lilyng's Xanga

the dawn of a new era

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:32:51 GMT

it's been just over 3 months since i've made the big move over the summer.

yes, i've left the high life in europe behind and relocated back to melbourne.
with 8 shipped boxes in tow and £200 worth of excess baggage... no one ever said moving was cheap!

and although vacationing in australia has always been an annual (sometimes twice yearly) summer affair, adapting back to the melburnian lifestyle after a good 7 years away does take some adjusting to.
thankfully, melbourne has always been a rather european-influenced city and i'm slowly rediscovering the reasons why i've always loved this place.
it's not quite the same exploring through the eyes of a young professional adult compared to when i first lived here as a high school teenager..

for one, being a cultural melting pot makes melbourne a foodie's gastronomical delight.

if there is one place which serves authentic french food in a fuss-free and parisian old-school charm setting, paris go bistro really is the place to -well, go.

starting off with the exquisite soupe a l'oignon gratinee [french onion soup] and fresh escargots -- the french classics and our personal favourites,
then on to the prime porterhouse steak and tender filet de veau normande [veal fillet in creamy mushroom sauce - the real thing! i swear those mushrooms tasted like truffles] with a side platter of mixed vegetables to share,
finally finishing off with pudding aux figures - fig pudding topped with butterscotch sauce and serves with rum and raisin ice-cream.

we were the first patrons there as we got an early reservation. service was lovely with the french waitresses but started to slow down later in the night when tables started filling up, i think they only had 2 waitresses and possibly 1 chef? around so it took ages for dessert to arrive.
other than that, definitely a place i'd love to dine in again!

paris go bistro
116 rathdowne st.
carlton

intern files #107

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:44:54 GMT

so one of the best things about being a doctor is having your own surgical kit and unlimited access to various medical equipment.

i spent a frustrating hour clad only in my bath towel performing DIY microsurgery on myself, trying to remove this sucker of a splinter that was embedded in my palm.

all you need is a high pain threshold, no local anaesthetic required.

old wooden chairs on hospital grounds are occupational hazards in their own right.

intern files #106

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:16:08 GMT

spent 3 hours waiting for a friday evening ward round with the registrar who was napping in the doctor's residence and finally showed up deciding NOT to round.

FML.

from the purveyors of happiness

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:46:47 GMT

our favourite irish chocolatier has finally made the wise decision of turning their infamous hot chocolate into instantaneous DIY goodness!

it's easy as....

intern files #105

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:08:15 GMT

why is it the first and only time i overslept for work was the day i was due to present at the orthopaedic multi-disciplinary conference?

i looked at my alarm clock and it read 07:10.

my presentation started 10 minutes ago. FML.

in other news..... it's been so long since i've logged in that i forgot my xanga password, haha.

CNY 09: from heatwave to snowstorm

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:51:28 GMT

with just enough time to drive from KL international airport to my grandma's for the reunion dinner, i then spent the majority of CNY in australia - basically melting in sydney and riding the heatwave in melbourne.

the thing i miss the most about this season is the yee sang / lo hei.
indeed, it is a truly chinese malaysian dish, enjoyed by families only during the 15-day period and some have called this the "chinese salad".

above: malaysian version
below: australian version

after 2 weeks of sweltering under the burning sun, i was greeted back in europe with the snowstorm that has swept all across the region. the quiet scene at the airport was almost creepy.

talk about two ends of a spectrum.
well, the snow have melted and the sun is showing its face again -- i'm so glad it's almost spring!!

gift vs. curse

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:54:57 GMT

honestly, work has been eating me up alive.

since being back from the CNY holidays, things have taken a drastic turn.
i've been assigned [by a nurse manager, no less] to take up an additional consultant's job list; so now i have double the quantity of patients and working hours, and ironically half the patient-care quality i should be providing.

it's been a rough week and i've learnt an invaluable lesson which will probably haunt me for life... unfortunately that came at the expense of an 87 year old man's life.

sometimes being a doctor is both a gift and a curse.

all about the cut

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:00:21 GMT

goodness, time sure flies!

i'm currently leeching off some wireless time at london heathrow's golden lounge while eargerly awaiting all the satay and nasi lemak soon to come aboard my 12 hour flight. that's reason enough why malaysia airlines is my #1 airline carrier. there's something comforting about stepping onto a plane filled with familiar folk and picking up that fresh copy of the star newspaper when you're 8 timezones away.

4 hours of layover in london is very very dangerous and i have successfully caused some damage to my plastic on a pair of kurt geiger gemstone glads and a piece from marc jacob's new handbag collection. when it comes to duty-free, resistance is futile.

life has been good since starting my new job as a surgical intern. yes, i am living meredith grey's life (minus the scandal). it is times like these that make me wonder if i really want to spend the rest of my life doing medicine and being a physician, rather than a surgeon. they say surgeons work the longest hours but so far, i have been getting out of work way earlier than i ever did when i was a medical intern!

who can forget that crazy christmas week where i worked 3 on-call shifts during the holiday week - including the weekend, x'mas eve and x'mas day itself. there was much havoc on the wards on christmas morning when my arrest bleep went off and soon we (the crash team) were dealing with 3 cardiac arrests simultaneously- like a domino effect. it is not very often that while you're trying to resuscitate someone that your arrest bleep goes off again saying there's another crash going on on the same ward! and when you rush to the scene of the second one, the bleep goes off again telling you about a respiratory arrest just happening at the other end of the hospital.

