Saturday, March 22, 2008

Any doctor in the flight?

It was an awful flight back home. Boarding the SQ flight Manchester-Singapore had full of surprises for me. As my ticket was booked with the 'Dr' with my name, the ever-so-polite SQ cabin crew asked me if I was a medical practitioner and should it be ok to ask for my assistance if any medical problems should come up, while handing out the hot towels to me. What choice did I have but say 'err yes'. Note: it was pretty much a Caucasian flight.

4 hours into the flight, I was watching an enjoyable comedy chick flick when I was approached by the crew to tell me there were 2 children who were slightly unwell. So there I was consulting the children and parents and soon they were sorted. Simple cases of the fever and the throwing up. Fine. Sorted. Back to sleep.

Woke up to some woman shouting for help as her mum just collapsed. Reluctantly I rose up from the chair as most people were looking at me. All I could think was please not let it be someone with chest pain. There was a crowd over this poor woman who, according to her husband, fainted, became blue with her eyes rolled up. Saw the woman and she's wet her pants. She must have had a seizure I thought. Later I found out she has always been fit and well and was on the way to Perth, Australia with a 4hr transit in Singapore.....no way she was going to Australia that same day now! She came round soon as I got to her and she was way confused and started to vomit non-stop. Had to transfer her to 1st class where it was more spacious and gave her intravenous medications and fluids. Thankfully there was a registered trained nurse on board as well who kindly helped as well.

Finally landed in Singapore and I was exhausted. I still had another 2 hour transit and a 2 hour journey back to Brunei. Upon arrival in Brunei, I was knocked out till late evening. Back to work the next day for continuous daily work for 12 days non-stop. Hmmph.

Now, hiatus!

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