A goodbye

My boss will be leaving next week.

He is the last of the first generation of specialists sent to HTM when we were first upgraded to a district hospital with specialists. First there were three - tiga hero yg ganteng2 semuanya - but Dr Nizam left for Kuantan and then Dr Hanafi left to pursue his subspecialty and now the last of them will be leaving us too.

He brought me into Orthopedics and made a specialty that was previously more like "Huh?" to "I totally get it now!" - and at the same time, 'rescued' me from life that was the OPD. I learnt to suture and wound debride and perform Ray's amputations.

I have been lucky that in the progress of my career, I have had the chance to pursue a little bit of every specialty - in Setiu I was able to practice antenatal scans and learnt to insert IUCDs - and now I can do minor operations without my hands shaking like a leaf..!

But anyway, I digress - he showed us that bosses don't have to be super strict to be heard; that a soft reprimand can be just as effective as a loud one. That it doesn't hurt to lessen the scolding with a laugh. Your subordinates will respect you nevertheless.

He is patient when he teaches and firm when he needs to be. He always wants the best for his patients, so no wonder they all love him so much and would wait for hours just to see him. You can see the twinkle in the makciks' eyes whenever he teases them and you know it's not just for show; and it's not just the makciks, even young teenage (and not so teenage) girls go blushing and hair-a-twirling when they speak to him.

The first thing he taught us was that, in order to be a good MO or specialist, the first and most important thing is your attitude - knowledge can always be garnered but if you're an ass, you will always be one. (The 'ass' word is mine though)

Good luck boss, you will be sorely missed.....

Nearly postcall ramblings

It's now about quarter past 6 in the morning. I have been up since quarter past 4 attending to a makcik with fluid overload. I admitted her last night after she complaint of fever and difficulty in breathing despite attending regular hemodialysis.

I had initially started her on antibiotics to treat the chest infection - but my staff nurse called me at about 4 informing me that her oxygen saturation was slowly decreasing. When I went up to see her (had to get up to review a case of PE anyway), she had the appearance of a typical fluid overload patient: sitting up, leaning against the cardiac table and having difficulty breathing and talking. Stayed for an hour stabilising her and now I can't sleep.

I hate that I am such a light sleeper when I am on call. I know that some people can just nod off after reviewing a case and wake up totally refreshed 2 hours later, ready to start work. Me, I am wide awake at 5 am and will turn into light headed zombie come noon.

I completed the book 'Ayat-Ayat Cinta' a few days ago. My interest in novels nowadays come and go. One moment I am engrossed in the latest Alaf 21 publications and will buy the books in container-loads, and the next I just couldn't care less.

A book has to capture my interest in, at most, the first 15 pages. If I can't be bothered to know what happens next, it's collecting dust on the shelf for you then. 'Ayat-Ayat Cinta' took some time and effort to get 'acclimatised' to. There were liberal use of Arabic phrases and Indonesian words which weren't really a hindrance thanks to the footnotes. But what interested me most was how the writer really made an effort to introduce the main character and build him up in such a way that made me feel I really knew Fahri in person.

A good writer will bring the reader into his world and this author certainly did this. I felt the scorching heat as Fahri made his way to his lessons and felt how refreshing the 'ashir mangga' as our hero drank it.

I fell in love, not with Fahri, unlike the four female characters in this book, but with Islam itself. The author protrayed Islam with such beauty, wisdom and grace. The 'dakwah's are subtle and never condascending nor patronizing.

The book speaks of love but not in the typical way - it transcends not just love between husband and wife (Aisha, I heart you!) but among Men and with Islam itself.

Haven't seen the movie but heard a lot of details were left out (as movie adaptions are wont to do) but will probably do that soon.

Anyhoo, pejam celik, on call post call, can you believe it's nearing the end of the year already!? Seriously, the phrase "Time flies" doesn't do the reality justice!

Itch II

I'm restless. I need something to focus my mind on - travelling plans (I luuuuuurrrrve making travelling plans - where to go, how to go, what to do), a beading project, a presentation, anything!

I may appear sedentary and stationary but my mind is racing everywhere and anywhere. I've just cleaned the toilet - siap scrub pintu ok! - and all hubby said was "Mandikan sapa (meaning which cat) semua basah2 nie?". Ada ke? I think only another woman or housewife can appreciate a newly scrubbed toilet, haha.

I've just heard that a colleague had a miscarriage recently. My heart goes out to her. My eyes still well up whenever I think about mine, now already half a year ago. At times, I find it hard to even believe that I once carried a life in me; perhaps that I had dreamt it all. Anyway, my wishes are with you, Z and hope you get well soon.

I'm still restless.

Maybe it's time to clean up my room.

Update paling boring

Fizzy in a contemplative mood.

I
Sis Yaya got engaged in a small but beautiful ceremony last weekend - yeay and a yippedooday - Ma can now calm down for a spell - she always gets herself in such a state when planning things like these.

II
Got back to three, nope make that four cagefuls of cats and kittens mewing hungrily and my stock of RC BabyCat which was supposed to last at least two more weeks, mysteriously depleted. Takkan ayam pandai bukak tudung tupperware kot?

One of my staffnurses at the clinic brought two kittens two weeks ago. They were about three weeks old and apparently mummy cat had refused to feed them. At first I was reluctant but how can I resist those grey round eyes?


One of the abandoned kitties.

Fortunately the mummy cat from Abg's Tok De's house who frequents our house had given birth a few days prior to that and only one of her kittens survived. I hoped she could help me, because if she rejected the poor kittens, then I would have to resort to bottle feeding them myself.

Imagine my surprise when she immediately licked them as if they were her own!

Animal nature will never cease to amaze me.

Abg, however, said that Tok De's cat has become so old that she can't even remember how many kittens she had in the beginning. Cheh.

III
Am currently attending a two-day course for Orthopedics in KB. There were a bunch of Ortho MOs from HKL there. Again I am struck by how different MOs in the east coast and their west coast counterparts are.

IV
Ceiling fan put putted into its last revolution on the day we arrived from KL. Rather than see our electricity bill rocketing from an all night use of the air conditioning, Abg went and bought a remote controlled ceiling fan.

Now we don't have to get up and flick the switch for the fan when the air cond switches off automatically in the middle of the night.

Ahhh, technology.....