30th November (Sunday) - As always, Sunday is considered to be dull, not all the time, and certainly not today. When I came in for my shift, my name got mentioned before I even started duty. Why is that? Why, it's because of yesterday. No, nothing to do with my post op patient. Apparently, it's about my new admission. What's wrong with her? Nothing is wrong with her, but it's regarding about her son having some drunken issues. Whaaaaat? But he seemed like a nice enough person. Lucky I wasn't in the evening shift, because according to the brief story I was given, apparently he had too much to drink and tried assaulting my poor TL, who was giving report at the time til she had to run for her life in fear of physical abuse and harassment. Oh my goodness, if I were her, I might've ran away screaming my head off. It was so scary to the point where she ran to security for help. And the family also apologized. Apparently he had this problem for a while, but he refused to seek treatment. Oh great. The message was also directed to me from the Sister because, as she put it, "You're too fair, so one hit, and everyone will know that you've been abused." Oh, great, Sister, thanks for making me "famous". TwT
Well, once we got that aside, time to care for our heavy care patients. A few regular patients and such. Only a total of 10 patients but they drive us nuts for the first few hours. Drip infusions ringing like mad, strict I/O for certain patients, 2 hourly, 3 hourly, 4 hourly vital signs, certain strict urine measurement otherwise the profs will bite our heads off. Some of the girls were like, "Not bad, you know some their styles already." Well, nearly entering my fourth month and seeing the same profs over and over again, I could catch some of their styles. Not all, some.
Because I couldn't write most of my stories in time anymore, I now carry a blank book with me so that I can write my story, and then type it out, just like back in my secondary school days. Write and
then type it all into my laptop. It maybe double work, but I prefer it that way, rather than to work every single day and being unable to write. It's torture. Occasionally, if I can't imagine my demons, I grab a rough piece of paper and just sketch real fast with my pen. Sometimes, they appear, sometimes it takes me a lot of times to get my envisioned demon to appear. Yeah, I really want to finish writing about Lloyd's adventure before I move on to other stories like Blitz's and several other new projects.
Near the end of my shift, I was taking care of the counter when the psychiatric doctor came. So I told him briefly about our alcoholic dramas, and the most important thing, I said to him urgently, "Doctor, the family don't take too kindly to psychiatric doctors, So you have to say you are a geriatric doctor (a doctor for the elderly)." He got my message and went over to the family. I hope he is able to solve the poor lady's mental state. And we're praying hard that her son will, please please please, don't get drunk. Apparently one of the senior girls said she saw tons of alcohol bottles in the car park basement. (!!!!!)
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Double, Triple, Quadraple
29th November (Saturday) - Noon -> Double (Morning plus noon) -> Morning
I'm so sorry about the late update. Because I was on doing noon shift on Thursday, but because we had a shortage of staff, I was requested to do double shift for the next day. Since there's not much people on duty, and I happened to be free, well, why not?
For the past few days, I've been taking care of Datin, well, I used to do the normal way of cleaning her legs, but this time it's totally different. Instead of normal dressing, now it takes up to about an hour.See, now that her legs condition have no improvement, we have to do an alternative. Now we have to soak her legs in Potassium. It sounds easy but I can tell you, it is not. It involves a lot of getting on to your knees, backaches and knee cramps because, first, you have to fill up her super large basin til it's half full. And the basin size, it's about more than sixty centimetres wide, and it takes a while for it to fill up. Once done, the maid and depending whoever is the one who do the dressing, will half drag, half carry the basin to Datin. Then, armed with two bottles of Potassium, the person will have to pour from small to moderate amount at a time. Depending on the colour, you're going to have to pour more or less, a little like hot and cold guessing game (Kweh. Kweh?! KWEEE-EH!!!) Okay, bad pun. When the water turned into a rich shade of purple, that means the amount is correct (Roughly estimated about half a bottle, dilute in a half-filled basin) Then you have to soak her feet in it for 20 minutes, and water her legs form the knee down while putting gamgee pad wools on her thigh. A very tiring task especially when I have to pour all over her legs over and over to make sure it is thoroughly soaked. And after that, to apply a lot of jelonet layers til all her broken down skins are covered, then wrapped in a large rolled gauze and crepe bandage. I am actually very thankful to Datin is she actually appreciate how much time I spend for her to make sure her wound is improving, occasionally she shares me some of her oversea stories. Sigh, if only I had money to visit my twinnie...
Okay, about double shift is no fun job, not even for the money. God knows, but throughout my whole double, it was tiring and exhausting. Jumping after professors, preparing most of their patient for operation that are in the coming morning, tons of discharges at the same time, together with admissions. Oh, mayhem!!! We don't even have enough people to do observation but nevertheless, we managed to pull through. With five to six hours of sleep, I proceed on to morning.
Today it's morning, and okay, we are all busy with our many op cases. With discharges rushing in. The good thing was most of our patients, we already sent the folders for interim, so mostly they are just rounding up final adjustments. It's an overall repeat of the double shift day so there's nothing much to add, except that my back and shoulders are aching from yesterday pre-op shaving, especially for privates. No joke. Some obs and gynae profs are strict to the point where if you miss out or didn't shave clean (And I do mean CLEAN), they'll make you come down and shave for the patient, or get your name from the folder and sing an orchestra. Since I nearly got into the orchestra as well, I made sure that it's CLEAN. Technically it wasn't the shaving part but stockings. (Nearly have to write a very long apology speech but thank God the crisis was averted.)
So tired. I felt as though I just done four shifts in a row with every patient commenting why do they see my face every single day as though I never go back to sleep. Zzzzz.
I'm so sorry about the late update. Because I was on doing noon shift on Thursday, but because we had a shortage of staff, I was requested to do double shift for the next day. Since there's not much people on duty, and I happened to be free, well, why not?
For the past few days, I've been taking care of Datin, well, I used to do the normal way of cleaning her legs, but this time it's totally different. Instead of normal dressing, now it takes up to about an hour.See, now that her legs condition have no improvement, we have to do an alternative. Now we have to soak her legs in Potassium. It sounds easy but I can tell you, it is not. It involves a lot of getting on to your knees, backaches and knee cramps because, first, you have to fill up her super large basin til it's half full. And the basin size, it's about more than sixty centimetres wide, and it takes a while for it to fill up. Once done, the maid and depending whoever is the one who do the dressing, will half drag, half carry the basin to Datin. Then, armed with two bottles of Potassium, the person will have to pour from small to moderate amount at a time. Depending on the colour, you're going to have to pour more or less, a little like hot and cold guessing game (Kweh. Kweh?! KWEEE-EH!!!) Okay, bad pun. When the water turned into a rich shade of purple, that means the amount is correct (Roughly estimated about half a bottle, dilute in a half-filled basin) Then you have to soak her feet in it for 20 minutes, and water her legs form the knee down while putting gamgee pad wools on her thigh. A very tiring task especially when I have to pour all over her legs over and over to make sure it is thoroughly soaked. And after that, to apply a lot of jelonet layers til all her broken down skins are covered, then wrapped in a large rolled gauze and crepe bandage. I am actually very thankful to Datin is she actually appreciate how much time I spend for her to make sure her wound is improving, occasionally she shares me some of her oversea stories. Sigh, if only I had money to visit my twinnie...
Okay, about double shift is no fun job, not even for the money. God knows, but throughout my whole double, it was tiring and exhausting. Jumping after professors, preparing most of their patient for operation that are in the coming morning, tons of discharges at the same time, together with admissions. Oh, mayhem!!! We don't even have enough people to do observation but nevertheless, we managed to pull through. With five to six hours of sleep, I proceed on to morning.
Today it's morning, and okay, we are all busy with our many op cases. With discharges rushing in. The good thing was most of our patients, we already sent the folders for interim, so mostly they are just rounding up final adjustments. It's an overall repeat of the double shift day so there's nothing much to add, except that my back and shoulders are aching from yesterday pre-op shaving, especially for privates. No joke. Some obs and gynae profs are strict to the point where if you miss out or didn't shave clean (And I do mean CLEAN), they'll make you come down and shave for the patient, or get your name from the folder and sing an orchestra. Since I nearly got into the orchestra as well, I made sure that it's CLEAN. Technically it wasn't the shaving part but stockings. (Nearly have to write a very long apology speech but thank God the crisis was averted.)
So tired. I felt as though I just done four shifts in a row with every patient commenting why do they see my face every single day as though I never go back to sleep. Zzzzz.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Heart To Heart
25th November (Tuesday) - Okay, I think it's already been four days I'm taking care of Datin. Not that I'm complaining but, why are we inseparable? I think she must be getting tired of seeing my face. So are the other few who are regular patients. The first thing they asked me were, "Girl, why do you often appear in every shift? Do you even get a day off?" Well, I do get a day off, it's just randomized. It could be cause now I'm getting into the habit of going around to chat with my patients, made sure they have all eaten, bathe, stuff like that. Back in the old training days, we don't even have that much time to chat with your patients to know them better.
I didn't get to follow any profs today. When you are taking care of Datin, she's a little difficult, but a nice lady. I often have to use a lot of plastic and hypafix tapes to protect both of her legs getting soaked, together with her PICC. Well, today, I don't know why she wanted me to wrap in a different method. So I just did as she comply. The legs are okay, she could navigate easier, but the PICC one is really awkward. It was soaked while she took her nice shower. Awww, looks like I have to do my dressing in one shot instead of it being due tomorrow. Sigh, so here comes the trolley with my forceps and saline,
In between I did chat with some patients. Most of them are wondering why they often see my face and I just answered them that I'm on duty. Maybe i should disappear for a day and see.... Ah, I'm joking. But Datin, a patient's wife and the chemo lady turned out to be really chatty with me. Because all three, I often spend time with them to get their I/O done. Datin's case is mainly because I had to do her dressings when needed, or if the Matron is not around, and do all the wrappings. We talked about Arab cultures, GST implementation and she asked me why I became a nurse. I mentioned that I took up nursing cause it's one of the only ways I can write my stories. But Datin strike reality by saying, "I don't think nursing gives you enough time to write too, girl." She's right, in truth. Back when I was a student nurse, I actually had time to write. Seriously, despite all the heavy assignments because I actually have my weekends free. And usually if I have a super free day. I can usually write an average of 2 to 3 pages. Not this time. Datin suggested to me to try out writing comics, since one of her family members worked on the My Little Ponies comics. I admitted to Datin, I'm only good at drawing characters, but when it comes to backgrounds, I'm awful. And it looks really cartoony when I drew it in. But she said to me, "The most important thing is that you are using your own style. Don't give up." Awww, seriously, she gave me motivation to never give up on my writing. Who would've thought??? =D
http://elaynecapahony.deviantart.com/art/Rough-art-of-Chapter-1-392417163 (This is a link of the comic I attempted. You can have a look if you want.)
For the patient and his wife, well, like I said, he actually have cancer, but his wife is so optimistic. I never questioned her about it in case of hurting her or the uncle's feelings, but someone asked her right out, and she merely answered that she's being cheerful to support her husband. She asked me whether it's wrong and I said to her, "It's good to feel optimistic, no harm. Because for husband and wife, their support for each other is the strongest. If one feels sad, the other feels it too." She smiled and answered that's why she's being optimistic, for both her husband and herself. And her husband, although he rarely smiles, he actually feels good thanks to her support and encouragement.
Then there's the lady whom is another regular patient for chemo. She's a really nice lady, often likes talking to me about her life in Singapore. It's always interesting to hear her stories, if she's not in constant pain and I'm free. I really hope I get the chance to go to Singapore for holidays. It's been a long while.
The greatest surprise came when my old patient came, as she had promised, bringing us lunch. I can't believe she actually went to so much trouble, even though I told her she don't need to. Well, since she went to so much trouble, I guess I'll just accept it.
*Listen to this song, the meaning is really deep.