alas, starting surgery also means we no longer need to carry the crash bleep while we're on-call. surgery is all about the cut and everything else we leave to the medics. unfortunately, when you're the intern in a team of orthopods, you ARE the medic and the only one who is expected to handle any non-surgical related problems that go on in the wards. while i absolutely love observing cutting-edge surgeries and seeing these "carpenters" at work drilling screws and metal plates into bones, i don't think i'd want to be the one holding the almighty scalpel in any operating room. i don't want the responsibility of making the first cut. it is this reason alone that has made me choose medicine over surgery.

in the meantime, i am going to milk every second of life in orthopaedics; with the regular coffee breaks (all 3 of them), post-ward round full irish breakfasts - even time for naps in the on-call room (yes it's true, i'm such a fraud) and a pager that stays relatively quiet for the most part.

happy chinese new year, it'll be my first CNY on familiar soil in 8 years.

the halfway point

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:46:13 GMT

the hospital halls are decked out in x'mas decor and every ward has its own christmas tree, some even with christmas songs playing from the nurses station. you can't help but feel the joy of christmas emanating in the air.

because some days i almost forget that christmas is just around the corner. it's manic on the wards in this busy season and what with being rostered to be on-call 1: 4 nights this week, that means i'll be working x'mas eve and overnight up until x'mas morning.

although work has been tremendously stressful with trying to discharge as many patients as we can so they can be home for this festive season;
and even though i have been overworked and feeling under appreciated for all the crap we go thru as interns - to quote my colleague, "it feels like i've just been shat upon" -
still, i am thankful that i have secured a job in times of an economic recession. hallelujah.

officially, it will be my first christmas away from home and family.
unofficially, i did spend it in hong kong this time last year at beau's... but this year, it'll be just me roaming the empty corridors in my scrubs anticipating the next bleep from patients way too sick to have been sent home.

we've wrapped up our last endocrinology outpatient clinic for the year. yes, no more dictating letters to GPs on my dictaphone for the next 6 months! we recently had our kris kindle/secret santa lunch sponsored by <insert drug company choice of the week here> and got prezzies from our lovely consultant.

so much has changed since this rotation started. compared to 3 months ago, i seemed to have turned into somewhat more of a cynical doctor... bitter and jaded at times even. it's not a good place to be at such an early point of my career but who knows, maybe it's the crazy stress talking.
i've had enough of horrible medical calls and now i just can't wait to start surgery in january!

i wonder if anyone remembers that it's us, interns, who run the show behind the scenes.
we're the ones who call for consults, who administer the medications, who do the paperwork admissions and discharges, send samples to the lab in person, chase scans and results, having to entertain questions from families - we multi-task as the doctor, phlebotomist, secretary, counsellor, porter - and yet, we still get screwed over by over-anxious patients, angry families, abusive nurses, consultants who only bother to appear once or twice in the week and seniors members of the team who threw all that on you in the first place.

really, coping as an intern is learning to swallow your ego and developing a thick-skinned approach.

it's been 6 months - another pat on the back for reaching the halfway point, guys.

happy christmas, let's hope you're having a better one!

occupational hazard

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:44:52 GMT

so much has happened.
most things too personal to share.

the past few months were filled with one bad news after another, not only for me but to those i hold close to my heart.
we have cried over those who have left us;
some shocking.... i will never forget the day i received that 6am phone call about beau's dad.

and some slowly expected. i do believe my grandma who was gradually ailing has gone to a much better place where sufferings do not exist.

and most recently, the bombay attacks robbed yet another life which belonged to a fellow intern's dad.
i think i'm not the only one who wants to bid good riddance to a lousy second-half of 2008.

but there have been some things to rejoice about.
i went home a month ago to celebrate my brother's wedding,
and it turns out my other sister will soon be welcoming a new addition to the family.

the latest "tragedy" that has striked me is something that has been long feared by all interns alike.
yes, the inevitable has happened.

5 months into my game, it was bound to happen.

my first needle stick injury.

you know, i always try to be careful because i am well aware of the risks involved. and somehow, even as i envisioned how it may happen (eventually) to me, THIS was not quite the way i imagined it to be.

there i was in the clinic room, drawing up saline in a big fat 20-gauge pink needle syringe (the bigger the needle, the faster it goes).
first dose antibiotics for my patient - something i must've done a million times over by now.

somehow, somewhere - i pulled back and there was some resistance on the syringe.

i lost my grip.

before i knew it, the flesh of my right palm slammed onto the tip of the needle and by some freak accident, my hand pushed in all the way through.
all the way through.

the needle had gone in from under my palm and came out the other side of my hand!
I SCREAMED.

and just like reflex, i pulled the damn thing all the way back out.
it freaking penetrated right below the thumb and thank god it just missed a major nerve or artery.

fast forward the drama which ensued that ended up with me attending the A&E (as a patient),
THANK GOD that despite some residual bruising and soreness, my fingers are still moving and my right hand will restore its function once it's completely healed beneath this bandaging.

THANK GOD it was a clean needle which i just removed from its packaging.

for those who were wondering, yes i am a right hander.

that sums up my drama of the week: me stabbing myself in the hand.