HAPPY CHILDRENS' DAY

I hope everyone can take the chance to relish the moments that those gap toothed, sweaty, perpetually dirt ridden, wise cracking monsters bless us all with.

And if you have limited contact with children, you ought to change that.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

So starts my long sabbatical from the wards. It’ll be another good, lengthy 9 days before I step back into the confines of Kusu Island. Till then, I will try my best to stop worrying about the people I have left behind.

On Friday, I received a letter from the family of a former patient. In it, they expressed their thanks towards me (and the ward), for what we had done to make their father’s end days a little easier. Simple words carry such emotion. They also informed that he had passed away on the 16th Sept.

Reading the letter evoked an unbearable pain.

I knew it would come to this. Death comes to us all. Nonetheless, it is difficult to learn that my patients succumb to the same fate.

I can only hope he moved on as painlessly as possible.

It’s funny how close people can become. And stranger still, how their lives can be entwined so complexly with my own.

I wonder if he remembers me.Or when will my own time be.

As the memories flicker through, I’d like to share with you his favorite verse.

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The Lord is my Shepard.

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me to paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Yes, though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

For thou art with me.

Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou has prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
Thou has anointed my head with oil, and my cup runs over.

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.

Psalms 23

I can only hope everyone he loved was by his side when he said goodbye.

I’ll break today’s entry into 3 parts.

Part A -
Today, I had a patient that had a petite mal seizure. While walking him back to bed, he suddenly became unresponsive and his eyeballs started to roll upwards. I managed to lift the heavy dude back to bed with the help of another colleague. After checking all his vital stats, it revealed that he had desaturated and a plunging BP (blood pressure) and HR (heart rate).

Then, I went to inform the doctor to review him. The sexy new Medical Officer reached within minutes. I did the ECG and CE as ordered, while she took the ABG and did the other blood investigations.

By the way, she also revealed her bra with part of her boobies and most part of her lower limbs, with the mini dress and plunging neckline combo. Heng she's quite pretty, so it wasn’t torturous. Imagine if she had cellulite ridden legs or stretch mark boobies. Yeeeeew.

No wonder my patient couldn’t breathe. Wahahhaa..

And the patient was ordered to be transferred to the main building for closer observation. My ward is like that. Being situated in ‘kusu island’, we don’t have the luxury of having a station doctor and it makes it very inconvenient for doctors to come over in time in cases that warrant immediate attention.

We managed to find a bed for the patient in time. But the ward later called back to say that they would not be able to take my patient in as the clerk had already assigned the bed to another patient. My ward sister was pissed and called the clerk to fuck her, and snatch back the bed.

So, for a good part of the morning, I ended up stuck in the room with the seizure guy, then shifted my butt to the nursing station to finish the rest of my changes (work).

When I asked the other doctor to review the need for another patient’s intake/output chart, he dissed me, saying, “It’s over you know. I've already seen the patient. Now is not a good time to ask me. You should have asked me just now.”

FUCKER.

How to ask you when I was in the midst of fluid challenging/taking ECG/cleaning up the shit of the seizure guy?!

And he continued to drone on and on. My patience wore so thin, I could feel it scraping at my bones. Unable to contain myself any longer, I snapped back, ‘Ok! OK! THANK YOU VERY MUCH.” My sour face could have made lemons blush.

He got the message.

If he has menses, and such heavy flow, he should have got a pad.

PS – good thing I finished all my work in time as i had so much help from Phyu2. At least i found time to talk with my patients.

Part B -
In the later part of the day, we were all called to congregate for a teaching lesson by Maggie Mee.

A little background of Maggie Mee.. She’s a staff nurse with type A personality. For the uninitiated, that translates into – kan cheong spider complex. Working with her may induce palpitations in her co-workers.

She presented the case, quite poorly, being unable to focus on key aspects of care. This loophole was torn to shreds by some other staff whom deemed it absolutely necessary to take it upon themselves to humiliate her.

Especially the bitch with the chao lao bin (aged face) and pseudo mickey mouse voice. That mickey mouse vocal cords must have come from a corrupt factory in china cause it’s just too damn disgusting for words.

It really wasn’t the amount of questions they threw at her that made me sick to the deepest, darkest, recesses of whatever orifices I possess, but the manner in which they chose to dispense it.

Disgusting.

Low.

Cheap.

Chee Bye.

They all think that they know everything.

My foot.

And even if they did, that was still no reason for such uncivilized behavior. I couldn’t take the drama so I had to walk out because I knew the vulgarities would soon erupt.

I believe no one in my ward has ever witnessed my outbursts. Yet.

