Snapshots

Crustaceans, Asians and Gay Revelations

2006-03-21T18:29:00.000+08:00

Fireworks, Silk and Dentistry

2006-02-03T00:13:00.000+08:00

What i consider as two of my worst shifts ever at the emergency department was Jan 25th & 26th.

See, the 25th was the night before Australia Day, where clever, well-behaved teenagers, the homeless, alcoholic, depressed and people with heart problems all decide to celebrate one night early and come to emergency with cuts, gashes, fractures, missing limbs, drug overdoses, suicide attempts and heart attacks.

I started work at 10:30pm and finished at 8:30am. After three hours of sleep, i decided that i needed to prepare for the next shift. I attended a friend's barbecue, scored free food and beer, and strolled down to King's park to watch the skyworks.
SOMEHOW I found that I was carrying THIS in my hand:

A near full bottle! And so I proceeded to relieve it of its burden so it could be empty and free once more...
The fireworks were great!

And so, very much intoxicated and happy, I staggered to work, where we sutured and x-rayed one teenager after another.....hit by car, hurt in fight, stabbed by bottle etc

It was a wild night. Towards the morning we started getting all the depressed, suicidal and overdoses.
One guy admitted himself because he watched a couple of people fighting and felt "anxious and worried for them". He later left before anyone could talk to him. Must have sobered up :P

On a positive note, my younger brother found out that he gained entrance into the dentistry course here at UWA. I'm really happy and proud of him.
I have a sore tooth at the moment, and will wait five years for him to graduate so i don't have to pay for any treatment. Lol.

Jonny and Ash have been conspiring to have a banquet on my behalf, even though i physically can't make it.
Well, heres proof that I am scraping out an existence on my hospital staff room. (see below)
So anything you charge onto my accounts will bounce baby! Just like the orange in my pic did when i dropped it hehehe.

A new sense of elation

2006-01-24T18:40:00.000+08:00

Notice anything wrong with this X-ray?

Today i received my first pay check.

For the second time in three months I felt elated.

Most definitely there is a God.

*prays silently* Thank You....

2006-01-17T01:49:00.000+08:00

Your Brain's Pattern

Your mind is a firestorm - full of intensity and drama.
Your thoughts may seem scattered to you most of the time...
But they often seem strong and passionate to those around you.
You are a natural influencer. The thoughts you share are very powerful and persuading.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

Unhealthy Carnage

2006-01-16T04:25:00.000+08:00

My man recently returned from overseas and asked me to pick him up from the airport.

Little did I realize that there was a more precious cargo which required my ferrying.

Yes, Bacardi superior white rum. One sexy litre worth. And Davidoff cigars.

So, after 2 nights of hanging out after my ED shifts and 2 limes later, this is the carnage:

Working Class Man

2006-01-14T02:53:00.000+08:00

Yes.....after much too long a time, am finally in the workforce.

On advice from Cal, I brought my ruddy Palm Zire along and snapped some shots. It sure as hell ain't no ixus, but it has its good moments.
I begin my internship at the emergency department of Royal Perth Hospital.

The hospital started off by giving us free lunches for the first week (pic 1), each sponsored by some company that wanted to enlist us and our newfound money.

The emergency dept is busy, but there are a lot of senior docs to support us when we are unsure. There is also this cool rooftop smoking balcony which i spend a lot of time on.

This is the screen I check every hour
to see who comes in and what to treat.

In the last 2 pics, I sneak up on an unsuspecting patient and steal 20mL of bllooooodd.....
I must feed!!!! Muahuahauhaha!! *cue thunder* *pipe organ plays transylvania theme*

In the rain

2006-01-13T02:03:00.000+08:00

And then i met her.

After that, it was difficult for anything else to matter.

Ironically, because of you, things now matter more than ever.

Is it my belt?

2005-12-08T22:37:00.000+08:00

At lunchtime today, i lined up at the hospital cafe and ordered a toasted Tayla Pide, one of my favourite grilled things.
Whilst standing there, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a slim asian guy who was packing drinks into the fridge. He glanced over me at a most disconcerting frequency.
Then when i went to pay, he gave it to me for free.
It must be the belt. I'm not going to wear it again.
Looks like i found my bro a christmas present ;o)

Later in theatre, i was assisting my consultant in removing some lady's breasts. This lady had silicon injected into her breasts many years ago, and now her breasts felt like bags of pebbles on a slab of cheddar cheese.
Suddenly i noticed a perforating artery had burst and i deftly put a pad over it. As i lifted up the pad, I angled the artery away from me, but it squirted blood half a metre into the air, all over my consultants forehead. Luckily I was wearing a face mask or my consultant would have seen me laughing.

