new email add. yahoo mail sucks.

happy new year! pls note my new email add. thanks. don't bother sending mail to my yahoo mail.

 

sharon chin.

My leave just got approved this Wed! So, SO happy! That means I'll be home from 22DEC to 2JAN2008! Not only I get to be home for Christmas, I get to attend Chang's wedding! Chang's an old friend from school, joining the mass of my generation from my hometown tying the knot.

In my work place, last month alone, 4 couples got married. Another couple this month and another early 2008. Wow, is the 26 or 27 the magic number or something?

And my dearest friend Jo is already expecting her 1st child, due I think May.

And what have I been doing?

1. Work, work, work and having successive bad calls
2. Changed my hair colour again (now I'm not Sharon with red hair). I'm now spotting a chestnut brown do
3. Started watching Grey's Anatomy (I know, I know, I'm soooo ketinggalan... and I don't find Dr. McDreamy THAT good-looking)
4. Manicure, pedicure, facial and foot reflexology (I'm over-pampering myself!)
5. Appealing to work in the Casualty Dept. (long story... to make it short, it's a plan, finally, on what I'm going to do after my internship)
6. Bought a new camera, laptop and car (my dear old Wira is safely back in Kuching)
7. Passed my medical intern assessment!
8. Almost had a crush on my specialist (luckily I found out he was married on time)
9. Planning a trip to Miri to visit my godparents in 2 weeks time

My sis has put up her Christmas wish list. Here's mine:

1. Acrylic nails!
2. Eyelash extensions!
3. An eggplant flower motive tattoo! A row of them along my thoracolumbar spine! (It's an idea...)
4. The perfect pair of working shoes (I've tried them all, Hush Puppies, Clarks, Scholl, etc. but nothing can compare to my Grenada beach slippers! Yes, hush... I've been wearing slippers to work, not just any slippers, my Grenada beach slippers.) I need a pair of proper working shoes!
5. A new pair of glassess
6. The whole collection of House. I love Hugh Laurie!

I'm a simple girl.

SINCE I CAN'T POST ON YOUR BLOG, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVI!

STAY YOUR SUPER WITTY AND GORGEOUS SELF!

I found authentic Kuching laksa here in KK! It's in Taman Cantek, just a stone's throw from my apartment complex. I'm always having my noodles in a kopitiam in the same row but never ventured further, or I would have saved my mum the trouble of tapau-ing laksa all the way from Kuching when she came to visit me the last few trips.

I'm now doing my internal medicine rotation and it's kickass exciting! Especially the acute patients! Not cool for the patients, I know but it's keeping me going, you know the adrenaline rush! I'm still waiting for the opportunity to defibrilate somebody! *rubbing my palms together and spotting an evil grin*

And there's always a sense of achievement at the finishing line of each day, irregardless whether I come in 1st, 2nd or last. :)

My new pearl jade Viva! I love!

Hosted on Fotki

Mum made this collage of my sis and I a while back. It's so cute! I'm on the fast track at the moment. Very happy in my current department. And extremely happy with my current team of colleagues. We are a super team of house officers! :) I have so much to to look forward to this week. Getting myself a new pearl jade Viva! Trying out for the Sabah health dept. tennis team tomorrow. Trying out my 1st locum. Will start swimming again after a hiatus to let my new tattoo heal... I didn't mention that I got a new tattoo when I was back in Kuching in September?

lazy, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Last week my team at the Male Chronic Ward had a very denerving experience. A young man came in with jaundice and gross ascites in renal failure and was encephalopathic. 3 of us had to restrain and sedate him to put in an IV branulla for meds and fluids. And we couldn't get any history from him, so we just worked him up and settled all his acute problems.

My poor colleague had a needle-stick injury while doing a peritoneal tap for the patient. I was so disturbed when she suddenly came up to me at the counter and told me about it. In retrospect, I was more disturbed than my collegue. I urged her to take all the needle-stick injury steps and inform the Infectious Disease Team. NOTHING was known about the patient's infectious disease status.

The following day, the patient's Retrovirus screen test came back REPEATEDLY REACTIVE. That means POSITIVE. My friend just broke down and ran somewhere to hide, to go through the brief denial phase.

For the subsequent 2-3 hours, there was dead silence among us. A part of me felt like the world had become dark and gloomy shrouded with despair and uncertainty. The other part was praying so hard to God, thanking Him that just a few minutes ago, my blood-taking session with that patient had been uneventful.

