I slept after 3am and was woke up by my elder brother and his girlfriend who got home from fishing. It was before 9am and they were speaking loudly in the living room and I could not get back to sleep after that. I gave the hairdresser some calls but she did not pick up and all of them seemed to be diverted to mobile phone. Alas, she called me back and I made an appointment with her at 1pm.
The achievement of the day was to complete a complaint letter regarding dumping of cigarette butts through HDB windows. It was a very long intended work and I was quite surprised that none of my neighbours had spoken up on the inconsiderate act since years ago.
I went to meet Irwin in the mid afternoon at Funnan Centre. After walking around for some time, I finally got myself a new mouse. The brand was Dexs and it was a laser gaming mouse costing around $14. The clicking was good and the shape was just right; I felt the price was worth it. I did not get an expensive mouse since my fingers were probably too strong and I did not want to waste the fund since I would be changing it more often than a normal user would.
Next, we proceeded to Sim Lim Square in Irwin’s brother’s car but we did not get anything. In the end, we went to West Coast Park but it was already quite late and we did not stay there for long before he sent me to Tanjong Pagar MRT. I dozed off a few times on his car and the sleepiness kept me quiet. Irwin was being very sarcastic to me all along since he got to know about my dinner appointment.
In my sleepy head, I went to Tampiness to meet Miss Beautiful. It was a long awaited meal with her. She chose to go to the foodcourt and buy food separately so that I could not give her a treat. It was a pity that it was late and we could not chat for long. Nevertheless, I was too sleepy that I was not as crappy as usual. Even though it was a very long and tiring trip just to have a quick dinner, I did not mind about it.
I cherish friendship more than others, especially when it comes to friendship with people of excellence character. How many friends can make real sacrifice for others in these days?
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Into the deepest silent of the early morning where everyone was still sleeping, I continued to battle with my farewell letter. A sudden creativity came into my mind that since I had been designing things for the ITE, including websites, I might as well put the farewell letter into a website like what I did previously for my ex-company. Moreover, I had a web design nearly done some months ago, which could be put into good use.
My younger brother finally logged in MSN after 4am and I woke my mum up to chat with him using webcams since I knew my mum would not sleep well if I did not do that.
I finished off my work at around 7am, feeling quite proud of the amount of work I had done, even though I knew I could have done much more – http://sillydumb.com/iteclementi.
I woke up after noon. While my mum was on her way to get my lunch, my younger brother called her. I was fixing the pathetic internet connection when she returned and soon, I got everything fixed so that she could use the webcam. My empty stomach stalled for one and a half hour before my mum left the house.
The day went on fast. Moments of tiredness marked the time on my bed and I finally got to release some of my stress over the past few days by playing game.
After 8pm, I went to Chinatown together with my family. We headed for the usual chicken rice stall at the hawker centre but it was closed and we decided to try the stall at the shophouse nearby but it was badly packed. We went to the famous Holland Village XO fish noodle by the side of the food street instead. Twenty bucks per bowl of fish noodle could hardly fill our stomachs. In the end, we went back to the hawker centre to get some thirty satays with two rice.
On this day that everyone was working, I woke up late. In the afternoon, I went to see the Chinese physician before going to Burger King to meet Peh. It was an awkward afternoon and I was supposed to be helpful.
The afternoon killed me with the continuing of my farewell letter. The typing got more boring and it started to drive me crazy, and almost caused me brain damage.
On Tuesday, I had a weird lunch combination with Alvin and Indra. We went to West Coast Recreational Centre’s Jack’s Place. The grilled fish was nice. Nobody would believe Alvin would give a treat since they always thought he was a miser but I had actually helped him a lot during my stay.
After lunch, I continued to rush my farewell letter for my colleagues.
Hirman offered me a ride at around 5pm. Since he was going home and would be passing by Keppel Road, I felt lucky. He was stressed and exhausted but I could not help him.