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FWWePKj5rs
I didn't get to follow any profs today. When you are taking care of Datin, she's a little difficult, but a nice lady. I often have to use a lot of plastic and hypafix tapes to protect both of her legs getting soaked, together with her PICC. Well, today, I don't know why she wanted me to wrap in a different method. So I just did as she comply. The legs are okay, she could navigate easier, but the PICC one is really awkward. It was soaked while she took her nice shower. Awww, looks like I have to do my dressing in one shot instead of it being due tomorrow. Sigh, so here comes the trolley with my forceps and saline,
In between I did chat with some patients. Most of them are wondering why they often see my face and I just answered them that I'm on duty. Maybe i should disappear for a day and see.... Ah, I'm joking. But Datin, a patient's wife and the chemo lady turned out to be really chatty with me. Because all three, I often spend time with them to get their I/O done. Datin's case is mainly because I had to do her dressings when needed, or if the Matron is not around, and do all the wrappings. We talked about Arab cultures, GST implementation and she asked me why I became a nurse. I mentioned that I took up nursing cause it's one of the only ways I can write my stories. But Datin strike reality by saying, "I don't think nursing gives you enough time to write too, girl." She's right, in truth. Back when I was a student nurse, I actually had time to write. Seriously, despite all the heavy assignments because I actually have my weekends free. And usually if I have a super free day. I can usually write an average of 2 to 3 pages. Not this time. Datin suggested to me to try out writing comics, since one of her family members worked on the My Little Ponies comics. I admitted to Datin, I'm only good at drawing characters, but when it comes to backgrounds, I'm awful. And it looks really cartoony when I drew it in. But she said to me, "The most important thing is that you are using your own style. Don't give up." Awww, seriously, she gave me motivation to never give up on my writing. Who would've thought??? =D
http://elaynecapahony.deviantart.com/art/Rough-art-of-Chapter-1-392417163 (This is a link of the comic I attempted. You can have a look if you want.)
For the patient and his wife, well, like I said, he actually have cancer, but his wife is so optimistic. I never questioned her about it in case of hurting her or the uncle's feelings, but someone asked her right out, and she merely answered that she's being cheerful to support her husband. She asked me whether it's wrong and I said to her, "It's good to feel optimistic, no harm. Because for husband and wife, their support for each other is the strongest. If one feels sad, the other feels it too." She smiled and answered that's why she's being optimistic, for both her husband and herself. And her husband, although he rarely smiles, he actually feels good thanks to her support and encouragement.
Then there's the lady whom is another regular patient for chemo. She's a really nice lady, often likes talking to me about her life in Singapore. It's always interesting to hear her stories, if she's not in constant pain and I'm free. I really hope I get the chance to go to Singapore for holidays. It's been a long while.
The greatest surprise came when my old patient came, as she had promised, bringing us lunch. I can't believe she actually went to so much trouble, even though I told her she don't need to. Well, since she went to so much trouble, I guess I'll just accept it.
*Listen to this song, the meaning is really deep.
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FWWePKj5rs
Monday, November 24, 2014
Familiar Faces
24th November (Monday) - While it may be a previously dull moment on Sunday, today we had admissions, but not so bad. But my mind felt like it's only half-awake, as it always does whenever I'm on noon duty and going to morning in the next day. But for patients' sake, I shall do my very best.
I seemed to be glued to Datin because for three days I've been taking care of her. Not that I'm complaining but she's being really difficult by making odd requests. Argh, patience, patience, I've been handling her from the first time she entered and this is no difference, she's co-operative, just being slightly difficult.
Hnmm, I've never expected much out of myself, to tell you the truth. And for some reason my stomach seems to disagree with me today. God knows. I came back from a round of major stomach complain to find a phone call waiting for me. That's strange, I don't get much phone call since I'm pretty much 'invisible' most of the time, but what a pleasant surprise. It's an old patient of mine from two months back. I definitely still remember her, she's the cute lady with the bob-cut hair and whom had stayed for 10 days because of her drain spilling out a lot. Oh yes, I still remember every shift we changed bottles about 3 - 4 times. Aww, she wanted to bring lunch for us, unfortunately most people that she remembered had changed departments or left jobs. No matter, even though I told her she didn't need to bring lunch, she insisted and said she'll make it before the end of our shift. Well, it's the patience's kindness... Let's just wait til tomorrow and see what happens.
I thought having taken a chiffon cake and my porridge should help quell my gastric problem. Bzzt. For some reason near the end of my shift I ended up getting another gastric pain. Ohhhh. Dear God, why does it have to keep coming? I felt a severe pain at my abdomen and was clutching in pain near the end of my shift. Oh help. Thank God I already fixed an appointment with the Gatro Prof, I hope he'll be able to fix my gastric issues. No joke. My old patient once said to me that gastric can eventually lead to gastritis, and in worse case scenario, CA gastric. t Oh God, no, please no. I don't want any disease.
Because of some issues, I had to rush to buy postal orders at the nearest shopping complex post office despite my gastric pain and who do I run into but old friends. I wonder how come I keep getting popped by surprises from familiar patients and old classmates? Must be a sign from God telling me to keep moving onwards... Sigh, I do miss my student life.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Life's Worth
22nd November (Saturday) - The first thing when I came back from my day off was everyone took one look at me and said, "You lost your smile." Well, wouldn't you if you had cared for that patient for more than a month, from the time she was able to walk to a condition that left her bed-ridden. Sigh, I know I should be moving on and I'm trying, but it's not easy. It's like the time where my family's beloved baby bulldog passed, the doctors attempted CPR and when failed, the doctor released his anger by kicking the trolley, frustrated and sad because he couldn't save him. Same goes here. Be it pet or human lives.
I must've been worse than I thought, no, I'm still dong my work alright, it's just that I'm not smiling a lot and I looked so gloomy, even the way I talked sounded gloomy. One of the patients who trusted me enough after a few exchanges of taking care of her husband asked me why I was so gloomy and I told her.what happened on Tuesday. Although all all my colleagues said I did not neglect my duties, there's no helping that patient because she's already in a critical stage. The lady too, said, that it's fated. I was monitoring her hubby's saturation level and oh no, 94%. No, no no, no. I immediately put on oxygen for the patient and advised the lady, to please, please don't remove the oxygen unnecessarily. I know most people think, oh, oxygen saturation at 94- 95 is not such a big deal, but it's a very big deal, as evidenced by my previous patient. No more taking any risks. It's like I always say, one minute you may be alright and next thing you may be half gasping for breath and such. The patient took my advice patiently and made sure to check the oxygen levels and that the oxygen is always in place. Her hubby may be a little stubborn but he's doing his best. He may have cancer but he's still fit as a fiddle.
Another lady whom I take care of is one of the regular patients for chemo. She was so touched by my constant patience with her that she got me some Lo Han Guo fruits from Singapore. Aww, thanks. Sincerely.
On and off I've been really stressed over dressings, blood transfusions, and drips til one of the prof whom I'm okay with asked me whether I'm alright and I told him I'm really stressed out to the point I felt like throwing up. He then told me a story when he was a new doctor, he used to get bullied by seniors nurses, midwives and such. Yikes, who would've thought? He told me to just be patience and keep going moving onwards.
When I took care of the uncle again, his wife asked me whether I believe in God, and I said, even though I'm a Buddhist, I usually pray more to God due to having many friends who are Christian, whenever I get up every day, I always make a small prayer that I'm alive and pray that the whole day will turn out well, who knows, you may end up looking healthy and dropping the next day or such. Scary, isn't it? That's how unpredictable life is, that's why we have to make it worth to the fullest.
I must've been worse than I thought, no, I'm still dong my work alright, it's just that I'm not smiling a lot and I looked so gloomy, even the way I talked sounded gloomy. One of the patients who trusted me enough after a few exchanges of taking care of her husband asked me why I was so gloomy and I told her.what happened on Tuesday. Although all all my colleagues said I did not neglect my duties, there's no helping that patient because she's already in a critical stage. The lady too, said, that it's fated. I was monitoring her hubby's saturation level and oh no, 94%. No, no no, no. I immediately put on oxygen for the patient and advised the lady, to please, please don't remove the oxygen unnecessarily. I know most people think, oh, oxygen saturation at 94- 95 is not such a big deal, but it's a very big deal, as evidenced by my previous patient. No more taking any risks. It's like I always say, one minute you may be alright and next thing you may be half gasping for breath and such. The patient took my advice patiently and made sure to check the oxygen levels and that the oxygen is always in place. Her hubby may be a little stubborn but he's doing his best. He may have cancer but he's still fit as a fiddle.
Another lady whom I take care of is one of the regular patients for chemo. She was so touched by my constant patience with her that she got me some Lo Han Guo fruits from Singapore. Aww, thanks. Sincerely.
On and off I've been really stressed over dressings, blood transfusions, and drips til one of the prof whom I'm okay with asked me whether I'm alright and I told him I'm really stressed out to the point I felt like throwing up. He then told me a story when he was a new doctor, he used to get bullied by seniors nurses, midwives and such. Yikes, who would've thought? He told me to just be patience and keep going moving onwards.
When I took care of the uncle again, his wife asked me whether I believe in God, and I said, even though I'm a Buddhist, I usually pray more to God due to having many friends who are Christian, whenever I get up every day, I always make a small prayer that I'm alive and pray that the whole day will turn out well, who knows, you may end up looking healthy and dropping the next day or such. Scary, isn't it? That's how unpredictable life is, that's why we have to make it worth to the fullest.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Highway To Heaven
Livin' easy
Lovin' free
Season ticket on a one way ride
Askin' nothin'
Leave me be
Takin' everythin' in my stride
Don't need reason
Don't need rhyme
Ain't nothin' that I'd rather do
Goin' down
Party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell
Lovin' free
Season ticket on a one way ride
Askin' nothin'
Leave me be
Takin' everythin' in my stride
Don't need reason
Don't need rhyme
Ain't nothin' that I'd rather do
Goin' down
Party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell
AC/DC - Highway To Hell, 27th June 1979, Atlantic,
Written by Bon Scott, Angus Young, Malcolm Young,
Produced by Mutt Lange,
Performed by AC/DC
Written by Bon Scott, Angus Young, Malcolm Young,
Produced by Mutt Lange,
Performed by AC/DC
18th November (Tuesday) - You're probably thinking why there's heaven in the title while there's the AC/DC ever popular Highway to Hell lyrics. Well, the heaven part is a sort of metaphor. You see, early on I followed a few profs around, and one of them happened to be the good prof So-and-So. While talking to the patient, he mentioned that he'll be leaving by December. Ah, so that explains why he is trying to recruit some people to follow him. Again, I say he's being very kind to offer me a job, but sadly I have to decline. The senior staff nurse overheard our conversation and I quickly denied, when the prof was questioned, he was telling that we were discussing about going to heaven (Yes, yes, exactly), but saying those words triggered the next string of events.
I got the first few rooms, sigh, just my luck. Even though I got those few rooms, I rarely attended my patients due to busy attending others. Especially some of the Chinese old ladies whom rarely speak a word of English or Malay. Nothing much about those parts, at 11, I was supposed to do my observation but the lady is calling me to change her diapers, together with my colleague. Not a problem, except after we changed, she suddenly complained of difficulty in breathing. We hurriedly put oxygen for her together with the oxygen saturation machine that I brought. Not good. Her saturation rates from 83% to 85%. Oh my Lord, I dashed to the prof who is still in front and quickly informed him, then he gave me the order to increase the oxygen dosage with face mask. For 30 minutes I sat in her room, unable to move because her oxygen is really poor, even after I put up to 7- 8 litre. When the senior came in, I told her about my situation and she got me to get High Flow mask for 10 litre and above oxygen. Sad to say, even after I ran like a mad person with High Flow masks in hand and put up to 10 litre oxygen, her oxygen still isn't improving til the senior increased up to 15 litre, the maximum level. And even then, her oxygen only maintained at 95%. Ohhh. I got a better saturation machine and plug it in and kept it on the patient for continuous saturation monitoring. And wrote my ridiculously long report about the saturation monitoring. Thank heavens for that. You'll see why later. Continuing on...
Not much to say at this point, except when I was updating my IO charts and doing appointments for some of my patients, I picked up a call which kept asking for me. I was halfway doing a patient's appointment and I asked why and they said, "We need a Chinese translator, pronto." After hurriedly setting the appointment, I informed my TL I'll be going over to the other side and off I went, thank God the patient is able to speak Chinese so I'm safe. After a long explanation to the patient herself and the son's girlfriend, regarding about fasting and medicine timings, the prof managed to get a consent and together with mine, we got it legally covered. So after handing over to the TL over there, I went back to my ward to finish my IO charts and then disaster with a capital D ensues.
