Thursday, July 7, 2016

Last Medical

Being a trainer, I have been trained to keep my trainings fun. I have been trained to ensure participants are kept engaged all the time with different approach and methodologies. One of my favourite icebreakers during my trainings in the insurance industry is to ask participants to introduce themselves , where they are from (agency) and one memorable experience they have as a financial adviser representative.

As I did more and more trainings, I started to realise that in almost every session I conducted, these advisers are sharing about critical illness claims for clients who are young! Stroke, cancer, leukemia.. one adviser even shared a client's kid of 7 years old having leukemia! That got me scared and made me wonder when my last medical checkup was. It also made me realise the importance of having sufficient coverage.

One fine morning as I woke up, I sat up on my bed and felt a tingling session running down my left shoulder. My first thought ' OMG! Is that the early signs of stroke?!' I panicked recalling all the experiences of those advisers in my training. I made a medical check up appointment once I got into office. I chose one of the more comprehensive package that cost almost $400.

The day of my medical came. As I walked into the clinic, I eyed the sandwiches and the coffee machine, my stomach rumbling. I have been fasting the day before to facilitate the check up today. Height and weight taken. Eyesight checked. Stool, blood and urine samples submitted. I was told to grab some sandwiches and coffee for breakfast, suspiciously wondering if I had to pay for it. It seems all those have been included in my package. After I finished breakfast, I was told to wait for the doctor to see me. While waiting , I was told to fill up some questionnaire regarding my lifestyle. Filled in my name and the normal stuff but there was this particular question that I had to think a bit. How often do you exercise? 1. Never 2. One year one time, 3. Monthly, 4. Weekly or 5. Daily. Hhhmmm... I have to do IPPT for NS one year one time so the answer is 2.

My turn came, the doc sat me down and went through the questions with me again, then I was told to pull down my pants and lay on the bed. Alamak! Pull my pants down? The doc is female and relatively young some more. Looks like just graduated from med school. Sheepishly, pulled down my pants and was told to lay on my side with my ass facing her. She mentioned about having to check for growth and before I can register her fingers have inserted into my anus! Sob..

The check took less than a second but it felt like forever.. I never knew that was part of the checkup. The doc told me I can put my pants back on and sit down. As I sat back down I could not look the doc in the eye knowing what she has just done to me. She explained that they will now send all the samples to the lab and if all is normal, come back in 2 weeks time and collect the report and a review. But.. if there is something abnormal, they will call me immediately and I will have to drop everything and come straight away.. wa! Sounds serious.. Date set for review and I left the clinic no more a virgin.

The 2 weeks is a torment. I needed to know if the tingling meant anything. I needed to know if it really was a stroke and how many more years I have to live... It felt as though I am waiting for my 'O' level results. Every phone call without a name displayed sent me into hysteria.

The 2 weeks came without any call from the clinic, I felt good! I felt invincible, knowing all will be normal though still somewhat apprehensive. I walked into the clinic, pressed for my queue number to see the doc, eyeing the sandwiches and coffee again. Could have the coffee but not the sandwiches...

When my number was called, I walked in and sat down in front of the doc. She began.. 'Mr Tng, your cholesterol is...' 'ok 'ok tell me all about it' interrupting her, resigning to the fact that I have high cholesterol but not high enough for them to call me in immediately...

'… is normal.' she continued. 'Really!?' I asked, simultaneously snatching the report from her hand. The line that says 'Cholestrol' and the number next to it is black! Invincible! Yes!

'But...' still got but?

'You got minute traces of blood in your urine. Your blood sugar is slightly high and your liver reading also high. I suggest you do an ultrasound of your liver.' Now? Yes now.

Did the ultrasound and 30 minutes later I was back in front of the doc. She told me 'You have fatty liver, but it's very common with Singaporean nowadays. It say here in your questionnaire you exercise one year one time, I think you should start exercising more.'

Start exercising more? Huh.. sure or not. 'ok doc tell you what. What's the worst that will happen if I don't exercise?' 'Then you may get hep A , hep B symptoms lor.' 'Ok, thanks!' took my report and left.

Whatever the doc said did not sound serious.. slightly high, minute traces, hep A  hep B symptoms. Reached home and googled hep A and hep B, damn! You can die from it! Told myself it was time to buy the rider for my shield plan.

Submitted all the med report and application. Declined! But didn't the doc say everything is slight and minute and fatty liver is common, why decline!?

Lesson learnt then: buy your insurance early.

But took awhile only for the frustration to subside and I was back leading my normal life. Invincible! My friend's could not believe I have normal cholesterol and blood pressure the way I am eating. And I eventually found out the tingling sensations was because of me sleeping on my side to prevent snoring...

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