Have you ever been abducted in an ambulance?
I have.
This happened just last Thursday.
Ever since I had my very first body checkup in 2017 (thanks to some discount vouchers on Munchy biscuits' packaging), my blood readings have always been erratic. Other readings were fine but my haemoglobin, blood count, MCV, PCV, MPV, SUV, ABCDE (for the lack of knowledge on the right acronyms) and all that always proved to be a problem. And this has consistently been the case for all subsequent tests. Yet, I felt fine. Or so I thought.
Then COVID came, and everything was put on hold. I stopped thinking about any medical check-up. There were just too many other more pressing things to follow up in life. After all, I felt fine. Or so I thought.
A few weeks ago, a doctor remarked that I looked very pale and asked me to do a blood test. I figured it could be time to finally undergo a checkup since the last one was back in 2019. Sure enough, when the results came back, my haemoglobin was low - a mere 6.5.
Oh, of course I didn't know what was considered low, but the doctor had immediately issued a referral letter and asked me to get admitted into a hospital to undergo a blood transfusion. I thought she was exaggerating, so I kept the letter untouched for another two weeks. Well, I didn't experience any breathlessness, palpitations, dizziness, brain fog, or any of those things which supposedly accompanied severe anemia. As I said, I felt fine. Or so I thought.
Yet I had to admit, that somewhere at the back of my mind, I was a bit concerned. Maybe I should not take this too lightly. My church pastor has been bugging me to go for a check-up for ages because having gone through a bad round of anemia herself, she recognised the same symptoms that I was displaying. She had wanted to spare me from going through her experience.
But the very thought of a blood transfusion TERRIFIED me.... I am not even used to sharing food/drinks with other people's saliva, so you can imagine how traumatising it is for me to imagine having some unknown stranger's blood running through my veins.
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| This beautiful artwork from Katie Underkoffler clearly illustrates what I felt on the receiving end... |
As I mulled over other options besides transfusion, I tried asking random friends and everyone around me how to boost the reading for my haemoglobin quickly. I knew I needed to see the doctor again or go to the hospital etc., and I urgently needed my readings to be up and running by then so that I can evade the most dreadful thing ... a blood transfusion.
I tried some of their suggestions, from consuming liver and cockles to drinking red dates boiled in water but I doubted its speed and effectiveness...
It was on a Wednesday morning when my former churchmate who is now a pastor elsewhere randomly texted me. Yes, we do keep in contact now and then, but that particular morning, when she said she was praying for me, I felt compelled to tell her about my concerns regarding my haemoglobin. Because her dad goes for regular blood transfusions, she asked if it was alright for her to consult a doctor she knows on my behalf. I thought, sure, why not? I mean, after all, I had been desperately searching for a friend or relative who is a doctor, who can advise me what to do.
The answer I received after mentioning that my haemoglobin reading was a 6.5, was to go immediately to a hospital for a transfusion. It was too low, and nothing else could help besides a transfusion.
My heart sank.
That same afternoon, my brother planned to drop by the Klinik Kesihatan for his own medication and I requested that he squeeze in a question about my condition to see if there was any alternative to a transfusion.
There wasn't.
The doctor said it was too low. The only way was for a transfusion.
And so, since I had some time to spare before my afternoon classes that following day, I decided to take a trip to the Klinik Kesihatan myself to negotiate for other alternatives to a blood transfusion. I had even managed to have a delicious lunch with my family before they dropped me off at the Klinik Kesihatan while they went grocery shopping. The plan was to swing over to pick me up after my consultation.
But that was precisely when the horror began...
After showing the doctor my blood test reading (and the referral letter that had conveniently fallen out of the file), the doctor started scolding me and asked why I had waited for so long before going there. She then told me to pray really hard that the reading had gone up, because if not, she would send me straight to the hospital.
My blood test result came back even worse on that day ... It had dropped further to a 6.0! What did one expect after a round of menses?
The next thing I knew, she said, "Ikut saya!"
She then brought me to a room where another medical officer again scolded me as he complained about my pale hand while sticking a needle into it. "How is it possible to not know that you are anemic?!! Look at your complexion."
I answered sheepishly, "I thought I was just fair."
While waiting for the ambulance to Hospital Kajang, I was thinking to myself, "This is just so unreal. I am sure I will wake up from this horrid dream." At the same time, I was trying to come up with ways to NOT get onto the ambulance:
a) I offered to go to HUKM instead. I said my brother would drive me there.
b) I told them if not, I would still go to Kajang Hospital, as stated, but in my own vehicle.
c) I asked if I could wait for my family members to arrive first.
But all to no avail.
I had been abducted!!!
The next thing I knew, I found myself climbing into the ambulance with two other patients. They seemed weak and in a daze, as they held their own IV drip in their hand. As for me, I think I was just 100 percent confused.
Wait a minute, is this what brain fog is all about?!! If it is, then I must be anemic, after all!
Packed with a bag full of students' homework to mark and nothing else, I sat in the most dejected manner at the back seat of the ambulance, trying really hard to process the situation.
"Please don't turn on the siren. Please don't turn on the siren. Please let me gather my thoughts peacefully. Please. Please. Please."
But the bloody defiant sirens went off full blast!
I didn't know how to break the news to my family members who assumed that they would be picking me up after their shopping trip. How do I tell them that I was in an ambulance, with the sirens, on the way to Kajang Hospital? Oh dear!
The sirens were loud. The ride was bumpy. The view was not spectacular. The traffic was horrid. People from the other cars were staring into the ambulance. My heart was palpitating, I felt faint and breathless, my mind was foggy, etc. and suddenly ALL of the anemia symptoms started racing in at once.
But I guess all these feelings were just temporal. It didn't take too long before I started to calm down, lean back in my chair, put on my sunglasses, and enjoy the ride. I mean, even if I was abducted, there wasn't anything left to do at that point, was there?
When we arrived at the Hospital, I hopped off the ambulance in my most active manner. The staff weren't sure if I was a guardian who was merely accompanying another patient, or if I was the patient herself. That was, till they saw the tell-tale needle stuck on top of my hand.
I spent 12 hours in the crowded emergency room that day. And despite pouring forth all my powers of negotiation, I still ended up with a 2-night stay, 1 pint of stranger's blood, a big pack of iron drip, and a whole lot of appointments to follow up. All these were first-time experiences for me.
If you asked me how I feel right now, I'll just say, "I feel fine." Or so I think. ;)
I would love to tell you more about the condition in the emergency room and the hospital ward, but let's just save that for another day, instead. All these writing is leaving this anemic patient feeling slightly fatigued.
Have a great weekend!
