Have you heard of a story of a person that goes through one difficulty after another – at a point where u don’t even see where it’s going to end?
Plenty right. But this particular story is quite extraordinary that i just had to blog about it.
Kak Z, being my junior in med school was a few years older then me. I think she did some other degree 1st before entering med school. But i’m not quite sure (i know i should do my research 1st before blogging..tapi malas).
I didn’t know much about her before this mainly because i’m not a very ‘friendly’ senior – but i’m not mean to them – just minding my own business. 🙂
The day i heard she was in the hospital i was at cicendo eye hospital doing my opthalmology rotation. Someone told me she had peritonitis (infection of the abdominal cavity). Rumour has it – it was due to gastric ulcer perforation.
Remembering wat my parents always thought me, which is to always visit the sick, i went to see her at the hospital. It was then when i got the entire story.
Apparently all new clerkships at the hospital had to go for outbound (alhamdulillah it skiped my year), and after profuse vomiting n stomach ache kak z was resenting to go and ask for permission from one of the officers in charge. Being underpaid n overworked the officers did not listen to kak z’s reasons n forced her to join the outbound and threathed her that if she didn’t follow she won’t be able to attend clerkship. (Typical behaviour of officials in this university!)
So by hook or by crook kak z had to attend the outbound. And God forbid her pain intensified and only then was a doctor notified. The dean. He brought her back to the hospital and was looked after by a surgeon. Immediately after she was admitted, a laparotomy was done and they found out that she had peritonitis due to a perforation from the small intestine. Since the small intestine was badly injured they had to do a colostomy on her (or was it ileostomy).
Mind you this is not a pleasent thing to have. A bag will be attach at the end of the stoma for all the waste to empty. Since the food you eat r not properly absorbed the bag will usually be full with waste water within hours. And since the intestinal mucosa is not normally exposed to the outside it frequently swell, reddens n is very painfull.
This is wat kak Z had to endure. I was surprise to hear that she still manage to go for classes with the colostomy. Everytime it was full she had to excuse herself to the toilet to drain the bag. Not only that, she went for public health department where u have to travel up and down bandung.
During the surgery, they took a sample of her intestine for further inspection. They found out it was Crohn’s Disease – an autoimmune disease that causes the intestine to be inflammed. Forms a pebble stone like appearance in the intestine.
Sadly, this disease since it’s an autoimmune disease does not only effect your intestine but also effect other parts of your body. It may vary among people, some have lesions on their skin, some effect the bone etc. As for kak Z, she has HNP (herniated nucleus pulposus) wat most of us call “slipped disc”… due to this outrageous autoimmune disease!
For her HNP she was attended by the beloved spine surgeon dr B.T. And since the intestine is still not fully recovered dr. BT could not do any intervention on it except to send kak Z for physiotherapy. Which she has to fit in amids all the busy schadule of clerkship. She was lucky, the beautiful physiotherapist dr. M was there to help.
A few days ago i heard kak Z was in the hospital again for another surgery to reattach the intestine n close up the colostomy. I’ve never really enjoyed visiting sick people because i’ll get really sad n teary, by this visit was different. This visit was filled with laughter n smiles. Kak Z was making jokes and didn’t seem like she had been sick let alone had a surgery.
Today…this is wat i read from her FB note:
Since last Friday (26th Feb), bangun je dari tido dan semua infusion & catheter di up, keinginan utk berjalan sgt tinggi..jejak je kaki kat lantai tiba2 rasa kebas kesemutan terasa di kedua kaki dan tangan..oh TIDAKK!! Ni kenapa pulak.??semangat yg tinggi berjaya juga menewaskan rasa itu dan tidak menghiraukannya..sepanjang hari dilalui dgn rasa kebas kesemutan yang tak pernah hilang malah semakin parah hingga saat in
Apparently, after consulting with the physiotherapist, she was diagnosed as having carpal tunnel syndrome (wait!! i think it’s more appropriately called tarsal tunnel syndrome)
Tarsal tunnel syndrome is commonly caused by tibial nerve entrapment within the tarsal tunnel. But in this case it is caused (or said to caused) by vitamin B12 deficiency which enhances nerve damage. In Kak Z’s case, her autoimmune disease also, apparently, causes vitamin B12 deficiency (details r just too complicated).
Amazingly, after having had 2 surgeries, she haven’t missed a department to date. The power of wanting to graduate and come back home to malaysia on time astonishes me!
Cheers to you Kak Z!! May Allah bless you and place u among those who r successfull.
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