Sunday 4 November 2007

A lesson to learn

Many of you thought I went for a scan due to my tennis elbow. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. While I was at the doc, I also complained about a persistent back pain, which strangely only attacking my left back. An urine screening was performed that the result showed I had haematuria; which means there’s blood in my urine. Haematuria is segregated into 4 scales, from 1+ to 4+ with 4+ being the worst. Mine was 4+.

I was referred to an urologist and Jules went with me the next day. They took my urine again for screening and again, there was blood. The initial diagnosis was kidney stone and an ultrasound scan was performed and subsequently, a CT scan on my abdomen was done. I was given all clear and the urologist I should do another urine test 2 days later to see if the haematuria still persists.

2 days later (Friday), I went to the GP’s clinic to do another urine screening and haematuria still persisted at 4+ and I was again referred to the urologist. When I was at the urologist, another urine sample was taken again and this is when I say God performed a miracle. The haematuria dropped from 4+ to… negative! Just to confirm the new findings, my urine sample was sent for microscopic study and my blood sample was taken to test my kidney function.

Just as I was about to leave the clinic, I was told that the nurse will called if the results are normal while the doctor will call if there are any anomalies.

While waiting for the call, there were many prayers said for me by my friends and also by my fellow mates in the blogosphere and I must say I am very thankful for that. Most of all, I am thankful for Jules who has been very positive and being very strong. All these certain helped cause I must admit, I was beginning to freak out.

Waiting for the call (hopefully from the nurse) was an absolute mental torture. It was also a very good time to reflect upon my life. All the ‘what-if’ and morbid thoughts were making my mind their playground. One thing for sure, I was in no mood to work. I just dropped all I was asked to do in the office and went home to rest.

At about 12pm on Saturday, my phone rang and the caller ID showed the number from the urologist clinic…

“Hello”
“Hello Mr. Zewt. This is Dr. Loh”

My heart stopped at that moment, it’s the doc and not the nurse. In a split second, I mentally prepared myself for the worse.

“Mr. Zewt, it’s confirmed that there is no excessive red blood cells in your urine and your blood test showed your kidney function is normal”

At that moment, I truly believe that doctor has a great sense of humour. Before I can say thank you, he hung up. I called Jules immediately and told her the news.

I think I learnt a few things from last week’s ordeal. The first is of course, one must never take one’s health for granted. It is something which we do not want to lose and yet, it is something we always put at risk in our other pursuits; be it career or any other thing. Seriously, we always underestimate this, I cannot stress enough.

Another thing which I learnt is that we all need medical insurance. I am not an insurance agent but I must say medical expenses are so expensive now that if you do not have insurance coverage, the additional pressure should there be an unfortunate incident is just not worth it. Get a medical card today, it’s not that expensive. My medical expenses last week was all paid by my company. For all the complaints I made about it, I am glad the medical policy is quite wide. I understand that a CT scan can cost thousands. I guess I just got paid for all the overtime I put in; not to mention I had mine in one of the most expensive hospital in town.

Last but not least, I have learnt that no matter how bleak the situation is; God is always in control and he is always merciful to us. I claimed from him the promise that He has a plan for me, a plan not to harm me but proper me. And of course, I cannot forget all the wonderful thoughts and prayer warrior friends I have a round me; both inside and outside the blogosphere.

76 comments:

Deo said...

hello bro, i havent been here for a while and need to catch up past entries.

anyway, glad to hear you're ok. take care!

Sam said...

=) Upswings have to follow downswings anyway! Glad nothing major-major happened to you!

Wee-Leng said...

Congratulations sud I say? Never ever take anything for granted anymore... *wink* God's sign to remind how fragile life could be if He wants it to be. Life's too short to take things for granted. And am really glad u have someone special to be by u in times like this. Another sign that u are indeed lucky...*wink*

Anonymous said...

errrr...did the dr explain why there was blood in the first 2 tests? IMHO, to be on the safe side, u should just get ur urine checked regularly for the next few months or so.

