Good Grief...

I actually fell down in my room last night. Tried to be quick in clearing up my stuff, picked my laptop off the table, whizzed round, foot landed on the laptop adaptor, reflexes tried to save my foot from being stabbed by adaptor more than necessary, reflexes forgot to adjust other foot, lost balance and landed on the floor. And my shin hit the adaptor anyway.

Survival mode numbed out the pain until I was sure my beloved laptop was OK (it too hit the floor). Then my goodness. The pain. Nothing broken, but aiyo, it's not just the bits that hit the floor that hurt. Even the back and my calf hurts. Can't understand it. My body can't take shock like it used to. Well, come to think of it, I've never actually fallen down for a long time...usually I can reflex quick enough to regain balance. Haha. Now I can understand how old people can fall down and fracture hips etc.  

Discoveries....

King Ahab gets told that he is going to die because he had done something wrong and 'Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria' (1 Kings 20:43)

In the next chapter, this same king is refused a vineyard that he requested for and again becomes 'sullen and angry'. Not only that 'He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat' (1 Kings 21:3-4)

Then drama between the prophets....'Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face' (1 Kings 22:24)

I always imagined the Bible to contain big important scholarly words, but these lines seem to give it a new edge. I've heard of kings that tore their clothes, cried out in rage, ordered for people to be killed, but SULK? And dowan to eat??? Then to top it off, his WIFE finds out what is bothering him and orders for the owner of the vineyard to be killed and gets the piece of land for her husband. D-R-A-M-A. Plus a mental note on 'What kind of man NOT to marry' and 'What kind of wife NOT to be'.

And the 'slapping' just tickled me. I thought prophets STRUCK each other. And in my head, it even happens in slow motion. Slapping, brings it down to earth. That scene now pans out like a soap opera in my imagination =D

Ah the things you find out...

  

Having uBer Fun

Whee blogging again....I need friends....

Surviving Ward Rounds for Dummies: 

Trainee Pharmacist Edition

Tip #1

Always have a calculator with you. And I mean a PROPER one. Using your phone to calculate something as important as kidney function is plain difficult and just looks unprofessional. Besides, most of us who need a calculator now probably needed one way back in uni, so might as well put that faithful scientific calculator to good use.  

Tip #2

Whenever presented with a query to which you don't know the answer, choose to say "I'll get back to you about that" rather than "I don't know but I'll go look it up". The former sounds much better, despite them both indicating that you haven't got a clue! This may take a bit of practice, especially if you're used to blurting out "I don't know" at every instance.

Tip #3

Get into the habit of asking lots of WHYs when you're studying. If YOU don't ask, your supervising pharmacist definitely will, so you may as well find out as much as possible beforehand. Bear in mind, there will be always be a WHY that you cannot answer no matter how much you read. The aim is to keep the "I didn't think about that"s to a minimum. 

Tip #4

Learn to sift through information. Case notes are full of information in mostly illegible handwriting, and if you try to read it all, you'll end up with fuzzy-brain (ala Australian Nutella commercial) by the time you reach the third page. If you can find someone to teach you (properly) how to read them, he/she is God-sent and should be forever held in high regard.

Tip #5

Never date someone working in the same ward. News spreads, and it spreads FAST on the wards.

Tip #6

Have fun! Enjoy the learning without the responsibilities. Use the time to get to know the pharmacists (it also makes them less likely to tell you off when you don't know the answers. Well, actually they still tell you off, but it doesn't feel so bad).

Based on the true experience of a trainee pharmacist who needs friends =)

To have civil awareness...

OK maybe civil awareness isn't really the correct term...but it sure sounds like a good word =)

Here's what I'm trying to say....

I jumped queue 3 times today. In my defence, those people next in line were standing so far away from the counter that I immediately assumed they were waiting for their orders or still pondering what to have. After all, in a competitive place like this, one would EXPECT people to stick close to the counter so that other people won't cut in front of you right? Right. Well, that was (and still is) my assumption. 

So I happily waltzed up to the counter and placed my order, when poor Mr or Miss behind me has been waiting to be served. And none of the people serving me told me that someone else was here first (whether they even noticed, or cared, who was first is questionable). The first time it happened, I noticed and made a mental note to ask next time. But I forgot and did it again. And again. 

I'm not rude. Really I'm not. Just forgetful. Or distracted.

 

To have Vision....

I have always tried very hard to be someone with Vision. After all, it does say in the Book that without vision, men perish. I don't want to be Perishable! So Lord give me some Vision please! While waiting for the divine whisper, I put my brain to work trying to decipher if God had said something before that I had overlooked, that was in fact the key to revealing the Vision for my life.

In addition, I figured life is more worthwhile if one has dreams. Goals to work towards. So I tried having that as well. What do I want to achieve? What do I really want to do? Where do I want to be? One of the problems with dreaming as an adult is that anything that comes up is always attached to 'Are you sure you can do that?' automatically. Wet blanket, yes, but I shouldn't set myself up for failure right? So dreams too, became hard to come by. But I continued trying. Stressing. Because I didn't want to become an under-achiever, a 'failure'. Having a job isn't good enough....I've got to save the world! Find something meaningful to do Jade!

