Friday, August 08, 2003

i've got a fever! i'm hot! i can't be stopped...

that was what i smsed to my teacher mentor, civics tutor, housemistress and project work group leader yesterday morning at approx 6:40am.

okay, minus the "i'm hot! i can't be stopped!" bit of course.

yep, my wish to finally become REALLY sick (with fever and the works) came true yesterday when i woke up with a throbbing headache. i took my temperature and, to my horror, it was 37.7 degrees Celcius. great. that means i don't have to go to school.

for once i wish i did have to go school cuz it's the discovery fiesta, and i had three courses lined up for the day. but heck. at least i'm sick now and not two weeks before the finals.

so, i stayed in, recording my temperature every hour or so. it rose steadily, and when it went up to 38.3, i got scared. i mean, with the sars and all...who wouldn't be, right? but i knew it wasn't anything serious cuz i had a bad bad sore throat two days before and the fever's probably due to throat infection.

well...went to the doctor's for the sake of getting a MC for the day. it was unnecessary, really, cuz my self-diagnosis was true and i was once again cheated by a doctor. it's so syok being a doc at a polyclinic, you know. if the patient says cough, you give her cough syrup. sore throat, lozenges. fever, paracetamol. and then charge her S$8.60. sheesh.

but that wasn't the interesting part. once i got to the clinic, the nurse doing the sars screening thing asked me, "fever?" at my reply of "yes" she gave me a mask, pinched the mask at the bridge of my nose and said sternly, "do not remove this mask within the clinic, got it?" fine. she then went on to ask me the usual sars-related questions before giving me a yellow sticker (yellow! that was scary, cuz everyone else got green!) and directing me to the counter where i meekly pressed a button and sat down.

what came next was the registration clerk harassing me further with all sorts of questions. it irked me that she thought i was a MALE PRC!!! good gracious. later i forgave her cuz i guess she thought i was from china due to the fact that i spoke mandarin better than most singaporeans, and cuz i tied my hair and had a mask over my nose and mouth. yep, that must be it. it had to be. or else i'm gonna cry. i didn't grow my hair long only to be mistaken for a member of the male species you know!!!

being directed to a consultation room with "acute clinic" on the door was not very nice. the mask was bad enough. being seen entering the "acute clinic" room must have made people think i was gonna be the one ruining everyone's september holiday plans. anyway, i was in the room with the doc for a full 5 minutes (wow...5 minutes...so long, ya?) before i went off to collect my medication. yes, you guessed it, cough syrup, lozenges and paracetamol. heh.

being sick in a foreign country, even if it's just spore, made me pine for my mother. it reminded me of the time when i had a bad fever and my mother lay out a futon on the floor of her room and stayed up half the night wiping my brow with cold water to lower my temperature. i could almost feel her with me, fretting over me. and in the morning, when i felt at my worst, i wanted her to be next to me, coaxing me into eating white rice porridge, and gently scolding me when i refuse to drink the porridge water.

going to the doctor's alone also made me wish i were a child again, with my mother holding my hand and explaining anxiously to the doctor about how ill i was that night. looking at the clinic slip, i saw that i was to be treated as an adult. an adult! now, 18, i'm to be treated as an adult. no longer as a child.

and it made me a little sad, because i'll never go back to being a child. no longer does my mother need to be with me when i'm ill, as much as i want her to be.

sigh.

lishun at 7:03 PM

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