Good Samaritan?

Yesterday as i was heading towards the apartment complex my sister was bunking at, there was a black dog crossing the road towards the median strip of the tram stop.

Smart dog. Knows how to cross the road.

Who does it belong to?

As i observed it while walking towards the front steps of my destination, the dog wagged its tail at a man there. He paid it no attention. Guess it's not him.

Then the dog got excited about another lady at the tram stop, wagging its tail furiously.

I lip read her from across the noisy road "Go over there." She pointed to the safety of the grassy pedestrian sidewalk.

Rejected, the dog turned around and saw a man at the traffic light. By then, my sister and i were both at the front door, transfixed by the unfolding scene.

The dog happily trotted across the road, into the path of an oncoming car, who thankfully stopped to let it pass. Both of us held our breaths for a moment.

Not a smart dog. Totally lost without its owner.

The near miss was enough to prompt the man to gesture for the dog over to him. It promptly lay at his feet and exposed its belly for a rub, tail thumping vigorously the whole time.

Witnessing that, we both entered the apartment and i promptly forgot about the dog. That is, until my sister, the vet with the bigger heart, emerged from the bathroom after her morning routine.

"I think we should go out and check if it's still there."

"Oh alright."

The moment we opened the front door, the dog rushed up the stairs unceremoniously, tried to lick our faces as we bent to check her dog tag and invited herself into the apartment.

So while my sister was busy trying to control this hyperactive dog to prevent it from destroying the place, i served water, milk and wheatbix to the ravenous staffie, tackled her to the ground to read her dog tag and rang the council to report her case.

Several attempts later, we got a phone call from the owner. Angie the staffie lived a few streets from where we were. Apparently, she hadn't been missing long at all despite her deceiving whines in front of the fridge.

I learned a few things about my sis and I from this. My sis has a big heart, while i on the other hand, try my best to avoid being drawn into a potentially messy situation. But once i'm committed, i see it through to the end. My sis the feeler, and me the doer.

If not for my sis, who knows if Angie would've been dead by the side of the road. Can't believed she thanked me for saving the dog. Ha.

Humour me

As i'm currently trying to get back into night mode for ED, i unintentionally began to recall the times when i would stalk the dark hallways of the hospital, file in hand, humming a tune.

During daylight hours, there are at least a couple of hundred medical staff around the hospital, but once it hits night time, the numbers dwindle down to a handful. 3 in emergency, 2 in ICU and 4 on the wards.

It is isolating, lonely, somewhat unsupported and it can get scary very quickly. When a patient is crashing, there is only so much help available.

Lady Antebellum's Need You Now never sounded more appropriate:

It's a quarter after one

I'm all alone and I need you now.

I said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and I need you now.

And I don't know how I can do without

I just need you now.

That was the theme of many of my conversations to my registrar during those 8 weeks.

Enjoy the song :)

I flew... erm... fell gracefully...

Thank you Lai! Did i tell you that i mentioned you in my yearbook? You must be so touched. When you come over i'll let you have a look at it.

My grad ceremony was such a farce. I was quite bad tempered before it started because General #3 and #3+ were having this ridiculous tiff and they dragged me out of bed at 10am just to drive them to uni, which is only 5 mins walk away. In addition, they made me rush to uni after my sis' ceremony so that i could take pictures and then i had to endure a full hour of walking around in that outrageously stifling regalia which kept on slipping backwards and came mostly undone by the time i was meant to receive my certs.

So i'm mighty glad it's all over and that i probably don't need to go through that again.

Cairns on the other hand was fun. It turned out to be a major puke fest for me though.

Sky diving was so quick it was over in a flash before i could fully register what on earth was going on. We jumped from 11, 000 feet from a small tiny plane with the door open the whole time. My sis went first and when i saw her flip out of the plane and fall away at an incredulous speed i was thinking "Oh Shit!"

