Day 2 in Ward 306

Lack of sleep made me a bit drowsy. The 8.00 a.m. breakfast consisted of beehoon soup which tasted flat and a cup of warm Milo.

My daughter and wife came bringing me my newspapers - The Star and Kwang Wah Yit Poh. This time I had what I needed most - sweater to keep the cool air of the room away. I complained about being 'nearly frozen' the night before and asked my daughter to bring me something thick to wear.

When they were back, I spent the whole morning reading the newspapers. In between I talked to the room-mate on my right. From the conversation with him, I learnt that he had undergone an operation to sever part of his infected small intestine two days ago.

As for the young man on my left, he seemed to enjoy watching movies on his laptop. When he needed to enter the washroom, I helped to open the door for him because both of his hands were on the walker and it would be difficult to open the door as it would close automatically because of the spring mechanism above it. This is really not patient friendly. I did the same thing when he wanted to come out.

At around 9.00 a.m. Dr. H'ng came. I asked to be discharged but he disagreed because I had to complete the intravenous antibiotic (mesporin) for another three days. He told me I had infection because I had temperatures even on the second day.

After feeling bored reading my newspapers, I started to surf the Internet. I accessed my e-mail first. Then I went on to read Google and BBC news.

The nurse came every now and then to give me medicine and take my blood pressure as well as my body temperature during which time I had to be in bed.

Later I had the chance to talk to the patient opposite my bed. He had stools stained with blood and his blood kept decreasing. According to the doctor his stomach needed stitching or cut to decrease it. The family hesitated whether to allow the operation to be done or not. The quiet man on his left talked only in Indonesian and I had some difficulty in understanding. It seemed that his intestine was infected and needed no operation. He had medication and would be discharged soon.