RM 5.50 for a boy boredom

I first saw this 12 year old boy who has a kidney disease called Nephrotic Syndrome, most of his body was swollen up with fluid, it was very obvious that his has a swollen face with bloated stomach. Everyday while i was working in the paeds ward i saw him lying on bed, staring at ceiling.....doing nth. Sometimes while i walked pass the boy he was sleeping. I hardly see any visitor came and visit him, probably his parents busy working?? what about his siblings???i only saw his sister once since the first day of his admission. He has been there in the ward for 1 week and whenever i saw him, he was either sitting on the bed looking at people around the ward or lying down staring at the ceiling....sometimes sleeping.

Yesterday i went up and asked him how is he feeling? then i suddenly asked dont you feel bored everyday if u stayed on the bed? he showed me the branula that was inserted on his right leg. I think because both of his hands were swollen and the make it difficult for doctor to insert an IV line, that's why they chose his leg instead. He was unable to get down from bed, because walking may aggravates the pain on the leg, I aksed him what is his hobby during free time? he told me he likes to read. I asked him why he never ask his family to buy him some comic or magazine for him ? He answered me that sometimes they never even visit him whole day. He asked me whether the store at the ground floor in the hospital do sell any magazine. I dint even knw that there is a store in the hospital in the first place.... I told him that i will go find out when i have free time.

Later on that day i was studying in the library, i still remember it was raining heavily outside. I suddenly recalled that i've promised him i will find out about the store in the hospital, damn...rain heavily.....if i run over to the hospital at this time, my lab coat will surely get wet. Actually I think I can go check out about the store tommorow morning, but when i think more in depth, i really feel sad for the boy, he has been spending almost 1 week in the hospital, most of the time alone...not like other patients. I decided to drive out of the hospital to a nearest Malay shop to look for any comic that he can read. I found this "Gila Gila" magazine. The price tag sticked on the front page " RM5.50". What da............~ why nowadays just a comic magazine also cost Rm5.50?? I still remember those old day when i was a kid...only RM2-3. In the end i still buy it for him.

The reason why i bought this for him because i was thinking if the RM5.50 can really bring him cheers and happiness, or at least he wont feels so bored, i think it is worth doing it. I considered myself as lucky boy because I was born healthy without any serious sickness compared to many other kids in the world. Although my job as a medical student is to learn medicine in the hospital,and i am not supposed to buy him things. I think there is no harm doing extra for them. As long as i can do whatever I am able to do.

I dont really know how he feels when I handed him the magazine, but if the RM5.50 comic magazine can really make his day, I feel glad that i ve made the correct decision. Sometimes, we tend to forget how fortunate we were and keep on complaining how suck our life are, how suffering we are.... Unlike them.....those kids will feel happy for a simple thing in their life. for example: RM5.50 comic.

"Living in this world is not always about yourself, sometimes the reason is to help others and make their live a better one." - Quoted by Kean Seng-