Well, decided to leave this reminder here so that I will remember to do it, eventually!
Pay Sangee 7 pounds!
(Pathetic me has to leave this note here so that I will constantly remember when I read my past entries...) --> I'll strike this out once it's accomplished!
Sangee's flying back to UK this Thursday and I'm not sure when I'll see her again. She normally returns during Christmas season (Year end). However, she did mention that she will be heading over to the states to meet her sister and parents. Maybe next year? But again, I'm not sure if I'm going to be around then... Geesh, I'm going to miss her!
So, till then.. I'll see her when I see her. (Quote Sissy!)
Maybe this will give me a good excuse to pop by UK to return her the $$!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Back Pain... (Part 4)
After my mom's endless nagging (And of course, her offer to pay for the consultation fees), I decided to seek a second opinion from a doctor in private practice. Mom's friend recommended Singapore Pain Care Centre @ Paragon and I quickly fixed up an appointment.
Headed there after my physiotherapy at NUH (Was pretty good and the pain went away for say, an hour?). The wait was pretty quick (duh...) and the doctor, Dr Lee, was really nice and patient. Well, a piece of good news at last. Turns out that the Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) was actually an accidental discovery. Which means, the pain I've been experiencing was not actually caused by the changes in my spinal disc. It was in fact due to another condition, Myofascial Pain Syndrome, (MPS). Apparently, the consultant at NUH has conveniently attributed the pain to DDD since it was reflected in the MRI. In actual fact, the pain had nothing to do with DDD and it's simply an inflammed muscle/ soft tissues possibly from an accident (I'm thinking of the leg spraining incident in April and it all adds up! Especially since I've been experiencing pain from then!). Nice~
Another encouraging fact: instead of just telling me to take care of my body posture, blah blah, there was actually a treatment option to this condition! (Hooray~) So Dr Lee proceeded to use Localized injectionS to numb the pain and treat the inflammed soft tissues (well, it's my lower right hip to be exact). Hm, interesting fact to note: the injections consist of BOTOX, local anaesthetic and steriods! (Hee.. cool, botox to my ass.. does that make it firmer???)Best of all, he injected so many times that I lost count. (He said seven in total. T_T) Geesh, it was really really painful... =(
Well, the prognosis is really positive. If nothing goes wrong, I should be completely healed within a month, after the injections and a series of physiotherapy sessions. Dr Lee did offer me the option of either doing it at NUH (NO WAY~) or at the clinic. Of course, after all the bad experiences at NUH, I'm definitely not going back! So, he lined up a series of 5 sessions over the next 3 weeks! Can't wait to be pain free!!!
Of course, while I am really glad to finally have answers and most importantly, solutions, my pocket surely isn't. The consultation today comes up to about $450 and the 5 physio sessions will add up to almost $1k. Seriously, thank god for insurance!!!
On a separate note, I find myself losing confidence in doctors. I don't really know who to believe anymore. On one hand, I'm choosing to believe what Dr Lee has told me. Maybe it's because, he offered me a solution, not just a diagnosis. On the other hand, the consultant at NUH only offered me a diagnosis and left me helpless after that. Thus, I do not want to believe him. (Geesh, it's called self-deception ba...)
It's scary how doctors have such varying diagnosis and I really don't know who to believe. I honestly don't know who is right or wrong but for now, I'm definitely placing my hopes on a complete recovery!
Wish me luck!
Headed there after my physiotherapy at NUH (Was pretty good and the pain went away for say, an hour?). The wait was pretty quick (duh...) and the doctor, Dr Lee, was really nice and patient. Well, a piece of good news at last. Turns out that the Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) was actually an accidental discovery. Which means, the pain I've been experiencing was not actually caused by the changes in my spinal disc. It was in fact due to another condition, Myofascial Pain Syndrome, (MPS). Apparently, the consultant at NUH has conveniently attributed the pain to DDD since it was reflected in the MRI. In actual fact, the pain had nothing to do with DDD and it's simply an inflammed muscle/ soft tissues possibly from an accident (I'm thinking of the leg spraining incident in April and it all adds up! Especially since I've been experiencing pain from then!). Nice~
Another encouraging fact: instead of just telling me to take care of my body posture, blah blah, there was actually a treatment option to this condition! (Hooray~) So Dr Lee proceeded to use Localized injectionS to numb the pain and treat the inflammed soft tissues (well, it's my lower right hip to be exact). Hm, interesting fact to note: the injections consist of BOTOX, local anaesthetic and steriods! (Hee.. cool, botox to my ass.. does that make it firmer???)Best of all, he injected so many times that I lost count. (He said seven in total. T_T) Geesh, it was really really painful... =(
Well, the prognosis is really positive. If nothing goes wrong, I should be completely healed within a month, after the injections and a series of physiotherapy sessions. Dr Lee did offer me the option of either doing it at NUH (NO WAY~) or at the clinic. Of course, after all the bad experiences at NUH, I'm definitely not going back! So, he lined up a series of 5 sessions over the next 3 weeks! Can't wait to be pain free!!!
