Surg SIP: after-thoughts

Surgical SIP is finally over. Though in retrospect, the four weeks really flew by! It seems like a much shorter time than med SIP. But then, being so busy sure helps time to grow wings lah.

I have SIP withdrawal syndrome again. haha! shucks. It's quite sian to return to labcoat life! Although part of me is relieved to have time to study properly now, part of me is dreading the Big Day that is looming ever so close! Urgh. And my Leaky Brain has yet to be patched!

And I do miss working with my HOs, I guess the plus point of being in such a terribly busy team means that you sympathise with each other more and try to help each other more! Good for bonding, although this can backfire depending on the individuals involved. haah =P and my HOs were really nice lah, it's a joy working with them! Imagine if you have nasty co-workers you can't stand... I would probably ditch them and run away! Wei Da is always very apologetic about asking us to do things (although towards the end we were thrown unceremoniously to debride paitents while they continue rounding the 36 patients on our ballooning list)! And he always like to scold da bian, it's his favourite word lor. hee. and he will dole out his own supply of multivits for us to take (which for some reason are humongous pills). and for smone from a certain sec sch not well-known for being gentlemanly, he does prove the stereotypical view wrong. heehee. and he developed delusions of grandeur towards the end, he thinks I am his ya-huan. And I heard from another SIP he ordered her to get him tissue. Tsktsk. IMH pls.

and to think I actually achieved 100% success rate setting plugs and taking bloods on my last night call! *beams* (though the feat was never repeated again on the following days hiak) ah well, we can't have it all!

I kind of miss the hideous vascular bag which me and xtine take turns to carry on our rounds. And it probably has been replaced by a more posh-looking stern black laptop bag. (i think our consultanst were too ashamed to be seen with us when we carried the yellow ah-ma bag! hah) but yar lah, it is kind of weird for a vascular bag to have the words Zespri Kiwifruit on it.

And I do miss some of the patients. Hope Mdm KCL cheers up soon! It's so sad to see her so depressed. We have gotten so used to beaming at her in the hope of teasing a smile out of her. Ah well at least Mr Baa Baa has came out of isolation! On our very last day too! He looks so much cheerier and happier. =D

And our team drs are actually quite nice, we felt kind of bad when they were so effusive in thanking us for all our help! (basically we don't really do alot although we stay late!) we only do odd jobs one. sort of like robots. haha. But it felt nice to be made to feel we really made a difference. =P and Ms Chng treated us to dim sum at Imperial Treasure! The custard buns were heavenly. So good. mmmmm. *salivates*

Our last day was as usual crazily busy, but at least we all went out for a "farewell" dinner! There were so many debridements we all got to do one or two that day! It's like a parting gift to us haah. And I think i am overenthusiastic about debriding. I heard both my patients didn't stop bleeding for awhile after. Oops. *sheepish* I think i didn't really tie the dressing towel tight enough. gah.

We presented our HOs with a resus bag on our last day! These included redbull drinks for the extra spurt of energy, a rum bacardi to celebrate their impending end of this busy posting, and snacks to tide them through! (we all almost died when we ate lunch at 7plus on our last wednesday) ha and as a joke these were placed in a bag identical to the vascular bag. Sure hope they survive this coming last week! I sincerely believe all those who belonged to this team should go for an OGD at the end to check for gastric/duodenal ulcers. High possibility of it.

Time to revert to my life of normal meal-times and more decent waking hrs and more mugging time. Despite this, I will miss my four weeks in SIP. =P

Third week of SIP!!!

It's almost over. Even though it has been bone-breakingly tiring and gastric ulcer-inducing, I would miss my SIP days.

There's something about working extremely hard as a team that makes you feel united! (Common goals include time for lunch and leave hospital before 8!) And I really feel very lucky to have met nice HOs for all my SIPs... heh even though my current HO Wei Da IS kind of evil. (he keeps insisting I like to zhao fan just because I banged the table at him once... xiao qi gui). Keep calling me Queen, makes me feel like a rebel who wants to dethrone the real Queen!!! Aiyo.