Basically, i was pretty much pushed out of the plane by my tandem. I went "aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh..... pause to catch my breath.... aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh". It was exhilarating! We were falling at around 160km/hr. Can you imagine that? I've never even driven so quickly in my life!

Strangely enough, the sky diving didn't do me in but the obnoxious bus ride in an overcrowded, poorly ventilated mini van seething with a mixture of body odours did. I got off the bus and minutes later, was looking at the remnants of my breakfast.

Scuba diving was enjoyed the most by General #3+. He was getting all excited about the fishes and was posing for the camera with many OK signs. :D

I discovered with certainty that the sea is my death star. Remember how i puked underwater when i went scuba diving with MOAO in Vanuatu. Guess what? I am now officially crowned the Queen of Underwater Puking. I puked at least 4 times that day.

Armed with the experience on how to handle puking underwater, after my first puke into my regulator, my instructor was keen to bring me up to the surface but i said no, i was fine and soldiered on. However, I did give General #3+ a shock of his life when he saw me kneeling on the ocean floor turning green while spewing my guts out. Hehehe. I've never seen him so acutely concerned about me before.

Despite all that spewing, i managed to touch the most number of fishes among the 4 of us. I think physical contact traumatises the fishies. But the prospect of food keeps bringing them back anyway. Who would've thought that they possessed enough brains to process that?

On the second last day we went white water rafting. I think it was the best because i didn't throw up!!! Woohoo!!! Loved it. Our guide was humorous and experienced. Serendipitously, all of us assigned to raft Eh were from Melbourne. Here is my favourite photo from the trip.

Can you make out what we're signing? Hahaha... Don't you think we look hilarious?

Upon returning to Melbourne, all the other things i had disengaged myself from temporarily came back to haunt me. The word stress is an understatement. The unseasonably cold, wet and miserable days probably reflected my inner mood. I sat for the IELTS test required for my PR application on Saturday. It was unreasonably and ridiculously long for such an easy paper.

Now it's back to my house hunting and dealing with my car and internet troubles. Sigh. At least i don't have to hunt for christmas presents as well.

My holidays are dwindling awaAaAaAayyy.......

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

But i definitely know when i'll be back again.

Hooray!!! I love holidays. Although this time i might be stressing about which hospital i get placed to, nothing can take away the pleasure of waking up in the early afternoon and having the leisure of lying in bed daydreaming. Peace.

I'm a simple person. Simple things in life please me.

So today i had a new experience. I went to get my car washed!

I drove into the compound and queued up in a lane, then an attendant came to ask me for the specific type of wash i wanted. I then proceeded to pay at the cashier and took a seat in the lounge which doubles up as a cafe. These guys are smart, while you wait, they figured that you'll be thirsty or hungry or just in the mood to munch and hey presto! A cafe!

So i was sitting there, surrounded by other customers who were perusing the newspapers and magazines supplied, writing down a list of things i had to do (not my usual habit i must say but going on holiday unravels my brain and it's the only way i can prevent myself from forgetting...), all the time wondering how is one supposed to know when the car was done.

So i sat by the glass doors looking out towards the men scurrying about and one of them approaches. He walks in and calls out, "Black Volkswagon".

Omg. This is like a Dr's reception area but only now we're identified by our cars. *ROFL*

But nothing beats the vet clinic where once, we were called with "Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai to room 7 please." *Ang moh voice pronouncing the chinese name of our budgie and failing horribly...*

Damn i should've studied vet science instead. I swear my sister gets the most interesting experiences ever.

i LABA (leave and breathe acronyms)

After close to 6 years of inoculation with medical jargon, it's become this virus that invades and hijacks my communication with non-medical or not so medical personnel.

I was talking to MOAO about a friend of mine who had IBS. This was how the conversation panned out:

MOAO: What is IBS?

Me: Oh... Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

MOAO: I also SAL.

Me: huh???

MOAO: Shit A Lot

Me: LOL! So you must be FOS. Full Of Shit.

