Ambulance Call

Below are the pictures of the ambulance call centre in Hospital Serdang. Here is where they receive emergency calls and send out an ambulance for rescue. 

It feels so high-tech in there

The call room

My dearest friend, Dr. Syima

Syima demonstrating the cervical collar

My post-call face :P

As we both (Syima and myself) were post call, we decided to go for the ambulance calls. The first one was a funny one... the caller informed that the patient is having SOB (shortness of breath)... complaints like this one I can layan because if it was trauma I would have definitely backed out. I had trauma cases, I get goose bumps with palpitations and some day I'd feel nauseous. I always avoid the case industrial injury cases where they come with half-amputated fingers... urgh.. gross! Anyway, back to my ambulance call story... we arrived at an office in one of the shop lots in Taman Equine. A young girl lying on the floor was in sight, semi-conscious... and there was also an acupuncturist who was doing her work. And guess what the ambulance team did... we stood and watched what the acupuncturist was doing for 10 minutes. It was so awkward! We were thinking... what should we do... leave? because it doesn't seem like we were needed as the girl was already awake. 


The ambulance caller (who was her boss) apologized to us because he called both ambulance and the acupuncturist who happens to be next door. To cut the story short, we still brought her to the hospital... we reached there already, so the patient's boss told us to take her and get herself checked. The ambulance ride was horrible! The driver drove really fast, felt like I was in a roller-coaster! 


Ok... hope more updates coming soon. I am so behind, this entry has been in my draft for days! 

Iftar

Yesterday, we gathered our friends for iftar at home. It's been quite a while since we all last met up with each other. The whole clique from schooldays came with their spouses and babies... as pictured below:

 Sofiya AKA Yaya AKA Yayapiya

We started her calling all kinds of name depending on her act and mood 

 Me and Alia (the bride-to-be)

 Almost all of us... I'm not in the picture

 Now it's all of us

 Sofiya and the handsome Alif

 Us

 With Alia again

 Look at Sofiya and Alif... Sarah was the only cool one in this snap 

 In an attempt of capturing all the babies together

Liyana's and Faiz's princess... Sarah

The evening was filled with laughters and of course... gossips and updates!

Hope to meet up for raya again. 

Good flow

Post-call right now. Had a really good sleep, got back at 2 pm today and straight away went to sleep until 6.30 pm. I woke up in confusion, not knowing what time and day it was. That's why Rasulullah larang tido after Asar. 


I had a good call last night, I was in charge of the yellow zone. Patients were coming in in a constant manner but one at a time, giving me enough time to clerk properly and do whatever is needed. I had 2 ex-IVDU* patients... the worrying part was that I didn't know about their status until after trying many many times inserting their branulas!... even worse, unprotected pulak tu! It's a very good practise to use gloves all the time whenever you use needles, I used to do that while I was in the ward, but in ED, I don't know it's not practised. I guess everyone would use these excuses:
1. Easier to feel for the vein
2. Gloves are used as torniquet
3. It's faster when you don't use gloves


Speaking of IVDUs... I really feel sorry for them. And I feel it's unfair to judge them because everyone make bad choices in life, right? It's the degree of bad choices are different and most of the time, Allah covers up your 'aib' that no one knows about it. One of my patient yesterday came for acute exarcebation of asthma, and he said that he's been having the cough for 3 months and had lost a lot of weight. The first thing that comes to mind is TB of course. After nebulizer, his rhonchi was still there and his O2-saturation is only 92% on room air. He claims that he was feeling better, but you can tell that he looked breathless. So I thought that I'll give him a second round of nebulizer and give him IV Hydrocortisone... but it was impossible to insert his branula. I suspected that he was an IVDU when he said that he had a big vein around his thigh... and I looked puzzled, then he explained that he was an IVDU. That explains why he didn't mind me poking him countless times. He said that he stopped 10 years ago. At that time, I felt so sorry for him, he is already 56 years old, not married, no family, now lives with his brother... who wants a life like that right? I pray that Allah forgives him and all of us. 


Tomorrow I'll be working on the pm shift ie. 3 pm to 10 pm which means I have the morning to do whatever I want. and I want to study!!! Let's hope that I'll feel like doing so tomorrow. 


* IVDU = intravenous drug users

ED

ED = emergency department, not erectile dysfunction ok! :P 

Today is my day 6 in ED, alhamdulillah I completed tagging for 5 days and the department gave me a day off.. unrecorded leave! After tagging, everyone gets a day off to rest. I think it is really needed because working one whole day from 8 am to 10 pm is so tiring, so tiring that it's unexplainable. I developed all sorts of pain including neck pain, back pain, headaches and etc. But had to stay strong because everybody faced the same thing. The tagging part is the painful part, but the normal working hours is great because we work in shift system. ED is the only department that practises the shift system since ages ago, well it's understood why... on some days, you don't get to sit at all, and also, the turnover rate is very high so there is not need for continuation of care for a patient. 

