Zee Avi, Will You Marry Me?

A Very Quick One, From Sandakan (Heck! It rhymes!)

It's 10:10pm, and I'm still in the ward. Curi pakai PC kat bilik Sister. Muahahaha!! So this is going to be a very quick one.

It's a thrill to be here. The first shocked I got was when I found out there were only 5 housemen in Sandakan. And I'm the sixth to join. To put it in perspective, Batu Pahat has about 360 beds. Surgery deparment alone has 5 housemen. Sandakan has 400 beds. The WHOLE HOSPITAL has only 6 housemen. Haha. Best ke tak best tu?

But work here has been fun. And of all postings that are available here, I'm starting with.... yep.. you guessed it. Obstetrics and gynaecology. Hahaha. Apa la punya nasib. There are 2 housemen in the department. A lady I met during BTN course and myself (oh yah. Speaking of BTN, that stuff is a load of shit. Induction was fun, however).

Here we get to do a lot of stuff. At first it was pretty scary, being given a lot of liberty as a very the merry junior doctor. But I guess confidence is stressed in the housemanship training here. The saying goes 'assist once, do forever'. I'll write another time if you want details.

We get to see crazy things here too. Imagine, a mother coming in for labour with no previous clinic encounter. All that is in front of you is a screaming woman without any information.

A premature labour took place yesterday. The mother did not attend antenatal clinic at all. The only thing I could get from the mother was her last menstruation date, which I used to estimate the duration of her pregnancy. No other info was available.

She was screaming, the baby was on its way out. And I had to inform the on call Paediatric MO of what's happening so that he can standby and come see the premature baby.

It was one of those crazy moments where your brain freezes.

Through the phone, the MO asked: Can you describe the baby?

Me: Errrr.... The baby is very... errrr.... small.

MO: Haha. Very useful information. I'll be there shortly.

6 years of med school, and I could only come up with that. Hahaha. And that was just one incident. Working here is gila I tell you. But it's fun. And most of the MOs here are very cool and calm. They take training and mentoring seriously.

Oh goodness. I got to go. Need to passover the high risk cases to the houseman (housewoman?) on call.

My tagging finishes tomorrow. Then I'll be heading back to KL for my graduation. Woot woooot! Sape kat KL jom Carl's Jr. Aku mau telan 2 burger. Btw, my weight dropped so much, my seluar is sweeping the dust and blood on the floor.

On call starts Monday. Bring it on!!!!!!!

As Life Unfolds

I am posted to Sandakan, Sabah. And I like it.

These are the words I can muster:

To the well-wishers: Thank you for your encouragement and pleasant words. Though I've been hearing seafood in Sandakan is the best, I'm sure they won't be able to match your advice and kind wishes.

To my family: I won't be there forever. Don't worry. I'm looking at four years, and you and I know four years will just go by. And I'll try my best not to marry a local.

To my friends: Come to Sandakan. Fun time may resume there. To those whom I owe money or makan session, wait till I get back lah. To those who can't wait, jom datang Sandakan. Air Asia flies direct.

To whomever in Sandakan: Ada orang baru mau join orang Sandakan, bah. (Lesson 1 in speaking the Sabahan dialect: Add a 'bah' at the end of every other sentence. Muaahaha. I hope I got this right)

To everyone else who just knew about my posting 'abroad': Surprise!!

Hope to be able to write from there as soon as possible. For now, I wish for a safe journey.

Go forth, Sabah!