Pictures Galore!

Mini Eiffel Tower, Petrin Hill, Prague. This tower is indeed an imitation of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, just shorter though.

The famous Charles Bridge, over River Danube, Prague.

Stunningly beautiful stained glass at St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague.

Big red tulips at the Royal Garden, Prague.

The blackish building is The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, Prague.

The astronomical clock, Prague. This is a cool clock as it shows the movement of the sun through the 12 zodiac signs.

Szel & I standing on Charles Bridge, Prague.

The Great Synagogue, Budapest.

Me overlooking River Danube in Budapest.

A bridge in Budapest.

All Smiles

I'm back from my holidays! The past week has been really funtastic. Both Budapest and Prague had excellent sunny weather, and yes, I have managed to get tanned! Yippee! (my housemates would know how much I treasure being tanned)

My friend, Szel, and I left on Saturday morning to Budapest. The day started really strangely. At the check-in counter, we were informed by a member of the staff that our flight has been cancelled because the ground workers at Budapest Airport were on strike. We were surprised and went to the Help desk. The officer rechecked our tickets, disappeared for about 15 mins, and gave us the assurance that the flight will proceed as arranged. *phew. I was actually thinking about plan B, just in case we were not able to board the flight.

The first 3 days of my hol was spent in Budapest, Hungary. I must say that I was not totally impressed by the views of Budapest. The scenery was beautiful, but nothing stood out to me as "wow," if you get what I mean. Having said that, I still enjoyed my trip. We booked a room right in the middle of the city. The room was actually part of a 3-bedroom penthouse, with an exceptionally nice view of River Danube. Mind you, we only paid about 24 pounds per person per night, which I thought was pretty reasonable.

The funny thing about the room was the shower curfew. You must be wondering what this is all about. Well, the hostel owner told us that we should not have a shower after 11pm because it would disturb the neighbour of the hostel. Pretty weird eh? We did not obey the curfew and I was the first person to go for my shower at about 5 minutes past 11 pm. As soon as I turned on the shower, someone began banging against the wall of the bathroom. I was shocked. This carried on for about 15 minutes, before whoever that was behind the wall, stopped. The next day, we made sure we had out shower before 11pm. haha. I learnt the reason for the curfew was because the neighbour is a famous Hungarian actress....(so what? fame is irrelevant!!)

From Budapest, we took an overnight train to Prague. The train ride was "interesting." Why?

1. The whole train was not lighted up. It was pretty scary and eerie as it was about 8pm when we got on the train.

2. The train was not like any other train I have sat before. In a single coach, there were 3 rooms. In fact, the structure of the train was pretty similar to the train featured in the Harry Potter movie. There were 2 seats opposite each other, no beds.

3. We were woken up about 10 times throughout the entire journey, for ticket and passport inspections. Waking us up for the inspections were fine, but the way we were woken up was rather frightening. The officer slid open the door to the room with a loud "bang" and mumbled away in Hungarian/Czech, requesting for our tickets/passport. To add to my fear, the immigration officers carried guns! I have not seen such officers with guns before.

We arrived at Prague early in the morning. I LOVE Prague the moment I stepped out from the train. The city is, no doubt, more beautiful than Budapest. Things were much cheaper and shopping was excellent! Prague is a very walkable. Szel and I conquered every part of this picturesque city by foot! We also managed to catch "Carmen" and "Bolero" at Prague's principal concert hall. The performance was short and sweet. Food was simply delicious and the coffee in the cafes....wow...it was THE best. Oh....I would love to visit this place again if I get a chance in the future.

I am all smiles after this short break. =) But, I have to admit that I am pretty exhausted. And I am not looking foward to go back to work tomorrow.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

Enjoy munching away at your easter eggies/bunnies!

As for me, I will be munching on easter chocs in Budapest and Prague! =P

Yeap, I am going on a holiday for a week to those places, so I will update you guys with pics and stories when I'm back!

Cya later!

Of Spinning Head and Pounding Heart

After a week of hard work, my friends and I decided to have an all gals night out yesterday. Everyone had just worked over the weekend and was in need of some sort of social activity. Therefore, we all decided to head to the nearby pub for some food & ETOH (or alcohol in simple terms).

The place was called Club 500. It looked rather posh from the outside, but in fact, the food is affordable. I ordered a "top tastic penne chorizo arrabiata." It was excellent! The portion wasn't humongous either. To accompany our meal, we ordered a bottle of sauvignon blanc. We began chatting away about our very "fun" working life, bitching about other doctors and complaining about how neglected some patients are in the hospital, in which, as the result of that, led to their preventable deaths. Such a shame indeed.

As the chat went on and on, my friends ordered more wine. So in total, by the end of the night, we had 3 bottles of white wine among ourselves, ie, 3/4 of a bottle per person. Boy! That was quite alot for me. I normally could drink about 2 glasses of wine, however, I had 3 last night.

hehe.

The consequence? Yeap, I ended up feeling hot and flushed, my head was spinning slightly. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, and I actually felt I was going to be sick. Thank god I did not vomit!! It has been a long time since I felt like that... but besides that, all of us had a great night out together, and I am sure there are plenty to come!

Set 1 now completed

I finished my first set of night shifts this morning! Really glad that I have completed it because my sleeping pattern was taking a toll over me.

On Monday morning, my seniors had red eyes and looked absolutely shattered. Me? Well, I was not in an awful state, except that my eyes resembled those of the pandas with bilateral ptosis and on top of that, I had blurry vision, my stomach was growling viciously, my limbs showed power of 4 out of 5.

I will be off duty for tuesday, and will act as a floater from Wednesday till Good Friday. I know I just had 2 weeks off during CNY, but I will be on holiday again from Easter weekend onwards for 1 week. =)

Unfortunately, after 1 week off, I will be back to complete another 2 sets of nights shifts! Not looking forward to it at all!

2 more nights to go!

5 days have passed quickly. I am into my 6th night receiving shift later on tonight, and I'm so so sleepy! You would have thought I have adapted into the different working hours, but nope, I haven't.

Every morning, after work, I could not sleep immediately. Why? I dunno. My night receivings have been pretty busy, therefore, I should be feeling really tired. The fact is, I am tired, but my brain is still wide awake! It would be about 3 pm when my brain slowly shuts down, only to go into active mode 3 hours later. *yawn...

oh dear, only THREE hours. The dark circles around my eyes are getting blacker and puffier...

However, on the brighter side, I have only 2 more nights to go before I go back into normal shifts. Hope no one becomes unwell later!

Double arrest and still alive...

It is a wonder how God helps us in a mysterious way.

A lady went into a cardiac arrest about 2 weeks ago, and she survived. And again, tonight, she arrested and survived, only without her normal reflexes. She is one lucky woman. God is not willing to let go of her yet, I think.

How Fashionable Am I?

Did a quick Q&A session about fashion online at The Star website, and I was labelled the

"Sensible Chick."

---> You are aware of the latest trends but aren't religiously keeping up with them. Instead, your personal sense of syle prevails. Most of the time you are dressed impeccably but you are more practical than anything else.


I couldn't agree more. I am indeed a very sensible and practical person! =)

Condolences

I do not know what it was. But I never looked at my handphone when I am on-call. However, last night was an exception.

It was just the usual busy night at the medical receiving unit. I decided I needed to take a few sips of water and then, I decided to have a peek at my hp. Surprise, suprise, there was a message left by my beloved cousin sister back home. She does not usually send me a sms except during her school holidays or during a festive event. This was abit unusual. I looked at the sms and received the shocking news of the death of her father, my uncle. The death occurred rather suddenly. As far as I can remember, the last time I heard about him was about the tiny little wound at his toe and the fact that it was difficult to heal due to his diabetes, and, his new recently developed chest pain and a "swollen artery" as his doctor put it.