*MOAO & Me dissolving into laughter*

This is what keeps me sane and happy.

Just as a small aside, FOS happens to stand for Fanny On a Stick, an endearing name used by many medical professionals in various hospitals for an airway device otherwise known as the laryngeal mask. You have to see it to understand why it's called the FOS.

Life Saving Song

This orientation week for our rural health module we were given a refresher course in CPR. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

The latest guidelines advice 30 chest compressions to 2 effective breaths at a rate of 100 compressions per minute.

Sounds pretty easy but how do you know if you're really going at 100 compressions per minute?

It's more than 1 compression /sec and less than 2 /sec. The reason why it shouldn't be slower is because if you pump too slow you risk under perfusing the brain. If you go too fast you don't allow enough time for blood to fill the heart chambers therefore making each compression less efficient and tire yourself out faster.

To save the day, our nurse facilitator whipped out her CD player and started blasting a song to which we pumped happily away to the beat of...

"WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE! YELLOW SUBMARINE! YELLOW SUBMARINE!"

And there we have it... 100 beats per minute. Who would ever have thought that the Beatles would come in so useful :D Be proud of yourself John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Joke of the Day

Some relevant background information: MOAO and i live together in an apartment. The kitchen is 2m away from my room.

Conversation on mobile phones and prepaid recharges went:

MOAO: Why would i want to recharge $80? It can last me for a whole year!

Colleague: Anti social. Use it to call Jiin lah!

MOAO acting out a phone conversation with me: Hello... dinner is ready.

LOL! Isn't that one of the most ridiculous things to do with a mobile phone? MOAO later explained that this actually happens in real life to some of his friends. Hilarious!

My Super Power

I was thinking of revising a little cardiology today when i glanced upon a really old book i flew over from Singapore earlier this year: How to Develop a SUPER-POWER MEMORY by Harry Lorayne (1957).

*Sheesh, this book is as old as my parents!*

Since i had some leisurely time on my hands (time that should have been spent reading textbooks or writing my Case Commentary or my CV)... why not?

In fact, i'm desperately in need of memory aids. Ever since i signed up for self-inflicted torture with the School of Medicine 5 years ago, my memory has been failing me.

So upon reading this book, i realised that:

1. I can't remember anything that i don't understand or haven't observed

2. I can't remember anything that i don't want to remember. (Well now, i must have been doing very well then, because most of the time i'm bored out of my mind with the things i'm reading... How can i remember things when i've a psychological block against it?)

3. I belong to the subtype of people who remember things quickly but just as quickly forget it. (Hence, my excuse for last minute cramming...)

4. I'm actually a pretty good rote learner. *Embarrased*

So i got MOAO to test me to remember 20 items of anything. And you know what are some of the words he chose?

1. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

2. Hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomies

3. Formaldehydetetramethylamidofluorimum

4. Asseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary

5. Honorificabilitudinitatibus

*Only the 5 most bombastic words listed*

Can somebody tell me who in the world uses these words?

I guess the first one is a pulmonary fibrosing kind of disease, the second is a surgical procedure involving liver, bile duct and gall bladder, the 3rd is just a chemical name. Lost me after #4.

So i got 15 out of 20 right. I guess my memory hasn't reached super power status, but i'm on my way eh?

I Want That Job

Alot of things happened since yesterday.

Firstly, I went to Jap class and i loved it! It was a small group of four, learning phrases and vocabulary not limited to the textbook. The rate at which we progress is determined by our enthusiasm.

Secondly, i passed my Long case, although i'm not sure how well i did. Let's not go into too much detail there, because it can get pretty depressing.

Thirdly, there was a session held at my clinical school where people from the medical workforce unit in charge of recruiting interns were spinning tales about how great our hospital was. Load of bullshit.

Fourthly, i watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Even discounting the fact that Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman were starring in it, it has recently joined the ranks as one of my favourite movies.

