Yesterday Peter had left ureteric colic and called me at 3am. I admitted him to Mt Alvernia and pumped him full of pain killers. That sorted him out until morning. My survival in the competitive world of Singapore private practice appears to be secure. If only I am to be called upon regularly to supply non-core pain services to all my friends.
Surely pain management extends to the coverage of acute pain. Ureteric colic is known to be one of the strongest pain sensations felt by humans (being worse than childbirth, broken bones, gunshot wounds, burns, or surgery). Peter, you have been through this, you don't need anesthesia for your sebaceous cyst.
Returning home at 4am, I was not allowed into the bedroom unless I had a shower. I knew I could not sleep if I had a shower at 4am, so I slept on the couch. Within an hour I was displaced from the couch by a sister in law who had come in to mop the floor. Yes I live in a strange household, where floors are moped at 4am. I migrated to the floor and sank into a deep slumber - with a strong will - displacing all impure thoughts and a cold hard floor.
Four hours came and went - the pillow had migrated to my chest and I was ensconced in a very pleasant semi sentience. Reluctantly I made my way through morning ablution and raiment to take on daily vicissitudes.
Why am I making a song and a dance about sleeping on the cold marble floor? First of all I have always believed that a cold floor sucks warm qi from one's body and disrupted the bodily humors. Second, I have grown accustomed to sleeping on soft surfaces. Thirdly, as a rule, I never wake up refreshed sleeping on conventional surfaces.
A neuroscientific explanation calls for:
a. Reticular activation results from an uncomfortable sleeping surface.
b. Sleep induction requires greater frontal lobe inhibition to block reticular activation.
b. Greater frontal lobe activity makes for refreshing sleep.
An explanation based on humors calls for:
a. Over activated (I was kept awake from 1 to 4am) sympathetic system creates unbalanced humors.
b. The equilibrium is restored by the flow of Qi from this overheated system into the cold hard floor.
Advice to on call doctors - sleep on the floor when you return from a call.
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