Anonymous said...

I agree with sooi2.. after all, it is better to be safe than sorry.

In God We Trust.. we must always remember that, my friend.

"I will not leave you...." - John 14:18 -

kyh said...

hey nice to hear that u came out fine! i think i'm the one who's taking my health for granted now... :P

Mummy said...

Praise God that the repeat urinalysis was clear. He is indeed good.

But a word of advice, being a kidney specialist, is to have your urine checked in a year's time. Also, do you by any chance know if there was any presence of protein in your urine?

Helen said...

It must be a worrying time for you waiting for results. Nothing is more frightening than waiting for the unknown. :-)

I might be wrong, the medical cards nowadays don't have comprehensive full coverage liao... and some are not guaranteed renewable. For those who are thinking of buying better check twice. :-)

Zewt, I'm just glad everything turned out fine for you. Bless you.

Bee Ean said...

Living in France, one of the benefits one can enjoy is the medical care. Since hubby broke his arm, he has gone to many session of reeducation, nurses came to our place to treat him...it was a huge expenses if it were not covered by the government. It gives me a peace of mind and he gets to concentrate on recovery, than how to finance all these expenses. So, I absolutely agree with you that one should get a medical card as soon as possible.

Anonymous said...

Amen to that.

Praise be to God you have been cleared. Will update the cell with your latest blog entry.

Pak Zawi said...

zewt,
I am happy to know that our prolific blogger is OK.
To ignore the tell tale signs of eminent organ malfunction is sheer folly especially for young people like you. To abuse the organs like many people are doing are even more foolish. Smoking will damage the lung. Drinking will damage the liver. Yet many people are doing it oblivious to the effect on their various organs and bodily functions.

me said...

thank goodness, now u can put this episode behind u. but as i keep saying, be wary of the lesson learnt. u shld go back to the gp and get a urine test, just to see if their test is still so crappy n put them right, if it is. then agn, u'll prob think that's a big waste of time.

Horny Ang Moh said...

What a big relieved! Yes I do know how u feel! I have a very big scare once when my 'bro' malfunction! It simply refuse to 'stand' up!! Luckily with gf 'help' she manage to 'jump start' it! Yes! Once u have a big problem with our health we relise how impt our health is! 'All the Money in the world can't buy u good health, but no money how to have good health?'
Have a nice day!

missironic said...

thank God tat u r ok already..really is a nerve racking situation. God Bless!

missironic said...

nerve-wrecking*

Anonymous said...

I am so glad to hear the good news.

I went through somewhat similar problem two months back...also related to urine matters and a back pain.

Suddenly, the most morbid thoughts were running through my head and most of all thinking about my young family.

It is funny how when things like this will put us in a corner to examine many aspects of our lives.

Anyway...really relieve to hear the good news. Take care.

colin said...

Glad to hear all is well. Take care there! God bless!

ms.bulat said...

omgosh. Thank God.
Seriously. Despite this, please take good care of your health

Daphne Ling said...

Hi Zewt,

Thank God that you're ok...Hope you're feeling good too...

And yes, I do definitely agree that we cannot take our health for granted!

Take care, dear Zewt...

mr jp said...

Hmmm , it's funny how a medical emergency forces us to do some soul searching.

glad that you're ok, take good care of your health man ..

tulipspeaks said...

having my internship done in one of the most reputable pathological lab in the country, i am wondering the reason for the presence of blood during the initial tests. 4+ is the highest scale, and that IS alot!


ammu-in-deepavali-mood

Jorji said...

i love good news!

Tunku Halim said...

I reckon it might be stress. You're right, never take your health for granted. My tennis elbow is irritating and my back aint so good either - but I'm a lot older than you! Perhaps you're been sitting at that desk for far too long.

rainbow angeles said...

That's indeed good news!

Eileen said...

I am thankful you are okay!!! I bet you have a great night sleep that night right? :D

Anonymous said...

