salamat po

its not often that i check my guestbook here in my blog under "for your diagnosis click here", but for some sort of reason i just felt i had to. and i was astounded by christian's entry. here it is:

hi poh!­ ako po si christian m. antonio, inoperahan po ako sa ospital ng maynila. naadmit po ako ng oct. 15, 2007, oct. 16, 2007 is the operation, and oct. 18 po ang release. Room 319, 3rd floor., inoperahan po ang aking polyps sa ilong, grade lll, polypectomy po ang operation sa pangunguna ni Dr. Armando M. Chiong, Jr.., gusto ko lang pong magpasalamat sa mga taong nasa likod ng aking pagkagaling.. Nais ko pong magpasalamat sa intern na nurse (kamukha s'ya ni sean kingston kac mataba­, ininterview s'ya ng nanay ko at nalaman naming galing s'ya sa philippine womens university), nais ko rin pong pasalamatan ang resident nurse ng ospital ng maynila coz lagi siyang bumibisita pero it hurts da dextrose wen pnablisan n'ya­.

at higit sa lahat, nagpapasalamat ako sa mga intern na doctora­( kung di ako nag kakamali, halos lahat cla ung nakita ko dun sa ent opd) cla ang nag asikaso sa 'kin cmula umpisa hanggang huli, maraming salamat sa lalaking naka salamin, semi kalbo, in dark complection coz ginawa n'ya ang lahat para maadmit agad ako kasi late ako.,maraming salamat sa babae na medyo maliit pero cute­ na naglagay ng dextrose sa kin( ang sakit kac 2 trial sa kaliwa pero di kinaya kaya sa 3rd trial sa kanan, okey na) maraming salamat sa kanya kac inackaso nya ko ng mabuti at lagi n'ya kong bnibcta kung ayos lang ako, at tuwing mauubos ang dextrose ay pinapalitan n'ya., w8t for the nxt.., ipagpaatuloy ko pa po.....

apparently he's not my patient but he did sought consult and was operated by my beloved ospital ng maynila. salamat sa kind words you said christian. eventhough im in a new hospital now, i always get this proud feeling when OM gets to help people who are in need. people who cannot afford immediate medical attention.

spending a whole year for my clinical clerkship in that hospital has taught me alot of things. back then i thought i cannot handle doing medical interventions, but OM has put confidence in a young aspiring doctor like me. i did tons of procedures like IV insertion, NGT insertion, papsmear, internal examinations, doing vaginal deliveries, assisting in OR (being a scrub nurse and a 2nd assist at the same time), epidural tap, suturing lacerations, flushing cerumen out of one's ear, getting out foreign bodies on ears and noses, putting on foley catheters in women and men and so much more. i was able to memorize drugs and give proper prescriptions which i thought i'd never be able to master in med school's theoretical approach.

OM is not a perfect hospital. there are alot of times we cannot give medications coz the pharmacy has ran out of it and patients opted to buy their medications for themselves. there are times when we dont even have waterswhich is essential in all aspect of medical care. there were months when we had to call up people outside the hospital to transfer to the wards our admitted patients in stretchers coz the elevator wont work. there are countless times when we had to shed out out own money just to buy EDTA tubes, suction tips, mircopores and the like coz we the hospital has just a number of it for use with our patients. we had to borrow mechanical ventilators from other private institutions to sustain life for our dying patients. we only even have one incubator for our preterm deliveries, the rest we put on droplights just to keep the newborns warm. we had to recycle opened suture packs for future use. all these and so much more, we doctors and our patients had to endure. as much as it is hard for our patients it is harder for us doctors in that hospital to see our patients and we can only do so much. as a doctor, studying for ten years, our primary goal was to heal. whatever outcome our management brings is not of our own liking. we cannot blame people if ever there are a lot of times we get misunderstood and blamed for their patient's demise. im sorry for that. but we never mean to hurt or do harm. like all of our patient's relatives we feel remorse. but the hardest of it all is that doctors in OM have to put up a good front. empathizing and sympathizing so much would compromise our decision making. that's why some people think of us as "balahura" or "walang puso". its not that. it isnt and never will we be like that. we are being misunderstood. people's ignorance of how life is being a doctor predisposes them to judge with which we cannot avoid since it is their right to do so. but all i am asking and all that i am hoping is that people see beyond the shortage of our hospital but the expertise of the our doctors that we know what we are doing. we are trained hard... so hard enough that we tend to loose ourselves.

patients like christian are those people whom anyone in OM will be thankful for as well. coz he was able to see beyond the hospital's interior and exterior but he was able to see the goodness in people who works inside those walls. i am lucky that for a year was a part of that hospital. i was trained properly not only on medical management but with my personal need to be a good doctor. yes there maybe times that i may have gone to the dark side as they say, but i know for a fact that deep inside me, i respected my patients and i valued their existence.

now that im in a private hospital, whenever i get to encounter patients who have transferred from OM to MCM for thier medical need because of their qualms and complaints from their previous hospital, i always tell them that i too came from that hospital and i am proud that i was and i am still, i see to it that whatever worries they have with OM will be forgotten. i would even encourage them to go back in OM. coz it still pains me that in a private hospital even a cotton ball with alcohol is charged to the patient's bill. nevertheless MCM has proved to serve their patients very well.

for everyone, a government hospital is not always that bad, the pungent smell, the lack of instruments, the dirty halls. government hospitals are like any other private hospital... we aim to cure, to heal to give comfort. im just hoping that these government hospital be untouched by curruption and political motives. i plead to municipalities, to officials and to anyone who are involve, its time to give the people back what their taxes are worth. help your hospitals be like as enticing as the malls your district or cities have. help us doctors....