Sunday, February 1, 2009

old and wise

four days of fever is of course not normal. so i got up and took a shower, packed up and prepared for my first confinement in the hospital. i walked through the halls of mjsh, the ER, the lab, ICU. i had my blood drawn, my urine examined and my wallet drained. i had to chase Dr. Abarquez because he seem to be very busy in spite the rather silent hospital halls. we stared at my lab exam results and had to scratch our heads because we cant seem to see anything wrong. my abnormally high platelet count is a normal value for me (its gradually increasing since i was told i may have thrombositosis), my wbc was within normal values so it means no infection was going on. the UA results was not alarming. we cant seem to point out where the fever is coming from. Dr. Abarquez asked me what drug i would prefer to take, yeah, it happens if you are a nurse, i get to decide which medicine i would prefer to take if the one prescribing it is a resident. we agreed on co-amoxiclav and as he was about to leave the icu i urged him to examine me. he hesitated. tinamad na naman si tristan. i went back to the ER and asked around if its wise to be confined. they said yes, so i did otherwise. it was Dr. V. Yu who provided me a diagnosis. as i was about to leave i saw her on the lobby, i told her about my fever and inflamed lymph nodes. "open your mouth" "aaaaaaaah" "omg, exudates naman na dong, very bad" she stared at my labs, it was written on a scratch paper, values only, with no indication which is which but somehow with just one look she was able to point out that i was already dehydrated. she told me to take zegen/zinnat 500mg BID for a week. i took one cap 4 hours ago and already i am now afebrile. Dr. Abarquez and I shared two years of clinical practice. I have always thought it was enough. But my encounter with Dr. V. Yu today made me feel like a volunteer nurse again. Who ever questioned the truth behind "with age comes wisdom" is just like me and Dr. Abarquez. An amateur.

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