How far would you go.

this week's clinic touched me emotionally. i'll keep it short.

at the child and adolescent psychiatry clinic,

- thr was a case whr distraught parents came in with their 9 year old daughter who was really adorable, friendly, happy but unable to talk / read / recognize alphabets, communicating only by making certain audible sounds and hand gestures. they had flown in all the way from Brunei for a 2nd opinion, with some hope, for a diagnosis and some form of treatment. they left knowing that their child might just never ever be able to talk. bcz the success of speech therapy esp at such a late age is subjective.

- parents coming in with both children having autism and both parents suffering from depression due to financial problems and being unable to cope with taking care of their children. thr were many other cases with children suffering from depression and mental retardation, attention deficit disorder etc.

i tried imagining hw life would be like if i was the parent.

i was awed and touched by the love they displayed for their child.

in the adult psychiatry clinic, i watched elderly parents bringing in their sick adult child with schizophrenia / depression / bipolar, stories of aggression at home, the child screaming at the parents to get out of the house, suicidal tendencies, caused by noncompliance to treatment. the elderly parent kept reassuring his son it'll be alright, we're with you, we'll always be with you, dont worry.

it was really something. imagine one of your family members suffering from a mental illness. it takes a lot of love to commit yourself to care for them for a lifetime. bcz these sort of illnesses usually relapse and are chronic. they cant be 100% cured with medication. and lots of patients are not compliant to medication bcz of their side effects like drowsiness, abdominal upset, insomnia etc. some of them also cause addiction.

this kind of love is really amazing.