A Doc's Life is a underground Medical Blog about some poor Singapore doctors. They are sibei sian and very buay song. Best practices not observed!
(Warning: Grammar is non existent in this blog. Those obsessively compulsive about good English please go no further and book an appointment to see your psychiatrist in Singapore.)

Thursday, September 22, 2005

A Long Time Ago, in a hospital far, far away...Part Two

I did see quite a few cases during the time in the hospital far, far away a long time ago.

The farmer with the cobra bite was lying next to a farmer with viper bite. What I learnt was
  1. The farmer with the cobra bite was dying from respiratory failure
  2. The farmer with the viper bite was dying from renal failure
  3. You can roughly "guess-timate" what species the snake belonged to by looking at the position of the bite. A bite above the ankle, around the shin tends to indicate a cobra. A bite below that would suggest a viper. These two farmers apparently both brought the snakes, which were quite dead on arrival
  4. Not everyone can afford anti-venom

The man who fainted while bathing near a generator suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. What I learnt was
  1. He was smiling/grinning inappropriately at everyone inside the room
  2. He was no longer capable of speaking
  3. His son’s intellect is definitely higher than his. His son was around 7 years old
  4. He did not know/doesn’t care about what a certain female in his room was doing. The lady was crying. The lady was his wife
  5. Not everyone can afford hyperbaric treatment
  6. Is there one in that city?

The man lying in the hospital bed placed in the veranda on the 2nd floor. He was in the sun. If it rains, he would be in the rain. What I learnt was
  1. He had oral thrush
  2. Because he had AIDS
  3. He did not have much longer to live. And he’s probably dead by now
  4. Doctors there used him to demonstrate oral thrush to the medical students
  5. Not everyone can afford anti-retrovirals

The man with the grimace on his face while the nurses was packing the wound had Fournier’s Gangrene. What I learnt was that
  1. It looked hideously painful.
  2. If I was to rate how painful it looked on a scale of 1 to 10, it would be 100,000,000
  3. You really want to look at this only after dinner. (This is a picture lifted off the internet. The man's wound was worse... much worse...)
There's more to come I guess...

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:43 PM

    *tries not to barf up dinner*...btw welcome back..missed your wacky sense of humour

    ReplyDelete
  2. er.....relac? ur job wasn't the easiest in the world...in fact, it was one of the more difficult ones. i believe i'm pretty lucky to be in singapore... not a lot of coiuntries have proper medical facilities.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7:12 PM

    I have a thought. Since healthacare in developing or third world countries is so ill-equipped due to lack of funds, is there anything that international bodies can do to help? for example, does the UN or WHo help in any way?

    If so, how? and in the first place, should they even help them?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:12 PM

    eh what xi shi!
    u haven say!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:46 PM

    which country did u go to see those cases? I'm contemplating on which country i shld choose to go for my electives in m4..

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:32 PM

    and u are not telling us what good fortunes befalled on u?

    ReplyDelete
  7. haha too busy leh, will try to post something soon!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3:11 PM

    hey loctor
    my reservist coming leh..
    very sian

    can help me downgrade or not?

    pls la :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6:33 PM

    inflict self-injury lar. Or try to catch dengue fever.

    ReplyDelete