A Peaceful Sunday

28th September (Sunday) - 2 more days to cha-ching cha-ching. Just have to survive. Alright. Here we go. I often work Sunday noon shifts, but someday I'll get a Sunday morning. Someday. So I was taken to another ward but thank goodness, not many patients today. But this ward sure have tons of cases, ranging from infected heel with vacuum dressing, phaco with macular holes, Gidelman syndrome... New stuff right? I had to do a little Google search on the definition of Gidelman syndrome. When I found out, I felt super sorry for the patient who is only in her 20's. Thank goodness she have a very good husband who is willing to support her.
Ever seen phlebectomy? I used to think it was a major surgery but it's a procedure, to put it in simple terms, it's draining out the 'bad blood' (excessive blood) in the body and then throwing it away, or in some cases, if the blood is still alright, to give it to the blood bank to filter it. The patient is a regular so she actually know more than us, even the prof. She instructed the prof how to poke her veins, and thank goodness I had the chance to see the procedure. The prof use a large needle, commonly used to donate blood, and poke it right into her vein. If all goes well, the blood goes draining into the bag like the Vulsava slide at Lagoon. It's just a pity the prof accidently jerked the needle that it went running and we only got a quarter full. Aww. What a shame. I even ran to get autolagus bags just to try getting her blood, unfortunately, no matter how many time the prof pricked her, he just can't get enough blood anymore. Only the first one was the jackpot. He was going to use the butterfly needle to prick her but the patient was like, "Oh nooooooo. Please don't, prof. I got a plan B." And the prof was like, "Plan B?" And she went, "I go back home, let my veins grow nice and bouncy, then you can prick me again, okay prof?" And the prof was like, "Are you okay with coming back again on Friday?" Nevertheless, he allowed her to go, although he did mentioned that there are two places that you can get good blood supply. The neck and groin vein. Both are super good places for blood taking, mainly because pressure there are high. The patient was like, "WHAT?! Noooooo." Severed neck and punctured groin vein can shoot up to about 3 metres, right up to your house ceiling. True fact, but don't try it at home please.
Then we have a fussy patient. Well, okay, she's not really fussy, but she treats nurse with no respect. She treats us like, well, maids, or hotel room service. It really makes you pissed. These are the list of things she'll ask us to do:

- Take out the rubbish for her. (She'll put them all these large bags outside the door and expect us to pick them up.)
- Bring food for her. (What she orders, she expects US to serve, not the caterer staff.)
- Cleaning the toilet and floors. (When she spills or drops something, she expects US to clean it, not the housekeeping.)
- Hospital is a hotel (She stays in a single room, but her whole family is cramped in that little room. Little kids sitting on mats, relatives squeezing themselves onto the recliner and bed and chairs. Everyone carrying bags as large as a one month travelling suitcase. I mean no disrespect but come on, we are NOT a hotel.)

Makes you mad, doesn't it? A nurse being reduced to nothing more than a maid. Sometimes, I really wonder, what's the point of studying so hard for a diploma in a professional job when you are being treated like slaves? I once read a book by a Malaysian professor and he said that nurses, especially here, are often treated with no respect. Well, I guess I'll have to agree with him on that one.
Then I met a really nice gentleman, in his 50's to 60's coming in a day early because of his insurance. It was a little pickle but thankfully we sorted it out, although he'll have to go to admission the next day since they already finished working (Half-day today) for the day. I took a look at his home leave consent and found out that he wrote it in a very polite and humble way, and he even said, "Please give me a double room, there's no need for single or VIPs." Curiosity getting the better of me, I took a peek at his biodata and he's a manager... Wow. Such a humble guy and casually dressed, he doesn't look like a manager type. I guess there are some nice managers out there if you know where to look for them. All in all, it was a very nice day. I'm working a lot of morning this week. Wish me luck.