i still love the scent of rain

oh my god. oh my GOD! ER was aaaawesome! it was a busy day and everything was just buzzing. it was my first time drawing blood, hearing a murmur, putting a cast on someone, analyzing results of blood tests, doing a physical examination to check for liver failure… oh my God! it was just amazing! as you can see, my adrenaline’s still pumping  =) i saw a range of patients today, from back strain to post-op oedema to MI to shoulder dislocation to heat stroke to (suspected) bowel cancer to hip fracture… i would soooo loooove to give more details, but… irrespective of whatever the protocol is, i just dont think i should.

except for one. this is just too cute. a guy came in with typical chest pain. all symptoms point to angina pectoris. anyway, while the doctor i was shadowing was taking his history, we noticed he was getting a tad uncomfortable. so when the specific question of when the pain started was posed to him, there was a moment’s silence before he mumbled, "you know…i was doing some physical activity with my beloved at the time." his wife who was standing nearby was veeeery quiet. the doctor and i went, "u-huh", with very straight faces, but inside, we were thinking, "ah!"

flinders has a tendency to throw you into the abyss and say "go do it." which can really scare the shit out of you. but like the first time i had to go into the ward, i realized that i just had to overcome my personal fear and insecurities in the first five minutes and then! i get that exhilirating feeling that there’s no other job that i want to do.

but today i was lucky in the sense that i had The Perfect registrar to stick to like a leech 80% of the time during my shift. he was the perfect teacher–Hippocrates would be proud. he explained everything that he was doing and was so encouraging towards me taking part in the processes from the physical examination to diagnosis to treatment. the only daunting thing was him shooting questions at me, at times in front of patients. when i can actually answer them and he says, "good", i swear, my heart soars and i’m surprised i’ve actually retained stuff i’ve been learning in PBL in the last five weeks. when i have absolutely no clue, he gives me a mini tutorial on it when we get back to the ’station’. and then it’s time to move again. when he moves, i MOVE. i love him. he’s really good. i really love him. i should build a shrine.

for the 473295648538459th time, the voice in my head is screaming THERE’S SO MUCH TO LEARN!

ok lah ah… enough of medical stuff already  =)

jusssssst nooooow! when i was walking back after my shift, i saw my housemates, W and X walking towards the bus stop holding hands! X is aussie and W is Sri Lankan. they look so adorable together. actually, earlier this week i saw them both taking a ride on X’s motorcycle. W wasnt even wearing a helmet lah! i think love is in the air! tapi dah lah, elia. tak payah jadi mak senek. senek dah ada mak. i’m just a sucker for these things, you know.

a little blurp: mais and i visited Lisa today coz she’s sick. we brought her some food. anyway, for me it turned out to be visiting Lisa’s house. she’s renting a room in a property that’s Natural Heritage listed. it was built c1858. apparently, it had almond orchards, stables and a river running through its backyard in its heyday. if you know me, you know i’ve got a thing about old houses… this one, to be honest, needs a little maintenance on the outside but the inside was still high-ceilinged, antique-tiled, wooden-panelled loveliness. the bathroom was a marriage of old and new. i wish i had my camera with me.

alright then. i honestly think i spend way too much time blogging. it’s an addiction, i tell you.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 11th, 2006 at 3:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.