28th February (Saturday) - I was back for two days after Chinese New Year break, energized and refreshed. But it's also the day where I finally part ways. I had already handed in my letter and my one month notice is up, so I'm off. Most people were sorry to see me go, but one prof refused to let me go without a fight. He insisted on fighting for me, but what can he do? It's too late. I already gave in my one month's notice, and I already handed everything in. My uniforms (until I stopped working, then I returned it back to them), my ID tag, the password and system ID, all returned to them. But for some reason he kept telling me not to say things like that, and he say that he'll bring matter up to the big boss. Oh God, please no. Even though the clearance form say that I could freely write a comment, I refuse to in fear of antagonizing them. No more sparking more hate to make them dislike me more, so I just silently handed in my form without comment. Sometimes big bosses don't understand our shoes. It's easy for them to say that because he is a manager, a head of the department. For him, he just have to snap his fingers and people will do it for him. For the little people like us, if we want to get things done, they'll just dawdle or delay. And if you don't attempt to be nice and kind, people won't do it for you.
I already said goodbye to most of my colleagues and the profs. I really will miss everyone. After all, it was the first place I came to work with. Who could ever forget their first steeping stone? Of course it was just nearly seven months, but even so... Wouldn't you want go where there are better offers and benefits? Than to stay at a place where you are miserable and pay is so low til you feel like screaming with the amount of sweat and blood you poured into? No, it's not being cowardly, but it's more like to avoid a mental breakdown. I think I'm already suffering from it since sometimes I can't recall how I got cuts all around my arms, or even how some of my skin had skin peelings into thin flakes. Dear God, please don't let me suffer.
Most of the patients were upset I'm leaving. Of course I'm upset too. Some had been kind, appreciating all the help that I do for them. Some are really the type that treats me like a maid, but of course there will be ups and downs. If life were a straight line, things would be so boring. I'm sure going to miss all the KFCs, Secret Recipes and pizzas that the patients kept giving. Okay, I'm kidding on that. The most important thing is that the patient appreciate my little helps, and that in turn, turned my gloomy days into little start shines. Goodbye, everybody, goodbye. Although I'll be parting ways, we'll surely meet again someday.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Pleural Tapping One Man Show
13th February (Friday) - No wonder the day's terrible. It's Friday the 13th. Urgh, how could I forget? Friday is never a good day for me, never. :( And we're busy running up and down again. No wonder why everyone is anxious for the new year to come. We're basically in hot waters, and to make matter worse, a new protocol is going to be in place. Oh, dear God save us all.
Pleural tapping... One procedure that was needed urgently for a patient. No one was willing to do it, and it so happened I was following the prof, so I got the luck of the draw. Darn, this prof they say he's a nice guy, but when it comes to procedure, he expects you to get what he's saying after one round of explaination. Oh, not good, not good. I can't cope with those kinds of people. I'm absolutely terrible at these kind of things. But in a way. it's to train myself to be focused.
Being a complete amateur, I thought you needed one of those special sterile sets, like suture set, stuff like that, but nope, they say all I needed are these things:
Dressing set x1
Sterile gloves x1 pair (Depending on prof's hands)
Several needles of various sizes x 5 (Each)
20cc syringes x2 (Minimum, but you can bring up to 3 to be on a safer side)
10cc syringes x3 (Minimum, but I bring up to 5 for standby)
Lignocaine 1% x5 bottles (Seriously, bring this much, you'll need it)
Incopads (There's no limit to this, because depending on how things are, it may be messy, but this prof is tip top in this procedure, so you can being a packet to be safe. One packet = 5 sheets)
Urine bag x1 (I really loathe the twisty knob one, but if you could, bring the one that pushes left to right. That one is really safe.)
3 way stopper x1 (Usually you'll need one, but bring up to 2 - 3 just in case)
Branulla (orange) x 3
Gauze x 5 packets (One packet = 3 pieces, be on the safe side, depending how messy things are)
IV tubing x1 (Usually you'll need just one)
Tape (No limit, just bring as much as you can)
Latex gloves x 3 pairs (For yourself)
* Solution (This one is entirely up to prof on what solution he uses. For my case, he want iodine and alcohol spirit, so I got those on standby, one bottle each)
* Specimen bottles (Again, it's entirely up to prof. For my case, he wants an FEME bottle, one sterile bottle, one purple and one red. So I had those on hand.)
Now comes the part where you assist. Prof will usually prepare his patients while I prepare the trolley. So once you're ready, just prepare everything. Get a pillow, make the patient sit on the edge of the bed, and the rest, just stay sharp. He will explain things to me one round and expect me to remember. Okay, so each time he ask for something, I have to get it ready. The tough part comes when the fluid is being taken out. Prof wants me to prepare the bottles so I got it all ready, then he filled up each bottle and I seal them tight. Then when he pass me the tubing, I have to quickly connect it it to the urine bag and let it flow while keeping an eye on the fluid flow. Anything suspicious I have to report to him.
It only lasted a while because once my patient start coughing like mad, he stopped the whole thing and I tidy up the whole thing. Only mistake I made, taping the tubing too high/low. In overall, I scored a 9/10. At least I quickly measured the fluid and report back to him.
