Being in the US allow me to experience a different aspect of life here. Personally I feel that we are more efficient in Singapore. Such an example is visiting a Doctor. On Monday evening, Paul told me that he had a bump on the back of his head and it hurts. Being his wife, I told him to see a Doctor. Being a man and a husband, he said "No, I merely bump my head on a wire and it's just a bump and it will go away." Stubborness seems to be a quality which he is proud of but not to his advantage in this case.
3 days later, the pain persist and became unbearable and it's beginning to shake his stubborness. Due to the pain, he was losing sleep for 2 nights, tossing and turning and whimpering in bed in the middle of the night and it drove me mental. I don't know what he was fighting about - from my advise to prove that he is right or the pain that he is a Man and he can conqure it ?! From the moment I knew abt the bump, I have been urging him to see the Doctor and allow the professional to investigate in the mysterious bump and solve the mystery and diminish the pain. And since then I have turned into a broken recorder (which I detest with a vengence) as I was constantly on his case, telling him the same old thing "See a Doctor" and with that I received the very same reply "It will go away, I am not seeing a Doctor from a bump I got cause of a knock on my head". While Stubborness was his best friend, Frustration is my Partner.
Until yesterday, the bump had grown double it's size and the area became infected and turned red. Paul described it as a hammer that striked him without mercy. And he finally decided to pay the Doctor a visit. Like a kid, he wants me to be there with him.
So there we were at the Doctor's office at 12.30pm on a Thursday afternoon and after Paul registered with the nurse, we sat patiently in the waiting area before being summoned by the Doctor. A long 2 hours later and we are still in the waiting room to be call upon. Then another frustrating hour passed and Paul was wringing the couch armrest to divert the pain caused by the bump, accompanied with some curses and complains of the wait. He started pacing back and forth in the waiting room and going to the nurse's desk to enquire when will it be his turn... Needless to say, the nurse pacify him with the politically correct answer which a nurse normally give "Shortly".
So after 4 hrs waiting for the Doctor, it is finally our turn and we finally manage to "SEE" the Doctor. By then Paul was simply in great agony and pain, both from the bump and the wait.
Apparently the mystery bump is an ingrown cycst that is ruptured and filled with pus. The Doctor had prescribed him some Anti-Biotics and painkillers which hopefully will subside the bump and let it go away. After collecting the written prescription from the Doctor, the torture is not over yet. We still have to drive to the pharmacy and get our medication. Which is another round of waiting for the Pharmacist !
This system drives me mental ! Imagine if you are having a high fever, can you visualise that you spend about 1 hr or more (if you are VERY lucky), waiting for your turn for the Doctor to check on you AND THEN drive to the pharmacy with your fever and prescription AND THEN wait for your medication AND THEN collect your medication AND THEN drive home and finally take your medication ????!!! Gosh, I would have died right there and then at the carpark ! Oh Oh, did I mention that to see most Doctors here, you have to make an appointment ? And check if your health insurance is accepted by him and if not, you have to hunt for one who accept your insurance coverage ????!!!!!
It's so different from Singapore where we just need to visit the Doctor, wait a maximum of 30 mins for the Doctor and collect our medication right there and then at the Doctor's office and be home within an hour.
Anyway Paul is in observation stage from now till Monday. If the bump subside, then it's honkey dorey marvellous. But if it remains, he would require a minor operation to drain the pus out.
So I was telling Paul, in US, the patient does not die from the illness. They die from THE WAITING !!!
3 days later, the pain persist and became unbearable and it's beginning to shake his stubborness. Due to the pain, he was losing sleep for 2 nights, tossing and turning and whimpering in bed in the middle of the night and it drove me mental. I don't know what he was fighting about - from my advise to prove that he is right or the pain that he is a Man and he can conqure it ?! From the moment I knew abt the bump, I have been urging him to see the Doctor and allow the professional to investigate in the mysterious bump and solve the mystery and diminish the pain. And since then I have turned into a broken recorder (which I detest with a vengence) as I was constantly on his case, telling him the same old thing "See a Doctor" and with that I received the very same reply "It will go away, I am not seeing a Doctor from a bump I got cause of a knock on my head". While Stubborness was his best friend, Frustration is my Partner.
Until yesterday, the bump had grown double it's size and the area became infected and turned red. Paul described it as a hammer that striked him without mercy. And he finally decided to pay the Doctor a visit. Like a kid, he wants me to be there with him.
So there we were at the Doctor's office at 12.30pm on a Thursday afternoon and after Paul registered with the nurse, we sat patiently in the waiting area before being summoned by the Doctor. A long 2 hours later and we are still in the waiting room to be call upon. Then another frustrating hour passed and Paul was wringing the couch armrest to divert the pain caused by the bump, accompanied with some curses and complains of the wait. He started pacing back and forth in the waiting room and going to the nurse's desk to enquire when will it be his turn... Needless to say, the nurse pacify him with the politically correct answer which a nurse normally give "Shortly".
So after 4 hrs waiting for the Doctor, it is finally our turn and we finally manage to "SEE" the Doctor. By then Paul was simply in great agony and pain, both from the bump and the wait.
Apparently the mystery bump is an ingrown cycst that is ruptured and filled with pus. The Doctor had prescribed him some Anti-Biotics and painkillers which hopefully will subside the bump and let it go away. After collecting the written prescription from the Doctor, the torture is not over yet. We still have to drive to the pharmacy and get our medication. Which is another round of waiting for the Pharmacist !
This system drives me mental ! Imagine if you are having a high fever, can you visualise that you spend about 1 hr or more (if you are VERY lucky), waiting for your turn for the Doctor to check on you AND THEN drive to the pharmacy with your fever and prescription AND THEN wait for your medication AND THEN collect your medication AND THEN drive home and finally take your medication ????!!! Gosh, I would have died right there and then at the carpark ! Oh Oh, did I mention that to see most Doctors here, you have to make an appointment ? And check if your health insurance is accepted by him and if not, you have to hunt for one who accept your insurance coverage ????!!!!!
It's so different from Singapore where we just need to visit the Doctor, wait a maximum of 30 mins for the Doctor and collect our medication right there and then at the Doctor's office and be home within an hour.
Anyway Paul is in observation stage from now till Monday. If the bump subside, then it's honkey dorey marvellous. But if it remains, he would require a minor operation to drain the pus out.
So I was telling Paul, in US, the patient does not die from the illness. They die from THE WAITING !!!
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