So I went to TTSH. Going to hospital for the first time in Singapore was a strange experience, especially during a pandemic. I called in sick (after all, I already had a MC from GP the previous day), travelled by MRT to Novena, and walked into TTSH. Throughout the whole walk, I did feel my heart still beating rather fragilely, so I took precautions to pace myself. But, well, I was heading to a hospital anyway, what could have happened.
The walk from the main entrance to A&E was rather lengthy. The A&E section was barricaded, so I entered. But nobody was really queuing. I approached the counter and delivered the letter, and I was very swiftly attended by a doctor and a nurse who proceeded to take my blood pressure, heart rate, and ECG. After my ECG, I was asked whether I preferred to continue laying on the bed until it was my turn to see the doctor or whether I would prefer to wait in the waiting area. It was a strange choice, that I got to choose to lay on the bed and wait. But I conveyed that I prefer to sit, my condition wasn't critical and I didn't want to go anyway so there was no need for me to really use up a bed.
The waiting area was a little crowded but otherwise, it was like any clinic, except with a few doctors tending to many patients. I had a wristband on me with an electronic tag that would only be removed after the consultation and payment was made, so I sat. The place was cold, I guess part of the fee paid covered the air-conditioner on almost full blast.
Nobody there looked particularly distressing or in urgent need of medical care. It really looked just like a regular clinic at a regular place. After a half an hour wait, I was called by a very young-looking female doctor that I suspect was either a fresh graduate or on housemanship. But staffs there were wearing protective equipment so their hairs were covered, eyes were behind a goggle and they wore gloves. Their features were not very distinctive as I couldn't made up a lot, but she looked very young.
She asked me the same question my GP asked me the previous night, except that she was a little more detailed. She had access to my vaccination status, I probably shouldn't be surprised anymore.
After that, she drew blood. She said her 'senior' saw nothing concerning, but a blood test might help to shed further light as she said 'electrolytes imbalances may cause heart palpitations'. I knew it was not possible - seemed comically coincidentally - but the only thing in my mind was, shit, how was I going to pay for the medical bill? This was Singapore, a world top expensive city with top expensive healthcare system.
So she asked me to go another room for her to draw blood, and based on blood-drawing experience, ya, I could tell she was definitely very young and very fresh in this field. First, I was supposed to hold my strength, tightening my muscles so that she could draw my blood more easily - she did not request me to do so. Then, she tried to tie my bicep with a glove, but the glove was too small (I rather think it as 'I'm too muscular', just let me have that moment please), so she proceeded to get the proper equipment. Subsequently, she tried to draw my blood, but she seemed to have quite some difficulty drawing my blood. Based on my past experience, my blood wasn't easily drawn because my vein appeared too close to my bone. But the current situation was more like, well, she didn't ask me to flex, so she had difficulty extracting blood. She kept tapping for a while, at least 2 to 3 minutes, and based on my past experience, it wasn't supposed to be this long. The process was short, swift and simple, but she took quite a significantly longer time. And when she retrieved, she told me, she would send it to the lab and hopefully she 'drew enough blood for test', because she said based on the syringe, she 'drew just below the line', indicated possible insufficient quantity for proper assessment.
After that, I was asked to wait outside. The lab test took one hour, but I waited up to one and a half hour. Without breakfast. I was famished, badly starving, and the full-blast air-cond really burnt up whatever residue calories I had stored in my body. Thankfully, she came back at 12.45pm (ya, I remember the time, because the wait was torturing) and told me my blood results were all normal, and she discharged me but told me to return if my heart still felt abnormal. I proceeded to make payment, expecting to have to pay a hefty sum, only to realise it was capped at SGD128, inclusive of 'x-rays and everything'. I was like, damn, should have requested for more tests to be done.
And that's all.
The first thing I did was immediately went for lunch. Thankfully, it was after peak lunch hour so I did get plenty of seats. When I was leaving, always in the MRT station, only then I remembered I forgot to get my GP's reference letter for insurance claim, I then returned to retrieve, and after that I went home.
For the whole day, my heart still felt abnormal. But thankfully, nothing serious occurred later. I was among the early batch of people who had heart palpitation as the covid side-effect, and I was the unusual ones that had it after the first dose. Most people got it after the second dose, and in Singapore, quite a number of people were hospitalised for monitoring after receiving the second dose. Me? Well, I got my second dose. I declared my side effect, but they didn't look concerned, suggesting it was quite common. My second dose, taken 4 weeks later, was uneventful except for slight headache on the next day which was suppressed by panadol. There was no heart palpitation, something I feared badly, but thankfully never arose.
I don't know whether I'll get it if I get my booster shot in the future, but this experience has been enriching.
