite a while to realize what that was. Heyy need to fake accent or not?? Hospital PR, you actually understood!
The old lady was tall and thus heavy, making her rather difficult to move. Yeah everybody wants to be blessed with height when they were young, but it becomes a curse when you are ill... Her daughter actually bought a hoist to lift her at home
This thing is around $2k lor... and where got space to put it?
The ward has a hoist too. I had the opportunity to see it in action when the PT tried to get her out of bed. Had to secure the harness, go round here, hook there... in spite of the benefits to the caregiver, I don't foresee my family getting this. No patience!
So they were finally ready to press the button. Very gently (i.e. slowly), the machine lifted her and placed her on a wheelchair. She was groaning loudly from pain throughout the ordeal. Hmm so painful? That's bad. Her daughter said she was intolerant of pain. The PT put her back in bed.
Her daughter asked if there was a shower trolley in the ward.
Her daughter asked about buying a reclining wheelchair. Waa really very knowledgeable about such products hor? I was googling away furiously at the same time.
Aiyoh so tall, can fit in a cab meh? How to go out?
On another occasion, the PT and OT planned to shower her in a chair in the toilet in our room. Throughout the whole process, she made so much noise, shouting loudly for a few instances. But she still managed to slot in a few instructions like wash here, wash there... this got E the TA laughing. Obviously faking the agony!
One reason the old lady couldn't go home yet was because her new maid ran away recently, a story that her daughter narrated umpteen times whenever the opportunity arose - to the staff, visitors, Hospital PR, Hospital PR's visitors (except mine)...
The story goes that during the interview, the maid was told up front about the job scope: taking care of old people, perform urine catherization, attend to her needs. The maid accepted the job, but suddenly disappeared after working for a few days while she was out - the maid had run away to the maid agency with her passport. In a fit of fury, she threw away all her belongings, including her jeans and bras, reasoning that since the maid had run away, whatever remained in her house belonged to her. The maid would be left with just the clothes she was wearing now. How stupid not to take her bags as well, she sneered. The maid should have told her that she didn't want to work instead of simply absconding, leaving her mother alone at home and burdening her with the aftermath.
One afternoon, 2 Buddhist nuns came to visit the old lady. Quite surprised, as I thought she was a Christian from her conversations with Hospital PR. The old lady's daughter politely updated the nuns on their new-found faith - must have be quite disappointing for the nuns. No business for them to be around anymore, so they left. Couldn't help but think the old lady and her daughter were another being preyed upon at their weakest.
The daughter finally got a new maid. She brought the maid to the hospital to teach her all about caring for her mother. Seemed rather meek and obedient. Not bad. Hoped this new girl would keep it up. Meant that old lady could go home soon!
That was when the daughter started talking Father. She shared her horror maid story... She must be bent on making me recite it backwards.
That got me thinking about what if I had to get a maid. I ended up surfing a blacklist of maids detailing their misdeeds.
Unintelligient Neighbor
On my last night, after Hospital PR left, a new neighbor occupied M's bed. She was already asleep while being transferred and continued her quiet slumber through the night. Thank goodness!
The next morning, she was looking rather confused and not responding to the nurse's repeated questioning of "Didn't I tell you not to
Jalan-Jalan Chatty Guy
A young man with neck-long hair stayed in the room at the end of the corridor. Young people were a rare breed! One of his leg was in a cast from below the knee. I thought people usually go home after getting the cast done... his must be very bad then. He could be often seen walking around on crutches to chat with the staff or loitering along the corridor at night as he couldn't sleep. Same as me! So early how to sleep!
One of my physiotherapy sessions brought me past his room. I spied him using a laptop. Insipired! Must be safe to keep my tablet here lah!
He was already there when I transferred there, and he was still there when I got discharged. Really wondered what he was suffering from!
Grumpy Caffeine-Addict
A grumpy old lady from another room was often heard shouting angrily in Hokkien. Her family, maid, nurses, pretty much everybody were unable to shush her.
I could understand some of her demands - asking for kopi and red bull, even late at night! Of course she never got her wish. She was already wide awake at night, wouldn't giving in to her worsen a bad situation? Sometimes she got her kopi in the day, but she would complain that it's not gao. Haha, must have been drinking coffee like water her whole life, now having bad withdrawal symptoms in hospital!
Argh so noisy lah, needed to wear earphones to block out the noise at night. Why do some people have so much angst in them?
I will never ever sleep in a dorm on holiday.
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