The Physician's Touch

Hello! This is the Daddy checking in... Have not written in a long long while... haha... so, here's a pretty long one... about the day, the incident (or the person) that I was mad at/with and the lesson that God taught me today...

Well... today's the day that the doc confirmed that Joseph has contracted the potentially disfiguring dreadful disease called the wretched CHOOK POX!!! I got my pox and now my face has a hole (that incidentally Sal is crazy about haha)...

Honestly I simply refused to believe that it was the pox. It looked just like insect bites for goodness sake... I prayed and prophesised and declared (something I learnt from the Apostle during the Apostolic-Prophetic Night.... Eze 37 - Prophesy (and declare) and incidentally, there is a difference between praying and declaring - want to know more, please visit www.trinity.net and check out the sermon downloads - it should be there)...

Anyway, I prayed and prophesised and declared... well... Joe still got the pox... It was already there... and I was praying that the spots will disappear... but God has other plans...

Actually He has... I had a great time with me son - just dad and the son... we were watching Cars... talking nonsense, just listening to him rattle on about his friends, about Cars, making SFX, running in and out of the room, vroom vroom, shouting McQueen McQueen (incidentally, he lost that in the evening and the whole family was looking for it... Lightning, McQueen... we gotta call the police to report missing persons... ), he hates the medicine A, likes the other one which is sweet, etc...

"dad, can I have something to eat?" - darn... i forgot he missed his tea time in child care... one slice of bread with nuttela coming up, with grape Vitagen...
You like it? nod nod... with his eyes glued to the show...

This was the fun part... the not so fun part started at 11+ in the morning...

I was still having my meeting with David Chng and Stella on Charity Walk @ PL. Phone rang - and phone died. No batt... got the message from Sal that child care called... and off we went to pick Joe up. Rushed to the doc and the regular family doc that we saw, treated Joe as if he had leprosy or something. This is not the first time he did that and honestly, my instincts were telling me - Alan, go to Mt A and see the doc... but somehow I did not respond to the prodding of my instincts... rushed to doc and that's what my son got...

Doc did not even touch Joe, moved his chair slightly away - arms length. Pointed his torch light at Joe, took a closer look - "it's classic chicken pox". I lifted up Joe's tee for him to check and he sat an arm's length away and looked. Doc did not touch him at all. I know he has quite a few kids but for crying out loud, there's a patient (a 3 year old boy - who is wondering why can't he play with the toys outside, etc) in front of you who needs a doctor's care and touch! And Joseph, was itching to touch things, climbed up the chair, rested his hands on the doc's table... curious about the things on his table and wanted to reach out and doc quickly pushed his things away from him... Don't touch ah... if not, Auntie J will have a lot to clean... what about the patient??!!??

In 2 mins, Joseph was crying cause I was trying to hold him... and kids get vibes easily - from adults who are treating them like they belong to the CDC... or the deep moutains exiled because of some abominable disease that is incurable or fatal.

I walked out of the room and I swore to myself, it's the last time I'm coming here - even though I have been with this doc for years! This is not the first time it happened. The previous time when the kids had HFMD, he also behaved exactly the same way. We brought the kids to the PD in Bishan and she was examining the kids thoroughly and feeling them. When we told her about the fear of Dr G, she laughed.... "what's there to be so concerned about... just wash your hands with soap. Wash them clean and you'll be alright.... " (something to that effect)

I know he has kids and I know he may be concerned. But those are the risks that a doc undertakes when he decides to be a doc! There are ways to manage these risks and a doc could wash himself clean, put on a pair of gloves (incidentally, he did not though he had a mask - not N95 though, but still he has a mask and no gloves) or whatever...

Of course by this time, I was fuming mad and I told myself, I want a 2nd opinion. I do not trust him now. Off to Mt A. Along the way, Joseph was still sobbing and I was trying to pacify him and kept telling him, "Don't worry... Daddy will protect you and not let anyone bully you...".

The doc (Dr Louis Loo) at Mt A, is a world of difference. He was close, he examined Joseph. I said "I want a 2nd diagnosis. It doesn't look like pox to me. It's not watery". Guess what the doc did? He said "actually it is. If you touch it, you can feel that it's watery. Here try it..." and he was feeling the red spots. Lifting Joseph's tee, looking around his neck and back.

I'm utterly convinced that I'm not going back to my family doc of 8 years, even though he is rather effective (I might say) and his medicine is pretty good (though I have no idea what he prescribes honestly. He mixes everything into a bottle and says cough/flu mixture.) It works. But too bad, I'm not going back. A doctors' touch is more important to me.

Actually, after the whole thing happened, I thought a lot about my God, Jesus. Jesus never shun away from people who are sick. It is precisely that when they are sick, they need the touch of God. They need His healing touch. We read on many occasions in the Bible, that Jesus was always with the sick and the poor, ministering to them, spending time with them. Was He afraid? Definitely not. His passionate heartbeat was for His people and He longed to be with His people, to heal them, to set the captives free. In Matthew 8, Jesus healed the man with leprosy. "Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean". In the next verse, Jesus did something even before He said anything. V3 records for us - Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man... v3b "I am willing", He said. "Be clean!". The action came before the word. He acted before He spoke. In the same chapter, 9 verses down. v15. Jesus healed Peter's MIL of her fever. He touched her hand and the fever left. He touched her.

He acted. He touched. And I learnt this lesson today - God has called us to be His hands and legs to touch the world for Him. For me and Sally in the social service sector, and for all my colleagues in CCSS, He has called us to serve the poor, the needy, to provide counsel, to give hope to a dying world, to the people who are clinging onto life with the very last thread that they are holding on to, families and individuals who have lost their reason for living, to empower them, to equip them, to give them a lift, to give them hope, by "Making Their Day", by giving them the necessary help and not say, "Be well and be on your way".

I'll show you my faith by my works, James said. That is my motto and I intend to live this word out.

What a day it had been. Work outstanding. Reports not written. Proposal not submitted. But God entered my day and taught me a great lesson - about my son and the importance of a Father's / Physician's touch.

Dad signing off.