It was such a pity. She said she just spoke to him on the phone the night before, and her youngest brother, invited him to sleep over at his place. He did not want to trouble his son and decided that he'll just sleep at the comfort of his own home. The next morning, my cousin's youngest brother phoned their father to ask him out for breakfast, but no one answered the phone. So, they went over to his house, and found him dead. Tragic. He died all by himself and none of us know the cause.

My condolences reach out to my cousin sis and her family. I am sorry for their loss and wished I could be there for them, especially my cousin sister. She is very pessimistic and has put the blame on herself for the death of both her parents. =( Dear cousin, please be strong!

Losing An Hour

Damn! I lost an hour from my weekend! Today, the clocks went forward by an hour. =(

An hour extra during my weekend can be filled with plenty of activities....sleep...more sleep.... more more sleep... haha.

I am also trying to adjust my sleeping pattern so that I can cope with my night shifts better. Initially, I have planned to sleep late, but I'm really sleepy now. Looks like its off to bed for me soon!

Despite losing that one precious hour, I did however had a fun-filled weekend! Again, Sze Leng came up from her kampung (Ayr is a kampung area) to visit me. So we had food...lots of food, from Japanese to Spanish. yum yum! The Japanese restaurant served chocolate wasabi cake...which was really rich and yummy (but couldn't really taste the wasabi). Also went shopping with her...and we both ended up buying a dress each! *yaawwnn...think that's it for now. Nite nite!

Doing My Head In

Trust me, I have nothing against nurses. However, there are times when I wished I could just strangle them. My apologies to anyone who felt hurt by my rants here.

1. "Doctor, this patient's BP is 179/136. It is very high. Pls review her." I looked at her previous blood pressure recordings and they were all normal. I asked her if she has checked it twice or checked in the other arm or tried a different machine. "No" was the reply. I got her to repeat it...and they you go, it was a technical error. Her BP was actually fine.

2. A patient has severely low potassium levels in the body. I asked if they could hook the patient up to a cardiac monitor. Guess what was their reply? "Oh, we can't do that. We do not know how to read the monitor." Now, what kind of an answer is that??? Luckily, the bed manager (who is like their big boss) came along and asked me what's the problem. I told him that this patient is unwell and needed a cardiac monitor. Again, the nurse said the same sentence to the bed manager. He just answered her, "Well, when I come back, I want to see her on the cardiac monitor." Almost immediately, the nurse went to get the monitor.

3. The nurses could never leave me in peace. They kept calling my name nearly every 30 minutes for the most random and minor things, in which, in my humble, they could actually sort it out themselves, except that they were just too lazy to think.

4. "Patient's temperature is 37.5 degrees. What you want me to do?" said one nurse. I looked back at her and noticed that she appeared really clueless. "37.5 is fine," I replied. She said, "You sure? You don't want her to get paracetamol. You don't want blood cultures or anything? err... yes I'm sure and no she doesn't require blood cultures.

Oh, I don't know. It must be the loonng day, or the fact that I wished the nurses could be slightly more competent. And I do not why certain doctors are such a wimp too.

For eg,

"Oh, I feel snuffly today. Don't think I can work till 9 pm tonight. Would you mind covering for me today?"
(to be fair, she wasn't very snuffly. I would personally put up with it and finish up my on-call)

Sigh. Nevermind. I just need to remind myself to SMILE!

Ok...so what if you feel snuffly? If you're on-call, you're on.

It's The 1st Day of Spring!

Welcome Spring!

We, or rather, I have been waiting for this day to come. The winter had been very wet and bitterly cold. Even today, the temperature is sitting at -4 deg Celcius. Daffodils are blooming, new shoots are sprouting out. I could actually hear birds tweeting outside too in the morning. =) The day is getting brighter earlier, which is really nice, as it makes most people less depressed!

Anyway, I gotta go off to work now. Have to cover a sick houseman. Hope he recovers soon!

ABCDEFG

After a horendous week of medical ward cover, I figured I was going into an arrest, or what we like to call a peri-arrest situation.

A - self-maintaining

B - equal chest movements bilaterally, tachypnoeic, saturation: 96% on air, chest auscultation: clear -----> need oxygen mask

C - cold & clammy, capillary refill time>2s, hypotensive, tachycardia, no urine output for 12 hours -----> need IV access + fluid challenge

D - Glasgow Coma Scale:
E 4 (hmm...maybe actually there is ptosis in both eyes),
V 4 (I'm mumbling but appears to be slightly confused/disorientated)
M 5 (will not obey commands, such as, drug prescription, venflons etc, but responds to pain)
= 13/15 (not a bad score at all!)

E - Looks in distress, sweaty, puffy eyes, dry mucosa, decrease skin turgor (dehydrated, totally forgot to drink), bilateral ankle swelling (standing all day), tender calves (again due to long
hours of standing), nil else to find on examination

F - Apyrexial

G - Blood glucose 1.6 -----> need 50 mls of 50% dextrose stat!!!

Lucky me, I did not go into an arrest. Otherwise, god knows what would happen! *phew

Red As A Tomato

Do not know if I have mentioned this before, but I was asked by my senior to do a presentation about a study for The Journal Club last Friday. But it wasn't done due to a technical error with the projector. This presentation was then pushed to today. Again, the projector wasn't working. All the consultants tried to work it. Their efforts were futile. One of the consultants kept insisting that I ruined the whole projector....and said, "May I suggest you follow the instructions on how to turn it on?"

I was like what?! I am not THAT IT illiterate. I know how to work stuff. Nevermind. I assured him that I did follow the sequence to turn it on but ain't working!

So, in the end (about 30 mins later), we decided to inform IT about it and they will fix the problem after lunch. As it was my last week in the Rheumatology, I have to present the findings of the study today, by hook or by crook.

I turned the laptop around so that it was facing everyone and began. While explaining to them about the patient selection, a consultant stopped me and asked, "What sort of general population are you talking about? Did they compare the study group of patients with RA with a controlled group of the general population?"

hmm....I just told him that it was THE general population, no criteria was set for them...you know, just the general population.

Then, after explaining the findings of the result, another consultant said, "I do not find anything surprising with the study. We all know about those. Lousy study. Why did you even choose this study to present?"

"Yeah, I think this study shouldn't even be published," said another.

*fuck

I totally turned as red as a tomato. I answered by saying that it was given to me to present so, that's it.

Well, I kept my cool and carried on. I was glad to finish it. Switched off the laptop and let the consultants discuss the topic among themselves. It was really not a very pleasant moment for me, I have to say.

Later in the morning, the consultant said to me, "Good presentation. Don't worry, we are not blaming you for the facts of the study. It was really a rubbish study and I do not think it should even make its way in the journal."

Right. Thanks.

Hope I do not have to do another for a long time!

It Heard Me

On Tuesday night, the pager just did not stop ringing. And yeap, I complained.

It heard me.

On Wednesday night, I received only 2 calls during my entire on-call. Both were minor stuff like prescribing a blood transfusion and checking a patient's blood result. Believe it or not, I was so worried that my pager wasn't working, till the extent that I decided to page myself!! *tsk *tsk *tsk

Please Stop Buzzing!

I'm doing a 9-9 shift this week. I start my on-call from 5 pm onwards. Since 5.30pm yesterday, I did not have at least 10 minutes of silence as my pager kept ringing.

