Too Much Information

Do you sometimes feel that people share too much information?? I mean like seriously, TOO MUCH INFORMATION. I mean it is fine to share if you are close friends....but not when I hardly know you.

One example is my ex-colleague who started to have an affair with our registrar. He was and still is engaged to his wife-to-be. Well, I have no comments for their relationship. However, she chats too much about their relationship.....and that includes details of what they do in bed. She talks about it to almost everyone....I mean I feel sorry for the registrar because obviously he doesn't know that she's spilling the beans about their sex life to everyone. From being raunchy at sex to telling us when he lost his virginity. My, that is WAY too much information.

Another example which I felt totally grossed out about just happened over the weekend. My registrar whom I was on call with was talking to me about semen. It all started when one of our patients came in with ? cystitis. She said that everytime she drinks cranberry juice, her abdominal pain disappears. So, then came the Q&A part:

"Ling, what do you think that is in cranberry juice that makes it good for urinary tract infection?" asked my reg.

"Hmm....I just read about that on newspaper today...and now I can't remember! Something to do with its sugar content?" I replied (feeling like a total idiot...but I really did read about the power of cranberry juice in the health section of The Star on Sunday).

"It basically prevents bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall."

"Oh ok....I've learnt something new today!"

"Now, what does semen and cranberry juice have in common?"

I was like....HUH?! Why are you asking me about semen and cranberry juice....I answered anyway. "They both have high sugar content."

"Exactly, Ling. So what does that tell you?"

"errmm....its good for urinary tract infection prophylaxis???"

"Yes. And that's what I have been telling my girlfriend. I've been telling her that semen is good for her....she should take it."

I honestly nearly puked! Now that is really far too much information to share!!!

"Oh right," I answered, and thinking.....thanks alot for telling me that! I do not want to know what you are doing with your girlfriend in bed.

"Yeah, semen is good. I keep telling my girlfriend that she should take some semen," he repeated.

So I tried to joke back and said, "Well, I don't suppose it is clinically proven, is it? I don't think anyone would like to participate in a research of such."

He laughed.

Oh dear.....I'm an open person. But I think sometimes, certain information is better kept to your own self. That is honestly far too much information.

Happy Ending

Think the winter months have gotten into me. 6 pm is as dark as 9 pm. I feel abit miserable sometimes, loads of things running in my head. So many things that need to be sorted out...yet, I just can't push myself to do or face them. Happy ending? What is a happy ending? I know no happy ending. Everything is in a mess. Everything is in a horrible mess. I need to sort my life out thats it. When? I don't know....guess whenever I feel like it. Just gotta put a smile on my face, and take one step at a time.

Love this song...enjoy!

What Should I Treat It As?

A young girl, just about 2 years old, presented to me with coryza, cough and fever for 1 day. Parents noted increasingly worsening noisy breathing for the past 1 day. When I met the girl, she has audible wheeze and mild stridor. She had some tracheal tugging, and mild intercostal recession. Her chest had some scattered wheeze, no crepitations.

Now, it's decision time. Should I treat her as a viral-induced wheeze or croup?

I don't know.

So I rationalised to myself.
Right, her wheeze is more prominent...and she has got some wheeze in her chest. Hence, I should give her a steroid (prednisolone) and bronchodilator.

Or, should I treat her as a croup.....but then again, the treatment is also a steroid (dexamethasone).

Hmm.....hmmm....hmmm

Fine. I decided that I would treat it as a viral induced wheeze. Halfway through giving her the bronchodilator, her stridor became more prominent...and she actually started to cough..and that cough was a croupy cough. Hence, I changed my mind and treated her as a croup. I gave her dexamethasone instead.

Later on, I informed my reg about this. He said that he would have just given her the prednisolone anyway, because, during the olden days, prednisolone was the gold standard for either wheeze or croup. Oh well....decision has been made. At least she got a steroid of some sort. But decisions are never easy to make...and I cant imagine myself being more senior and making more decisions....Need to build more experience and confidence.

He agreed that she was a croup patient. Decisions....don't like making them. But my job nature doesn't allow me to escape from this.

The Letter

I just came back from work...and saw an interesting letter on the table. You know, sometimes, you can predict who the letter is from. But I couldn't in this occasion. Therefore, I decided to open it immediately.

Its a bloody letter from the insurance company of the vehicle which I bumped into. It states that they are holding me responsible for the event and they want my insurance company to deal with the whole thing.

Now, yes I am responsible. But there was hardly any damage to his van!! The damage was on my car....how could be possibly make any claim? arrrghh...This is really starting to stress me out. I hate dealing with matters like this. Maybe they decided to smash up their van abit more just to make the whole accident even more convincing....

#$%& guess I have no excuse for myself. I created this whole incident upon myself. sigh.

Guten Tag Munchen & Berlin!

Just got back from my holiday trip in Germany. I really enjoyed myself. People in Germany are friendly. I think I had enough wurst (german sausages) to last me for a year! hehe. Oh...not to mention, I had quite alot of bier (beer) to drink too (wait till you see a pic of me and a big JUG of beer!!). Anyway, the weather in Munchen (or Munich) was fantastic. It was sunny, but slightly chilly at night. However, at the foot of The Bavarian Alps, the weather was bitter cold, especially with the rain. My friend & I were lucky to have escaped the snow, because it started to snow quite heavily on the night we left The Alps. At Berlin, the weather was cloudy, and really cold. The fact that I only had a thin jacket on, made matters worse.

Anyway, here are some pictures from my trip!

Dinner...look at the 5 different varieties of wurst we had! White sausages too! yummmy!

A display of china potteries on the wall of The Residenz.

The park outside The Residenz.

The Olympic Park in Munchen.