Of course, while I am really glad to finally have answers and most importantly, solutions, my pocket surely isn't. The consultation today comes up to about $450 and the 5 physio sessions will add up to almost $1k. Seriously, thank god for insurance!!!
On a separate note, I find myself losing confidence in doctors. I don't really know who to believe anymore. On one hand, I'm choosing to believe what Dr Lee has told me. Maybe it's because, he offered me a solution, not just a diagnosis. On the other hand, the consultant at NUH only offered me a diagnosis and left me helpless after that. Thus, I do not want to believe him. (Geesh, it's called self-deception ba...)
It's scary how doctors have such varying diagnosis and I really don't know who to believe. I honestly don't know who is right or wrong but for now, I'm definitely placing my hopes on a complete recovery!
Wish me luck!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Back Pain... (Part 3)
Backpain aside, this is going to be a complaint entry. (You will get what I mean.)
So, I went for my 2nd appointment with a Senior Consultant at NUH. And no surprise, it took us (Mom insisted on coming) about ½ hour to get into the carpark. But again, what’s new. The annoying part was that there were still plenty of empty lots for us to choose from!!! Damn the lousy parking system. Why did it say “FULL” when there were plenty of lots left? What a waste of my time~
Anyway, despite the long wait at the carpark, I was early for my appointment. After the mere 10 minutes wait for my first visit, I was somewhat expecting a short waiting time this time too. Boy was I wrong. I waited for one whole hour before it was finally my turn. Even after I was called into the consultation room, I simply sat inside the empty room, waiting (AGAIN) for the doctor to return for god-knows-where. Wtf~
He finally came (maybe, after 10 minutes?) and when he opened my file, he stood up and approached his nurse and said “I thought you said this is a follow-up case.. I’ve not seen her before.. It’s a new case… why did you say that it’s a follow-up case.” He clearly seemed annoyed about the fact that they screwed up. (Oh, was I invisible?) Well, I’m sure glad they screwed up. I’m pretty sure I will end up waiting longer if they realized I was a new case. Stupid NUH. So, anyway, he went on to discuss the diagnosis. Nothing new, just things I could read off the net – It’s a common condition, no cure, just prevention it from deteriorating , nothing serious, just live with it. Take care of your back, can consider Pilates and one session of physiotherapy for you. Open date for next appointment, if required. Oh ya, lastly, some pain killers and cream for my use too. Period.
As I walked out of the clinic, I requested two items from the doctor – A doctor’s letter (For insurance purposes) and an excuse sheet. The wait at the cashier was pretty quick as I had signed up for a Zoom function in NUH that would credit my bill to my credit card. (So, I get to skip the cashier line and wait for the bill to be mailed to me.) The cashier handed me my doctor’s letter and prescription and informed me that I could get my medication at the pharmacy. I sent my mom to the pharmacy while I enquired about the physio. The nurse was like “ Erm, the doc mentioned about physio? Let me check.” Fine. She came back with a slip of paper and informed me that the physio department will be contacting me about my appointment. I took it and headed over to the pharmacy.
My mom saw me and informed me that the pharmacy’s computer system is down (What?!) and it would require about 30 minutes to get the medication. I had absolutely enough of waiting and decided to forgo the medication, it’s just pain killers anyway. So we approached the pharmacist and requested to retrieve our prescription. The ultra rude pharmacist was like, “We have packed your medication, we cannot retrieve your prescription now.” Duh~ Since you had packed it, couldn’t you pass it to me then? Apparently not. So, I got really annoyed and was about to flare up when my mom interfered. I don’t quite recall what happened after that except that my prescription appeared from thin air and I got it back. Piece of shit~
Since I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of the place, we headed to the carpark. As my mom was driving out, she suddenly reminded me if I had taken an excuse sheet. SHIT. I did mention but they did not pass it to me and I had forgotten about it too! (Well, it’s 50% fault on each side on this, since I should have reminded them.)
