Awful Days

I hate weekends. The ward is more than a zoo－ animals in a zoo don’t make so much noises and commotion.Visiting families start to come into the ward as early as 9 am and they talk loudly till after 11 pm. Kids, adults—all the same, and peeking faces from behind my drawn curtains. There was a constant flow of noisy visitors with handphones. I felt irritated with the noise and disturbance. And the worst feeling for a patient was this – you have no right to ask for quietness and peace so you can rest because this is the public ward, and it is the way it is.

My family came to see me but I wanted them to stay not more than two hours. “Go home and rest or run you errands. I am fine here, there are nurses and doctors. They take good care of me,” I assured them.

I don’t want to tell them the truth, otherwise someone will take off from work to be with me and mother will forgo her daily activities with her retired neighbors. She deserves to enjoy her life without me burdening her.

Same problem with foods. Sara and I have been given the wrong diet for the whole weekend. The printed list of patients and diets showed the opposite of what Sara and I were supposed to get. I asked the young man who delivered food to change it, he told me he couldn’t and walked off. “Ask them on Monday, it is not my business, I only deliver the trays.”

So Sara and I switched our trays. 

I was still eating when he collected my tray. “I haven’t finished, I still have 15 more minutes to eat,” I reminded him.

“It is Sunday, I want to go home early, so I am collecting early.”

Such is life here. 

I remember Pong telling me that she too got the wrong kinds of foods in KLGH but she didn’t complain, she just didn’t eat it and went hungry. Since her family is in Ipoh, no one brought her her favorite foods to give her a break from hospital foods. I must remember to check with her daily about what she is given for meals when she comes for surgery in August in UM. 

By Ching Ching