Yeah, although it's pretty exhausting, it was alright. A least now I'm able to assist him with confidence.
Pleural tapping... One procedure that was needed urgently for a patient. No one was willing to do it, and it so happened I was following the prof, so I got the luck of the draw. Darn, this prof they say he's a nice guy, but when it comes to procedure, he expects you to get what he's saying after one round of explaination. Oh, not good, not good. I can't cope with those kinds of people. I'm absolutely terrible at these kind of things. But in a way. it's to train myself to be focused.
Being a complete amateur, I thought you needed one of those special sterile sets, like suture set, stuff like that, but nope, they say all I needed are these things:
Dressing set x1
Sterile gloves x1 pair (Depending on prof's hands)
Several needles of various sizes x 5 (Each)
20cc syringes x2 (Minimum, but you can bring up to 3 to be on a safer side)
10cc syringes x3 (Minimum, but I bring up to 5 for standby)
Lignocaine 1% x5 bottles (Seriously, bring this much, you'll need it)
Incopads (There's no limit to this, because depending on how things are, it may be messy, but this prof is tip top in this procedure, so you can being a packet to be safe. One packet = 5 sheets)
Urine bag x1 (I really loathe the twisty knob one, but if you could, bring the one that pushes left to right. That one is really safe.)
3 way stopper x1 (Usually you'll need one, but bring up to 2 - 3 just in case)
Branulla (orange) x 3
Gauze x 5 packets (One packet = 3 pieces, be on the safe side, depending how messy things are)
IV tubing x1 (Usually you'll need just one)
Tape (No limit, just bring as much as you can)
Latex gloves x 3 pairs (For yourself)
* Solution (This one is entirely up to prof on what solution he uses. For my case, he want iodine and alcohol spirit, so I got those on standby, one bottle each)
* Specimen bottles (Again, it's entirely up to prof. For my case, he wants an FEME bottle, one sterile bottle, one purple and one red. So I had those on hand.)
Now comes the part where you assist. Prof will usually prepare his patients while I prepare the trolley. So once you're ready, just prepare everything. Get a pillow, make the patient sit on the edge of the bed, and the rest, just stay sharp. He will explain things to me one round and expect me to remember. Okay, so each time he ask for something, I have to get it ready. The tough part comes when the fluid is being taken out. Prof wants me to prepare the bottles so I got it all ready, then he filled up each bottle and I seal them tight. Then when he pass me the tubing, I have to quickly connect it it to the urine bag and let it flow while keeping an eye on the fluid flow. Anything suspicious I have to report to him.
It only lasted a while because once my patient start coughing like mad, he stopped the whole thing and I tidy up the whole thing. Only mistake I made, taping the tubing too high/low. In overall, I scored a 9/10. At least I quickly measured the fluid and report back to him.
Yeah, although it's pretty exhausting, it was alright. A least now I'm able to assist him with confidence.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
CBD Insertion Drama
12th February (Thursday) - Today is one heck of a day. Let's just say from morning til night, we were all basically running up and down. Something is sure screwy and yep, full house due to everyone is rushing for op today, and profs are all popping out like crazy. One left, and another take his place, another one left and another one takes over. It's almost like whack-a-mole, minus the pico pico hammer.
Everyone likes to tease that my aunty is back. Well, it's mainly because I'm the only person willing to entertain her and she liked me enough that she's willing to co-operate with me. Let's just say she's eccentric. And I have to insert a CBD tube into her since no matter how many times we instructed her to measure urine, she never does, and because now her condition seems to be getting worse compare to how I previously met her. No one was willing to insert for her since she kept making a lot of noise, so when they handed me the job, I just take it and go okay, bobbing like Tweety Bird. Of course, she was making a lot of noise when I try to insert it for her, it took me 10 minutes to convince her, and she's still not happy, so I asked the daughter to please, please come in and talk to her, which she did by sweet-talking to her saying that the tube is only for one day. Once the sweet-talking was done, another challenge began. I asked the lady to lie flat, but she kept sitting up. And when I finally convinced her to lie down, she kept closing her legs. Urgh, how am I going to insert the tube into the the right hole? I've seen unpleasant experiences where ladies were screaming their head off because of the tube going into the wrong hole. So when the lady made noise asking me to do it in one go, I sighed and said okay. Where on earth did all my confidence came from? I do not know. Honestly, I don't.
