gastritis.... and appendicitis (1)

aida called me on tues afternoon, screaming in pain.

gastritis, she believed was the cause of such agony.

can you walk? 

no.

can you sit up? 

no.

ok, stay in bed. 30 minutes later, if still in pain, i'll get help.

sure enough, 30 minutes later, i activated the team.

team came. 

team diagnosed. 

team went, "oh oh... think it's appendicitis."

"what the F**K? how can? it's gastric, no?" aida screamed (or maybe screeched, i dunno... i was in a meeting somewhere up north)

"i believe it's appendicitis. let's get you to the hospital."

an hour later, it's confirmed via CT scan.

she was lucky, as it was diagnosed in time.

acute stage... but it was diagnosed in time nonetheless.

she was hospitalized. she got the op. and she's resting at home now. 

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but what i really wanna say here, is that sometimes, little extra cautious efforts make a lot of difference. 

suppose we chose to get her a painkiller jab at the nearest GP instead of calling in help... 

supposed the GP didn't even bother to probe further, apart from the 'rather obvious' gastric issues... 

supposed i didn't bother to use the conference call (even when i'm in mist of attending a meeting) to coordinate the team activation, or that the team is less competent (although quite unlikely, considering the bill they charged me!)

suppose i let her chose NOT to go for the op, especially when some stupid junior doc apprentice actually had the cheek to say that, "sometimes, patients who do not get the inflamed appendices removed can heal by themselves."

(oh i so wanna kill that SOB.) 

sometimes, cost-benefit analysis makes no sense, when it comes to people we care about. 

in times like these, no effort is enough.

in times like these, no worries are plenty.

in times like these, it's nice to let the heart rules the head. 

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Housecall - SGD270

initial painkillers and drugs - SGD210 

CT Scan - SGD880

early identification of problem, and getting it solved in time - priceless.