An Impatient Patient

Had an appointment this afternoon at the Neuroscience Centre at NUH. It was scheduled for 3.00, but I didn't get to do the screening thingy that they always carry out prior to any procedures or consultations until 4.25, which was quite a wait - and very unusual for the hospital, in my experience, since they nearly always stick pretty close to the actual appointment time. Mind you, the place was packed and I reckon they were struggling to deal with the number they had intended to cater for in their afternoon session. For me it was no big deal as I didn't have anything to rush back to work for and Noi, who'd come along with me, wasn't terribly bothered either. Mild irritation was as much as I could muster.

But one guy, who also seemed to have been delayed, was really upset and started to create quite a fuss at the main desk around about ten minutes before my number finally got called. He was holding up his phone and loudly complaining that the staff had forgotten to notify him that his number had been called, so he'd missed his slot. Initially I thought there was going to be trouble and that the guy was just being more than a bit selfish. Then I realised that he was trembling excessively and in a very bad way. It was clear that he was deeply distressed by the crowds in the waiting area and just couldn't deal with the situation - hence taking himself outside earlier as a way of gaining some control.

The staff dealt with him brilliantly. No fuss at all, no attempt to subdue him; one lady took him to one side and allowed him to keep venting whilst helping him calm himself as much as he could. And somehow he did calm himself which considering his obvious sense of shaky panic took a lot of doing. It suddenly occurred to me that quite a few folk needing to see neurologists probably did need to overcome severe stress just to get themselves into the clinic at all. It turned out that he ended up being screened - essentially just a check on blood pressure - at the same time as myself, in the cubicle next to mine. He was still venting his concerns as that went on and my heart went out to the poor guy for everything he was dealing with.

Anyway, once they'd took my bp things moved very fast. I was supposed to do a memory test (basically a check for signs of dementia) before seeing my doc, but that was abandoned since the doc reckoned I'd most likely ace it so it was a bit pointless. And it was further decided that the medication I've been on related to my epilepsy could be terminated, basically because I was fairly brutal in letting the doc know how unhelpful I thought it was and she was prepared to listen. (It wasn't my usual neurologist, whom, I suspect, may have moved on to another hospital, or higher things, or whatever.)

So all in all not such a waste of time, despite the delay. Sort of a case of 'good things come to those who wait', if we're looking for some kind of message in all this.