Pulselessness, Paraesthesiae, Perishingly cold, Pain, Pallor and Paralysis

The ideal work itinerary :

0900 – starting time
0930 – arrive at work
0945 – coffee break
1100 – check e-mail
1115 – prepare for lunch
1200 – lunch
1445 – browse internet
1500 – tea break
1600 – prepare to go home
1630 – go home
1700 – finishing time

My day today :

0800 – come in early to catch up on unknown patients
0830 – ward round begins
0900 – ‘starting’ time
1100 – wish the day would end soon
1345 – ward round ends
1350 – realise that the low-pitched rumbling sound originates from my tummy
1400 – thought it’d be nice to have some lunch
1403 – bleeped, needed at ward
1500 – realise as I yawn yet again that the caffeine intake has been insufficient for the day (read : none)
1530 – still can’t get that damn venflon in…
1600 – wish the day would end soon
1700 – finishing time
1715 – assist in a chest drain
1800 – about to go home, when the damn patient decides that it might be a good idea to try to die
1845 – go home


At the risk of moaning yet again about the trials and tribulations of being a house officer, I have to say today was the worst day yet. It’s been said that the baptism of fire as a new doctor occurs when a patient dies, and you’re convinced that you were a contributing factor to said patient’s demise. Fortunately, nothing like that has happened to me just yet, but for the first time since I’ve started work, I panicked today.

It wasn’t even something very serious. Well, not really. I was sitting in the office, trying to be as meek as a mouse (since it was already past 5 and God knows I wasn’t looking for more reasons to be kept in hospital), when a nurse rushed to me and said Mrs X wasn’t feeling too good and was complaining about a severe pain in her leg.

Grumbling to myself, I ambled over to the patient’s bed and looked at her. Noticing her grimace, I glanced down at her leg and immediately touched it. It was, quite literally, the iciest feet I’ve ever laid my hands on. At which point I thought ‘fuck!’. Further examination revealed that she had all the 6Ps that make up the classical symptoms of an ischaemic foot (foot with no bloody supply), and if I wasn’t quick enough, she’d be in danger of having an amputation.

Naturally, I jumped around mentally and a steady of litany of ‘Oh shit what do I do next’ came to mind. But being a house officer, you don’t really have to do much in the way of managing patients; you just need to make sure they don’t die. So I bleeped the surgical registrar who was on-call and waited for him to review her, and proceeded to give her some analgesia, take some bloods and try and convince her that ‘it’s ok dear, it’ll all be allright’. Wonder what’s happened since then.

Considering I didn’t take my lunch, I had a rather small dinner. Might go back after this to munch a bit more. Thought of getting online for a bit to rest my mind and delete the mountain of spam that’s bound to have accumulated in my email. And I still haven’t been able to sort out my room Internet connection. Not that there’s much time anyway.

This week is full of b’days though – Siti, Elly, Reem, Wai Keong – all close buddies of mine. So here’s a big Happy Birthday wish to the whole lot! A new friend also had her b’day celebration yesterday, and here are a couple of pics that were taken during Karin’s impromptu cake-eating session yesterday. Oh, and one from the weekend.