13/13.....

I still remembered the anxiety of doing my first call….The question I asked was, “Can I survived the shift ?”. Since then I had asked the question over and over again; The last time I did so was about 4 weeks ago when I saw the roster….

Working in ED, always complied to the rule of “come out to walk, one will have to pay back somedays…” ; A long break means a long shift. 

I had doubt that I could complete the 13 shifts(5D8N in 14 days....(not to mentioned that 5 of those is around the New Year where the patient amount is estimated at 160-200/day) when I saw the roster, but nothing can be shout, I asked for it..

Usually, I would be very tired on D3 of the night shift and most probably would be suffering from severe headache and dizziness during evening and hoping the shift would be over soon. However, after using the technique I learnt from the Chinese doctor in Sri Lanka, I was able to regain my vitality during this period....

Well, I am now doing the 13^th of the 13 shifts and still feeling refreshing…praise the great one…..

back from home...

Finally I am back to the desk..

The trip did not started smooth as we had to travel up to K city for Xian tooth removal, it had taken a good few hours and we had reached home by 10+….

It was a 4 hrs nap before I woke up and started the pre-flight check.

The sleep on the flight was not a smooth one and when I hopped into the Sylphy, I had doubt that I could complete the 300km drive. Even though with doubt, we had stopped over at the Empayer Siew Pao Town for the crab meal (cheap and big….trust me, for rm68 per kg, it worth every penny).

The drive after Malacca was more stressful as the highway had narrowed into 2 lane instead of 3. I dare not keep to the inner lane and from time to time, I need to overtake those truckers.

We finally arrived at Kulai at almost 11.

The stay in Kulai was a new experience as I had never have a good look around that area.

I proceeded to Avillion for a night stay and travel up north to Klang to visit my in law….

Price of food had risen sky high -> 1 Teh Ais, 2 Milo Ais[combo for our family] cost more than RM7 (>RM2 per pcs). A plate of whatever(fried Kuew Tew, Wantan Mee) cost RM4.5-RM5. Bao had gone up to RM1.5 per pcs….well, I am stunt by the price hike indeed….

Market is slow according to my bro in law who worked as a financial planner.

I need to admit that Malaysia is moving forward fast, the govt. has done a good job of introducing foreign fund and foreign worker.

The distance of going back home had become greater....

pre-flight anxiety

It was not a peaceful morning…I got up early as my stomach grumbled about the salty dried noodle I had last night. I managed to record down the detail of our passport before I left home. I did an early pass over and seen a hyperventilation young lady with chest pain before I started to logon to the CP website for check-in.

I had booked the cheapest ticket online thence I am not eligible for pre-flight seat selection; I had to wait until the online check-in to choose our seat. I had gone through this more than a dozen times and familiar with the routine. However each time is an agony as you don’t know if there is any suitable seat to choose from; traveling with kids mean you would need to sit together ( although both of them is old enough but yet it is uneasy to let them sit alone). I had a close one when there were only 8 seats left (luckily, there was still connected seat for me to choose from).

The check-in was the only thing which was smooth this morning and I was able to secure a row of connected seat for 4 of us.

There were lots of goodies about online check-in, no long queue at the check-in counter, late arrival at the airport, self selection of seat, but the process was actually stressful, lots of input to do(passport no., DOB etc)….

However the coolest part was to download the boarding pass onto our phone (saving a few trees…).

Home going ....

I will be setting my foot on the homeland in less than 1 week... 

It would be a different journey for everyone of us as we would be travelling down south to visit my parents in Johor. (they had moved back to Malaysia with my brother...)

We would rest for a few days and later travel back to Klang to visit my in law...

can't agree with them....

It all started 2 weeks ago when the chief of internal medicine presented a case in the case conference session.

It was a case of ac pul edema who was admitted to his service instead of admitting to the cardiology service. Lem did not do it on purpose as the cardiologist was on leave during the period.

After revealing the x-ray, the IM chief had invited our cardiologist to comment on it and sarcastically suggested that the cardiologist should give those emergency physicians who did not undergone sub-specialty training a lecture on how to differentiate pneumonia and pulmonary edema. (very irritating one - > when he had less patient, he would come to our department, asking for more admission to his service...)

Lem had walked out straight from the conference room. Boss had sensed his rage and later invited him for a deep discussion. After hearing all those unfair treatments by those physician/surgeons toward our department; Boss had done an interview tour and found that our new colleague was the main target.

The discussion did not end as my complaint against the radiologist was also referred.

Last week, the radiologists had sat down with us for a discussion. The process was a raging one, the senior radiologist had focus on how to prevent his ass from being poke being sued….I however strongly disagree with their argument – we would not put our impression on our xray report(CT, MRI excluded)…..

Well, although the ending was a positive one…

However I despise the senior radiologist view of prioritized on his ass on being sued or not….

surprise.

My sister in law paid us a visit last week; it was a surprise to us as the decision was made after the announcement of delay of school opening due to flood in Malaysia.

We had accepted guests from Malaysia in the past and showed them around the 3 counties nearby. The largest group we had treated was 4+1. The Z had taken us around (yes, 8+1…) from Tainan to Kending. This is the only reasons that I had stuck to a 7 seaters since I came back to work; we would be accepting parents, relative etc. and with the 7 seaters, I would be able to carry them around in one car instead of 2….

However, it was different this time; my sister in law had 4 kids and our guests no is 6…The plan of going out in one car is not going to come true this time…

Although the total amount of passenger is 10 but yet, we would have break as my brother in law would be going back 3 day earlier and my 2 kids would be going to school during 2 week days. That cut down the time of using both cars to 2 days.

With grace, we had successfully taken them to most of the spots pre-planned.

Fefe had successfully squeezed in 3 adults and 6 kids during our last few rides; everyone was still able to buckle up (2 sharing one belt…) during the tour.

The tour had interrupted my camping trip though; I was supposed to try out my weathermaster but still I praised lord for the amazing journey and experience...

I learnt a lot during this journey and so do my children….

new year again...

1/1 and I am sitting in front of the ED desk, sharing patient with Lem…

Our 5^th staff is joining and some of the shifts will have 2 physicians treating patients… The actual number should be 6 according to the rule but 5 is enough to pacify the committee. Night shift is reduced from 10 to 8. I am reducing my govt clinic round to 2…

Last year was an exciting year for me; my health was at a verge of failing and with grace, I was able to recover. If I had not been to Sri Lanka, I would not have found the way which not only cure myself but also revived my dad from his stroke. As a western medicine practitioner, I become aware that there is something beyond the evidence-based medicine which I had believed for almost 20 years. The participation in the 3 “missio-dei” was a milestone in my life, I would be going back to Sri Lanka and Thailand next year to conclude what I had started….

It was a year of disastrous for my homeland, from plane crash to flood, I hope next year would be better…

I am looking forward toward this year as my course with the seminary would be wrapping up in April and still praying what would be my path in the future…