Is It Just Me?

I think it is really hard for someone who works in the hospital to not be paranoid.

It seems like everything and anything can go wrong.
If you think the newspaper is scary, you should try sitting in the A+E for a day and see the cases that come in.

Once a guy was admitted because the grass-cutter's blade disloged from the grass cutter and hit him right at the neck cutting some major vessels.

An accident at the pisang goreng stall and two people were badly burnt after the hot oil spilt on them.

You think keeping pets are safe? A kid came once after being bitten by her cat (can't blame the cat though - she pulled it's tail).

Many come with spine fractures after falling off trees.
Almost everyday you see people coming in with fractures after a motorbike accident.
Some come with hip fractures after a fall at home.
I saw a couple of young boys who had radius/ulna fractures after falling down while playing football.

Pregnancy - even worse!! Most people would say it is a normal, physiological thing, nothing is supposed to go wrong. But think of how many things can go wrong during the pregancy, during delivery and also post-delivery! Pregnancy can be complicated by diabetes and hypertension (even in those who previously have no co-morbids). Many have anemia. Some have low lying placenta. Normal delivery and Caesarean section are both equally scary when you think of all the problems that can arise. Very, very rarely, there are even cases of maternal deaths!!

At work, you see so many lives changing in a matter of seconds.
One accident - and some lose a limb or get paralysed for life.
A headache which turned out to be a bleed in the brain - sometimes affecting even young people.
A fall which caused a spinal injury.

Hence, I think it is justified for us to be paranoid, to worry about everything.
When I see someone cutting grass, I go out of my way just to avoid them.
If I get headaches frequently, I wonder if I should go for a CT brain.
Someone complaints of constipation - maybe it is colon cancer?
I see motorbike riders and try to stay far away from them - they are so vulnerable!!
I think about the times when we used to climb up the rambutan tree at our house and thank my luck for not falling and breaking my neck.
Pregnancy, I don't want to even think about!

Life is scary, huh!

Life Is Good

Relief - that is what I feel. At least for now. My presentation is over and now I can relax...until it is time to study for my assessment which is next month. The only problem is, next month is not really that far away, and I have a couple of 'events' coming up so I guess time is not really on my side.

But then again, I don't think more time will make much of a difference. The more time one has (or at least I have) the more one procrastinates, right?

Life has been good recently. I have been enjoying myself in Anaesth. It is not just that the working hours are shorter, but I actually enjoy myself at work. I don't dread going to work like when I was in....let's just say another department. I don't have to review patients or take blood from a patient millions of times or set branulas that keep on 'bunking' and I don't have to put up with crap from other people around me. Almost all the MOs are very friendly, and even the specialist too.

Here is what I go through everyday - go to work, prepare drugs and then the patient comes in for op. Put the patient under and just monitor the patient till the op is over and then reverse the patient and send him or her out. I don't have to see the patient's family and answer questions (the worst part is when a patient has 10 relatives who all insist on approaching you one a time to as the same question). I don't have to review the patient (I know I've told that already - goes on to show how much I really hate reviewing patients). I don't have to do discharges. I don't have to do many other mundane ward work.

Life is good.

Although I do get irritated with some patients - chronic pain patients. They come under anaesthesiology as well and I was posted in the Acute Pain Service for 2 weeks and had to see these patients in the clinic. They come to the clinic and complain of pain everywhere. Some are genuine, but most of them...I don't know. Maybe their pain is real, or maybe it is just psychological. But then when a patient says that her headache gets better when she takes her gastritis pill, don't you think something is wrong? And if someone tells you they play the piano for 14 hours each day and does 3600 repetition of some exercise in the gym - would you believe them? How about a husband who complaints of pain but is allergic to all the painkillers in the world whose wife is also a pain clinic patient and is ALSO allergic to all the painkillers in the world? The best part - their child is SO allergic to prawn that she develops some allergic reaction if their neighbour cooks prawn and they can smeel it. *Sigh* To believe or not to believe...

Anyway, there is no real purpose for this post. It's just that I think I have been ignoring my blog for so long..probably because I am having long dinners and by the time I come back I am too lazy to write and the people to blame are my dinner buddies...typical human - always put the blame on someone else.

I will try my best though, to write more often....if I can think of things to write. :)

Mercedes Benz- Malaysian made?

Spotted in Ipoh recently..