A treasure hunt adventure!

My granddad was schedule for a minor surgery for his hand on Monday, which is yesterday….under local anesthetic. Being a 76 year old, he needs me to accompany him and therefore I had decided to take a half day off since his surgery had been schedule to be 8.a.m.

I’ve reached the hospital at 7.40 a.m, my granddad has reminded me that the operation is held some sort of operation room in the main block. i‘ve dealt with the officer in the hospital before and god knows how much time they need to get things right. So I’ve approached the main block “ kaunter pertanyaan” (enquiries) to enquired where the operation room is..

Indian Lady : ini orto (orthopedic) department cik, sini keluar jalan sampai masjid belakang,

ME : ok ! Ok

So, I lead my granddad to some sort of orto department which turns out to be a 15 mins walk from the main office.

Upon reaching the registration counter, I knew I was late cause the time had shown 8.05 a.m. I approached the nurse clad in brown sweater and informed her that my granddad is schedule to have an operation at 8.

Nurse1 : cik, ini operation bukan sini la………….alar….kan dah beritahu pigi main block, apasal datang kot sini pulak???

Me : ( I was furious, and very angry too), saya pergi main block, itu orang India di kaunter suruh saya datang sini, sekarang u suruh saya pergi sana balik….and then? Kalau dia suruh saya datang balik?? Saya pun datang balik sini la…

And after my sarcastic commotion, another nurse approached and stood beside her, she took a look at the appointment card and told me to go to the main block( where I came from), she told me to ignore the indian lady at the counter, for she do not know what she is doing or where is the operation room is…

Oh my God!!!... that was the worse reason I’ve ever heard….then why do u put someone who is stupid to be in charge of enquiry??? What does “kaunter pertanyaan” means??

Fed up, I took the card and brought my granddad for another joywalk to the main office, which takes another 15mins....

This time, I went to approach the registration counter….the staff had told me to go to the emergency department at the main block…

“ Emergeny department”..what the hell……

“ bukan, ini orang schedule untuk buat operation la, u confirm I pergi emergency??” i re confiram again with the person at the registration counter

“ yalar……….”

I walk about 5 mins before I reached the emergency department, I saw the word “ PENDAFTARAN WARGA EMAS”, so I took the appointment card and showed the guy behind the registration counter.

He told me to walk behing to the the X-ray department where I will see and
“Pesakit Luar” (outpatient signage)… I should register there….he quipped and pointed his finger to some ghostly alley.

I walk again with my grandpa towards the EERIE alley and all the way left and right looking for this signage that the guy mentioned jus now…….while walking, I felt that I was a like a mad person in this amazing race hunting for clues and answer to my questions. It felt like I was an adventure of treasure hunt turning left and right opening hospital doors, only the difference is that there is no prize for guessing where the hell is the operation theater located……..

After I’ve found the signage (PESAKIT LUAR) , I approached the registration which says (X-Ray)….

(what the hell?)…

I’M ALREADY HERE…so I asked the person again if I’m on the right track…..

She told that I have arrived at the correct place, but the operation theater was to walk towards behind turn left go straight turn right and go into Door 3.

FINE….( I took a glance at my granddad and I knew that he was already tired from the walking, what more feeling nervous because of the operation and not knowing where he has been lead to…i wondered if he would breakdown any minute that time...)

I did as per according to what she told, after I entered door 3, I soon found the alley which was not larger than 5 feet wide. There sat another lady about my grandpa age dressed in tie-bac uniform which is ready for surgery…. She smiled and I could see all her wrinkles exposed from her face…

She spoke in cantonese and asked us...if we were here for surgery too….i’ve answered her yes in brief..

“ sai lei worr lei tei, kam tou hou yi wan tou” ( you guys are great, u manage to find this place)….

I’ve answered her that we have walk for merely half an hour before we reached here...

She couldn’t agree more, “ ngo wan seng yat ko chong kei lorr” ( she have also wandered around for more than an hour or so before arriving at the operation theater )

+ _ +''

I’d admire her enthusiasm because she did not give up even after one hour of searching. If I was looking for a place for more than an hour, I would choose to drive off and go home.

My granddad would had also went home if he could not find the place, because after the surgery he too did not know which way he had came from when I asked him if he knows which way we should turn.

But my granddad reminded me that if we ever need to come again, I’ll have to take another day off because coming to the Hospital is like going for a treasure hunt adventure!