Opitome Of Tolerance

Changi General Hospital Atrium at Simei

There should be an award for Wifey.

She would also make a great undercover agent who will not break-down under interrogation. Her tolerance for pain is... superhuman! I am her total opposite. I squirm like a little girl when I am sick. I am ashame.

Her level of tolerance for the asthma-cum-rattling-phlegm condition she has been having is super high, up there, it drives me crazy... every night!

She has been suffering this condition nightly, even after the second visit to the doctor's. Runny nose, constricted chest and blobs of phlegm kick-start like clockwork when evening comes.

After the third day with such a severe symptom and with no led-up, should be a good indication to me to give the doctor another visit, fast. Instead, Wifey tolerates the sleepless nights of relay between the bed and sink... with an after-effect of headaches the next day, most certainly from the amount of sleep she... well we, have been having... or lack of.

She promised to go the doctor yesterday, but by afternoon, she was still at home when I called from the office to check. "We'll go tonight after dinner, OK?" was her answer. Another night?!

That was it! Enough is enough.

"With such a terrible condition you've been having all these nights," I told her the first thing when I reached home "we should go to the A&E instead." I was referring to Changi General Hospital outpatient clinic.

She was able to dodge the conviction I made last night. She had a monstrous headache on top of that, that made her unable to make the trip to the A&E. It was the perfect time I thought when all the symptoms were out in full Technicolor for the doctor to witness.

Again, I was short of either calling the ambulance and shock the neighbors in the wee hours of the morning or fireman-lifting her to the A&E myself.

So last night was just like the nights for the past week. Her pilgrim from the bed to the toilet sink throughout the night was done religiously. I was awoken several times too and had trouble getting back to sleep each time.

This morning, I fell asleep as soon as I woke our Son up for school at 6:00AM. He almost left home with an empty stomach. Fortunately, the security front door alarm sounded when the door opened. He drank his hot cup of Milo espresso brewed-up in a quick second, standing at the front gate before he left.

I said it once too many times and I say it again. Wifey will not go to the doctor on her own. She will tolerate the sufferings than seek medical treatment.

I ask this once too many times and I ask it again. Why?! Still puzzled and remained unanswered. It drives me crazy.

I feel her pain, but last night was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Being a light sleeper, her consistent "touch the sink then back to bed" routine kept me awake with a headache that followed in the day. And I am a morning person!

Triage Waiting Area

Like Ground Hog Day, I seem to relive the same routine all over again. Take urgent leave off work and get Wifey to the doctor.

Today, is CGH A&E at 10:30AM. Screened for fever with a thermometer in Wifey's ear and just like the movie Predator, both of us were screened for SARS like-fever with the alien-looking heat-detecting images on the monitor screen, before we were led-in to the registration counter.

Gladly there was no queue, so we were served immediately and seated at the Triage Waiting Area for half an hour before her name was called for a first-level assessment of her condition.

Another half an hour later, our queue number 4689 flashed. A young male doctor attended to Wifey with me tagging along in Consultation Room 4. A stronger dosage Ventolin inhaler and Oxymetazoline Nasal Drops before she gets a specialist appointment at the hospital in March at 2:10PM.

Wifey having lunch at CGH Houseman Cafeteria

So it is a date then, Monday 10 March 2008. I will be taking the afternoon off to be with Wifey . I hope she gets well sooner so we both can sleep peacefully ever after... errr at night.