Wednesday, June 03, 2009

i've been fortunate enough to have been on pretty good calls lately.
there are usually 2 house officers on call at any one time. an active and a passive.
an active house officer would usually be the ones to take in all the new cases that are brought up from the emergency department. they'd clerk the new cases, run all the necessary tests and investigations and then subsequently absorb the new patients into their own day teams.
the passive house officer on the other hand would be the one that does all the 'housekeeping' duties during the night. such said housekeeping duties would be setting new IV plugs on patients that don't have any or for those that have pulled them out, taking bloods after the phlebotomists have gone home, inking up new medications and administering first doses of antibiotics to patients who need them.

for those on call, there are certain things that they do to try and ward off any bad calls. for instance, on my first week on the job, an older house officer told me that the only thing that said officer would consume was mee siam...so that all the cases would 'siam' (move/go/get pushed) away. another very superstitious thing they'd follow was that no one should wear red underwear for risk of getting a patient that would bleed out. eating ayam penyet, pau or drinking watermelon juice are a few other things that they refrain from doing. ayam penyet - patient getting squashed/killed. pau - a patient will get wrapped up (think shroud) or the list of new patients will pau (explode in high numbers)

OMG! HOW RIDICULOUS LA!!!!
i can safely say that i've worn PINK underwear, drunk PINK guava juice and have eaten SPAGHETTI (red) on my calls and (cross my fingers) i haven't gotten a bad call as of yet.
eh..pink is like in the same colour family as red la.
haven't tested out the ayam penyet and pau theory yet. but they SWORE that previous house officers that DID eat those items REALLY did get HORRIBLE calls.
i wonder how much truth is in it.
should i tempt fate? hmmm...

anyway..passive calls are usually quite doable unless you get stuck with nurses with brains the size of peas. i'd usually get through all my changes and set up all sorts of plugs and give all sorts of meds by let's say 12ish almost 1. by then i'm knackered to the point of imcomprehensible belief. i'd be scowling and shuffling my feet getting up to the wards, i'd be grunting and honestly i'd be quite rude. so usually by this time, after getting all the changes done, i'd go back to the oncall room where a bed awaits and climb under the sheets with a very very very big sigh of relief. just as i'm about to dose off,

*ring ring ring ring ring*

me: hello.
nurse: hello doktoor.
me: yes.
nurse: i'm kaling prum waard twleb see.
me: and.
nurse: mai paishent in bed pifty tree, Hb draap to ten point fibe.
me: what was it previously? (alert and ready to go if patient needs me)
nurse: oh...haang onn, *shuffling paper sounds* oh..it waas ten point nine. jast kaling to note.
me:..... (hangs up phone)

clearly there wasn't a significant drop. especially not to warrant a call to me. it's these nurses that really make me wanna strangle them.

but not all nurses are that lousy. there are some that really won't bother me until it's very important. ah...now that's when they're an asset to have.

and it's not really all about the nurses calling to wake me up to note about patient's blood or biochemistry results. sometimes they do call for important things like when a patient suddenly becomes delirious.

*ring ring ring ring ring*
me: hello.
nurse: hello doctor, sorry to bother you. but my patient in ward 12d bed 89 pulled out his IV plug and is now delirious. he's also trying to pull out his urinary catheter. i have restrained him and pulled him out to the corridor so as not to wake up the other patients. do you mind coming over to just review him and maybe give him a sedative? i've gotten all the meds ready.
me: ok i'll be right there.

true enough, the said patient WAS delirious. even with the restraints, he'd managed to pull down his pants, exposing his hoohoo and trying to reach for the catheter sticking out of it. he's 85 by the way.

me: uncle! (he's partially deaf so i have to bellow)
uncle: hmm! yes yes!
me: what are you doing?
uncle: i have to pee!
me: but you have a catheter. you don't need to go pee.
uncle: untie me! why do you treat me like a criminal? let me go!
me: we're just making sure you don't do any harm to yourself uncle. it's for your own good!
uncle: no! let me go! i didn't do anything wrong! untie me! don't treat me like a criminal!
me: you have to calm down uncle! it's ok. you're safe!

