the end of surgery has come. wow. it was a really uneventful last day actually. grands, then morning rounds, having one final tutorial on tubes and drains, and trying to fill up my silly very important logbook so that i could hand it in to the office. there wasn't a chance to say goodbye to the team cuz they disappeared into the ot immediately after grands to begin a 14 hour operation. oh well.

these eight weeks i've learnt a lot, and i can say it's more than just clinical skills i learnt. i've seen good medicine being practised, i've heard the doctors' stories, and i've discovered more about myself and my direction in this chosen career. i've seen two patients, both of whom reached critical points in their conditions, but having the joy of watching only one patient climb back from the edge at the last moment. he went from grade one hepatic encephalopathy to sitting up in this chair and smiling and laughing and thanking us profusely for our care and concern. the other is slowly slipping away, severely jaundiced, ascitic and dyspnoeic, partially due to the fact that he has opted out of the hota act. he was the last patient i saw before leaving the chalet hospital yesterday. he was slumped in his bed, and a family member was holding his hand and leaning forward to speak to him. it's an image that will probably stay in my mind for a long time.

two months here and i'm beginning to appreciate what favour is. it was only in the last week that it dawned on me how blessed we were to know the people we knew - mr teddy bear, mr longan aka la bi xiao xin ( i swear i didn't come out with that!), mr r-, mr pck, mr army boy ( whom we found out on our last day that he's got other talents besides playing computer games) and the nicest ho to date.

ah, how i will miss chalet surgery. but i look forward to the change in subject, and also to redoing the layout of this blog. a change is as good as a feast, is it not?