So then I did fast, ripping each sterile packet smoothly, dropping it into my sterile field in a seamless movement, saline into the plastic gallipot, All the while she kept yelling at me to be fast, I re-assured her and just did what I could, then when all are ready, I asked her to spread her legs and always after a few minutes, she refuses. After much coaxing, I brought the dish over, ready for the big one. Once again, after a lot of re-assurance, I managed, miraculously, to insert one shot into her. YES. I know, miracle. Inflate the balloon and gave it a gentle tug and yay, it's in. What a relief. The lady went as far to ask my handphone number (her family tricked her saying they got my number) and when she knew I'm on noon shift, asked me to sleep with her by providing the sleeping mat that her family uses. EH, erm, no thanks. ^^
Everyone likes to tease that my aunty is back. Well, it's mainly because I'm the only person willing to entertain her and she liked me enough that she's willing to co-operate with me. Let's just say she's eccentric. And I have to insert a CBD tube into her since no matter how many times we instructed her to measure urine, she never does, and because now her condition seems to be getting worse compare to how I previously met her. No one was willing to insert for her since she kept making a lot of noise, so when they handed me the job, I just take it and go okay, bobbing like Tweety Bird. Of course, she was making a lot of noise when I try to insert it for her, it took me 10 minutes to convince her, and she's still not happy, so I asked the daughter to please, please come in and talk to her, which she did by sweet-talking to her saying that the tube is only for one day. Once the sweet-talking was done, another challenge began. I asked the lady to lie flat, but she kept sitting up. And when I finally convinced her to lie down, she kept closing her legs. Urgh, how am I going to insert the tube into the the right hole? I've seen unpleasant experiences where ladies were screaming their head off because of the tube going into the wrong hole. So when the lady made noise asking me to do it in one go, I sighed and said okay. Where on earth did all my confidence came from? I do not know. Honestly, I don't.
So then I did fast, ripping each sterile packet smoothly, dropping it into my sterile field in a seamless movement, saline into the plastic gallipot, All the while she kept yelling at me to be fast, I re-assured her and just did what I could, then when all are ready, I asked her to spread her legs and always after a few minutes, she refuses. After much coaxing, I brought the dish over, ready for the big one. Once again, after a lot of re-assurance, I managed, miraculously, to insert one shot into her. YES. I know, miracle. Inflate the balloon and gave it a gentle tug and yay, it's in. What a relief. The lady went as far to ask my handphone number (her family tricked her saying they got my number) and when she knew I'm on noon shift, asked me to sleep with her by providing the sleeping mat that her family uses. EH, erm, no thanks. ^^
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Stiff stiff stiff
10th February (Tuesday) - One girl and I were rushing madly to clock in, and lucky us, even though my clock says 7, the system says we got another 4 more minutes before it's officially 7. So we both clock in and ran like mad to the ward and everyone was looking at me, "No worries kiddo. Others haven't arrived yet and we haven't started report yet." Thank God, I dumped my bags on my seat and got my breath back. Okay, same old patients, off to bed-making.
Things were a little slow at first, but picked up once I had my brunch after 10.30. Admissions, especially children, kept rushing in. Our counters are packed with children and anxious parents. With some people who demanded for rooms now and refusing to register since as they claimed, "We came form so far and we got an appointment. Why should we register?"Seriously, what is wrong with people nowadays? Did they think this is a hotel? Just barge in and demand for rooms? I mean, even hotels have their own standard protocols of registering and deposit, not just jumping in and demanding for a room.
Then of course there is the usual doctors rounds. I guess everyone are anxious to rush things so that they can go off for Chinese New Year. Insane, although most of them are going for angio today. And they waited and waited. Well, who says angio is fast? Of course everybody wish to get things over with, but there are certain time limits you know.
A few of our long term patients were bored, mainly because they were all already okay, just left with drains but all of them are anxious to go home. Well, who doesn't? If it were me, I will be eager to go home. Pity my poor patient whose antibiotic is due for another month. He's so frustrated til I went over to talk to him. He wants to travel around the world as a bag packer, and he already booked tickets in advance to Taiwan in May and hoped he could go, except his condition may need a lot more antibiotic, depending on how his blood is.
Then there were two kids who are confirmed for admission. so as always, there's the ARGHHHHHHH. Meaning: Baby screams and you feel like tearing your hair off because you are unable to do full admissions. my case, the baby was nice and cooperative. In fear of setting line, I quickly applied cream all over the place where it's needed. Thank God.
There's another baby who had been screaming and brawling his head off. His name sounded familiar, I can't put my finger on it until I met the parents. Ohhh, he's the kid who used to be in our ward, but he sure had grown up. I struggled with him to apply the emla cream, but it's no easy feat. He basically struggled tooth and nail with me and even got in a few punches but I managed.
Then his mother called and asked me to reapply again. Just as I finished, prof came. Uh-oh. But he took a long time examining the baby and thank goodness, the baby is so much better after the nebulizer. Best part, no need drip after he drank one bottle of milk down. Whaa-t??? What about my hard work??? D: The mother laughed and said sorry to me since I basically did the second one so much better and prof said no need drip. Joker. And I got punched for nothing. Oh well. At least the baby didn't have to suffer another poking. He's already traumatized by nurses due to his previous experience. And my back is basically aching from all the running.
Things were a little slow at first, but picked up once I had my brunch after 10.30. Admissions, especially children, kept rushing in. Our counters are packed with children and anxious parents. With some people who demanded for rooms now and refusing to register since as they claimed, "We came form so far and we got an appointment. Why should we register?"Seriously, what is wrong with people nowadays? Did they think this is a hotel? Just barge in and demand for rooms? I mean, even hotels have their own standard protocols of registering and deposit, not just jumping in and demanding for a room.
