housemanship (3)

First call was not too bad- waking up at 5a.m to put branula, take blood..spent the night sleeping in a chair in the doctor's room.. No patient collapsed thankfully, but one patient passed out in the bathroom. However, God must have been watching cause there just happened to be an anaesthetic medical officer around :) And he attended to the patient, who was later on stable again.. she just had a syncopal attack in the bathroom.. He told me what to jot down in the patient's file, and after we were done, it sounded so professional!

the day passed by so fast, and now it's already saturday.. i'm going on call again tomorrow till monday 5p.m.. sigh.. the best thing about the coming week is that I'm finally out of the clutches (physically) of the MO as I'll be moving to nephrology male ward upstairs.. Not far enough, but good enough for me :)


On a more positive note, it's nice to have half day off cause it's a saturday :) wanted to have prayer meet with a senior but couldn't cause she's on OT call today so i went back home after i finished work.. am now resting and trying to read a bit before i start nephrology on monday.. heard it can be quite hectic, so am preparing for it slowly.. yesterday, I had a super long lecture session from the same MO who has some mental problem..

As I reflect on it now, I remembered she scolded me in front of one of my patients for about 20 minutes just because I did not take a blood culture&sensitivity test from the patient who incidentally had TONSILLITIS but had a spike in temperature the day before. To make things interesting, after the entire scolding, during the specialist's round, she said rather sarcastically to the specialist that we were only taking patient's blood c&s today, and the specialist said since we have already diagnosed her with tonsillitis, what would be the role for a blood c&s? A swab c&s was already done and we've started pt on antibiotics the day before :s

MO just kept quiet. Sheesh..

For the next patient, I also had about 10 mins of lecture cause she said I didn't take the patient's LDH and Calcium levels. I remembered vaguely that I did take it, but I didn't want to say anything as every time I defend myself, she'd kick up a huge fuss about my attitude.. after the rounds, I went and checked the investigations in the patient's file and guess what? It WAS taken the day before by me! and the results were THERE! so there went another 10 mins of wasted scolding in front of the patient, with me learning nothing except not to be like her no matter how far up i climb in the future..

I've begun to see that most of the things she scolds me for is not relevant, and she says I make excuses all the time.. I don't feel anything but pity for her, as she's quite young, probably early 30s, married, no kids and yet already having PMS every other day. Her husband is also a MO in opthalmology, apparently a nice fella. She's educated in australia, but behaves like this, which is quite odd. She told me I am one of the few people that she's considering to extend in medical posting :s

I hope it doesn't happen as I'm going to try my best to work hard under the other MO's to show them they have no reason to extend me in medical.. unbelievable how racist some people can be..

I'm not afraid as God has kept me sane all this while. Every time she scolds me in such a way, I don't feel anything but sorry for myself for giving her a loop hole to scold me, and pity for her.. I did not try to defend myself or argue with her, which is a good thing, cause she cannot say anything against me..

guess some people have inferiority complexes, and she's probably one of them.. still I would ask God to bless her for all she's done.. at least I learned not to be like her in the future :) there will be meaner people in the future, so I'm just thankful for my experience each day.


This came to me in my mail today:

FOR YOU ARE MY HOPE, O LORD GOD; YOU ARE MY TRUST
FROM MY YOUTH.
( PSALM 71:5 *NIV )

Dear Siew,
When ever you feel stressed, worried or overwhelmed by
things or people in this World, always put your hope and trust
in our Heavenly Father. Have faith that He will guide you
through the stumbling blocks that life has put before you! For
it is written: DO NOT FEAR, FOR I AM WITH YOU; DO NOT
BE DISMAYED, FOR I AM YOUR GOD. ( ISAIAH 41:10 )

Therefore never try to make decisions or to fight the battles
of life alone. Always ask God in prayer for the answers. He
will then, not only provide answers and guidance, but also will
bless you as well, for it is written: BLESSED IS THE MAN
WHO TRUSTS IN THE LORD, WHOSE CONFIDENCE IS IN
HIM. ( JEREMIAH 17:7 )

So Siew, make sure that you, TRUST IN HIM AT ALL
TIMES, YOU PEOPLE; POUR OUT YOUR HEART BEFORE
HIM; GOD IS A REFUGE FOR US. ( PSALM 62:8 )

In closing, I pray that, THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL
JOY AND PEACE AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, SO THAT YOU MAY
OVERFLOW WITH HOPE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Amen ( ROMANS 15:13 )

In HIS Love & Service,
Pastor Allen

And my dad texted me today saying the Lord lead him to this verse to encourage me:

9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

Psalm 9:9-11

I feel very encouraged by everyone's prayers and encouraging words. It has kept me going for the last whole month, on my journey to adapt to working life. Truly it's been one smooth road despite the bumps here and there. God is good :)