To think I stayed for the entire Sunday call to help him because he was falling sick. Alas. We house-elves are under-appreciated lor. But at least I was well-fed, we actually went out for lunch! (although it was an eating place just outside the confines of the hospital, it still counts lah. so exciting lor, had not been able to get out of the confines of houseman canteen for two whole weeks!) And then my HO accused me of trying to poison him with shrimp-paste chicken... (we ended up gobbling down 5 chicken wings/drumsticks EACH. and Wei Da almost lost his voice again haha) I never want to see another fried chicken wing again. I may puke.

This has actually been quite a good week. We actually managed to go out for lunch on xtine's bdae!!! and shun bian celebrate wes's bdae too. The staff at Crystal Jade in Great World City is really impressive!!! They were so nice! Must give them top marks for their willingness to go out of their way to help us! Usually restaurant staff aren't that happy when you want to sing a birthday song with a cake you bought from somewhere else, but the staff were really the kind who deserve GEMS awards! And our HOs treated us again. I feel like a leech.

And our consultant brought us all out for a meal today! Excursion! We went to Holiday Inn and ate dimsum for lunch. Yumyum. The charsiew puff, har gow and chilli were really good.

No wonder I am gaining weight despite the many missed meals. *shakes head*

It seems like many of our patients are ganging up to give us heart attacks by developing chest pain with subsequent diagnoses of AMI made. Hai. I have lost count of how many of them actually needed cardiac referrals. sigh. And it's so sad when patients deteriorate while hospitalised! I think there's something about hospitals which makes one more ill if you stay too long. Like Mr Baa Baa Black Sheep, i recall the days when he was a smiley friendly man. Nowadays he just look so weak and unhappy. Haven't seen his smile for so may days. =( And Mdm KCL, we all thought she was getting better! And she seemed less depressed too, always smiling back at us when we beamed at her. Hai but she is feeling upset again as her leg isn't healing well. I can understand how she feels. I would never be as brave when faced with the prospect of am amputation. And she is still so young!

I hope i never develop any weird conditions when I age. It's terrible to see the multiple problems that paitents already have and the new problems that crop up as the days go by.

Oh can't think straight anymore. Time to repay sleep debt.

zzzzz

house-elfery

Bah. It's Sunday! And i am on-call!!!!! AGAIN!!!

Why do my HOs have all their calls on sunday...

House-elves need holidays! (hermione! where r u!)

Ok lah, actually i shldn't grumble, this has not been too bad a week. Considering our team didn't have that many changes and there was Deepavali in the middle of the week (which we only had to be around for half a day), it was practically holiday season compared to last week! And of course, not forgetting we had an honorary house-elf with us!!! (yay thx grandboss!) and we actually went home before the sky turned dark on friday! FWAH. Xtine and I were ecstatic when we saw the almost-but-not-yet-dark skies!

and our HOs treated us to a meal! haah we felt bad, really. Firstly because we haven't exactly done much for the new HOs, and secondly because we ditched our old HO on the day he needed us the most--- his birthday! I think this is his way of trying to drown us in guilt! Oops. Nah, i shan;t feel bad, considering the changes for his current team is almost non-existent and he can afford to go out and eat AND take naps!!!! *jealous*

i personally feel that i am developing Mushy Brains. i can feel my system shutting down during ward rounds... can't think. can't remember, and i am bradykinesic too. A sure sign of aging. And I guess the group dynamics is just not the same as before, we do miss our old MO who would always make us feel like we are extremely useful. (actually we aren't, but it sure feels nice to be appreciated!) and it's always nice to have another friendly face in the team.

two more weeks to go, hopefully we can have lunch at normal hours this week! and not at 6pm!

*wish and wish*

i need a magic potion to keep me awake enough to study when i get home post-SIP. somehow my natural instinct of sleeping on my desk kicks in within 15minutes of sitting down to mug.

