Differential.
penny April 2nd, 2007
Nice weekend I had right there. I was on holiday at RHW: Royal Hospital for Women.
Long story short…
I thought I ate something bad whcih brought me excruciating stomach pain and nausea. So when I was ambulanced to Prince of Wales Hospital I was expecting to be discharged hours later after a diagnosis of food poisoning. But no.
I ended up being checked in and tests upon tests run on me. The attending physician that time freaked out when she saw my ridiculously low blood count results. [They wondered why I wasn't complaining about dizziness, then they conjectured I must already be used to how different it feels like. I guess they're right.] The health system here is amazing. They kept at it and had to rule out every possibility in the book. During the night one of the nurses rang the doctor to look at my unusually low blood pressure. It was both fascinating and scary to me. They never hid their concern for their patient, to some extent it made me really afraid.
The funniest moment I could think of was waking up at 7.30 am to a team of doctors at the foot of the bed. “Good morning [insert my long first name here], this is the endo-gynae team.” It was a teaching hospital, so I was being studied. Hehe, so that’s how it felt like. I haven’t exactly been in an aquarium before.
I almost gave in to a transfusion, had it not been for my decision to throw questions at them incessantly. [May as well put their demeanor to good use eh?] So I had options, and it was wonderful discussing it with them so candidly too.
So today I have been officially diagnosed with chronic anaemia. The cause of all my distress the past months: breathless strides, quick to fatigue, dizziness, heavy headaches, all-day sleepiness.
Now I need lamb chops and beef steak. Animal iron sources I learned are easier to absorb than plant ones. AND Vitamin C helps in iron absorption. So I have to take supplements for both.
No more coffee. No more tea. None of soya products either [shoot... I love tofu]. No more late night internet surfing.
Sleep and food. Sounds good to me.
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Wanna see what a cannula looks like?
I had that on me for more than 24 hrs. Bloody painful!
- Personal
- Comments(4)
was there someone there that looks like doctor chase?
Dunno, it was a predominantly female ward. Dr. Cameron siguro =P And if there were men may edad, tipong Dr. House na.
well, that a good reason to eat beef (and lamb)… ’cause you need the iron! too bad you’re not allowed tea… and you like it much! (baket nga ba hindi pde?)
hindi ko na itatanong what that thing in the picutre is.
hehe, hindi ko yata masusunod yung ‘no tea/coffee’. Minimise lang. I was told that they inhibit iron absorption.
I think I ate half a kilo of beef today coz of that HUGE shepherd’s pie in the lunch room…
Ha! I shopped for meat today. Wish me luck in cooking!!