At 1410 HR, it's actually passed my shift but we had to wait for the reports to be finished passing over before we could leave. Suddenly the CI and some seniors called me because my patient suddenly ended up in trouble. When I reached the room, she looks the same, difficulty in breathing and sweaty. But her saturation haven't drop. But for some strange reason, she kept saying it's difficult. Feeling cold, I stayed by her side while we try getting her vitals for the prof. Pulse is still okay, blood sugar is okay, but for some reason, blood pressure can't be read and all of a sudden her saturation can't be read. Oh God, please don't let this be real. I shouted her name while tapping her to get response, with no response, I tried pulling her eyelid a little and her eyeballs are rolling upwards. No! I slammed my fingers to her wrist, no pulse. To be sure, I slammed my fingers to her jugular (neck) vein and---
The Sister demanded to get the Emergency Cart ready while the attendant and I get the various equipments ready. Suction, clear the room, the CI got the son and husband to go out and we got the room ready. Once the cart arrived, the Sister took action by performing CPR while some of my colleagues got the oxygen and suction ready. One person got the AMBU bag and is pumping air into her. The anaesthesist came thanks to the senior calling him and soon we were rushing up and down, with senior staffs yelling their orders, and for me and the other girls, CPR. Even though it's only 3 months, I had to perform it cause she's my patient. Fighting back tears and praying hard, I did what I was taught. Hard and fast, and count outloud to keep the cycle going. I overheard some of the staff murmuring "3 months only and she's doing CPR? Crazy." but it's in a good way. I kept my pumping fast and hard as I could and change after every 5 cycles. Not easy, my arms were aching and I was sweating hard while fighting back tears and willing for the madam to stay with me. No luck. I saw the ECG machine and she isn't flatlined yet, please tell me there's a little hope.
1500 HR and the anaest shake his head and called out, "10 more minutes, if still no response, then we stop." While waiting for my turn for the change, I saw her husband and son crying outside. Please, please, because she's my patient, I had to do the report. Eager to hide my tears, I dashed to the front, grabbed her folder, and with the CI guidance, I wrote the report with shaky hands. I couldn't talk much due to my voice being cracked so I just held out my report for the IC to check. After correcting a few lines, I wrote the full document in black and white and then passed it to the anaest, who had came out and shook his head. No, no, no, NO! How can this be?! Unable to hide back my tears, I hung my head, letting silent tears spill. The anaest patted me gently on the back as he took my report to complete his side. The madam may not be the best patient in the ward but no one ever wish for their patient to go like that. She promised me that she will get up to walk so that she could go back home. WHY?!!!
At 1410 HR, it's actually passed my shift but we had to wait for the reports to be finished passing over before we could leave. Suddenly the CI and some seniors called me because my patient suddenly ended up in trouble. When I reached the room, she looks the same, difficulty in breathing and sweaty. But her saturation haven't drop. But for some strange reason, she kept saying it's difficult. Feeling cold, I stayed by her side while we try getting her vitals for the prof. Pulse is still okay, blood sugar is okay, but for some reason, blood pressure can't be read and all of a sudden her saturation can't be read. Oh God, please don't let this be real. I shouted her name while tapping her to get response, with no response, I tried pulling her eyelid a little and her eyeballs are rolling upwards. No! I slammed my fingers to her wrist, no pulse. To be sure, I slammed my fingers to her jugular (neck) vein and---
The Sister demanded to get the Emergency Cart ready while the attendant and I get the various equipments ready. Suction, clear the room, the CI got the son and husband to go out and we got the room ready. Once the cart arrived, the Sister took action by performing CPR while some of my colleagues got the oxygen and suction ready. One person got the AMBU bag and is pumping air into her. The anaesthesist came thanks to the senior calling him and soon we were rushing up and down, with senior staffs yelling their orders, and for me and the other girls, CPR. Even though it's only 3 months, I had to perform it cause she's my patient. Fighting back tears and praying hard, I did what I was taught. Hard and fast, and count outloud to keep the cycle going. I overheard some of the staff murmuring "3 months only and she's doing CPR? Crazy." but it's in a good way. I kept my pumping fast and hard as I could and change after every 5 cycles. Not easy, my arms were aching and I was sweating hard while fighting back tears and willing for the madam to stay with me. No luck. I saw the ECG machine and she isn't flatlined yet, please tell me there's a little hope.
1500 HR and the anaest shake his head and called out, "10 more minutes, if still no response, then we stop." While waiting for my turn for the change, I saw her husband and son crying outside. Please, please, because she's my patient, I had to do the report. Eager to hide my tears, I dashed to the front, grabbed her folder, and with the CI guidance, I wrote the report with shaky hands. I couldn't talk much due to my voice being cracked so I just held out my report for the IC to check. After correcting a few lines, I wrote the full document in black and white and then passed it to the anaest, who had came out and shook his head. No, no, no, NO! How can this be?! Unable to hide back my tears, I hung my head, letting silent tears spill. The anaest patted me gently on the back as he took my report to complete his side. The madam may not be the best patient in the ward but no one ever wish for their patient to go like that. She promised me that she will get up to walk so that she could go back home. WHY?!!!
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Miraculous Offer and Creativity
15th November (Saturday) - Oh, yesterday was nuts. All our old patients came back, from Datin, to uncle (Not our long term uncle, another one), to the chemo lady whom was supposed to return to Singapore, and a child whom I met briefly once. Must be a reunion for meeting all of our regular patients. Hmm.
Then with tons of operating cases, we were all rushing again... And we got tons of heavy care, not critical patients. The uncle with the Gary snail, today he was nicer, and I was praying hard that he will be able to eat something so that we don't have to set more Kabiven for him, no luck. I went in with the prof and he said, it's impossible cause he's not taking enough, even though he's taking orally. Liquid or pureed diet only, but with only few cups of water and milo, it's really poor. Too bad for him, prof ordered another 2 bags of Kabiven for him. Oh well, poor uncle with the Gary snail. (Names are highly confidential, so hence the long name)
After confirming all of prof's orders, I went back to do my report and suddenly he came back and ask me where I lived (I misheard as lift, how embarrassing). The senior girls joked whether the prof is trying to stalk me and he joked back by saying he wanted to take me out for a meal. o.o I think I may have blushed red due to embarrassment and the senior girls (still joking) cry out the unfairness. In my mind, I thought I was pretty pathetic, but assisting him smoothly in his Latex drain removal made him happy, I guess.
While I was about to write his report, another prof came, so I didn't have a choice but to follow him, since no one wanted to. After he discharged his patient, I quickly settle the discharge patient first from A to Z. Once done, I ran to the billing department and oh, the prof is there, filling in his charges. He saw me and asked whether I'm sending folders for discharge and I answered yes. Then he asked me whether I speak Mandarin and I answered yes. Then he went on a long conversation with me. To put it short, he's offering me a job to be his PA. These are the reactions that flooded my mind.
Confusion, shock, pleased, curious, stunned.
What he offered is wonderful, but unfortunately, it's located at Ampang, and passing by there few times to go to KLCC, I know the wrong time can cause a massive 1 to 2 hour jam. And deep down, I know that I'm still considered a newbie, or junior staff since it has only been past 3 months since I entered here. Sadly, with a heavy heart, I had to turn down his offer because if I go there now, there'll be many weird cases that I had never seen, and I'll end up dragging him down. Gently and politely, I turned his offer down, but requested that if he can wait for me for one year, then I might re-consider to join him. He was nice and answered that whenever I feel like it, I can just ask him and he'll offer me once more. I know people often say there's always a second chance, but sometimes, in reality, you only have one chance to take the stage. But I have to stay positive.
Moving on to the next day, I just came in, not even at the start of my shift and I get yelled by the Sister: For not taking the next ward CD when I went to collect my patient yesterday. She demanded to know why, and half-groggy from sleep, I managed to answer I took the CD by accident but the staff at CT scan told me not to take it, only to take what is mine and leave. If I had taken the CD and it happened to get scratched or cracked along the way, I would've been responsible. A nice uncle concierge who had helped me saw the incident and backed me up. But the Sister did not soften and she snapped at me and told me, next time, if you see anything belonging to any of the ward, just take the darn thing and hand it over. Calm down, calm down. At least I know what to do next time. I'm not sure how long I can keep this up.
Speaking of which, I think I'm getting into my hypoglycaemic attack. I don't know, yesterday when I was at CT scan, the uncle said I was shivering and looking really sweaty, as though I'm going to topple at any moment. But I assured him I was fine, but while I was doing a big dressing for my patient, she said I looked really pale, as in sickly pale. After doing her dressing (It was fun and challenging, involving normal saline mixed with iodine, and wrapping with thick gamgee cotton wools and incopad sheets because she is allergic to plasters), my colleague commented to me as well that I don't look peachy. For some reason, I felt really flushed and clammy, not to mention I felt another painful gastric coming, but I'm not allowed to have my lunch til I finish the observation. The uncle pitied me and ordered me to eat but I can't, if it's the TL's orders, then I have to do it. Not good, not good at all. Thank goodness I kept my emergency supplies of Horlicks in my bag so I was able to get some sugar back into me. I got asked whether I'm Diabetic Type 1 but I assured him, so far I'm not.
Well, that's it. What an eventful two days, and now, after working for 10 days non-stop, I can finally have a nice day off.
Then with tons of operating cases, we were all rushing again... And we got tons of heavy care, not critical patients. The uncle with the Gary snail, today he was nicer, and I was praying hard that he will be able to eat something so that we don't have to set more Kabiven for him, no luck. I went in with the prof and he said, it's impossible cause he's not taking enough, even though he's taking orally. Liquid or pureed diet only, but with only few cups of water and milo, it's really poor. Too bad for him, prof ordered another 2 bags of Kabiven for him. Oh well, poor uncle with the Gary snail. (Names are highly confidential, so hence the long name)
After confirming all of prof's orders, I went back to do my report and suddenly he came back and ask me where I lived (I misheard as lift, how embarrassing). The senior girls joked whether the prof is trying to stalk me and he joked back by saying he wanted to take me out for a meal. o.o I think I may have blushed red due to embarrassment and the senior girls (still joking) cry out the unfairness. In my mind, I thought I was pretty pathetic, but assisting him smoothly in his Latex drain removal made him happy, I guess.
While I was about to write his report, another prof came, so I didn't have a choice but to follow him, since no one wanted to. After he discharged his patient, I quickly settle the discharge patient first from A to Z. Once done, I ran to the billing department and oh, the prof is there, filling in his charges. He saw me and asked whether I'm sending folders for discharge and I answered yes. Then he asked me whether I speak Mandarin and I answered yes. Then he went on a long conversation with me. To put it short, he's offering me a job to be his PA. These are the reactions that flooded my mind.
Confusion, shock, pleased, curious, stunned.
What he offered is wonderful, but unfortunately, it's located at Ampang, and passing by there few times to go to KLCC, I know the wrong time can cause a massive 1 to 2 hour jam. And deep down, I know that I'm still considered a newbie, or junior staff since it has only been past 3 months since I entered here. Sadly, with a heavy heart, I had to turn down his offer because if I go there now, there'll be many weird cases that I had never seen, and I'll end up dragging him down. Gently and politely, I turned his offer down, but requested that if he can wait for me for one year, then I might re-consider to join him. He was nice and answered that whenever I feel like it, I can just ask him and he'll offer me once more. I know people often say there's always a second chance, but sometimes, in reality, you only have one chance to take the stage. But I have to stay positive.
Moving on to the next day, I just came in, not even at the start of my shift and I get yelled by the Sister: For not taking the next ward CD when I went to collect my patient yesterday. She demanded to know why, and half-groggy from sleep, I managed to answer I took the CD by accident but the staff at CT scan told me not to take it, only to take what is mine and leave. If I had taken the CD and it happened to get scratched or cracked along the way, I would've been responsible. A nice uncle concierge who had helped me saw the incident and backed me up. But the Sister did not soften and she snapped at me and told me, next time, if you see anything belonging to any of the ward, just take the darn thing and hand it over. Calm down, calm down. At least I know what to do next time. I'm not sure how long I can keep this up.
Speaking of which, I think I'm getting into my hypoglycaemic attack. I don't know, yesterday when I was at CT scan, the uncle said I was shivering and looking really sweaty, as though I'm going to topple at any moment. But I assured him I was fine, but while I was doing a big dressing for my patient, she said I looked really pale, as in sickly pale. After doing her dressing (It was fun and challenging, involving normal saline mixed with iodine, and wrapping with thick gamgee cotton wools and incopad sheets because she is allergic to plasters), my colleague commented to me as well that I don't look peachy. For some reason, I felt really flushed and clammy, not to mention I felt another painful gastric coming, but I'm not allowed to have my lunch til I finish the observation. The uncle pitied me and ordered me to eat but I can't, if it's the TL's orders, then I have to do it. Not good, not good at all. Thank goodness I kept my emergency supplies of Horlicks in my bag so I was able to get some sugar back into me. I got asked whether I'm Diabetic Type 1 but I assured him, so far I'm not.