Amen!!!

praise God!!

glad everything turned out well!!!

when we hold on to God's words, it never fails! like it says in isaiah 55:11 - so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth, It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall propsper in the things which I sent it.

ManaL said...

Alhamdulillah (praise the lord), u got the all-clear.

Now,can we move back to our regular friday frolics stuff? (since urine is blood-free, ur mini-u can celebrate a bit laa, ok ka?)

The Pisces Man said...

Glad to know u r ok... didn't realise the seriousness of the matter since you didn't hint that previously...

What would have caused Haematuria I wonder (I haven't asked my wife laa)..

So u were paid by your employer rite, not by your insurance co? Anyway, surprisingly you have time to blog all this while considering u always had to do overtime..

Jacss said...

Praise the Lord !!
So glad that it's still not too late that you discovered the precious of LIFE.....

Go hang out with Jules & enjoy for a moment...after the ordeal !!!

QMG_Maegen said...

it's the way we learn to appreciate our own life more :) take k ~

Mcmercedez said...

Good to hear that it all went well and you are ok.. I guess with all the hassle, the docs just want to make sure that there's nothing wrong with your system.. hehe..

Medical insurance now is very important coz if anything happened, it'll cost you a bomb.. a lot of people think that it's not important until something happened to themselves or people around them..

God is always with us and he will not leave us to suffer.. Amen..

frostee said...

Dude,good to hear that all is well.

Angel Eyes said...

Thank God you're ok!

You take care for the time being ya?

Angie Tan said...

Thank God you're ok.

Yeap, medical insurance is the first thing to get when you can afford it.

However, after watching Sicko by Michael Moore, I'm a bit vary of some of these medical insurance practices in the US. :-S Have a watch and you'll understand why.

Anyway, take care of yourself.

God Bless!!

stocktube said...

glad you're ok zewt ... sometimes we can only plan but it's up to Him to decide ... but the waiting period must be one of the torturous ...

cheers ...

Ehon said...

don't u love all those terms? :D at least i do. a med geek i am! :P haem means blood. uria means urine. thus, haematuria.

well, i always tell ppl that the best thing is always moderation. :) and balance. and health definitely comes first. at least for me!

sharlydia said...

Thanx God everything is cleared now...take care!

BTW i do agree with u on medical plan coz my son was recently hospitalised as u'r aware, if not covered by the medical insurance, the bill would have been quite costly...

huntressmoon said...

hey, glad that you are alright. =) or else where would the interesting reads go? welcome back

Jonathan Chu said...

You know what? I had a similar experience too. I was totally freaked out, but after a day, my urine cleared, and everything was fine. Even the doctors don't have an explanation to why I had blood in my urine. Weird, huh?

My brother said that it is normal for us guys to experience this because he experienced it too. But, is it really normal?

I don't think so. But, well, it's over. What's done is done. As long as you're healthy, that's great, isn't it? :)

baggie said...

aiyooh Zewt... take care of urself ler... dont work too hard.... pls take care of ur health... see? u scare urself liao...

good thing to know ure okay.... tsk... still... take care of urself

Wuching said...

thats a great relief

zewt said...

deOughtred - hey bro... i am good... good to see you again. i have yet to call syamsul... maybe i will give him a call tomm.

Sam - thanks Sam... i hope i will be back in court soon too :)

Wee-Leng - yes... it is also a very very scary thought. i hope i dont have to go through that again. i am truly blessed.

sooi2 - doc said could be stone which was passed out and it iritates the urethera. i will certainly doing it.

Jemima - thanks Jem... bible verses really kept me going last week.

kyh - better learn to take good care of your body then :)

Maverick SM said...

Zewt,

It's a great blessing; and I am glad to know you are okay.

I totally agree with you on the medi-card thing. My wife had a bacteria growth in her lung and it cost us $25,000 for the treatment at the specialist centre. Fortunately, she had just bought the medi-card one year ago. Otherwise, the family will be distressed with managing the cost.