I was expecting my pager to go off about 7-ish yesterday evening. However, it started to buzz at just 20 minutes past 5 pm. It was the JHO from a ward who said she needed help to do her phlebotomist bloods AGAIN! So, went over to help her.

Here is an example of the calls I recevied.

*beep
Pt needs warfarin prescribed.

*beep
Pt needs insulin prescribed. Oh and a cannula for IV antibiotics.

*beep
Pt needs warfarin prescribed.
(I personally think that the ward JHO should be responsible for prescribing this).

*beep
Pt died unexpectedly.

???excuse me

I asked the nurse, "What do you mean unexpectedly?"
"Well, we were not expecting her to die so soon."
"Right ok," I said. I was thinking to myself that if she died unexpectedly, then I am in deep trouble....

*beep
Hi, sorry to bother you. A pt here needs vancomycin level and another one needs gentamicin level checked pls. I am calling from Ward 30.

ermm..sorry I do not cover that ward!

*beep
Pt dropped sats from 94% on air to 69% on air. Looks very unwell. Pls come and see her asap.
(This elderly lady was quite ill. Spent alot of time with her, in order to sort her out.)

*beep
The pt is just in the ward. She needs to be clerked in.
(This one kind of annoyed me. Reason? Because the JHO told me that he saw her in the investigation suite and did sort of clerked her in, but he just didn't have the time to write it down into the admission notes. Now, can anyone tell me what total rubbish that is?? What you mean you do not have chance to write it down. The bloody admission packs are sitting in your ward. Just go back to your ward and write it all down, and then, tell the nurses that it is all done and they just need to stick it into her folder when she arrives at the ward.)

*beep
I need a venflon pls.

*beep
I need a venflon pls.

*beep
Pt is pyrexial at 38.3. You need to do blood cultures.
(Went up to the ward to ask the nurses who that patient was....no one can remember! Talk about incompetence!)

*beep
Hi. Its Nuala. How are you doing?
(Never been happier to hear the voice of the night JHO!)

Left the hospital at about 23.15 yesterday.

Irresponsible

I am sorry to say this but I really do think certain doctors are very irresponsible.

How could they possibly ask an on-call doctor to do a job that was meant to be done in the morning?

If they have requested a blood test for their patient, there is certainly a reason for them to do so, ie, if there were to be any abnormality, they could act upon it before the end of the day. However, they said they were too busy to do it, hence they passed it on to the on-call person. I feel that this is very irresponsible.

I mean, I am happy to do it if I have nothing to do. But, an on-call person DOES NOT do the tasks that were meant to be done during the day. I know it is an hour past 5 pm when your shift has ended, and you are desperate to go home. But, I personally do not think this should be passed on to the on-call person. You said you have a lot to do...but so do us, who work in the medical wards (although some wards certainly have less jobs to do). You just need to prioritise and pls be more responsible. Thank you.

Blood Diamond

Excellent movie.

Leonardo di Caprio was really good. Even better than his previous great shows like Catch Me if You Can, and The Departed. I watched this movie without knowing what the whole thing was about. But I guess this made it even better.

Cheesy Chat Up Line

It was a Thursday night, as I walked home from the gym.

Out of nowhere, I heard: (orange - stranger, green - me)

"Excuse me....excuse me."

I chose to ignore it.

"Excuse me."

Right. So I turned and looked at a man in a black jacket.

He smiled and said, "Hi. Have I met you before?" (that phrase is such a cheesy chat up line)

"Err...nope. Don't think so."

"I'm sure I have. I've seen you in the gym before."

"Oh ok."

"I have quite a few chinese friends who go to Glasgow Uni."

"Oh ok. I don't go to Glasgow Uni."

"Oh ok. You look familiar to me. Do you go to the gym often?"

"Err...no not really."

"You just live around here, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Can I ask what's your name?"

I gave him a funny look and walked away.

Junior Porter

Yesterday, I was basically working as a junior PORTER instead of a junior doctor.

In my ward, I was given the fun task of organising the weekly radiology meeting. All I need to do is get all the names and details of patients that are to be added on to the meeting and pass it to the radiology secretary. Yeap, as simple as that.

However, the radiology secretary was driving my nuts yesterday. She phoned me up and said, "Hi. Listen, can you do me a favour? Can you go to Ward 8 to collect T's x-rays, Ward 30 to get Y's, Orthopaedic reception for Z's?? I am really busy."

In my heart, I was like, "Hello?! you think I am a porter?"

Basically, the job of collecting x-rays is not mine. It belongs to the porters who are hired to do that. Why the hell are you asking me to do it?

It wasn't like I was free. I had 2 new admissions into the ward and they are my priority at that time. So politely I said, "hmm...I am actually quite busy too. Can you not ask the porters to do it?"

She answered, "Well, I kind of need them soon. Porters take ages. So, would you mind?"

I realised that there is no point in my arguing back, hence, I agreed to do it. I turned into a junior porter for a day. I walked up the stairs (it was at the 4th floor) to go to ward 8, then walked down the stairs, and climbed up the stairs to ward 30 and down again to orthopaedic reception, and walked through the looonngg corridor to the radiology department....boy, what an exercise!

The worse thing was the radiology department is MILES away from my ward. And prior to her call, I have already walked there 3 times!!! sigh.

A Very Grateful Patient

I met a very grateful patient today. She was admitted for treatment of her illness. This involved receiving IV infusion of a drug for a few days. When I was clerking her in, she mentioned that the last time she was in the hospital, there was extreme difficulty in inserting a cannula. She admits that she does not have good veins and added that it would take about 5 tries before a cannula is inserted successfully. She was badly bruised and in pain by the end of her treatment at that time. Hence, the consultant told her that NO JUNIOR DOCTOR is allowed to insert a cannula into her in the future.

My experience so far as a junior member of this profession has taught me that never ever ask a senior doctor to insert a cannula unless you failed miserably. (otherwise, you'll get unhappy seniors). So I decided to coax the patient into letting me try. She was quite happy for me to do so. My first attempt failed. To be honest, I was rather nervous while carrying out that procedure for fear that I would have to try many times before I gain success. However, I managed to get it in on my 2nd attempt! =) I was rather happy and so was the patient......to the extent that she gave me a HUGGIE!!!!

haha...It was really awkward for me because all I did for her was insert the cannula....it wasn't like it was a matter of life or death, and she was UBER grateful! After that, she started telling everyone in the ward about how good I was at that procedure, and how caring I was. Boy, talk about gaining a reputation for that!

Monday Blues

Can I not go to work today?

Pretty pretty please???

Do I really need to go to work????

hello? someone please answer me!

hmm...I could just call in sick. Or even better, say that my flight from KL has been delayed.

YES! I can do that.

No. No. You need to be responsible.

sigh. I am so blue today.

Back in Glasgow

After travelling for one day, I'm now back in Glasgow. The weather was suprisingly sunny when I arrived on Saturday noon, however, it became rather chilly later at night. I spent my time unpacking, buying groceries for the week, washing my sheets..... Everything is back to routine. Just like what Green Pea said, "Euphoria ends."

Sigh. Now it's Sunday. Oh no, it means I have only 12 more hours before the end of my holidays!!

Took this pic just before leaving...Kiki, miss ya!

Time to go back...

In just about 8 hours, I will be on my flight heading back to Glasgow. How sad.

It marks the end of my holiday and it is back to work for me this Monday....sigh.