I did this yesterday too, when, in a fit of surgical zealousness I attempted to grab a bleeding artery with some forceps. Not only did I miss the artery, but I grabbed the base of fat that it was embedded in and swung it back and forth, but away from me. I succeeded in spraying both my registrar and RMO with blood. I don't know what they were thinking, but I found it quite comical.
They gained revenge later when they burst open a seroma in my direction and I was covered with clear yellow fluid.

The night was finished off on a sad note however, when a schizophrenic lady presented with acute abdominal pain, sepsis and vaginal bleeding.
She had a huge craggy subclavicular lymph node on the left, and a painful but stony hard lower abdomen.
A PV revealed a rough cervix which bled profusely on contact.
Erect CXR showed air under the diaphragm. PR was up, BP down.
We opened her up and were greeted with the smell of what seemed like rotten crabs.
Her cervical cancer had spread and necrosed her uterus, infiltrated her small intestines and as a result perforation had occurred. There was a football sized, necrotic and friable fusion of pus, gut, uterus and neoplastic tissue.
We cleaned her up, cut away the perforated segment, debrided any loose tissue and created a stoma.
So she won't die in a few days, but she'll be gone in a matter of months.
There needs to be more community follow-up in regards to mental healthcare.

Breasts on the chopping block

2005-12-07T20:12:00.000+08:00

I find the surgery that my team performs at the moment to be rather distasteful.

My team is in the business of cutting out breast lesions, or if the cancer is too big, the whole breast.

Its just strange, to see this hallowed symbol of femininity cauterized away and placed in a bucket, to be sent off to the lab for examination.

Oh well, only one more day of this, then i have 3 weeks of holidays! Which I'm using to travel to Hong Kong and Kualar Lumpur! Booya!

Happy Anticlimax

2005-11-19T21:03:00.000+08:00

Its been a week since my final exams, and after several hard nights of celebrating and attempting to lose consciousness, we all waited tentatively for our results on Thursday.

The deal was, that if you failed an exam, the medical faculty would give you a call. So we all waited for a "no call", which i think is even worse than getting a call or checking a physical posting. When the clocked struck 5pm, and i hadn't got a call yet, I breathed a sigh of relief and began to smile.

Our results were confirmed the next day, and we began a second round of partying and celebrations. So I begin work next year, I'm going to get PAID biatch!!!! I will no longer be a poorass student scrapping it out on spag bol and free lunches!

But the poorass mentality will never die!! i will never miss out on a free lunch, despite whatever i earn. Its all thanks to the asian in me, also i am 1/16th dutch, and everyone knows what they're like :oP

Last night i was roaring drunk, and the night before that (Thursday), stoned. Being high, i thought it'd be best to just pass out in my car and drive home later, but on the way to my car i heard voices and people coughing even though there was no-one around. I also thought i saw windows and doors opening in the buildings around me, and got freaked out so i ran to my car and drove home. Had a very good sleep.

Can't remember much of what i did last night. Hopefully didn't do anything weird or disturbing. I do remember vaguely swearing at random people, and the police from my friend's car window and driving home, where i was writing some emails and laughing a lot by myself.

August, November and Friday

2005-11-08T19:34:00.000+08:00

Just woke up from over twenty hours of sleep, catching up from lack of sleep due to exam preparation.

Had the major exam yesterday, the last one will be on Friday.

Still coming to grips with the end of my six year course.

Whilst its taking a while to hit me, i'm incredibly happy and have had enough of the tertiary world.

From Aug-Nov, dealing with breakup, moving house, feeling lost and shitty.

I find it difficult to accept the fact that some people's aspiration in life is to find happiness. It is such fleeting thing, to be enjoyed when at hand.

Happiness will come and go, its part of a balanced human range of emotions.

Peace is more difficult to attain. At the moment I'm setting my sights at trying to find peace through seeking God, touching the lives of those in need, and accepting the limits of my abilities (in my weakness, the Lord will make me strong).

The end of my course, the beginning of a fulfilling career? My life is what I make it.

