I was having abdominal pains during the last 3 weeks and went to see Dr. S.K. Chan in Altona (Blyth St) who is our family doctor. She is a Malaysian Chinese and can speak English and Cantonese, but not Mandarin although her father can. Her father has run this Altona clinic for 30 years. Our family finds her very good. She has limited the number of patients she is seeing, presumably so that she can provide better attention for each patient.

I was prescribed antibiotics and took a CT scan which shows infection of the left colon. The pain went away with the antibiotics but recurred. Dr. Chan advised me to take a colonoscopy to ascertain whether there are any underlying problems causing the infection and to confirm the Irritable Bowel Syndrome that I had been diagnosed in Singapore a long time ago.

A colonoscopy was booked for me today at the Hobsons Bay Endoscopy and Day Surgery Centre located at the corner of Queen St and Sargood St. This centre, together with Louis Joel Arts & Community Centre and Doveritch Pathology, occupy the building vacated by the former Altona Community Hospital. It does colonoscopy and gastroscopy.

I was put to sleep under general anaesthetic and the procedure took about 20 minutes. I learnt that the centre sees many patients each day and there are 2 other locations in Hoppers Crossing and Sydenham. The doctors and nurses are very friendly. I told the nurse that I would go for a lunch at Sapa Hill Restaurant in Footscray as I am famished due to the fasting required for this procedure. I was led to a resting room and was given coffee and biscuits while waiting for my wife to fetch me and for a debrief from the doctor.

I am glad that this service is so conveniently located in Altona and I do not need to go far away.