Say Hello to the BMW Isetta @ The BMW Museum, Munchen.

The BMW Mille Miglia.

I can't own one, but I can certainly take a photo with it without any extra cost!
The BMW 7 series.

Sunny day at the palace grounds.

Schloss Hohenswangau (Castle of The Highland Swans..hope I got the translation right)

Schloss Neuchswanstein, Bavarian Alps. This castle is meant to be the inspiration for Disney castles.

Autumn in Germany.

The Alpsee Lake, Bavarian Alps. It was actually very cold, but I decided to take a photo without my jacket.

The Kaiser Wilhelm Church in Berlin, part of it was destroyed during the war. The square block beside it is where the church services are currently being held.

Inside the block of building....very blue and cool.

The Reichstag (parliament building)....the transparent dome above it provides beautiful scene of the whole city of Berlin.

Inside the transparent dome.

The bear is the mascot for Berlin. This bear in particular is made of broken ceramics.

Now, I have never seen such big grapes and big brussel sprouts ever!

The leaves are changing colour!!

The Berliner Dom and....a big fat bum on the left! =)

Part of the Berlin Wall.

ok....guess that was quite a few pics....hehe...but not alot for me though, as I am rather obsessive in taking pics....I have taken about 600 over pics in this trip! =P But not really happy with some of them because they were overexposed. I still haven't got the hang of using this panasonic cam...still prefer my broken down Casio Exilim.

Kate Nash - Mouthwash

Here it is! I personally do not get what the whole song is trying to say... but heck, its one fun song!

A very random song, but too catchy to not like!

hehe... I am so totally addicted to this song! Listen to it!

Mouthwash - Kate Nash

This is my face, covered in freckles with an occasional spot and some veins.
This is my body, covered in skin, and not all of it you can see
And, this, is my mind, it goes over and over the same old lines
And, this, is my brain, it's torturous analytical thoughts make me go insane

And I use mouthwash
Sometimes I floss
I got a family
And I drink lots of tea

I've got nostalgic don't know
I've got familar faces
I've got a mixed-up memory
And I've got favourite places

And I'm sitting at home on a Friday night
And I'm sitting at home on a Friday night and I hope everything's going to be alright

This is my face, I've got a thousand opinions and not the time to explain
And this is my body, and no matter how you try and disable it, I'll still be here
And, this, is my mind, and although you try to infringe you cannot confine
And, this, is my brain, and even if you try and hold me back there's nothing
that you can gain

Because I use mouthwash
Sometimes I floss
I got a family
And I drink lots of tea

I've got nostalgic don't know
I've got familar faces
I've got a mixed-up memory
And I've got favourite places

And I'm sitting at home on a Friday night
And I'm sitting at home on a Friday night and I hope everything's going to be alright

20 minutes Makes A Huge Difference!

I'm back doing my night on calls. It wasn't unusual that I did not manage to nap prior to the start of shift. Despite me trying to sleep later over the past few nights, I would still wake up, the latest by 9 am. I think the thought of starting a night shift just makes me slightly anxious...although you would have assumed that having done it before, I would be able to anticipate how it was going to turn out.

Anyway, slight anxiety, equaled to no sleep at all. The first night is always the most difficult one. It's because the body needs to adjust itself to the different rhythm. My Friday night was quite busy....didn't have a chance to have a break at all. So by the time it was 9.40 am, which was home time, I was feeling really sleepy. I decided to have a really strong cup of coffee....I put about 1 tablespoon of coffee into a mug!! Now, that is VERY STRONG coffee for my standard.

Gulped the whole coffee down, hoping that the caffeine would keep me awake for the drive home. It was more of mind over matter, as I do not get affected by caffeine. The first 15 minute drive was alright...I was yawning every now and then, but my eyes were still very wide awake. However, with only just 10 more minutes to reaching home, my conscious level just dipped.

My eye lids felt like they were tonnes heavy! I was struggling to keep them open. I started to play the music really loud, slapped my cheeks, and started to munch on a gum. Boy...I was glad to reach home safely. It was very dangerous driving!!!

During my night shift last night, I managed to squeeze in about 20 minutes nap...and it really made a big difference. I was WIDE AWAKE while driving home. But how often do you actually get a chance to nap during a night on call....Rarely.

There is certainly no doubt that sheer tiredness while driving can kill!!! Well, my heart goes to anyone that works very long hours/night shifts.....I totally understand how sleepy you feel after work.

I'm Saved!!!

With reference to my previous blog, thank god I was saved.

The rash turned out to be seborrhoeic dermatitis. *phew

Yikes!

*scratch *scratch *scratch

I'm feeling so itchy now. Help!

Just before I left work, I saw a young boy who presented with a rash. It was a funny rash, which I do not know what to make of it. The rash apparently has been there for a good 5 weeks now. He has been using a steroid cream which has made the rash worse. The boy was otherwise well.

My registrar reviewed the patient, and she too, did not know what was the cause of the rash. So we did a few blood tests, and they were normal. She decided to let the night on-call team review the wee boy as well.

So after informing the night team on call about the case, the first thing that came out from her mouth was, "Its scabies!"

I was like, "Nooo way...I touched him without even wearing gloves." Yikes!!!

She smiled and said the story sounded like it. But reassured me that if I had washed my hands after examining the boy, it should be ok. I wasn't buying it...the worse thing was, before taking the blood sample from him, I was actually carrying him in my arms, because mum did not want to accompany him into the treatment room for the tests.

Oh boy...now I'm feeling itchy all over. I was really paranoid....I washed my hands at least twice before I left the ward, and disinfected my stethoscope too. I really hope its not scabies...I shall get the confirmation tomorrow. And I will keep this blog updated...

Hope I can sleep tonight...*scratch *scratch