Friday, June 15, 2007
I'm HOT, literally
I took the cab after work yesterday as i felt too sick to endure a 2-bus trip to the clinic. I am naive enough to think that panadol,tapping myself with iced water and applying medication oil for headaches, works for all types of sickness. It took me 4 days to realise i do need professional help. (Of course, recovery from illness depends wholly on God. But we do have to make an effort, correct.) Speaking of medication oil, i poured the oil directly on my temples yesterday because i was too lazy to apply it on my fingers and wash the stubborn oil off it thereafter. Wrong move. The oil tickled down at great speed and went into my eyes. it was super painful la. i was so afraid i will only see pitch-black when i opened my eyes. Thankfully, that didnt happen. But ya, it was really stupid. That will put my silly-o-meter to 10 000 silligrams.
Ok, back to the cab ride. That uncle is really really nice. He's currently no.1 in my sincerely-nice-cabbie list. Firstly, he greeted me instead of the typical "where u go?". only 2 minutes aftter entering the cab, he asked if the air-con was just nice for my liking. Then he offered me mentos, thanks to my (already softened) phlegm-filled cough. The only downside is that he wasnt sure how to go to the destination i stated. So the cab fare ended up to be pretty pricey. But it was all good coz he did explain and constantly apologised. Also, i could have helped with the directions. But i have a super bad sense of direction - and that's why i'd be the first to be eliminated in The Amazing Race. The cabbie asked if he could go by TPE. And i faked a confident "yes, you can". Hah. Admittedly, i cant remember what "TP" in "TPE" stands for. Yes, i'm THAT ignorant. So when i reached the destination he again apologise and told me to take care of myself, which i think is really a nice gesture, especially coming from a stranger. It's nice to know that there ARE nice uncle cabbies still. I'll share about the not so nice cabbie experience in later entries.
So off to see the doctor. It happens that the my favourite doctor's clinic closed at 5 pm (fyi, shes a female. and yes, i AM straight). The only other available clinic in that area is the 24-hours clinic. The doctor examined and diagnosed me as having high fever with infection. Do you know that a green-colour phlegm indicates infection and hence you'd need antibiotics? My temperature at that time was surprisingly super high (Syafiqah's temperature in degree Celsius = John Terry's jersey no. + Michael Ballack's jersey no. + 0.1) and she granted me a day MC. ok, now comes the fun part. I was already quite worried that i wont have enough money to pay for the medication because the doctor stated that she is going to give me a "very strong" antibiotics. Something very strong must be very expensive right. So i was waiting for the clinic assistant to prepare all the medicine and she was taking quite a long time doing so. And as she stack more and more medicine on the table i began to get more worried that i wont have enough cash. When she told me the cost, i repeated the amount to make sure i have heard it right. My instincts were right - i dont have enough cash with me! I have $52 at that time and i still lack a 2-figure sum. So you can imagine how expensive the amount was. Luckily i anticipated that situation. I told that person outrightly that i do not have enough cash and that my NETS card is not with me (it was with my elder sis coz i told her to get me something). I told her that i will call someone to pass me the remaining amount. So i had to sit there, facing the clinic assistant counter but not daring to look at the counter at all. so super paiseh can. And my younger sister only came in 25 minutes later when my house is just 5-10 minutes away. It felt like i have waited for 25 long hours. Horrible. And my sister had to say "Ibu marah tau" to me (loose translation: mother is angry). That's a super creative way of saying "What did the doctor say? will you be fine?". My sister is such a doll. And the clinic assistant gave me more than 10 $2 notes as change, claiming they "dont have enough $10 notes". I see, then you don't have even 1 $5 notes too? Right. I cracked a smile la. If that's meant to be revenge, it really is a good one.
Total cobaans la. But i always believe that such unfortunate experiences makes one humble and more appreciative of good things that come by. So it's best not to dwell on such things. On a positive note, i'm feeling so much better, Alhamdulillah. Which means i can still go for the family chalet tomorrow. yay!
Btw, if you think this is just another useless rant or a sympathy post, that is not necessarily true. (Though comments of " get well soon"s will be much appreciated coz that will make me smile. and smiling makes me happy. and being happy makes me feel better. and if i continue to feel better, my sickness will go away. So you'll be like treating me sort of, no matter how indirectly. Okay, im so pushing the mental button am i)
There are lessons to be learnt from the unfortunate incidents i experienced:
1) It's best to go to the clinic if you feel really sick, or if any type of medication you took did not work after 1 or at most 2 days. This way, God willing you'll recover faster and may even lead to cheaper medication cost as illness may not be so serious yet.