Well, that's it. What an eventful two days, and now, after working for 10 days non-stop, I can finally have a nice day off.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Trust
13th November (Thursday) - Running up and down is no easy task, which is basically what I ended up doing because most of the seniors are busy and one girl is too junior to do the job, so I ended up doing the job. Running to attend the patients, sending them up and down. And my legs ended up being like jelly. The only good point is... the patient appreciated what we done. She thanked us sincerely, and the attendant and I sank into our chairs when we reached back. No easy task. And I was actually halfway doing the Resus Trolley check. Oh yes, I started doing Resus checking, which involves getting the super big folder of Resus Trolley Inventory and checking off the equipments in the list, and checking our brand new Defribillator Machine, making sure it's in order. It took me an hour, but at least I did my job properly instead of just randomly seeing and chucking everything in the drawers.
God, no waffles. Argh, how many time had I placed my waffles order and it always runs out?! My luck is so rotten. I need my waffles dipped in chocolate for stress relievant besides my books. I give up, I think I better stick to Fruity Mentos. Ohhh, how I miss my waffles. :(
This time around, we had three discharges, oh the relief. But a certain patient made us pissed. Not the patient technically,but her mother. Yep, it's her alright, the patient whose mother complains a lot. She's being discharged today, and she's supposed to leave by 2 pm, unfortunately even til 4.30, the insurance still hasn't processed. So she signed the Leave At Your Own Risk Form and shouted at all of us for poor service. Sigh, we all knew she's going to act like that. Didn't I told her on her very first day, anything you want to complain, fill in the customer feedback form? Well, whatever. There's a saying that goes, if you hate the place and service so much, then why bother coming? She loved to say that hospital A and B are so much better, so why not go there? Then you'll be happy, we'll be happy and everyone gets a happy ending.
In between, I followed the doctor's rounds, while I got a surprise. My old patient with the colonstomy came back. Oh dear. When I asked her why she came back, she answered she couldn't eat due to poor appetite. Judging from her appearance, she certainly lost some weight, because she looks like a stick, compared to last time where she's thin, but no so thin like now.She requested me to wash her colonstomy bag, which I did with pride, finally being able to perform it without relying on others for help. It's just that this time, I emptied the bag first instead of flushing to get an accurate reading, then using the sterile water, flush her bag and made it clean for her. Since her maid is there, she helped me, having learnt the colonstomy flushing form various nurses. ^^
We got a call from OT to fetch a patient back but she's going to HDU for close monitoring, since she's only a child. She's going for a tonsillectomy but even so. One of the senior asked whether I sent a patient to HDU before and I replied, yes, I certainly did once. So she said, "Okay then, kiddo. You are the best person for the job. So go and get the patient and take her HDU." Well, if she says like that, it means she has trusted me to bring the patient to HDU. This senior, she's okay, but she has no patience for teaching, so you have to learn fast and be able to do it and she will like you. So I went to get the patient, sent her to HDU, settled her down, then wrote my report and passed over to the HDU nurse. She's so cute, and very brave. Only 6 year old, but she's not like some kids whom I attended, who often scream 'blood murder' on the top of their voice. She's so quiet. and when I asked her any pain, she's shakes her head, or when I ask her does she feel like vomiting, she answered, "Don't feel like it." We haven't adjusted the bed fully and she was about to swing herself down from the bed. So brave, although we stopped her from swinging down til we adjusted the bed fully. Then her mother said she's the bravest out of her three children, and I asked her whether she's the eldest and she answered, "No, she's my middle girl. I got an elder girl and a younger boy. Out of all my kids, she's the most dependent. Middle children are often the most bravest, don't you think so, nurse?" I have to agree with her there, middle children are often extra-ordinary, seeing as I have friends who are also middle child.
After my complete passover, I returned to the ward at 8 pm, staggering due to not having eaten anything from the start of my shift. The senior patted me on the back and said, "Alright, go and have your dinner." Whew, thank God. And that pretty much ends today. How fun. =D
God, no waffles. Argh, how many time had I placed my waffles order and it always runs out?! My luck is so rotten. I need my waffles dipped in chocolate for stress relievant besides my books. I give up, I think I better stick to Fruity Mentos. Ohhh, how I miss my waffles. :(
This time around, we had three discharges, oh the relief. But a certain patient made us pissed. Not the patient technically,but her mother. Yep, it's her alright, the patient whose mother complains a lot. She's being discharged today, and she's supposed to leave by 2 pm, unfortunately even til 4.30, the insurance still hasn't processed. So she signed the Leave At Your Own Risk Form and shouted at all of us for poor service. Sigh, we all knew she's going to act like that. Didn't I told her on her very first day, anything you want to complain, fill in the customer feedback form? Well, whatever. There's a saying that goes, if you hate the place and service so much, then why bother coming? She loved to say that hospital A and B are so much better, so why not go there? Then you'll be happy, we'll be happy and everyone gets a happy ending.
In between, I followed the doctor's rounds, while I got a surprise. My old patient with the colonstomy came back. Oh dear. When I asked her why she came back, she answered she couldn't eat due to poor appetite. Judging from her appearance, she certainly lost some weight, because she looks like a stick, compared to last time where she's thin, but no so thin like now.She requested me to wash her colonstomy bag, which I did with pride, finally being able to perform it without relying on others for help. It's just that this time, I emptied the bag first instead of flushing to get an accurate reading, then using the sterile water, flush her bag and made it clean for her. Since her maid is there, she helped me, having learnt the colonstomy flushing form various nurses. ^^
We got a call from OT to fetch a patient back but she's going to HDU for close monitoring, since she's only a child. She's going for a tonsillectomy but even so. One of the senior asked whether I sent a patient to HDU before and I replied, yes, I certainly did once. So she said, "Okay then, kiddo. You are the best person for the job. So go and get the patient and take her HDU." Well, if she says like that, it means she has trusted me to bring the patient to HDU. This senior, she's okay, but she has no patience for teaching, so you have to learn fast and be able to do it and she will like you. So I went to get the patient, sent her to HDU, settled her down, then wrote my report and passed over to the HDU nurse. She's so cute, and very brave. Only 6 year old, but she's not like some kids whom I attended, who often scream 'blood murder' on the top of their voice. She's so quiet. and when I asked her any pain, she's shakes her head, or when I ask her does she feel like vomiting, she answered, "Don't feel like it." We haven't adjusted the bed fully and she was about to swing herself down from the bed. So brave, although we stopped her from swinging down til we adjusted the bed fully. Then her mother said she's the bravest out of her three children, and I asked her whether she's the eldest and she answered, "No, she's my middle girl. I got an elder girl and a younger boy. Out of all my kids, she's the most dependent. Middle children are often the most bravest, don't you think so, nurse?" I have to agree with her there, middle children are often extra-ordinary, seeing as I have friends who are also middle child.
After my complete passover, I returned to the ward at 8 pm, staggering due to not having eaten anything from the start of my shift. The senior patted me on the back and said, "Alright, go and have your dinner." Whew, thank God. And that pretty much ends today. How fun. =D
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Hitting The Right Notes
12th November (Wednesday) - It seems that we've been taking things for granted. From the last few weeks, our ward had became one of them most busiest ward instead of the other side with its double-bedded rooms. Because most of our cases are critical and children, annoyingly, children. People always tell me, rich, fussiest or snobbiest patients are the worst, but if you ask me, I say children are the worst type of patients. Although snobby, rich, fussy patients are a pain, they are able to cooperate with you when you hit the right notes, as I had done with one patient, I'll go into that one later. Children, they will never really listen to you, and they really, really hate pain. Even if you hold a needle in your hand, it will forever be engraved into their memory, and then they get a mindset that nurses are all evil. A single medicine takes up to 30 minutes if the child is the kind that hates medicines, and mistrusts the nurses. Children tends to spit everything out they dislike, so in order to make sure treatment is met, you have to see with your own eyes that the child swallowed it down before you leave.
Okay, about my fussy patient, she's a teacher. I mentioned about her briefly in one of my posts. She dislikes being called an 'auntie' and she expects you to call her "Ms." And whenever you do something, you have to tell her. I always update my patients' IO chart, and she;s no exception. Having taken care of her for three days, I more or less know how to handle her. I just explained to her that no, nothing is wrong with her, I just need to record my IO as part of my job, and for documenting purposes. All my patients need IO monitoring, so she gave me her intake and output. She even trusted me enough to ask me questions about her surgery and the outcomes. This part, I can only give her my honest answer, "Sorry, I cannot give you a straight answer for this. As a nurse, I can only see what's on the outside, if you need further details about what's going to happen to you after the operation and its complications, only the professor can answer you. Because he will be the one doing the surgery and he knows better. We are only in the ward, so we can't tell you that you'll be alright hundred percent."She then ask me if there is any way to catch the prof before he runs off in a hurry. I gave her the only answer I know: Write down all your questions beforehand on a piece of paper, and hand it over to him. He'll answer them. She then answered, "You are a good nurse. Thank you very much for answering me as truthfully as possible. I'm very grateful." Wow, for me, getting praise from a patient is really tough, since most people like to call me dumb, stupid or a chicken. It may be a small compliment, but I'm also happy to be able to answer her questions, even if they are not straight forward answers. No wonder why people always say, sometimes the worst patient can be the best patient because in the end, they appreciate you for what you done.
On and off, I do follow the professors around. Some I'm okay with, but whenever I'm with him, I always end up getting yelled. I don't know how to cope with him, I really don't. Most of the other profs, although they shout at me, I won't feel so bad because they want me to improve, but him... I just can't cope with him. He's always rushing and you can never tell what is on his mind. TwT
But least to say, I'm able to do off drain, off CBDs, bladder washouts, assist in blood taking, simple dressing and to a lesser extent, skin grafting dressing. I'm going to have to master all skills eventually, and fast, because no one is going to come and save you if you fall. Human Nature, quote, unquote.
I walked into a patient's room to fix a patient's TV, and oh my sweet Lord, I found a Gary plushie, Ohhhh, it's so cute. I want one, but... the patient is such a snob, argh. I can't ask him. Garyyyyy.
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Okay, about my fussy patient, she's a teacher. I mentioned about her briefly in one of my posts. She dislikes being called an 'auntie' and she expects you to call her "Ms." And whenever you do something, you have to tell her. I always update my patients' IO chart, and she;s no exception. Having taken care of her for three days, I more or less know how to handle her. I just explained to her that no, nothing is wrong with her, I just need to record my IO as part of my job, and for documenting purposes. All my patients need IO monitoring, so she gave me her intake and output. She even trusted me enough to ask me questions about her surgery and the outcomes. This part, I can only give her my honest answer, "Sorry, I cannot give you a straight answer for this. As a nurse, I can only see what's on the outside, if you need further details about what's going to happen to you after the operation and its complications, only the professor can answer you. Because he will be the one doing the surgery and he knows better. We are only in the ward, so we can't tell you that you'll be alright hundred percent."She then ask me if there is any way to catch the prof before he runs off in a hurry. I gave her the only answer I know: Write down all your questions beforehand on a piece of paper, and hand it over to him. He'll answer them. She then answered, "You are a good nurse. Thank you very much for answering me as truthfully as possible. I'm very grateful." Wow, for me, getting praise from a patient is really tough, since most people like to call me dumb, stupid or a chicken. It may be a small compliment, but I'm also happy to be able to answer her questions, even if they are not straight forward answers. No wonder why people always say, sometimes the worst patient can be the best patient because in the end, they appreciate you for what you done.
On and off, I do follow the professors around. Some I'm okay with, but whenever I'm with him, I always end up getting yelled. I don't know how to cope with him, I really don't. Most of the other profs, although they shout at me, I won't feel so bad because they want me to improve, but him... I just can't cope with him. He's always rushing and you can never tell what is on his mind. TwT
But least to say, I'm able to do off drain, off CBDs, bladder washouts, assist in blood taking, simple dressing and to a lesser extent, skin grafting dressing. I'm going to have to master all skills eventually, and fast, because no one is going to come and save you if you fall. Human Nature, quote, unquote.
I walked into a patient's room to fix a patient's TV, and oh my sweet Lord, I found a Gary plushie, Ohhhh, it's so cute. I want one, but... the patient is such a snob, argh. I can't ask him. Garyyyyy.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Right Theory vs Right Practice
11th November (Tuesday) - I've been keeping this silent for a moment now, but I think it must've affected me that bad as I thought. It all started off with dressings, of all things. *groans* I get it why one of my colleagues ran off, sometimes you are under-appreciated. I refuse to succumb to that level of depression, well, at least until I gain enough experience and hopefully my book can sell (Which most likely will take a while).