2005-08-17T23:20:00.000+08:00

As I was in the country for quite a few weeks, its been a while since I've published anything.
I drove 4 hours to the town of Katanning, and when I arrived there, I found that my living quarters were adjacent to the general practice surgery (above) so if I slept in I knew I couldn't use the good old "the traffic was bad" excuse.
It was also meant to be a nurses quarters for temporary nurses. Unfortunately for me, two of them were over 50, and the other one was a guy. He was married with kids so I didn't take things any further with him.

Inside the quarters living room. By the time I took this pic, the old nurses had left and these cool people checked in. It was good having someone my age to hang with and discuss deep issues such as what the fuck to do in a small country town where everyone stays at home after work

This is the General Practitioner (GP) who was my supervisor. He looks fierce in this photo but he's actually a very warm, smart dude. I would say he would be a role model for any aspiring GP, in the way he treated his patients and the knowledge and skills that he had.

These two members of the rotary club took me on a tour of the sheep saleyards, and the abbatoir. I felt so honoured and privileged, they are really decent guys. THe saleyards (below) had about 23 000 sheep for sale when I was there.
The abbatoir has a large muslim population working there, from Christmas island, Malaysia and INdonesia. THis is because they slaughter the lambs via the halal method, and can be imported to muslims all over the world for consumption.

2005-08-17T23:05:00.000+08:00

My parents came down for a visit, to enjoy the peace, quiet and green rolling plains. This is what my Mum cooked for dinner one night.

Dad cooked breakfast next morning.

Most popular method of reproduction in the country. I found plenty of time to relax, and really appreciated not having to drive to work, breathe in car fumes, pass a McDonalds store every two suburbs, or see signboards. The people were very warm and welcoming once they knew that you could be trusted and you weren't just a sexual deviant looking to race your car on the highways and abuse various illicit substances.

2005-06-07T22:05:00.000+08:00

-

Saboteur

Rest, my fugitive being
Find Shelter
And in the throng
Diffuse your hurt
Accept your heart
As it registers pain
Justify my voice
Only you believe in me
Yet in acceptance you shun me
Your judgement of my wrong

In your weary solitude
Strong walls Shepherd
Noble strength, But Through me
Our demons reach you
Amongst the crowd
I expose you, screaming
With thoughts forged in
An abyss of Twisted Yesteryear,
Gates left open now enclose
Mottled fields diseased, sickly grey

My heart's eye throbs
A greater pressure
Youth's beauty presents
So inspiring a Force
Your fire consumes my senses
Render me blind, I-willing
Shallow perplexity, Your life untold
Fading, drowned in drunken happiness
Then revived, I feel your broken body
Convulse in familiar shock, you died with me

Obscured, thick shadows
Penetrate our light
Our sun is setting, yet
Heaven is watching
Resolutely you deny me
As I yearn to let go
We were born as one
Return to me
I belong in you
Restore the beauty of our soul

2005-05-30T17:52:00.000+08:00

Life as a pre-tern is all good for nobody. The above pic is the north block of RPH, where i currently "work". Unfortunately we don't get paid in our final year of the course. I know some countries that do (eg NZ). I guess they are giving us one more year to get our stuff together, practice a bit more, polish up our technique and observe more cases. I am assigned to a respiratory med team. A typical week consists of going on ward rounds in the morning, to see how our patients are faring, see if anything needs to be done or changed, and if they are well enough to go home. Most do, but some patients get worse and die, or need to be transferred to a different team. THe majority of patients under our care are people with cancer, pneumonia, asthma or aggravated chronic airways disease, mostly as a result of smoking. Then we may do a few procedures, such as taking blood, ordering tests, doing discharge summaries. After lunch I usually have 2-3 tutorials from various registrars/consultants. And on some days we have to go to dermatology clinic, an experience which most people agree is worse than being constipated

By the end of the week, this is what I feel like. Saying that, it'll probably happen one day. At this stage in the year, time is dragging by really slowly. Most of my friends are working and getting on with their lives, whilst I'm still stuck in uni, renting with my brother, and on government student welfare. Sometimes I wish I just got good at a sport or music. Then I could be playing in Wimbledon or at a concert in front of thousands, instead of trudging around a dinjey hospital watching people get older and sicker

Thank goodness for the weekend. I also had to attend my parents "graduation" from a marriage course they did. It was rather scary and I managed to escape early. After some scotch whiskey (Glenfieditch) at my friends place, and some quality time with their dog (above) I was feeling much better already. But now its monday. Back to hospital, another day, but no dollar..life as a pre-intern is all good for nobody :oP Can't wait to get back home and fall asleep, where I dream of hitting aces at Wimbledon and signing autographs after massive concerts....

