Aura of compassion

 I’ve seen at least 6 doctors coming in to check on Cikmina throughout the hours that I’ve sat with her in the ward. Most of them must be students. One asked Cikmina after her operation if she had GA or a shot at the back….poor Cikmina, though she understands English, she wouldn’t know what GA means. Another came in just to ask how her arm was feeling and to tell her to take the painkillers. When I asked what other medication she was taking, she appeared taken aback and went out to find out. Never mind that they don’t check the charts property before visiting a patient or that they breeze in and out asking a one-liner like “macam mana tangan, ok?”….perhaps there are limitations set for them at that point of training. But this morning for the first time a doctor came to her bedside, actually sat on the bed facing her while Cikmina sat on the chair just a foot away from him. His tone and the way his shoulders bent as he looked at her arm had a calming effect. Even Cikmina started asking questions which he answered gently even about how to dress with her enlarged arm. He explained the whole situation in more detail (and he wasn’t in the operation theatre yesterday) than the doctor who came round with the students yesterday, who seemed very efficient and stood tall across the bed from Cikmina telling her about her fracture and torn ligaments in a high-pitched tone loud enough for all his students and the other 3 patients in the room to hear. The doctor who came this morning took the time to turn around, smiled and asked whether I was a younger or older sister.

The hospital has treated Cikmina well, doctors aplenty and they all smiled including the nurses. But I think patients would do well to look out for themselves sometimes in the ward. When a nurse came with 2 identical tablets and another tablet this morning and said they were pain killers, I casually asked if they were all painkillers. She then went out to check and came back to tell me that one was for high blood pressure. I noticed that her BP reading had been normal since yesterday, so I asked if it was high this morning. She said it wasn’t and went out again, came back with the machine and checked Cikmina’s BP, found it to be normal and then told us the doctor instructed to give it only if her BP rises. Oh, well it was good that she was conscientious enough to right the situation.

Anyway, after the young doctor left this morning, Cikmina asked, ‘Is he Chinese?” I said “Yes, I think he is a student”. She said, “He looked at my face”. And she smiled. A couple of times after that she asked me if he was her “real” doctor. I had to say “no”.