I've no doubt you will be reading this because when you think I am asleep, I see you reading my blog but somehow you will never say anything about the things I write. Consider this as part of my Raya gift for you this year. Though, I'm not really sure what the other part will consist of.
Thank you for wanting to spend the rest of your life with me. As you know, I am not an optimist and I do realise that other things may happen but as for now, for you to even decide 4 years+ ago that I am good enough for you to bear day in and day out is something I sometimes fail to comprehend. Heck, at times, I do not wish to be me!
Thank you for not minding when I am too lazy to iron your work clothes and too lazy to fold the mounting heap of laundry that you end up doing them instead. I know other husbands will give their wives a hard time but you do not. I do not take it for granted but daily I remind myself to do my best and berate myself often that my best isn't good enough. It is seriously tiring to come home post call and still be super wife and with this I salute those who do it (without BIBIK, okeyyyyy).
Thank you for putting up with my bordering-on-obsessive interest in rescuing every abandoned cat I see. When previously you might take a nap after coming home from work, now will have to be spent scooping clumps of poopoo and changing their water and kibbles. I love most sitting next to you watching the cats jump and run round around happily or when they brush their fur against our legs.
Thank you for never raising your voice to me no matter how exasperated you are with your wife's behaviour. I admit sometimes I go too far, wanting to test if your patience has any borders. So far it does not and I never want to see whether it has. Even when I get mad at you, it does not mean that I love you less.
Thank you for driving back to my parents house and never grumbling about it. Thank you for treating my siblings like your own when I have failed to do the same to yours. You know I do but I just show it poorly. Thank you for joining in our family activities and never once making it known that you're wishing you were back with your own.
Thank you for never making me feel bad about the way I look. I know I am not the most beautiful but you have never made me feel ugly.
Thank you for putting up my towel to dry everytime I am done with my shower. Thank you for warming up my car before I go to work. Thank you for ironing my tudung when I am running late. Thank you for all the small things that you do that you may not think is significant but it's these small things that I remember the most.
Thank you for being you.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Threatened Insanity
I think, one of my biggest fault is that I tend to speak before I weigh the pros and cons of what I am going to say. That, on top of my temper, is just a recipe for disaster.
Once a month, my oncall will be a 'jonah' one. I suppose I should be thankful that I'm not 'jonah' all the time, yes?
Last night was one of those. Cases keep trickling in till 3 am. When I have settled that, the labour room would be calling. It was one of those days when the cases aren't severely ill but warrants a careful review nonetheless.
One of the things that irks me the most is non emergency cases coming at ridiculous hours of the night. Take the case of menorrhagia who came in at 2 am last night. I had just returned to the casualty at 3 am after referring a case from the labour room for suspicious CTG and was looking forward to some shut eye. I asked my nurse why the patient in bed 2 had come in for? Imagine my dismay when she told me that she came in complaining of PV (per vaginal) bleeding since EIGHT days ago. The worst thing is, she has had this happen several times before and is undergoing follow up with the Gynae clinic.
Many a times I have chided my patients for keeping their diabetic foot for weeks before turning up at the casualty on a weekend and almost always near midnight. Or the case of end stage renal failure who would always default her appointment for readmission to ward and turn up severely short of breath due to the extra fluid in her lungs. Not to mention pakciks with swollen scrotum who had ignored his appointment to see the surgeon because he 'felt well' and turn up with abdominal pain and vomiting.
Sigh.
It is now half six in the morning and I am not looking forward to working without any sleep for the past 24 hours. But tis life and it shall go on. Ho hum.
Once a month, my oncall will be a 'jonah' one. I suppose I should be thankful that I'm not 'jonah' all the time, yes?
Last night was one of those. Cases keep trickling in till 3 am. When I have settled that, the labour room would be calling. It was one of those days when the cases aren't severely ill but warrants a careful review nonetheless.