Anyway, back to the track, when I first entered here, I originally did not wear gloves at all when doing dressing, cause that's how I was taught. But when I did my first major dressing, the one with the big drama involving SPC, Redivac and several stitches, Not a fond memory to remember. Okay, today I had to do two dressings. To prevent an incident of running in and out like a headless chicken and giving the patients a bad impression, I went into the patient room and assessed the incision wounds. One is a straight line, a post-CABG wound while the other one is a right lung incision. Okay, simple enough, both are clean and dry, no oozing and pus, the only extra is one person needs the Flavin liquid, the other needs post op-site spray. Okay. While I was doing my first patient, the CI came in in the middle of it and when she saw me wearing sterile gloves, well, she gave me a bullocking for using sterile gloves. Holy... I was so mortified til I kept apologizing to the patient, lucky she was a nice lady otherwise I might have ended up in big trouble, like the patient chasing me out of the room or asking for compensation.
After that, all of us new girls were pulled to the treatment room and we were all given a long lecture about wound types and debating whether we need to use gloves or not. She even went on to say that why would you need to wear gloves during NG and bed-making and emptying the CBD? They are all clean procedures and we should be saving costs for the patients.
!!!!!!
Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa, hold on a second. NG insertion may be a clean procedure, but you are inserting a tube into the patient, through the NOSE. Oh my Lord, are you telling me you want to touch all of the patient's internal fluids if the NG insertion failed??? And what about emptying CBD, although you are not touching the urine directly, but do you want to risk it? She went on to say that back in her days, there were no gloves and you have to touch body fluids and urine and faeces directly. Sigh... When I was questioned, I answered that the senior taught me to wear gloves because it's like a double protection to prevent infection. When I was a student, when I never wear gloves, I get yelled by my CIs, because what they say is... The patient might be an infectious cases, HIV positive, or Hep B and all that, so isn't it better to wear gloves to protect yourself? Sometimes patients didn't know that they are carrying all these stuff, so better to be safe than sorry. But here, the CI warned if any of us simply uses sterile gloves or latex gloves, she will make us pay for the item out of our own pocket instead of the patient because we are unnecessarily using gloves. Oh... That's nuts. Seriously... If you get infected with those dangerous diseases and get brought into questioning, who is going to get the blame? All fingers will point at you. Sigh. I'll keep her words in mind, but always do the right thing and protect yourself. Because once you get into trouble, no one is going to come and protect you, according to my old CI. Human's nature.
A one hour delay is unforgivable to my next patient, but lucky me again, he's a nice guy. After apologizing to him for the delay, I started cleaning his wound. One thing I always remind myself,always remember to remind my patient to cover their nose once I spray the op-site, because well, it smells really strongly of thick rubber. When I asked my patient, he answered, "Well, yeah, it does kind of smell." No matter, I advised him not to scratch at it and he asked whether I will clean his chest tube wound since it's going to be removed in noon, I said to him, if I clean his wound now, then there'll be no point because then I'll have to double charge, He got my point and then agreed to wait for the prof to remove and clean it. That was a close call.
Most of the patients are all okay, but some, like certain two, are what I labelled as don't talk to them too much type. Because they are both arrogant types that expects you to treat them like queens. Knowing form previous experiences, never talk to these type of patients a lot. Just go in, do your job, ask what is necessary and you'll be safe.
Then I ended up running a lot. How strange. I ran after many doctors/profs that I'm not familiar with, but most of them were okay. Follow their orders and it's all okay. Whew, really tired, and I'm working in the morning again tomorrow. Ahhh.
Anyway, back to the track, when I first entered here, I originally did not wear gloves at all when doing dressing, cause that's how I was taught. But when I did my first major dressing, the one with the big drama involving SPC, Redivac and several stitches, Not a fond memory to remember. Okay, today I had to do two dressings. To prevent an incident of running in and out like a headless chicken and giving the patients a bad impression, I went into the patient room and assessed the incision wounds. One is a straight line, a post-CABG wound while the other one is a right lung incision. Okay, simple enough, both are clean and dry, no oozing and pus, the only extra is one person needs the Flavin liquid, the other needs post op-site spray. Okay. While I was doing my first patient, the CI came in in the middle of it and when she saw me wearing sterile gloves, well, she gave me a bullocking for using sterile gloves. Holy... I was so mortified til I kept apologizing to the patient, lucky she was a nice lady otherwise I might have ended up in big trouble, like the patient chasing me out of the room or asking for compensation.
After that, all of us new girls were pulled to the treatment room and we were all given a long lecture about wound types and debating whether we need to use gloves or not. She even went on to say that why would you need to wear gloves during NG and bed-making and emptying the CBD? They are all clean procedures and we should be saving costs for the patients.
!!!!!!
Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa, hold on a second. NG insertion may be a clean procedure, but you are inserting a tube into the patient, through the NOSE. Oh my Lord, are you telling me you want to touch all of the patient's internal fluids if the NG insertion failed??? And what about emptying CBD, although you are not touching the urine directly, but do you want to risk it? She went on to say that back in her days, there were no gloves and you have to touch body fluids and urine and faeces directly. Sigh... When I was questioned, I answered that the senior taught me to wear gloves because it's like a double protection to prevent infection. When I was a student, when I never wear gloves, I get yelled by my CIs, because what they say is... The patient might be an infectious cases, HIV positive, or Hep B and all that, so isn't it better to wear gloves to protect yourself? Sometimes patients didn't know that they are carrying all these stuff, so better to be safe than sorry. But here, the CI warned if any of us simply uses sterile gloves or latex gloves, she will make us pay for the item out of our own pocket instead of the patient because we are unnecessarily using gloves. Oh... That's nuts. Seriously... If you get infected with those dangerous diseases and get brought into questioning, who is going to get the blame? All fingers will point at you. Sigh. I'll keep her words in mind, but always do the right thing and protect yourself. Because once you get into trouble, no one is going to come and protect you, according to my old CI. Human's nature.
A one hour delay is unforgivable to my next patient, but lucky me again, he's a nice guy. After apologizing to him for the delay, I started cleaning his wound. One thing I always remind myself,always remember to remind my patient to cover their nose once I spray the op-site, because well, it smells really strongly of thick rubber. When I asked my patient, he answered, "Well, yeah, it does kind of smell." No matter, I advised him not to scratch at it and he asked whether I will clean his chest tube wound since it's going to be removed in noon, I said to him, if I clean his wound now, then there'll be no point because then I'll have to double charge, He got my point and then agreed to wait for the prof to remove and clean it. That was a close call.
Most of the patients are all okay, but some, like certain two, are what I labelled as don't talk to them too much type. Because they are both arrogant types that expects you to treat them like queens. Knowing form previous experiences, never talk to these type of patients a lot. Just go in, do your job, ask what is necessary and you'll be safe.
Then I ended up running a lot. How strange. I ran after many doctors/profs that I'm not familiar with, but most of them were okay. Follow their orders and it's all okay. Whew, really tired, and I'm working in the morning again tomorrow. Ahhh.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Sunday Blues
9th November (Sunday) - Ever heard of Sunday Blues? I think I do. I actually dread Sundays more than Mondays. Yes, Mondays are when the profs come, with oncoming admissions, but I think I actually like Monday more than Sunday. Even though Sunday may seem crazy, but it'll never be as crazy as Sundays. The rushing for discharges, for instance. Patients are all keen to go back home on Sundays, so they'll usually demand to go back home fast. Well, if you are using cash, then the process can go much faster, if you're insurance, well, then the process is really slow.
The day started off with showering that lady. Let's just say there's no one willing to shower her, and so I had to do it. From what I witnessed that day, she's ten times worse. Really. I asked her whether she can stand up to walk to the bathroom since I saw her sitting outside yesterday with the physiotherapist. She looked at me all funnily and said, "She never taught me how to walk." Liar. I read her notes before I entered. Everything the physiotherapist did with her, she recorded down in the notes. My friend who followed me also shook her head in disbelief. We both struggled with her, because, she's not light, and we are both really small sized. I brought the commode chair for her and she awkwardly pulled herself to the chair, but she did it. Shower her is also an easy task cause she's able to move her hands, but she depended on me too much. Since I couldn't get her to move a lot, I forced her to sit on the chair for an hour as an excuse as her hair was soaking wet, even after I dried it.
After an hour, I came to try help her alone since everyone was busy. She didn't want to help herself to stand up, seriously. She kept giving me answers like, "Difficulty to breathe, chest pain, my hands and legs no energy, you help carry me, girl." I cannot afford to be nice and pamper her, so I said firmly, "You already had physio that teaches you how to move up and down from bed to chair, madam. So all you have to do is use your hip and hand to support you and up you go." After four, five attempts, she couldn't stand, the last part I tried helping her and she still can't. Urgh. I have no choice but to get one senior nurse to help me out. She tried too persuade her to walk as well, but she just kept saying she can't. What can we do, but to help her. And surprisingly, my friend is pregnant. WHAT?!!! She doesn't look pregnant. I confronted her about this after we left the room and she said, "Yep, it's true. Just confirmed." Oh my goodness. She married back in around September and she's already pregnant. Wow, congratulations, friend. Take care of yourself, girl, for your little baby's sake as well.
Then I followed a new doctor around, who's covering for one of the senior professor's patient, After a quick examination, he nodded and said, "Bladder washout, then remove the catheter, inspect the urine and then discharge." Wow, I'm so excited. Ahm, I never done a bladder washout, and remove a catheter from a male patient before. It's quite simple, according to the senior, a 50cc and 20cc syringe, water for irrigation, bed pan, clinical waste bag and gloves and you are all set. First, I flushed through the spigotted tube, the guy looked as though he's suppressing pain, but when I asked him, he gave me a weak smile and muttered, "Nervous." Ah, it's normal. After the second flushing, I emptied his urine bag, and then the moment of truth. I syringe out the water in the balloon and was about to pull it out when the guy stopped me. "WAIT, GIRL! Have you done this thing before?" I gave him my honest answer. "For ladies, I had done it many times, but for men, it's my first. But don't worry, sir, it's exactly the same." After instructing him to relax, breathe in and out, I gave it a gentle straight forward tug and ta-da, it's out. ^^ And the man yelled, well not out of pain, but out of nervousness that the whole ordeal is finally over. Oh dear. I kept assuring him don't worry, it's totally normal to feel like that. Even ladies felt that same way, as his wife kept assuring him.
Then I had to top up a patient's cryo-cuff since it wasn't cold. So after throwing all the excess water, and chipping and shoving all the ice cubes and tossing them into the container, I hurried to the room, only to find the professor inside. Oh, oh, dang. I stood outside like a fool waiting for the prof to come out when my friend prodded me gently. "No need to wait outside, just go on in. He won't mind." While talking, he wanted to take some blood, but he couldn't get a nice vein from the patient's right hand. And the daughter, she had to rub it in by going, "Prof, you're going for the wrong vein. I'll do it." Oh my, she actually challenged the prof, and even draw the blood from her mother. Judging from how she talks, confidence but with a tint of arrogance, after the prof shrugged and left, I asked her gently, whether she's a doctor and she answered, "Yes, Master's holder, just waiting for my thesis." Oho, so that's why she can stand up to prof. Man, I feel bad for him. Getting rubbed in the face by a patient's daughter who is also a doctor. No matter, at least I applied the cryo cuff correctly, while she admitted she had been applying it wrongly for the past few days. Hmmm.
Then besides topping up drip, I was left to do odd jobs since everyone had to do their reports. Running to billing to quicken the discharge, hand over appointment cards, attending call bells and such. Okay, end of shift, now off to sleep. I'm really sleepy.
The day started off with showering that lady. Let's just say there's no one willing to shower her, and so I had to do it. From what I witnessed that day, she's ten times worse. Really. I asked her whether she can stand up to walk to the bathroom since I saw her sitting outside yesterday with the physiotherapist. She looked at me all funnily and said, "She never taught me how to walk." Liar. I read her notes before I entered. Everything the physiotherapist did with her, she recorded down in the notes. My friend who followed me also shook her head in disbelief. We both struggled with her, because, she's not light, and we are both really small sized. I brought the commode chair for her and she awkwardly pulled herself to the chair, but she did it. Shower her is also an easy task cause she's able to move her hands, but she depended on me too much. Since I couldn't get her to move a lot, I forced her to sit on the chair for an hour as an excuse as her hair was soaking wet, even after I dried it.
After an hour, I came to try help her alone since everyone was busy. She didn't want to help herself to stand up, seriously. She kept giving me answers like, "Difficulty to breathe, chest pain, my hands and legs no energy, you help carry me, girl." I cannot afford to be nice and pamper her, so I said firmly, "You already had physio that teaches you how to move up and down from bed to chair, madam. So all you have to do is use your hip and hand to support you and up you go." After four, five attempts, she couldn't stand, the last part I tried helping her and she still can't. Urgh. I have no choice but to get one senior nurse to help me out. She tried too persuade her to walk as well, but she just kept saying she can't. What can we do, but to help her. And surprisingly, my friend is pregnant. WHAT?!!! She doesn't look pregnant. I confronted her about this after we left the room and she said, "Yep, it's true. Just confirmed." Oh my goodness. She married back in around September and she's already pregnant. Wow, congratulations, friend. Take care of yourself, girl, for your little baby's sake as well.