I know that we hear about this all the time, but I felt so unprepared and surprisingly very affected.

We are doing what we are doing to help people isn't it? Was this necessary? And that night it was quite hard to sleep even though I was terribly tired.

But we picked ourselves up and went on working the following day and the following day after that. My colleague can smile and laugh today, but it's such a heavy, heavy cross she's carrying.

It's Hari Raya today and I'm having a fine day resting at home after a brief morning round in the 1st class ward of only 7 patients under my care. Since Thursday I've been relocated to the 1st class ward and haematology reverse isolation rooms to cover a colleague who's flown home to west Malaysia for the festivity.

It's really very relaxing, minimal blood-taking, and patients are ridiculously well actually. 2 were discharged yesterday but "prefers to stay until Monday", citing that their families were not around over the raya weekend. What can I do? If the specialists don't insist them to leave the hospital, I can't.

And I had a fairly good call on Thursday. 3 admissions after 12MN, but I actually enjoyed the whole experience. One came in with acute exacerbation of COAD, another presented with chest pain and palpitations and the 3rd presented with sudden onset of deep jaundice.

Maybe after going through obstetrics and gynae where clerking is at its barest minimum, clerking again in medical posting reminded me of my student time and I realized that it was actually very fun to go through all the possible differentials when asking about a particular symptom. The brain is working eagerly and excitedly in the wee hours of the morning.

And I'm still challenging myself to keep my composure and my PATIENCE, particularly with patients who's defaulted again and again, and coming in periodically with near-death experince, leaving me wondering in the world why their brains were not well-formed in utero.

Did the coolest thing today after work and went to the zoo. With my new Canon PowerShot S5IS. 2 weeks into medical posting and I'm quite happy though I'm dizzily busy, till the point of self-neglect. I'm looking so undesirable nowadays. Hehe. And my room, oh my God. Just heard from an old friend from home. He's tying the knot in December. Whoa. I'm invited to the wedding reception and all. I'm strangely worried that I'm not sure what I want to do after MOship later. I don't have any inclination. I enjoy all my postings. I've crossed path with a very special individual who's challenged me to re-evaluate my values and my attitude towards my vocation as a doctor.

I'm still alive

IMG_0362.JPGsm, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Now doing my medical posting. BUSY, but quite happy with the department. And oh ya, I'm officially a HO/MO now! Time flies!

Was back in Kuching for a wonderful week! Sorry didn't call up anyone. Just enjoyed my time with my family. Will be back for Christmas.

Went to Telupid for another medical camp last weekend.

Crappy news: Lost my RM600/- dive watch. :~~( Can't figure out how it happened. Will continue looking for it. Please pray that I find it.

Pictures another time!

August in an hour

August 2007 had been a most eventful month. My eleventh month as a doctor.

The month started of with my David vs. Goliath epic battle to retrieve my car from the disgusting workshop. Very stressful period, but bottom line, I got my car back after 6 weeks. But damn the workshop. I hope it catches fire or something, so at least the cars there get destroyed faster.

Then work was work, with an average of 8-10 calls per month for me, but as always, after 2 months or so in a particular posting, I'm very comfortable and very motivated.

I've also completed my posting requirement of caesarean sections. Happy.

Oh ya, I'm posted to Sandakan Hospital Outpatient Dept effective 2 FEBRUARY 2008. Iniatially quite disappointed, but after some soul-searching, I really don't care where I'm posted, I'm sure I'll find my niche, and do well. Need to let fate take its course, and accept it as gracefully as possible.

Then I used up my subsequent 3 weekends in the most splendid ways possible!

1) Thalassaemia Motivation Camp (18-19AUG)at Impian Jadi Resort. Miss those rascals! I've always enjoyed fascilitating camps like this... reminds me of my school days!







2) Mum was in KK the following weekend! And she brought me LAKSA all the way from Kuching! Needless to say we shopped and shopped and ate and ate. Bliss. :)

3) Then for the Merdeka weekend (31AUG-2SEPT), I took leave for my 2nd Medical Camp as a HO. The last time I followed a group to Paitan. This time we went to Kpg. Tinanduk and Kpg. Pensiangan. Both in the district of Pensiangan, about 5 hoours drive from KK, then from Salong Jetty, 2-hour boat journey to the villages.


The convoy...


The Salong Jetty


Salong River


The boat ride


Kpg. Tinanduk


Our meds


Our dental counterparts were also in full force








Chickens there live on trees. Seriously. Tall trees some more.


