I'm leaving...on a jetplane...and still having bad call...

I'm on call today...in Queen...my last call before i leave for NZ tomorrow...and so far i've been picking up messes...while creating mess myself...i think my boss on call must be cursing me now...in the morning, medical referred an 80 year-old man to rule out intra-abdominal injury...so i asked why did they think he was having that...the MO told me he had a fall...i thought, hmmm..did he fall from like 10 feet or something? and if he did, why would he end up in medical ward in the first place?

They got an ultrasound abdomen for the uncle, and the radiology MO informed me that the uncle had free fluid in the abdomen most likely due to splenic laceration...so ok, i went to see and was quite appalled by the course of events that ended the uncle in medical ward...he was actually referred for anaemia for investigation...they missed the crucial information that he was actually hit with a plank on his abdomen...right...so called boss on call...she asked to transfer patient over to surgical...for splenectomy..so yea, 1st mess picked up...

Then medical referred another 20 year-old guy for acute abdomen...they think he was having typhoid...his abdomen was very distended...ultrasound showed free fluid with sediments..so possible perforated bowel...called boss again...she asked to tap to see what fluid comes out...but i couldn't see anything when i scanned the guy's abdomen with the kuno scan in the medical ward...so i just poked at the right iliac fossa...aspirated a lot of air...then got some small intestinal fluid came out...looked like liquid faeces...so i thought ok...so it's bowel contents...so sent patient to surgical for laparotomy...then i told boss and he said that i poked through the bowels...shit!!!! so 2nd mess picked up...and er..created as well...now i hope his wasn't a negative laparotomy...

Medical also referred another 77 year-old aunty for rectal mass...the specific referral was for surgery to do proctoscopy...excuse me, but since when only surgical MOs are capable of doing proctoscopy? and the medical gastro team is capable of doing a colonoscopy, taking biopsy and getting the HPE result all by themselves all this while...since when are they no longer able to do so... forcing them to turn to the surgical team for proctoscopy? my my...how things have changes...oh, but i didn't pick this patient up yet...waiting for the HPE after the gastro team performs the colonoscopy and obtains the biopsy...

Then i saw another patient in the casualty (i actually saw a lot more but this one is the most interesting by far)...49 year-old aunty who presented with 5 days history of progressive abdominal distension and absolute constipation...no history to suggest colorectal or gynae malignancy...the only signs of malignancy was that she was quite wasted and pale...per rectal revealed an anterior mass externally compressing the rectum...so we did a per speculum and vaginal examination... we found a cervical mass...so called boss on call again...and she asked to refer gynae to take over first and surgery team will review the patient in their ward...poor aunty...

Oh well...come tomorrow, i'll be leaving on a jetplane...for a break i so badly needed...NZ, here i come..."i'm leaving, on a jetplane, wish i don't have to be back again, oh babe, i love to go" (sang to the tune of 'leaving on a jetplane')....my life is in a mess and it's time for some time off for personal reflection and soul-searching...hahaha...i always think that a trip would do that for me... but after i come back from every trip, i still feel lost and "un-searched"...sigh...may this restless wanderer finds rest some day....

A good call, a good book and a good song...

I was call again yesterday...yea 3 eod calls in a row, remember? Did 2 appendicectomies during the day...well, taught the HO how to do one but i did most of the crucial knot-tying coz she couldn't hand-tie properly...then was hanging out with Grace and Kean Khang in ICU..Grace was on call too and we had Burger King for dinner...ahh...it's good to have friends with devoted husband...even if you don't have one yourself...

Grace was about to finish a thrashy romantic novel titled "Brighter than the sun"...you know it's thrashy romance with titles like that...i haven't read one in quite some time...so i thought why the heck not...so i borrowed it, not expecting to actually get to read it...but after the last appendix i did that night, it was pretty quiet...oh, the last appendix was quite an amazing one...the lady was morbidly obese...and so was her appendix...and it had perforated at a few sites...and it was faeces-laden...and there was quite some localized pus collection...but never mind about that...

So i thought since it was quiet, i'd start reading the book a little...i guess when you're really engrossed in a book you don't realize that time flies...by the time i felt quite sleepy, i saw that it was already 6am plus...and i was almost finishing the book...really, if i read surgical textbooks with half the zeal i had, big boss would be so proud of me...hehe...so i thought i'd get some sleep and slept till 9am plus...came home, finished the book and slept some more...woke up about 115pm to get ready for locum...

Went online and checked out a friend's blog...she posted LeeHom's new song from his new movie "Lian Ai Tong Gao"...it's called "NI Bu Zhi Dao De Shi"...i love this song...the music is so touching that i couldn't stop my tears from flowing...so i put up the link on FB and few minutes later i received a mail from Kenny...he sent me the mp3 version of the song...now i can download it to my phone and use it as my sms tone...hehe...and Vince sent me the lyrics to the song...so i'll be learning it when i get home from locum tonight...here's the link to the song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8v9xr8lqhQ

Malaysian efficiency...

Thursday wasn't too good a call...had to do op till 4am...at least Friday would be less hectic...since it's the fasting month and we did not have our regular Friday lunch, i thought it best to go to JPJ and get my licence translated to English so i could drive while we were in NZ...of course i forgot that true to Malaysian efficiency, all government offices and counters are closed for a long Friday lunch break...it doesn't matter that most of them would not be eating...crap! so i had to sleep in the car while i waited till 2pm...

Cam told me it only took her 15 mins to get her licence translated...what she didn't tell me was that i had to photocopy my IC and driver's licence...so i went to get my number and waited...i also asked the guy at the enquiry counter as to what i needed to get my licence translated...he said i only needed a photocopy of my IC...so i had to walk a good 2 mins to another place to get my IC copied...for rm1!!! and when it was my turn, the girl at the counter told me that i needed a copy of my driver's licence too...really, post call doctors should carry a sign that says "kindly do not piss off a post-call doctor, or else..."...

