Neurosurgeon

I've always a good feeling about him, ever since I first met him around three months ago. He is very courteous and caring, and has a nice smile. Some say he looks a lot like me, tall, thin, perhaps a bit nerdy-looking, and is perhaps only a few years older than me. Mum even says he asks about me when I am not with her during follow up appointments.

Mum made an appointment with the young neurosurgeon about two weeks ago, a follow up to see how her spine is recovering. A the time mum was severely vomiting already, and the neurosurgeon was very concerned, even though it is not related to his field of practice. He said he would do anything he can to get mum into hospital, even have mum admitted into her ward if necessary just to give her IV drips. It wasn't necessary, but he offered the help, and that was enough to touch mum's heart again.

As mum was in hospital already and too weak to go downstairs to the clinic to make her appointment with the neurosurgeon, she asked me to go on her behalf. "Please thank him for everything he's done for me. The surgery was beautiful and I am very happy..."

I went to see him at the allotted time, and passed on my message. "Where is she? I'll go see her when I'm done with my consultation hours."

And true to his word, two hours or so later he dropped by. Mum was surprised and delighted to see him, and immediately got up from lying down. They chatted for a good while, mum narrated her story (ordeal...) since she last saw him, and he listened patiently.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done. The surgery was very well done, and I am so fortunate to be under your care..."

The surgeon was embarrassed mum kept thanking him, but it really came from her heart. She says she has been so blessed by this neurosurgeon who, when mum was in hospital after the surgery and back in early March, would come see mum everyday and check up on her condition. Always with a smile, always giving her encouragements and invaluable kind words.

"I really did not expect the cancer to grow so fast..." the surgeon said sadly. Mum knew he tried his best, and he gave her priceless opportunity to salvage her ability to walk and move her limbs. Even for a few months, the few months since January, it is enough to safeguard mum's dignity and worth as a person. Otherwise, being completely bed-bound and reliant on another for your everyday basic needs is (without disrespect for those who are like this...) torturous and unbearable for mum. She said to me she would rather die than be like that...



Mum truly has been blessed, and she is eternally grateful. Not only the neurosurgeon has been so kind and patient, for now in the colorectal surgery ward, she is under the care of a surgeon who is perhaps the most esteemed in the field in the country, a surgeon who operated on a former president. He too visits almost everyday, and talks to mum frankly about her condition, giving her the confidence and facts that she needs to process the reality of the situation she is now in with compassionate understanding and a gentle smile.

This is the kind of medical team she needs at her side as she embarks on this final leg of her journey of life. She has the support and expertise, compassion and humane sensibilities of doctors who respects the patient's will and opinion, and is not just out there to make a quick buck or throw medical jargons around and authoritatively tell you what you must do.

"If you need me, you have my direct office line," the neurosurgeon said before he left. "Anything I can help you with. And I'll come to see you sometime again. Take good care!" And he turned to me "Anything you need, you know where to find me!"

He left the room, and left my mum smiling, confident and content, even in the face of the most adverse of circumstances.