Ahh....going to

• MISS my family & home food
• MISS the comfort of home
• MISS Kiki (my wee doggie)
• MISS my bed
• MISS my friends
• MISS maggi mee goreng
• MISS nasi lemak
• MISS driving around in my car
• MISS the warm but humid weather
• MISS astro (?! i actually miss it...hehe)
• MISS...i dunno...so many other things...

It's time for me to go back. Will blog from Glasgow. Cya.

The First in Many Years

I can't remember when was the last time I ate Yee Sang. I think it was probably back when I was in secondary school...which is like, more than 5 years ago.

During this CNY, dad received loads of hampers, and one of them had a DIY Yee Sang kit. Yeap, you know what I am going to say next. We had it for dinner today. Preparing it was really easy...all I needed to do was open the tiny plastic tupperwares which stored the ingredients and arrange them nicely on the plate. My bro's gf added a few more stuff into the dish. Once everything was ready, it was time to LOU SANG!

I wanted to be kiasu this year, therefore, I tossed everything higher than the others...tee hee hee. The Yee Sang tasted really nice. It was my first in many many years. This was followed by a steamboat meal....ahhh....we were very full after all the food. But we still had a tiny space for longan dessert! =)

The Yee Sang

It's Lou Sang time.

Yummy...

Mika - Grace Kelly

Another one of the songs that lifts up my spirit.

Way Back Into Love

Oh boy, I am very very addicted to this song! It was sang by Hugh Grant and Haley Bennet in the movie Music & Lyrics. By the way, if you haven't watch it yet, pls do so...It was a really sweet romantic comedy. I've decided to put up the lyrics here so that I can sing it along whenever my mood is low. (for eg, like now)

I’ve been living with a shadow overhead
I’ve been sleeping with a cloud above my bed
I’ve been lonely for so long
Trapped in the past, I just can’t seem to move on

I’ve been hiding all my hopes and dreams away
Just in case I ever need em again someday
I’ve been setting aside time
To clear a little space in the corners of my mind
All I want to do is find a way back into love
I can’t make it through without a way back into love
Oh oh oh

I’ve been watching but the stars refuse to shine
I’ve been searching but I just don’t see the signs
I know that it’s out there
There’s got to be something for my soul somewhere
I’ve been looking for someone to shed some light
Not just somebody just to get me throught the night
I could use some direction
And I’m open to your suggestions

All I want to do is find a way back into love
I can’t make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart again
I guess I’m hoping you’ll be there for me in the end
There are moments when I don’t know if it’s real
Or if anybody feels the way I feel
I need inspiration Not just another negotiation

All I want to do is find a way back into love
I can’t make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart to you
I’m hoping you’ll show me what to do
And if you help me to start again
You know that I’ll be there for you in the end

Only 4 days left... =(

I know many people said this sentence before, "Time flies when you are enjoying yourself."

I couldn't agree more. So, yeap, I am repeating that sentence,

"Time REALLY flies when you are enjoying yourself."

Anyway, my weekend in Singapore was really good. My family drove down, carrying a heavy load in the boot, because my brother moved some of his things to his condo at Ang Mo Kio. Bro's condo was really impressive. The place was spacious and modern. After unloading his things, we left for the much talked about Vivo City.

It is the newest and the biggest shopping mall in Singapore. Despite being big, the mall was still rather crowded...so many people were busy shopping. I was quite surprised to see a couple of familiar labels, such as Ted Baker, Gap, and River Island in Vivo City. Bro wanted us to try a famous sushi restaurant, but as it was dinner time, the queue outside that shop was just too long. We ended up at Food Republic, where hawker food were sold in a high-class style. Choosing what to eat appeared to be a tough chore as there were just too many to choose from. I ordered a bowl of Kim Chi Soup with rice for dinner. The soup was sooo good! It was really spicy, and bursting with flavour! yummy yummy!

The next day, I met up with Green Pea. =) I was really happy to meet her, and glad that she didn't look too skinny as I thought she would be (her life has been rather stressful). It was nice to catch up with her and chat about our funny days back in Dundee. We had loads of food; Japanese, Chinese, etc. All of them were delicious...really makes me think why bother working in a foreign country where such food is scarce. Oh, btw, I have a tiny confession: I am officially addicted to The Coffee Club! It is way waayyy better than costa or starbucks in Glasgow. hehe. The dessert and coffee were amazing....I am SO going to miss this place.

Besides food, I managed to do some shopping. Green Pea was quite a shopper too, as she managed to get herself 2 new bags! (she certainly has inherited her mum's genes, as she too, love to buy bags). We both agreed that retail therapy is indeed the way to go to make ourselves happy.

I left Singapore on Mon afternoon by bus. Parents left on Sunday. Thank you Green for the wonderful time, food, Nicis, Jap ikan bilis, Esprit. =) I wish you well and pls take care!

As for me, with only 4 days to go before I fly back to the cold weather and loneliness, I shall continue to play hard!!!! teehee...

Me @ Vivo City

Green Pea & me @ Takashimaya.
(It was a struggle to get a kind soul to take this pic for us...shall not go into the details of it.)

Moving on from the *Woof *Woof to the *Oink *Oink

There goes the pig, announcing to everyone that this is the PIG year. It was also saying goodbye to the Dog year. Reflecting back to the events of the doggie year, I think what the chinese fortuneteller said was right, that this year, I have angered one of the gods, hence, I would be faced with bad luck. I was expecting that things would go smoothly since the Doggie year is my yr. But I couldn't agree more with that fortuneteller....it was indeed an unpleasant yr for me! Glad that it is over now....hope things would turn out better in the piggie yr.

Anyway, my journey back home to Penang was indeed very long...from Glasgow -> London -> Singapore -> KL -> Penang ...all within 3 days! *phew....thank goodness I'm still breathing and have not developed any signs of calf tenderness or swelling.

The moment I touched down at Singapore, I could actually feel myself "at home." Chinese new year songs were played in almost every shop, pretty red cny decos were also all over the place! I have not seen or heard anything cny-related for a few years now. So I felt rather happy!

The beautiful flowers and plants put up for CNY @ Changi Airport.

When I reached home, I was surprised to see my living room so nicely decorated, with mei hua's, ang pows, new paintings..etc... Everything looked bright and red... my parents certainly did take the effort to decorate the house this year! It was unlike them, as they are normally quite lazy people.

My arrival at my granny's house on Monday nite turned out to be a huge surprise to all my uncles, aunties, cousins and ah ma. They were shocked! They kind of recognised my voice, but they could not recognise my look? Ah Ma even said that if she bumped into me along the road, she probably would not have recognised me. hmm... really wonder if I really changed that much? Oh well, it was nice to meet up with everyone. The only unfortunate thing was Ah Ma had a fall on New Year's Eve, which resulted in a torn tendon at her shoulder joint, hence, she couldn't cook her usual special CNY delicacies. However, I still managed to munch on loads of cookies!!! yummmy!!

Did not really do much in Penang, except for eating, of course. Well, isn't that what Penang is famous for anyway? The weather was really hot Penang...so I had some fresh coconut juice by the roadside. Besides the usual kuay teow theng, pasembur, loh mee, curry mee, etc... bro took us to a place called "The Spice Garden." I have never heard of this place before, but apparently, it has been in Penang for many yrs now. It is a garden with loads of different spice plants (you know, like cinnamon, lemongrass). We all had a drink at the garden...and boy, it was really fantastic! Dad had a special mocktail, "Spice Mocktail" (basically it consisted of a rojak of many different spices), while I had tamarind soda (which was very refreshing). Bro had a "Gunner" (a cooling drink with ginger...tasted like ginger beer to me), and mum had a simple lemongrass juice. I really did enjoy my time there!

ah....Refreshing Coconut water!