So my mom dropped me off at the pickup point and continued to circle the area while waiting for me. I went back to the clinic and requested for my excuse sheet. It took them almost 15 minutes to get me a sheet of paper. When it came, the nurse handed me an MC. (That does it.) I glared at her and mentioned that I did not want an MC, I wanted an excuse sheet! She looked at me and answered that “There’s no excuse sheet, only MC.” I told her fiercely that I wanted an EXCUSE sheet, not MC. She stepped back towards her colleagues and started whispering some shit and the only words I heard her asking them was “what is her queue number.” The 3 of them started fiddling with forms in front of them as if they were trying to find my queue number. (Am I invisitble???) I got really pissed and snapped. “You want my queue number right? It’s 1550!”. That particular nurse acknowledged and quickly slipped away.
My blood was seriously boiling. My mom was calling my mobile anxiously as she had been chased several times by the security guard at the drop off point. After another wait, the nurse came back with the excuse sheet. She tucked it her colleague who was walking by and signaled for her to pass it to me. (Once again, am I invisitble???) Geesh… she could have passed it to me herself! How rude.
The whole ordeal took more than half hour and I would have gotten my medication should I have known how long I had to wait for my excuse sheet. I guess my first visit was a total deception. I was actually fooled into believing that hospitals are more efficient now. Lousy service and looooooooong wait for this time. To think I actually paid private rate and that costs me a BOMB!
Irritated! I'm done with NUH. After the physiotherapy, I'm not going back there again!
So, I went for my 2nd appointment with a Senior Consultant at NUH. And no surprise, it took us (Mom insisted on coming) about ½ hour to get into the carpark. But again, what’s new. The annoying part was that there were still plenty of empty lots for us to choose from!!! Damn the lousy parking system. Why did it say “FULL” when there were plenty of lots left? What a waste of my time~
Anyway, despite the long wait at the carpark, I was early for my appointment. After the mere 10 minutes wait for my first visit, I was somewhat expecting a short waiting time this time too. Boy was I wrong. I waited for one whole hour before it was finally my turn. Even after I was called into the consultation room, I simply sat inside the empty room, waiting (AGAIN) for the doctor to return for god-knows-where. Wtf~
He finally came (maybe, after 10 minutes?) and when he opened my file, he stood up and approached his nurse and said “I thought you said this is a follow-up case.. I’ve not seen her before.. It’s a new case… why did you say that it’s a follow-up case.” He clearly seemed annoyed about the fact that they screwed up. (Oh, was I invisible?) Well, I’m sure glad they screwed up. I’m pretty sure I will end up waiting longer if they realized I was a new case. Stupid NUH. So, anyway, he went on to discuss the diagnosis. Nothing new, just things I could read off the net – It’s a common condition, no cure, just prevention it from deteriorating , nothing serious, just live with it. Take care of your back, can consider Pilates and one session of physiotherapy for you. Open date for next appointment, if required. Oh ya, lastly, some pain killers and cream for my use too. Period.
As I walked out of the clinic, I requested two items from the doctor – A doctor’s letter (For insurance purposes) and an excuse sheet. The wait at the cashier was pretty quick as I had signed up for a Zoom function in NUH that would credit my bill to my credit card. (So, I get to skip the cashier line and wait for the bill to be mailed to me.) The cashier handed me my doctor’s letter and prescription and informed me that I could get my medication at the pharmacy. I sent my mom to the pharmacy while I enquired about the physio. The nurse was like “ Erm, the doc mentioned about physio? Let me check.” Fine. She came back with a slip of paper and informed me that the physio department will be contacting me about my appointment. I took it and headed over to the pharmacy.
My mom saw me and informed me that the pharmacy’s computer system is down (What?!) and it would require about 30 minutes to get the medication. I had absolutely enough of waiting and decided to forgo the medication, it’s just pain killers anyway. So we approached the pharmacist and requested to retrieve our prescription. The ultra rude pharmacist was like, “We have packed your medication, we cannot retrieve your prescription now.” Duh~ Since you had packed it, couldn’t you pass it to me then? Apparently not. So, I got really annoyed and was about to flare up when my mom interfered. I don’t quite recall what happened after that except that my prescription appeared from thin air and I got it back. Piece of shit~
Since I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of the place, we headed to the carpark. As my mom was driving out, she suddenly reminded me if I had taken an excuse sheet. SHIT. I did mention but they did not pass it to me and I had forgotten about it too! (Well, it’s 50% fault on each side on this, since I should have reminded them.)