Then of course there is the usual doctors rounds. I guess everyone are anxious to rush things so that they can go off for Chinese New Year. Insane, although most of them are going for angio today. And they waited and waited. Well, who says angio is fast? Of course everybody wish to get things over with, but there are certain time limits you know.
A few of our long term patients were bored, mainly because they were all already okay, just left with drains but all of them are anxious to go home. Well, who doesn't? If it were me, I will be eager to go home. Pity my poor patient whose antibiotic is due for another month. He's so frustrated til I went over to talk to him. He wants to travel around the world as a bag packer, and he already booked tickets in advance to Taiwan in May and hoped he could go, except his condition may need a lot more antibiotic, depending on how his blood is.
Then there were two kids who are confirmed for admission. so as always, there's the ARGHHHHHHH. Meaning: Baby screams and you feel like tearing your hair off because you are unable to do full admissions. my case, the baby was nice and cooperative. In fear of setting line, I quickly applied cream all over the place where it's needed. Thank God.
There's another baby who had been screaming and brawling his head off. His name sounded familiar, I can't put my finger on it until I met the parents. Ohhh, he's the kid who used to be in our ward, but he sure had grown up. I struggled with him to apply the emla cream, but it's no easy feat. He basically struggled tooth and nail with me and even got in a few punches but I managed.
Then his mother called and asked me to reapply again. Just as I finished, prof came. Uh-oh. But he took a long time examining the baby and thank goodness, the baby is so much better after the nebulizer. Best part, no need drip after he drank one bottle of milk down. Whaa-t??? What about my hard work??? D: The mother laughed and said sorry to me since I basically did the second one so much better and prof said no need drip. Joker. And I got punched for nothing. Oh well. At least the baby didn't have to suffer another poking. He's already traumatized by nurses due to his previous experience. And my back is basically aching from all the running.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Snail Paced Sunday
8th February (Sunday) - *sings* Beautiful Sunday... A total of six patients, with three nurses working. One TL, one med, and me, who runs around the ward. Neat right? Meh, not really.
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Even through there are six patients, I feel like I'm running after ten. Reason? Four out of six kept calling with the call bell. Once I assured a lady that we do not charge for pressing the call bell (she pressed a grand total of 4 times), I helped her shift from bed to chair since her daughter is worried that she doesn't know how to handle her. She told me that her mother ate two WHOLE bowls of porridge, but I assured her, it's okay. As long as she's not vomiting and taking something light after op day, she should be okay. Since she's out of the drip, she should be eating and drinking like normal. Okay, settled.
Second patient, whom everybody labelled as crazy, she often call for a lot of funny things, like she already stopped the drip, and then said, "You're too slow. I already clamped the drip." Or, early in the morning, when everyone is doing the bed, "I called three times, and nobody came. I wanted you to make me a cup of milo." The funny thing, the table was in front of her, and the milo, she already made it, and DRANK IT. The nurse (I was in afternoon shift on that day) said she don't know whether she wants to hammer her (cartoon style) or laugh or stay speechless, In the end, she just shrugged and say okay, just call if you need help. On the matter of this subject, I would like to point out, there are certain times where the nurses will be unable to attend to you. Back in the old hospital where I was trained, let's say there are 4 parts, so 1 nurse will take 1 part. And she has to handle everything. Meds, hygeine, meals, vital signs (usually we help do all together, but I mean the abnormalities), dressings... Everything. In the mornings, reports, of course and everyone will be doing bed-making, and then at 11 - 12, all of us will be preparing medicines for noon. So nobody will be around to attend to the patient. And then, 2 - 3, noon shift report taking. 7- 8, medicines. At 9 - 10, report taking once more. So yeah, if you noticed, certain time are what you call our peak hours. I wish patients can understand that, instead of going, "I called so many times and nobody attend to me." We don't ignore your calls, it's just that sometimes we are at our peak hours and unable to attend. What about during emergency? I remember when we were performing resuscitation this patient was screaming bloody murder until one of the nurse lost her temper and said, "We are having an emergency here, could you please WAIT?" Then she kept quiet.
I don't know how she is around other nurses, but with me, she's very nice and even shared me the story of how she got admitted. I asked her to walk around and she does. She's much better compared to how I first met her, she basically now wants to go home. The only thing that irks the other girls (she didn't mention this to me) is she wants the CBD to be removed, but we just can't, since prof never say anything about removing it. The reply she gave us, "If you all don't remove it, then I will." !!!!! Is she serious??? I hope not.
Next patient, our regular patient with her pethidines. Issue : We are running low on pethidine. And pharmacy won't supply until Thursday, which means we are all running around other wards to standby the pethidines for her.
Last one, a baby. Her parents will call to measure her pampers, that's fine. but the most annoying thing was, they kept disconnecting the drip over and over again, to the point where I think I disconnect and connect about more than 5 times, each time they change pampers and once a shower. For God sake, don't they know disconnecting and connecting drips can actually bring about contamination? Because of that, the drip was basically half in by the time my shift ends. Urgh. The bright side? From the day she was admitted, no one was able to collect her stool for C+S, but at 2045 hours, I proudly managed to scrape a decent amount form the pampers. It wasn't much, but just nice. Yeah. ^^
That's it for today. Counting down to new year now.
