and when she speaks
Friday, August 29, 2008
I was working at EPCC today.Early Pregnancy Complications Clinic.It's sad - I enjoyed working there, but the reasons the patients came in were all very heart-rending.Ectopic pregnancy. Missed abortions. Miscarriages...The visual view of a woman lying semi-conscious with her legs wide open in the lithotomy position having her retained contents ie placenta or fetal tissues sucked out from her cervix and out via the vagina was disconcerting to say the least.I saw 5 cases of that today. It broke my heart when one of my patients said this to me this morning, " Why? What did I do wrong? I had no cramps, no bleeding... I'm 40 years old. I'm not going to give up. I just want kids, even if it's just one more..."She has lost three pregnancies so far. We couldn't explain why because these things just happen. She is otherwise perfectly healthy.Her husband took time off when she did get pregnant after consuming fertility pills- sadly, the pregnancy only lasted a month... He went back to work after her latest ultrasound showed no heart beat and came back mid day on that day itself because he couldn't stop thinking about the lost baby and apparently, he had tears in his eyes whilst talking to his superior...My heart broke listening to their unfortuitious circumstance...One thing I know - the baby (technically not a baby) might have ceased growing inside her, but nothing can dampen their trying spirits and hopefully, that's going to be fruitful in the near future.Another lady who was scheduled for the OR today for a D&C, dropped her baby whilst in the toilet and soaked 3 towels... Whilst we were cleaning her perineum in the OR prior to suctioning the fetal tissues out, massive clots of blood dropped out- it filled 2 buckets... that's how much blood she lost. When we opened her legs, already huge clumps of blood clots were dripping out... When my resident stuck the cotton inside her vagina and cervix to cleanse the area, huge chunks of tissues and blood clots profusely dripped out... It almost made me sick, watching so much come out from the vagina. And watching them dig out and suck out all the tissues from that area...I take my hat out to these women who don't give up. It takes a lot of courage and perseverance to keep going... despite continuous D&Cs...
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7:55 AM;;
I'm on cloud nine.
I'll be in New York for 3 months =)
And celebrating my 21st over there too. Hopefully I've made many new friends then ;)
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5:03 AM;;
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
I have won an ice-cream bet with a girlfriend.I am proud of myself for having literally dragged my bum out from bed at 6 ish am to go 'walking' with a friend and we succssfully did so for 2 hours in the crisp fresh Sunday morning.I haven't had authentic curry chicken ASIAN style for so long. I wont count mine because mine is downright... oh well, you get the picture ;)Til Trina cooked for us last night. Yes, they were laughing at me when I unknowingly clapped my hands in joy *so pathetic right?* when Max served potatoes and curry chicken for me on a my plate of rice... LoL. Just to do justice tome, I am NOT a bad cook, I'm JUST lazy ;P Last night's meal was delicious. I miss MALAYSIAN food. And by the way, me clapping my hands bit: that was just an expression of me in pure joy & no pretense =) *I do realise it makes me look quite pathetic, and my mum agrees - she's like 'GO AND COOK PLEASE!' ;)Now for the POT LUCK next weekend. I am already dreading cooking for the gang for fear they will either have food poisoning or never ever again invite me to a POTLUCK. LoL... need to ask mummy for simple easy yummy recipes :) though I have myself a whole stack of ripped magazine pages of delicious recipes, I think when it comes to my final cooking product, it just doesn't come out quite as expected ;(' Yes. I have booked my flight to NEW YORK CITY. Here I come.Wait --- after my exams first...........................................................!!
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3:24 AM;;
Sunday, August 24, 2008
I had a small little 'internal outburst' a few days ago because of one matter.NYU had offered me a dermatology elective.A few days ago, John Hopkins' letter came and stated they also offered me Derm.And then, all of a sudden, Weill Cornell says I most likely will get dermatology as well!Yes that was my first choice but to have all my electives in DERM when my school requires me to do three different rotations in 12 weeks is the BANE behind my stress!So I had to reject the other two because they came in later than NYU...And asked for other electives instead.
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9:18 PM;;
Sweet memories from my one year here in Canada so far:Sitting by a bonfire in a friend's garden just chilling out by the waters Barbequing marshmallows and dipping them into BaileysRiding pillion on a bicycle- at full speed against the wind going uphill and downhillTaking pictures on rocks by the beachGoofing around having fun with close friendsLounging in Max and Trina's 'homely' house- it feels like home in thereDancing in a club right next to the stereos ( I vouch that will be a ONe and ONLY time)Jumping into a plot of snow and having half your body buried in soft fresh snowRunning in the rain umpteen times with an upside down-flopped umbrellaHaving Argentinian & Spanish meals with my landlord's familyBlueberry picking Waking up at 4.55am? ;)Rolling on a bed of fresh green green grass in publicGetting rejected in a club restaurant for not having a Canadian ID-I swear that was the first time it's ever happenedToday was a fun day.A friend organised a picnic at Point Pleasant Park. We had a lot of food. I rode pillion on a bicycle and we did NOT fall YAY =) We played soccer.And took tonnes and tonnes of photos =)Ah! The sweet simple life. I love it. Now I'm ready to go back to studying ;)
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10:53 AM;;
A lovely stroll down the harbor front with a finger-licking ice-cream.
Couldn't have been nicer. Especially with the peanut-coated chocolate cone with chocolate mocha fudge =)
And a lovely date. It was pretty spontaneous.
It was off to oven-baked pizza and a nice walk whilst the night was young.
Only thing missing was it was a moonless night. We were searching for the moon, because I told him it was full moon season and he wanted to see it. But we walked and couldn't find it anywhere. Weird isn't it, being moonless? Yes and...
My mooncakes at home are waiting for me to devour them!
AND I wasn't allowed into one of the restaurants/pub which sells alcohol- because I didn't have with me my Canadian ID! I showed them 10 cards and all of them were rejected.
I am going to be a doctor in officially a few months' time and I AM NOt even allowed into a club restaurant. What is this???!!! So, then we had to leave for another restaurant.Oh well, it was still a pretty good night :)
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2:06 AM;;