So my mom dropped me off at the pickup point and continued to circle the area while waiting for me. I went back to the clinic and requested for my excuse sheet. It took them almost 15 minutes to get me a sheet of paper. When it came, the nurse handed me an MC. (That does it.) I glared at her and mentioned that I did not want an MC, I wanted an excuse sheet! She looked at me and answered that “There’s no excuse sheet, only MC.” I told her fiercely that I wanted an EXCUSE sheet, not MC. She stepped back towards her colleagues and started whispering some shit and the only words I heard her asking them was “what is her queue number.” The 3 of them started fiddling with forms in front of them as if they were trying to find my queue number. (Am I invisitble???) I got really pissed and snapped. “You want my queue number right? It’s 1550!”. That particular nurse acknowledged and quickly slipped away.
My blood was seriously boiling. My mom was calling my mobile anxiously as she had been chased several times by the security guard at the drop off point. After another wait, the nurse came back with the excuse sheet. She tucked it her colleague who was walking by and signaled for her to pass it to me. (Once again, am I invisitble???) Geesh… she could have passed it to me herself! How rude.
The whole ordeal took more than half hour and I would have gotten my medication should I have known how long I had to wait for my excuse sheet. I guess my first visit was a total deception. I was actually fooled into believing that hospitals are more efficient now. Lousy service and looooooooong wait for this time. To think I actually paid private rate and that costs me a BOMB!
Irritated! I'm done with NUH. After the physiotherapy, I'm not going back there again!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Back Pain... (Part 2)
I was tempted to skip the consultation today. Well, after all, most of the pain went away over the weekend. (at least I was able to bend to wear my socks.) After thinking about how much more naggng I am going get from Mr Lim and my mom, I decided to go ahead with it.
Headed over to NUH and waited almost 1/2 hour for a parking space. -_-" (It's time for NUH to expand their carpark.) Best of all, I chose the wrong carpark and ended up having to walk a good 10 mins to get to the correct clinic and of course, I was already late for my appointment. Since I was afterall referred from GP, I ended up paying private rate and didn't have to wait more than 10 mins before my turn. (Sigh, $$ does help, doesn't it..)
The consultant was pretty cute and really nice. Did some routine checks and then, dropped the bomb on me. He suspected that it might be a slipped disc. (0_0).. and recommended for me to go for an MRI. He went on to explain about the condition and added that I should avoid strenuous physical exercise (My heart sank~ no bball?!) and that he will be referring me to his colleague who is the spine specialist (My heart sank again.. no more cute doctor?!)..
Sigh... what a day.. While I was waiting for the nurse to fix up an appointment for me to do my MRI, I wasn't very worried about my condition, more concerned if it means that I need to retire from Bball. Nooooooooooo...
Anyway, NUH's next slot for MRI was in August and Paragon's was tmr morning (Can't afford so much time off from work la.. ), so I settled for MRI at Raffles Hospital (Again..). The nurse briefly explained the procedure and highlighted the cost. A MRI cost $750 w/o GST. (My heart sank for the 3rd time.. wtf~~). Thank god for insurance...
MRI was a pretty unique experience. It probably most resembled lying in a white lit coffin that was buried in a construction site. Really noisy and cramp, and of course, my size didn't help. LOL. While, I'm sure glad I ain't that claustrophobic and even managed to fall asleep amidst the loud banging and bright light. Anyway, the report was out within an hour (Really cool, came in the format of a CD and three X-ray films with 16 scans on each film. I'll definitely keep it for keepsake. =P) and while I did not quite understand the terms used (Do doctors speak english?), it appeared that I might not have had a slipped disc afterall (phew~), more of a Degenerative Disc Disease.
Of course, I went back to google again and found that the symptoms was amazingly accurate. Things like severe pain that comes and goes and pain that goes away when I'm doing sports (does it mean I can continue to play ball?) were exactly what I have been experiencing.
Sigh, nonetheless, guess I will just have to wait till the next appointment with the consultant before I can get any conclusion.
=/
Bball this friday?
Headed over to NUH and waited almost 1/2 hour for a parking space. -_-" (It's time for NUH to expand their carpark.) Best of all, I chose the wrong carpark and ended up having to walk a good 10 mins to get to the correct clinic and of course, I was already late for my appointment. Since I was afterall referred from GP, I ended up paying private rate and didn't have to wait more than 10 mins before my turn. (Sigh, $$ does help, doesn't it..)
The consultant was pretty cute and really nice. Did some routine checks and then, dropped the bomb on me. He suspected that it might be a slipped disc. (0_0).. and recommended for me to go for an MRI. He went on to explain about the condition and added that I should avoid strenuous physical exercise (My heart sank~ no bball?!) and that he will be referring me to his colleague who is the spine specialist (My heart sank again.. no more cute doctor?!)..
