22 days to go

It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to write something in my blog. Not really a matter of not having enough time, but the time that I’ve had to spare recently seemed to be put to much better use by either reading or sleeping. Or watching Lost. I’m also guilty of procrastinating in my efforts to reply my e-mails. But sooner or later, I’m sure I’ll get around to it.

It’s been a rather topsy-turvy couple of weeks. Started rather horribly, and I seemed to remember being extremely pissed off with the nurses on a particular ward, who not only questioned my judgement but decided to contradict my written orders. My consultant wasn’t too happy with them, but he bit his tongue. I decided to keep my cool too (especially since I’ll be working at that ward in the future) but I couldn’t help but make a few sarcastic remarks and give them a couple of stares.

I honestly don’t understand the behaviour of nurses who have no trust whatsoever in house officers. Fair enough, the doctors might be junior in standing and might not know a lot, but there are ways to teach them and guide them rather than picking up quarrels and then kow-towing to the next consultant that comes around. It’s really annoying to watch a nurse act extremely bitchy with a house officer, and then become diabetically sweet when the consultant comes around. They don’t seem to realise that today’s house officers are tomorrow’s consultants. Thankfully, the nurses on my ward aren’t like that.

Having said that, next week will be my last week in my 3-month medicine rotation. I honestly can’t believe that time has flown by so quickly, and I already feel a little sad ‘cause not only do I like the stuff that I’m doing now, but I like the people I’m working with as well. I know I’ll miss them, and I can only hope that I’ll be working with people of a similar nature in my next rotation (lower GI surgery).

A friend of mine is going through a rather rough time as well. And while I’m worried and praying for that friend, it does make one feel rather helpless at times ‘cause you know deep down inside that there’s nothing much you can do except to try and be there as much as you can, and hope that time will prove to be therapeutic.

Last weekend was good though. I had not seen my buddies for a few weeks, and seeing them again made me realise how much I actually miss them (I wonder how intense my feelings will be when I lay eyes on Sweetie again…). We had a good dinner at Kublai Khan, which surprisingly serves halal food. Needless to say, we took full advantage of the buffet after a day of fasting. The food wasn’t as good as Elly’s feast on Sunday though - she had decided to cook for us, along with a few juniors and friends of hers and I was quite happy to take some kuey teow back to Carlisle with me (especially during times like these when I’m filling up with Maggi).

Will be back to Newcastle tomorrow, and that’ll be my last trip in a while. Won’t be going back ‘till after I get back from Malaysia, so I intend to make full use of my time whilst I’m there. Then again, I always do.


P.S. Just stepped out of the room, to find an Eid card waiting for me. My first (and probably only) Selamat Hari Raya card. Thanks Sweetie!!!

Oxford

The last four days have been quite tiring – I’ve been either in a bus or train for a total of at least 12 hours methinks. But then again, one is prone to exaggerate when in the process of ‘healing’ – it’s only during the last couple of hours that I’ve been feeling the effects of the prolonged activities that I’ve been part of, now that I’m able to sit and do nothing. The old cliché of having to have a holiday after a holiday will hold true for me this weekend, where my main activities will consist of chatting with Sweetie, grocery shopping and sleeping.

It’s been a while since I’ve last met up with Jaja, a person that both Sweetie and I are most affectionate of. Naturally, there were a lot of stories to be exchanged, especially considering that this was the first time that we’ve met since I entered the world of employment and she started her new post.

The city of Oxford was intriguing for the role it has played in the development of the arts and sciences throughout the centuries. It was interesting to note that so-and-so did this here, and someone else did that there. The students had an ‘air’ about them, but if one is educated in surroundings of such heritage and splendour (where dinner on any given night would put my graduation ceremony to shame), it is no wonder that other educational establishments would be looked down with disdain. Having said that, I seem to remember being more impressed with Cambridge.




One of the things that would prevent me from recommending Carlisle as a workplace to anyone would be the fact that it is at such a distance from various events that are commonplace in locations such as Oxford or London (where I stopped on the way back). I could only sigh in envy as I read the adverts proclaiming that Caravaggio’s and Edvard Munch’s works will be showcased in London, or that every one of Beethoven’s piano sonatas will be performed in Oxford.

Our social outings consisted mainly of the pursuit of gastronomic satisfaction, in which we were quite successful. On the first night out, we had some lovely Chinese food at a place called Café Opium (wonder what went into the food…), I had a gorgeous red snapper at a French restaurant the next night and we finished off with some Thai/Malaysian food (the Thai green curry tasted exactly like a masak lemak dish) last night.

Whilst in Oxford, we did the usual touristy bits e.g. visiting Christchurch College, staring adoringly at T.Rex over at the museum and wondering out loud if the deers at Magdalene College were tasty. We also did a bit of shopping – I got myself a book on photography for some reason (in that same shop, I came to realise that Warhol’s work is rather fascinating, as well as Lady Godiva, a painting by John Collier, an artist hitherto unknown to me), Jaja got her Halloween costume and in one of the more extreme examples of my impulsive shopping behaviour, I got myself a suit. In my defence, it IS a rather handsome suit.




The bulk of the shopping was reserved for our visit to the Bicester village outlet though. This time round, Jaja outdid herself with a couple of rather striking shoes. I got myself a few trinkets, along with a blouse for Sweetie that I think she’ll look good in.

