Weekend at CGH: Negative Saturday
The news had reported that on March 21st Saturday morning saw the death of the first two patients for coronavirus in Singapore, was a reminder of the gnawing fear I had felt, if the test had returned of my developed fever the night before.
The "cautious"-side of me erred to disagree, as I had not been immediately placed in a ICU / "Intensive Care Unit" the day before, so maybe I had a "chance"?
SATURDAY
Breakfast was yam cake with no sauce (I certainly was not going to test my resolve with the packet of chilli :p), and the yummiest coffee I have had for gosh knows how long! And I realised I was not coughing as much as I did before.
The morning was pretty idyllic, I will not lie. I wished I had taken a snap of my ward (even though I did the bedhead) - it had long windows looking out into the space in front, St Andrew's Hospital to the left, and HDB buildings on the right, sprawled out beyond a massive space. I wandered out of the ward to seek newspapers or reading materials, and was told both where to find the rack, and that there was another space/room I could explored, for the view. At that point I was relieved, as the staff were conversing directly with me, without the noticeably serious tone from the day before.
During the morning doctor's round, I had been officially told I had tested "negative", and as well another X-ray to be done. And if everything went well, I could end up being discharged late afternoon, or on Sunday.
It would be absolutely be remised of me if I said "anti-climax", but in reality I was more relived than anything else.
I was subsequently brought/wheeled out for another x-ray (as they suspected a shadow seen in my previous X-ray could have been my nipple obscuring the shot = another extra expense), and came back in time for lunch.
And with a blink of an eye, nurses came in in a flurry, and give me and two other guys our "discharge summaries", with instructions that we would be discharged on Saturday itself. This was about 2pm.
Then one of the nurses reminded us, that if we had to get our prescriptions filled at their pharmacy, they would be closing at 3pm (half day on Saturday), so we'd need to speed it up.
I had initially thought to take a long-ass shower and cleaned myself up before heading home, but instead I changed immediately and said+waved my goodbyes to everyone within 15 minutes! The smiles I imagine of them underneath their masks (they were no longer wearing gowns and googles) - was such a burst of energy and good natured positivity, and I felt utterly grateful, even now as I type this, tears well up, I will not lie.
Managed to procure my meds, bought new cough drops over the counter, and made my way home via taxi, taking that long-ass shower at home instead.
THANKFUL TO GET TESTED
Even now, nearly five weeks after being discharged from CGH, as I attempt to recollect and chronicle my experience, I am grateful I had a chance to be tested at all, seeing the situation here in SG was and still is something we cannot just roll up to any specific location, to seek to be tested for the COVID-19. It's one thing to develop a cure, but the first line for all folks, is to be able to be tested in the first place.
Unless you have the symptoms, and you are suspected due to the symptoms, then you'd have a chance to be tested. I cannot imagine how fearful it might be for some folks, who might be coughing, feel sick, or have pre-exiting medical issues, that make them ripe for being infected, but have not the chance to be tested.
What we now know are based on what has been told to us, from "trusted" folks in government, to the myriad of falsehoods that pepper the international www-landscape.
The fear of infection is heightened with the fear of being taken advantage of during these dark times, where fearful folks might fall prey to the despicable - "truth" or not, has become a hallmark of the ages. This was a WhatsApp "alert" that had circulated and reached me, and quite frankly I would not doubt the "possibility" of this, even if it was meant as a "tactic" to keep folks locked up at home ...
RECAP
My entire journey recollected thus far in My Weekend at CGH started because my Family Physician at the local polyclinic tested me for low-oxygen level, and being one of the symptoms of COVID-19, whereby he arranged for ambulance travel for me to the A&E at Changi General. And while he said "It's better to have it checked out and be safe", I appreciated that. Of course with my long-standing coughing, it did not help the matter - I have had seeked Western medicine and had finished medications, and even listed the TCM ("Traditional Chinese Medicine") and devoured two week's worth of meds too, to a slight degree of improvement, or at the very least phlegm induction.