I thought of a lot of nasty comments i wanted to make but i'm an implosive customer...so i had to waste another 2 mins and a total of rm2 plus i had to pay rm10 for a bloody translation which i could probably do better...but at least they did only take 15 mins to do the translation...which i could have done in 2 mins...that my friends, is Malaysian efficiency...indeed, Malaysia Boleh!!!

Beaufort visit...

Haven't been writing about work lately...except HO-bitching...but that's not really work...anyway, today i went to Beaufort Hospital for our monthly visit to operate on patients there...went with boss, Yap and 2 HOs...had to wake up earlier this morning coz the car was leaving at 7am...our journey took about 1 1/2 hours...we had 6 hernioplasties, 1 breast lump excision and 1 sebaceous cyst excision waiting for us...

We started our case at about 930am...i didn't dare do a hernioplasty on my own coz i still wasn't too confident with my steps...so i asked Yap to scrub in with me...made him stay with me till i finished suturing the mesh...then he went to start the 2nd case...by the time i started my second hernioplasty, boss already finished seeing the patients in clinic...so he scrubbed in to help me...i still don't know how to identify the hernial sac...i think the HO who was assisting me could probably do better at it...

Anyhow, managed to do 3 hernioplasties...and i did the breast lump excision....the lump was about 4x3 cm...had some problem catching the lump coz it kept breaking off...but somehow managed to get it out in one piece...then did the sebaceous cyst excision under LA...wanted to let the HO do it but boss was complaining that it was almost 5pm and fasting month has started...i did let the HO do the incision...but he went and burst the capsule...and just as i took back the scalpel from him, boss walked in...phew!!! at least he didn't see that i let the HO do it...so no choice, i had to say that i broke the capsule...and he said, as expected..:P

So we managed to finish 5 minutes before 5pm...and the nurse commented that this was the first time our visiting team has ever finished before 5pm...well, glad they were happy about that...so was i...by then my back and neck were aching already...i'm sure the poor HO (who is a lot taller than i am) felt worse...so after that, our car came to pick us up and sent us back to SMC...quite a long day today...but quite fruitful...and tomorrow, i'll be starting a stretch of 3 eods....need to sleep...nights...

累了。。散了。。

还以为说了再见就没事了，原来受到回答也会哭得。。。昨天正天都忽然间哭出来。。尤其是听到失恋歌。。真的没心情工作。。所以今天就没上班了。。很怕在人前忽然哭。。很丢脸。。正天躲在房里。。什么都不想做。。真没用。。重来都没逃避工作。。为了个男人，值得么? 还是一个伤了又伤我的人。。一次不够么? 还有第二次? 够了。。累了。。泪也干了。。明天是新的一天。。虽然心还疼，还要继续活。。 还是要去工作。。主啊，求你让我的心快点愈合。。

A weekend with friends...

So we celebrated Jasmine's birthday on Friday night at Little Italy....and we went to K-box after that...us girls (Alisa, Elaine, Jasmine, Flora, Grace and i) and also Kean Khang...we got quite a big room which unfortunately reeked of cigarrette smoke...still, it didn't stop us from singing our hearts out...or in my case, singing my blues away...

Thank God i didn't have to wake up early on Saturday...coz i only slept at 3am...my colleague covered me during the morning for the health awareness programme thingy...so i had to endure the other half of the afternoon before i could join the girls in Karambunai...drove home straight after the programme ended and packed an overnight bag and headed towards Nexus Karambunai...we booked 2 rooms and Elaine said we actually got a free upgrade...so the rooms were bigger...

Elaine and i went for a swim while the others waited for Darrien to wake up...we swam a bit...and spend most of our time drinking cocktails during happy hour...the frozen margarita and screwdriver that i drank were pretty diluted...so they actually tasted like ice blended lime and orange juice...felt a bit woozy after that though...think i downed them too fast...

Then we went for dinner at Salut...then came back to the hotel room and gossipped...watched Glee on tv too...couldn't really sleep much coz i felt warm the whole night...kept waking up in sweat....got up for buffet breakfast...then went to the beach to sit a while...soaking in the sun and enjoying the ocean view...then it was time to get back to reality...yup...i'm on call today...good thing it's Queen call...

I came home after reviewing a patient in casualty...checked my mail...received a reply which wasn't what i hoped for...but i supposed it was a reply that would be better for everyone...in the long run... still couldn't help but cried...i feel like crawling into bed and cry whole day...or maybe i should just drink myself into a drunken stupor...but damn, i'm on call..so i can do neither...i just can't believe i've gotten myself into the same situation twice this year...i mean, exactly how stupid can a girl get? this really deserves a best-selling novel...but yea well, back to reality...need to go review another patient in the medical ward...

Alisa's in KK...

Alisa's in KK...she came with Anthony and baby Darrien to visit us...it's been quite a while since i saw Alisa...perhaps about a year de...they arrived yesterday night but i was too tired to go pick them up with Jasmine...didn't even see them this morning coz i went to work early...so only got to see them when we went for dinner tonight...had seafood...it's good to have a gathering like this...

Christine brought Christabel who's only 1 day younger than Darrien...how nice...so we were having fun trying to pair the kids up...hahaha...they're barely 9 months...it's so cute watching kids interact... Christabel was so friendly and kept trying to touch Darrien...and Darrien was a bit alarmed and blushed...but after a while Darrien kept staring at Christabel...hahahaha....so adorable...

Tomorrow we'll be having dinner at Little Italy...to celebrate Jasmine's birthday...it's supposed to be a surprise party...hehe...then maybe we'll go for karaoke after dinner...