I babble, I ramble, and I rattle

1/7/09…

I was post call… And the call was the craziest I’ve ever had. At 1am 1/7/09, patients came in non stop. I was alone in PAC (with 2 staff nurses and 1 JM, of course). To make things worse, they were all in active phase of labour (all of them with os >5cm and contractions at least 2:10; i.e should be sent to labour room IMMEDIATELY!) and the labour rooms were full!!!

*** This situation is NOT an everyday occurence at my hospital. There are times when the labour room was so quiet I could have slept the entire night (but I stupidly didn’t ).

Talk about bad luck.

Triaging and sending them to the labour room was really chaotic but a fun experience when I think about it now.

Something else happened too but I shall refrain from writing about it here. No, I didn’t do anything wrong to any patient. It’s just that something happened that night causing my specialist and registrar to mark me as their future O&G MO. No, I didn’t do anything great either. Don’t get all hyped up. It could have just been cynicism on their part.

Anyway, that post call day…

I was about to leave the labour room just before 5pm when an MO called me to post up a patient for emergency LSCS for fetal distress. As I sat in front of the computer (to book OT), she announced that the os was full and we were going to deliver the baby.

Less than a minute later, a senior MO came in to ask what was happening. For some reason, he ended up delivering the baby. With the baby out, he turned to me and said, ” Nuraini, she’s all yours.” (and mumbled something about me being able to handle any obstetrics cases; no thanks to what happened during my call the previous night)

In disbelief, I looked at the clock. It was 5pm. Damn!I thought I could go back by 5pm.

Anyway, I delivered the placenta and repaired the episiotomy and perineal tear. Don’t worry. I always do my job properly even though I was so extremely damn sleepy. Even the (very experienced) staff nurse said my sutures were beautifully done.

At 5.40pm, I happily left the hospital. Somehow, my car didn’t feel right. I didn’t know what was wrong but I could sense something wasn’t right. Actually, I’ve been feeling that way for the past 1 week and I’ve been ignoring it but that day, the feeling was much stronger than ever.

Less than 5 minutes later, as I was cruising at 100km/h on the PLUS highway, I heard the faint sound of something breaking. A few seconds later, I saw smokes and debris from the side of my car and the unmistakable sound of a flat tyre.

I immediately pulled over (at KM451.5)  and to my horror, saw this:

.

I called PLUS Helpline to request for assistance, followed by calls to Ba’ah (he didn’t answer the phone) and Mama to inform that I’d be home late.

Yes, when I saw the tyre, I was screaming out in my mind all the expletives I could come up with. Luckily all that went away once I’ve called PLUS. Then I started to enjoy the moment. I mean, how often do you get such an experience?

I took out the chocolate muffins and apple juice that I bought just before I left the hospital (my last meal was at 8pm the previous night) and had a ‘picnic’ by the roadside.

Those two muffins and a packet of apple juice lasted me for  the next 20 hours. I totally conked out the moment I reached home, only to wake up (quite late) the following morning - no time for breakfast - and only managed to have lunch at 3pm the following day.

Surprisingly, with this kind of ‘diet’, I’m not losing weight (do remember that I’m actually trying to gain weight so I’m very happy for not losing weight) but strangely enough, all my clothes are getting loose.

View from where I sat.

.

About 25 minutes later, help arrived.

It was so embarrassing to open up my car boot and they saw how messy it was (it still is! ).

.

I was really fortunate that it was the rear tyre that went flat. If it was the front one… And I was driving at 100km/h… Errmmm, let’s not think about it, ok?

Yesterday, Ba’ah took my car to the workshop (I drove Mama’s car to work) and had a new pair of tyres as well as a new set of rims installed. Total damage was RM1.2k.

There goes my on call claims.

Yi returned to Canada today.

I reached home from work (being post call on a weekend sucks big time) just in time to send Yi to the LCCT.

Since Yi’s friend, Linda had not arrived, I decided to give my family a treat at the Theobroma Chocolate Lounge.

.

Between the 5 of us, we had the following drinks: white chocolate (Kona’s), white chocolate mocha (Ba’ah’s), milk mocha (Matyi’s) and dark mocha (obviously mine!). Mama simply wanted to share with everyone.

.

Kona’s white chocolate frappe which Ba’ah loved so much.

.

Me and Mama couldn’t resist scraping the chocolate off the sides of the cups. Yummy stuff!

.

We spent about an hour there before it was time for Yi to leave.

Oh, well. Goodbye, Yi. Happy studying!

.

Took me almost a week to recover from that weekend simply because I was post call on that Sunday (had a lousy call, only managed to sleep for about 30minutes and finished work around lunch hour on Sunday) and I actually attempted to have a ‘life’ by hanging out with my friends.

First of all, I apologise for the lack of quality in these pictures because of the following reasons:

1. My current laptop is a mini and viewing the pictures in full size is just slightly better than viewing them in thumbnail size (ok, I exaggerate) on my old laptop. I seriously don’t know how good or bad they are.

2. Hence (with the reason stated above), even though I minimally edit the pictures as usual using Picasa, I can’t see any difference.