God's vision is bigger than ours, were the pastor's words this morning. 

And I felt God say (African-American style)..... 

"I've got enough vision for the both of us, honey"

Me (Malaysian style + disbelief): Hah?? 

Silence. I think for a bit.

Me (trying to be a smart-aleck): No dreams, no action you noe.

Silence. Think some more.

Me: You sure ah? I still cannot see anything. I have no idea what to do.

Silence. And I figured God had said all He needed to say. 

So. My dreams come from God. Stick with God, and I'll eventually find out what it is I'm meant to be doing. And if not, hey, I've stuck with God, which will be great anyway. 

You think what you want is huge? Wait till you see what I give you. 

Me: Are you serious God?

And I realise what I think I want is probably teeny-tiny compared to the awesome-ness of what He has in store for me. Oooh excited! You have to know what I told God I want in order to understand *giggles* And if He gives me things that I have not even begun to ask for? Oh I could die of happiness.

    

Matters of the Heart....

....and blood pressure. And stroke. I have never liked. I remember it got so complicated in uni that I decided to save myself the trouble and just memorise the facts. As long as I didn't work in the cardiac wards, I won't kill anyone and it'll be fine. Went to work in retail and subsequently forgot even the things I memorised. Sure I know this is used to lower blood pressure, but how does it work? Hmmm, that I'm not so sure. And besides, who really wants to know?

Now I realise the err of my ways. Haha. OK maybe I'm being a little dramatic. But wow. The things I DO NOT know and perhaps really should. Oh well, new roles require new sets of knowledge. I no longer need to argue with patients about why this costs such and such, and why the government isn't paying for this medication, but I do need to know the HOWs and WHYs of the teeny-tiny chemicals we give to the sick. Well, *and takes a deep breath* I have 6 weeks left to get up to speed...I'd better study REAL hard. Eep!

And matters of the emotional heart....it's all over the place, as would be expected I guess, with all big changes in life. I think too much. Plus being home last weekend has reignited some of the initial homesickness I felt when I first moved here. Just a bit. It's bearable la. At least I'm not wondering 'why I decided to come here in the first place' anymore. I do like it here in this crazy hectic competitive place. And I can see family (at least) 4 times a year instead of once a year =) 

Jumbles

Dot points!!! Because I can't connect my thoughts and there must be some order around here....

#1

 Woo am suffering from blogging withdrawal syndrome. But for a good cause! Was back in KL over the weekend and used that time to have some person-to-person instead of person-computer-person interaction. Certainly feels good! As Dr Gary Chapman would say: Love tank is FULL! And so was the stomach...from sashimi and japanese mango salad....as in the salad is japanese, not the mango. Or maybe nobody noticed the difference. 

  

#2

Question from a Singaporean colleague last week: So does your house in Malaysia have a farm with animals in it? LOL...Me? And farm? Adelaide is as 'rural' as it gets for me thanks =P 

#3

Last week was an experience on the MRT. I got elbowed in the face (yup, lady's elbow went right into my left cheekbone with a thump....fortunately no blue-black, but proves I'm still not that tall even in an Asian country) and twisted my left foot. Yup, on/in the MRT. Not running, not jumping. Just STANDING.

#4 

Outpatient rotation has ended! Hooray! Hello peace and control =) Have started rotation up in the wards and have been spending the last 2 days like this: Go to work at 9am, sit and read till 12, go up to the wards and follow pharmacist around + answer questions + try not to sound too silly if I don't know the answer till 2pm, go for lunch, read some more until 4pm, answer more questions from pharmacist, go home! In other words - and not that I'm trying to make anybody jealous - I'm being paid to study/learn! For the next 5 weeks! Double hooray! Okla...next week I might not feel so positive about it....coz I have been warned some pharmacists are er....nasty when they hear 'I don't know'. Just need to be thick-skin and think (but be careful not to say aloud) "In AUSTRALIA, we are taught to know where to refer, not memorise everything. Hmmph!" And then nicely go and look it up, memorise it and report back to the pharmacist. 

#5 

I want to buy a keyboard. Or an IPod Touch.

Ah...I better go study. High possibility of kena marah tomorrow. Better know more things. =P

 

First Sunday shift

When they said I could wear anything I wanted to work on Sunday, I thought I'd better not take it too literally. So I decided against the jeans and wore a fairly casual pleated skirt (which I sometimes wear to work anyway, but with a nicer top) and usual MaryJane crocs. Just to be safe. Turned up at work and the pharmacists are all in shorts, T-shirts and slippers! Wheeee next Sunday shift: SHORTS it is! How cool....never ever have I envisioned that I can wear shorts to work. Summore not the knee-length kind...the short-short kind! Makes me feel like I'm going to the beach. Haha.