It is also not about "being infected", as I dearly do not want to be a "carrier" of COVID-19, and infect my 80-year old mother staying at home with me, and my sister too. I can imagine the helplessness of not being able to be tested, UNTIL you develop "symptoms"... So sitting in the ambulance enroute to CGH, I dd not feel "burdened" nor "troublesome", as it had been a opportunity to "clear the air", at least for the safety of my home.
Being told I had "developed a fever" while in ward on Friday night, I woke up Saturday morning with a urge to know the "answer", and at the same time realising I had experienced the best sleep I have had for the past month - of constant coughing while lying down, until my head ached and chest tightened.
I don't think I had any sleep inducing medication the night before (the cough syrup they gave me made me drowsy, of course), but I suspect and surmised that it was the clean surrounding air, the air conditioning, and most possibly the cough syrup, all helped induce me to snore in comfort, IMO.
MONEY MONEY MONEY
All the time while lying in the hospital bed, I remembered the older gentleman beside my bed in the Observation Ward at A&E Friday afternoon... I remembered very distinctive him complaining to everyone who answered him that he could not afford being in the hospital. And that his son will not pay for him, or that he did not want to burden his son. Before I was warded, he was told by the nurses his son had been informed and would come to fetch his father.
I remembered telling the gentleman not to worry, as the government will take care of him (Not the I am "pro-gov", but that's the reality in SG), and especially him being of the Pioneer Generation (Or I assume), that it'll be taken care of. Don't think my words got thru to him, but it also reminded me of my own financial situation.
I definitely could not afford the hospital, barring expenses paid for with my Medisave, especially when I would be warded as well. A bed. Food. Tests. All these will not be free. But I really could not afford to be stressed about these too, could I? But I could not deny the fear and apprehension. But before anything else, invoices and bills, I need to know I am well and not infected, because the price to pay for THAT, might be insurmountable.
I was told a choice of my wards: A 8-bedder, 6/5-bedder or a private room, and I requested for the cheapest ("Class C"). So being warded in a 5-bedder at ward 39, I freaked a bit, if only for a moment.
Having typed all that, the reality of the situation was, a hospital personnel actually came to my bedside on Saturday morning - after being briefed by my doctor(s) - to officially do the necessary paperwork for me to be warded. Everything else was sorted behind the scenes, and I was to sign the paperwork then instead.
At the time of my official discharge at 2pm(ish) on Saturday afternoon, I was presented with the invoice/statement of my tests and stay in CGH, which worked out to zero dollars to physically pay out from my end.
In brief, the total cost (which included being warded, daily treatments, Laboratory Investigations, X-rays, prescription drugs, "ward procedures" and "consumables") came up SG$1,300+, then less "Government Grant for Class C" (nearly $1K), and subsequent addition of a "A&E Attendance Fee" totally around SG$170-, ended up with about $500, since absorbed by my MediSave.
If you need to know, the "Laboratory Investigations" were listed to be around SG$750.
The taxi home was less than $8, and so my "weekend at CGH" had come to an end.
HOW NOW BROWN COW?
Featured directly above is a snap of my read-out which I had asked my doctor at the polyclinic to print out, was I returned to him for consult yesterday (*We never did manage to finish the consult proper, that Saturday he sent me away via the ambulance lol), and procure my medication for the next three months.
Seeing that amount of people NOT wearing masks at the polyclinic was pretty unnerving I admit (2 out of 10 did, maybe? Mostly older folks and myself :p), and reminding myself - I might have been "cleared" of COVID-19 that Saturday, but it does not mean I am "immune".
My pre-existing conditions remain still, in different stages: Diabetes (under control), Hypertension (under control) ... and my coughing has since let up a few days ago ("relapsing" now somewhat, actually...), so I will continue to attempt to live a health(ier) life and not do things to get myself sick.