Somehow, many people are reluctant to insure the risks in life. It only cost around $1,000 per year, but when something happens, medical cost will be many tens of thousands. My relative faced that problem when her daughter was admitted to the specialist centre and it cost her $9,000. She didn't had the medi-card and we all have to chip-in to assist her to pay the bill. Since then, everyone of them have a medi-card. Fortunately or unfortunately, a few other members in our family had medical problems and the medi-card help pay the bills. It was such coincidence...

zewt said...

Mummy - hi again... am not sure if the urine test also check protein content, but blood test to check kidney function given all clear.

Helen - thank you Helen. Yeah, medical card coverage is getting more and more narrow. but i still think it's crucial to have it.

Bee Ean - i guess this is one way the govt in france looking after her citizens... govt here also provide cheap medical services... just that by the time u reached your turn... you might have died.

anon @ 8.08am - thanks man. truly appreciate it.

Zawi - well, the reason why ppl still do is becos they have not felt the effect yet. i have certainly feel it though i dont smoke and drink occasionally. thanks pak zawi for your kind words.

me - well, i will certainly go screen it again in a few months time.

hor ny - hahaha... i am sure your gf has no problem jump start your engine... you can trust her :)

zewt said...

missironic - thanks...indeed it is. thank God indeed.

Babbles - what happened to you then? was everything ok?

sodium chloride - Thank God indeed.

ms.bulat - i certainly will. will try to sleep earlier too.

Daphne Ling - thanks... i certainly will... it's not something i wish to lose.

Jason Phoon - yeah...i tot i will start telling off everyone in the office if i have something serious.

tulipspeaks - doc said it could be exercise induced, or... i could have passed a stone and it irritates the urethera... the stone is out... so a lil pain and a lil blood. latest urine test showed no more blood.

zewt said...

j or ji - :)... me too

Tunku Halim - i think so... perhaps sitting too much due to blogging too :)

angel - indeed... thank God.

Princess Eileen - definitely... suddenly, a huge burden off.

lynnwei - Amen to that!! He has never failed me... and thinking back... i should not take Him for granted too.

Manal - hahaha... dont put mini-me into stress now la.

The pisces man - well... i just love blogging...it is something that interests me a lot. my wife-to-be complained a lot about it too :)

zewt said...

Jacss - Amen to that. She said she is more worried about my mental state more than anything. i was relly paranoia.

maegen - thanks... indeed i is.

Mcmercedez - yeah, insurance is no longer a taboo... everyone should look at it from a different light. i cant stress enough.

F.O.N @ frostee - thanks dude.

Angel Eyes - will do... thanks.

Angie Tan - hmmm... sicko... a new show to watch perhaps?

stocktube - indeed. wow... i really have a lot of Christians brothers and sisters in the blogosphere.

zewt said...

Ehon - yeah... which is why... blogging must also be moderation for me :)

sharlydia - yeah... i am sure your husband will look after all that.

HuntressMoon - hi there... welcome to AZAIG. haha... that's pressure on me... :)

Jon Chu - yeah... and we must Thank God. Heard streneous exercise can cause that. wait... your blood... can u see it or was it microscopic?

Calvin's wife - i will... ok ok... hehe... i scared already.

Wuching - indeed :)

Maverick SM - yeah... i just got myself one immediately after this... good to have it since i am healthy... otherwise... susah.

Chicken Ball said...

I'm glad that you are ok now...
cheers!

MikeM said...

im glad u r fine mate... life is fragile isnt it?

J u n e said...

Wow..=) So glad you're doing fine now. Indeed God is Soo Good.

Anonymous said...

glad to hear you are still strong and horny dude!! take care of yourself well, we still want to read more good shits from you :)

Mummy said...

All urine test kits come standard ie they check for presence of blood, protein, glucose and various other stuffs. If nothing had been mentioned about protein, I assume it is normal too. I would not expect your kidney function to be altered fr your blood test. Just get a repeat urine test done in a year's time, and perhaps your blood pressure too.

Anonymous said...

