Peadiatric Day 1

I wanted to write about something of a brighter tone, something motivational, I had been blogging so much sad stories, my readers must be getting depressed as they read on... but somehow, I realized, the hospitals are full of sad stories. Stories that challenged your emotions as you try to put on a brave professional upfront.

Peadiatrics was fun! is fun! The kids especially, as they looked into your eyes saying, ‘Jie, play with me’... smiling at you, innocently, genuinely, the baby lived in his fantasy world,.. I loved doing DA with them! (DA=Developmental Assessment, as series of games which can estimate whether a child’s development is delayed). Every baby is unique.. but behind those smiles, hid a story...

Last month, I’ve seen an abandoned baby, then an abandoned schizophrenia patient, and this week, an abandoned child, and later even more sad stories..

Sulaiman, a 54 weeks old boy, delivered at home via spontaneous vertex delivery. He was delivered at home and his Indonesian mother later brought him to the hospital, left him there, and ran away. He was premature, ill, and abandoned with the doctors were resuscitating him... yes, his mother left him while he was still crying, in respiratory distress.

He was intubated and ventilated. The first few days were miserable, the subsequent days weren’t any better. He suffered from multiple problems: chronic lung disease, retinopathy of prematurity on the right eye(leading to blindness), and bilateral severe sensory neural hearing loss (deaf on both ears), GERD, delayed developmental milestones, poor growth and worse of all, suffered from a life without a family.

My friends and I bought him some toys the other day. While other kids had overflowing toys, Sulaiman had none. Dr Juriza said that he lived in an environment deprived of stimulus. The doctor wanted to offer him the benefit of Cochlear Implants, but it would be difficult for him as rehabilitation, which is very important, is difficult for this patient. Sad, isn’t it? He will be transferred to Tunku Ampuan Hajihah Homes. I hope that his life would be better there.

.....praying that he would be nurtured into a big strong tree.....