‘I am a doctor— it’s a profession that may be considered a special mission, a devotion. It calls for involvement, respect, and willingness to help all other people.’
– Polish politician, Ewa Kopacz.
In the past, I used to love raw salmon sushi, a type of sushi made with thinly sliced, raw salmon placed on a bed of sushi rice.
But recently, just before the Lunar New Year, I landed in the Sarawak General Hospital because of food poisoning after feasting on raw salmon sushi in a popular sushi joint in Kuching.
I was the only one at the feast who ended up with food poisoning. None of my family members and friends were affected.
In case you are wondering, food poisoning is caused by bacteria, viruses or toxins in the food we eat.
“It is because you are not so young and your stomach is not very strong. Next time, don’t ever eat raw salmon sushi again,” advised my younger sister and my best friend.
That was the first time I had suffered from food poisoning in my entire life. And mind you, it was an awful and scary experience
Food poisoning usually passes within 12 to 48 hours, with symptoms including diarrhoea, nausea, stomach pain and vomiting.
Before I was admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital, I think I visited the Emergency Ward there twice. On my first visit, the doctor who attended to me prescribed me some medicine and then sent me home.
I went there because my son had told me, “It’s safer and better to go to the Sarawak General Hospital when you have an emergency.”
I returned to the hospital the following day when my condition did not improve. By then, besides nausea, vomiting and fever, I showed signs of dehydration.
On my second visit, I went to the Emergency Ward at the Sarawak General Hospital at 2 pm on a Monday. The doctors did not get to see me until two hours later.
That day, there was a long queue of patients at the Emergency Ward. I had my heart and blood tested and was even given an intravenous sodium drip there.
Unknown to me, the drip was necessary to treat my fluid loss and restore the sodium balance in my blood.
A normal blood sodium level is between 135 and 145 milliequivalents per litre (mEq/L). In my case, my blood sodium level was abnormally low — around 111 milliequivalents per litre.
Also known as hyponatremia, low sodium level can occur when the body loses too much water and electrolytes.
I was fortunate to be treated by medical specialists at the Emergency Ward. They were diligent and good. I am grateful to them for saving my life. I was admitted to the Female Surgical Ward at 5 am on Tuesday.
I didn’t know I could die from food poisoning and abnormal sodium level in the blood. The medical specialist who treated in the Female Surgical Ward only told me, one or two days before I was discharged, that the sodium level in my blood had been abnormal I guess he did not want to frighten me.
“Do you know that a normal sodium level is around 135 milliequivalents per litre? Your sodium level is now 120 milliequivalents per litre.
“I will let discharge you when it is 130 so that you can spend the Lunar New Year with your family. Just eat the food in the hospital,” he told me one day.
When I went home, I did some research and was shocked to find out that low sodium levels (hyponatremia) could cause symptoms ranging from mild to severe, including nausea, headache, confusion, muscle cramps, seizures and in severe cases, coma or death if not treated promptly.
A traditional Chinese physician I consulted much later on also confirmed that in severe cases, hyponatremia could also cause death if not treated quickly.
I stayed at the Female Surgical Ward for three nights. Every day, the nurses diligently tested my blood twice or thrice a day. They administered the intravenous sodium drips continuously until the day I was discharged. And every time I went to the bathroom, I had to carry the big bottle of drip around.
At the hospital, the nurses would start checking on patients and take their blood and body temperatures as early as 3.30 am every day. There were a few times when a nurse had to wake me up from my deep slumber.
We had breakfast by 6.30 am, lunch by 12.30 pm and dinner by 5.30 pm. The food was typical hospital fare — no Ajinomoto, a little salt, a slice of chicken or fish each and boiled vegetables. At tea break, we were served sugarless tea or coffee and a packet of crackers each.
After three days in the hospital, I got used to eating just three spoonfuls of rice and drinking half a cup of black coffee with no sugar
I also made friends with the other patients who had all kinds of sicknesses in our cubicle of six beds.
At the hospital, I had plenty of time to think about life and how fragile it was. Friends, value your life. Be careful about your food and health. From now on, be like me — don’t ever take raw salmon sushi again.
I would also like to thank the good and kind specialists, especially Dr Chai, doctors and nurses who attended to me at the Emergency Ward and Female Surgical Ward recently. May God bless you all.
