Wednesday, July 8, 2009

WOW! : Confessions of a house officer #5 – Day 19 of life, the WOW theory~ and the WOW-ing me~


I guess my last post was rather traumatic… depressing,.. or more accurately, hateful, in a way… sorry about that. I did not meant to be demotivating. The last thing I need is to demotivate all those medical student / HO-to-be out there, or amplified the sadness is my fellow friends/colleagues.

You know, sometimes, when you are in your down-most condition… like when nothing can get worse,.. then suddenly, something happens, and things miraculously gets better.

I remembered once, a friend of mine, bingwui , he has this WOW theory. which was pretty interesting. So, allow me to share this theory with you today.



Quote: The reason I wanna do medicine is because medicine wows me. Medicine wows me more than other fields.
I think this is one of those things that keep us going.

When I performed my first delivery, the beauty of childbirth, bringing life to Earth, WOW! (correction, the mother brings life to earth, God creates life, we merely facilitates)

The first time I saw the fundus of the eyes, the pretty optic disc staring back, it was the most beautiful thing in the world, WOW!

The first time I auscultated a murmur, like the wind hushing,WOW!

The first time I heard a prosthetic heart click, like the clicking of the watch, WOW!

The first time I saw a craniotomy surgery, the pulsating brain, WOW!

My first forensic experience, although eerie, yet WOW!

The time my schizophenic patient shared his story, stories of attempts suicides, unbelievable...

The good old days spending time with the kids at the peadiatric wards, the time the kid gave me his transformer stickers, shared his toys, WOW!

The first time i saw blue eyes, correction: blue sclera, WOW!

The first time I performed CPR, and patient regained a pulse, *beep*, spontaneous breathing, WOW!


When I insert the needle into those veins, see the blood gushing out, WOW!

When I get a successful branula on a difficult patient, WOW!

When discovered a misdiagnosis, WOW!


When discovered an abdominal aorta aneurysm the other day, incidentally, WOW!


So yes, everyday is a WOW! day… there is always something new.

-------------------END OF WOW! STORY----------------------------------

I discharged 5 of my patients today. It was tiring, writing referral letters non-stop. I know, some might think I mengada wanna find work to do by referring here and there. But really, it makes a difference you know. Like when you incidentally found your patient to have a neglected cataract, the simple referral letter to opthal can actually give her the luxury of perfect vision again, something she might not think she’ll ever had. That referral to the health clinics can offer better compliance to medication and better diabetic/blood pressure control. That letter to Social Welfare and SOCSO may ease her financial burden. That request for physiotherapy may prevent contractures and improves quality of life. That letter for home nursing may ensure better supportive care for the patient. Like I had said earlier, the pen can be a very powerful object. And I ran 2 pens out of ink, within 3 days. My fingers and arms hurt. But, it is okay.


So, my hateful days at the wards did get better.


1. Guess what? I’ve got a new MO (medical officer), Dr Gary Lee and Specialist, Dr Ahmad in the ward, and they are SUPER NICE!! Serious!super SUPER NICE!! Sure, the workload did increase, with them being very thorough with patients, but it is nice that we learn a lot from them. And yes, they have a good sense of humour, they treat patients (and co-workers, and HOs) very nice and life just gets better.


2. My tagging days are over! Yippie!! I get to punch out earlier… recently as early as 830pm, I’m aiming for 7pm.


3. I am glad I am getting my daily dose of endorphins before sleep. ^^



13 comments:

  1. Haha.. It's so nice to hear that you sound much chirpier and happier again. Nothing is happier than to find the little joys in life in the work that you're in!! Happy for you :)

    Fighting!! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shinyin, GOOD to hear u r sounding more optimistic & WOW now....:-D

    ReplyDelete
  3. hotchick!! today i also had a not-so-bad day...and i had a WOW oso...(peanut theory...=.=")

    i did a pleural tap and the fluid gushed out (when i pull the stringe la....keke)...WOW...
    and i'm back at 6pm every non-oncall day...WOW...

    and i did 9 discharges and 2 transfer ytd and another 5 discharges today...hope tml morning i can have a WOW for a quite empty ward for friday..hehe...(cos tml i'm oncall...wan less ward work...)

    hope we all will have more WOW in future ba~~ciao

    ReplyDelete
  4. WOW!! shin yin can rebound back to positivism in no time. must hav a very strong will. Lolz!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. okay i expect my readership to increase like bim bong piang now.. hahaha.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow! u seemed to be doing better! that's really great. give me hope for my future work too..

    do take care and continue staying positive! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. WOW~~~my place oni MO can do the referral~~~
    u so good, got so many nice MO....
    i also need to get many pen but not becos it runs out of ink,is all lost to dunno where~~
    u really hardworking,work till 830pm!!!if me,collapse liao lor....

    ReplyDelete
  8. hye sis. to tell u da truth, ur last post did discourage me a lil bit. huhu. but when i read this WOW post, i cried a lil bit. u r awesome! i remember when i first saw delivery when i post at perinatology. n yeah, i agree the WOW effect. medicine is full of surprises! thank u very much for writing this post!!!!!! mmmuax

    ReplyDelete
  9. yaya...keep the spirit...life might be down sometimes...but the important things is how u stand over it again.....uush....

    ReplyDelete
  10. good for you :) and the new layout nampak ceria :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow...good post! life is full of Wow
    you start to foresee ur brighter future
    Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  12. dude...i just felt the same, though housemen life is supertiring, i do appreciate the so call "Wow-ness" in medicine more than anytime during in medical student time~~the satisfactory to be able to help patient,when they smile and say thanks doctor when they'd discharged, is really warm my heart or further support to go on,seriously~~anyway, i'm luckier than u, i'm writing referral letter by computers...yeah~~~

    ReplyDelete
  13. i am a 4th year medical student...taking medicine in egypt..
    thanx for sharing your experience...
    your experience help me very much on understanding a medical officer's so-called 'miserable life'...and yet, IT IS miserable!!!
    hope u'll continue writing and sharing...
    good luck to u =)

    ReplyDelete

dear friends, firstly, thanks for leaving your comments.. they are very much valued :)

secondly, do remember to leave your name =)
i'll like to know how can i address you ^^ thx

oh yes, if you do not have a blog/URL, just select open ID and leave the URL section blank :)

Author's Note

Dear friends and readers, Thank you for dropping by and leaving comments/ shoutouts. More importantly, thank you for being there... please accept my apology that, lately, i may be busy with work and not have time to reply youir messages/comments, but rest assured, each and everyone is read, and highly appreciated :) have a nice day! ^^

of love

Today, i heard a story which was not a story of falling...
of living in the dark end of winter turmoil..
instead, it was a love story..
of a couple who did not live happily ever after...
but they live, loving each other..