2) When you need to apply the medication oil, please pour a few drops on your fingers instead of pouring the whole thing on your forehead like i did. Furthermore, the nearest sink shouldn't be too far away.
3) NEVER EVER leave the house without your NETS card. beacuse you will never know when you will need to use it.
Ok, back to the cab ride. That uncle is really really nice. He's currently no.1 in my sincerely-nice-cabbie list. Firstly, he greeted me instead of the typical "where u go?". only 2 minutes aftter entering the cab, he asked if the air-con was just nice for my liking. Then he offered me mentos, thanks to my (already softened) phlegm-filled cough. The only downside is that he wasnt sure how to go to the destination i stated. So the cab fare ended up to be pretty pricey. But it was all good coz he did explain and constantly apologised. Also, i could have helped with the directions. But i have a super bad sense of direction - and that's why i'd be the first to be eliminated in The Amazing Race. The cabbie asked if he could go by TPE. And i faked a confident "yes, you can". Hah. Admittedly, i cant remember what "TP" in "TPE" stands for. Yes, i'm THAT ignorant. So when i reached the destination he again apologise and told me to take care of myself, which i think is really a nice gesture, especially coming from a stranger. It's nice to know that there ARE nice uncle cabbies still. I'll share about the not so nice cabbie experience in later entries.
So off to see the doctor. It happens that the my favourite doctor's clinic closed at 5 pm (fyi, shes a female. and yes, i AM straight). The only other available clinic in that area is the 24-hours clinic. The doctor examined and diagnosed me as having high fever with infection. Do you know that a green-colour phlegm indicates infection and hence you'd need antibiotics? My temperature at that time was surprisingly super high (Syafiqah's temperature in degree Celsius = John Terry's jersey no. + Michael Ballack's jersey no. + 0.1) and she granted me a day MC. ok, now comes the fun part. I was already quite worried that i wont have enough money to pay for the medication because the doctor stated that she is going to give me a "very strong" antibiotics. Something very strong must be very expensive right. So i was waiting for the clinic assistant to prepare all the medicine and she was taking quite a long time doing so. And as she stack more and more medicine on the table i began to get more worried that i wont have enough cash. When she told me the cost, i repeated the amount to make sure i have heard it right. My instincts were right - i dont have enough cash with me! I have $52 at that time and i still lack a 2-figure sum. So you can imagine how expensive the amount was. Luckily i anticipated that situation. I told that person outrightly that i do not have enough cash and that my NETS card is not with me (it was with my elder sis coz i told her to get me something). I told her that i will call someone to pass me the remaining amount. So i had to sit there, facing the clinic assistant counter but not daring to look at the counter at all. so super paiseh can. And my younger sister only came in 25 minutes later when my house is just 5-10 minutes away. It felt like i have waited for 25 long hours. Horrible. And my sister had to say "Ibu marah tau" to me (loose translation: mother is angry). That's a super creative way of saying "What did the doctor say? will you be fine?". My sister is such a doll. And the clinic assistant gave me more than 10 $2 notes as change, claiming they "dont have enough $10 notes". I see, then you don't have even 1 $5 notes too? Right. I cracked a smile la. If that's meant to be revenge, it really is a good one.
Total cobaans la. But i always believe that such unfortunate experiences makes one humble and more appreciative of good things that come by. So it's best not to dwell on such things. On a positive note, i'm feeling so much better, Alhamdulillah. Which means i can still go for the family chalet tomorrow. yay!
Btw, if you think this is just another useless rant or a sympathy post, that is not necessarily true. (Though comments of " get well soon"s will be much appreciated coz that will make me smile. and smiling makes me happy. and being happy makes me feel better. and if i continue to feel better, my sickness will go away. So you'll be like treating me sort of, no matter how indirectly. Okay, im so pushing the mental button am i)
There are lessons to be learnt from the unfortunate incidents i experienced:
1) It's best to go to the clinic if you feel really sick, or if any type of medication you took did not work after 1 or at most 2 days. This way, God willing you'll recover faster and may even lead to cheaper medication cost as illness may not be so serious yet.
2) When you need to apply the medication oil, please pour a few drops on your fingers instead of pouring the whole thing on your forehead like i did. Furthermore, the nearest sink shouldn't be too far away.
3) NEVER EVER leave the house without your NETS card. beacuse you will never know when you will need to use it.