Pain and Hope

Doctors are trained to look for disease. Sometimes the problem is easily detected, most of the time they need to go step by step. Mula-mula, searching the surface looking for any sign of trouble. Most of the time, they can't tell what's wrong with somebody by just looking at them. After all, they can look perfectly fine on the outside, while their insides tell a whole other story.

Sebagai manusia, kita semua dah cuba yang terbaik. But the world is full of unexpected twists and turns. If we are lucky, we end up with nothing more than a flesh wound, something a band-aid will cover. But some wounds are deeper than they first appear, dan perlukan more than just a quick fix. For some wounds, you have to rip of the band-aid, let them breathe and give them time to heal.

Masa kecil dulu, my parents pernah kata “Dah, biarkan luka tu kena angin, jangan guna plaster, nanti lambat baik” when I got deep cuts. Well, though we know it’s not exactly the right thing to do because there’s possibility that my luka bole kene jangkit kuman, but they are our parents, they dah makan garam lebih! That’s why they wanted us to rip off the plaster. To let our luke breathe. =)

Doktor ni banyak kasik fakta. But what we, the patient, really want to know is - will the pain go away? Will I feel better? Am I cured? What patients really want to know is - is there hope? Is there hope that all my infections will go away? Will all the medicines you gave to me really work, doctor? But hey, like always, doctors will convince you using their convincing tone that you are going to be ok.

But what if we are not ok? Then, it will bring us back to square one, the feeling of pain again. Also, what if the pain cannot be treated with pain-killers?

Then, you just have to ride it out. You can only hope it goes away on its own, hope the wound that caused it heals, and pray you are going to be ok. There are no solutions, no easy answers, you just breath deep and wait for it to subside.

Right.

You can see me perfectly fine, doctor. But I am still not ok.