I laid in the Emergency Department, bleeding to death. Old folks were being wheeled in and out amidst harsh, flashing lights. The loud beeps of machines were ominous as they dipped … then rose again. This is where doctors try to resuscitate and restore lives in the hospital. But everything bordered on surreal, as my brain fed off the from the high of my third shot of painkillers.
I needed to be transferred to Singapore General Hospital (SGH), and fast. Tan Tock Seng (TTSH), the hospital I was at, did not have a gynaecology department, and I was bleeding rapidly from two ovarian cyst ruptures, no thanks to the blood thinning medication I am on for Antiphospholipid Syndrome. An emergency surgery is the usual protocol, but when you live with blood disorders like mine, it is never straightforward.
The doctor hung up the phone, and brought depressing news to my bed. SGH had refused the emergency transfer request from them as I was too ‘high risk’; too much of a liability. They would only accept me after a gynaecologist from the nearby KK Women’s & Children’s Hospital could “verify” that it was a “real need”.
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