I have also noted that since entering this department, my level of patience has decreased. It's sad to admit... I do feel embarrassed to admit, but on a few occasions I scolded my patient.... haha. Yes, it's bad, I know. Now, every morning I keep reminding myself and added "I talk gently to my patients" as part of my daily mantra! The difference between the patients in ED and the ones in the ward is that in ED, they are straight from home and more anxious about what is going on. Hence, the are more prone to be rude, so you on the end being a doctor just feel like being rude back. That is why if you can handle human you can conquer the world because human beings can be very unpredictable. I especially get pissed with the MC-seekers. On my first day, I had a patient coming in with diarrhea for 3 days, and had an episode of sudden headache while reading the newspaper, and he also had peripheral numbness.... I was really trying hard to correlate between each symptoms hoping that I'll come up with a good diagnosis. The way he explained about his condition sounded really alarming, he was so dramatic and looked unwell. So my impression was AGE and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The patient ended the session with "doctor, MC dapatkan?"... I said, "Yes, tapi untuk hari ni aje." He said that it was fine but he wished that the date could changed to tomorrow because he'll be working tomorrow! And I am talking about an old Malay gentleman... if it's a young man, I can understand, they maybe immatured still, but not an old man. 

Anyhow... it's time for buka puasa. Selamat berbuka everyone.

Reaching the end

Hi everyone! It's me, the lone-ranger in KLIA. I just noticed, my last 2 post was when I was in Alor Star Airport... 2 entries after that, in KLIA. It's been 4 months plus since my last trip back to Kedah. Poor Mr. Husband, it's always been him who has to travel back to KL almost every weekend. Of course it's a better option since he is the stronger one, right? 

A loooottt has happened since my last update. I felt like blogging, but when the time comes, my laptop is not with me... dumb excuse right? When I get back home, I am just too exhausted to even think about what to write. But who cares, I guess I have no readers anymore.. hehe. 


Well, if things go smoothly, I will end my medical posting next Thursday. I have one more assessment with one of the consultant, if she passes me, I get to proceed with the next posting. Please for me! Lately, the medical department started extending housemans, and there were cases where they tell you the day before you finish. So you cannot be too confident. 


Wait.. The gate is opened.. better get there fast then I can settle in comfortably and continue blogging for the next 55 minutes!!! 

Ok.. already in the waiting area. The aircraft is here, just saw the passengers from the previous flight leaving the plane, how I wish it was me. I cannot wait to get to Alor Star and see Abang. It's been a loooong 5 days. I keep on asking myself, until how long will we have to live like this. I hate the distance, but then again, distance does make our hearts grow fonder... hihi! Oh well, it's part of the sacrifices that I have to make in life. 

I have no more idea of what to write. 

Handicapped? I felt so handicapped being laptop-less for the past 4 months. Life was so boring, I didn't get to communicate with the outside world, and of course, blogging. iPad cannot replace my laptop because it didn't have a proper keyboard, hence, typing was such a mess, it didn't feel right. No offense to the iPad lovers... it's good to use an accessory but not the main place to do your work. 

Right now, I am in Low-yatt with Abang... there were so many people! What would you expect, on a Sunday afternoon, everyone is outside shopping with their loved ones. Alhamdulillah I am not on-call this weekend. I had been on-call since the past 3 weeks, it was so terrible, didn't get to connect much with my family. 

 In the on-call room

Oh yeah.. I'm in my third week of cardiology posting, I have one more week left. So far, I am loving it, especially the CCU. A big thank you to Dr. Ashraf Zaki for teaching ECGs, it made life a lot easier! Not only to him, to the nurses in CCU, learnt a lot from them too, they are so good at ECGs and many other things. I love the teamwork there, we all work as team regardless of the post... well, at least for some of us. There are only 3 housemans in cardiology so we do on-calls every 2 days, and it is quite tiring. Thank God the on-calls are light, depending whom you are on-call with, if you get to be on-call with a jonnah MO then you wont get to sleep. (Jonnah is a term we use to describe a person who attracts so many patients and complicated cases during the night). I am not saying anyone specific here... :P

I guess that's all for now. bubbye! Hope to update with more things later. 

The Planned Kedah Trip

I'm in Alor Star airport, waiting for my delayed flight. I was in kedah for 3 days, took leave for 4 days for my end-of-posting holidays. Oh yes, I managed to go through O & G posting without getting extended... I was quite worried at first as they extend people unexpectedly! It was my routine to solat Hajat before starting my on calls because I was really scared of having babies born flat because the bosses will always discuss the case and find out what the houseman was doing... I know it sounds scary but it is actually good so that we don't repeat the same mistake again. And alhamdulillah during my calls, things went smoothly, and I am so grateful for that. I always feel that when you are on call, it is Allah who gives you the guidance in what to do and how to react because sometimes you are half asleep when attending cases, you could barely think, so who else is there to help you but Allah.

I am really looking forward to a new chapter in my HO-life... Life in the internal medicine world! That is another challenge but I had always liked the subject in medical school, I hope working life is the same. You see, working and studying are two different things. As a student, I hated pediatrics, I found it very challenging, I never thought I'd like it! Things changed totally, I love PAEDIATRICS!!! And... I am having a dilemma choosing paeds and ophthal. Obstetrics is fun, I enjoyed it but i don't think I like the life because the specialist have to sleep in the hospital during on calls and it's not something I plan to do.

Urgh... I feel so lazy to start work tomorrow... Hate to admit it but it's true. I miss my husband already. It was so sad to see him walk towards his car just now but he had to go as he has classes at 5 pm so he cannot wait until my flight. On Sunday, I was a full-time housewife... Did the laudnries, cleaned up his room... And the best part was to waiting for him to come back home from work. I just realized that I miss this routine of being at home most of the time. Last time in Egypt, I was at home most of the time, studying and getting the house organized. In all of a sudden, once I started working, I no longer do all that. It's quite sad but I believe it is all temporary, life as an MO is less hectic. And I am very grateful to have a husband who is very understanding and supports my work. I don't think I could do it without him.


Ok.... They started calling the passengers. Have to go in now!!!

- blogging with iPad.