Mentally ill clients...

baru one week, since we left the psychiatric ward in HTAA but i had already missed all the sweet memories that we had after two weeks 'mingling' with the mentally ill clients. an unforgettable excitement that i don't think i can find it anywhere else on this earth (again...exaggerate! huhu)

how much do i know about methadone?
to be frank not much. all i ever know that it is an opiate group of drug used to replace the drug addicts 'addiction' towards other dangerous drugs (commonly, the heroin). i was actually a bit confused, why this methadone unit is placed in the psychiatric department anyway. my assumption (tak tau betul ke tak. hihi): most of the drug abusers will later develop mental problem (e.g: psychosis, schizophrenia). hmm, out of 59 methadone users, only 5 are non-Muslims. the rest, our young Malay Muslims. *sigh*

a testimony from a client that i met there, "dia (refers to methadone) punya 'kick' dik, memang sama macam heroin. laklok sekejap, lepas tu ok. boleh buat kerja macam biasa. hidup abang pun dah lebih terurus sekarang ni. dulu masa ambil heroin, satu kerja pun tak jalan. dalam seminggu, boleh kira berapa kali abang mandi."

i miss them...
hmm, i felt like words cannot express how grateful i am to meet those patients. these are among my favourite patients (jahat sungguh! i shouldn't be biased. heeee)

1. Mr HH
25 years old, diagnosed with schizophrenia. he was admitted due to EPS. what i like about him the most is he is such a nice guy. tak jemu-jemu bagi salam whenever he met us (the IIUM students). siap tunduk-tunduk lagi bila lalu depan kitorang. aduhai, sungguh sopan! not to forget his tarian 'mintak hujan' (ni kitorang gelar sendiri, sebab memang penuh aksi n ada unsur-unsur silat sikit. hihi).

among all the male patients, apparently i would rather say that he is the most 'islamic' one (just because he mentioned that his hobbies are: dengar ceramah-ceramah agama, baca al-Quran dan berpuasa. ^_^). plus, he is so obsessed with wudhu' (siap bertekak dengan sorang student - as he claimed Allah suruh ambil wudhu' setiap waktu)

me: "kenapa HH suka ambil wudhu'?" (i asked sebab tengah2 bersenam dia boleh berhenti, n pergi paip berdekatan untuk ambil wudhu'. pelik??hmmm??)
HH: "sebab bila ambil wudhu' saya akan rasa tenang. kalau saya rasa runsing, saya akan ambil wudhu' dan hati saya akan rasa tenang" (he does have a point!)
me: "apa yang selalu membuatkan HH runsing?"
HH: "keluarga saya susah, adik-beradik ramai. saya risau pasal keluarga saya...bla.. bla.."

so sweet. masih lagi risaukan keluarga walaupun dalam keadaan yang sebegitu. part paling menarik about this guy, was when i joined them in 'terapi lukisan', one of the ways for the patients to express themselves.

trainer: "HH, masa awak kat johor dulu awak ada masuk mana-mana pondok ke?"
HH: "tak pernah, saya hanya suka dengar ceramah-ceramah agama"
trainer: "ceramah-ceramah tu siapa yang bagi?"
HH: "orang-orang PAS"
trainer: "HH, habis tu, awak ni orang PAS la ye?"
HH: " ya, saya orang PAS. Allahuakbar!" (sambil angkat tangan kanan dengan penuh semangat. ^_^)

2. Pakcik Manja
His name memang manja, bukan gelaran. memang baik n selalu jadi patient yang paling happening bile time rehab. (i almost cry bila pakcik manja discharged, sebab tak sempat nak buat sukaneka dengan dia sekali).

3. Pakcik B
cool. one word that describe him the best. memang cool. ala-ala leader among the patients. tapi tak tahan nak ketawa bila dia start bukak cerita pasal kontrak puluhan juta yang dia handle (grandiose delusion). siap tuduh polis tersilap bawak dia masuk ward. huhu.

adik comel??
K.A. 29 years old, diagnosed with bipolar mood disorder. suka panggil aku adik comel (as he claimed dia teringat kat adik dia bila tengok aku.. haha). paling tak larat bila dia menyanyi lagu2 jiwang dengan penuh ekspresi depan aku (nasib baik diselamatkan oleh chee kiong- my saviour of the day). i presented his case depan sr shikin. memang menarik pun dia punya history. pernah jadi polis, n pernah involved with ganja. hmm...

a lesson with Dr Ramli...
Dr Ramli: "apa yang awak dapat daripada saya punya interview dengan patient td?"
me: "he got hallucination? sebab dia ade mention dengar suara binatang, suara lelaki n perempuan.."
Dr Ramli: "ok, how did i start the conversation?"
me: "erm....dr tanya dia 'ada rasa apa-apa gangguan tak'?"
Dr Ramli: "good. (nasib baik tak berangan time die interview patient td. fuh.) but, why?"
me: " open ended question. sebab gangguan (hallucination) banyak jenis. nak biar patient describe dulu gangguan macam mana yang dia rasa"
Dr Ramli: "exactly. bila patient tak boleh nak jawab, baru saya akan narrow kan question tu. 'ade dengar suara?'. like you mentioned hallucination banyak jenis, auditory, tactile, visual, etc. dalam lecture dah belajar kan?"
me: nodded...
Dr Ramli: "lagi...symptom lain? the way he talked?"
me: "urm...macam slurring speech sikit. early sign of EPS??" (menembak dengan tanpa segan silu di hadapan students kolej lain. huhu)
Dr Ramli: "betul. that's why u kena check patient ambil ubat apa."

dispersed. thanks to him that he taught us a lot. kalaulah semua doktor pun macam dia (takkanku berhenti berharap..huhu)

banyak lagi kisah-kisah menarik sepanjang kat ward psychiatric ni. setiap saat bersama patient ada je benda-benda pelik yang aku tak pernah encounter pun sebelum ni. sampaikan lenguh rahang mulut sebab tak tahan nak ketawa tengok gelagat-gelagat patients. a very meaningful fortnights in HTAA... my next destination... A&E (cuak!)