Am so glad to hear you have the all-clear, Zewt. This is great news. Thanks be to God. Also very glad that you had Jules to be with you during this scary time :)

Jonathan Chu said...

I could literally see the blood. The urine isn't yellowish la. It's like brownish. Something like that. It's visible. And I was like... WTH?! Then... I thought... "Oh, morning I drank Rebina" ... then after that... I stared at my urine, forgetting to zip my pants... And then I thought "kenot be. Urine isn't supposed to be brownish/red/pinkish/watever color" Then only I realized it was blood.

Retardation. HAHA.

Cocka Doodle said...

Wei? It's not about god being 'in control' and all that blab.
To begin with, you didn;t drink enough water! So, you ought to increase your fluid consumption.

Anyway, if there's a stone in your kidney, there' no need to be 'kan chiong' these days. Urologists can 'blast' and 'powderize' them using hi-frequency waves and it'll be passed out with your pee.

They usually prescribe Allopurinol tablets or potassium citrate tablets for treatment but that can be costly.
For a cheaper remedy, you can try mixing a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate with a glass warm water and drink it twice a day. It helps dissolve kidney stones.

Huei said...

ah! i know god will alwyas help those who are good! =)

glad u're alright!!

ClaudiaMom said...

Praise the Lord!! So glad to hear that you're fine, but please take good care of yourself la ... NO OT from now on ok??

Anonymous said...

No matter what, health always comes first.

Seaqueen said...

Glad that you're ok. That's good to know. :) Take care of your health. $$ isn't everything.

Anonymous said...

Well done, Zewt =)

rinnah said...

Glad to know that the results are OK. Do slow down, ya? *hugs*

zewt said...

Chicken Ball - thanks.

Michael Song - very... have to take good care of it.

AngryYoungChild - too good... just too good.

bongkersz - horny eh.. hahaha... that part is important.

Mummy - my blood pressure has been fine... have always been having too low a blood pressure. i guess that's a good sign.

irene - yeah... i think it brought us even closer.

Jon Chu - that is bad... certainly much worse compared to mine. mine was microscopic. anyway... i think both are no good. glad you and your bro are ok now.

zewt said...

cocka doodle - the question is... what is sodium bicarbonate? sounds very familiar.

huei - i can be bad sometimes. but i am sure God is still good to me.

ClaudiaMom - hahaha... how i wish. i will certainly try though.

jam - definitely.

seaqueen - you know i will :)

Oz - thanks... :)

rinnah - will try to. we're stubborn... needs constant reminder.

Arena Green said...

Glad to hear you are fine. Am looking fwd to Zewt's 300th post in due course! Cheers!

Z said...

so glad to know you're ok zewt!! =D

KwangErn Liew said...

Well, but as Christians, we should follow the foot steps of Jesus, just as Paul wrote,

Phil 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Death is not to be feared. ;)

Cocka Doodle said...

Sodium bicarb is baking powder. It taste awful when mixed with water.
What's your e-mail?

zewt said...

anak merdeka - thanks... will certainly try to work at it.

zaty - me too... not a very pleasant experience there.

ke liew - haha... yeah, i know... but's easier said than done. i think i am not afraid of death... i am afraid if the way i die and those i leave behind.

cocka doodle - you can actually drink that? my mail is at the sidebar ler. will drop u a comment later perhaps.

Anonymous said...

Wah..really glad that you are OK..It's not too late to appreciate our own life more now..

Stay healthy!

zewt said...

seok thong - thans... will certainly do.

may said...

so glad you're in the clear. woo-hoo! take good care of that body of yours, only one to use, no exchanges permitted... ;-)

~aSstHa~ said...

glad to hear things are fine with u... take care zewt :)

zewt said...

may - i will certainly remember that :)

asstha - thanks... u take care too.

Mumsgather said...

I am really glad to hear that you are ok. I have had many of those heart stopping moments and imagining the worse kind of scenarios too so I can imagine how you felt at the time.

zewt said...

mumsgather - well, there were actually bad news later...