If they did that to me, I swear I would have probably lunged at them. Scratched their faces, dug out their eyeballs and ate their hearts. Ok, I exaggerate. More likely, I would have fucked them there and there and instigated a fight.

You want a piece of me?!

Goodness. I’m just so pissed. Angry at the way they chose to treat their colleague.

And angrier at myself, for not standing up for the one being bombed.

Part 3 –
The Gary Saga Continues

I think Gary has some serious hearing deficits. Or at least super bad otitis media (middle ear infection). He seems to be shouting at me all the time.

He was at the adjacent end of the ward when he started to ask me what was my friend’s name. Here is a summary of our conversation.

Gary : What is your friend’s name ah?!
Me : Kristabel!
Gary : What?!
Me : Kristabel!
Gary : What?!
Me : Kriiiiiiiiiiiiiistaaaaaaaaaaaabeeeeeeeel!
Gary : What?!
Me : Kriiiiiiiiiiiiiistaaaaaaaaaaaabeeeeeeeel!
Gary : Aiyo.. why the name so long wan?!
Me : Stylo mah! Stylo name for stylo girl!

Luckily I don’t get the chance to talk to him that much. Else I think my vocal cords would be worn off, and my ears, deaf.

PS – Kristabel, beware… I have Gary’s number ok.

Another day

It was a good day for me today. I bumped into Chicken and Jolene on my walk to work, so we made arrangements to have our break together. Unfortunately, only Jolene (besides me) managed to keep in schedule. Pity Mokie wasn’t able to leave on time. I had wanted to pull her out of the wards for makan so bad.

The Palliative Nurse came to see Room 23 today, and midway through the conversation, my auntie started to cry. I went in and started consoling her, telling her not to cry and be so sad. But the nurse said that it would be a good release for her.

So I just hugged her.

She gripped me so tight I could feel her sorrow course through my veins. She buried her face in my shoulder, sobbing softly in my arms as i embraced her. I felt helpless. So helpless, as i found my own cheeks being warmed with grief.

I can only hope stroking her back while she cried, offered her some redress.

Room 25’s appetite has improved greatly. She actually told me she was hungry and asked for some oats after lunch today. And she managed to finish a whole bowl. A fine feat, considering the tough journey we all went through to up her feeds from ¼ bowl, to ½ share now.

And my uncle in Room 21 cried after telling me his story of not being able to marry the love of his life in his younger days. I sat him out of his room, to allow him greater interaction with people rather then the 4 walls. He said he felt much better after that.

I’m unsure of why emotions were so rife today.

Even the Gary saga raged on.

He passed Gogi his telephone number early in the morning so she could pass it to his alleged admirer. And yes, if you must know, K received it. Wahahhahaaa…

I met Gary in the ward later in the day and traded greetings. Tons of people went to his room to chat. Gogi and the male cleaner kept popping into his room, so much so it was distracting. With the renovation workers, staff and Research people back, the ward seemed bustling with activity.

A far cry from yesterday’s mellow aura.

Even Mokie and K came by to eyeball Eczema Girl whom i thought was around. They managed to walk by Gary's room though. My, my.. what attention he got.

A while later, he stopped by outside Room 38, where I was about to position the uncle for an ECG. It was strange to see him standing in the doorway just as Sophia was about to close the door. Even if he is a SN, and I bet he’s witnessed things like these countless times, he's not part of my ward. And that man just stood there.

Obscuring the sunlight streaming in.

So I asked him how it felt to give his number away. He looked puzzled and questioned if the person was me. He said Aunt Gogi had given him so many names it confused him. Hahahahaa… Relentless, Gogi followed up with the matchmaking service, asking if K had kept his number. I tell you, I was a little disappointed when K showed me the note, a little piece of paper with just his name and number.

Aiyoh, like that how to tackle girls leh?!

Thus, I brought it upon myself to write, “K, I LURVE YOU”. Ok, it would seem a wee bit desperate and stalker material if he had actually done that, but anything would be better then just the plain note right? K just pursed her lips and shook her head while I giggled.

Aunt Gogi says it is rude to throw the number away.

Hence, I reminded K to at least sms poor ol’ Gary an obligatory thanks for his time. I mean, can still be friends right? Gaining is better then losing right? Heeheeheee.. And Gary looked a little sad near the end of the day. So I’m guessing K had not smsed him.

Haiz.

Did the joke really get out of hand?

I think I may need to lock the both of them together in the MO’s room. Or perhaps drug both. Maybe even a bit of both. Hehehhehee…

Everyone says I’m naughty. Wrong. I’m mischievous.

PS – We launched Trendcare this week. And it’s shitty cause it eats into the time I spend with my patients.