Pediatrician Office Saga

Something rare happened yesterday.

I had to take the daughter to the pediatrician as she has been getting this weird 'itchy scratchy' spasms which last only 10 seconds each time. So I called the pediatric office 2 days before the appointment.

Myrna, the nurse : 'So, new patient, first time coming to this office.' (we just changed medical insurance plan).

Ely the mom : 'Yes'

Myrna : 'Which Dr would you like to see? We have 5 Drs, Dr Ananda, Dr Chin, Dr Cliff, blah blah blah'…literally.

Ely : 'Well, you know, this is my first time bringing my daughter. Could you recommend me one?'

Myrna : 'Hmmm, we don’t recommend Drs, you know what I mean. But I can help you choose…Dr Ananda is Asian, Dr Chin is Chinese Asian, Dr Cliff is White, blah blah blah'

Ely already laughing : 'Girl, you are so funny! Your description is way beyond your call of duty! But hmmm, Dr Ananda sounds good'

Myrna laughing : 'Ely, you're giving me problem here, now you want me to choose the Dr for you. OK Dr Ananda, but wait! What kind of asian are you? Filipino? Chinese? Indonesian?'

Ely : 'INDONESIAN? How did you know that I am one? OK, Dr Ananda then.'

Yes, my Singapore ID indicates that I am indonesian. It does not make sense as it does not describe ethnicity but more like nationality. But I do know dang well that my parents are Jawa Peranakan (hehehe).

So to the Dr we went. Met Dr Ananda, nice beautiful, big eyes and very very friendly. She could not diagnose the little lady as the itchy scratchy was not flaring when we were in the Dr's office. She asked the little lady tonnes of questions, from her habits to her food to her puberty etc etc. Then the Dr gave her some anti allergy toiletries for her to use as step one.

When the consultation was over, I asked her what ethnicity she was. She said that she is indonesian. So I told her that I am malay, but says indonesian on my ID. My great grannies were from Java and my parents could speak some javanese words but not me. That was enough to trigger her jump for joy….'ahhhhh, a fellow man' kind of joy, you know what I mean? Then we started talking…in english, as she speaks only splatters of Bahasa, that did not deter her from giving me a hug before I left the office.

It was a nice visit, a meaningful visit to the pediatrician. Went home, let the husband know what happened and he was amazed…its so rare to find someone who comes from my little island or somewhere close to it in our everyday lives. But when we do, we tend to stick together. Like the Indonesian Consular employee who still calls me for advise on her insurance and the Singapore Consular who calls to make changes on their insurance in exchange for some immigration questions I have hehehe. I do get Singaporean and Malaysian customers visiting me at the office just to say hello or just to say that they're in town.

Isn't that nice? Something that we totally take for granted when we're back home.