Very manja cat.


A gift from the villagers of Kpg. Pensiangan... it's so pretty!



Mata Kucing! Yumilicious!


The health team


Jakun me posing with some buffalos. ;)

That's all folks! Praying for a good September.

Kay and Sam were in KK over the weekend. I had a blast! Eating was the best. We had a superb seafood dinner on Saturday night, which cost a bomb, but worth every cent. Kay has the food pics. Was too busy eating. :)



But I didn't forget the shot of my fav salmon sushi on our last dinner tonight before we parted. :)



But the best thing the whole weekend was... *drumroll*



Getting eyelash implants! I can't believe I actually have very pretty, very long and very, very natural-looking eyelashes now!

It was Kay's idea after her suffering with fake ones.

They cost RM80/- and will last about 2 months depending on how I maintain them.



I went for the 8mm ones, while Kay opted for the 10mm ones.

Bren, give them a shot!



I also had my 1st whole body massage, which was traumatizingly painful. But people say that it's addictive. Is it?

I have bruises on my back from the massage.

I also had a pedicure. :) Now I have pretty toes. :)

Very happy.

I have the weekend off. And my sis and her hubby are in KK. Still don't have my car. But I'm happy because I can do whatever I want for 48hrs! NO WORK!

Am feeling a little dizzy with happiness that I'm feeling dangerously impulsive.

I feel like getting another tattoo. Even as impulsive as I can get, I'm fussy. Wish my cuz was in KK. He did my 1st tattoo almost 2 years back. I'll ask around... I want something asymmetrical on the back of my left shoulder. I want the whole thing black with just one tiny item, like a flower or a butterfly or maybe a green lizard in a vibrant colour.

So can imagine it now!

- - - - - - - - - -

I can't believe I can be so blur when it comes to boy-girl relationship thingy.

For weeks I've been playing some silly cat-and-mouse game with some guy who's absolutely not my type. But I find him cute and immediately drawn to his quirkiness. Sometimes he's responsive, other times he's aloof. Sometimes when I think it's going no where and decide to abandon mission, he'll come right back strongly.

So I'm engaged in a very futile activity.

Then yesterday a colleague remarked that someone has been "teasing" me non-stop. He said it with an evil grin and proceeded to remind me of the morning's events when the supposedly "teasings" took place. He then implied that he had the hots for me.

So that's how guys show their interests?! I'm very disturbed. It's irritatingly disgusting.

I'm absolutely clueless. Aren't people in my age group too old for these sort of games?

I was telling Hema that my approach to the whole relationship thingy is just to be honest and straight to the point.

eg. If the guy ask me why all my sms every evening, then I'll just tell him that I've been thinking about him lately and that I've been missing him, even though we're not a couple.

Is that so very hard?

- - - - - - - - - -

The list of our postings after our internship is out, but not finalized. But my name is in the group of doctors who have not been placed. My other colleagues know where they are heading after this.

I've applied for Kota Belud (busiest district), Kudat (beautiful district) and Keningau (best work environment).

But seriously I don't mind anywhere. But I want to work in a hospital, not some polyclinic. Some hospital in some God-forsaken district is fine wth me too.

- - - - - - - - - -

Since my sis is not picking up her phone (probably still sleeping), and it's already 10.30am, I'll just take a cab down town and eat and eat and eat and do some shopping.

Bliss.

It will be exactly 2 weeks tomorrow since my car accident. I'm still carless. Still in the workshop. 1 week for them to get the insurance thingy sorted out, and now they are assuring me that they are doing the hardware. Have been relying on friends' kindness and lots and lots of cab service.

But I'm surviving.

Even went diving last Saturday. SO NICE. :) It just lifted my spirits up after quite a stressful week. Now can't wait for my next dive, but I really don't know when. All my dive buddies will be going to other postings soon. That will make coordination a little harder with all our different schedules.

I do enjoy my current posting and my new friends. Having surrounded by 1st posters, I remember myself in their shoes some 10 months ago when I first started off as a HO. :) Good thing my first reaction is to smile. Is good to see that these new bloods are so confident and so competent so fast. It's either they are born for the job, or they have seniors like me. :)

I'm juggling some matters of the heart at the moment. But I'm wiser now after Mr. V.

I realized that yesterday that I had so many numbers in my handphone, but I couldn't call most of them. Funny that was my perspicacious moment after quite a horrific self-accident.

