Thursday, December 25, 2008
hello everyone! it's been a long time since i last blogged anything. and also...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
how's everyone's xmas coming along? buggy and ray are happily in peru right...oh my i am so envious. i'm having break too! just one week...actually i wasn't complaining before it started, in fact was quite glad for a break. but now that the break's half gone, i realise that it's really tough to cram everything into one week! there are so many places i want to go, so many people i want to meet (that includes you pple, execpt you guys all aren't here), and so many things i want to do.
anyway for the past 4 weeks i was having emergency medicine posting at changi, and i really loved it. it's definitely not as happening as they show it in ER though. it's hard to sum up all the things that happened in 4 weeks, but in essence, i got to see a whole new side of medicine. before, what we knew of medicine was mostly what we could learn from patients in the ward. these patients are generally in stable condition, and have already been worked up by doctors prior to admission. but in the ED, we are the first line, and patients come in with varying acute conditions which we have to manage, and possibly come to a diagnosis. there is a whole new sense of responsibility towards these patients, as we have to help the doctors and nurses to set up the monitoring equipment, do things like ECGs and set IV plugs, give fluids, stitch up wounds, etc. it's a very hands-on learning, and it helps that most of the doctors at changi are really willing to teach! we ask a question on why this particular ecg has a weird characteristic, and we get a voluntary mini-tutorial, instead of just having a direct answer to our question :)
but all that good stuff said about emed posting, the downside is that my sleep cycle was really messed up for the entire month. one week of 8am-4pm, one wee, of 4pm-10pm, plus night calls, ambulance runs etc scheduled in between. and after all the setting of IV plugs, i've acquired the habit of checking out everyone's veins to see if they'll be good to cannulate :S and i mean everyone...people in the market, people on the bus, people in the malls! and i've heard that bad habits are hard to kick.
christmas this year feels a bit weird. i think it's just because i haven't been out enough, not enough to soak up the christmas atmosphere out on the streets, in the malls. always there was the run-up to christmas, when the malls start playing carols, when decorations start going up everywhere, when the streets are twinkling with christmas lights. but this year, shuttling only between home and school and hospital, i've somehow missed out on all that pre-christmas excitement. and now that christmas has sneaked up upon us, i don't feel it much. even walking around in town and vivo the past few days, getting caught in the press of people, i felt like a foreigner, like a tourist. somehow, all these scenes don't seem very familiar anymore, even though i used to know the places like the back of my hand. i think i need to get out more.
i miss all the christmasses in cold places...in china for two years some years back, and in europe last year. i'm wishing i can have another wintry christmas! just like we did in europe...go to the christmas markets, have a cup of their warm spiced wine as i amble down the cobblestone streets near the river, with a light snow falling...
anyway for the past 4 weeks i was having emergency medicine posting at changi, and i really loved it. it's definitely not as happening as they show it in ER though. it's hard to sum up all the things that happened in 4 weeks, but in essence, i got to see a whole new side of medicine. before, what we knew of medicine was mostly what we could learn from patients in the ward. these patients are generally in stable condition, and have already been worked up by doctors prior to admission. but in the ED, we are the first line, and patients come in with varying acute conditions which we have to manage, and possibly come to a diagnosis. there is a whole new sense of responsibility towards these patients, as we have to help the doctors and nurses to set up the monitoring equipment, do things like ECGs and set IV plugs, give fluids, stitch up wounds, etc. it's a very hands-on learning, and it helps that most of the doctors at changi are really willing to teach! we ask a question on why this particular ecg has a weird characteristic, and we get a voluntary mini-tutorial, instead of just having a direct answer to our question :)
but all that good stuff said about emed posting, the downside is that my sleep cycle was really messed up for the entire month. one week of 8am-4pm, one wee, of 4pm-10pm, plus night calls, ambulance runs etc scheduled in between. and after all the setting of IV plugs, i've acquired the habit of checking out everyone's veins to see if they'll be good to cannulate :S and i mean everyone...people in the market, people on the bus, people in the malls! and i've heard that bad habits are hard to kick.
christmas this year feels a bit weird. i think it's just because i haven't been out enough, not enough to soak up the christmas atmosphere out on the streets, in the malls. always there was the run-up to christmas, when the malls start playing carols, when decorations start going up everywhere, when the streets are twinkling with christmas lights. but this year, shuttling only between home and school and hospital, i've somehow missed out on all that pre-christmas excitement. and now that christmas has sneaked up upon us, i don't feel it much. even walking around in town and vivo the past few days, getting caught in the press of people, i felt like a foreigner, like a tourist. somehow, all these scenes don't seem very familiar anymore, even though i used to know the places like the back of my hand. i think i need to get out more.
i miss all the christmasses in cold places...in china for two years some years back, and in europe last year. i'm wishing i can have another wintry christmas! just like we did in europe...go to the christmas markets, have a cup of their warm spiced wine as i amble down the cobblestone streets near the river, with a light snow falling...
yueyen at 11:35 PM