Second patient, whom everybody labelled as crazy, she often call for a lot of funny things, like she already stopped the drip, and then said, "You're too slow. I already clamped the drip." Or, early in the morning, when everyone is doing the bed, "I called three times, and nobody came. I wanted you to make me a cup of milo." The funny thing, the table was in front of her, and the milo, she already made it, and DRANK IT. The nurse (I was in afternoon shift on that day) said she don't know whether she wants to hammer her (cartoon style) or laugh or stay speechless, In the end, she just shrugged and say okay, just call if you need help. On the matter of this subject, I would like to point out, there are certain times where the nurses will be unable to attend to you. Back in the old hospital where I was trained, let's say there are 4 parts, so 1 nurse will take 1 part. And she has to handle everything. Meds, hygeine, meals, vital signs (usually we help do all together, but I mean the abnormalities), dressings... Everything. In the mornings, reports, of course and everyone will be doing bed-making, and then at 11 - 12, all of us will be preparing medicines for noon. So nobody will be around to attend to the patient. And then, 2 - 3, noon shift report taking. 7- 8, medicines. At 9 - 10, report taking once more. So yeah, if you noticed, certain time are what you call our peak hours. I wish patients can understand that, instead of going, "I called so many times and nobody attend to me." We don't ignore your calls, it's just that sometimes we are at our peak hours and unable to attend. What about during emergency? I remember when we were performing resuscitation this patient was screaming bloody murder until one of the nurse lost her temper and said, "We are having an emergency here, could you please WAIT?" Then she kept quiet.
I don't know how she is around other nurses, but with me, she's very nice and even shared me the story of how she got admitted. I asked her to walk around and she does. She's much better compared to how I first met her, she basically now wants to go home. The only thing that irks the other girls (she didn't mention this to me) is she wants the CBD to be removed, but we just can't, since prof never say anything about removing it. The reply she gave us, "If you all don't remove it, then I will." !!!!! Is she serious??? I hope not.
Next patient, our regular patient with her pethidines. Issue : We are running low on pethidine. And pharmacy won't supply until Thursday, which means we are all running around other wards to standby the pethidines for her.
Last one, a baby. Her parents will call to measure her pampers, that's fine. but the most annoying thing was, they kept disconnecting the drip over and over again, to the point where I think I disconnect and connect about more than 5 times, each time they change pampers and once a shower. For God sake, don't they know disconnecting and connecting drips can actually bring about contamination? Because of that, the drip was basically half in by the time my shift ends. Urgh. The bright side? From the day she was admitted, no one was able to collect her stool for C+S, but at 2045 hours, I proudly managed to scrape a decent amount form the pampers. It wasn't much, but just nice. Yeah. ^^
That's it for today. Counting down to new year now.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Before Mentality Breakdown
7th February (Saturday) - Morning shift and urgh, I'm stiff from drowsiness. God knows, prof say I looked tense lately. He got that right. So many things had happened ever since I'm here. With the whole anti thing going on, I feel near the verge of tears and going to a mental breakdown. Prof was really worried how my face looked tense, not to mention my appetite is low and according to some of them, my eyes looked hollow. Well, wouldn't you if the whole world is against you?
The thing that kept me going for today are the profs and the patients. Profs mainly because they teach me many things, and they're not like some doctors I encountered where they throw the folders in your face, they're nice people, willing to teach you and make an effort to be on good terms with you, as long as their patients are safe, doing well and keep an eye out for any abnormalities like dropping or rocketing sky high blood pressure and spike high fever.
Patients, well, as mentioned, there are the good and bad patients. But most patients I encountered so far are nice people, just one or two who are really the mean fussy types that makes your life miserable, but most of the patients are okay patients. Usually I get to talk to them and I try not to talk facts with them, because as prof said, "Talking facts with patients and colleagues are so boring, time will go by very slow if you don't talk a lot." Of course you should always make your patients relaxed and calm, but when it is time to work with meds and op, that's the time I'll get serious. Most of the time though, I do what you call an informal way of establishing rapport, like how he does it with me. Simple things like how are you, have you eaten your meal yet makes patients really happy. It's just sad that the trend of nursing is really different now, according to some of my patients who were once nurses themselves.
Some patients knew me well enough already, so most of them were concern about that state I'm in, usually appetite since most of them said I looked as though I'm starving most of the time. No, no, it's just that once I never eat, I start getting hypoglycemic attacks, with chills, sweating, dizziness and fatigue. Some offered me their uneaten breakfast but I'm a porridge and bread and waffle person, so usually I just pass it to the other girls to eat it, since I have a small appetite.
Well, not much ot say here, besides it's a matter of going crazy or not from the mental break.
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The thing that kept me going for today are the profs and the patients. Profs mainly because they teach me many things, and they're not like some doctors I encountered where they throw the folders in your face, they're nice people, willing to teach you and make an effort to be on good terms with you, as long as their patients are safe, doing well and keep an eye out for any abnormalities like dropping or rocketing sky high blood pressure and spike high fever.