I was driving home after a bad call, and dozzed off while driving down the straight coastal road. I was driving on the slow land on the left and suddenly I realized that I had lost control of the car, and I was bull-dozzing a row of young trees and suddenly my car halted as it hit a big one, with lesser impact than I have imagined when I saw it before the collision.

I heard a few cars sped passed mine as soon as the surrounding was silent. Not a single car stopped to help me. I sat for a while and realized that the butt of my car was sticking out onto the main road, so I restarted my engine and reposition my car into a safe spot. Retrospectively I'm not sure whether that was a wise move.

I got out and saw the wreck my car was in. And the row of young trees that looked like a row of broken toothpicks in perspective mode. What have I done?

And what to do now?

Looking through my 200 contact numbers in my phone, I was devastated for a moment, because I knew I couldn't call them. I tried 5-6 numbers but no answer. Then I finally called my MO that I was oncall with because I knew he should be on the way home too, but he was stucked in the Labour Room. But he promised to call a tow truck for me as soon as he was assured that I was ok.

Only then I realized that I did knock my head a little and there was a little soreness on my neck. That's all, thank God.

But while waiting I remembered James, the guy who went to my rescue a couple of months back when my car died on me in the middle of busy Jalan Penampang, so I gave him a call.

He was my angel yesterday. He settled everything for me and sent me home, and promised to get my car fixed as soon as I prepare all the necessary documents for my car insurance.

I was so tired that I even dozzed off in the police station when I was making a report. And oh ya, I got compounded RM300.

So now, today Sunday I had to cancel my diving trip yet again, to rest and to get my papers done for my car insurance. Maybe I'll just swim a little tonight in the condo pool.

I did my first caesarean section on Tuesday! I know it's silly to think so, but I feel that I've stepped up onto a higher level of housemanship as I closed up the lady with the transverse lie baby.

And I overheard the patient telling her beaming family that I was the doctor who operated on her and delivered her baby as I reviewed her post-operatively.

It's just one of those really gratifying moments of my job. This time seeing a chubby baby in her mother's arms, knowing that I had a small part in making that happen.



My 3rd watch in 6 months died on me after my swim on Sunday. So frustrated because the last one cost me RM260! And it's supposed to be water resistant up to 50m. Bull.

So in rage and fury, I drove to the nearest watch shop after work on Monday and bought myself a dive watch which cost me a bomb. RM630! That was after some serious bargaining. The price tag on it was actually RM806!

It's really a handsome thing. So to so that my male counterparts at work said that they felt like sissycats with their Swatches. Who ask them to buy Swatches?

I'm oncall tomorrow again, with the new MO, Dr. W. He's really cute because he's such a boyish face and blur expression, and very cool and calm despite any emergencies. I enjoy our Mandarin-speaking sessions especially when I'm assisting him in the OT. It's like our little secret hideaway in the midst of the tense and busy OT.

I've chomped off my locks for this boyish do. Reasons? I feel restricted by my long hair, always obligated to keep it shiny and off my face... and it's progressively getting very dry because of my swimming.



I'm planning to join Mercy Malaysia for a medical camp next month along the Salt Trail, but it worries me just going through the itinery. Daily treks of up to 7km... and participants have to undergo some sort of physical before the camp. I'm so unfit at the moment. I'm thinking of intensifying my swimming and walking everywhere, including 5 flights of stairs everyday to get up and down the hospital.

Wish me luck.

Life and work is very routine in this department... let me rephrase, work. Not much of a life at the moment because I finish work around 8.30-9pm everyday. And calls can be pretty bad, especially in the labour room. Luckily I'm only doing 2 calls a week with the current number of HOs.

I'm up at 5am to wash my hair. Was too tired last night. Crazy day yesterday. 2 colleagues were absent because of MC, so another colleague and I were left to fend for ourselves in a ward of almost 100 patients. Luckily there were 2 taggers around to help us with blood-taking.

And I iniatiated my first "red alert" yesterday. One lady was bleeding pervaginally post-partum for 2-3 days, but just had to collapse during my rotation. I was mortified to see a huge pool of fresh blood on her bed when I examined her, and when I parted her thighs to check, literally fresh blood poured from her vagina. A lot. and her BP was in a dropping trend. Hence the red alert. She was immediately wheeled into the OT for a hysterectomy, and she used up all the type "O" blood in the hospital, causing probably 2-3 elective caesarean sections this morning to be postpone.

I got home almost 10pm last night. And today I'm oncall. Another 36hrs straight of working.