Then I followed a new doctor around, who's covering for one of the senior professor's patient, After a quick examination, he nodded and said, "Bladder washout, then remove the catheter, inspect the urine and then discharge." Wow, I'm so excited. Ahm, I never done a bladder washout, and remove a catheter from a male patient before. It's quite simple, according to the senior, a 50cc and 20cc syringe, water for irrigation, bed pan, clinical waste bag and gloves and you are all set. First, I flushed through the spigotted tube, the guy looked as though he's suppressing pain, but when I asked him, he gave me a weak smile and muttered, "Nervous." Ah, it's normal. After the second flushing, I emptied his urine bag, and then the moment of truth. I syringe out the water in the balloon and was about to pull it out when the guy stopped me. "WAIT, GIRL! Have you done this thing before?" I gave him my honest answer. "For ladies, I had done it many times, but for men, it's my first. But don't worry, sir, it's exactly the same." After instructing him to relax, breathe in and out, I gave it a gentle straight forward tug and ta-da, it's out. ^^ And the man yelled, well not out of pain, but out of nervousness that the whole ordeal is finally over. Oh dear. I kept assuring him don't worry, it's totally normal to feel like that. Even ladies felt that same way, as his wife kept assuring him.
Then I had to top up a patient's cryo-cuff since it wasn't cold. So after throwing all the excess water, and chipping and shoving all the ice cubes and tossing them into the container, I hurried to the room, only to find the professor inside. Oh, oh, dang. I stood outside like a fool waiting for the prof to come out when my friend prodded me gently. "No need to wait outside, just go on in. He won't mind." While talking, he wanted to take some blood, but he couldn't get a nice vein from the patient's right hand. And the daughter, she had to rub it in by going, "Prof, you're going for the wrong vein. I'll do it." Oh my, she actually challenged the prof, and even draw the blood from her mother. Judging from how she talks, confidence but with a tint of arrogance, after the prof shrugged and left, I asked her gently, whether she's a doctor and she answered, "Yes, Master's holder, just waiting for my thesis." Oho, so that's why she can stand up to prof. Man, I feel bad for him. Getting rubbed in the face by a patient's daughter who is also a doctor. No matter, at least I applied the cryo cuff correctly, while she admitted she had been applying it wrongly for the past few days. Hmmm.
Then besides topping up drip, I was left to do odd jobs since everyone had to do their reports. Running to billing to quicken the discharge, hand over appointment cards, attending call bells and such. Okay, end of shift, now off to sleep. I'm really sleepy.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Fiendish Friday
7th November (Friday) - I was shifted back noon shift, to find, after a quick mental calculation, 9 Operating cases, plus 1 more whom haven't come in yet, who's waiting at the eye lounge due to us being full house. I passed by the front counter earlier on and saw mayhem. Tons of people crowding in front, with no seats left. Some carrying large duffel bags. Some accompanied by their spouses and demanding to get a room no matter what it takes.
With 10 cases all so close together, we had to move fast by preparing the patients at four. The cases ranged from heart, to brain, to head, to thyroid, to fractured limbs, to stomach, to down there. Nut case. It's a good thing I've been sending patients back and forth to the OT a lot, cause now I'm confident enough to do the steps efficiently. One really made me upset was when my senior handed me a CD for that particular patient, I slid it into the folder and showed the OT nurses the evidence. Same goes for my glass vials because last time our glass vials tend to break and then they blame us for giving them contanimated medicines. The senior staff asked me whether I brought the CD down and I answered, I showed the staff, she went okay. It's not my fault that they lose it, because I wrote it in my folder clearly that the CD is there with the PCA. Geesh, that was a close call. If I hadn't the foresight to write it down, they would've blame me for losing the CD.
After observation, I had to send another patient down. So, after a quick sip of Milo for rejuvenation, I send the the patient down, by then my mind is already half shut down form exhaustion. Still, I did my job through and through. I went back up to tidy up one of the bed for a new admission and then brought out the admission kits, then went to update my I/O charts. In between I was blasted by parents' complaints. One parent complained our server was terrible. most likely due to the heavy thunderstorm earlier on. And you know what he wants me to do? He wants me to climb up all the way to the top and reset the server??? Is he INSANE?!!! I'm not an IT person. And all our system relied on the server, resetting the server will cause our entire server to crash. And he kept demanding me to call the IT people. For God's sake, what point of office hour does he not understand?! It did not help when another parent complained to me about how our hospital is terrible. "Compare to A and B, your hospital is terrible. The food is poor quality, the room is so small, there's no view, and there's no fridge and locker." Oh, if you hate our hospital service so much, then why not just leave and go there? Seriously. It's as though she's blaming us for getting a windowless room. One of the staff muttered that she has been going on about the management and service when she first admitted. Silently, I handed her our customer feedback form and tell her, "If you wish to complain or put in any comment, just write it all down here." That kept her form breathing down my neck for a while.
Then, I got a from OT needing IV Paracetamol NOW NOW NOW. Argh, we don't have the thumb print for the pharmacy, dang it. We had to get one of the senior staff who are passing reports just to get the medicine After that, I literally RAN, yes, ran all the way to the OT, where I was sweating and breathing heavily, with the IV PCM and verbal order in hand. The OT staff were like, "You don't have to run, you know, kiddo." Whaaat??? But the inside staff were like NOW, NOW, URGENT. Soon after that, I had to get one of my patient to the HDU, and that ends today's shift. Grrr, I hope tomorrow will be much better than today.
With 10 cases all so close together, we had to move fast by preparing the patients at four. The cases ranged from heart, to brain, to head, to thyroid, to fractured limbs, to stomach, to down there. Nut case. It's a good thing I've been sending patients back and forth to the OT a lot, cause now I'm confident enough to do the steps efficiently. One really made me upset was when my senior handed me a CD for that particular patient, I slid it into the folder and showed the OT nurses the evidence. Same goes for my glass vials because last time our glass vials tend to break and then they blame us for giving them contanimated medicines. The senior staff asked me whether I brought the CD down and I answered, I showed the staff, she went okay. It's not my fault that they lose it, because I wrote it in my folder clearly that the CD is there with the PCA. Geesh, that was a close call. If I hadn't the foresight to write it down, they would've blame me for losing the CD.
After observation, I had to send another patient down. So, after a quick sip of Milo for rejuvenation, I send the the patient down, by then my mind is already half shut down form exhaustion. Still, I did my job through and through. I went back up to tidy up one of the bed for a new admission and then brought out the admission kits, then went to update my I/O charts. In between I was blasted by parents' complaints. One parent complained our server was terrible. most likely due to the heavy thunderstorm earlier on. And you know what he wants me to do? He wants me to climb up all the way to the top and reset the server??? Is he INSANE?!!! I'm not an IT person. And all our system relied on the server, resetting the server will cause our entire server to crash. And he kept demanding me to call the IT people. For God's sake, what point of office hour does he not understand?! It did not help when another parent complained to me about how our hospital is terrible. "Compare to A and B, your hospital is terrible. The food is poor quality, the room is so small, there's no view, and there's no fridge and locker." Oh, if you hate our hospital service so much, then why not just leave and go there? Seriously. It's as though she's blaming us for getting a windowless room. One of the staff muttered that she has been going on about the management and service when she first admitted. Silently, I handed her our customer feedback form and tell her, "If you wish to complain or put in any comment, just write it all down here." That kept her form breathing down my neck for a while.
Then, I got a from OT needing IV Paracetamol NOW NOW NOW. Argh, we don't have the thumb print for the pharmacy, dang it. We had to get one of the senior staff who are passing reports just to get the medicine After that, I literally RAN, yes, ran all the way to the OT, where I was sweating and breathing heavily, with the IV PCM and verbal order in hand. The OT staff were like, "You don't have to run, you know, kiddo." Whaaat??? But the inside staff were like NOW, NOW, URGENT. Soon after that, I had to get one of my patient to the HDU, and that ends today's shift. Grrr, I hope tomorrow will be much better than today.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Freeze Factor and Stories Endings
6th November (Thursday) - Always, so close to the good days like weekends or something as equally good, I'll end up in trouble. Lord knows, but it just...does. That's how my life is. But I'm coping with it. A wise man once said that the harder you struggle, the more you struggle, the better your satisfaction will be. If things are too easy, the satisfactory will only be short-lived.
To begin with, morning is often busy, but as the profs gradually came, the patients are discharged. I still have my same assignment, so I know my patients a little. I got tested for my ward rounds, and I missed out on my operations. D-Darn it. I thought it wasn't important, nevertheless, thanks to knowing my patients, I know what procedure or diagnosis they have, just not the date. Let me round them up in brief summary for you.
* This is my overall report, please note that I'm only giving a brief overview. All information are confidential so they are edited.
Patient 1 -
> To encourage ambulation
> To complete antibiotic doses
> Daily dressing
Patient 2 -
> To encourage oral fluids
> To encourage ambulation
> 3 pints over 24 hours
Patient 3 -
> To start chemo
Patient 4 -
> KIV Discharge
Easy. If you compare my three patients, the 1st one look tough, actually he isn't. Among my four patients, the second one is the hardest. She's the old lady that I mentioned in my few earlier posts. She is dependent on every single people. The previous day, prof was yelling that we need to get her walking, so today, we tried. After her shower, we tried to make her stand with support, but she's not helping. She had a walking frame, so we trained her to walk. Except... she looked at us all funny and can't seem to walk. !!!!! She... had....forgotten...how...to...WALK!!!! Dear God, have mercy on me. Biting down my lip, I instructed her, one foot forward, then the other foot, then moved backwards til you reach the bed. I even forced her to sit on the bed for a minute before letting her lie down, because the prof said she's being too lazy. One whole month, from good to bad to worse. My old uncle, he may have a stroke for three months, but he was determined to get better to go back home, which he succeeded. This lady, she isn't determined to go home. Her family are, but no once could take care of her, so she had no choice but to stay.
The next challenge was my first patient. His dressing proves to be a challenge. Yes, it's a simple dressing, but what I'm shocked at is the size of the wound. Excision of abdominal skin excess, like a tummy tuck, but the wound is HUGE. It's like a bikini line, a long straight cut from one end of his hip to the other, with dozens of stitches. I have to use tons of cotton balls and slowly dab them. Not easy to run in a straight line cause my cotton balls tend to drop. And by the end of just dabbing, my whole arms are shaking. Not from tiredness but form the strain and patience of dabbing the long cut to make sure it's clean. The patient is a nice guy, even said to me that his tummy looks nice in front, all flat and macho looking, only the side is a little bumpy cause they haven't extract the whole extra skin folds yet. Out of curiosity, since dressing takes a long time, I asked him why did he go for this operation and he told me he used to be fat, weighing 183 kg (!!!!!). He even showed me a picture of his before and after shots, totally different looking. I see why he goes for the surgery. When he went on a diet, he lost so much weight til his skin are all loose, really flabby looking. He even ask me whether his belly button is on the right place and I went, "Why do you say that?" And he said cause last time, his belly button used to be really low, like drooping over his privates on the skin folds. I assured him it's in the right place. Funny guy, but he really appreciated the work that we do. Too bad for his four drains, since they're still draining, not much, but can't take them all out yet. While cleaning up, my colleague forgotten to take her scissors, and he gave it back to us. Some patients would've run away with our scissors, but he gave it back to us. And those scissors are sharp.
Why oh why whenever I follow that prof I end up getting yelled by him? Everyone keep telling me don't worry, he's impatient, and sometimes you can never tell what is on his mind. But he makes me depressed. Although I try not to keep it to heart because otherwise I might dislike him, and I can't afford it, because he's one of the famous profs. You can never avoid him. So, after getting yelled by him, I swore to myself to keep up with his pace, at least I didn't screw up with his blood taking this time.
Then we got an emergency involving a seizure, or so we thought. All of us abandoned our current work and rushed to the site. I was lucky in a way I was near the site scene and I just finished with my job of removing the branulla needle, cause it was just outside. The housekeeping staff was having a seizure and our Sister rushed to give her a Valium jab, while the Matron tried to herd curious onlookers away. Between four nurses, we carried the staff to the nearest bed and treated her while she calmed down. The only good thing was it wasn't a seizure, but a psedo-seizure, triggered by stress. Well that's a relief. I nearly had to rush for the oxygen tank and mask.