Looking back, it’s rather amazing that we walked as much as we did, but the effect did take its toll on us ‘cause we were supposed to have gone salsa-ing that night, but we decided to stay back and rent a DVD instead (Alexander – a rather tedious film to watch). But there weren’t any regrets, since we had done our fair bit of dancing (ranging from Sean Paul to Fatboy Slim) the night before.

As I mentioned earlier, I stopped over at London earlier today for a couple of hours. Took the opportunity to dash over to the Selfridges’ and Harrods’ food stalls to get myself some cookies and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. There wasn’t much time to enjoy London properly, which was something I’d have loved to do since it’s been a while since I last went down and I left it in rather different circumstances. But I’m sure I’ll be back before the new year and hopefully next time round, I’ll be able to catch a musical or at least visit a gallery.




The train ride back was rather uneventful, but I was too engrossed in Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell, a book that has kept me company throughout my journeys since I started reading it on Monday. The story (of Britain’s only 2 practising magicians) has grown on me, and I was hoping to finish it by this evening. But that proved to be too ambitious an undertaking, and I’ll just wait ‘till the weekend to devour the last 200 pages of this 1000-page novel.

Heavenly

It's been a good weekend. It was busy enough to keep me on my toes and prevent boredom from setting in, but not too busy as to leave me breathless and on the verge of being sent away to prison for murder. Only downside was (as expected) the MURSOS that one undergoes when one is unable to chat with one's significant other but I'll make up for it next weekend. Plus, it's just another 41 days before I have in her my arms again!

Got along well with the others on-call, plus I saw a few interesting cases. Among others, I met my first paracetamol overdose - a girl who should be smacked across the face for her insolence, but apparently that's unethical - performed my first aspiration of a pneumothorax, chatted with a lady who was continuously trying to chase the cat out of the room (note: I was unable to verify the existence of said cat) and there was another cardiac arrest. This time the patient died unfortunately, but not before ensuring that my pants was covered with a generous amount of blood. But it turned out that walking around in scrubs can be quite comfortable.

I'm quite happy with my experience as a doc so far. I think I've been getting an appropriate amount of experience, and although there have been stressful moments, they are just matters that one would expect to have to deal with as a junior doc. Maybe I'm being generous. I once told a friend that we should consider ourselves lucky and not complain too much as the workload and conditions in England are a lot easier than back home. She said that we shouldn't always think about situations that are worse because if that were the case, where do you stop the comparison? I guess she does have a point in a way, but I nevertheless stand by my view, irrespective of the topic at hand. Guess it helps make life that little bit easier and helps put us at our places.

Anyways... here's looking forward to my first official leave!

5 down, 2 to go

It's been a long week, what with being alone as well as the onset of Ramadhan. I'm quite tired at the moment, which is quite unsurprising considering the activities I've been through this week. Figured I'd type a few words in this blog as I wait for the oven to do its job in defrosting my fish & chips.

The weekend shouldn't be too bad, hopefully. I'm sure I'll be walking continuously, and I hope I'll be able to fast throughout. Worse bit of the weekend is gonna be the fact that I won't be able to chat with Sweetie. I'll probably steal away for a few minutes if I can and give a call or two, but that'll depend on how busy things get I guess.

Thankfully, I haven't killed anyone this past week. There have been a few scenarios where I went 'Fuck!' 'cause of the patients' dire condition (tended to revolve around heart attacks or chest infections) but I was able to stop myself from running around like a headless chicken and proceed in a manner that made the other staff think that I was confidently assessing the situation.

I've also finally signed up for the sports centre, which gives me access to a gym, pool, courts (badminton, squash, tennis), golf course, sauna and God knows what else. I doubt I'll be making use of many of the items on offer, although I played squash last night and swam the night before. Trust me to begin these activities during the fasting month but the fact that I was pretty breathless after a couple of laps of the pool, plus the fact that I'm aching at muscles that I haven't felt in years just goes to show how far I am from ideal fitness.

Don't think I'll be doing anything but rest today though. And enjoy my tiramisu ice-cream from M&S. One of the perks of working is that I don't really have to think twice when I splurge on M&S Food, and those adverts ain't lying - the food's great! So I'll spoil myself with its instant meals for the next couple of days as I finish off my on-call duties. Then I'll get Jaja to cook for me. :)

1 down, 6 to go

As far as Mondays go, today was filled with various bits of activities that made it sort of fly by. Before I knew it, it was lunch time, and the afternoon passed by pretty swiftly as well. Which is good, since this is the week that I've been not really looking forward to - I'll be the only member of my team available 'will next week, plus I'm on-call this coming weekend.

I don't think things will be too bad (touchwood) 'cause I've been pretty much on my own most of the time anyway. Things weren't too good this morning though, 'cause I walked into the ward and a patient was quite intent on dying, and she seemed to have been suffering from a pulmonary embolus. The afternoon was spent making sure she was alive, as well as conducting my very first ward round.

Luckily, I've managed to get a consultant to drop by sometime during the week to have a run through my patients. I'm quite keen on making sure that nobody dies unnecessarily during my stewardship, and any help would be appreciated. And after that, I can look forward to spending a few days in Oxford, with the possibility of a shopping trip to Bicester with the Jajsters.

The past weekend was (as usual) a delight to the tummy. From Komal, to Elly's curry mee, to the sri muka I hungrily swallowed during the UMNO AGM. And this time round, Nyssa came around for the weekend to hang out. Naturally, it was great having one of my closest friends around, albeit under less than ideal circumstances. But there's always the hope that things will get better in the future.