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.

Pictures from Tuaran Crocodile Farm

A break

Tuaran, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Took a break this afternoon and visited Tuaran with Wilhma, a district town some 40mins from KK. Was there a couple of years back during my very first trip to Sabah. We dropped by the Tuaran Crocodile Farm on the way back. Fed some ostriches in the farm. More pics later. Have to sleep early. I'm oncall again tomorrow. Stupid NICU call again. Argh.

Good news is: I'M GOING BACK TO KUCHING THIS SATURDAY! FOR 1 WHOLE WEEK!

Happy Piggy Year!

Was oncall CNY eve, so today post-call. A little too tired to write. So here are some nice shots I took over the week.

Happy New Year! Piggies are cute. :)


CNY fair at Gaya Street... can get all sort of CNY goodies here.


Gorgeous lanterns!


Visited Wilhma (2nd from left) for CNY...


The night market...


A view of Queen (short, affectionate name we give the hospital) from my car... miss her so much!


I live in Penampang.


A dashing-looking cat at Lintas.