BAH.

i wished i am working already, then i wouldn't have to live in constant countdown mode!!! eugh.

the new hos are desperately trying to adjust i think. whereas we the SIPers are finding ourselves losing the energy. (wei lao xian suai) haha oops. but it seems like we are having a relatively easy week, yet we are still going home rather late... =( Grandboss is very nice though, keep helping us to do changes! (it's like having an invisible house-elf who runs around to keep things running like that! magic!) he must be suffering from maladjustment (suddenly so free)!

i want to go out and play. =(

Surgical SIP

it has been a really indescribable week.

Surgical SIP has started, and lo and behold!!! i am one of the "lucky" ones to join the infamous vascular surg team!!!

my heart really sank like a stone when i knew about it. though of course i was prepared mentally to accept the cold hard truth, a part of me still wished and wished that somehow i would end up in another team.

But alas, it was not meant to be.

the hours are horrendously long, i think my entire system is in shock. my bodyclock is haywired and panicking away! imagine, we have to reach SGH at 6am to start rounds and usually go home at around 8.30pm. OMG. That means waking up at 5am!!!

i remembered the first day i woke up at that unearthly hour:
i developed an ataxic gait. couldn't walk straight the moment i got out of bed.
and the ataxia felt so REAL, i was really scared witless! i was falling right and left and having to hold on to the walls to make my way to the loo! and as i pondered upon my state of health as i sat on the toilet, i checked to see if i had dysdiadochokinesia. whew. negative.

so began my first brush with the syndrome Early Morning Ataxia.

oh well.

Despite the terrible hours, i must say i had a relatively enjoyable week. It was pretty fun working alongside familiar ppl (xtine n wes were in the same team), and my HO was really nice! yippee! i guess i am lucky despite my bad luck. hah! and so i befriended my boss's Boss, who happened to be xtine's "angel" in JC!

heehee. Sui An is so funny, i shall not embarass him by stating his erhmm mid-day habit. But it did provide a constant source of amusement to the three of us (we v bad lor, laugh at our ho! aha). Our other HO Shang Yee was on MC for 2 days! Poor girl. Was having so much GERD that one day out of the blue, the older drs in the team sprang a gigantic surprise on her and sent her to do an OGD without any prior notice! so scary!!! i would have freaked out i think. But it was lucky that she went, since there really was an ulcer sitting comfortably in the esophagus. nasty.
(and i proceeded to rack my brains to see how i can possibly get an ulcer too so that i can become slim like SY).

Ward rounds with the team is like a whirlwind. i can feel my hypertrophied calf muscles already. Imagine running around in heels! I have actually become quite adept at that! Due to the fact that my flat shoes were all killers, i can only wear my old comfortable heels. And there were days when I really felt like kicking them off and going barefoot! My toes are now in the good company of many calluses who are happily colonising my feet. URGH.

And the nurses in my ward think i am a thief. haha. the famed santa claus bag that liqi often mentioned has gone missing by the time we started out SIP. In order to keep the royal family happy during ward rounds, i took a totally ugly and unglam reusable bag from home to replace the santa claus bag. on the day i brought it with me, i happily went into the prep room to stock up.

*starts flinging dressing towels, gloves and normal saline into my bag*

a staff nurse came in with a suspicious look and said: excuse me, what are you doing?

i launched into a lengthy explanation about the need for a santa bag, but i think i have a thieving look, because she looked even more suspicious.

"You no need gloves one you know, it's outside every cubicle!"

It's hard to explain to them the expectations of royalty. alas.

by the time i emerged from the prep room, the nurses were huddled together, probably whispering about the bold thieving medical student who is probably stealing towels to use in her own house. HAIYO.

and from then on, i have to endure jibes about my less-than glam bag, otherwise known as the auntie bag. and yes, my lovely team-mates xtine and sui an love to discuss about whether i shop more at ntuc or shop-&-save. *roll eyes* tsk!

HOs are changing rotations next week, what a scary thought! With our MOs having been around for less than a week, we SIPs have become the "oldest" juniors in the team! shucks. so stressful! shall miss the old team very much.

let's see how many more 6am days i can tolerate.... *breathes in deeply*

call on sunday. argh.