Scootering

Scootering

Thursday, 27 July 2017

Hospital Visits

Today I am at the doctors for one of my once in two months visits. There is a bit of waiting involved but it is okay, I don't have anywhere to go. Whenever I am here, I always think to myself that hospitals, even this one which looks like a hotel, are always for unfortunate situations unless you are expecting a child. But really it is far more unfortunate to have a health condition and not have access to healthcare. That is the reality for the poor people in many under-developed countries. So many common health problems can be prevented, managed or cured.
It is an awful feeling to catch something and not know if and when it will go away. Several months back, when my immunity was still recovering, I developed a viral wart on one of my fingers. At first, it didn't really bother me too much - it was a tiny hardening of the skin and chemotherapy had caused the ends of my fingers to be slightly numb. A couple of months later it got far more annoying and I could feel its presence. It was like there is me and there is this wart, except that I didn't know that it was a wart yet.

I was making regular visits to the skin doctor then for the over-sensitive skin I had developed, yet another side-effect of chemo. So I decided to show him the finger. The treatment he proposed was a liquid nitrogen freeze after paring down the hardened skin. The freeze was pretty cool, in both sense of the word, but the paring was a bit unnerving because they used a sharp blade without first numbing the finger. I tried that twice over the course of a month but it didn't get better. My finger became more swollen and I had to avoid using that finger to type.

On my 3rd visit, I asked the doctor for another option. He suggested we try the laser treatment, which has a James Bondsie intrigue to it. I was quick to say yes even though my kids were there and could have offered a second opinion. The doctor had to give me LA - it must have been a dozen jabs. Jabs to the finger is not a walk in the park. I didn't watch the laser burn away the finger, but I could smell it. And then toward the end, I could feel the pain, so the doctor had to give me a few more jabs. When it was finally over, a quarter of my finger tip was gone. It took about 2 weeks for my finger to fully recover.

Doctors may deliver painful treatments but it is a work of compassion. I truly admire the doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals from church who take the time and effort to go on medical missions every year. Through their efforts, under-privileged people get the much needed relief from all kinds of ailments. It is important for the rest of us who do not have the medical training to support such efforts where we can. 

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