Thursday, October 2, 2008

Toby had chest pains

Tiffy and I picked Toby up from his classmate's birthday party at 7.30pm after our dinner at Mayim. He mentioned then that he had a stomach ache but not the type that he needed to go to the toilet. More like gastric he said. But he was hunched over, walking so slowly while clutching his chest with one hand. He also said he wanted to throw up. We waited beside a drain but he didn't vomit. As we walked, he shuffled along and still had a hand on his chest. We sat at a bench by the road and as I prayed for him, a passer-by even asked if he was ok.
There were no cabs when we were. I had only a $10 note in my purse. When we managed to get a cab, I dug out some more coins to be able to pay. We rushed to KKH A&E. Clinics nearby were closed and I wasn't sure how far Toby could walk with the pain he was feeling. On the way, I SMSed for prayer from my cell group.
KKH A&E Triage was pretty fast, we were attended to almost immediately. The nurse arranged for an ECG (result : normal). The doc (Patsy Chow) came over and mentioned that she'd give him a painkiller after she observed tenderness when pressing gently on Toby's ribcage during physical examination. I can't quite remember what she said, something like, if the painkiller doesn't take away the pain, it could be something worse (what, I can't quite remember).
Toby was given brufen and we went for the x-ray.
Sis called and said she'd come and pick up Tiffy to bring her home. I updated my cell and ex (a father who couldn't be bothered to go to the hospital to see his son). The cartoons were a distraction to the long wait and anxiety.
Finally, when we saw the doc again after the x-ray (result : normal), she said, nothing conclusive but what she felt was that Toby had an inflammation of the cartilage. She wrote a letter for the family doc (I'm thinking of bring Toby to Chang clinic) for follow-up in a week and 2 wks of excuse from PE.

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