After reaching home, I spent my time playing game instead of continuing with my farewell letter, which made me feel guilty afterward.
I refer to your application for admission into the above mentioned programme awarded by the University of Wollongong (UOW) commencing January 2009. I am pleased to inform you that you have been offered a place in the programme as follows:
I got up early on a Saturday morning unusually. It was all for the money spending trip at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) again for my medication appointment.
During the visit to the medical centre in Stagmont Camp some months ago, the medical officer (MO) helped me to schedule an appointment with the specialist as to get a letter to downgrade me permanently.
I managed to walk to SGH within half an hour's time. I did not have good impression with the management since I had to spend at least an hour to wait there each time and that the specialists were not very caring.
This time round, I only waited for around ten minutes before I could get into the room, which was a great improvement, but however, could be because my appointment was one of the earliest.
The doctor was Dr Thiruchelvam Jegathesan. I should have mentioned about the weakness in my knees but I was suddenly too lost for words. Apart from the main problem, which was my back, I told him about my suspicious of having bone spurs on my feet but he claimed it was not very likely. In the end, I told him that the MO wanted the memo from him and he sent me out of the room while typing it out for me. It was a short and sweet letter, but however, the contents might not be a strong backup for permanent downgrade…
"Dear colleague kindly downgrade the above mentioned patient to his prov Pes status of C2L2 due to his chronic back pain secondary to Mild disc bulging at L4/5 and Subarachnoid cyst involving the left S2 nerve root. Thank you. ."
Compared to my elder brother's letter from Geneagles Hospital, it was nothing. His specialist wrote a very detailed and strong letter for downgrading him, which I was very impressed. I could see the big difference between private and government hospitals – private hospitals would put the patient’s interest at the first place whereas government hospitals would reduce time wastage and also, not taking too much responsibility.
At least, this was the first time ever a specialist from SGH would dare or bother to help me write a letter to ask for downgrade. It was a better experience at SGH and I hoped I would not call it "Singapore Waiting Hospital" again in future.
I paid for $25, whereas my brother paid around $80 for the consultation.
Gilbert had rectified my language and contents of a letter written in rage; it had somehow demoralised me but definitely made me realise how incompetent I was. He prompted me with many questions and left the final editing to me.
In the end, I did not send it to the officials that I wished to complain to; I was quite lost.
The original letter:
I am writing this email to express a big displease and shame on the service of your hospital.
Last Wednesday, I had an operation done by Doctor Mathew George Sebastian from Clinic “C” and the description of the surgical procedures was “Excision of Left Lateral Gastrocnemius Haemangioma”.
My calf and foot on the operated leg are still swelling after a week and there are blood cots on both sides of the foot just above the heel, which are around four by two centimetres big. Another concern is the discharge on the lowest portion of the wound.
As I had an appointment with the Neuro-Surgery department at Clinic “E” today, after waiting for more than an hour as usual, I mentioned about the urgent problems to the doctor at room “6”. He told me to go to Clinic “C” and insist for a check-up immediately because the discharge might cause an infection.
My mum and I got very concern and we went to the treatment room (room 10) at Clinic “C” as instructed at around 1230h. The nurse inside, however, told us that Doctor Mathew was doing an operation at the moment. I requested for just any doctor or medical staff to inspect on my wound but this nurse claimed that only Doctor Mathew knew about my problems. She offered me to push my next appointment forward from two weeks later (091006) to next Monday (021006) or Tuesday (031006) but I declined.
I am sure you, a worthy and dedicated staff of the hospital, or even just a normal non-medical trained person would see the problems.
I wish to clarify my doubts.
1. Will the hospital bear full responsible if my wound gets infected or worsens? 2. Is your well-reputation hospital training staffs to say no to patient instead of finding a better solution? 3. Is the documentation done properly enough each time to maintain details of my problems/injuries so that other doctors can see to my problems? 4. Are all doctors in your hospital, other than Doctor Mathew, trained to treat problems with swelling, blood cots and discharge of wounds? 5. If Doctor Mathew leaves the working force of the hospital one day unfortunately, do I have to forsake my wound?
