Hey guys I survived my first 10 days of work! Including one night call hehe. And this is legitly the first time I'm getting a weekend off since work started, because I actually had to work last weekend :( So this is the very first true TGIF for me! So, after 2 weeks, I'm gonna say that work is... tiring, fun and scary all at once.

Tiring because of the long long long hours. Thank God I've still got time to eat and pee. On our first day of work we even had time to walk to Eastpoint for a long lunch break hehe! CGH has THE busiest ortho department, and sometimes it's crazy when your team list explodes overnight, but we've already got more manpower than before so things are actually much better now :)


^ Walking to eastpoint! Omg we all look so happy with sunshine on our faces. This definitely does NOT happen everyday



Work is definitely scary because of the really, really steep learning curve. Being a noob HO fresh out of med school, there's really a ton of things I still don't know how to do. I didn't even know how to order a fluid challenge. I didn't know how to navigate Citrix (I mean we did kinda know how to use it for very general basic things in med school, but the work we do now requires a lot more in depth navigation that is just a pain but a must to learn) and didn't know how to navigate the hospital because I'd never done any med school postings in CGH. Hospital protocols and SOPS also take some getting used to. It's scary also because of how easy it is to screw up and cost someone their life. We've literally been given the (provisional hehe) license to kill. As a new junior doctor I'm still very uncertain when it comes to prescribing stuff for patients on the system and knowing what to do when certain things happen. I always worry that I'm not doing the right thing.

But despite all that... work is fun because you really have a lot of freedom and I've got some of the funniest teammates, including people from my batch that I'd never spoken to (who turned out to be very nice/fun people that I really get along with, yay!) and people who graduated from overseas :) I love how we work together as a team and help each other out whenever we can. I love that we exchange a huge amount of nonsense everyday. I love that we bitch about people together HAHA. I love that we can all be serious when we have to and be good team players :)


^ We-fie... in a lift LOL. 
Steph, Nat and yours truly with our camwhore of a HO Akshar hahaha (he literally takes we-fies every 2 steps he takes. To our horror. Which amounts to about one million we-fies per day. We know that because he spams the combined HO whatsapp group with them) and Akshay (Akshar's brother from another mother. They claim to have come from a single body which then underwent mitosis. I believe them.) and Penny! Anyway this is the first bunch of people I met in this team :) They were really super friendly and helped us settle in. Then the changeover happened and the 3 of them left and another 2 came in! No photos with the new team yet but I'm sure there will be soon :P

IN ALL, work is just... it's a very different environment compared to med school altogether. I'd say (based on a mere 10 days of experience - so take this with a pinch of salt I may change my mind soon hahaha) that I'm enjoying it a lot more than med school so far. SO FAR. It's tiring and there's a lot of admin stuff to do and it's scary as hell, but I love how I can go home everyday and just dedicate all my remaining energy to slacking/relaxing/doing random things. Back in med school we still had to study after school or on weekends for the 208947583745 tests we had. Work is a different kind of tiring. It's tiring but it makes me feel like I'm actually being a useful member of the society, like I actually have a purpose, and also I'm getting paid!!! :P hehehe. As a medical student I was just a burden to everyone in the hospital really.

One of the best things about my posting so far is the fact that Jeriel and I happen to be posted to the same place in the same department :) And given how we stay just 5 minutes away from each other, we actually do manage to go home together on most days. It's really great to spend a little bit of time together (even if it's just a quick dinner in hospital + a long car ride home, or literally 西游记/Journey to the West as he calls it HAHA) after every long day :) Little blessings!

I've got SO much to say about my first night call as HO2 so here it is all at once take it or leave it: My call was on a weekend. Weekend calls are longer and last from 12pm to 8am the next day. Did not sleep at all. Was overwhelmed by calls almost every second. Sometimes 2 calls came in at once. Sometimes calls came when I was mid inserting a urinary catheter for someone and there was no one to answer it for me so I just had to let the annoying ringtone ring the shit out of itself. I grew to hate my ringtone. Very, very much. Took some bloods. Failed some bloods. Did not have lunch. Did not have dinner because someone stole my food even though it had my name written over it and I'll never find out who it was and I'll never sleep in peace again. Felt kinda overwhelmed by everything and was tired and hungry by 12am and I really kinda felt like crying so I said a quick prayer while walking back to my room... and I was only halfway through that prayer when God answered me. Jeriel's dad happened to be on his way to fetch his brother from the airport, so he actually dropped by with a LOT of food!!!! :'))))) Truly God sent! There's no other way to explain this. God's timing was so perfect, He was truly looking out for me and hearing my cries for help. Thank You Lord :)))) The rest of the call was busy busy busy. Consulted my senior HO a LOT. Didn't know how to order fluid challenge. Didn't know how to order KCl replacement. Didn't know how to do SO MANY THINGS. Thankful for helpful seniors and friends and Jeriel - really wouldn't have survived my first night call without them :)

SO looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. And bringing an old friend to my church this Sunday! Hehehe

P.S. Tonight Jeriel is on his very first HO2 call yay hope it all goes well for him :)

Labels: cgh, God, jeriel, ortho, thank God, worklife