A special patient

“Hello, there is a call from Chamgang”

As soon as we heard this line, we knew it was Mr. Pemba calling for ambulance. Don’t be so surprised how we knew this. Let me tell you about Mr. Pemba who was 45 years old with Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD). I don’t know since when he started using (misusing to be precise) the ambulance and emergency medical services. By the time, I joined the Emergency Department of JDWNRH, everyone knew about him very well and all of our friends went for emergency call he activated several times. I was told that he previously served in military and because of his drinking habit, it seemed like he was terminated. I was even told that he had a wife and three little kids but then his wife left him taking two of the kids probably because of his bad drinking habits. I always saw him with his son, Wangchuk who was barely ten years old.

 

P.C.: Google

So it was his heavy and continuous drinking habit that would cause him abdomen distension and pain. Every time we brought him to the emergency department, he would act very humble and go back home saying he would stop drinking. But he would call back for ambulance within the next 3-4 days and that also always at night as his place was some 10 kilometers away from the hospital (no taxi available at that time). Reaching at his place he would be in pain and his ten year old son always had to accompany him to hospital hampering his studies. He was seen by medical specialist and psychiatrist as well but his own efforts were so minute that it nullified everyone’s effort (including us who served him several times) and his health deteriorated so badly that he was physically very fragile and weak within few months. Still he was not willing to give up drinking. We tried our best to serve him, not only as health worker but as friends also, advising him to stop drinking and to let his young son have a smooth childhood. But he never hesitated to dump our advises and turn up completely drunk and stink so badly. Wangchuk, his son would always had to attend his father for so many times and spent sleepless night at the hospital.

Recently when I joined back my work, my colleague told me that we no longer have to go to Chamgang for Mr. Pemba as he expired last December. I couldn’t take it though I had somehow expected this outcome of him. I still feel I will get an emergency call directing me to go to Chamgang for him. Often times, we are told not to get attached with the patients but it’s hard not to do so when we have such patients who made us work so much and even think and talk about him. He even made me write this post because he is hard to forget. MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PEACE. I will pray for you to be reborn as a good person who would always take care of your body and cherish the presence of your loved ones.