Then comes the chemo for my 3rd patient. Preparing the chemo is straightforward, but it's the first time I'm going hands on from step 1 til the end. I must've been traumatized by that prof earlier on, cause my senior said, "Chill, kiddo. Deep breaths, okay, and let's go slow. He's not here so relax. Just talk to me." Kytril for anti-vomiting, dexamethasone for allergies/reactions. Okay, Get the flushing ready, get the pre-med, and up goes the chemo drugs.
I came back home to find a surprise waiting for me, in a mail courier bag, wrapped in plastic and protective bubble wrap. I ordered the last House of Night book online, but I didn't expect the book to come so fast, since my invoice said it'll come on the 11th. Well, yay. I got it at last and I finished reading it by dinner time. It's sad that there'll be no more House of Night anymore, like Harry Potter. Naruto too. After a long time, more than 10 years since 1997, with all the pseudo endings and never ending conflicts, it also came to an end. I may not be as Naruto crazed as before, but I grew up with Naruto, sort of. My first 'real' story is actually a Naruto fanfiction, but with my own characters, mixed with Final Fantasy. I actually still have the original story with me, written in single-lined exercise books that you use in secondary school. It spanned to a saga, but never published and ends with a cliffhanger, since I was planning to write a fifth book but it never happened. Super thanks to t, PC Cast and Kristin Cast for introducing me to their fabulous House of Night world and Masashi Kishimoto, one of my main inspirations which got me into writing, besides JK Rowling, LJ Smith, Anthony Horowitz, Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella, Cornelia Funke and Benedict Jacka.
To begin with, morning is often busy, but as the profs gradually came, the patients are discharged. I still have my same assignment, so I know my patients a little. I got tested for my ward rounds, and I missed out on my operations. D-Darn it. I thought it wasn't important, nevertheless, thanks to knowing my patients, I know what procedure or diagnosis they have, just not the date. Let me round them up in brief summary for you.
* This is my overall report, please note that I'm only giving a brief overview. All information are confidential so they are edited.
Patient 1 -
> To encourage ambulation
> To complete antibiotic doses
> Daily dressing
Patient 2 -
> To encourage oral fluids
> To encourage ambulation
> 3 pints over 24 hours
Patient 3 -
> To start chemo
Patient 4 -
> KIV Discharge
Easy. If you compare my three patients, the 1st one look tough, actually he isn't. Among my four patients, the second one is the hardest. She's the old lady that I mentioned in my few earlier posts. She is dependent on every single people. The previous day, prof was yelling that we need to get her walking, so today, we tried. After her shower, we tried to make her stand with support, but she's not helping. She had a walking frame, so we trained her to walk. Except... she looked at us all funny and can't seem to walk. !!!!! She... had....forgotten...how...to...WALK!!!! Dear God, have mercy on me. Biting down my lip, I instructed her, one foot forward, then the other foot, then moved backwards til you reach the bed. I even forced her to sit on the bed for a minute before letting her lie down, because the prof said she's being too lazy. One whole month, from good to bad to worse. My old uncle, he may have a stroke for three months, but he was determined to get better to go back home, which he succeeded. This lady, she isn't determined to go home. Her family are, but no once could take care of her, so she had no choice but to stay.
The next challenge was my first patient. His dressing proves to be a challenge. Yes, it's a simple dressing, but what I'm shocked at is the size of the wound. Excision of abdominal skin excess, like a tummy tuck, but the wound is HUGE. It's like a bikini line, a long straight cut from one end of his hip to the other, with dozens of stitches. I have to use tons of cotton balls and slowly dab them. Not easy to run in a straight line cause my cotton balls tend to drop. And by the end of just dabbing, my whole arms are shaking. Not from tiredness but form the strain and patience of dabbing the long cut to make sure it's clean. The patient is a nice guy, even said to me that his tummy looks nice in front, all flat and macho looking, only the side is a little bumpy cause they haven't extract the whole extra skin folds yet. Out of curiosity, since dressing takes a long time, I asked him why did he go for this operation and he told me he used to be fat, weighing 183 kg (!!!!!). He even showed me a picture of his before and after shots, totally different looking. I see why he goes for the surgery. When he went on a diet, he lost so much weight til his skin are all loose, really flabby looking. He even ask me whether his belly button is on the right place and I went, "Why do you say that?" And he said cause last time, his belly button used to be really low, like drooping over his privates on the skin folds. I assured him it's in the right place. Funny guy, but he really appreciated the work that we do. Too bad for his four drains, since they're still draining, not much, but can't take them all out yet. While cleaning up, my colleague forgotten to take her scissors, and he gave it back to us. Some patients would've run away with our scissors, but he gave it back to us. And those scissors are sharp.
Why oh why whenever I follow that prof I end up getting yelled by him? Everyone keep telling me don't worry, he's impatient, and sometimes you can never tell what is on his mind. But he makes me depressed. Although I try not to keep it to heart because otherwise I might dislike him, and I can't afford it, because he's one of the famous profs. You can never avoid him. So, after getting yelled by him, I swore to myself to keep up with his pace, at least I didn't screw up with his blood taking this time.
Then we got an emergency involving a seizure, or so we thought. All of us abandoned our current work and rushed to the site. I was lucky in a way I was near the site scene and I just finished with my job of removing the branulla needle, cause it was just outside. The housekeeping staff was having a seizure and our Sister rushed to give her a Valium jab, while the Matron tried to herd curious onlookers away. Between four nurses, we carried the staff to the nearest bed and treated her while she calmed down. The only good thing was it wasn't a seizure, but a psedo-seizure, triggered by stress. Well that's a relief. I nearly had to rush for the oxygen tank and mask.
Then comes the chemo for my 3rd patient. Preparing the chemo is straightforward, but it's the first time I'm going hands on from step 1 til the end. I must've been traumatized by that prof earlier on, cause my senior said, "Chill, kiddo. Deep breaths, okay, and let's go slow. He's not here so relax. Just talk to me." Kytril for anti-vomiting, dexamethasone for allergies/reactions. Okay, Get the flushing ready, get the pre-med, and up goes the chemo drugs.
I came back home to find a surprise waiting for me, in a mail courier bag, wrapped in plastic and protective bubble wrap. I ordered the last House of Night book online, but I didn't expect the book to come so fast, since my invoice said it'll come on the 11th. Well, yay. I got it at last and I finished reading it by dinner time. It's sad that there'll be no more House of Night anymore, like Harry Potter. Naruto too. After a long time, more than 10 years since 1997, with all the pseudo endings and never ending conflicts, it also came to an end. I may not be as Naruto crazed as before, but I grew up with Naruto, sort of. My first 'real' story is actually a Naruto fanfiction, but with my own characters, mixed with Final Fantasy. I actually still have the original story with me, written in single-lined exercise books that you use in secondary school. It spanned to a saga, but never published and ends with a cliffhanger, since I was planning to write a fifth book but it never happened. Super thanks to t, PC Cast and Kristin Cast for introducing me to their fabulous House of Night world and Masashi Kishimoto, one of my main inspirations which got me into writing, besides JK Rowling, LJ Smith, Anthony Horowitz, Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella, Cornelia Funke and Benedict Jacka.
My House of Night series collection, completed at last.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Three Months Past...
5th November (Wednesday) - Past the 4th, this marks my third month of working life. And there's so many things to catch up on. I get it now why back when I was student everyone told me to enjoy my student life. Back then, you can hide behind others if you do wrong, because one CI license is used to protect all the students, and back then, most of the staff depends on you more. To the point sometime you feel like cracking your head and disappear. ^^ Ah, the good old days of students' life. Now I tell everybody to cherish those student life, no matter how torturous it is, because one you are working, no more hiding or cowering under the table. It's time to face the music.
1,2,3,4,5, 19. My assignments for today. Sigh, why do I have to get that lady? Well, can't exactly be picky here, so, quelling my emotions down, I treated her like my other patients, only difference I try to limit my time with her. Because whenever I go into her room, she starts talking well, nonsense. And there are many patients to attend to. Certain are okay cases, but one of my patients have 4 drains. FOUR. All hanging around him. Poor guy. And quite young too. But he's okay. Nice guy, he's just in pain cause of his surgery and he has to walk like a prawn. Prawn-walking basically means bending you hip 45 degrees forward and bending your knees, so yeah, you kinda resemble a prawn.
My next patient is my old patient from HDU. She's a legal officer, nearly equivalent of a lawyer, but she's a nice lady. My experiences with lawyers weren't pleasant, with my first and last encounter of a crazy lawyer back in my student year whom often used her name to bully us and threatens to sue us. Well, that's old school stuff. This lady is very different. We had a pleasant chat and I told her that my friend is now doing her bar course in the UK. She wished my friend all the best and told her to enjoy her bar course before she becomes a full fledged lawyer. She mentioned how she enjoyed her student life and how now she's stressed out because her work is not easy. You see, just like people mistaken medical stuff on TVs, same goes for lawyers. Her job is to make endless research, and when you have to go to court for your client, you have to have the power of persuasion to win the jury (It's just a summary, the actual flow is much more complicated, but for proper information, you should ask those who are in the field of law.).
After several months, I was finally asked to assist in LP. Not good. I nearly contaminated the bottles because I was too stiff. Lucky the prof was a nice person, and he kept saying, "Don't touch the needle with your bottle. It's not sterile." Okay, noted. Argh, why do I always end up doing something screwy???
I don't know how much longer I can cope with this... I really don't. Oh wait, due to my patients and some nice profs rooting for me. I'll do my very best, everybody.
1,2,3,4,5, 19. My assignments for today. Sigh, why do I have to get that lady? Well, can't exactly be picky here, so, quelling my emotions down, I treated her like my other patients, only difference I try to limit my time with her. Because whenever I go into her room, she starts talking well, nonsense. And there are many patients to attend to. Certain are okay cases, but one of my patients have 4 drains. FOUR. All hanging around him. Poor guy. And quite young too. But he's okay. Nice guy, he's just in pain cause of his surgery and he has to walk like a prawn. Prawn-walking basically means bending you hip 45 degrees forward and bending your knees, so yeah, you kinda resemble a prawn.
My next patient is my old patient from HDU. She's a legal officer, nearly equivalent of a lawyer, but she's a nice lady. My experiences with lawyers weren't pleasant, with my first and last encounter of a crazy lawyer back in my student year whom often used her name to bully us and threatens to sue us. Well, that's old school stuff. This lady is very different. We had a pleasant chat and I told her that my friend is now doing her bar course in the UK. She wished my friend all the best and told her to enjoy her bar course before she becomes a full fledged lawyer. She mentioned how she enjoyed her student life and how now she's stressed out because her work is not easy. You see, just like people mistaken medical stuff on TVs, same goes for lawyers. Her job is to make endless research, and when you have to go to court for your client, you have to have the power of persuasion to win the jury (It's just a summary, the actual flow is much more complicated, but for proper information, you should ask those who are in the field of law.).
After several months, I was finally asked to assist in LP. Not good. I nearly contaminated the bottles because I was too stiff. Lucky the prof was a nice person, and he kept saying, "Don't touch the needle with your bottle. It's not sterile." Okay, noted. Argh, why do I always end up doing something screwy???
I don't know how much longer I can cope with this... I really don't. Oh wait, due to my patients and some nice profs rooting for me. I'll do my very best, everybody.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Eruption
4th November (Tuesday) - I came back from my one day off to find... mayhem. 6 OT cases. And all of them are close timings. So you can imagine the ward, all the files lay open and scattered, sheets of paper spilled carelessly on top, and everyone crowding at the counter, rushing to do the report and the patient who are going to OT, due to having a talk that lasted til past 3. Knowing the OT starts at 5, we scrambled all over to get the job done. Not easy. Preparing a patient to OT requires a lot of patience and initiative. Last time when I first started, it took me a long time to prepare one patient. But thanks to to the practice, I was able to do it smoothly. The only thing I kept forgetting is writing the time in my report. Ohhhh, so dangerous. I remember the time, but never the report. Darn it.