Patients, well, as mentioned, there are the good and bad patients. But most patients I encountered so far are nice people, just one or two who are really the mean fussy types that makes your life miserable, but most of the patients are okay patients. Usually I get to talk to them and I try not to talk facts with them, because as prof said, "Talking facts with patients and colleagues are so boring, time will go by very slow if you don't talk a lot." Of course you should always make your patients relaxed and calm, but when it is time to work with meds and op, that's the time I'll get serious. Most of the time though, I do what you call an informal way of establishing rapport, like how he does it with me. Simple things like how are you, have you eaten your meal yet makes patients really happy. It's just sad that the trend of nursing is really different now, according to some of my patients who were once nurses themselves.
Some patients knew me well enough already, so most of them were concern about that state I'm in, usually appetite since most of them said I looked as though I'm starving most of the time. No, no, it's just that once I never eat, I start getting hypoglycemic attacks, with chills, sweating, dizziness and fatigue. Some offered me their uneaten breakfast but I'm a porridge and bread and waffle person, so usually I just pass it to the other girls to eat it, since I have a small appetite.
Well, not much ot say here, besides it's a matter of going crazy or not from the mental break.
Since Chinese New Year is around the corner, all the profs are now like the patients, asking me for ang pows. I'm not married which means no ang pows to give. Heeheehee. On the bright side, look at this gargantuan sized pamelo. We haven't eaten half of the first one yet. And believe me, it's huge and heavy, cause I was the one who carried it from the patient who gave us.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Anti-Force
6th February (Friday) - 5 days had passed in the month of February. Do you ever get the feeling that you're not welcome? Believe me, it happened to me. And it's really, really depressing. In this world, once you're not welcome to the workplace any more, you're on your own, meaning you're the only fruitcake while everyone else are chocolate cake. Sad to say it's true. Society, especially working life is a dog eat dog world out there. School life is actually much more tamer than this.
The day started off as usual for morning shift. To be frank, it's a mad rush today. We got one person discharging, okay, innocent enough. Then there's this young lady who looks as though she has mumps, but she looks semi-vegetable, that bad. I'll get to that in a moment.
We got tons of chemo today, and I got the last few patients. Since I was at the other side for a while, I didn't know the other two patients. I only know the young man because I had attended to him before, and he knows me well. Sadly, he had to stay for a whooping 2 months for antibiotic. Bless him, he can't go back home for Chinese New Year, but I told him to treat this as a holiday, even though he's only staying for antibiotic. I often encouraged him to walk around instead of staying cooped up in his room all the time and he did.
The next patient I had was a lovely young lady. She's very pretty, but judging from the report, it wasn't very good. Because on the previous day she kept vomiting til an NG tube is inserted together with a CBD, poor girl. She's on drip as well, but she couldn't take much food. Only sips of water. She can walk and all, but she needed assisting with all of her tubes. I really hope she gets alright.
My last patient, a teenager who just had nasal packing done. She wants to move, and I told her since she only did just a nose operation, she's allowed to. It's her first time getting out of bed so I helped her, and she was happy. She hadn't start taking food yet either, so I coaxed some food into her. She didn't want the hospital food, but she took McD's, good enough. I was much happier when she did what prof told her to do, Changed into her own clothes and took her lunch. Good girl. As promised, I took the drip off her and she can finally moved around freely without the drip dangling around. I encouraged her to keep moving and eating and she should be fine in no time.
Back to the young lady whom I mentioned earlier on, apparently she's on Stage 4 cancer, Yes, sad to say. The tumour was from her face spread all over, that's why she looks as though she's having mumps. Poor girl. It's really sad. She can understand me fine when I speak Mandarin. And she was able to cooperate with me, it's just that she kept drooling and unable to talk. But she does points out what she needs by using hand movements. Well, I say that's good enough. The worst part of the whole thing was her mother who is having too much hope, thinking that once she gets chemo, she will be alright, as in hundred percent cure. No, no, no, nononono. Once you get cancer, there is no cure, only treatment to be controlled. The worst part of all was the mother kept telling me she's in a Stage 2 cancer, But the girl is already in Stage 4. Oh my God. The doctor and I were basically staring at her as she kept going on, "Oh, once she gets the chemo, she'll be able to be normal again." Her sister was basically screaming in frustration at her, telling her to face the reality. It's really heart-breaking to hear her say that. To the point where her sister pulled me to the side and begged me to call Doctor So-and-So to explain to her. So I found him at the daycare, and he gave a sigh and said he had already explained to the mother many times at his clinic, nevertheless, he asked me to bring the mother over, together with the girl's brother and aunt and I left them to talk with the Doctor in private.
On and off, the Doctor kept running in between the daycare and to see her, asking me to set up a drip for her and such. Then I followed a cardiologist and in between when I had free time, quickly put linen on the empty clean beds in case of an admission rush since today is a Friday, op day tomorrow.
