Sedated Hearts

02

"Thank you, Doctor Abril!"

I smiled back at the young kid who I just stitched the forehead of. Sinugod kasi siya sa emergency room ng nanay niya matapos siyang mahulog sa hagdan. The cut wasn't that deep, so I just prescribed the kid with antibiotics to help fend off any infections.

Naiwan ko na sila ng nanay niya dahil may iba pa akong kailangan asikasuhin na mga pasyente. I'm on ER duty for today since the hospital is adamant on giving equal OR time for its residents and interns, here I am.

Looking around, walang new patients that needed assistance so I decided to finish and sign some charts dahil ayaw ko na natatambakan ng paperwork.

Leaning on the counter where the charts and other paperwork are located, I silently did my work. From time-to-time nurses would stop by to pick-up the charts I signed and a few colleagues would smile before going on their way.

My peace and quiet was distrubed when an E.R nurse approached me, "Uhm, doc? Busy po ba kayo?"

"No. I'm good, why? May new patient ba?" I followed the nurse when she nodded yes and we both made our way to an E.R bed thats hidden behind a curtain.

"Doc, narito na po si Doc Abril." She opened the curtain to allow me through.

Sa loob ay naroon si Doctor Pancit Canton or PC for short. So much for avoiding him this past week, I thought to myself and forced myself to look...approachable.

Penny and I coined the code name Doctor PC because of his loose wavy hair that reminds me of cooked noodles. Ginawa rin namin yung codename na yon para we can talk about him without risking other people hearing our conversations.

Mahirap na baka makarating dito kay Rui, isipin niya pa hater ako.

I averted my eyes to the woman laying on the bed in front of him. She was crouching and holding her pelvic area as if in pain. I saw Doctor PC whispering something to her before excusing himself and leading me back outside.

"Uh, I-I'm sorry for disturbing you," Buti alam mo. Hmph! "But the patient refused to do a pap smear if I'm the one doing it. She want a female doctor" He was so timid and if hindi lang malaks pandinig ko ay baka hindi ko maklaro ang binubulong niya.

I observed him and he looked tense and even more when I looked him straight in the eye.

"If hindi okay sa'yo, I'll just look for another doctor. I really am sorry for wasting your time. I just wanted to see my patient's-"

"Okay lang. I'll do it." I cut him off kasi mukhang nag w'word vomit ata siya.

He looked relieved and said thank you a dozen times. He said that the patient came into the emergency room because she saw blood on her underwear and panicked. She also said that while having sexual intercourse with her husband, it was painful for her and that even though she wasn't a virgin anymore, she started bleeding right after intercourse.

Doctor PC said this was telltale sign of cervical cancer so he wanted to do a pap smear just to be sure. A pap smear or papanicolaou test is a procedure to screen the cervix to detect potential cancer cells. Isang maliit na brush or spatula ang gagamitin para kumuha ng sample cells sa cervix ng isang babae para tignan ito under the microscope and examine it for cancer cells.

"She's a conservative woman and she's really uncomfortable with me doing it, she'll refuse if I insist on it so...yeah." He scratched the back of his neck and mumbled a string of apologies.