Treatment

Last night, one of my friend who wanted to work in Paediatrics later asked me how the module was.

It was difficult to tell. While some Paediatrics worked so happily because the children would be curable and have a happy ending, some would work with a mask face. I was not mocking, when I thought of the senior medical officer in the Center who needed to take care of those miserable kids.

However, after all, it really depended on how you worked as a pediatrician, or generally, a doctor. The nature of the job of course makes a big deal, but the attitude towards the patients and the community also matters. We  should always try to remember how happy it is to build up our scientific and logical mind to help our patients.

Most importantly, we have to do it like a human being. Today, I went to CMC for the outvisit, which inspired me a lot. As suggested by a few classmates, the cases given to us were rare and basically they served for "eye-openers" rather than "examination oriented".

Nevertheless, as you know, a lot of rare diseases had a dim prognosis. Our cases were not immune of it. I was given a chance to examine a 15-month-old girl who had a cleft lips and cleft plate. The nurse directly gave the girl to me that I had to hold her in my arm. It was a special experience because it was the first time I was allowed to hold a baby in my arm, and the baby was significantly having some congenital problem. I tried very hard to find out other abnormalities to reach a diagnosis but I failed.

"This is a patient with Patau Syndrome." The doctor stated the diagnosis.

I was stunned. It was not just because the diagnosis was rare but also it was extremely unusual to have a Patau Syndrome patient to live more than one year.

"What is the treatment?" I asked the doctor.

"Tender, Love and Care." The doctor answered with a smile.