"F*ck. F*ckity, f*ck, f*ck, F*CK !!"
Brett impatiently clicked on his mouse as he held down the Ctrl button. He gritted his teeth.
"F*CK!!!"
He pushed his desk and skidded backwards on his chair and threw his hands up in the air.
He then immediately hunched over as he scrunched up his face.
"Brett...? Are you alright? You better get that checked out."
His colleague was referring to the abdominal pains Brett has been having.
"Yeah.. I've got an appointment this arvo."
In fact, it was like his ..third? fourth? one. Brett was losing count.
"Mr Brett Yang"
"Yes. Hi Dr Chen."
"Hi. Eddy, please."
"Okay, hi, Eddy."
"So what brings you here today?"
"Abdominal pains."
"Still?"
"Yeah. I'm still in pain. A lot. It's become more frequent."
"That doesn't sound good. ...So tell me, Brett, are you getting enough sleep?"
"Sleep?"
Eddy raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Y'know. You lie down on your bed and you close your eyes?"
"No.. that's an unfamiliar activity to me."
"OMG Brett I hope you are joking, but for the record, I don't find it funny."
"I don't either. But I'm working ridiculous hours and I'm really not getting much sleep at all..."
"Brett, what did you do for a living again? Did I write it down in your chart here..."
"IT security. I go to work, work, come home, log in from home, work..."
"That's messed up. Do you ever log off? Like, y'know, un-plug??"
"No... I'm on call all the time.. I'm basically working all the time."
"Brett.... Last time you told me this, you started crying in my office."
Brett blushed.
"Um... Yeah I suppose I did."
6 months ago, Brett had run into Eddy's medical practice claiming he had a terrible rash all over his back which was driving him crazy. Eddy would not have believed him upon first glance of Brett's beautiful complexion of his face. Once Brett removed his shirt and turned around, Eddy was mortified of the extent of the rash which was weeping a fluid tinged with blood. Brett had stammered.
"I.. I can't even wear my business shirts anymore because they get stained..."
"Brett... not being able to wear white business shirts should be the least of your worries..."
"Well.. I'm really worried if this is ever gonna get better... there're bits of my skin that have split where the rash is really bad and it's bleeding.. it's quite painful..."
"Brett.. lemme just ask you something. ...Have you been under a lot of stress lately?"
This was when Brett burst into tears.
"Look Brett, I didn't just say that to embarrass you. I'm genuinely worried about your well-being. I'm reminding you how important it is to look after yourself."
Brett remained silent.
"Brett, remember what happened after you started crying?"
"...You reassured me that I'd get better because we now know it was caused by stress."
"Yeah. And what actually happened?"
"...It actually got better.. I actually felt better almost instantly and my back got better in like 3 days."
"...And how long did you actually have that rash on your back before you came in to see me, Brett?"
"...at least 3 months."
"Okay... so let's go over what we talked about before and see how you're going. So, no more coffee unless it's after a proper meal... and anything in a shape of a bar like cereal bars and chocolates don't count as a meal!"
"Okay..."
"And a maximum cap of 2 cups a day."
Brett gasped in exasperation and exclaimed.
"Oh c'mon!!! Eddy!!!"
Eddy looked at Brett sternly.
"Why are you reacting to this as if this is the first time you've heard of it??"
Brett shrugged.
"Okay. Eddy... okay!! I said okay, okay??"
"And... sleep. Minimum 7 hours."
"SEVEN HOURS!? Where the f*ck am I gonna find 7 hours to sleep!?!?!?"
"You have 24 hours in a day Brett, just like everybody else. You've been so sleep deprived, I bet they owe you about 500 hours of sleep."
"...Who's they?"
Eddy shrugged.
"I dunno.. whatever being that governs us mere mortals' sleep. Seriously, I'll write you another note to hand to HR. You cannot be on-call 24/7 and work full time. And from what you tell me, you're not really on-call, you're actually working a whole night-shift it's ridiculous. You're working a job for 2. I'll write in it that they can come talk to me if they don't like it but they have to ensure they sever contact with you for 12 hours straight so you can relax and get some sleep. Doctor's orders."
Eddy bit his lower lip.
"..Listen Brett, I betcha in your IT industry... you get these people who claim that they haven't done anything yet something has stopped working ?"
Brett sprung up and scoffed.
"OMFG Eddy, don't get me started on these f*ckers who say that!!! I get so triggered by them... WTF as if the system self destructs..."
Eddy then lowered his voice to a soothing tone.
"Now Brett, please listen to me.."
"..Yes?"
"Somewhere in this world, there exist people who don't listen to what the expert says, despite all the effort put in to determine the cause, all the meetings where decisions and agreements were made on the ongoing operational policy and explicit instructions not to follow certain procedures had been given.... "
Brett raised his voice again.
"WTF!?!? What kind of f*cking morons are these people!?!?!?"
Eddy remained calm as he continued;
"Brett... no offence but you're one of them."
Brett looked up.
"What!?!?!?"
"I've run tests on you and have determined the cause of your medical problem. You've got ulcers in your stomach. They're not nice to have and should not be left to brew. You and I have had lengthy discussions and we had decided on the steps to take to make it better and I've emphasised certain things that you should stop doing.. remember?"
"OMG..."
Brett was able to do little more than cast his eyes heavenward.
"Eddy.. I'm so sorry..."
"Brett.. you don't have to apologise.. this is solely for your sake.. you really need to look after yourself."
Brett heaved.
"Okay.. okay... I get it.. I get it now... I'm not gonna be one of those people I loathe."
Eddy smiled.
"Good."