Spontaneous pneumothorax

24-hour emergency: the hospital is a lovely but sick place

there is an occurance today, and so i make my way to the accident and emergncy department of the nearest hospital. when i enter the vicinity, i realised it is packed with aged people. perhaps i am also an aged man, but i have forgotten.

in the waiting room, i am surrounded by sick and injured patients. a middle-aged man in a blue wheelchair beside me hunches over to me and starts to nibble feebly at my knee. fourtunately, my knee is round, thus his teeth do not actually mangage to grasp it fully. much to my relief, my name is called and i leave the knee-biting-wheelchair-man for the doctor.

i am sat facing opposite the doctor. i watch as the doctor's mouth move, but i do not hear words. i ask her to enunciate her words more clearly and to speak up. however she is stubborn and persist in her little word-mouthing game. her childishness outrages me, but in my maturity, i decide to keep my cool. she starts to use hand gestures. luckily, i learnt sign-language (2 days ago), so i am able to vaguely understand her. she request for me to tell her my medical condition so that she can come up with a basic diagnosis. i tell (while using elaborate hand gestures) that i am suffering from hearing loss. perhaps this is due to my old age, but i have forgotten.







in the wise words of mr ang, "these things just happen."



yup...


...to me.