Over the days since returning home, I had attempted to clean my bedroom - at the very least where I slept, hoovering the intense dust which no doubt affected my surrounding space ... propped up my pillow so I would not be lying sleeping down straight (it worked for me), and wondering why the heck the makeshift shanty-town below my bedroom window had not been removed as per the "January 2020"-timeline indicated in the renovation announcement (The Covid-9 situation might not have helped), and also when the putrid smells from the neighbourhood sewage project would stop (which the past days did, no doubt again due to COVID-19).
RING RING
I thought about my mobile-phone a lot during that weekend, of how helpless I was to have been disconnected to folks, especially to family. The reality of priority became clearer even moment of silence in-between the incessant laughter heard from my neighbouring bed's mobile phone.
I had not actively seeked a repair for my phone until a couple of days back too, and admittedly miss the stress-free times before when I did not check my phone constantly LOL
STAY HOME STAY SAFE STAY CLEAN, CAN?
Would anybody have cared or wondered about this weekend I experienced, if I did not share it online? Based on the blog-stats alone, even with posting links to my Facebook, seems no one has read nor are interested to read about "what could have been", understandably so, as we are a nation of citizens who choose to "react" instead of "prevention". Or perhaps my story already had a happy ending" (I'm still alive, typing all this - HENG, AH!). Be that as it may, it is not about me - as much as this blog is about my life lol - but perhaps the fear of folks indifference to the situation.
It's one thing I extol the virtues of stay healthy in lieu of getting a Stroke - which I survived in 2010, and blog about HERE - that which is a very personal matter, unless you have anyone close to you, or you know of anyone who had Stroke .... and another matter where ANYONE is able to be infected with COVID-19 - where its not just about YOURSELF, but of people around you, your immediate environment, your work-place, where you hang after work, and who you hang with.
With public premises being called for a shutdown (but not a "lockdown"), one immediate "mass gathering" situation would be Qing Ming in April, the annual event where predominantly Chinese populace pray to their deceased ancestors and burn offerings. The older folks in the family might not necessarily recognise the dangers of COVID-19, versus something they have done for decades already.
DISTANCING SOCIALLY
The constant reading of folks "meeting up for a last round of drinks" at a club or mass gathering of people, "before the non-lockdown+closing of premises", leaves me quite sick and angry.
On hindsight, imagining if my journey into testing for COVID-19 came back "positive", and that my family will no longer be able to visit me while being quarantined, and if things did not recover, I would quite literally not b able to see my family and friends again.
Now imagine a elderly person or loved one you know, (and you had infected or not), being ambulances to the hospital and being quarantined, and being treated alone, only with medical staff accompanying him or her.
So what do we do? Threaten with being charged, understandably so, because the irresponsible will only think of their own well-being, and their sense of freedom, while denying others theirs.
GUILTY
I did not have the foresight to be "woke" of my circumstances "then" when I was in Ward, as much as it had impacted me afters, returning home and staying at home, admittedly heading out for a meal not too long ago - which obviously am deserving of being called "irresponsible", as I have accused others of, isn't it? Taking for granted the faux-sense of "safety, which others no doubt felt the same enough to do whatever it was they had done.
These days I have been obsessed with news reports and videos of the Spanish Flu, and feel a struggle to get back to my daily habits and tasks, blogging thru what has turned out to be the a massive regular influx of readership (no doubt due to home quarantines etc), and bare submissions in the inbox. When folks might have given up on my blog, the readers flood back in, and the parallels to how the world will read and change its trajectory for the future, weighs heavy on my mind.
I don't think so much about what toys and collectibles I am missing out these days, as opposed to wondering how and where the heck I can purchase some new masks, because we are running out at home.
As abstract as the notion that "the world has changed" might be, the immediate notion that "my life has changed" will possibly be a continue evolution, that words alone might not be enough to have us/me prepared, except being careful and staying clean and healthy, for the sake of folks around me, and myself. And can only cross my fingers everyone would be able to care enough about themselves and their loved ones, to do the same.
