medicine is my life

I have soo much to say..but this is the gist of the pressured thoughts in my mind..

It's a saturday night..i'm post call..but still got to go back to the wards tomorrow (sunday). Yep i've been going to the hosp every day of the week for my SIP (student internship program)..and it's not like the reg/consultant was mean enough to demand a 7-day-a-week attendance..I really am doing it out of choice. Doesn't matter if it means waking up early and getting home late everday, or that lunches come only around 2plus..

Of course a 23 yr old may wonder sometimes if this is really the life he/she wants: On a fri night when most other young adults are out socializing/schmoozing/chilling, you're either running around setting plugs for old ladies with impossible veins who keep pulling their plugs out, doing ECGs with machines that don't work very well/run out of sticky pads, clerking new admissions, or just trying to sleep in a cold bare call room.

But at the end of the day..i still choose to return to the wards time after time. Cos i feel so alive and fulfilled when i step into the wards. I know we're supposed to have big ambitions and dreams of saving people/ finding a miracle treatment/cure/procedure. But for now, it's really the little things in life which i live for, and which keep my passion for medicine burning.

The NUH/SGH doctors on the SIP committee came the other day to conduct a SIP feedback session for the 4 students on call that night..in my opinion, i would give my SIP experience so far a 10 out of 10. Or maybe i just have low expectations..But all the myths and fears i had about SIP have been dispelled. Maybe it's just that TTSH is a really nice environment to work in..

There are just countless little things that keep me smiling:
Nurses who call you by name and joke with you abt stuff;
Really nice HOs who gossip with us, buy us soya bean drinks and treat us to a not-so-cheap Jap lunch;
A MO who surprised us by remembering we were post call and bringing soya bean milk to us in the morning;
Another MO who takes time during rounds to impart his knowledge;
Patients who greet you everyday as they pass the counter where you're furiously typing discharge summaries and writing blue letters;

Seeing an elderly lady who's been septic the past few days suddenly open her eyes and smile at you one morning (despite what ID says, imipenem does do wonders);
Cute old men who on hearing their hypocount is 20.8 jump out of bed and walk across the ward to reassure you they only ate 2 soon kueh for breakfast..Haha..

I guess medicine has sort of invaded me and become a very big part of my life, like it or not.
Sure, sometimes it's just so darn tiring and daunting but i would never give it up for the world. Cos really, i see more heartfelt smiles here in the hospital than anywhere else.

Just some pics of our lunch at the Jap restaurant..And to the other MOs and HOs who have rotated through the team, and not forgetting our very nice reg & consultant ..Thanks for being good to us too!

joel, philip, hwee seng

elenor,dawn,steph,lizhen