i went on and on trying to placate him. all the while trying to listen to his heart and chest to make sure no infection was causing the delirium. but turns out, he's always a bit weird at night.

it was ok for the first time. but subsequently it kept repeating itself and i remember sending a text to a friend saying
'old delirious men who keep pulling out their plugs and catheters should be screwed inside out until they shit sideways'
yeah..i was pissed and cranky at 4.30 am in the morning without any sleep and having the next full day of work loom alarmingly close.

well....off to tempt fate.

just the SWIRL
5:55 PM
Post a Comment

Monday, May 25, 2009

wow.

it's really been quite a while hasn't it?

i'd actually left this blog up for death but something kept pulling me back.

many a time have i come back to this page and itched to type something out.

but i always felt that my little rantings and posts have been insignificant and somewhat silly.

but here i am again. silliness or not, i feel the need to write.

many things have happened since i last penned down a few lines. i'm now working in Singapore. enjoying it, i have to admit...that i am. i've made some very nice friends whom i share a bond with. be it slaving away together or just struggling and relearning life afresh. patients are the center of my world now as they are all i see everyday. and odd as it may sound, i look forward to work every morning. dredging out of bed at 6am every morning isn't as hard as i thought it would be.

i've come to learn a lot about myself. that i CAN do things if i put my mind to it and that i should JUST DO IT instead of making excuses and procrastinating. true, i may get scolded and yelled at along the way. but then it all just becomes water under the bridge. after all, housemanship is only a year. and then..who knows where life may take me. i'm blessed that i've got really great people who have my back and who i know i can always call on for help. makes me feel less anxious. true, i started out late...a whopping 4 months after graduation. but no regrets. i've done many things in my 4 months of non-medicine. and i loved it.

having visitors come visit me from home has been another up in this bungee life. the anticipation and excitement it brings when i know that the weekend is coming and a loved one is going to be at my doorstep. but reality always hits after a mere 48 hours of bliss and parting; as a wise man once said 'is such sweet sorrow'. although i find nothing sweet in it now, i know that the sweetness he so enigmatically spoke about will eventually come.

and now...on to greater things in life.

'when there's trouble, they call DW'

just the SWIRL
9:42 AM
Post a Comment

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

my car ran out of petrol today. pushed it right to the limit deep in the red. thought i'd go about filling it up after group discussion this afternoon. but it wouldn't even start up. it would fire up and then 'put put put' it'd die.

great.

had to go to the gas station and BUY a tin to FILL up with petrol. bloody tin cost 10 bucks and would only fill up to 5 litres. bleh.

i'd always wonder what it'd be like for the car to just run out of petrol and refuse to start up. i read about it in books and watch it being played out in movies. and i'd always think to myself. 'how could these people be so stupid as to drive, drive, drive and then NOT notice that the fuel gauge is heading below the red?'.

well, i guess i'm one of them stupid people. thank goodness the petrol station was just down the road.

this is what i get for trying to wait til it's cheap petrol wednesday to fill up my tank.

exams on thursday and friday. obstetrics and gynaecology. 2 osce stations and one 300 T/F paper. can someone say 'die'?

*grabs scissors and stabs own eyes*

just the SWIRL
5:57 PM
Post a Comment

Thursday, September 11, 2008

drives to hospitals are usually the time when i have my daily conversations in my head. i figured, since i'm on the road and i'm free to turn around and drive anywhere i want once i've decided, it's a good way to make decisions.

but i know i'm really tired when i'm having my conversation in my head and i get round to the subject of shopping and i straightaway veto it no.

but it's a good sort of tired.

was in the hospital birthing suite with a mother til 2 am last night. but once that got done, a huge boulder lifted from my shoulders.

4 babies. delivered, done and dusted.

i know 4 deliveries doesn't sound like much, but when you're competing with other medical students and midwife students, it's not very easy.

i'm suddenly thinking very hard about having normal deliveries. it's not easy at all.

just the SWIRL
6:18 PM
Post a Comment

Monday, September 08, 2008

so the last bribe worked. i managed to get 2 babies.


hopefully this time round, it'll get me another 2.

just the SWIRL
4:56 PM
Post a Comment

Sunday, September 07, 2008

days of being a couch potato and lying in bed doing nothing has taken it's toll.

flabby arms. check.
tummy wobble. check.
jiggly thighs. check.
splitting headache. check

this is what happens when you take

six parts laziness to go to the gym with one part oncoming period and two parts looming exams and endless counts of a big bed and room.

simple equation. simple result.

for those ladies who say

'oh...i can eat anything i want and never grow fat. hehehe...'

or

'i wish i could just put on a couple of kilos...'

