Please, Just Listen to Me....for once....

It was a good day at work. I had my ward round finished by 12 pm. I made all my referrals, and wrote my letters. I managed to sit down for lunch! And I spent the afternoon trying to catch up with a few patients' family members.

Pretty chillaxing, isnt?

Until...I met the niece of one of my patients.

Boy, can she talk, and moan, and groan!

She kept yakking non stop....and she just didn't seem to get what I was trying to get across to her.

Her uncle was actually just discharged from the hospital one week ago. He was admitted because an irregular heart rhythm. Unfortunately, he was readmitted yesterday. This was, it was because his blood sugar level was too high. We screened him for any source of infection, and he was clear. So, it was felt that his high sugar level was purely because he needed an increased dose of insulin. There was no immediate issues with his heart. He was reviewed today, and his blood sugar levels were alot better! And, both the consultant and I discharged him.

The niece was an unhappy lady when she found out about this. She was dissatisfied with his SHORT hospital admission. She was unhappy that "nothing" was done for him.

Now, who in the world would be unhappy over a SHORT hospital admission??? Isn't good to discharge patient as soon as we can?? Why keep a patient in the hospital longer than they should?? And, what is this whole issue about us doing "nothing" for him. He was investigated for any infeciton, we increased his insulin....and you claimed that we did nothing??! Gimme a break!

Then, she asked me this question, "His blood sugar levels have been ok most of the time. Why suddenly it became erratic?? Why did he think he had a hypo, when his meter showed that his BM was high?? It must be his heart that is causing this."

I was like....whoooaaa.....hang on, hang on, too many questions at a time. The moment I tried to explain my thoughts about his problem...she just cut me short and was not listening. At the end, she became frustrated and just stormed out of the room. I gave my explanation as best as I could....I explained to her that his high sugar level is likely because his body is so used to his usual insulin, and therefore, needed more. A high sugar level can you feel quite unwell, and his heart has got nothing to his high BM.

It was such an exhausting conversation. I was trying to reassure her that nothing sinister was going on behind her uncle's back, and we can not guarantee whether or not he will have another episode of hyperglycaemia. I mean, how is that possible? How could you tell the patient or family member that, "yeap, I am 100 % sure that he will never have a hypo or hyperglycaemia again!"

Anyway, I just wished she kept her ears open and listened to what I have explained to her, rather than just storming out of the room. OR, maybe I was simply rubbish at giving her the explanation?

A Waste of Energy

Anger & bitterness eat away at your energy.
It actually takes alot of energy to hate someone.
You're punishing yourself.
If you hold a grudge, if you're walking around hating somebody & seeking revenge on someone, it eats you up.
Having the revenge might give you a split second of some kind of twisted satisfaction, but it won't last.


I came across the above short statement recently, and found it really true. There are many a times in life, where we feel so angry. Angry about something, angry about a person, angry about your own self. However, anger does not take you anywhere. Learning to forgive is a vital step towards moving forward.

Disappointed

I really wanna shoot myself.


I so really wanna hide somewhere in shame.

I dunno why, but I always seem to disappoint myself at times I needed to do well.

Urggh....why oh why???


SIIIGGGHHHH


All of you who are cursing and swearing and feeling so nervous before you attend a job interview....don't worry, I'm also a member of the club. I think the general public has this preconception that doctors will always get a job, no matter where they go. I shall politely ask you to think again. This is not the case in this country. We have to fight for limited training jobs, and attend painstaking interviews, which also depends on whether you were shortlisted.


How do we get shortlisted? Well, if you can fill in your form properly, ie, show that you're enthusiastic...then, who knows, you might be the lucky one, invited for the job interview.


I know I have chosen this pathway myself. But somehow, I feel that others seem to do so well under pressure...whereas I just seem to crumble.


I attended a job interview recently. I did not do well at all! There were 3 different stations. One was on my portfolio, the second one was about my commitment and the third one was a clinical scenario station. I was not too bad in the portfolio station, but the other two.....sigh....was where I fail to live up to my own expectations.


