Scattered Thoughts

mumbler is quarter way through her surgical sip at the central hospital. everyone's nice and all, but having nothing much to do in between morning and exit rounds really drains me. and the waiting for the exit rounds. i was kindly let off by my ho this evening, because the exits were still not happening even after six. and considering that we're so close to the final m, such wandering around isn't very reassuring!

since we're on the topic, mumbler wants to whine about the silly iv cannulas that central hospital uses. the cannulas are weird, so much so that i can't use one hand to remove the stylet. what happens is that i need two hands to pull out the stylet while sliding in the cannula, but when i do that i let go of the skin, which results in the vein recoiling, and i go through and through. argh!! i know my plug setting can't be that bad, since i still can take blood fairly easily, so it must be the cannula right? right?!

i had my one and only surgical call last friday. continuous rounds of blood takings with the r1 kidnapping me for dinner and blue letter referrals. surprisingly i wasn't sleepy at all and was quite awake even at three in the morning. in contrast, my eyes were barely open and my mind all wooly by midnight when i was on active call at the grand ol' dame. must be something about the kopi at kopitiam. heh. slept for less than an hour, but was grateful that the room wasn't too cold, unlike the one i had during medicine posting, which had a maddeningly cold aircon that directed icy wind to my lower limbs and prevented me from sleeping soundly.

my call ended off well, but it didn't start out very promisingly. first, during pre-rounds, mumbler was yelled at by a nurse for taking the files. i mean, how exactly does she expect any doctor to pre-round without taking the files? if i were a dashing young house officer or a much senior doctor, i doubt she'd dare open her mouth. she, of course, is one of the black sheep, as they say. during the night call i even had nurses preparing the stuff for iv cannulation, who were encouraging and friendly, and who made my call a breeze really, so i'm very grateful for nurses i've met so far. just not her. haha.

and well, guess whose file i was taking a look at? a known case of ca colon, with mets everywhere. fell the night before, fractured his skull and began to bleed into his stoma. by morning rounds he had already lost nearly 2L of blood through the stoma. alert, he was complaining about his back pain, telling us we should ask his wife since she knew his condition well. his wife was in tears as the consultant explained that palliation was our goal, no longer curative, and she uttered the most heart wrenching question i've ever heard in my 3 years of clincals, "how much time will he leave me with?"

he died three hours later.