2005-05-27T13:13:00.000+08:00

In a world where size matters, when I grad this year I'm going to make sure that every new mother charts her newborn son's penile growth. MEasurements include height, weight, head circ and penis length (stretched, flaccid and erect). That way, by extrapolation, we can determine if her son is going to become either a stallion or a stalker. She can then adjust her parenting to make him more balanced. Or just skip highschool and let him follow his destiny to become a pornstar in Germany. This guy (above photo) may not be hung, but he has twice the stamina, without medical assistance! This entry is probably going to be removed by admin soon lol...

2005-05-25T22:09:00.000+08:00

Due to the recent flurry of activity from the dark side, I have begun recruiting new jedi, in order to make a stand against the evil that is so insidiously prevalent in this world today. Training has begun in the ways of the force, but some recruits have such low midichlorion counts in their blood that we have to utilize the pool to kickstart their light sabre skills. Above is a snapshot of one of our new recruits training, Padawan Alfonso, or "Alf", as he is affectionately known. Note he is in full jeans and attire. He will soon qualify for his blue/green lightsabre, when he is able to dodge knives being thrown at him whilst he is blindfolded and standing on a steel pylon ten on the tenth floor. If you would like to join our program, feel free to leave your details and CV in the comments box, and in less than 350 words, why you would like to enlist.

2005-05-23T13:11:00.000+08:00

There has been a lot of talk about movies recently amongst my affiliated blogs. In particular Shenn mentioned episode three, return of the sith. Which I saw two nights ago. Today being a low activity day for me, I was thinking about how Anakin fell to the dark side. At first I was a bit annoyed with him, throwing away everything and causing so much death and destruction. But after some thought, I began to see that there may be some moral substance to the film. In Episode two, Anni arrives too late to save his mother, after having a dream about her death. In his anger he then slaughters all the associated campers who were responsible for the capture of his mother. In the current episode, he uses his anger to overpower and execute Darth Maul's master. Then, faced with what he believes to be a choice between Padme's life, and the life of many others, he commences on a path of darkness which result in the not only the death of many innocents, but also the shattering of Padme's heart, she then loses the will to live. If you put yourself in Anni's shoes right from the start, you can understand why he feels angry about the loss of his mother, prior humiliation from Darth Maul's master, and what he thinks will be the inevitable loss of his only love Padme. It is normal to be angry, but from this point on, I believe that he should not take action based on that anger. Yes, those marauding campers should have deserved retribution for capturing his mother, but that should be determined in the spirit of justice, not revenge. Also, the execution of children and women is even more sensitive and most would think of as wrong. This principle can be applied to our own lives. In my case, for that policewoman who badgered me unnecessarily, if I take action based on anger, I could make false complaints about her, find out where she works or what car she drives and try to intimidate her in order to get my message across. But if I react because I want the police force to try and improve their service, I would issue a formal comment about her, negatives and positives, perhaps follow it up, and leave it at that. Some people say that the evil will never prosper. I don't agree with that nor do I think it is as simple. Karma is too much of a dreamer's notion. If you react in anger, justify your criminal actions by saying that such a person deserves it and much more, you will suffer in a different way. It will kill something of you, a part of you that is good. In this way, it robs you of the happiness that results from being an innately upward person. I find that if I go down the path of unjust retribution I feel listless, disenchanted and not at peace with myself. It perpetuates further negative actions and thoughts. But yeah, apart from that it was an entertaining movie :o) Back to work now.....*sigh*

2005-05-17T16:57:00.000+08:00

The Misadventures of student Parking. As a poor, government supported student, I don't have the privilege (or money) to pay for parking. But since I live so far away from my university and hospital attachments, I need to drive. And so this dilemna sparked the need for some alternative parking arrangements.
Every tertiary hospital in Perth is busy, and you are either a doctor and have a spot, or you pay through the nose to leave your car somewhere whilst you visit your sick relative/friend, or you take public transport.
What about the students? No one cares for the students. It's a bit like army training, you are meant to be tough.
My previous surgical outpost at a private hospital last month was no exception. On my first day I drove around, scouting out possible parking options. All my friends either payed, or parked miles away and walked.
And then I found the jackpot of parking spots, right across the road from the hospital!! [Top photo]. It was a newly rennovated office suite, for lease. I had found home. No one was occupying the place, so i parked in the underground area at the rear for my whole eight weeks. Not only was I shaded from the harsh australian summer, but it was free. Shit it was so private that i think i got changed there a couple of times lol.