I was blown away by a few "funny" questions, such as, "how will you be different when you are a registrar?" or "what would you have done, if you were not a doctor?"


I found these questions funny....I know they don't sound hard, but somehow, finding a way to answer them seem difficult, at least for me, anyway. Because you have to relate them to your current situation or make it sound positive. Why are they asking me about being a registrar, when I'm not even started in the training programme, which will take me 2 years before I become a registrar?? All I know is, when you're a reg, you have more responsibility, and more junior colleagues working under you. And if I were not a doctor, I would do actuarial science. How I can relate that to medicine? I dunno.

Then, in the 3rd station, I was utterly disappointed with myself. It was a simple case of jaundice....and yet, I forgot to say that I would request a coagulation screen as part of the investigation!!! And, oh, I could not remember the cause of pre-hepatic jaundice....

I was like....HELLO??? What were you thinking, saw ling??!!! Alcoholic hepatitis is like your bread and butter!!! You deal with such cases almost every day....and yet, you forgot to mention the most important blood test!!!!! The moment I stepped out of the interview room, suddenly an influx of information entered my brain. Of course, the answer to the latter question was..... DUH!!! haemolytic anaemia. My memory failed me....my nerves got the better of me.


Anyway, I could go on and on to moan about how badly I did. I had only one chance...and I have failed myself miserably. I know it is all over now....but I can't help feeling this way.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

"Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And since we've no place to go

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!"

yeap, the snow is here, finally! In some ways, I guess I'm lucky. The snow is not too bad in Glasgow. But certainly, places down south were hit by the weather badly.....to the extent that public transport ceased working, schools closed, and people took time off as they couldn't get to work!

This is my 3rd year in Glasgow. I can happily say that this is the first proper winter for Glasgow! haha. The previous winters were extremely rainy. At least it has been snowing intermittently over the past week, and temperature dipping below 0. It was -5 last night.

Anyway, I love the sight of white snow. I love the sight of snow covering everything on the ground....making everything look so pure, and clean! But this wouldn't last long, as the snow will melt soon, and people will start walking on the snow. The sight would be horrible. So that's why I decided to capture a few shots of the snow from my room....here they are.

The snow covering the common compound outside.

Cars covered with snow too!

Great Girly Weekend!

To top off my annual leave last week, my gal pals and I travelled to Dublin for a really short weekend break! woohoo!

Most of my weekends here are pretty unexciting. I would normally just hang out with a few friends and Kev. We would spend time savouring different food, shopping, chatting, coffee-ing, and going to the cinema. There would be the odd times where we visit a local attraction.

Last weekend was SUPER Girliciously FUN! hehe.

My gal pals were Georgina (or George as she is better known) and Laura. Laura has been my good friend in Glasgow. We met on the First day of our induction as junior house officers in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. We were both very early. She sat beside me. Later, we found out that we were both working in the same ward. We grew really close since then. George, on the other hand, was a colleague whom I met when I was also a junior house officer. However, she is not as close a friend as Laura.

Anywho, we flew to Dublin late Friday night. The weather in Dublin was pretty dull, to be honest. There was intermittent drizzle on Saturday, while on Sunday, it was SO chilly. But we kind of expected the weather to be like that.

We had tasty fried brunch to kick off our weekend. We wondered along the streets of Dublin, and popped into different shops to do some window shopping. As it was a chilled outing, we could not be bothered to visit the museums or galleries. We just wanted to look at buildings and take pics! Shopping was slightly pricey because of the current foreign exchange rates....but I still managed to grab a few bargains....like a new coat from Pull & Bear! hehe.

It was also an extremely sinful weekend. I had never eaten so much JUNK!! We munched on bags of Doritos, Mars Planets, M&Ms, chips.... and had a little too much alcohol. We had complete English brunch on both days. I ate 2 sunnyside ups on Sunday! Somehow, at the end of the weekend, my cholesterol level must have doubled!

oh well, the most important thing is I have enjoyed myself. I felt rejuvenated. I was ready to face being back at work, and facing all the nonsense that I have to deal with in the hospital. =D

Brunch @ Elephant & Castle - this is the first time I ate 2 eggs in a meal