Bizarre Day
Today started strangely. I was up a little later than usual (expected when I am post call) but I still managed to get ready by 6.50 am. And then it happened, the left nose piece of my spectacles fell off. Now, I am practically blind as a bat without my glasses and I went "Oh dear...how to find that tiny piece of plastic?".
I went down on my knees and squinted my high-myopia eyes and lo and behold! There it was! Right at my right foot! And then I went "I will need a miracle to find the even smaller screw" and so I squinted my eyes even more and there it was, next to my other foot! What luck (or miracle!)! Since I didn't have one of those microscopic screw drivers, I had to improvise with a knife. Took me a good 10 minutes to screw that thing in.
The drive to the hospital was ok, considering that I started later than usual. I can't get over the fact that Malaysian drivers would cut queue even at toll booths! I mean, what's the rush?
Ward round was equally bizarre. On top of the usual irritating relatives, one patient decided to stop being responsive! We attended to him immediately. He came in a week ago due to severe urinary tract infection with kidney failure due to urinary retention (prostate problem la). We could not wake him, his BP was unrecordable, his pulse was racing, his bedside sugar was 6 mmol/L (normal). We did manage to stabilise his vitals later. The weird thing was that he had very good strong pulses in the periphery and yet we could not register a blood pressure reading, either manually or using the automated monitor! His ECG, except for tachycardia, was totally normal. Bizarre indeed.
Even more bizarre was an sms that came all the way from Indonesia. It was from Joe, one of my HIV+ patient who had to resign and leave the country when he tested positive on routine check up. First it was just the "apa khabar doc" message which was followed by the real intent in the next sms: "Doc, is it alright for me to have sex if I use a condom?". Apparently he has recently fallen in love with a chinese guy there (yes, you read right) and he (the chinese guy) has been pestering him for sex.
Since international text messages are expensive, I tried to squeeze my reply into one sms (50 sen) using all the abbrrevations I know. Basically I asked him to 'inform his partner and then they decide whether to go ahead". I think that's the best reply I can think up at the time.
And then, just now, I received a call from a nurse I knew when I was working in a district hospital. She called to say 'Hi'. How bizarre indeed. I have great respect for her, having raised her only son alone (her hubby left her for a newer model); now she is nearing retirement and her son is due to graduate from the National University of Singapore in Engineering. I have left that hospital 6 years ago!
The day isn't even half done yet....I wonder what more is in store! :-)
Today started strangely. I was up a little later than usual (expected when I am post call) but I still managed to get ready by 6.50 am. And then it happened, the left nose piece of my spectacles fell off. Now, I am practically blind as a bat without my glasses and I went "Oh dear...how to find that tiny piece of plastic?".
I went down on my knees and squinted my high-myopia eyes and lo and behold! There it was! Right at my right foot! And then I went "I will need a miracle to find the even smaller screw" and so I squinted my eyes even more and there it was, next to my other foot! What luck (or miracle!)! Since I didn't have one of those microscopic screw drivers, I had to improvise with a knife. Took me a good 10 minutes to screw that thing in.
The drive to the hospital was ok, considering that I started later than usual. I can't get over the fact that Malaysian drivers would cut queue even at toll booths! I mean, what's the rush?
Ward round was equally bizarre. On top of the usual irritating relatives, one patient decided to stop being responsive! We attended to him immediately. He came in a week ago due to severe urinary tract infection with kidney failure due to urinary retention (prostate problem la). We could not wake him, his BP was unrecordable, his pulse was racing, his bedside sugar was 6 mmol/L (normal). We did manage to stabilise his vitals later. The weird thing was that he had very good strong pulses in the periphery and yet we could not register a blood pressure reading, either manually or using the automated monitor! His ECG, except for tachycardia, was totally normal. Bizarre indeed.
Even more bizarre was an sms that came all the way from Indonesia. It was from Joe, one of my HIV+ patient who had to resign and leave the country when he tested positive on routine check up. First it was just the "apa khabar doc" message which was followed by the real intent in the next sms: "Doc, is it alright for me to have sex if I use a condom?". Apparently he has recently fallen in love with a chinese guy there (yes, you read right) and he (the chinese guy) has been pestering him for sex.
Since international text messages are expensive, I tried to squeeze my reply into one sms (50 sen) using all the abbrrevations I know. Basically I asked him to 'inform his partner and then they decide whether to go ahead". I think that's the best reply I can think up at the time.
And then, just now, I received a call from a nurse I knew when I was working in a district hospital. She called to say 'Hi'. How bizarre indeed. I have great respect for her, having raised her only son alone (her hubby left her for a newer model); now she is nearing retirement and her son is due to graduate from the National University of Singapore in Engineering. I have left that hospital 6 years ago!
The day isn't even half done yet....I wonder what more is in store! :-)
posted by Jimbo @ 5/24/2006 01:49:00 PM
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