Hospitals, hospitals, hospitals

In the past six weeks, I've been seeing the inside of hospitals for far too many times. Don't get me wrong: I'm not sick. Touch wood!

No, I've been going to the hospitals with my relatives. First, it was my aunt, the one that stays with us. She had been having eye problems since the end of January and I've been taking her to the clinics around here but since there was no improvement, I took her to the KPJ Penang Specialist Hospital on the mainland. She was warded and the hospital fed here antibiotics intravenously for two days.

However, her condition did not seem to improve and I took her for a second opinion at the LohGuanLye Specialist Centre on the island. I'm glad to say that the treatment here proved to be more acceptable and there has been a vast improvement. I'm taking her for a follow-up this afternoon and I hope to hear from the doctor that there's no reason to come back again.

I would have thought this week would be the last of my pre-occupation with the private hospitals but no, on Tuesday it was the turn of my father-in-law.

Got a call from my mother-in-law at about 6 o'clock in the afternoon telling me that my brother-in-law was rushing him to the KPJ Penang Specialist Centre. He seemed weak and disoriented, she said, and she was fearful that he could have a recurrence of some health problem suffered several years ago.

So off they went to the hospital from Simpang Ampat and I went separately from home. He was warded as a precaution but the medical officer on duty allayed our fears that it could be a stroke. But he was highly feverish and that probably contributed to his disorientation.

Anyway, he has recovered. His temperature has gone back to normal and he was duly discharged. The official diagnosis is viral infection but I think a big contributory factor was the heat. I was told that he had been out walking under the hot afternoon sun for three days. Not a very good thing to do.