Stay Safe, Stay Clean.
Andy
The "cautious"-side of me erred to disagree, as I had not been immediately placed in a ICU / "Intensive Care Unit" the day before, so maybe I had a "chance"?
SATURDAY
Breakfast was yam cake with no sauce (I certainly was not going to test my resolve with the packet of chilli :p), and the yummiest coffee I have had for gosh knows how long! And I realised I was not coughing as much as I did before.
The morning was pretty idyllic, I will not lie. I wished I had taken a snap of my ward (even though I did the bedhead) - it had long windows looking out into the space in front, St Andrew's Hospital to the left, and HDB buildings on the right, sprawled out beyond a massive space. I wandered out of the ward to seek newspapers or reading materials, and was told both where to find the rack, and that there was another space/room I could explored, for the view. At that point I was relieved, as the staff were conversing directly with me, without the noticeably serious tone from the day before.
During the morning doctor's round, I had been officially told I had tested "negative", and as well another X-ray to be done. And if everything went well, I could end up being discharged late afternoon, or on Sunday.
It would be absolutely be remised of me if I said "anti-climax", but in reality I was more relived than anything else.
I was subsequently brought/wheeled out for another x-ray (as they suspected a shadow seen in my previous X-ray could have been my nipple obscuring the shot = another extra expense), and came back in time for lunch.
And with a blink of an eye, nurses came in in a flurry, and give me and two other guys our "discharge summaries", with instructions that we would be discharged on Saturday itself. This was about 2pm.
Then one of the nurses reminded us, that if we had to get our prescriptions filled at their pharmacy, they would be closing at 3pm (half day on Saturday), so we'd need to speed it up.
I had initially thought to take a long-ass shower and cleaned myself up before heading home, but instead I changed immediately and said+waved my goodbyes to everyone within 15 minutes! The smiles I imagine of them underneath their masks (they were no longer wearing gowns and googles) - was such a burst of energy and good natured positivity, and I felt utterly grateful, even now as I type this, tears well up, I will not lie.
Managed to procure my meds, bought new cough drops over the counter, and made my way home via taxi, taking that long-ass shower at home instead.
THANKFUL TO GET TESTED
Even now, nearly five weeks after being discharged from CGH, as I attempt to recollect and chronicle my experience, I am grateful I had a chance to be tested at all, seeing the situation here in SG was and still is something we cannot just roll up to any specific location, to seek to be tested for the COVID-19. It's one thing to develop a cure, but the first line for all folks, is to be able to be tested in the first place.
Unless you have the symptoms, and you are suspected due to the symptoms, then you'd have a chance to be tested. I cannot imagine how fearful it might be for some folks, who might be coughing, feel sick, or have pre-exiting medical issues, that make them ripe for being infected, but have not the chance to be tested.
What we now know are based on what has been told to us, from "trusted" folks in government, to the myriad of falsehoods that pepper the international www-landscape.
The fear of infection is heightened with the fear of being taken advantage of during these dark times, where fearful folks might fall prey to the despicable - "truth" or not, has become a hallmark of the ages. This was a WhatsApp "alert" that had circulated and reached me, and quite frankly I would not doubt the "possibility" of this, even if it was meant as a "tactic" to keep folks locked up at home ...
RECAP
My entire journey recollected thus far in My Weekend at CGH started because my Family Physician at the local polyclinic tested me for low-oxygen level, and being one of the symptoms of COVID-19, whereby he arranged for ambulance travel for me to the A&E at Changi General. And while he said "It's better to have it checked out and be safe", I appreciated that. Of course with my long-standing coughing, it did not help the matter - I have had seeked Western medicine and had finished medications, and even listed the TCM ("Traditional Chinese Medicine") and devoured two week's worth of meds too, to a slight degree of improvement, or at the very least phlegm induction.