One of the things that irks me the most is non emergency cases coming at ridiculous hours of the night. Take the case of menorrhagia who came in at 2 am last night. I had just returned to the casualty at 3 am after referring a case from the labour room for suspicious CTG and was looking forward to some shut eye. I asked my nurse why the patient in bed 2 had come in for? Imagine my dismay when she told me that she came in complaining of PV (per vaginal) bleeding since EIGHT days ago. The worst thing is, she has had this happen several times before and is undergoing follow up with the Gynae clinic.
Many a times I have chided my patients for keeping their diabetic foot for weeks before turning up at the casualty on a weekend and almost always near midnight. Or the case of end stage renal failure who would always default her appointment for readmission to ward and turn up severely short of breath due to the extra fluid in her lungs. Not to mention pakciks with swollen scrotum who had ignored his appointment to see the surgeon because he 'felt well' and turn up with abdominal pain and vomiting.
Sigh.
It is now half six in the morning and I am not looking forward to working without any sleep for the past 24 hours. But tis life and it shall go on. Ho hum.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Why.....
....is it that usually sedentary humans, most of the time of the female species, feel compelled to make cookies when it comes to Hari Raya? Yours truly included, of course...
The new additions are thriving well. Poor mummy cat isn't feeling so happy though. She is now officially caged till the kittens are about a month old when she will be spayed.
I've lined them up for a family snapshot but the moment I reach for my digicam, ini yang jadi....
The cutest and most active of the gang.
Yes, I know I look adorable.
I'm racking my brains for names. Someone suggested, since they are offsprings of Bubu, why not give them names with "Bu" in them? I quite like this idea. For instance, the tortoise shell above, I could call her Bureng, perhaps, for 'celoreng'...
and this one, the black one, I could call Butam - for Bu + hiTAM.
The other yellow-white kitten I will most likely call Junior or maybe Buju (for Bubu = JUnior) but the last one requires some thinking over. Lil kitty has a short stump of a tail - ekor kontot, in malay. Does that mean I will now have to call it BuNTOT.....?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Oncall ramblings
Everytime I start an oncall shift, whether it is the half day or the full day variety, there are certain taboos that I adhere to.
First I always imagine having the worst, the busiest and most jonah shift. In that way, if it does turn out to be that way, at least I have been prepared mentally.
Second, when I am still on my shift, I NEVER comment on how it is going. For instance, if Abg calls me up and asks, "Sibuk?" - I say "Tak mau ckp" (I don't want to say). A bit like not wanting to tempt fate. Ask me the next morning and I'll happily give a full report but never before the clock reaches 8.
It has been a hellish day so far. Even my partner has not been spared. Furthermore, an ill peadiatrics case that was supposed to be referred for close observation, had been misunderstood by me for 'close observation HERE'. As expected, the baby deteriorated. Trying to resuscitate a baby at 6 pm on a fasting day is not an experience I would like to repeat.
It's now just past 10pm and I finally get some time to sit. There is a stray kitten mewing outside and he is adorable! But Abg has finally put his foot down and said no. Abg is more a YES man so it is kinda nice when he says NO to me once in a while. But not too often, okay Yang.....hehe.
Ah well, 10 more hours to go.
First I always imagine having the worst, the busiest and most jonah shift. In that way, if it does turn out to be that way, at least I have been prepared mentally.
Second, when I am still on my shift, I NEVER comment on how it is going. For instance, if Abg calls me up and asks, "Sibuk?" - I say "Tak mau ckp" (I don't want to say). A bit like not wanting to tempt fate. Ask me the next morning and I'll happily give a full report but never before the clock reaches 8.
It has been a hellish day so far. Even my partner has not been spared. Furthermore, an ill peadiatrics case that was supposed to be referred for close observation, had been misunderstood by me for 'close observation HERE'. As expected, the baby deteriorated. Trying to resuscitate a baby at 6 pm on a fasting day is not an experience I would like to repeat.
It's now just past 10pm and I finally get some time to sit. There is a stray kitten mewing outside and he is adorable! But Abg has finally put his foot down and said no. Abg is more a YES man so it is kinda nice when he says NO to me once in a while. But not too often, okay Yang.....hehe.