It's back to my old ward for me so the first person who called me is that old lady. I used to like her at first, but as time goes by, I started to dislike her. Because she take things too lightly, with a I-don't-really-care attitude. When I tried to get a 24 hour urine collection from her, she started making all of sort of excuses how she can't pass urine without passing motion. I spend an hour persuading her and even wrote down instructions for her and lo and behold, we got a nice 24 hour urine sample. There was a time too when I asked her something and she went talking a long story til she finally gave me her answer. Urgh. But this time this takes the cake. Good thing I asked her what time she fasted when I was changing her pampers because she looked at me all funny and went, "What op?" "What procedure?" It's rather strange for her to say that because this prof, although he's in a hurry, he always gets the job done efficiently and smoothly. What makes me so mad is from the morning shift time they told her to start fasting at 11, do you know what she did? She drank a little bit of water (!!!!!!) Oh my God, I let loose my anger. I couldn't help myself. I am the type of person who rarely shout or scold patients, no matter how bad, how fussy, how annoying my patients are, I never shouted, scolded or lose my temper on them, I always treat them with respect, no matter how crappy my life is. But this lady... I really can't take it anymore. I scolded her that if she takes even a little bit of water, how will she proceed the op? Which part of NIL BY MOUTH, NO FOOD AND NO DRINK does she not understand? She then told me it's just a little water. Well, let me share something from my real life experience. I encountered patients who sneakily drank "herbal-infused drinks" or "just plain water" or "it's just fruit juice/ Milo drink" and do you know what happened to them? We get yelled and the whole operation is delayed or postponed. Grrr. Her son even came out and asked whether she's allowed to drink and I told him, one more time, "She's going for an operation. No matter it is a big or small operation, she CANNOT DRINK OR EAT." Man, what can we say to make her understand?! She can't understand BM or English, when I used Mandarin, she listens in one year and go out in another. Should I speak Japanese?! The op is to improve her treatment and she's taking it too lightly. My colleagues were surprised because it's the first time I ever lose my temper on patients and they kept telling me to chill out.
The whole day was a rush til I nearly flipped. 6 OT cases, one goes up, and one goes down. A never ending cycle. I sent a patient down, I quickly started my observation. Once settled, I settle my reports and then have a quick dinner. Once done, we get to relax a bit from the whole mayhem. On and off there are the occasional call bells. Nothing big except we had some VIPs, real stuck up ones. Sigh. At least I'm not handling them. They demanded a lot of impossible things.
I sent another patient down, then it's off I go once again to fetch my patient. He's such a funny cheeky man. He kept teasing me to be his private nurse and I lightly teased him back, saying although that's nice, but I rather work in the hospital.
Overall, I learnt that even though I lost my temper, it turned out to be not wrong. There are times where you need to be firm with the patients when it's for their own good. Never allow them to step on you, otherwise they will treat you like servants or dirts. Not all, but some. It's like being with the profs and doctors, there are times when you can joke, but there are also time where you must be professional, not goofing around. Otherwise there will be T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
It's back to my old ward for me so the first person who called me is that old lady. I used to like her at first, but as time goes by, I started to dislike her. Because she take things too lightly, with a I-don't-really-care attitude. When I tried to get a 24 hour urine collection from her, she started making all of sort of excuses how she can't pass urine without passing motion. I spend an hour persuading her and even wrote down instructions for her and lo and behold, we got a nice 24 hour urine sample. There was a time too when I asked her something and she went talking a long story til she finally gave me her answer. Urgh. But this time this takes the cake. Good thing I asked her what time she fasted when I was changing her pampers because she looked at me all funny and went, "What op?" "What procedure?" It's rather strange for her to say that because this prof, although he's in a hurry, he always gets the job done efficiently and smoothly. What makes me so mad is from the morning shift time they told her to start fasting at 11, do you know what she did? She drank a little bit of water (!!!!!!) Oh my God, I let loose my anger. I couldn't help myself. I am the type of person who rarely shout or scold patients, no matter how bad, how fussy, how annoying my patients are, I never shouted, scolded or lose my temper on them, I always treat them with respect, no matter how crappy my life is. But this lady... I really can't take it anymore. I scolded her that if she takes even a little bit of water, how will she proceed the op? Which part of NIL BY MOUTH, NO FOOD AND NO DRINK does she not understand? She then told me it's just a little water. Well, let me share something from my real life experience. I encountered patients who sneakily drank "herbal-infused drinks" or "just plain water" or "it's just fruit juice/ Milo drink" and do you know what happened to them? We get yelled and the whole operation is delayed or postponed. Grrr. Her son even came out and asked whether she's allowed to drink and I told him, one more time, "She's going for an operation. No matter it is a big or small operation, she CANNOT DRINK OR EAT." Man, what can we say to make her understand?! She can't understand BM or English, when I used Mandarin, she listens in one year and go out in another. Should I speak Japanese?! The op is to improve her treatment and she's taking it too lightly. My colleagues were surprised because it's the first time I ever lose my temper on patients and they kept telling me to chill out.
The whole day was a rush til I nearly flipped. 6 OT cases, one goes up, and one goes down. A never ending cycle. I sent a patient down, I quickly started my observation. Once settled, I settle my reports and then have a quick dinner. Once done, we get to relax a bit from the whole mayhem. On and off there are the occasional call bells. Nothing big except we had some VIPs, real stuck up ones. Sigh. At least I'm not handling them. They demanded a lot of impossible things.
I sent another patient down, then it's off I go once again to fetch my patient. He's such a funny cheeky man. He kept teasing me to be his private nurse and I lightly teased him back, saying although that's nice, but I rather work in the hospital.
Overall, I learnt that even though I lost my temper, it turned out to be not wrong. There are times where you need to be firm with the patients when it's for their own good. Never allow them to step on you, otherwise they will treat you like servants or dirts. Not all, but some. It's like being with the profs and doctors, there are times when you can joke, but there are also time where you must be professional, not goofing around. Otherwise there will be T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Screaming Sunday
2nd November (Sunday) - 1,2, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH! Sunday is supposed to be fun. No OT, not much admission. Nothing. I thought it was going to be like one of those Sundays where you just care for your patients. This is one of the time where I really loathe Sundays. The same lady patient, can call you several times in a row just for small things, like adjusting her bed (Someone didn't do the orientation properly???) and well, you know, really small things that sometimes makes you go "I got better things to do than helping you adjusting your bed..." Because today is a mad rush. HDU was crazy because one of the patient was extremely restless and from yesterday when I took care of him, he kept trying to pull his CBD tube from his you-know-where, tearing at his needles, from his hand and neck alike, and ripping at the nasal prongs that I put for him because his saturation was poor. Ohhh, I spent half my day taking care of him because the moment you just leave him for a second, he kept tearing at things, ripping at his dressings, or... as I witnessed, ripping his sarong off to expose his privates. I kept putting the blankets and sarong back neatly for him but he just kept exposing them. And we got two female patients in the HDU. Ohhhh, I closed the screen of the opposite side so that the ladies can't see him exposing himself, but left enough opening so that the outside nurses can see him as well in case we were too occupied. Thank goodness my Sputum C+S is there, after explaining to the patient many times the importance of the specimen.Yes!
The restless patient nearly went into an arrest. Apparently, he stopped breathing few times. !!! All of us jumped and were getting ready with the Emergency Cart when the patient breathed again. After several grim discussion, two anaesthetist came and brought him down to the OT for some procedure. I hope he's okay. He's an okay patient, just restless.
RU/PU for one patient due at 11 : Failed. Wound cleaning for one of the patients, ditto. I did the dressing on my own, and I felt proud of myself. The thing that made me mad is why did people leave povidone iodine stains all over her skin. Having applied povidone iodine on myself many times, I know how it feels. The sticky, hard stain that clings to your skin like stiff clumps. It's a good thing I soaked my cotton balls and didn't squeeze it too dry (Thanks to one of the senior staff's advice - If it's too dry, then you'll have a hard time trying to clean out the hard bits-). This allows me to dampen the area and using several gauzes, I rubbed back and forth to get the thick clump of iodine off. Some people sneered at me for wasting my time trying to get the sticky iodine off, but the patient was grateful and thanked me for taking my time and cleaning her wound. I was supposed to do another patient's dressing but his is complicated, which involves several thick rolled gauze soaked thoroughly in water and pack with a soft gamgee pad. The wound? Scrotal abcess. I saw the wound briefly and nearly flipped. HUGE. I'm not going to describe it hear otherwise you may get put off from...whatever you are eating.
I followed one of the profs and I panicked so bad because I was a little slow at giving him the gauze and he told me off. I'm sorry, prof. I'll work faster in future. He got 4 patients, 2 to off CBD, 2 to off drain. Because today is crazy. Everything rested upon my shoulders, because as some of the girls put it, "Your patients. You deal with them." Ugh. No time for seniors to observe anymore. This is time for me to stand on my own. Armed with my basic concept and following their technique, I successfully completed all four tasks. As the prof put it, "If you get it wrong, girl, I'll kill you." (I made sure to double check every one of his orders before I let him leave, I'm not going to run after him like a maniac since there's too many things to be done) I wrote down each charges after each room, ran like crazy to the billing department, asked them to charge the equipments used, and dashed back to charge my other patients. At least, I am confident enough to do simple off drain and wound cleaning now, just need a lot of practice and be creative with how I dress the wound. A thick gauze covered with op-site plaster? Window dressing with a thin gauze? That's up to you to decide. ^^
A brighter note is I ran into my old patient's relative. (I was so embarrassed, I can't remember his face until the relative went, "You know, the cataract one. You helped us with the wheelchair.") It was a patient whom I met only once. He had cataract problems so he needed someone to help send him down with the wheelchair and there I was. Holy cow. I can't believe it. I asked him how the patient was and he said sadly, "Not good at all, sister. Last time it was just one eye, but now it's complication on both eyes." Oh no. He's admitted to the government side and is getting treatment now. Poor sir, just like my old patient, Ojii-san. Stay strong, sir...
I forgot, when I was having breakfast, I ran into a real live troupe of Scottish dancers, with kilts and bagpipes and drums. Wowee. Too bad I can't take photos cause I was rushing for work. Awww. I was hoping to listen to their Irish jig, maybe. Wait, are Scotland and Ireland the same??? O.o
The restless patient nearly went into an arrest. Apparently, he stopped breathing few times. !!! All of us jumped and were getting ready with the Emergency Cart when the patient breathed again. After several grim discussion, two anaesthetist came and brought him down to the OT for some procedure. I hope he's okay. He's an okay patient, just restless.
RU/PU for one patient due at 11 : Failed. Wound cleaning for one of the patients, ditto. I did the dressing on my own, and I felt proud of myself. The thing that made me mad is why did people leave povidone iodine stains all over her skin. Having applied povidone iodine on myself many times, I know how it feels. The sticky, hard stain that clings to your skin like stiff clumps. It's a good thing I soaked my cotton balls and didn't squeeze it too dry (Thanks to one of the senior staff's advice - If it's too dry, then you'll have a hard time trying to clean out the hard bits-). This allows me to dampen the area and using several gauzes, I rubbed back and forth to get the thick clump of iodine off. Some people sneered at me for wasting my time trying to get the sticky iodine off, but the patient was grateful and thanked me for taking my time and cleaning her wound. I was supposed to do another patient's dressing but his is complicated, which involves several thick rolled gauze soaked thoroughly in water and pack with a soft gamgee pad. The wound? Scrotal abcess. I saw the wound briefly and nearly flipped. HUGE. I'm not going to describe it hear otherwise you may get put off from...whatever you are eating.
I followed one of the profs and I panicked so bad because I was a little slow at giving him the gauze and he told me off. I'm sorry, prof. I'll work faster in future. He got 4 patients, 2 to off CBD, 2 to off drain. Because today is crazy. Everything rested upon my shoulders, because as some of the girls put it, "Your patients. You deal with them." Ugh. No time for seniors to observe anymore. This is time for me to stand on my own. Armed with my basic concept and following their technique, I successfully completed all four tasks. As the prof put it, "If you get it wrong, girl, I'll kill you." (I made sure to double check every one of his orders before I let him leave, I'm not going to run after him like a maniac since there's too many things to be done) I wrote down each charges after each room, ran like crazy to the billing department, asked them to charge the equipments used, and dashed back to charge my other patients. At least, I am confident enough to do simple off drain and wound cleaning now, just need a lot of practice and be creative with how I dress the wound. A thick gauze covered with op-site plaster? Window dressing with a thin gauze? That's up to you to decide. ^^
A brighter note is I ran into my old patient's relative. (I was so embarrassed, I can't remember his face until the relative went, "You know, the cataract one. You helped us with the wheelchair.") It was a patient whom I met only once. He had cataract problems so he needed someone to help send him down with the wheelchair and there I was. Holy cow. I can't believe it. I asked him how the patient was and he said sadly, "Not good at all, sister. Last time it was just one eye, but now it's complication on both eyes." Oh no. He's admitted to the government side and is getting treatment now. Poor sir, just like my old patient, Ojii-san. Stay strong, sir...
I forgot, when I was having breakfast, I ran into a real live troupe of Scottish dancers, with kilts and bagpipes and drums. Wowee. Too bad I can't take photos cause I was rushing for work. Awww. I was hoping to listen to their Irish jig, maybe. Wait, are Scotland and Ireland the same??? O.o
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