BACK TO SOUTH POLE

Will be returning to the "south pole" aka "mad house" aka "hell of KL" in 2 months time, but am already feeling the stress & tension.

The only good thing about going there is that we can lose weight easily without doing exercise, as work is so hectic that there is no time to sit down & have proper meals. On my previous 2 rotations there, my weight was down to 38kg. But I have since gained back the weight that I lost.

My colleagues & I were discussing yesterday & we concluded that we'd rather be "fatter" than to go back to the "mad house"...

DARK AGES

When I arrived at work this morning, I saw my staff bringing 2 torchlights to my consultation room. Curious, I asked, "Why need 2? 1 is enough lah...I don't need 2 torchlights to look at patients' throat."

The reply I got?

"Doctor, these are not for looking at patients' throat. The light in your consultation room is out."

US of A?

I normally have my morning drink at the clinic while waiting for our clinic assistants to sort out files for patients scheduled for the day. I can't help smiling to myself one particular morning when I overheard the following conversation between the 2 clinic assistants:

CA1 (much older but new to the department): akak rasa patient ni takkan datang klinik hari ni pasal dia dah pergi Amerika..

CA2 (younger but has been in the department much longer): macam mana akak tau patient ni pergi Amerika?

CA1: tu...ada orang tulis kat file patient "pergi US"

CA2: ohhh.....yang tu bukan lah....pergi US maksudnya....pergi UltraSound

ABOUT SEVENTH SENSE & FOUL WORDS

6 September 2009: Day 7 of passive call

12am:

A&E MO called...there is a private wing patient who needs admission..

Advised the MO to call the private wing (as I'm oncall for non-private patients only)

12.20am:

Can't fall asleep

Got a feeling the A&E MO will call me back & tell me there is problem admitting the patient to the private wing

12.30am:

The A&E MO called back...

Private wing not accepting patients after hours

12.40am:

Drove to hospital

12.45am - 2am:

Attended to the very ill patient

Informed poor prognosis to family

Instructed night staff nurse what to do

2.30am:

Drove home

Got a very bad feeling patient won't last the night

5.20am:

Staff nurse called

Patient succumbed to illness

5.30am:

Drove back to hospital to certify the death

Parked at carpark nearest to my department

(designated to admin staff actually but usually empty after hours & on weekends as they don't come in for work)

7am:

Ward round at male & female wards

9.30am:

Did discharges (online computer system)

10am:

Computer crahsed on me

Discharges (including 1 with long standing history & prolonged admission) all gone

!!?$^&*#@

10.30am:

Staff nurse asked: macam mana doktor, nak buat lagi ke? tapi computer masih crash lagi

10.35am:

Decided to just go home

While walking to the carpark, got an extremely bad feeling that my car might be clamped

(coz it happened once before)

10.40am:

Noticed an odd looking yellow metal crap at one of my front tyres

!!?!@!#@

Called the security office immediately

11am:

Waiting for security to come & unclamp my car

Took photos of the other 2 unclamped cars nearby (with stickers similar to mine, indicating that they belong to doctors)

11.15am:

Security guard came (without key)

Was told I need to go to their office to settle some paperwork & bayar saman

?!!!!$%^&#

11.20am:

Refused to go

Refused to pay

11.30am:

Security guard went to get key

Second warning issued

!!?!?@!!#

12pm:

Arrived home

GCS (Glasgow coma scale) 3/15

Prayed hard no one calls me till 8am the next day

FEMALE BRAIN

A friend recently commented that she's been studying for the last 25 years. Wah...that long meh? 2 & a half decades, that's crazy. Well, that was my initial response. But when I thought about it again, ohmigod...I have also been studying for the same amount of years.

I recently dreamt something pertaining to thyroid, after I read about thyroid cancer. In the dream, I was giving advice to a friend who came to my hospital for a thyroid problem. It didn't surprise me though, as I often dream about things that I encounter at work or things that I read. But it does appear that my brain still actively works even when I'm asleep. No wonder it is difficult to get up in the morning...

Today, I'm reading about brain tumours. I was searching the internet for some info & stumbled upon this....

A man went to the doctor's. The doctor came in and said, "Well, I've got some good news and some bad news."

The patient sighed, "Okay, give me the bad news first."
"The bad news is that you have an inoperable brain tumor."

The patient looked very grave, and asked, "And what are the good news, anything to help me with the brain tumor?"

"The good news is our hospital has just been certified to do brain transplants and there has been an accident right out front and a young couple was killed and you can have which ever brain you like. The man's brain is $100,000.00 and the woman's brain is $30,000.00."

"I'm glad to hear there's something you can do to help me," the man replied, "But, out of curiousity, why is there such a big difference in the price of male and female brain?"

The doctor replied, "The female brain is used."