Enjoying my tamarind soda @ Spice Garden, Penang.

Now I'm back home in KL...will be leaving for Singapore soon to meet up with Greenpea! =)

Putting My Feet Up

It is holiday time! So I'll be putting my feet up for about 2 weeks starting from today!

aye...I'm going home home...back to my cosy house in KL!

hehe..i know...it's sad to be flying on CNY eve and only arrive at the night of the 1st day of CNY.

but hey, I do not care, as long as I get to go home, nothing matters!

so...will update from home!

HAPPY PIGGIE YEAR!!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Food, ballet, music and lyrics

This weekend has been a really nice and relaxing.

It started off with dinner with my friends at a Korean restaurant 20mins walk from my flat. I have to say the walk was well worth it! The food was simply fantastic. I ate a special Korean dish made of spicy pork and squid. It was so delicious. I shared a kim chi hot pot with my friend...and that was really spicy. All of us were very hungry coz it was about 9.30 pm before we actually sat down to feast. So, we ordered a big plate of sushi...and yes...yummy!

The next day, I watched "The Nutcracker" ballet. I have always wanted to watch the ballet, as I had played the whole musical piece on my piano a couple of times. Last year, I watched "The Swan Lake," and I think The Nutcracker is nicer. The stage was really colourful and the performance was more cheerful compared to The Swan Lake. The latter was a more serious performance (and I kind of dozed off for a few seconds during the performance).

This morning, my friend and I left for the cinema early to catch "Music and Lyrics." Oh, I so love this show. It was so romantic and sweet. It was so funny watching Hugh Grant acting as a famous singer in the 1980s. He could sing and move his booty too! haha. The show was really light and entertaining...probably THE perfect show for V-day, which is looming near. All the songs sang in the show were really nice...and I'm going to get the whole soundtrack soon! Believe it or not, although it was a romantic comedy, I actually cried during one of the scenes....

Besides those above, my time has been spent doing some last minute CNY shopping. COZ I'M GOING HOME FOR CNY!!!! yay! I have not been celebrating CNY properly since I've entered Med school. CNY was always a time to study, as my Uni just loves to set exam dates during CNY. How thoughtful of they!

I'm counting down my days....will be flying off this Saturday! oohh...I can't wait!

Oh...just heard that one of my friends is flying off to Aussie today. So she's going to miss CNY, but her relatives and family members were really kind to prepare various food for her before she goes. How nice. All the best gal! Make sure you dun flood KLIA! =)

It's Not Yours to Decide

I have been working in the Rheumaholiday ward for the past 2 weeks. (note it is rheuma-holiday not rheumatology...=P)

As this ward is a Day Ward, patients normally come in as a gang on a Monday and by Thursday, most of them would have been discharged. The majority of them are admitted for intravenous infusions of various drugs (eg. iloprost and immunoglobulins).

Basically, I function as a clerk-o-meter and a vampire (i suck blood from everyone) in the ward. Sounds pretty simple eh? Yes it is....but the only thing that I really hate about is certain patient's attitude. I don't mean to say that they are rude or nasty, it's just the way they act at times. Many of them are season ticket holders to the ward. Hence, they become VERY demanding.


Two examples:

"Hey, doc, I want you to put the venflon into the vein at the back of my left hand."

OR

"Hi doctor, no venflons at my hands, please put them around here. (whilst pointing at her antecubital fossa)."

Who are they to decide where I want to put the bloody venflon??! I really get annoyed when patients say all these things. Sheesshh!!!

To make matters worse, they do not have the greatest vein in the world! They have connective tissue diseases....hence, they have thick skin or tiny fragile veins. So, it is certainly not up to them to choose where they want the venflon inserted.

However, I just told them that I'll try my best to find a vein there, but if I can't, I'll have to try somewhere else (in a very polite manner, of course). Sigh.

oh, btw, here is another example:

"Oh, why are you putting in the green venflon? I have always had the pink one."
(the patient was referring to the size of the venflon)

Now, what was that all about?!

It's not yours to decide, dude!

Boring Babel

I've watched "Babel" over the weekend.

There was a lot of hype about this show, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Halfway through the show, I felt a sudden surge of familiarity. The movie plot is actually rather similar to the movie, "Crash." I think the latter wins hands down. "Babel" was rather slow moving, and unexciting. "Crash" on the other hand gave me the adrenaline rush and left me intrigued . So, to be honest, I do not think "Babel" is THAT good. hehe. Anyone beg to differ?

Brad Pitt hardly exchanged much words, except for "F*** you!" or "Get me an ambulance," whereas Cate had to act out a scene where she was injured. And the Jap girl was really strange... I thought she was a really horny person. haha. Didn't really understand why she acted the way she did.

Oh well...that was my weekend movie. I think I want to watch "Notes on A Scandal" this weekend. hehe,

It's All About The Vagina

I have never laughed throughout any performance as much as I did tonight.

The Vagina Monologues is an excellent play that is currently showing in Glasgow. It was the perfect girls' nite out, as you should have realised that all females have something in common, ie, the vagina. The whole theatre was filled with women and probably only less than 10 men....hehe.

The show began with the usual request for the audience to switch off their handphones. However, at the end of the sentence, the speaker cheekily added, "You can turn on the vibration mode instead."

Basically, the show was performed 3 celebrity females, who took turn to read out monologues (based on interviews conducted worldwide) about interesting facts and stories about the vagina. It was hilarious. The first part began with them telling us about the various terms used instead of the word "vagina," such as, the monkey box, the love garden, the marshmellow, the horse spot, or maneater. There was a funny story about an elderly lady who had never had an orgasm ever in her life.

I enjoyed the monologues titled, "Because He Liked to Look At It" and "The Woman Who Likes to Make Vaginas Happy." The first one was about a woman who doesn't really like her own vagina. However, one day, she ended up sleeping with a man named Bob, who told her that he needed to look at her before sex. She said, "Oh, I'm here." But Bob was actually interested in looking at her vagina before sex. He was so amazed at with the vagina that it turned him on, not the woman. haha. The latter was about an ex-lawyer who enjoyed to make people "moan". Well, not the kind of moaning one would expect in the court...but the moan of an orgasm. It is really difficult to explain the story, but it was really fantastic.

Oh....did I mention about the "Vagina Happy Fact" or "The Clit Fact?" =P This was the fact:

" The clitoris is an organ created for pleasure. It has 8000 nerve fibres, which is more than those at the fingertips, lips, tongue and twice as many as the penis! "

(ps. the word 'tongue' must be said with life, because, you wouldn't want a limp tongue touching your clit)

hehe...so at any point during the show, if someone shouts, "Clit Fact," everyone would start to repeat this statement.

After a short 15 minute interval, one of the performers said, "Oh, my vagina managed to get a cup of tea....in fact, I've managed to dunk a HobNob into it too." The other performer said, "My vagina got a fag." It's all about the vagina!

There was also a part of the show where women were asked how they would like to dress up their vagina. One of the replies were, "Armani only." The other part that I found really funny was the part called "My Vagina is Angry." Here, the performer talked about various things unpleasant things that could happen to the vagina, such as a trip to the gynaecology/obstertric clinic. The speculum used to look at the cervix was called "duck clips." hmm...don't think I can have a straight face the next time I perform a cervical examination....hehe.

