I'm lovin' it

How am I these days? I have been alternating between lying on the bed with a book and watching movies or sitcoms on the laptop everyday...plus mustering enough effort to get out of the room for food and an occasional (or should I say, rare) swim or jog. I am officially a slob but I'm lovin' it! 

                                 
                              New sitcom that I'm currently enjoying (Thanks Kenneth!)

Can't bring myself to finish the last few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. 

You can still pretend...

"Don't pretend to be somebody else. If you want to pretend, then pretend to be somebody better." 

Father Cosmas Lee during Sunday sermon. 

LOL...

Converse rules

We should be allowed to wear sports shoes or sneakers in the hospital. Who cares about the 'professional appearance' when your feet and back are aching all day for wearing 'professional-looking' but not occupationally-friendly shoes. Sneakers and sports shoes are so comfortable. One of the advice we give diabetic patients regarding foot care is wearing the right shoes, namely SPORTS SHOES because they are the best with wide toe-box and comfortable in-soles. So why are we not practising what we are preaching? Okay, sneakers don't really have a wide toe- box but they are comfortable.

                                            My favourite-est shoes in the whole wide world

My adorable cousin, Anna is in BP. Want to see her so much!!! 

The Nightmare Patient

Me: Ingat lagi tarikh haid terakhir?
Patient: Tak ingat... pada bulan 1 lah...
Me: Bila tarikh bersalin?
Patient: Tak tahu lah...tak ingat...
After insistent prompting,
Patient: 8? 8 Oktober... macam 8 haribulan  (And when I checked the case note later on, it wasn't 8th!)
Me: Okay, bila scan pertama?
Patient: hmm... 7 bulan?
Me: Sounding incredulous and trying to keep my calm ... 7 bulan? Puan berdaftar di Klinik Desa pada 8 minggu kandungan kan? Tiada scan pada masa awal kandungan?
Patient: Tiada.
Me: Ok, apa keputusan scan? Apa doktor bilang? Baby ok ke?
Patient: (Blur look) Tak tahu lah...Doktor tidak beritahu apa2.

And the 'Tak tahu' went on.... This is a 23-year-old lady with SPM qualification I'm talking about. Not the 16-year-old girl or 40-year-old mak cik from kampung who has never been school.

Jeez!!!! There's nothing worse like getting a patient who doesn't know a damn thing about her disease or her baby's condition or her child's illness. Like, how can you not know? It's your body, your disease, your baby in your uterus. Don't you care? Or do you trust the medical personnel here so much that you feel 100% sure that everything they do is the best, the most appropriate treatment for you that you don't feel the need to question or know anything?

I couldn't help but overhear these 2 housemen bitching about their patients the other day. They were gossiping about how rude the patients talked to them and how rude THEY acted back towards the said patients. I was listening with a poker face but inwardly, I was like "OMG...what kind of doctors are they to be talking like that to the patients. It must be their fault that the patients were rude to them in the first place. How can they be so rude to patients?" and bla...bla...bla... all my disapprovals... Little did I know that I would be bitching about my patient now.

Most of my patients were really nice and cooperative. Most of the time, it's really easy to get a decent amount of information from them. But there are times when I face this group of challenging patients, which really try my patience. And at times like this, I always, I mean ALWAYS IMMEDIATELY, make a silent prayer to God that I not get this kind of patients in the exams because then, I would certainly burst into tears in the middle of the exams or do desperate things like kneeling down and pleading to the patients to tell me something, anything. With exams less than a week away, this patient I clerked today is giving me a nightmare.  

Wisdom comes with age, for a selected few

Another way of disputing "The lesser of 2 evils". 

"Though it is true that sometimes it is lawful to tolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order to promote a greater good, it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it."  

Humanae vitae, Roman 3:8

Had an awesome SGD with Dr Soon. He is amazing; so inspirational, pleasant for a Head of Department, humorous and an excellent educator. And his repetitive eye-blinking just makes him more 'normal' rather than like any high and mighty, arrogant consultant. Why can't all his doctors follow in his footsteps?! The things that he has taught us can never be found in the textbooks. His knowledge of Islamic laws makes all my Muslim friends gape in amazement. And he said something about The true spirit of One Malaysia is not about tolerating one another, but to ACCEPT each other. That is why, we have to understand about other religions as well. That will make us an even better doctor. He also said that it's important to have a strong faith so that we will not be easily shaken, especially by all the many moral and ethical dilemmas that so often surround our profession. If we are weak, that's when we go crazy (literally, crazy). I can go on and on about the wisdom he has imparted but I would rather not because that will just make me sound like an infatuated student. haha...