Bloated Kid

Bloated Kid

Yes... A bloated kid... There i was, at hospital doing my night shift. Time went by fast i must say when I'm doing night shift even though its a whole 11 hours. It was dawn, and some patients began to come in for their admission.

One of the admission was for a kid from Indonesia. The one who came to do the admission was a lady agent. She was here to do the admission first before the patient and family comes in. I thought it was those normal work that agents does to ease the family's workload.

The bed for the kid had some delay, and she had to wait for it to be ready. Soon, she began to worry a little. What happens later is another 1st incident i have seen since joining Mount E. Because there was only one staff to send patients up to their ward. Seeing that the kid have not reached, i called my staff to send another one as it was a caesarian case. Little did i know the next moment, that the agent was shouting... "Faster, faster... he's running away!!!"

This got me all puzzled... "who's running away" ... What happen was that the kid was afraid of going to the ward, going for operation which was about 2 hours away. Upon knowing that he was to operate later, he simply ran away, causing much worry to family, the agent as well as me...

The kid had a kidney problem. It wasn't functioning well till a stage wherer his stomach is being bloated up just like a pregnant girl. Without a proper kidney, one's body could not simply seperate our water content in the body. I heard from the agent that doctors in Indonesia simply told them not to bother at all, even when his body was showing signs that he is not well at all. Lucky thing was that the kid does not feel any pain at all. However, that caused him to be able to run away too...

Gosh... So as i and the agent was standing at the lift lobby, still a little stunned about what had happened, the father went to try to get the kid back. It took quite a while, when i suggested that i sent up the admission documents up to the ward, while the agent try to get the anestastist (Ma zui Shi) for some sedation. For me, I had to rush back to my counter, as my other night shift colleague was alone.

After that, i continued my work and went home as usual. The next shift when i was back at that same night, I checked to see whether the kid managed to be admitted. To my relief, he was in hospital, and the surgery went through too.

2 days later, at one of the lift lobby, i happen to come across the kid's father. Surprisely, he managed to recognise me. He didnt know english. So our conversation was a little mixed up with our own language. I made some signs asking how is the kid... while his reply in malay was a postitive one and i know that kid should be alright after all.

Though the whole incident, i was not part of it in a great extent, in terms of chasing the kid back to hospital or involving the surgery in the OT, it gave me one of most unforgetable incident to take away when i leave Mount E.