Medicine Newbie

I have written the following cases based on true incidences. Try and understand the underlying pathology and explain them.

Case 1

The son of a 75-year old man frantically called a close friend to seek assistance for admitting his father to the hospital for heart disease (sakit jantung). His mother already passed away many years ago. Now his lonely father is unwell and needs urgent medical attention. His son feels intimidated and uncertain about what to do for his father's condition. He has no idea what the procedure is like if he decides to bring his father to hospital. He needs help before he will take his father to hospital.

A 39-year old man was happily married and going about his daily routine at home. His beautiful young wife had delivered their #5 child a month ago. On Thursday, when he got up to enter the toilet, he collapsed. His wife quickly took him to hospital. He was assessed for heart disease, treated, and discharged home. On the way home, again he collapsed and his wife had to rush him back to hospital. This time he was warded over the weekend and more investigations needed to be done on him the following week. He felt intimidated. He was weak and exhausted. On Sunday morning, he called his friend/boss to inform him about what had happened since he could not come to work that day. With mixed feelings, his boss went to visit him in the ward.

Case 3

Case 4 A retired school headmaster enjoyed cow's brain. Whenever he went to kenduri, he would go into the kitchen and ask if there was a cow's brain available. The ladies would dish out the cooked cow's brain and serve it on a platter, just for him. Sitting in the corner, he ate the entire cow's brain by himself. He died the following day.

Case 5 A 56-year old man had his blood profile done at the hospital where he worked. His blood profile was fine except for his cholesterol, which was a bit high. Upon learning about his blood cholesterol from a friend/senior scientist in the clinical laboratory, he felt he needed to do something about his blood cholesterol. He contacted some doctors for dietary modification. He started taking Bragg apple cider vinegar, twice daily. He ate fresh pomegranate, dried apricots and dried dates. He started taking oat bran but had to stop since it made him urinate too frequent. He stopped eating most of the food he had once craved. His food intake seems bland and unappealing to his wife. He skips meals to avoid putting on weight. His wife feels intimidated and does not know how to help him.

Case 6 A beautiful young woman in her mid-twenties got married to a dream man of her life. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack while on duty overseas. He died 5 years into their marriage, at age 41. She was devastated. They had no children. She went on to marry another man but her second marriage failed and she had no children. She got married for a third time and but still had no children. Now in her mid-sixties, and without any children, she still misses her first husband.

Case 7 An illiterate mother of 7 and grandmother of 52 married at age 18. A pretty young slim lady, she stayed home to cook and look after the family while her husband worked. Without proper knowledge about diabetes, she overate and suffered from chronic diabetes. She was diagnosed of diabetes at age 31, following the birth of her last child. In her 40s, 50s, and 60s, her diabetic status worsened as diabetic complications appeared one after another. She was obese beginning in her 30s. She was easily tired, her vision was poor and her body was constantly in pain. Her knees would swell which further reduced her mobility. She was constantly in and out of hospital for fatigue and loss of appetite (LOA). In her mid-60s, she was confined to a chair from morning till night, hardly ever moving about in the house. She would call on her children or grandchildren for anything she needed, including her drink and insulin injection. She had an intraocular lens (IOL) installed for her badly clouded eye lens so she could see, but that also later failed her - she was apparently 'blind'. She consumed local herbs and preparations to help control her diabetes. She had no diabetic sores nor lesions. Her skin was clean, smooth, and well-hydrated. However, she had a big scar from a previous boil on her buttock. She died of heart attack one morning in her son's lap, aged 65.

Effects of cholesterol on the body: http://www.healthline.com/health/cholesterol/effects-on-body http://www.healthline.com/health/high-cholesterol?ref=global

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Medicine Newbie

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