The Public system

Tightness in the chest, tingles in the left arm, weird feeling in the throat. Not sure if it's the fact that I'm currently reading "Outlive" and am super paranoid, but I eventually decide to go to the doctor to make sure something funny isn't going on. It's a weird thing when you're searching Googlemaps to try to find "the best" public hospital. In the end, I settle for the hospital closest to where I live. 

It's 8 pm on a Wednesday and the only available doctors are those in the A&E. There's a western couple also registering, the sign at the counter says the wait will be approximately 3 hours, I register and pay 180 HKD to see the first available doctor. I'm happy that I've brought my backpack, with my meds and my kindle. After 20 minutes, I see the triage station. I tell them my symptoms, they ask if I want a wheelchair. I decline. The A&E, is busy. Everybody is wearing a mask, some 5 odd patients lie in hospital beds, another 3 or 4 patients are in wheel chairs, the other 20 patients sit in the waiting area. It takes me around an hour to see the doctor, my blood pressure looks normal, but my heart rate is flagged. They take a chest x-ray and draw blood and touch and listen to my internals. I explain that I'm currently experiencing a bout of Shingles.

It's almost 10 pm by the time the x-ray and blood results have returned. I'm told there's no risk of cardiac episode or a stroke, that's a relief. But there's something odd with my blood test, something about my renal function. As such, they want to admit to the hospital to make sure everything is ok. That's both a relief and a new twist. The room is shared and the average age is probably 70 years old. TVB is blasting in the background, some patients are trying to sleep, some cough, most are on their phones. I change into my robes and they hook me up at a ECG. I'm given a chamber pot and some water. I wish I had brought a phone charger and a toothbrush. I email my new boss and let him know the latest with the situation, first week, already taking sick leave.

I ask about when I'm taking a urine test as I want to take my Shingles antiviral. There's a little bit of confusion around the issuance of medication and the fact that the medication does not have a used by date. After some convincing I am permitted to continue my course of antivirals.

I barely sleep that night, it's noisy and the nurses wake me throughout the night to check my temperature and blood pressure. It's a hard night, and i'm up again at 6 am. Breakfast is served at 7 am, medication is issued at 8 am and the doctor does rounds at 9 am. I'm told that the two concerns are my heart, which they plan to give me beta blockers to try and calm the ectopics and that my kidney readings are still high which the advice is to drink more water today and they will consider an IV if the readings don't come back in line. I ask about possible discharge dates, the doctor says that if things look good tomorrow, perhaps a Friday discharge.

I spend the day browsing the internet, reading, waiting for meals and chatting with my neighbour, he fainted at work and the ambulance brought him to the closest hospital. My kindle has 20% battery left and my phone as 30%, I ration both. They take more blood samples, and take a urine sample. I've gotten used to expelling waste in my bed. I'm starting to get a little restless in this ward. To the right of me, the man checks out he bids farewell to the room. There's some smiles, and some envy from the other patrons. I fear some people in this ward won't ever leave. 

From 6 pm-8pm is visiting hours.  It's nice to see people visit patients. Gifts are brought, fruit, noodles, books, teas. It's a nice moment. I read a little more and finish my book. I sleep with a t-shirt covering my eyes and much better that evening. Thankfully Albert, my neighbour has lent me his phone charger.

The following morning is the same routine, morning medication, breakfast, blood test. The doctor comes by and says as long as my blood work looks ok, I should be discharged by this afternoon. This is a relief. The morning passes slowly, I become fascinated with my heart rate on beta blockers, it's low, and I can see that every regular beat is followed by an ectopic. The nurse comes by after lunch and tells me I'm ok to be discharged, I'll just need to wait until 2 pm. 

At 2 pm I change and pack my things up. I'm grateful for the care that has been provided during this time. The nurses and doctors albeit overworked were completely professional and tireless. After 2 whole evenings, multiple blood and urine tests and medication my final bill came to 240 HKD. Wow.

New job: First day

I've now been through enough jobs to have an idea of what makes a "good first day" or a "bad first day". All in all, there's no such thing as a bad first day, maybe there's memorable first days, but there's often so little expected of new joiners, as it's all internal process that dictates the first day. Despite this, I don't really have much memory of previous "first days". I want to say it's usually a mix of excitement and nerves. One job I remember not having a PC on the first day, another job I remember going out for lunch with the team.

This time around, I thought I would make of a concerted effort to break down the day. 10th of July 2023. 9 am in the foyer to meet with HR, only to find out that my onboarding application has not been entirely completed. We surmise it's probably a result of the licensing and the change in start date. As a result, there's some confusion around PC access and phone access. Initially we're told that the system profile has not been created, and will take 3-5 days before I can access my PC. Long story, cut short, I manage to access my workstation and email by mid morning. Initial observations, my email address is weird and my keyboard feels slow, will need to investigate this. 

Overall, the day is a mix of excitement and nerves, starting a new job, the commitment surrounding this and the attitude that is associated with being the 'new guy'. It feels odd walking the isles not knowing anybody. Trying to figure out the water dispenser or the coffee machine. Catching the stray look of somebody who realises that they've never seen you before. Then there's the nerves of performance/job expectations. Somebody who has been brought it to do a job, a new job, and also nerves around performance after almost 10 weeks of inactivity. The brain feels slow and gooey.

It's a different environment here, the office is larger. It's probably one of the busiest floors that I've worked on, there's a lot of faces, some that I will probably never interact with. It's a weird feeling being back in the huge corporate machine. I meet all the people on the team, some are familiar from the interview process. I find myself trying to access all the relevant systems, reaching out to all the key stakeholders. I tell myself not to get too carried away here, there's plenty of time to get set up. I just need to enjoy the first couple of days. It's been a good first day, looking forward to the rest of the week. I leave just after 6 pm, the floor is still busy.

Shingles, again

Back to Hong Kong. I get off the plane and notice a bite or a rash along my hip. "That's weird" I think to myself, I've literally not spent anytime outdoors and the last 12 hours have been in airports or on a plane. 12 hours later, it's spread and I'm at the hospital "It looks like Shingles" the doctor says, "although the patch on the left hand side is unusual". To say that I have been stressed is an understatement. I'm given some antivirals. Hopefully I've caught this early enough.

Somebody mentioned that, after an extended period of relaxation (yes, that's me), the body becomes complacent and any minor stress can impact the body. I wonder how much truth there is to that statement?

Sydney

The dream is over! Managed to sneak five days back in Sydney. Fair relaxed scheduled back home until waiting for Cardiologist report. "I would suggest you don't fly and wait until you can speak with the Cardiologist next week" 

Ho Chi Minh City

 

A trip with the (now) ex-colleagues, short trip to Vietnam. Food tour on the back of scoorers, plenty of great food. Slowly counting down the days of my gardening.