Dainty on the inside, but the reverse on the outside?

I was at Dr. Karman Wong's and there was Yati, my favourite nurse, doing her usual injection of needle. Yati, with her experience, must be one of the very few, who could often aim accurately at my tiny vein. I asked her if her veins are also as tiny as mine, and she nodded her head.

"Isn't it ironical that overweight ladies like us should have tiny veins beneath our
layers of blubber?"

"You're not fat, Choo."

"Don't forget that at my heaviest I weighed in 90kgs."

"Yati, wouldn't it be nice if we were dainty on the outside and let the reverse be inside?"

Yati laughed and laughed.

Ah! Please don't get me wrong. Am not one to complain about my looks or what God has given me. However, when you have inexperienced nurses poking needles into your hands three times and still could not get the right vein, it is quite painful a process. Worse, I am often left with blue-black marks on the wrists and arms.

I guess the worst experience must be the one I recently had. The sweet and compassionate Filipino nurses were concerned they could not find my veins and wanted the doctor on duty to insert the needle. I kept encouraging them to try again, saying that nurses are often more adept at "needle work" than doctors. However, in came the doctor, and horror upon horror it was the one lady I would have wanted to avoid given my bad previous experience. Dr. Tan Hui Kian! Now with the bright lights on in the ex-ray room before my CT Scan I could see her face more clearly. Perhaps to save her pride before her nurses, she poked in the first needle on my right wrist and pushed it in with force that it caused me such excruciating pain. Worse, I later heard her say, "This is the best I can do. Bo Pian. (Bo pian in Hokkien means "can't be helped".) Tears rolled down my cheeks. I saw the Filipino nurse with moist eyes. She could feel my pain. When I looked at my wrist I could see the little tube still jutting out somewhat. The nurse had to inject some iodine so as to mark the distinction between the organs and tumours. This is an expensive private
hospital where the quality of the doctor on duty is below par.!

When the Filipino nurse told me that they would have to postpone the minor surgery to the following day, I decided to put my foot down and insisted that if it were the same Dr. Tan to do the surgery, I would not do it unless given another doctor. Twice bitten, ten times shy!

Gan Cao