Mai Jiak Yok!

Lokun: Uncle you drink alcohol?

Ah Pek: Ya, I lim jiu with my kah kee at the kopi tiam every night. Song song drink until midnight den go home. You know la, dun wan hear the wife nag nag nag.

Lokun: Smoking?

Ah Pek: Wah I smoke more than 30 years. You dun ask me quit ok. They say too old quit smoking can die one! Now hun kee very ex, I only smoke one pack a day niah.

After completing the rest of the clerking...

Lokun: Uncle, looks like your condition like that need to take medicine. This one you take one tablet twice a day.

Ah Pek: Wah... like that ar... Mai jiak yok er sai boh (Don't take medicine can or not?). You know western medicine got a lot of side effects. You see the bottle here write POISON! Jiak liao sure tiok tiao! Will dependant cannot come off.

Lokun: No la. This medicine ok one. Anyway your condition needs it.

Ah Pek: Mai la mai la. Medicine no good one. Got anything natural or not??

It often fascinates Dr Og how patients are so paranoid towards "Western medicines". It is of course true that medications have side effects (sometimes severe) and drug companies have in the past attempted to play down on the side effects. But it really irks me when people who smoke and drink tell me they are afraid of taking medications (for fear of dependency and ill effects). Seriously? With all that addictive poison that you are already putting into yourself?

Now, if they stop smoking and drinking, they may actually not need the medications. 

Just one more time

I saw a man at 12 midnight. He is a drug addict, injecting all kinds of concoction into his veins. He used to use heroin, and now he just uses some homemade cocktail of Subutex, Dormicum etc. He came into hospital because of pain in his leg. He was not able to walk anymore because of this pain. His other leg… has already become numb. His two arms… you can see that the skin was grey and “mottled”. The needle marks were obvious.

I spoke to him. He told me about his life. He told me that he had thought about ending it. He told me about how his parents were still supportive, despite his addiction. He told me how much he wanted to quit. He related how his wife left him. He described his despair when he was unable to find a job. He complained about the horrible pain in his legs. And he cried. And he cried.

That night, he left the hospital. Did he return home to see his parents? Did he want to look for his wife? Did he want to end his life?

I think he just needed to satisfy that craving. Just one more time. Just like the last time.