If there's a job as a sales assistant in a magical toy shop, I WANT IT!

I don't care if i'll be poor for all eternity or that i've basically wasted 6 yrs of my life in med school. I want to be in a place where i can enjoy myself every day and act loony without someone trying to shove some sort of intervention up my ass.

That aside, it's a feel good movie about making the impossible happen as long as we believe in ourselves. Just the kind of message that i need while struggling through my final year. Perhaps i'll magically get a H1 if i believe wholeheartedly that i will. (That's somewhat akin to blind faith in any religion eg. Christianity) *LOL*

Who wants to get in touch with their inner child? Ooh! Me! Me! ME! *hands waving madly in the air*

Happiness

I went down to the city to have a mini conversational Jap test today and i passed! Woohoo!

I'm so happy i'll be starting lessons next Wednesday, it's almost like i bought some present for myself. :D

Then MOAO and i traipsed around the city happily in the air conditioned shopping malls, blissfully unaware of the sweltering heat. That is, until we stepped out of the sliding glass doors and got blasted by a gust of disgusting hot air.

We quickly turn tailed and ducked into Borders in an attempt to escape from the mid day sun.

However, eventually we still had to walk home with bags of groceries (mainly my tidbits) in the heat, MOAO wishing that this is Scotland and he could wear a skirt too. I'm predicting that truckloads of people will be afflicted with heat stroke at the F1 race today.

So after an enjoyable weekend, it's time for me to sit down, ground myself (and if possible, Lai as well) to earth and attempt to study for my impending Psych long case. Wish me luck!

Earth to Lai

Earth to Lai... earth to Lai. Do you read me? Over.

Command to abort mission to Fantasy Land. Do you copy? Over.

*chuckles*

Anyway, while Lai is happily daydreaming about her encounters with Mr. MC, i'm getting excited about restarting my Japanese lessons! Yeah!

Originally the plan was to visit Japan at the end of the year for my graduation trip. But that may have to be put on the back burner for some time due to financial restrictions and logistical problems.

Regardless of that, i'm still excited about Japanese. It probably started when i was in high school. I love to watch anime and read manga and so Jap was my first choice for a 3rd language. But, i ended up with Deutsch instead and stuck it out for 4 years. All i remember of it now is "Ich bin Jiin. Ich habe Deutsch als meine dritter sprache gelernt. Aber jetzt habe ich alles vergessen." I'm not even sure if it's grammatically correct.

In the future, when i'm sufficiently conversational in Jap and hopefully in Bislama as well, i'd like to learn Korean, Spanish, Italian, French (although the contortions of the tongue are going to be challenging) and other languages too.

I know it's more of a daydream. You probably wonder why didn't i take up an Arts course instead? Well, so do i mate. So do i.

OMG... You cannot believe this!

Yes.. I was exclaiming OMG in a damn bitchy way hours ago and till now still doing it while blogging. Jiin, you cannot believe this man... My heart is just over the moon and perhaps beyond I must say. Maybe my heart has just passed by Pluto...

Lai here was having a crush on one of the traders, MC, in her company. The only eligible one if I am not mistaken. The hallucination started when MC sounded 90% like one of my ex-fling in exclaiming "wah lau eh". Ok.. I know its kinda dumb. Anyway, the most incredible thing happened today at work.

While calling MC to verify some matter, I've overheard the music he was playing in his car I supposed. And guess what?? It's Thai songs!!! Yup, I have a weak spot for things related to Thai. You know how amazing it is to find a non-Thai Singaporean listening to Thai music? It's almost equivalent to striking 4-D (a kind of lottery in Singapore).

