CGH
today. 8.15am. Changi General Hospital Occupational Therapy Unit. was referred there by the MO during my ORD FFI for my finger injury.
arrived at 8.12 and proceeded to the resgistration counter where i was in-processed by this nurse who was obviously new on the job. took so long just to print out a couple of stickers and start a new file. then was directed to the OT room to wait for a therapist to speak to me. was this huge, clinically white and sterile looking room with many tables set in a messy-yet-not-quite fashion. weird instruments littered the place. some scanner-thing and this buzzing whirring machine sat happily in a corner. two guys were there with their arms stuck inside the machine. they looked happy go i guess it wasn’t painful. lots of colourful toys too. bead things on convulated tracks. place reminded me of this testing lab where human subjects would be observed by Big Brother through hidden cameras.
Senior Occupational Therapist Vicki Pang spake unto me, “So, uh tell me about your problem.”
And told her I did. old injury blah blah then she started meddling with my finger and said there wasn’t really much she could do since the injury was 2 years old… if i wanted a higher chance of recovery a hand surgeon was in order; and she said she could try to put it in a splint (read: bind it to the next finger) for THREE MONTHS. jeez. well, not exactly three months. she’d have to review the situation once every week for a month or so, and if nothing seemed o be happening, we’d go for three months. i expressed my concern over the fact that i’d have to live with the functional equivalent of 8 fingers for 3 months so she said, “well, we could have you only put it on at night… when you sleep.”
i thought about it long and hard, and decided not to esp after she told me even <i>then</i> there were no guarantees.
“so, uh, what if i choose to discontinue the programme right now?”
she tested my grip strength and asked me if i experienced any difficulties with my finger the way it was. i said no, and she went, “well, in my opinion if you experience no functional problems with your finger then there IS no problem.”
hmm… words of the wise. so she closed my file on the spot and wished me happy day.
Gary @ 30 May 2002 :: Old Deadjournal posts :: No Comments »