Towards the end of the performance, one of the performer talked about the different kind of moans who can make during an orgasm....hehe...this was really really funny. There was the and of course, doggie moan, the It girl moan, the NED moan, the Tina Turner moan, the Nearly There moan and the triple phase moan. The last moan, I have to say, was amazing. The performer actually acted out an orgasm (3 different ones one after another)....she was so natural on stage and ended the whole thing by saying, "I get to do this 6 times a week." haha....she was brilliant.

The Vagina Monologues was a really superb show...I highly recommend it to all females and brave men. haha. I have never heard anyone talking about their vaginas so openly until tonight!

D.O.M.

I seem to be working plenty weekends, hmm.... anyway, yes, I was working over last weekend at the Medical Receiving Unit, yet again.

The weekend turned out to be really weird. In fact, the whole week was rather weird. Usually on a Monday, it would be really mad, but it wasn't too bad....instead, I think Wednesday, and Friday were the worst days. On Saturday, only 6 patients turned up on my side and only 7 on the other. I was bored to death on Sunday because only 4 patients were admitted during the whole day (1 of them died within 30 minutes though...well, she had a massive PE)

Right...I should go straight to the point.

A different patient on Sunday presented with chest pain. So, dutifully, I did my job as a house officer, ie, clerk him in, perform an examination and create a plan. While speaking to this man in his 50s (I can't really remember his age), he commented, "You are really cute."

To be honest, I actually heard what he said. But automatically, I just said, "Sorry?" And again he said, "You are very cute." I just smiled and continued to ask him a couple more questions. A few minutes later, this patient said, "Aww... you are really cute. You look like a schoolgirl...so young." I just kinda smiled (and at the same time, whispered to myself, "Oh pls, just shut the fuck up, you DOM ") and proceeded with my examination. Having explained to him what was the treatment plan for him, I left quickly.

In my heart, I kinda felt disgusted. I mean, it wasn't like he was a young hot man that gave me such comments. He was in his 50's and I dunno, ........yeww.....

Later in the evening, my SPR arrived to do her receiving ward round. I presented that DOM 's case to her and then, we both went to see the patient. While my SPR was examining him, he looked at me and told her, "She's so cute, isn't she?" I was like, "No, I'm not." And my SPR gav me a funny look, which I kind of interpreted as "Huh?!" I just rolled my eyes back at her, and ignored him.

As we left his bed, I could just feel his eyes staring at me. It was really uncomfortable.....sent shivers down my spine. I looked at him from the corners of my eyes (you know, not wanting him to see that I'm looking at him) and guess what, he was smilling to himself. eeekkkk!!!!

That was the last time I saw him. He was a DOM and I really need to stay far farrr faaarrrraway from ppl like him!

Btw, I hope you have figured out what does DOM stand for.

Happy Happy Feet

I have officially fell in love with penguins. =P

TWO thumbs up for Happy Feet. It was so entertaining and funny. I couldn't stop laughing throughout the whole animation! I just wanted to cuddle and pinch those wee penguins, especially the part when the egg just hatched and my goodness, those feet just can't stop moving! There are certain parts of the animation, which I thought, resembled "The March of The Penguins," which was also an entertaining show. The story was really simple but meaningful. All the songs sung in the show were really groovy too (kinda made me wanna dance around too...) It certainly lifted my spirits after a hard week!

After A Week in Medical Receiving

*phew

It was a busy bee week. I would like to pen down some of my thoughts. Be warned! Some people might get offended after reading this, but hey, these are my thoughts afterall!

1. Why did the smarty pants A & E doctor wrote, "Patient must receive warfarin dose tonight," although the patient's INR was a blooming 7.2?!

2. Spent about 25 quids on taxi fare for the whole week. It wasn't like I wanted to take a cab home, but my shift ended at midnight everyday. By the time I actually walked out of the ward, it was about 12.30am....and there wasn't any trains available at that time. Well, there was a few bus services available, but I just couldn't be asked to walk all the way to the Central St just to catch one.

3. hmm....25 pounds...I could probably get 2 nice blouses with that amount of money. Looks like I have to eat grass for the next couple of weeks.

4. I hate patients who think I am judging them. Just because I asked him if were a smoker, he became angry and said back to me, "Why are you doctors always asking this question?" err...duh.... because it gives us an idea of how good your lungs are and for us to identify any risk factos. This eejit patient added, "So what if I am smoking, you start talking bad about me and saying it is bad for health. It is not like you folks do not smoke anyway." Err...duh...doctors are human too...and yes, there are doctors who smoke. But look, nobody is judging you....but if you actually are taking the effort to take care of yourself, why the hell are you smoking?? Since you were young, you have been bothered with terrible asthma...and guess what? You still decided to smoke...it is not surprising that you ended up here in the hospital, hardly able to get a single breath! sheesh. Stop complaining that our treatment is not working. In the first place, you are not helping yourself.

5. I can't get my head around why certain patients go to the A&E complaining of A, B and C.... and after being told that they need to be admitted, they decided that they want to self-discharge themselves? I know nobody likes hospital. But when you step into the hospital, it means that you are wanting to find out the root of the problem, you want to get treated, and you want to get better. So why do these ppl want to self-discharge?!! You are wasting everybody's time and effort.

6. It was a rought night for my SHO. Alot of things that happened could have been avoided. She was really pissed off and busy Unfortunately. I needed to ask her about a patient, who was running fast AF. So I said, "Sorry, I know you are very rushed off your feet, but can I ask for your opinion, pls?" She looked at me and said, "Huh! There is no point in saying that." ......*ouch She has every right to be pissed off that day...but it would be nice if she could be abit more polite.

7. Is it just a coincidence, or do patients get themselves into trouble just minutes or even seconds before I go home? For example, the time is about 2 minutes to midnight, and a nurse comes along and tell me, Mr. X is having terrible chest pain, or Mrs. Y is dropping her saturations, or (this is SO typical) Mr. Z has just pulled out his venflon?! Arrghh...it really gets on my nerves when such things happen. It is like these patients just want to make me stay in the hospital. And technically, I am still working, and I would not pass this job over to the next person taking over my shift. So....after reviewing the patient, it would be way pass my time to go home. sigh.

8. Oh...I also do not fancy nurses telling me, "This patient has just spiked a temperature of 37.9. You NEED to do blood cultures." Now, let me see....are they actually instructing me to do a blood culture?? Well, I do not want to sound like I am such a 'big' person, but I think I should be the one deciding whether or not a patient gets a blood culture done.

......so much to whine about.

I pwomise to keep my mouth zipped......for now, at least!

Worst Day So Far

THREE deaths in one night. All occuring within 2 hours. Bad eh?

Pt 1: He looked pretty grey, with a low BP. He was not giving us much history. All we knew was he was short of breath and unwell. A chest x-ray revealed a convincing right pleural effusion. The whole of the right lung field was white. A chest drain was then inserted into him. He was tolerating the procedure well, and the chest drain went in pretty easily. Yellowish purulent fluid came out from the drain, which meant that this patient probably has an empyema (pus in his pleural cavity). All of a sudden, as the SHO was stitching the drain in place, the patient's saturation dropped from 93% to 88%, 70%, 60%, 40% ...and undetectable. This heart rate was dropping fast too...until it reached asystole. Fuck! CPR was performed and patient needed to be intubated. However, he did not survive it. It was a very traumatic resuscitation, trust me.

