For a few weeks I had been craving a type of food.
There was delivery service for that food, but it was a little pricey, and I thought, maybe when I get my next month's salary (that was June 24th).
A day or so before June 24th, as I was writing a review of one of my patients at the ward counter, one of the mothers rooming in with her baby came by, greeted me and dropped a packet almost on my note. "Nah Dr, ni boleh share 2 orang. Saya memang niat nak beri pada staf wad sini." And as I looked astounded and thanked her, she handed out several more- about enough to feed 15 people.
IT WAS THE FOOD I HAD BEEN CRAVING.
Needless to say I spent no money that day and got the chance to eat something I've wanted to eat for a long, long time- and it was awesome!
I remember having to ask the mother for permission to bring her baby over so I could insert an IV line for her for the umpteenth time (the baby was super active and likes to 'self-debranulate' almost every day). She looked so upset, telling me that we have poked her child so many times. And I don't know how much gentler I could be when I coaxed her and told her the line was needed for her child to be better. IV antibiotics have to be completed, yo. And I can tell you poking human beings isn't fun especially cute babies- but someone has to do it.
I told her, I didn't like repeatedly doing it to her child, but I will try my best to be innovative and make sure the line lasts. I told her I tried my best to really secure the last line, but maybe something innovative has to be done this time around. Together with my nurse, we tried several different line-protective methods- gauze-wrapping, socks-using, blanket-bundling, getting input from one another. I think the socks helped in the end, though the mother preferred the gauze wrapping. We had to persuade her to keep the socks on her precious child and notworry too much about it swelling as the nurses will always look after branulas.
My point is, patience does wonders.
And patients can do wonders, too.
Today, I went to the ICU and saw that the patient I bagged was in a much more improved condition. The parents smiled at me. I am unsure if they remember that I was the one who bagged their son; watched as they went to their son and said encouraging words, oblivious to the fact that he was heavily sedated as I helped to pump oxygen into his lungs, silently holding back my own tears. I watched as they cried when my boss told them his heart stopped, and then performed CPR and gave him a dose of adrenaline until his heart beat returned. I watched then. I was too stunned after what I did earlier possibly being the major cause of his complication.
But the complication can be corrected and he is alive and improving.
I wanted to inquire about his further progress, but I was too busy having my logbook and leave forms signed, and then I felt too awkward to ask. It's kinda stupid.
But there it was.
The patient I helped resuscitate was alive despite our initial fears.
The feeling is beyond words.
So many things happened in the last few weeks/days of my posting in this amazing posting.
Today is the last day, and I know, I know very dearly, that I will miss it so much. Though I doubt I would want to be a paediatric MO or further- all those tiny veins and flat babies!- I miss being a house officer here. During the time that I was in this department, it was rather heavenly.
I am so very grateful for all the people I met- my senior HOs, lovely MOs and SNs, and of course the specialists who never got absolutely, insanely mad at us for no reason.
Which will not be the case in my next posting.
My most dreaded posting. The posting that got me into a depressive episode back in my final year of medical school.
MEDICAL.
There was delivery service for that food, but it was a little pricey, and I thought, maybe when I get my next month's salary (that was June 24th).
A day or so before June 24th, as I was writing a review of one of my patients at the ward counter, one of the mothers rooming in with her baby came by, greeted me and dropped a packet almost on my note. "Nah Dr, ni boleh share 2 orang. Saya memang niat nak beri pada staf wad sini." And as I looked astounded and thanked her, she handed out several more- about enough to feed 15 people.
IT WAS THE FOOD I HAD BEEN CRAVING.
Needless to say I spent no money that day and got the chance to eat something I've wanted to eat for a long, long time- and it was awesome!
I remember having to ask the mother for permission to bring her baby over so I could insert an IV line for her for the umpteenth time (the baby was super active and likes to 'self-debranulate' almost every day). She looked so upset, telling me that we have poked her child so many times. And I don't know how much gentler I could be when I coaxed her and told her the line was needed for her child to be better. IV antibiotics have to be completed, yo. And I can tell you poking human beings isn't fun especially cute babies- but someone has to do it.
I told her, I didn't like repeatedly doing it to her child, but I will try my best to be innovative and make sure the line lasts. I told her I tried my best to really secure the last line, but maybe something innovative has to be done this time around. Together with my nurse, we tried several different line-protective methods- gauze-wrapping, socks-using, blanket-bundling, getting input from one another. I think the socks helped in the end, though the mother preferred the gauze wrapping. We had to persuade her to keep the socks on her precious child and notworry too much about it swelling as the nurses will always look after branulas.
My point is, patience does wonders.
And patients can do wonders, too.
Today, I went to the ICU and saw that the patient I bagged was in a much more improved condition. The parents smiled at me. I am unsure if they remember that I was the one who bagged their son; watched as they went to their son and said encouraging words, oblivious to the fact that he was heavily sedated as I helped to pump oxygen into his lungs, silently holding back my own tears. I watched as they cried when my boss told them his heart stopped, and then performed CPR and gave him a dose of adrenaline until his heart beat returned. I watched then. I was too stunned after what I did earlier possibly being the major cause of his complication.
But the complication can be corrected and he is alive and improving.
I wanted to inquire about his further progress, but I was too busy having my logbook and leave forms signed, and then I felt too awkward to ask. It's kinda stupid.
But there it was.
The patient I helped resuscitate was alive despite our initial fears.
The feeling is beyond words.
So many things happened in the last few weeks/days of my posting in this amazing posting.
Today is the last day, and I know, I know very dearly, that I will miss it so much. Though I doubt I would want to be a paediatric MO or further- all those tiny veins and flat babies!- I miss being a house officer here. During the time that I was in this department, it was rather heavenly.
I am so very grateful for all the people I met- my senior HOs, lovely MOs and SNs, and of course the specialists who never got absolutely, insanely mad at us for no reason.
Which will not be the case in my next posting.
My most dreaded posting. The posting that got me into a depressive episode back in my final year of medical school.
MEDICAL.
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