Now I am at the main city public hospital doing general respiratory med. In terms of parking, it is even worse. I parked in the doctors carpark for a week, until they erected a boom gate. Then I parked in the country health carpark until they saw me, and told me where I could go with my cheap, second hand piece of shit of a student car. OK, I added the bit about the car slur :o)
Then I parked at the church for a few days, until I got too guilty. And Now?
I used to work for a huge stationary and office supplies company two years ago. They have a branch just down the street from my hospital, and I have been using their carpark now for the last two weeks. And they are on to me. Yes its on like donkey kong. First, they threatened me with a warning on my windscreen. I ignored it. Two more warnings followed, the third being a threat to tow my car away.
I didn't want my car to be towed. It seemed they were determined to bring me down to china town. Having worked there before, I knew that something like this would be the talk of their lunch breaks, yes they are that sad. They were probably even making bets. So what should do? Find somewhere else? Take the public transport? Consult a transexual soothsayer?
Well, I couldn't find a transexual, homosexual or bisexual soothsayer, so I did the next best thing. Pretending to be the manager of the stationery company, I rang the local parking authorities, police and towing groups. It seems, that no one can do shit to my car, until the company signs an agreement with council parking to patrol their carpark. The rangers would then fine everyone, including staff members. Also, unless the agreement was signed, towing of my car would be considered by law, theft. Yachtzee!!
So I continue to park there...[see photo, mine is the emerald green charade...pretty masculine i know], they've since put other stickers on my windows but after all beens said and done...like love, the free parking vigilante will always find a way!

2005-05-16T15:13:00.000+08:00

It was on a home visit round that I ended up at this place. Nice house, in a nice area, overlooking the ocean. The owner was a guy around 35 years old, married, with two kids. Why I'm mentioning this is because he is dying from motor neurone disease, and there is nothing anyone, save God, can do. For me, it was another one of those moments where the fragility of the human body, and the uncertainty of life took centrestage, at least for that day. At the end of the day, no one can escape what these facts, even though its probably not healthy and quite depressing to keep thinking about it. So what to do? Live your life free, know what you want, be fully yourself, and don't hang on too tightly to what you have. Gotta love the door and the balcony.

To protect and to serve

2005-05-15T23:31:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, on the way back to my girl's house, I was pulled over by the police for random breath testing. The officer was a young woman in her late twenties, who looked hispanic. And, she had a gun.
But anyway, she checked my licence was still valid, breathalysed me and then noticed that my rego sticker was not current. I explained that although I had paid for a renewal 2 months ago, they hadn't sent it to me yet. So she radioed to the station to verify this. It took about 10 minutes.
My girl was a bit sick, and in some discomfort so I asked the officer how much longer it will be, and explained that my girlfriend was in pain. Another 5 minutes, she said. After receiving radio confirmation about my rego, she then proceeded to lecture me about not having the rego sticker. I said, fine, I'll call them up. Did she stop then?

No, she did not. On and on she went, and then had the nerve to tell me that on Monday, I must give them a call. I reminded her that my girl was in discomfort and thank you, I really must go now. Did she let us go?

No, she did not. Apparently I was giving her attitude, and now she was going to issue me with a fine for not having the current rego sticker on my window. I got pretty mad. I began to go off at her, and then my girlfriend tried to calm me down, and she apologized to the cop. Did she let us go?

No, she did not. I could read between the lines, she wanted an apology from ME, not my gf. I looked at my girl, and realized that she was right, and I wanted to get her home to rest, so I apologized. Man, she eyeballed me for a while. Then just walked off.
For the love of Pete, what was her issue? Aren't police meant to protect and serve us? What's with harrassing good, law-abiding citizens? I was angry for about an hour after that. Had a beer, thought about it. Calmed down a bit. Now what?

Should I go and complain about her? Surely if enough people complained then it would look bad on her record.
Or....it would be easy just to think, hey - she's just a cop, she's nothing. I'm better than you, you're just another unhappy shitkicker, I should pity you.
In the end, although it was really difficult and I needed a beer, I put myself in her shoes. That made the difference. A woman cop, yeah, there must be such pressure on her to be tough, to assert herself, because she probably gets less respect from the common people.
And I realized she was just being thorough and trying to do her job with a lot of (perhaps too much) enthusiasm.

At least she gets a gun.