Pt 2: In the receiving unit, patients will be brought up to the ward after having been seen in the A&E first. An elderly lady was wheeled into the ward not too long after the event above. Her family members were asked to wait in the waiting room while the nurses admit the patient. As soon as the elderly lady was taken into one of the rooms in the ward, the nurse who accompanied the patient closed the door and said, "This lady actually died in the lift on the way here." WTF?! Looking further into her notes, the patient had a very low blood sugar level of only 1.9, and guess what? The smarty pants A&E doc gave the patient an IV infusion of normal saline?! What was he/she thinking??? Give 5% dextrose at least....but really you should have treated the patient's low sugar level before bringing her up...maybe a stat 50% dextrose? Imagine the horror of the whole situation!

Pt 3: He had a bad chest infection. His family members were informed that his prognosis would not be good, and they agreed not to resuscitate him, should he goes into a cardiac arrest. The patient was rather agitated towards the last moments of his life. His daughter left the room for only a few minutes to get something, and unfortunately, her father took his last breathe at that time. sigh.

Three different deaths in one night. Hope it doesn't get any worse than this. I was quite traumatized after the first patient. But, I still got to pull myself together to carry on clerking in other patients. Life is tough.

Life is...

I came across an interesting statement while hanging around in the city today.

"Life is like an egg, either getting smashed or getting laid"

Just like an egg, we humans are vulnerable. In life, we get "smashed" with stress or illness, and we get "laid"...errmm, you know what that means (that's if we are lucky enough).

Puncturing The Lumbar Spine

I am happy with myself today. =D

As a student or even as a young girl, I have always watched doctors carrying out lumbar punctures (taking some fluid out from the spinal cord for investigations), either on the telly or in the wards. I figured it was a difficult procedure, but hey, it was not that complicated afterall.

Can't stop smiling from ear to ear....why?

COZ I've done a lumbar puncture successfully! yay!!

Mind you, my first one was carried out last week. I failed miserably at that time. However many times I've tried to angle the needle in a different angle, I did not manage to get any cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from that patient. Poor lady. I have to thank her for being so patient with me. (ssshh...she didn't know that I have never done a lumbar puncture before). After about 20 minutes, my SHO decided to take over, and as expected, she got the CSF in no time.

Today, another patient required a lumbar puncture to rule out a subarachnoid haemorrhage and infection. Guess what? The CSF was pouring out after inserting the needle on my first attempt! =) hmm...lucky? I guess doing a lumbar puncture requires alot of luck and of course, some skills-lah! =P (kekeke....I know I know...I shall stop praising myself...)

I can't wait to do my next lumbar puncture!

The Most Miserable Day of The Year

I woke up this morning and turned on GMTV. Apparently, today is officially the most miserable day of the year! hehe. The reason being it is back to work for most people after a long break which began since Christmas. So everyone will be sort of dragging theirselves to their workplaces.

Actually, I think today should not be the most miserable day of the year. It is just the 2nd day of the new year. Everyone should have a positive attitude, what has happened in the past is over.....look forward! Imagine if you're already miserable today, you're going to make yourself even more miserable throughout the rest of the year! haha.

But I certainly can understand the miserable feeling. After all the fun and the dinners, it is now time to go back to routine. Sigh. Everyone must be feeling really broke right now too, having spent money on buying presents, food and booze. (I only have 5 quid in my purse). And as usual, we could blame the weather for making people feel down....it is gloomy and getting colder.

Oh well, miserable or not, that's the way it is....but to cheer yourself up, remember, summer is very near, and christmas is just another 11 months and 23 days away! :) Keep smiling!

Mi Reflejo

We are now in the year 2007. 2006 has passed really fast. So many things occurred to me last year. I suppose that is the way life is...it is never perfect and we have to just accept whatever challenges that are placed upon us. I shall attempt to recap the main events in my life this year...here goes!

January: I remember I was in Dunfermline at that time doing my surgical shadowing as a 5th year medical student. I loved the whole rotation ...learnt loads and saw many interesting things. The junior doctors whom I was shadowing were really nice to me. The only downside of it was the accomodation was very cold.

February: From Dunfermline, I moved on to Yorkhill, Glasgow for my paediatric cardiology block. The accomodation there was worse than the one in Dunfermline. For once, I was able to appreciate heart murmurs...and I am proud to say, by the end of my 4 week stint there, I was able to differentiate an innocent murmur from a pathological one. :P

March: hmm...probably one of the saddest month of the whole year for me. Split up with my loved one. A sad ending which was totally unexpected. And it really did affect me....I was sad everyday, and could not concentrate on my work. I remembered staying awake for more than 24 hours trying to complete my case discussions....

April: It was spring time. I spent some of my time taking photos of pretty daffodils. oh..and went to St. Andrews with my friends during my Easter holiday. It was a nice relaxing week off.

May: This month was filled with stress! The deadline to hand in my portfolio was near and I was not even close to completing it. I remember struggling to find the correct words to use in writing my "10 curriculum outcomes" for my uni. It was a real pain in the bum. hehe. Oh...I could still remember the stress and fear I had while waiting for my turn to face my examiners. It was the VIVA examination...and I have to say...the pressure was so great...I was worried and scared. The worst thing was all my housemates have sat for their exam and I was the last one. PHew! I managed to pass the exam!

June: Finally, my summer holidays have started! YAY! I was so looking forward to the trip to Italy with my friends. It was fun and boy, I really do miss the hot sun in Italy. The trip to Italy was fantastic and I ate like maybe 6 gelatos?! I dunno...but I know the food was great, shopping was fun and I took so many photos.

July: It was graduation time. My family came up from Malaysia, including my granny. I took them around Scotland and we ended the holiday in London. It felt great meeting my family and spending time with them. I also went back to Malaysia for a really short break (about 10 days or less). A short but sweet holiday. This is also the month where I said goodbye to Dundee and my cosy rented house. *sob *sob

August: 1st of August marked the first day of my life as a working human and a doctor. It was scary...I didn't know how everything worked, and I was in a totally brand new environment. My rented room was way smaller than the one I had in Dundee. I remember complaining of having to pay council tax and pay the rent, whilst my other friends had accomodation provided for them. (but now, I think I'm quite happy paying those fees...) 31st August marked the first time I get proper wages! yay! So happy that I spent bout 20 quids for dinner at TGIF!

September: Getting tired and stressed at work (even after a month at work??) But it was ok, as long as I get paid! Now, I could finally understand the shitty jobs that we junior doctors have to do...

October: Oh...I couldn't wait for my holiday. My parents came up and we all spent a week at Spain together. It was lovely. It was THE time to escape the cold weather in Glasgow and it was great to have a short break away from the hospital. Ate loads in Spain and bought many stuff home too. I have to admit I felt that for the first time, I did not need to ask my parents for spending money. Instead, I sponsored their trip there. hehe. It was an achievement for me, to be honest. :)

November: Back to misery...ie, hospital. I was literally dragging myself to work. haha. It was a rather busy month too because I was working in the high dependency unit and was in the receiving ward for 2 weeks. I remember being pissed with the radiologists for not wanting to do the scans that I have requested. I remember looking after a patient who was suffering from acute alcohol withdrawal. I gave him about 50mg of IM diazepam and 40mg of IM haloperidol and some diazepam too...it did nothing to him!

December: This is the month where I changed to Medicine. To be honest, I didn't really like the change in the first place. The ward rounds are longer in Medicine, and I didnt have time to have lunch. It was so much busier than working in the surgical wards. Only in medicine that I managed to do ascitic taps and my first lumbar puncture a few days ago! :) (it was unsuccessful though). Oh...not to forget, I also received a number of sarcastic remarks from my seniors. December was also the Christmas month. Although I did not receive alot of pressies, I really enjoyed the atmosphere here. The last day of the year was spent working in the medical receiving unit. I was so tired by the end of the day and just simply went to bed after midnite. The weather was awful, the wind was too gusty and hence, the hogmanay in Glasgow was cancelled!

