Bushed

mumbler is hacking away from the silly cold that always comes with the northeast monsoon. stopped the post nasal drip with clarinase (since piriton will put me to sleep) and now trying to stop the cough with dextrometophan, which retails for $1.60 for 20 tabs at the neighbourhood pharmacy. ever since she learnt pharmacology in second year and found out how affordable (read:real cheap!) the drugs are at pharmacies, she's self-medicated, and saved a heck a lot of money and trouble. it's pretty ironic, but what can one do when gps are prescribing klacid for the common cold?!

the long hours at the hospital have not helped. and yes, mumbler has just reached home after a marathon day of lectures, with neurology in the morning, followed by ecgs, haematology and medicine osce lectures in the afternoon, held in two different places. the last time my brain throbbed like that was when i downed two maguaritas too rapidly last year. sigh. i need more hours to rest, but the days just pass so quickly. we're down to 80+ days to the big day now. argh!

but amidst all that, listening to the story of the patient presented at today's neurology lecture reminded me what medicine is all about. 50+ year old man with a 10 year history of parkinson's. initially presented with reduced arm swing, started on dopamine agonists, switched to l-dopa, and to date has 2 admissions for psychosis and attempted suicide and 1 for pneumonia requiring an icu stay. wife's a schoolteacher, and worries that he'll fall if he goes out. as our tutor said, in most cases the caregiver starts out wishing for complete recovery. but as the disease progresses, the caregiver ironically wishes for reduced control, so that the risks of injuries to the patient are less.

it's a sad state of things, which begs a discussion on the topic of euthanasia. lots of publicity especially since uk television has just aired a documentary showing a man die after receiving a lethal dose of medication. so much has been said about giving patients a dignified death, and even having seen the state some patients are in the hospital, i can't bring myself to believe that it's a doctor's duty to help a patient die. because doctors are meant to battle death and disease, not aid them. because terminal illnesses rob patients and their families of hope, which is the one thing that makes life meaningful, and doctors are meant to give hope. in short, because it's wrong. it'll be a sad day for singapore if we allow active euthanasia. i hope it never happens.