So being the crazy fanatic for Thai stuff, I've actually poked my nose and asked him something totally unrelated to work (i.e. are you listening to Thai songs?) Yeah.. I know that I sound like a crazy bitch. And when the answer is yes.. I was leaping over the moon and quickly pledged my allegiance saying I am a big fan of Thai stuff, esp songs and I know how to speak Thai. I almost melted when he actually ask me is that for real in Thai!!! Soon I melted when he spoke in Thai asking me why I know how to speak Thai... And he was chuckling while hearing me being so excited and high and exclaiming he is so cool, which are sincere words from the bottom of my heart. I now declared that I am having a serious crush for him. *meltz away*

Jiin, pray for me that he is a good guy and something positive will come out of this. Keke.. and to all those who chance upon this.. pray for me too! Prayers are welcome in any language and god =)

Enchanted or just purely Psychotic?

I was watching Enchanted, the not too recently released Disney movie staring McDreamy, and in the first 15mins of the movie i was thoroughly amused.

Talk about Giselle wearing an absurd dress, displaying melodramatic facial expressions, euphoric and labile mood, disinhibition evidenced by breaking out in song, cutting holes in curtains, dancing on the street, preoccupied with grandiose and bizarre delusions about her prince coming to save her, experiencing auditory hallucinations with talking animals, impaired cognition evidenced by her disorientation in time and place.

Differentials: Schizoaffective disorder, Bipolar with psychotic symptoms, substance induced psychosis, Histrionic personality traits.

I don't understand how McDreamy, who is meant to be grounded in reality, can be so dense as to not realise that there was something mentally wrong with her.

I think i'd have called a mental institution to ask if one of their patients have absconded.

But... given that it was meant to be a fairy tale for kiddies... alright... fairy tale characters are allowed to act totally psychotic once in awhile.

LAW XIII

Finally, my copy of The House of God by Samuel Shem has arrived. I finished it over 3 days.

Despite being written in medico-language, which i understand, and english words that are not too bombastic, there are some concepts and nuances that i still can't grasp. I think i need to read it again, this is where my limitations in comprehending literature are exposed.

Law XIII of the House of God: THE DELIVERY OF MEDICAL CARE IS TO DO AS MUCH NOTHING AS POSSIBLE

I swear there are still some consultants that do not get the hang of this concept.

It has also started me thinking about how i've been pushing the one with the genial smile and silver white hair for total knee replacements on both sides because of her arthritis. Thinking in terms of the wisdom imparted from the book, she is in fact a LOL in NAD (little old lady in no apparent distress) and i should leave her alone.

Argh... one part of me is convinced that she needs the TKR for better quality of life. The other part of me thinks that i'm just trying to ease my guilt of not being able to care for her.

Is regaining her mobility and hence her independence going to reduce her loneliness and depression or am i just barking up the wrong tree?

Who is in the best position to answer this question? The orthopaedic surgeon with a vested interest in doing the surgery? The internal physician schmuck who has told her to resign to fate and needs to defend his position on not doing anything? Generals #1, 2, 4 who don't want nothing to do with the operation?

Well looky here, i'm one of those people who find it hard to accept Law XIII. I understand and yet cannot accept without some death throes from my internal interventionist. Sigh.

All I wish is L

... as long as I'm living, I'll be waiting...

... as long as I'm breathing, I'll be there...

... whenever you call me, I'll be waiting...

... whenever you need me, I'll be there...

"I'll be waiting" by Lenny Kravitz is the ending song for the last installment of the Death Note series called "L : Change the World". The lyrics are kinda sweet yet its just a sad song to me. Perhaps it has to do with the sad ending of the movie, though I didn't think the movie has anything to do with the theme of the love ballad. For those who dunno who is L, he is the protaganist in the movie (aka the guy in white shirt). The series are simply fantastic as they are filled with unexpected twist and guys will be awed by the pitting of genius brains against another. Personally, I am amazed by the actor, Kenichi Matsuyama who played L (see below). He is just 23 of age and quite cute too, esp in real life! The show didnt really do him justice.. LOL

Just watch the show and you guys will want L too! Hmm.. I am thinking of catching the Horton, 10,000 BC and Meet the Spartans. Shall share more when I've got the chance to watch them.