Of all my patients, the girl with the Stage 4 really made me tired, mainly because her case is bad to the point where she will just go any time. Especially with all of her family there with grave sadness on their face. I even did a tracheostomy suction for her, and to include the family in the care, taught them step by step how to do the suction for her when needed. It helps that the aunt was a medical staff, so she gets my point.
If you think that's the end, wait til you hear all the rumours I heard about me. It just kept on piling up and up to the point I was burying my face into my hands and going, What did I done to make them go anti-me?
The only bright lining, I succeeded in making butter chocolate chip cookies, first attempt. Care to try one?
The day started off as usual for morning shift. To be frank, it's a mad rush today. We got one person discharging, okay, innocent enough. Then there's this young lady who looks as though she has mumps, but she looks semi-vegetable, that bad. I'll get to that in a moment.
We got tons of chemo today, and I got the last few patients. Since I was at the other side for a while, I didn't know the other two patients. I only know the young man because I had attended to him before, and he knows me well. Sadly, he had to stay for a whooping 2 months for antibiotic. Bless him, he can't go back home for Chinese New Year, but I told him to treat this as a holiday, even though he's only staying for antibiotic. I often encouraged him to walk around instead of staying cooped up in his room all the time and he did.
The next patient I had was a lovely young lady. She's very pretty, but judging from the report, it wasn't very good. Because on the previous day she kept vomiting til an NG tube is inserted together with a CBD, poor girl. She's on drip as well, but she couldn't take much food. Only sips of water. She can walk and all, but she needed assisting with all of her tubes. I really hope she gets alright.
My last patient, a teenager who just had nasal packing done. She wants to move, and I told her since she only did just a nose operation, she's allowed to. It's her first time getting out of bed so I helped her, and she was happy. She hadn't start taking food yet either, so I coaxed some food into her. She didn't want the hospital food, but she took McD's, good enough. I was much happier when she did what prof told her to do, Changed into her own clothes and took her lunch. Good girl. As promised, I took the drip off her and she can finally moved around freely without the drip dangling around. I encouraged her to keep moving and eating and she should be fine in no time.
Back to the young lady whom I mentioned earlier on, apparently she's on Stage 4 cancer, Yes, sad to say. The tumour was from her face spread all over, that's why she looks as though she's having mumps. Poor girl. It's really sad. She can understand me fine when I speak Mandarin. And she was able to cooperate with me, it's just that she kept drooling and unable to talk. But she does points out what she needs by using hand movements. Well, I say that's good enough. The worst part of the whole thing was her mother who is having too much hope, thinking that once she gets chemo, she will be alright, as in hundred percent cure. No, no, no, nononono. Once you get cancer, there is no cure, only treatment to be controlled. The worst part of all was the mother kept telling me she's in a Stage 2 cancer, But the girl is already in Stage 4. Oh my God. The doctor and I were basically staring at her as she kept going on, "Oh, once she gets the chemo, she'll be able to be normal again." Her sister was basically screaming in frustration at her, telling her to face the reality. It's really heart-breaking to hear her say that. To the point where her sister pulled me to the side and begged me to call Doctor So-and-So to explain to her. So I found him at the daycare, and he gave a sigh and said he had already explained to the mother many times at his clinic, nevertheless, he asked me to bring the mother over, together with the girl's brother and aunt and I left them to talk with the Doctor in private.
On and off, the Doctor kept running in between the daycare and to see her, asking me to set up a drip for her and such. Then I followed a cardiologist and in between when I had free time, quickly put linen on the empty clean beds in case of an admission rush since today is a Friday, op day tomorrow.
Of all my patients, the girl with the Stage 4 really made me tired, mainly because her case is bad to the point where she will just go any time. Especially with all of her family there with grave sadness on their face. I even did a tracheostomy suction for her, and to include the family in the care, taught them step by step how to do the suction for her when needed. It helps that the aunt was a medical staff, so she gets my point.
If you think that's the end, wait til you hear all the rumours I heard about me. It just kept on piling up and up to the point I was burying my face into my hands and going, What did I done to make them go anti-me?
The only bright lining, I succeeded in making butter chocolate chip cookies, first attempt. Care to try one?
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Entering February
1st February (Sunday) - Entering the month of February, how fast January had gone by this year. It's totally crazy, now with everybody rushing for Chinese New Year. I came back from my long break to find the ward decorated with red cloths and tiny lanterns. Not exactly what I expected, but it gave the ward a Chinese New Year feel. All of my old patients were gone, fully recovered and discharged. Now there are new ones. Most of them were pretty shocked to see me, "I never seen you before." And I merely replied, "I just came back from a long break." Most of the profs said the same thing, "Long time no see."