Sigh... what a day.. While I was waiting for the nurse to fix up an appointment for me to do my MRI, I wasn't very worried about my condition, more concerned if it means that I need to retire from Bball. Nooooooooooo...
Anyway, NUH's next slot for MRI was in August and Paragon's was tmr morning (Can't afford so much time off from work la.. ), so I settled for MRI at Raffles Hospital (Again..). The nurse briefly explained the procedure and highlighted the cost. A MRI cost $750 w/o GST. (My heart sank for the 3rd time.. wtf~~). Thank god for insurance...
MRI was a pretty unique experience. It probably most resembled lying in a white lit coffin that was buried in a construction site. Really noisy and cramp, and of course, my size didn't help. LOL. While, I'm sure glad I ain't that claustrophobic and even managed to fall asleep amidst the loud banging and bright light. Anyway, the report was out within an hour (Really cool, came in the format of a CD and three X-ray films with 16 scans on each film. I'll definitely keep it for keepsake. =P) and while I did not quite understand the terms used (Do doctors speak english?), it appeared that I might not have had a slipped disc afterall (phew~), more of a Degenerative Disc Disease.
Of course, I went back to google again and found that the symptoms was amazingly accurate. Things like severe pain that comes and goes and pain that goes away when I'm doing sports (does it mean I can continue to play ball?) were exactly what I have been experiencing.
Sigh, nonetheless, guess I will just have to wait till the next appointment with the consultant before I can get any conclusion.
=/
Bball this friday?
Friday, July 3, 2009
Back Pain.. (Part 1)
So, I have had a nagging back pain (primarily on my right hip) for the past couple of months.. Didn't take it to heart much since the pain lasted no longer than a couple of hours and wasn't really disruptive. I simply made a mental note to see a doctor someday. Since the pain came and went, I didn't think much of it and didn't get around seeing the doc. Sigh, the pain did become worst eventually and I finally decided to take some timeout from work to visit the clinic nearby...
Well, no surprises, the GP wasn't able to come up with any conclusion and sent me for an X-ray at Raffles Hospital. Took two hours time off and got Mr Lim to send me to the hospital.(I was barely able to walk, not to mention that bending down and wearing my socks nearly killed me. I was actually tempted to walk out barefooted.) Waited almost 2 hours for my X-ray and result and of course, no fracture was detected on my hip.
Crawled to work the next day with the X-ray result and saw a different GP from the same clinic. Well, his conclusion was that my hip is fine and it's most likely just muscle ache. Honestly, I wasn't quite convinced. I mean, I have experienced muscle aches all my life, but the pain this time round is different. Well, the GP then recommended me to visit a orthopedic specialist for a more detailed diagnosis. Sigh, why not.. so, I fixed up for an appointment with a consultant in NUH on tues.
The two visits to the clinic and the x-ray cost me a whooping $80 bucks. The funny thing was, there was a 10% discount for OCBC cards for the medical fees. (wth..) oh well, at least I get a discount..
Meanwhile, I went back to google about Hip injuries and the common symptoms. Sigh, seems like the majority of people suffering from the symptoms are aged 55 and above. Diaoz~
Oh well, shall see what the doc says...
Well, no surprises, the GP wasn't able to come up with any conclusion and sent me for an X-ray at Raffles Hospital. Took two hours time off and got Mr Lim to send me to the hospital.(I was barely able to walk, not to mention that bending down and wearing my socks nearly killed me. I was actually tempted to walk out barefooted.) Waited almost 2 hours for my X-ray and result and of course, no fracture was detected on my hip.
Crawled to work the next day with the X-ray result and saw a different GP from the same clinic. Well, his conclusion was that my hip is fine and it's most likely just muscle ache. Honestly, I wasn't quite convinced. I mean, I have experienced muscle aches all my life, but the pain this time round is different. Well, the GP then recommended me to visit a orthopedic specialist for a more detailed diagnosis. Sigh, why not.. so, I fixed up for an appointment with a consultant in NUH on tues.
The two visits to the clinic and the x-ray cost me a whooping $80 bucks. The funny thing was, there was a 10% discount for OCBC cards for the medical fees. (wth..) oh well, at least I get a discount..
Meanwhile, I went back to google about Hip injuries and the common symptoms. Sigh, seems like the majority of people suffering from the symptoms are aged 55 and above. Diaoz~
Oh well, shall see what the doc says...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)