It is also not about "being infected", as I dearly do not want to be a "carrier" of COVID-19, and infect my 80-year old mother staying at home with me, and my sister too. I can imagine the helplessness of not being able to be tested, UNTIL you develop "symptoms"... So sitting in the ambulance enroute to CGH, I dd not feel "burdened" nor "troublesome", as it had been a opportunity to "clear the air", at least for the safety of my home.
Being told I had "developed a fever" while in ward on Friday night, I woke up Saturday morning with a urge to know the "answer", and at the same time realising I had experienced the best sleep I have had for the past month - of constant coughing while lying down, until my head ached and chest tightened.
I don't think I had any sleep inducing medication the night before (the cough syrup they gave me made me drowsy, of course), but I suspect and surmised that it was the clean surrounding air, the air conditioning, and most possibly the cough syrup, all helped induce me to snore in comfort, IMO.
MONEY MONEY MONEY
All the time while lying in the hospital bed, I remembered the older gentleman beside my bed in the Observation Ward at A&E Friday afternoon... I remembered very distinctive him complaining to everyone who answered him that he could not afford being in the hospital. And that his son will not pay for him, or that he did not want to burden his son. Before I was warded, he was told by the nurses his son had been informed and would come to fetch his father.
I remembered telling the gentleman not to worry, as the government will take care of him (Not the I am "pro-gov", but that's the reality in SG), and especially him being of the Pioneer Generation (Or I assume), that it'll be taken care of. Don't think my words got thru to him, but it also reminded me of my own financial situation.
I definitely could not afford the hospital, barring expenses paid for with my Medisave, especially when I would be warded as well. A bed. Food. Tests. All these will not be free. But I really could not afford to be stressed about these too, could I? But I could not deny the fear and apprehension. But before anything else, invoices and bills, I need to know I am well and not infected, because the price to pay for THAT, might be insurmountable.
I was told a choice of my wards: A 8-bedder, 6/5-bedder or a private room, and I requested for the cheapest ("Class C"). So being warded in a 5-bedder at ward 39, I freaked a bit, if only for a moment.
Having typed all that, the reality of the situation was, a hospital personnel actually came to my bedside on Saturday morning - after being briefed by my doctor(s) - to officially do the necessary paperwork for me to be warded. Everything else was sorted behind the scenes, and I was to sign the paperwork then instead.
At the time of my official discharge at 2pm(ish) on Saturday afternoon, I was presented with the invoice/statement of my tests and stay in CGH, which worked out to zero dollars to physically pay out from my end.
In brief, the total cost (which included being warded, daily treatments, Laboratory Investigations, X-rays, prescription drugs, "ward procedures" and "consumables") came up SG$1,300+, then less "Government Grant for Class C" (nearly $1K), and subsequent addition of a "A&E Attendance Fee" totally around SG$170-, ended up with about $500, since absorbed by my MediSave.
If you need to know, the "Laboratory Investigations" were listed to be around SG$750.
The taxi home was less than $8, and so my "weekend at CGH" had come to an end.
HOW NOW BROWN COW?
Featured directly above is a snap of my read-out which I had asked my doctor at the polyclinic to print out, was I returned to him for consult yesterday (*We never did manage to finish the consult proper, that Saturday he sent me away via the ambulance lol), and procure my medication for the next three months.
Seeing that amount of people NOT wearing masks at the polyclinic was pretty unnerving I admit (2 out of 10 did, maybe? Mostly older folks and myself :p), and reminding myself - I might have been "cleared" of COVID-19 that Saturday, but it does not mean I am "immune".
My pre-existing conditions remain still, in different stages: Diabetes (under control), Hypertension (under control) ... and my coughing has since let up a few days ago ("relapsing" now somewhat, actually...), so I will continue to attempt to live a health(ier) life and not do things to get myself sick.