After a long break, it took some getting back feeling but being back in the ward sure made me happy that there's something to do, besides meeting my patients and earning salary to get decent things. During the week break, I've been watching a lot of Anna Olson (Love her shows very much), and I feel like taking up baking, especially ganache to make chocolate truffles. But in between writing my story, I don't think I had the time to take up baking. I'm not exactly a keen cook if that's what you're wondering. I'm able to cook Hokkaido Miso ramen because it takes up to exactly ten minutes to cook. Toss the seaweed to brew, after five minutes, toss the noodles in, two minutes after that, toss any garnishing you want, I love naruto fishcakes, but it's impossible to find in here, so I settled for crab sticks. Let it boil for three minutes and you're done. Ten minutes on the dot. Add in the miso and itadakimasu :D
Okay, back to the matter on hand, I haven't forgotten any of my skills. First thing I came back I had to handle a lot of blood, blood for culture and sensitivity to be exact. Of all things. I had a patient who had a month of fever of unknown origin. They said it's definitely not dengue, if it was dengue, she most likely wouldn't suffer this long. The funny thing was her temperature is really scary. One minute she's fine, next minute her temperature spiked up to 38 or more. Insane. The antibiotic helped maintained her temperature, but she still end up shivering and then being fine at the next. That;'s why the blood culture and sensitivity, and to rule out malaria parasites. Oh, I hope she gets well soon.
Some patients were rather cheeky, I mean it in a good way. Since new year is now approaching near, some of the patients asked for ang pows. Ahem, I'm not married. I can't give ang pows as per tradition.
Removing chemoport needles seems to becoming my thing, especially on Sundays. Many ladies, especially Chinese speaking, will usually come around noon, where I'll usually be at the counter and they'll speak in Mandarin how they want the chemoport to be removed. Usually, I get the outpatient charges bill ready, bring the patient to the treatment room, then prepare my equipments. 10cc heparin saline flushing, gauze, alcohol swab on stand by, post op sites and gloves. Some patients said day care had already charged them, so then I don't charge them. If not, I have to, since it's considered a service.
I did met some old patients, and they do remember me. Especially one patient whom they labelled fussy. She's not. I wish people would stop calling her fussy. She's nice, and she's a teacher. She was being discharged today, because my poor friend was busy, I offered to help her since she's really busy and she had to settle all the paperworks since she got her hands full with two discharges.So I did everything form top to bottom. From removing the chemoport, to changing her dressing, and finally to removing her CBD. She was so happy that she gave me a hug and wished me a happy Chinese New Year and all the best in my career. Awww. I wished her well and advised her not to stress herself, since she only just recovered. Plus some of the kindly elderly gentlemen were discharged too and thanked me for helping them (even though I only met them for a day).
Welcome to February month, and I'm praying hard that everything will turn out well.
After a long break, it took some getting back feeling but being back in the ward sure made me happy that there's something to do, besides meeting my patients and earning salary to get decent things. During the week break, I've been watching a lot of Anna Olson (Love her shows very much), and I feel like taking up baking, especially ganache to make chocolate truffles. But in between writing my story, I don't think I had the time to take up baking. I'm not exactly a keen cook if that's what you're wondering. I'm able to cook Hokkaido Miso ramen because it takes up to exactly ten minutes to cook. Toss the seaweed to brew, after five minutes, toss the noodles in, two minutes after that, toss any garnishing you want, I love naruto fishcakes, but it's impossible to find in here, so I settled for crab sticks. Let it boil for three minutes and you're done. Ten minutes on the dot. Add in the miso and itadakimasu :D
Okay, back to the matter on hand, I haven't forgotten any of my skills. First thing I came back I had to handle a lot of blood, blood for culture and sensitivity to be exact. Of all things. I had a patient who had a month of fever of unknown origin. They said it's definitely not dengue, if it was dengue, she most likely wouldn't suffer this long. The funny thing was her temperature is really scary. One minute she's fine, next minute her temperature spiked up to 38 or more. Insane. The antibiotic helped maintained her temperature, but she still end up shivering and then being fine at the next. That;'s why the blood culture and sensitivity, and to rule out malaria parasites. Oh, I hope she gets well soon.
Some patients were rather cheeky, I mean it in a good way. Since new year is now approaching near, some of the patients asked for ang pows. Ahem, I'm not married. I can't give ang pows as per tradition.
Removing chemoport needles seems to becoming my thing, especially on Sundays. Many ladies, especially Chinese speaking, will usually come around noon, where I'll usually be at the counter and they'll speak in Mandarin how they want the chemoport to be removed. Usually, I get the outpatient charges bill ready, bring the patient to the treatment room, then prepare my equipments. 10cc heparin saline flushing, gauze, alcohol swab on stand by, post op sites and gloves. Some patients said day care had already charged them, so then I don't charge them. If not, I have to, since it's considered a service.
I did met some old patients, and they do remember me. Especially one patient whom they labelled fussy. She's not. I wish people would stop calling her fussy. She's nice, and she's a teacher. She was being discharged today, because my poor friend was busy, I offered to help her since she's really busy and she had to settle all the paperworks since she got her hands full with two discharges.So I did everything form top to bottom. From removing the chemoport, to changing her dressing, and finally to removing her CBD. She was so happy that she gave me a hug and wished me a happy Chinese New Year and all the best in my career. Awww. I wished her well and advised her not to stress herself, since she only just recovered. Plus some of the kindly elderly gentlemen were discharged too and thanked me for helping them (even though I only met them for a day).
Welcome to February month, and I'm praying hard that everything will turn out well.
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