3. I think I resized the pictures wrongly before uploading (can’t be bothered to reupload since the internet connection is slow)… And Wordpress is resizing it so I’m expecting quite blurry pictures (I don’t know for sure because I can’t see them in full glory. My laptop is too small to notice that).

Anyway, my first destination that day was the Laman Budaya (Taman Budaya? Whatever…) at Taman Tasik Shah Alam. It was Hanie’s wedding reception.

Since Hanie and hubby are in the photography industry, I was not surprised to see people with DSLRs swarming the event. In fact, I expected it to be that way. However, with my sleepiness, I could not help feeling turned off from taking much pictures.

I think this is the only time I took (several) pictures of the couple.

.

Though I was late, it was good to see my old friends… and teachers again.

From left: Fida, Saadah, Liana, Hamidah, Cikgu Mazni (our English teacher back in form 3), Shila & Tini.

.

.

It was a very pleasant surprise to see our history teacher, Cikgu Rafeah there.

.

Before it was too late (the bride and groom were going off for an outdoor photo shoot), we went to take pictures with the newlyweds.

.

Hanie was screaming like a child to see Shila (who was still in confinement) there.

.

Last but not least, we met our chemistry teacher, Cikgu Rushaimi just before we left. She just gave birth last year… And her eldest daughter is getting married at the end of this year. Shh… Don’t tell her I told you this.

Cikgu Rushaimi and Shila’s mum.

.

From the wedding reception, I then proceeded to Shila’s house to visit her baby boy, Hanan. Turned out they were having a feast to celebrate Father’s Day. Since I was already full, her mum was kind enough to pack me some of the laksa Johor and rojak to bring home. Thanks!

.

Oh, yes. Hanan…

.

Oh, did I mention I met Cikgu Norhayati too?

She is actually Hanie’s mum (hence the reason my high school teachers were there). Hanie’s mum taught us PE (for my medical friends, PE is NOT pre-eclampsia, ok? ps: Please blame this stupid joke on my current O&G posting. ) for a year.

Our HOD has, for some reason, made it her habit to give us, HOs daily pep talks since last week.

Today, she stressed on the importance of CMEs & CPDs.

Since we’re in the O&G department  and knowing how loyar buruk we (including the MOs) can be, she was extremely quick to say, “No. CPD is NOT your cephalo-pelvic disproportion, ok? It’s continuous professional development.”

She read our minds.

Had a Kiwi Cup (a hand pump vacuum device) practice session today. Successfully delivered a decapitated baby’s head (a dummy, obviously) from a super multiparous (it has undergone thousands of vaginal deliveries) mannekin.

Monday…

I was late for work. Just when we (Mama needs my car, hence Ba’ah had to send me to work) turned towards the mosque near my house, I realised that I was wearing Kona’s slippers. We turned back.

Just as we got on the Federal Highway, I noticed something else… I forgot my keys. I told Ba’ah we had no choice but to turn back; which we did. Hence causing me to be late for work.

That morning at my ward was pretty quiet… Until we received a call from the security informing that lifts #7 until #15 were out of service… And that would be ALL the lifts in the building.

We’re on the 6th floor. Labour room, NICU and Unit Hasil (where you make your payments) are on the 2nd floor. Operation theatre (OT) is on the 3rd floor. At that time, we had 2 cases to be sent to the OT. All we could do was to apologise to the OT nurses, telling them we couldn’t send the patients until the lifts were back in service.

Just when we thought the day couldn’t get more interesting, a strange bright blue light started blinking. It went on for quite some time before suddenly an eerily extremely calm emergency announcement was repeatedly made over the PA system, asking us to drop whatever thing we were doing and to proceed to the nearest assembly area in an orderly manner.

By the time the patients started to feel uneasy about our lack of interest in ‘dealing with the situation’ (I was actually walking around with a kidney dish, taking blood from patients), another ‘live’ announcement was made, explaining the situation… There was something wrong with the fire alarm system.

And we thought with that, the annoying emergency announcement would stop… How wrong could we be. It went on for at least another 15 minutes.

Then the anaesthetist in the OT called me asking where the patient was (she said something like “I called the patient more than an hour ago. Where is she?”). I could only apologise for the delay and explained what happened. Can’t really blame her. Anaesthetists have minimal contact with the outside world.

The emergency announcement stopped not long after that and soon followed by an announcement that the lifts were back in service. We finally managed to send our patients to the OT. Really can’t imagine what would happen if there happened to be an emergency case (for operation) in the labour room.

A few other interesting things happened this week but I’m too lazy to write. I’m on call at the moment and writing this from the nursing counter.

The highlight of today would be clerking a mute patient. It was fun (though exasperating at the same time).

N.B.: I hope I have enough energy to go to Hanie’s wedding reception tomorrow. Wish me a good call.

My mum has finally done blogging on their recent 2-week travel around Europe.

Read HERE.

Damn, I’m jealous!

I’m home for tonight.

