A sharing by Tan Boon Yeow and Grace Lum
How often do we put ourselves in our patients’ shoes?
Sometimes it is not because we do not know how to but we do not want to. It may be that time is scarce as the consultation clock marches relentlessly, or that we dare not open a Pandora’s box that may be difficult to shut.
Against the odds
Mr K suffered a devastating stroke four years ago when he was in his early fifties. He was initially bed-bound and was fed through a nasogastric tube. His progress through rehabilitation was slow and bumpy. Two-and-a-half years after his stroke, he suffered an acute myocardial infarction.
However, Mr K persisted and has continued to endure therapy to enhance his function. His wife is his faithful partner in this. She motivates him by encouraging him to strive to meet his aspirations.
Mr K had always wanted to travel after his stroke.
He was a very happy man during his latest consultation as he has finally managed to fulfill his dream. He had just returned from a short trip to Thailand and had returned with a gift to thank me for encouraging him to travel. He is now looking forward to more travels in the coming year.
——A/Prof Tan Boon Yeow
Commentary
The drawing depicts the sombre environment that our disabled patients may live in. Need this be so? We can seek to optimize our patient’s medical conditions and physical function, and also to discover what their dreams and aspirations are, in spite of their physical limitations. Some may want to play their roles more actively as parents or grandparents. Others may aspire to return to work and to contribute further to the economy.
The Third Enabling Masterplan of 2017 aims to build a more inclusive society for the disabled in Singapore. It involves four key thrusts—- improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities, supporting caregivers, building the community, and creating an inclusive society. Efforts include helping employers hire and manage employees with disabilities, provisions for caregiver training grants, strengthening the use of assistive technology, and public education.
We are our disabled patients’ spokespersons and advocates. Would we consider asking the next functionally challenged patient we encounter, Hi, would you care to share with me your dreams?
——-A/Prof Tan Boon Yeow and Dr Grace Lum
Tan Boon Yeow practices in a community hospital and has a particular interest in geriatric care, and he is actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. His greatest joy is spending time with family and friends and with God, and he strivesto find time to do it all.
Grace Lum works with home-bound patients and ambulatory patients in a community hospital. She is also a wife and mummy to a toddler and a handsome brown dog.
The commentary and vignette were reproduced with permission from the book “Being Human, Stories from Family Medicine” edited by Cheong Pak Yean and Ong Chooi Peng and published in 2021 by the College of Family Physicians Singapore.
Pictures of illness experiences were drawn by NUS medical students in workshops conducted from 2012-2017by A/Prof Cheong Pak Yean. Senior family physicians subsequently shared vignettes and commentaries based on the pictures.
