Mood: lalalaa~ (team in surgery & co-intern is not around..)

My colleagues and I were thinking of the ways to vent our daily angers and frustrations at workplace. It's definitely unhealthy to be angry every single day from 8-6PM. You might end up having peptic ulcer disease.

I suggested we play cards, as in poker, and bet over our on-calls. Talking as if I'm a pro already, I'm sure I'll end up losing and carrying so many on-calls on my back. She said let's just bet over IV cannulas or catheters. Good ideas. Another friend suggested we write in daily journals in a book, it'll be very interesting to read it at the end of the rotations. I silently said in my heart, did that (virtually that is). He he.

I realized I've created a very sour atmosphere here, or to be exact, blogsphere. So to cool it up a little, do enjoy this video. I thought the song is very soothing, the video is very beautiful and he is beautiful. Don't worry, I don't do toyboys.

Toodles!

P.S - Happy Thaipusam! Batu Caves rocks..

for those reasons I am now giving up on this hospital..

I officially did.

If I fight it I'll lose. If I don't I'll lose too. So for that I gave up. No more antagonizing, instead I'll just laugh and work whatever stupid way they want me to be. Lesson learned - work your a** to be in the best system you can get. Good system --> good training --> good doctors --> better patient managements. I'm too tired, can't cope with more frustrations no more.

I was dreading today's call. Instead of returning to Dublin on Friday I stayed over a friend's place here to avoid coming early for the call. So after work last night - I, sunk in dreadful on-call thoughts - made my way to the small town here for a comfort outing. To my surprise, there were good few designers shops with massive sale on. As they say, misery loves company. So what happened after that you go figure.

So I was calculating my bad maths - which put me into medical school in the first place instead of any business school out there - I will be working x hours for a weekend call, for the rate of y EUR per hour. But for each weekend call I'm dreading, I spend z amount for the counter-reacting comfort shopping. So am I really making any profits here? Still confused ~~

Life has been quite stale with the mounting frustrations. A friend of mine reminded how life felt empty these days when you go home and sleep, wake up the next morning and go to work, repeating the same vicious circle with no other inputs in it. She said we should start seeking. Yes you know for what (I was actually in blank initially).

She got a point. But it's hard to find a decent guy these days. The closest one was the German patient I did pre-operative work ups in A&E before he went for appendicectomy. Oh he reminded me of the German Psychiatrist in BH. (Damn hot). And that was yesterday only, today he's nowhere to be found. Oh he's not dead don't worry. I'm just too busy to look for him. So life is still crappy. And don't worry, my mum will kill me if I start bringing back guys who speak no Malay.

And those are the frustrations talking.

Cheerios lads.

all hail fast internet connection & digital tv..

I was contemplating which internet company would I use this time, since NTL broadband provides no service to the new place. Funny enough, as it is in the heart of Dublin's city where I live now. So I was calculating and juggling things in my head, between getting a decent home broadband but having to wait for at least few weeks for the installation date, or getting a quick plug and play internet with no guarantee of the service quality.

Nah, I was desperate too. As there's no internet in OLLH other than in the library, I was thinking what would I do when I'm on-call over the weekend in between times in the res? So what I exactly need now is - an internet connection small enough to bring around with adequate service to satisfy my digital needs. So 5 minutes before the shops closed a week ago, I stepped in the phone shop and 5 minutes later came home with this brilliant gadget. Yes, all hail to the latest internet technology!!

3DataModem

With the speed of 3.6mbps, one can now surf the internet with only this little modem attached to the computer via a USB cable. As long as there's 3 mobile coverage in the area, this mobile broadband will definitely work for you. I found 3 mobile provides the best service if compared with other similar mobile broadband rivals from O2 and Vodafone. The modem is slightly costly but with the winter offer it was down to the same price as O2. You'll only be paying EUR19.99 monthly with or without 3 mobile account, where else for O2 it is double without the account. And in few months time, 3 will increase the speed to 6.4mbps! Even better. The only probable downside is the download limit which is 10GB. Coverage wise, for my own use both at home and in OLLH I have adequate uninterrupted coverage so far. So to conclude, after 5 days of trial, this little mobile broadband technology is simply exceptional!

And today as well, the NTL guys came to install the digital TV into the place. Not that I'm a TV person, but 2 weeks without the usual norms of Friends over dinner after work is pretty much disruptive.

So I'm back to usual me; with fast internet connection, coffee and digital tv..

The problems with OLLH are..

1. They don't have proper heating, freaaking cold hospital!

2. The nurses are all local, the doctors are all 'immigrants' --> respect issues..

3. They don't have green butterfly needles, WE INTERNS USE GREEN BUTTERFLY NEEDLES, PLEASE! TQ V M!

a)

b)

Directions

Attach b) to a) with a special interlink connector. Draw bloods out once you've seen flashback of bloods.

Go to BH and smuggle out a box of green butterflies to OLLH, please do.

4. 85% of the surgical interns are carrying XX genes. Too much hormones going on. Can't take them. Overloaded. Seriously.

5. There's ONLY 2 telephones on each wing. 1 is for incoming calls only. Another 1 is for the nurses. That's the protocol. Doctors have to abide. The protocols. (Where the feck should we answer our bleeps?)

6. After being bleeped few times and you don't answer them, main telephone room will make an announcement to the whole hospital like this. "Dr ___, Dr ___, please call main telephone room now." Or "Dr ____ .. Dr ____ .. (then silence and never continue. What the..). Almost like the one in the supermarket for the missing kid.

7. For the reason we didn't answer our bleeps on time, please refer to no 5.

8. They just don't have good looking/hot stuff staffs here. It's ripping us slooooowlyyy by the day...


P.S - Still keeping the positivity.. (pulling my own hair out each day)

longing to travel again

One of the best moments experienced in traveling happened on top of the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore in Firenze, Italia (Florence). There were nearly 450 stairs to the top of the dome and it was a brave act climbing up the spiral steps in the narrow tunnel. But it's always said that the end is sweeter if you work the hardest for it.

True enough. It was one of the most breathtaking view I've ever had from the top. The city felt so far away yet so near. You can hear the traffics echoed through the dark night. The city lights were bright in between the buildings and from the moving vehicles but it was pitch black on the skies. The night was so cold but so pretty you just want to freeze the moment alive.

I let go of big sighs, partly from the huffing and puffing from climbing up so many stairs, but mostly from just being engulfed by the magnificent view in front of my eyes..

Firenze, Winter 2007

P.S- Salam Maal Hijrah 1429H. Hijrah inshaAllah..