On my personal view, your staffs are pushing away responsibility. As Singapore is trying to promote our excellent medical treatment in Asia, this will act as opposition to the proposal.
Hereby, I wish to seek an explanation to my questions and hope that my future experience with your hospital will be better when your staffs are more enthusiastic.
The finalised letter:
Re: Dissatisfaction with SGH’s services and seeking resolution to my medical condition
Last Wednesday (200906), I had an operation done by Doctor Mathew George Sebastian from Clinic “C” and the description of the surgical procedures was “Excision of Left Lateral Gastrocnemius Haemangioma”.
My calf and foot on the operated leg are still swelling after a week and there are blood cots on both sides of the foot just above the heel, which are around four by two centimetres big. Another concern is the discharge on the lowest portion of the wound.
I had an appointment with the Neuro-Surgery department at Clinic “E” today, which concerned a separated health issue. I went into room “6” after waiting for more than an hour. The doctor knew about my recent operation and I took the chance to explain my worries about the development of my condition regarding the operation. He told me I had the right to go to Clinic “C” immediately and insist Doctor Mathew to do a check-up because the discharge might cause an infection.
Afterwards I went to the treatment room “10” at Clinic “C” as instructed at around 1230h. The nurse inside, however, told us that Doctor Mathew was doing an operation at the moment. I requested for any doctor or medical staff who could inspect my wound but the nurse claimed that only Doctor Mathew knew about my problems; even so I was sure any doctor currently on duty could easily inspect my wound, which would not take up much of their time. Instead, she offered to push my next appointment forward from two weeks later (091006) to next Monday (021006) or Tuesday (031006) but I declined as I needed at least an explanation to check on the seriousness of my condition and if it required immediate medical attention. I refused to leave at first and showed her my operated leg but she claimed that there was no dark area around the bandage and thus there should be no infection; she did not remove the bandage. She suggested me to go to a polyclinic or directly to the A&E department if I was worried, which I thought was very unprofessional to push me away. I was very disappointed and left the hospital.
I wish to clarify my doubts.
1. Will the hospital bear full responsibility if my wound gets infected or worsened since it is not treated on the spot? 2. Are my medical records ready and available so that other doctors could have seen to my problems? 3. Are there any other doctors in your hospital, other than Doctor Mathew, trained to treat problems with swelling, blood cots and discharge of wounds after operation?
From my point of view, your staffs were pushing away responsibility or perhaps they were not trained to provide simple immediate resolutions. As Singapore is trying to promote our excellent medical services in Asia, the service rendered to me seemed to be compromising the hospital’s reputation.
Hereby, I wish to seek an explanation to my problems and resolutions to my medical condition mentioned above. I hope that my future experience with your hospital will be a better one and would appreciate if u could contact me as soon as possible.
RE: Permission to take part in inter-formation volleyball tournament
1. I would like to seek your permission to take part in the above mentioned tournament commencing 090106.
2. I am fully aware of my existing back and knee conditions (from my physiotherapist). Understanding the limitations, I would like to take full responsibility for any unforseen worsening of these two conditions during the period of tournament.
3. For your understanding and approval, please.
Regards PTE CHAN KAI LUN (S8335xxxA)
As I talked to Guoxin about the inter-formation game, he told me the Signal team didn't do well. I didn't even have the chance to witness how they play. It was a whole life of regrets, though there was nothing I could really do.
I strongly believed things would be better if I weren't forfeited from taking part; they really needed a better digger; a volleyball freak who would go for all sorts of ball would benefit them a lot as well.
The doctor sucked; the physiotherapist didn't dare to take any risk; the boss wasn’t compassionate at all; the officer-in-charge didn't request approval at the upper level; my means to take responsibility for myself was declared; the concerned officer couldn't do anything except to put in words for the people. It was all designed to put my chance down.
