Hiatus

I remember back when I was a giggling medical student and in between practising examining the cardiovascular system, talking to my mates Ching Yin and Chantal - about how all I really wanted to do in life is to be a housewife and take care of my family.

I proceeded to become a doctor and went on to work; I had just completed my 9th year in service late last year. I love working, yet time and time again, I would dream of being Bree (from Desperate Housewives). I would go to Tesco and linger at the the household products aisle and scrutinise the merits of the different cleaning material. I look at recipes and wish I could whip up a batch of scrumpilicious cupcakes, on top of the ayam percik and kerabu pucuk paku for dinner.

Last year I became unsettled. Work, if you could call it that (I was doing attachments at that time) became such a chore. I didn't look forward to getting up and driving to where I was attached to. I was grumpy and unhappy.

So, after much discussion with Abg, I decided to take a short break from my Masters and work. I spoke to my HOD about deferment of my training programme. I had to take a long look at my financial status to see if I can afford taking time off work. Having acquired all those properties amounted to a considerable paycut and I had to make sure that my savings could cover that. Thankfully I had a decent amount tucked away which made my decision so much easier.

It has been a month now and I have never been happier. Setting up home has taken the majority of my time; being away from work gave me time to make countless trips to textile shops to choose the right colour scheme for the soft finishings. I sewed all the curtains in the living area and the master bedroom and learnt to make cushion covers. Even as I was preparing to go to sleep, I was mentally arranging my tableware in the various drawers and shelves.

The only downside to being a housewife was being so lonely during the day. I could talk to my cats but one-way conversation isn't much fun.

But I certainly do not miss not being oncall, taking 50 phone calls from junior MOs who only wanted me to check whether they read the xrays correctly. Bah. Isn't that what your ED/A&E Specialists are for? MO A&E nak jadi polis trafik so pakar korang ketua polis trafik lah?

I do miss being in the OT though and hope my suturing skills haven't rotted by the time I get back.

Till then, here's to taking breaks and loving it.