But I'm still euphoric really from my dive on Sunday. I was most amazed at the visibility of the water of Pulau Sapi, almost 8-10m, compared to the 3-4m I used to experienced diving back home. And the colourful fish and corals and one nudibranch, vibrant blue and black. Heaven. And I almost unwittingly touched a stingray on the ocean bed, if not for my very alert dive leader. :)

Got to stop here. Already 6.02am. Work starts 6.30am. It's a 20mins drive.

Thanks Davi and Bren for comments. My HP pocket PC has been quite lovely really. I'm more organized now.

I have decided to apply to work in the district after my internship, after a lot of soul-searching and concluding that I just didn't want to miss out the opportunity of a lifetime to work in a district setting. After all, I'm not in the hurry to do my specialization. And I chose the busiest district in Sabah, rationalizing that if I don't eventually like working in the district, the busy life would help me pass time. My other colleagues thought that district would buy them some time before deciding what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives.

Working so far has been ok. If I were to focus on the positive points, I would say that I'm pretty happy. I love the simplicity of the field of obs and gynae, and the camaraderie of the interns working against the evil forces of healthy population boom and "blaming culture" of the department here. I have 2 challenges for myself in this posting. To not lose my temper against all the unbooked pregnant ladies for the duration of my posting, and to keep as low profile as I possibly can in this department. Working here is like a maximum security facility, where inmates in Guantanamo Bay have more human rights.

Calls can be pretty bad in terms of the number of patients coming in, but because there would be 2-3 of us working at the same station per call, we have come up with a system so that each of us get to snooze for an hour or 2, unless if the admissions were crazy. During my last call 2 nights ago, I had to deliver a baby in the elevator! I ran to the elevator when someone screamed, thinking that someone collapsed, only to find a pregnant woman lying down on her back in the lithotomy position in the elevator. The nurses ran to the labour room to get hold of a sterile delivery set, but the baby couldn't wait. Both baby and mum were ok after the drama.

I'm taking a diving refresher course today, and I hope to join some trips in the next few weeks, depending on my calls. I forgot to mention that in O&G, we are oncall even though we are not technically oncall. They would just call you up at the very last minute to ask to go down to work. Yes, very shitty. Because this department is run by pretty shitty people, really.

So what else is new with me? I got myself a HP pocket PC which I love so much! It's also my phone and camera. And I get go online during the boring and stupid daily department meetings.

Thank you dear friends for your well wishes!

My grandpa is finally with grandma and our doggies in heaven.


Found this old photo of Grandpa dancing with me... not much recollection of grandpa growing up except for his love of doggies, hearty appetite & sporadic but delightful sense of humour. He was bed-bound for almost a decade after a stroke.


The passing of a patriarch...


Will probably never see this shophouse anymore after this...

Some pics from the week-long wait and funeral of grandpa:

Crossroads

So many things are going on at the moment.

My 90 something paternal grandfather, the only grandfather I've ever known, passed away 2 days ago, after a short battle with pneumonia and sepsis. Initially I wasn't planning to make the trip home to attend his funeral, but it's been bothering me. I feel unsettled. So I'm making that trip, eventhough I just flew home a week ago.



My progress in my new posting is ok I guess. Working smart, not terribly hardworking. I guess this comes with seniority. Obstetrics have been my least favourite subject since med school, but I must admit that it's a very straightforward subject, so that's a plus point.

I have a big confession to make. I miss Paeds terribly. Not because I particularly dislike my current posting, but I just miss the work in Paeds, the whole nature of the discipline. I find myself stealing every opportunity to examine the newborns in the labour ward, competiting with my colleagues to resuscitate a flat baby, making every excuse in the book to go up to the NICU, just because I miss the incubators. Then I also miss the Thalassaemia clinic and all the children there that I see every 2-3weeks.





Then I've been thinking how I should put aside my earnings for my future like for my retirement and for buying a house in the future. A colleague of mine introduced me to investment in mutual funds or something like that which I thought sounded pretty safe and really really suitable for absolutely not finance savvy me.

I'm so tired now. I'll continue another day.

I'm going for a HO orientation programme this morning. Happy because I don't have to work and I'm going shopping after that and I have seafood dinner date tonight. :)

Some pictures:



Watch this kickass movie! My highest recommendation!




Got these cute pens from a toy shop which I frequent in KK. Use them to distract children during my rounds and clinics. Zebra is my fav. :)




This too I got from the same shop! Cubes! It's a paeds thing.




With the staff at thalassaemia clinic!