Ah well, 10 more hours to go.
Friday, September 12, 2008
A leisurely fasting afternoon....
We had the house to ourselves this afternoon.
We were told there was going to be an interruption in the electricity supply starting from 9 am and possibly till 6 in the evening. Thankfully, electricity was restored at about 11. I proceeded to give my kids' cages a good scrub and a mini make over.
When Abg returned from Friday prayers, he suggested we drive to Jerteh. Why, you may ask? Well, when I was working in Setiu, one of my staff nurses mentioned a certain stall in Jerteh selling 'ayam pusing' (I think they are known as ayam golek in the west coast) and the 'ayam pusing's sold here are supposedly so delicious and so popular that most of its patrons book their chickens early in the mornings and the chickens are usually sold out way before 5 pm.
True enough, the first time we went, we were disappointed as there were no more chickens left! and it was barely past 5pm.
But the first time we bit into its juicy flesh, we knew all the hype about them were justified. The spices are there just to tingle your tastebuds but not too overpowering. The flesh literally comes away from the skin and melts in your mouth.
It is with this memory lingering in my mind that we left home for our >50km journey to Jerteh, Terengganu. If you can't grasp the significance (or the ridiculousness, haha), imagine driving from Batu Caves to Putrajaya (on your day off) just to get hold of a chicken.
I love taking drives with Abg.
The stall sits almost unnoticeably under the Jerteh bridge. In fact, there are no other stalls there. When we first got to know about this, I think the fowls were selling for RM15 per chicken (already marginally more expensive than other 'ayam pusing's) and this year they were going for RM19 and RM20 per piece!
The best 'ayam pusing' ever.
After getting 'buka puasa' sorted out, we decided to take a leisurely drive to Kuala Besut and check out the fish market at Tok Bali.
View from the bridge somewhere in Pasir Puteh, I think. Haha.
View of the other side of the bridge.
They've built a proper market in Tok Bali. Right on the riverbanks. Actually, I wanted to take pictures of lithe young fishermen hauling in the day's catches but I guess a solitary cat wandering near the jetty will just have to make do.
Do click on piccies for better images.
We were told there was going to be an interruption in the electricity supply starting from 9 am and possibly till 6 in the evening. Thankfully, electricity was restored at about 11. I proceeded to give my kids' cages a good scrub and a mini make over.
When Abg returned from Friday prayers, he suggested we drive to Jerteh. Why, you may ask? Well, when I was working in Setiu, one of my staff nurses mentioned a certain stall in Jerteh selling 'ayam pusing' (I think they are known as ayam golek in the west coast) and the 'ayam pusing's sold here are supposedly so delicious and so popular that most of its patrons book their chickens early in the mornings and the chickens are usually sold out way before 5 pm.
True enough, the first time we went, we were disappointed as there were no more chickens left! and it was barely past 5pm.
But the first time we bit into its juicy flesh, we knew all the hype about them were justified. The spices are there just to tingle your tastebuds but not too overpowering. The flesh literally comes away from the skin and melts in your mouth.
It is with this memory lingering in my mind that we left home for our >50km journey to Jerteh, Terengganu. If you can't grasp the significance (or the ridiculousness, haha), imagine driving from Batu Caves to Putrajaya (on your day off) just to get hold of a chicken.
I love taking drives with Abg.
The stall sits almost unnoticeably under the Jerteh bridge. In fact, there are no other stalls there. When we first got to know about this, I think the fowls were selling for RM15 per chicken (already marginally more expensive than other 'ayam pusing's) and this year they were going for RM19 and RM20 per piece!
The best 'ayam pusing' ever.
After getting 'buka puasa' sorted out, we decided to take a leisurely drive to Kuala Besut and check out the fish market at Tok Bali.
View from the bridge somewhere in Pasir Puteh, I think. Haha.
View of the other side of the bridge.
