A hospital experience

Well I have just had my first 'emergency' experience in HK and I must say I am impressed with the hospital service here. It's much better than reports in the media suggest. Since Friday evening I had been getting sporadic chest pains and felt breathless. The feeling got worse on Saturday and by Saturday afternoon it was very bad. I went to St Peter's Hospital in Causeway Bay but the waiting time was more than 3 hours. I gave up and went home. I struggled along to Delaney's for the Spurs debacle but left early. By 1.30am the pain was terrible and I was really unable to breathe. It felt like I was having a very prolonged heart attack and was advised by a friend to call an ambulance. So, for the first time since being a teenager (motorbike accident), I found myself in an ambulance being rushed to a hospital - Ruttonjee Hospital in Wanchai. What was funny (well, not so at the time), was that the first emergency service vehicle to arrive where I was waiting was a fire engine. Its sirens were on full blast even though the road was devoid of traffic. Apparently firefighters have some paramedic training and can provide immediate assistance. I had visions of being driven to hospital in the back of a fire truck between the ladders and hoses. However, a few minutes later an ambulance arrived. The service I received was very good and after a battery of tests at the hospital, the doctor declared I would live (yeah) and that what he suspected I was suffering from was something called Costochondritis. According to the web this is a condition that "causes chest pain due to inflammation of the cartilage and bones in the chest wall. This cartilage can become irritated and inflamed. Depending on the extent of the inflammation, costochondritis can be quite painful." Quite painful - an understatement!! I was kept in for observation and now I am at home on painkillers and hopefully this will clear up soon. A bit of a wasted weekend but at least I now know the hospital system works well. And the cost HK$100. Not bad at all.

thats really scary news John. Hope you make a very speedy recovery and just take it easy (or as easy as you can) over the next few days.

Glad the hospital system is good tho!

All the best
Lou xx

Oi mate - take it easy squire - plenty of R.E.S.T is the order of the day - OK!!

That's a scary one John. Take care of yourself and hope you feel better soon. Stay away from the telly on Friday morning. Spurs at the moment are no good for people in your condition.

ezza wrote:

That's a scary one John. Take care of yourself and hope you feel better soon. Stay away from the telly on Friday morning. Spurs at the moment are no good for people in your condition.

Cheers mate, but Spurs are not good for anyone in any condition most of the time :-) Anyway, I'm fine - amazing what painkillers can do :-)

Good to hear all is well John. I've kept the voicemail message describing how you were waiting for an ambulance. Scared the crap out of me ! I thought at the time it might be the last words you ever utter !

I entirely agree about public health care in HK. They deal with genuine emergencies efficiently.

Get well soon John, sorry to hear about the scare. You didn't look too good on Saturday night and I think you're eyesight was also playing up as you said that you thought I'd lost weight! Might want to get that checked too...

Get plenty of rest so we can see you back on form ASAP.

Good to hear you are on the mend John, I saw on the web this -

It is often difficult to indentify a single cause of costochondritis. This condition is thought to be bost commonly due to repetitive microtrauma

repetitive microtrauma - sounds like the dictionary deffinition of being a spurs fan to me!

I wonder if they will start asking who you support on medical insurance forms soon?

Sorry to hear about that experience John. Glad to hear you're feeling much better now. Take it easy, mate!

That's scary John. Get well soon mate!

Given you have already signed up for the quiz night tomorrow, I assume you are back to normal now!

John... glad to hear everything seems fine now, mustaphbin frightening... no more watching tottenham for a few months for you methinks!

Barry Lineker wrote:

Good to hear you are on the mend John, I saw on the web this -

It is often difficult to indentify a single cause of costochondritis. This condition is thought to be bost commonly due to repetitive microtrauma

repetitive microtrauma - sounds like the dictionary deffinition of being a spurs fan to me!

I wonder if they will start asking who you support on medical insurance forms soon?

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'm sure I read somewhere once before that Tottenham is the most stressful of PL teams to watch.

U TAKE CARE JOHN, HOPE WE CAN C U SOON. MAY BE THIS SAT AFTERNOON IN HV OR NITE IN THE BAR? I WILL BUY U A DRINK, BUT SINCE U R IN THIS CONDITION, I CAN ONLY BUY U A WARM WATER RIGHT NOW.

can we have an update John, how is it going? been pestering any more nurses recently?

Janek wrote:

can we have an update John, how is it going? been pestering any more nurses recently?

Ha ha - I guess it's the last question you're most interested in - you filthy beast! Actually, I do vaguely remember one of the nurses holding my hand and telling me I had lovely blue eyes

I was in hospital the night of the Birmingham game and then spent a couple of days on painkillers trying to struggle on. I went to work on Mon and Tues but then found myself back in the A & E of Ruttonjee Hospital at 2am on Weds morning. Knowing that I wasn't suffering a heart attack, but being in immense pain nonetheless, I took a taxi instead of going through the full drama of ambulance, sirens et al. Once again I have to say the treatment I received was top-class but sadly no nurse praising my eyes this time. Like the first time, I had a raft of tests and once again the diagnosis was the same. This time I was prescribed very strong painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs and told to rest as much as possible. I didn't need second telling as the slightest movement left me totally breathless and clutching my chest dramatically. So it was a week off work - first sick leave in 8 years of living in HK - off booze, and basically off life for much of the time. Never have I been so utterly bored. Was back at work today and feeling very tentative about everything. My students were fantastic and really welcomed me back. They must really enjoy all those Spurs songs I teach them and the youtube clips I show

So, in a nutshell, it seems like this will take a few weeks to clear, in time I hope, for the mega party when we win the UEFA Cup (errrrr, hopefully).

PS My request for home assistance from the HK Young Nurses Association was, unfairly in my opinion, rejected, so if those Russian ballerinas are still lodging at Chez Janek and have any spare time, I could do with some tender loving care

PPS We could do with some nurses emoticons :-)

Glad to hear it. Make sure you take it nice and easy - slowly slowly catchy monkey.

I'll speak to the ballerinas and see if they can find nurses outfits. However, on second thoughts, this might give you a heart attack. I suppose at least you'd pass on with a smile on your face...