I love being an Inpatient pharmacist! =D

 

Post Exam #1, I have been....

...Expanding my Mandarin vocabulary to include words such as side effects, natural sources, prescription, no refund and pay at cashier =) Oh boy, it's going to be an interesting linguistic journey for me here. Especially since most of the Chinese uncles & aunties that ask for counselling in Mandarin don't understand English AT ALL, so I can't even use the occasional English word when I can't think of the Mandarin version. And then there are the few that can only speak Hokkien. The only Hokkien words I know are 'eat rice', 'sleep', 'good', 'no good' and 'die'. Which makes for terrible counselling. I suppose there's always hand gestures. Haha. And if one thinks Malaysians should be able to counsel in Malay, think again. It becomes quite a challenge when the words you have to come up with are 'pencair darah' and the like. I often have to think again because I can't really tell if I'm literally translating the word or if it's a real Malay word. But I'm better than the Singaporean Chinese la heh.

....Learning new tactics for handling patients. Having had no chance to explain my retail knowledge to anyone for the last 2 months, I started off my retail attachment a bit over-excited and began explaining what aqueous cream does as opposed to a steroid cream, and why aqueous cream is more suitable bla bla bla and after a while, the aunty just asked me 'So can I use this or not?'. O.o  Verbal diarrhoea. One of the rare moments when I actually talk too much. I have since employed the method of simply asking questions then telling them what to use and how to use it. Seems to keep most of them happy enough. And the simplistic model works even for saying NO. People here like to take cough medicine like a daily vitamin supplement and explaining why they can't (and really have no need to) buy 3 bottles at once doesn't really get me anywhere. So all I do is keep saying 'bu ke yi' continuously and they eventually leave, albeit with a grumble, but at least they don't yell and shout.

....Exploring Singapore with friends. Some of the highlights include the BEST creamy pasta (what's plural for pasta? Pastas? Pastae? Heh...) I have ever tasted, some excellent apple crumble and Marina Barrage for a bit of sea breeze & awesome skyline. Barrage is definitely somewhere I would go frequently if I had a car, given my history of spontaneous night drives to Adelaide's Henley Beach ;)

Apart from that, life here has certainly introduced some new aspects to my relationship with God, and it's taken 5 weeks for me to start getting my head around it. More on that when it becomes clearer =)




             

No Title Today

So. I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed *takes a deep breath* and prayed to be cepat, and I finished this morning's law exam in 1.5 hours, inclusive of making up answers here and there. Wow. I have never ever finished a short answer/written exam before the 15-minutes-more mark. EVER. After a few seconds of feeling like I had achieved something (yes I often forget to give God the credit, a bit peanut-forget-the-skin...or shell...heh), I started to wonder if perhaps I didn't have the complete set of notes, which led to minimal answers, which then leads to minimal marks! Eep! Well, minimal marks is OK, as long as I get ENOUGH minimal marks. Haha. Yes folks, the problem with post-uni exams is there is no syllabus!

Welp. Results out in 3 weeks so I shall enjoy the freedom until then. Oh but still....eep!

I started a new rotation today and don't quite like it. Which is weird considering Outpatient should be as close to what I used to do as it gets around here. It felt a bit like a war zone, and perhaps almost a losing battle individually, as one tries to work quickly so patients don't have to wait so long, but what I do is only one part of the multi-person process and hmmm, I don't know if it really translates to anything. Especially when all I get to see is a ton of patients waiting outside hour after hour. It really does feel like a factory, which is actually a pretty good system to cope with the workload (i think!), but it makes me a tad...I dunno what it makes me feel. It's just sort of...ick. Perhaps I might enjoy the bits where I get to talk to the patients, but otherwise, this probably ain't my kinda thing. Probably la ha, in case I need to eat my words in future.

As part of my induction today, they let me watch a video about labelling in Outpatient. Haha. I was amused. You have a VIDEO on labelling???! Well it turns out it's quite necessary as they are quite particular about where you stick the labels on the medicines. So I guess you make the rules clear and strictly enforce them. I must say I was challenged, even though I've done it for 2 years and am usually quite particular myself. I had to remember to stick the label on the bottom left corner of the box, not cover indications for retail items, cover the Poisons label for oral medicines, NOT cover Poisons Label for non-oral medicines unless they are eye drops or ear drops....haha. You get the idea. Just as well I like challenges. Well, small ones that I can overcome, coz it's nice to feel clever =) I didn't get told off today so I must be doing OK.

Well that was a bit of a rant on work...perhaps non-pharmacists may not get why its such a big deal....haha. It was quite a day for me. Trying to enjoy what I have to do for the next 2 weeks and not just judge what I see is happening (lately there's been a lot of 'Why are they so particular?' and 'I really doubt this is necessary' going through my head about all sorts of things). But I must remember I am in a different country, different system, and so must learn before I criticise. *deep breath* I will be humble Lord!