They've built a proper market in Tok Bali. Right on the riverbanks. Actually, I wanted to take pictures of lithe young fishermen hauling in the day's catches but I guess a solitary cat wandering near the jetty will just have to make do.
Do click on piccies for better images.
Kitty update!
The mummy cat which I brought home from the hospital along with her two kittens (the black and the orange one) has given birth last week!
Last Thursday morning, we were preparing for sahur and lo and behold mummy cat had already completed delivering her 4 kittens.
Two of the kittens had similar colourings as Bubu (the daddy cat; Bubu your absence is missed daily...), one is a tortie and the other completely black.
Takde kerja lain melainkan makan dan tido.
Ini anak kucing ke apa nie...?? Hahaha...
Wrong way little kitty!!
Bubu junior
Other than that, the little white kitten which was the sole survivor of the three siblings has also passed away a few days ago.
Sadly, I was not able to save any of them.
Everytime a kitten I rescue dies, I want to make myself promise to never bring anymore home. When they are too little when they are separated from mummy cat, their bodies lack the natural immunity that the mummy milk provides so most of the time, they usually don't survive if they get an infection while awaiting their 2 month old vaccination. I try my best, but I am racked with guilt every time a kitten dies; it's as if I have failed them.
The other kitten I took from the hospital's canteen - we are calling her 'kurap tinger' for the moment - is also doing well. We call her that because when I first found her, both of her ear flaps were covered by scaly 'kurap'. I first met her while doing rounds and my first attempt at bringing her home was foiled when she ran away. I kept looking for her and she even turned up in one of the wards while I was doing my on call, but it was only about 2 weeks later that I picked her up as she was begging for food at the canteen.
Ever so sweet and manja.
She is lovely now - not a hint of 'kurap' on her ears, thanks to a jab we got at the vet - but still needs some fattening up. She is half the weight of my other cats. At first, the other cats gave her a hard time and shunned her, being the newbie but she seems to be doing better now. She still can't give up her life as a stray though - most of my cats don't wander too far from home even after being let out of the cages - and often would explore the surrounding territories and spend the night outside.
How many now, do I hear you ask? Nineteen, the last time I counted.......okay, will definitely stop now.......
Last Thursday morning, we were preparing for sahur and lo and behold mummy cat had already completed delivering her 4 kittens.
Two of the kittens had similar colourings as Bubu (the daddy cat; Bubu your absence is missed daily...), one is a tortie and the other completely black.
Takde kerja lain melainkan makan dan tido.
Ini anak kucing ke apa nie...?? Hahaha...
Wrong way little kitty!!
Bubu junior
Other than that, the little white kitten which was the sole survivor of the three siblings has also passed away a few days ago.
Sadly, I was not able to save any of them.
Everytime a kitten I rescue dies, I want to make myself promise to never bring anymore home. When they are too little when they are separated from mummy cat, their bodies lack the natural immunity that the mummy milk provides so most of the time, they usually don't survive if they get an infection while awaiting their 2 month old vaccination. I try my best, but I am racked with guilt every time a kitten dies; it's as if I have failed them.
The other kitten I took from the hospital's canteen - we are calling her 'kurap tinger' for the moment - is also doing well. We call her that because when I first found her, both of her ear flaps were covered by scaly 'kurap'. I first met her while doing rounds and my first attempt at bringing her home was foiled when she ran away. I kept looking for her and she even turned up in one of the wards while I was doing my on call, but it was only about 2 weeks later that I picked her up as she was begging for food at the canteen.
Ever so sweet and manja.
She is lovely now - not a hint of 'kurap' on her ears, thanks to a jab we got at the vet - but still needs some fattening up. She is half the weight of my other cats. At first, the other cats gave her a hard time and shunned her, being the newbie but she seems to be doing better now. She still can't give up her life as a stray though - most of my cats don't wander too far from home even after being let out of the cages - and often would explore the surrounding territories and spend the night outside.
How many now, do I hear you ask? Nineteen, the last time I counted.......okay, will definitely stop now.......
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