So there you go...a small little recap of the events last year. It was eventful but there are all experiences that would teach me to be a better person I guess. I hope 2007 will be exciting!

Happy New Year my friends!

May 2007 bring you loads of joy, happiness, love and luck!!!!! CHEERSSSS!!!!!

Bert Was Killed!!

When I was a kid, I grew up watching Sesame Street. I love the characters in that addictive series, namely, Cookie Monster (the blue hairy monster that gobbles loads of cookies), Elmo (the adorable pinkish furry thing), Oscar (the green garbage monster who has a cute orange worm) , and the lovely duo, Ernie (the one in the horizontal striped shirt) and Bert (the yellow long faced thing).

I was taking a walk at the German Xmas Market in Glasgow when I came across a shop, which caught my attention. The reason will be revealed in the picture below:


Hope you could see the picture clearly.

I found Bert(s) hanging from the roof of that shop! He was actually hung with a rope, right across his neck! OMG! He was killed!!

In fact, Bert wasn't the only victim, Oscar was killed too!

The scariest part was there were quite a few of them hanging down from the roof, and this was further exagerrated with white spotlights shown right at their faces!

If I were still a tiny gal, I would certinaly be freaked out when I saw that shop...

Sympathy, I have

I have been in the receiving ward for the past week. As expected, Monday was always busy....and so was Tues, Wed, Thurs and on Fri, the number of patients that came were less. I put this down to christmas...who wants to stay in the hospital on christmas day?

Christmas is a happy season. Everyone is looking forward to opening their presents or having a nice family dinner. During the last week, I felt quite sad to see a few patients dying or even suffering. I know this happen every single day but one particular patient filled me with sympathy.

This was a young lady who had 2 children. She was admitted with exacerbation of her chronic illness. I must say, she looked terrible. Her vital signs were not great. All of us in the hospital did not think that she would survive for long. During the visiting hour, her kids came up to visit her. One of the nurses asked the young children what they wanted for christmas, and they answered, "Mummy."

The nurse assured them that they would surely be able to see Mummy on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, (as you might have expected), that lady died a few hours later.

It was quite a sad case.

Christmas is Looming Near

The christmas spirit in the UK is fantastic. In the city, you can see loads of people strolling along the shops, in search for THE perfect xmas pressie. There are so many pretty xmas decos and most shops would be playing an xmas song at the background.

My friends and I went down to Edinburgh on Saturday. And I just simply love the atmosphere there. The German chrismas market was interesting....a variety of gifts and food from Germany were sold. I treated myself to a German sausage bun and the famous Gluhwein, a special mulled wine that is drank warm. Aahhh....It was such a great feeling to drink warm wine in the cold chilly weather. The rest of the day was spent shopping at the market and also in certain shops along Princess St.

Oh, I was really broke by the end of the day. =)

The pretty tea light jars on sale at the German Xmas Market.

A ferris wheel and a carousel at the market too.

S.T.R.E.S.S.

stress... stress... stress...

stress... stress... stress...

stress... stress... stress...

stress... stress... stress...

stress... stress... stress...

I know many of you might not believe me...but a few days ago, I was very stressed out at work. Never had I felt so worried about a certain patient in the hospital, until the extent I had shivers when I think about his situation. I think with all the stress built inside me, I have now fallen ill. (maybe I'm just a wimp, eh?)

God Bless His Soul.

Yeah, Team Urology!

Today is the last day for me in the Urology Ward. I would certainly miss it.

I could still remember the first day at the ward, which also happened to be the first day at work as a junior doctor. Everything was so vague, uncertain and I did not have a clue what I should be doing or who those patients in the ward were. But now, after 4 months, I felt more comfortable than ever. I knew exactly how to prepare those patients for their elective surgeries, I knew the story behind the patients and I felt that I could work efficiently with the other members in the ward. The sad thing is, it is time for me to change to a different posting. sigh.

The other members include the staff nurses, the senior house officer, specialist registrars and consultants. And, of course, not forgetting my other 3 colleagues, who have affectionately given ourselves the name "Team Urology."

As a team, I felt we tolerated each other very well and there wasn't any problem that arose. I would miss the days when we had coffee breaks at Mables, the days when we sat down playing the game "10 Questions," the times when we started making fun of each other, the times when we worked hard to finish clerking patients....the list is endless!

As all good things must come to an end, my heart is heavy to leave Team Urology. Tomorrow, all of us are changing over to Medicine and we will be working separately. I do not look forward to the new environment all over again. Its nearly similar to the day that I first started working, except that I am probably more comfortable when it comes to prescribing and doing practical procedures.

Wish me luck!

The DT's

In case you are wondering what DT stands for, it is Delirium tremens, an alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

On Friday night, I was glad that it was the last day of my 7-day night shift. The night kicked off well, as it was the FIRST night which I do not have any patients waiting to be admitted. I did not have much to do either...in fact, the only thing I had to do was to chase a few blood results and that was it. I thought to myself, this certainly is a quiet night.

NOT!

I spoke to soon. Not too long later, a demented patient decided to pull out his IV cannula. After resiting it, a nurse came up to me and said, "Mr. B refused to take his diazepam."

Here is a brief description of Mr. B. He is a middle-aged man who was admitted with right iliac fossa pain (? appendicitis) and a past history of alcohol excess. The reason he was on diazepam was because he was suffering from alcohol withdrawal or DT.

Anyway, I looked at Mr. B, and he was lying on his bed quietly. So I told the nurse, "Well, if he refused it, there is nothing much you can do. We'll just keep an eye on him."

The nurse looked blankly back at me and disagreed. In her opinion, the patient was being aggressive, and really needed to be given some medicine to calm him down. So fair enough. I decided to coax the patient to take his diazepam. My efforts were futile ,of course, and it sort of triggered his anger.

Before I could think of what to do next, the nurse was ready with her IM injection of haloperidol and 2 security guards. She said, "I'm going to give this injection. Your senior instructed me to do so. " I nodded my head. The injection had to be given IM because the patient did not have any IV access. The security guards had to pin the patient down in order to allow the nurse to give the injeciton.

The injection did not work. The patient suddenly became more aggressive (I think the presence of the guards made him more agitated). Therefore, I gave another shot of haloperidol, an IM dose of lorazepam and a dose of IM diazepam. And belief me, the patient was still alert! He was swearing and cursing away, tried to pull away from the security guards, and even walked around naked.

The nurse came up to me and asked if I could give the patient more diazepam. I said, "No. The BNF said that we are not supposed to give another dose of IM diazepam until 4 hours later." (I was thinking to myself I do not want to overdose the patient). Again, she gave me this stupid blank look and was not too happy with my answer. I gave her back the same look. Honestly, I did not know what else to do. I sought help from my senior, who said she'll come up and review the situation.

See, I was not comfortable giving more injections to that patient. I do not want him to have an overdose...IM injections may take awhile to work...and if I just keep prescribing the drugs within a small time limit, who knows what would happen. What if suddenly the medicine just kick in?? Would the patient be overdosed on it?? I do not want to get into trouble for overdosing him. It would all end up to be my responsibility, coz I was the one prescribing the drug!

Anyway, the other doctors seem to disagree with me. They said just give as much as you can until the patient is sedated. By the time I left the ward to go home, the patient received about 40mg of diazepam and about 40mg of haloperidol. He was still wide awake and agitated. I think he really suffered from serious DT.

I am yet to find out his record-breaking total dose for the day. He was indeed one tough cookie, eh?