Hospitals

In the last 3 weeks, I have had to visit 3 different private hospitals. From my dad's cataract op to BH's dengue phase. So, here is what happened and a review of said hospitals

First up...Damai Service Hospital. Located in Jalan Ipoh, dad decided to get his cataract op done there as he was happy with the oplthalmologist (Dr. Joseph Alagaratnam) there. No complaints, the fee was reasonable, the specialist very nice. The hospital itself is small, not fancy, but adequate. This is one place where my dad actually enjoyed his food..they served him basmati rice, enough for two, so mum also had a good lunch. He said it was tasty..hmm..hospital food that taste good. More points for DSH. Since it was only a day stay and I had an exam on the same day, no pics lah.

Next comes UMSC, the private wing of UH, which stands for Universiti Malaya Specialist Centre. Mum has been a patient in UH for a long time. As a former gov servant, she gets all treatment and meds for free. But during a routine gynae check up, the specialist who was on that day discovered a mass. My mum has always had uterine fibroids, but it got pretty big. And for her age, that was not good. After CT scans and ultrasounds, the mass was discovered to be as big as a fist, had calcification's and was impinging on her kidney. So, A/P ( Associate Prof, lar, not anak perempuan) Eugene Leong decided it was in her best interest to have it removed. Unfortunately, if she were to do it under the gov list, it could only be done in August.

So after some deliberation, we decided to do it privately. Hence, the trip to UMSC on Thursday, the 5th. Must say, UMSC is very nice, the place ( currently at 10th floor Menara Timur UH) resembled a hotel. The cheapest bed is 150 bucks, 100 for the room and 50 for nursing charges a day. No food. As compared with Damai, the cheapest was about 50 a day, 3 to a room. Mum got a two bedded room. But the facilities were excellent, a few nurses very dedicated ( some a bit blur lah) and the surgeon, very good. Dr. Leong popped by everyday, at least twice to check on mums progress, sometimes he was even around late into the night and right after surgery, he let us go to the OR to see the uterus and mass. I have a pic, but since some of you would be queasy, I won't put it up. But food here ..not good. You have to order separately and it was bad. Food for visitors in the cafeteria is no better. UH food still sucks, is heart attack inducing and needs an upgrade.
The parking is weird too.Check out the pic of the Kelisa...barely fitting through one of the many turns in the main parking block. That lady must have been dreaming too, cos she slammed into the wall on the right.It was a planned stay, we planned when and also how to manage with mum there. Same with dad's op...so though we were worried about the outcome of both surgeries, we were prepared.
And everything seemed ok, was very tired from staying overnight with her on Friday and also running around to and from home to work and hospital. Was really feeling drained by then, so I was relying on BH to run around for me, which he did too. He really brought smiles to mum's face. Little did we know what would happen next.

On Saturday night, after seeing my mum in hospital, BH decided to follow dad and I home, to watch some footie with dad. Both being Liverpool fans, they enjoy matches together. His fever started that night. It was mild, so we thought nothing much of it. The next day, my mum was discharged, so after bringing her home, went to see BH who was by then feeling bad. He was having many aches and pains and his fever was still present. By evening, his face was flushed and he would throw up anything that he ate. We still didn't think much of it. Ironic really, since more than a month ago, he was working on a site that was festered with mosquitoes and I had told him to go straight to the doctors if he had the slightest fever.

We didn't realise it was dengue till Wednesday. The clinic he first went to just diagnosed viral fever and thought his fever didn't abate with meds, the doctor just gave him more meds. Wednesday was when a blood test was done and subsequently on Thursday which still didn't show the presence of dengue antibodies. But, his platelet count had dropped to 60 by then and the doctor diagnosed it was probably dengue and advised admission.

So, exactly one week after my mum was admitted, BH was admitted to Pantai Cheras for dengue. Not a nice place. He went to a 4 bedded, which costs 80 bucks a night but reminds me of GH, ie HKL. The food? Horrible. BH already had no appetite to eat and the food made that worse. The chicken smelt like it wasn't washed properly.

After 5 days in that "cell", BH was discharged. Still, he could barely eat. The most he could stomach was half a bowl of porridge. Most of the time, he would throw up whatever food he ate. The fever reached an all time high for him of 40.5 degrees and lasted the entire 5days in the hospital.

Anyway, BH is recovering now. He has lost weight and according to him, lots of muscle. Hence now, he wants to eat..what he can lar, appetite still not quite back yet. Yesterday we decided on Chilli' s and he has an Oldtimer burger...he finished most of it, yeay! Now I have a bigger appetite than BH, something thats very, very unusual.A visibly thinner BH about to devour the Oldtimer ( No gay innuendos intended)What's left of Oldtimer

So thats the whole story.DSH and UMSC get my vote. Pantai is crappy and expensive, but hopefully I don't have to visit anymore hospitals for a while.