LIARS! (i would normally use a stronger sounding expletive. but due to the recent phone calls from the mother frantically asking what the matter is or why i'm using such strong a.k.a. foul language, i shall be PG)

you're all anorexics and bulimics who either STARVE yourselves or binge to the point of guilt and then PURGE/VOMIT it all out again.

you can tell that i'm not in a good mood.

my life....stinks.

just the SWIRL
3:57 PM
Post a Comment

Monday, September 01, 2008

omg i think i'm the worst girlfriend ever la.

i'm short tempered, i'm irrational, i jump to conclusions, i can't handle stress and therefore take it out on him. =(

i suck. i so need to get a grip on myself.

and another thing.

i was having a chat with him earlier and somehow, it was during the documentary hour where sir david attenborough was talking about mammals in the water. and while talking to him, otters were being featured! and i tell you, anyone who's seen documentaries on otters will KNOW how cute they are. especially when they're cracking large pipis on rocks balanced on their tummies while floating on their backs. and throughout the whole conversation, i was just watching it and dumbly grunting replies to him. he eventually gave up talking to me and relinquished me to the television

i suck. i so need to make it up to him.

even my mother has said that the television is my very best friend. my earliest memories are while i'm sitting in front of the television and episodes of sesame street come fleetingly to mind. even right now, i'm typing this very sporadically as it's interspersed with glancing at the television as dolphins are being featured right now. did you know that there are dolphins in the ganges river in india? and because the water is so murky, they've evolved to become completely blind and solely rely on their sonar to find fish? cool eh?

i love docos.

oh..and i love him too. muaks muaks to you sayang.

just the SWIRL
6:07 PM
Post a Comment

decided to give my pins a workout this morning and walked 5 kms to and fro from the supermarket to get some groceries. that's something i will never attempt again. especially on an empty stomach. start getting headachy and nauseous about 500 metres from the supermarket. when i finally reached there, i headed straight for the bakery and bought myself a croissant. things started to look much clearer from then on.

so, i believe in subtle bribery.

baked some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and banana cake to sweeten the palate of the midwives i will be facing on wednesday night. have YET to deliver a baby independantly. bloody midwife students constantly butt in and grab all the cases before we the medical students have the chance.


it's a bit hard to actually satisfy these women. for all their love of everything sweet, they still will harangue me and ask if i've used unsalted butter, or low fat milk or wholemeal flour. geez. it's all a no, but i tell them all it's a yes. have to placate their guilty conscience somehow.
but on that thread, i'm amazed to see how many of them are very aware of what they eat and their portions are minute! i have to admit that i've been eating MORE than they have and STILL they're the size they are. makes me wonder about genetics. loving that i'm chinese right now. but still, some of their ways have rubbed off on me. whenever i go grocery shopping nowadays, i tend to look at the nutrition facts box at the back, side or bottom of the item. counting calories has become a way of life for me and eliminating anything that has slightly too high a calorie or fat content has become a bit of an obsession.

there're so many alternatives to normal. fat-full, calorie-full foods nowadays and honestly, they taste JUST as good. and even fresh produce now can be genetically enhanced to be less fat, or more vitamins or what not. eggs even can be injected with multivitamins! and cheese! there's probiotic cheese, there's lactose-free cheese. gracious. i wonder, will there ever be a fat-free fried chicken? hahah...i hardly think so. very soon, i believe that everything we eat will be so 'healthy' that there won't be a need for the supermarkets to stock up on fat-full, normal 'unhealthy' food.

but without all these normal food, will my char kuey teow taste the same? or my mcdonald's burger? or my baskin robbins ice cream?

i wonder.

just the SWIRL
10:48 AM
Post a Comment