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!

Happy Mothers' Day!

My family's Mothers' Day celebration is postpone to next weekend. :)



My mum is so pretty!



Thank you for having us, whether you like it or not. :)



Love you mum!

Life goes on!

My new hair. I love. But cost me a bomb. Now I can wake up in the middle of the night during oncalls still looking fabulous. :) On top of the new image it gives me, it's so ridiculously manageable.



Mostly good reviews. Dad said it makes my nose look bigger, but more modern. DAD! And the nose is from you!



Muahahaha!!!

In chirpy mood. Just 1 more week of paeds. And I'm making a short trip home next week before starting my new posting! So happy!!!

Bowel-prepping myself for laksa, kueh chap, chau chai hunam & kolo mee!

Enjoying myself in KK. Eating, shopping, occasional swim (but suspended at the moment because of my hair) and now quite determine to pick up squash again.

Work is ok at this juncture because I'm more familiar with paeds. Kids and mothers like me for some reason unknown to me.



Great and fun new acquintances! I'm laughing all the time! I just realized that there's just so much humour in my field. :)



Taken in one of the many afternoon department CMEs...



What HOs do best...

EOD calls

EOD calls, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

I have 11 freaking calls this month. I'm so tired that after 4 consequetive EOD calls, I can seriously see myself aged in the mirror.

Countdown: 39 days

protest, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Paul and Dida dear, my next posting is Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Not my fav, but I like the system here because 2-3 HOs do calls together in the same ward on same day, unlike in Paeds, so it's not too dull. And we get to order McD from the nearby drive-thru. They would only send if we order minimum of RM30/-.

HOs are scapegoats for anything wrong in this department, we get several weekends free throughout our 4-month posting. So nice.

The setback, my housemate who's currently in O&G told was that I would thoroughly hate pregnant women.

Don't care. Not that I like neonates that much anyways.

Have to stay up tonight to prepare for my big presentation tomorrow. So dumb.

I want to eat salmon sushi. Tomorrow la.

Some updates

My broadband was down for 2 miserable weeks. Got it back today. Apparently something wrong with the port, so some techician came to fix it.

Sorry guys for not replying any email and comments.


Last week my car died in the middle of the busiest road in KK on a Friday evening. I was post-call and extremely tired from EOD calls that whole week. Needlees to say I caused the traffic jam to be more jammed that day. Had to get a tow truck to pull my poor car to the garage.

But I got to ride in a tow truck, hence the pic. :)



My call list for this month. Looks better than last month's. So happy. No EODs.

Have to give a big presentation this Thurs for the whole department. Something on beta-thalassaemia major. No internet for the last 2 weeks was hell. So spent the whole day online for resources.

Have to get to the hospital early tomorrow. Have to escort an infant to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for MRI. Leaving Likas Hospital at 7am.

Countdown to finishing paediatric posting: 43 days.

Back in action.

Long hiatus.

My break home was too short. :( Miss my family.

This weekend I'm having no calls! Can you believe that?! I've been having weekend calls for the last 3 months, except for the one week that I went back to Kuching.

So deliriously and dizzily happy.

That I spent a bomb on an iPod Nano. It's gorgeous! Despite all the vibrant colour choices, I settled for the classy-looking white one and bought a leather pouch to complete the classy look.

I can't be looking like teenager kan?

Regreted initially for burning my 2 months savings, but after my very succesful blood-taking from 3 neonates this morning, I was convinced that the iPod was a good thing.

Don't ask me how I made that connection. I was listening to Eric Clapton I think when I the 3 babies' blood effortlessly. :)

Which meant I could go home around 10.30am this morning!

Did laundry, washed my bathroom, cleaned my room a little, and then spent the whole day downloading songs! Now I'm hooked! Didn't even study for my upcoming exam on Friday!

Bad. Bad.

LimeWire is a pretty cool file sharing programme.

Having a cup of coffee now. Intend to study a little tonight.

Will be oncall tomorrow (Monday), Wednesday and Sunday this week. :(

My only motivation for my oncalls now is to earn the extra $$$ to buy new toys.

Thinking of getting a new camera. :)

Whatever for now that I rarely take pictures?

Maybe a new laptop since I'm online most of the time when I'm not working.

Good night!

No AGE can stop me from enjoying my holiday

I'm back in beautiful and clean Kuching!

I almost didn't make it back Saturday morning. Had the worst bout of diarrhoea Friday night which drained (literally) the life out of me.

That's why I hate paeds. I was warned to be ready for frequent URTIs (Upper Respiratory Tract Infections) and AGEs (Acute Gastroenteritis). I was boasting to my other colleagues just 2 days before my diarrhoea that I was immuned as I was healthy even after 5 weeks of paeds.

So stupid to speak so soon.

But the worst is over. I had my 1st bowl of Kuching laksa this morning, only after the 3rd morning home. I was bedbound the first 2 days and couldn't keep any food down.

Mum was even hesistant to let me eat laksa this morning, but I argued my way out of it. ")

Don't care.