Over the days since returning home, I had attempted to clean my bedroom - at the very least where I slept, hoovering the intense dust which no doubt affected my surrounding space ... propped up my pillow so I would not be lying sleeping down straight (it worked for me), and wondering why the heck the makeshift shanty-town below my bedroom window had not been removed as per the "January 2020"-timeline indicated in the renovation announcement (The Covid-9 situation might not have helped), and also when the putrid smells from the neighbourhood sewage project would stop (which the past days did, no doubt again due to COVID-19).
RING RING
I thought about my mobile-phone a lot during that weekend, of how helpless I was to have been disconnected to folks, especially to family. The reality of priority became clearer even moment of silence in-between the incessant laughter heard from my neighbouring bed's mobile phone.
I had not actively seeked a repair for my phone until a couple of days back too, and admittedly miss the stress-free times before when I did not check my phone constantly LOL
STAY HOME STAY SAFE STAY CLEAN, CAN?
Would anybody have cared or wondered about this weekend I experienced, if I did not share it online? Based on the blog-stats alone, even with posting links to my Facebook, seems no one has read nor are interested to read about "what could have been", understandably so, as we are a nation of citizens who choose to "react" instead of "prevention". Or perhaps my story already had a happy ending" (I'm still alive, typing all this - HENG, AH!). Be that as it may, it is not about me - as much as this blog is about my life lol - but perhaps the fear of folks indifference to the situation.
It's one thing I extol the virtues of stay healthy in lieu of getting a Stroke - which I survived in 2010, and blog about HERE - that which is a very personal matter, unless you have anyone close to you, or you know of anyone who had Stroke .... and another matter where ANYONE is able to be infected with COVID-19 - where its not just about YOURSELF, but of people around you, your immediate environment, your work-place, where you hang after work, and who you hang with.
With public premises being called for a shutdown (but not a "lockdown"), one immediate "mass gathering" situation would be Qing Ming in April, the annual event where predominantly Chinese populace pray to their deceased ancestors and burn offerings. The older folks in the family might not necessarily recognise the dangers of COVID-19, versus something they have done for decades already.
DISTANCING SOCIALLY
The constant reading of folks "meeting up for a last round of drinks" at a club or mass gathering of people, "before the non-lockdown+closing of premises", leaves me quite sick and angry.
On hindsight, imagining if my journey into testing for COVID-19 came back "positive", and that my family will no longer be able to visit me while being quarantined, and if things did not recover, I would quite literally not b able to see my family and friends again.
Now imagine a elderly person or loved one you know, (and you had infected or not), being ambulances to the hospital and being quarantined, and being treated alone, only with medical staff accompanying him or her.
So what do we do? Threaten with being charged, understandably so, because the irresponsible will only think of their own well-being, and their sense of freedom, while denying others theirs.
GUILTY
I did not have the foresight to be "woke" of my circumstances "then" when I was in Ward, as much as it had impacted me afters, returning home and staying at home, admittedly heading out for a meal not too long ago - which obviously am deserving of being called "irresponsible", as I have accused others of, isn't it? Taking for granted the faux-sense of "safety, which others no doubt felt the same enough to do whatever it was they had done.
These days I have been obsessed with news reports and videos of the Spanish Flu, and feel a struggle to get back to my daily habits and tasks, blogging thru what has turned out to be the a massive regular influx of readership (no doubt due to home quarantines etc), and bare submissions in the inbox. When folks might have given up on my blog, the readers flood back in, and the parallels to how the world will read and change its trajectory for the future, weighs heavy on my mind.
I don't think so much about what toys and collectibles I am missing out these days, as opposed to wondering how and where the heck I can purchase some new masks, because we are running out at home.
As abstract as the notion that "the world has changed" might be, the immediate notion that "my life has changed" will possibly be a continue evolution, that words alone might not be enough to have us/me prepared, except being careful and staying clean and healthy, for the sake of folks around me, and myself. And can only cross my fingers everyone would be able to care enough about themselves and their loved ones, to do the same.
Stay Safe, Stay Clean.
Andy
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