Much to my surprise, Boka is home and so is Mae (wasn’t aware of the school holiday). Unfortunately, Pih is away for some debating tournament which my parents forgot to attend (they’re still jetlagged). I only expected to see Kona and Yi who just returned from Canada with my parents. They met up in London for a 2-week tour around Europe and just returned on Wednesday. Read my mum’s blog for the almost daily ‘report’ during their tour.

My parents excitedly informed me that  they kept the chocolate that their friend (who met them somewhere in Europe) gave them for me. It turned out to be Lindt’s dark chocolate (85% cocoa).

Obviously, they didn’t intentionally keep the chocolate for me. It’s 85% dark chocolate!

They simply couldn’t finish the bar and Ba’ah said it tastes like tar. The only reason it has been consumed was because they were desperate for food.

Thanks Ba’ah & Mama for ‘keeping it for me’. It’s my favourite chocolate (I sometimes buy it myself when I have some extra money).

Oh, I had my first ambulance ride a few days ago. It was fun! Going at 150km/ hour on a road with a speed limit of 90km/ hour and people giving way for you… Turning at corners with the speed of 100km/ hour (at one point, I was sure that the ambulance was going to flip over and I was actually wishing for it to happen so that I didn’t have to go to work )… Took us less than half an hour to reach Serdang. Our return trip took one hour. No wonder my friend vomited after a similar ride.

Even though our schedule was packed with lectures and talks, we had one entire afternoon allocated for touring the island. Initially we wanted to go island hopping but were advised against it due to unpredictable weather in the afternoon.

In the end we decided to go to Underwater World Langkawi and the cable car at Gunung Mat Chinchang; both of which I’ve been to in 2004.

But first, we stopped at a local gamat (sea cucumber) shop.

We were taken to the back of the shop to see how gamat oil is processed. We were told that even though the oil is very hot, it would not burn our fingers.

.

Curious, many of us tried dipping our fingers inside the kawah (big wok) including yours truly. It was definitely very hot but apart from making my fingers slippery with oil, nothing else happened.

.

We then proceeded to the shop proper where a huge selection of gamat products were for sale; ranging from facial and hair care products to serious medications. Some edible while others only for external use.

.

Done shopping, we made our way to Underwater World Langkawi.

.

.

We missed the 3D show at the Underwater World by a mere 5 minutes and we couldn’t wait for the next show because the buses were waiting for us outside.

Our tour continued with the cable car trip to the top of Gunung Matchinchang.

I seriously don’t remember having this card as my ticket during my last trip there.

.

The view lasted for only a short while before the clouds came in.

.

.

We went straight to the top station, thinking we could go to the suspension bridge afterwards since it was still shrouded in clouds. When I went there in 2004, the bridge was still under construction.

.

The clouds soon cleared… Unfortunately we arrived at the ‘gate’ a mere 5 minutes past the time for its last admission.

.

Disappointed, we  made our way back down  to the base station… And again, the clouds moved in to hide the view from us.

.

We also had another free day when many of us went to a waterfall somewhere after lunch that day. Unfortunately I fell asleep (after days of sleep deprivation) during lunch hour and only woke up much later.

That evening, another group of friends went to Cenang Beach and insisted that I went with them (since I already missed that waterfall trip) but again luck wasn’t on my side. I had to do my assignment which I had not even started.

For more pictures, please visit my GALLERY.

I know this entry is outdated… But who cares!!!

As mentioned before, I had to attend a 2-week induction course in Langkawi some time last month. This post has been sitting nicely in my draft folder since I returned from Pasir Salak roughly about a month ago.

Anyway, this is the view from my room (overlooking CHOGM park) at Eaglebay Hotel, Kuah, Langkawi.

.

I find it amusing that me (Nuraini) and my friend, Noraini ended up doing our laundry at a launderette owned by Nooraini.

From left: Nuraini, Nooraini, Noraini

.

I missed the trip to the waterfall (can’t remember which one) because I fell asleep after lunch in my room and couldn’t join my friends who went to Pantai Chenang that same evening because I had to finish my assignment (served me right for not doing it earlier) but I had a good walk around town while doing some birdwatching.

.

I seriously couldn’t figure out how the owner managed to park his cars in the tight space.

.

Bridge at Kuah town.

.

.

.

.

On my way back from walking around town, I stopped by at the Jeti Pelancongan (right opposite the police station. If from Kuah town, before you reach CHOGM park, on the way to Kuah Jetty) where many were seen to enjoy the sunset view with their beloved ones (I was obviously alone).

.

.

Kuah Jetty, as viewed from the Jeti Pelancongan.

.

Yes, I’m too lazy to write.

Thanks for noticing.

For more pictures, please visit my GALLERY.

Hanie told me yesterday morning that Shila was admitted to the hospital the night before. As soon as I could find a free time, I called Shila. Turned out she just gave birth not long before I called.

Since I was post call today, I decided to take the opportunity to visit her.

It’s good to see her and Izuan again and I couldn’t stop laughing at Izuan because he looked like an older brother looking after his youngest baby brother (even he himself said the same thing).

They have chosen a name for the baby but the decision is not yet final and therefore I am not allowed (by myself, really) to announce it here; just in case they decide to change it.

.

For bigger pics, please visit my GALLERY.