Vampy's Weblog - Life of a Medical Officer

If you have not noticed on the title of the blog, I have survived internship and have gotten my general registration in NSW. However, I have decided to come back to Singapore to continue my career (never thought I would ever have a career) due to several reasons. One, my mum is not well and will require surgery soon. Two, after taking into consideration of various factors, I believe I would be happier here in Singapore. This is not to say I did not enjoy my life in Sydney. During my 5 years there, I have many fond memories of my mates in Aussie.  Also, I have been lucky and have had superb supervisors who are an inspiration to me and I hope that someday I will be as good a doctor as they are.

In this past year, internship has changed me - some for the better and some for the worse.  I'm no longer the naive medical student who believes everything he's told by patients, colleagues or superiors. However, I believe tat I have survive internship with my principles intact. My passion for medicine or my patients have not diminished.

For now, I'm enjoying a bit of R&R while waiting for all the paperwork to be approved by Sungapor Medical Council and hopefully I will be able to start work in early March. I'm excited about work as I am told I can most probably do at least 6mths of paediatrics and possibly a full year. At the same time, I'm petrified as paediatrics is a whole new field of medicine (children are NOT little adults) and in a way it will be like internship all over again as I try to find my wings. I'm also hoping to do my paediatrics exams in middle of this year and if I can pass it, hopefully I will stand a better chance in getting a trainingship position at the end of the year in paediatrics. Wish me luck!

Having work for past 6 months in hospital, I have seen abuse of every form. Nurses abused by impatient surgeons, interns abuse by patients, patients abuse by family. But one other type of abuse seldom gets publicity. Abuse of public health system. The problem with a almost free healthcare system is that some patients treat itself their goddamn right to milk the system for all they can. For example, some alcoholics after spending every cent they have on booze come to ED and complain of vague symptoms. Why? Cos' they can get free meals and somewhere to sleep.

Others are even worse. They want free medicines even after discharge. One claim that he can't work because of the injury which is fair enough, but the partner can work but is not. The partner has use of all 4 limbs and they have the cheek to say they have no money to pay for medicine after discharge and want us to supply him with free medicine. Hello! Get your partner to get off her fat arse and work and maybe that way you have money. I mean that's how majority of us have money. There are more deserving ppl who genuinely can't work and still they try. God gave you arms and legs so you can work. If you don't make use of them then give them to some others who appreciate them and make use of them. I'm sorry if I don't sound caring or sympathetic as a doctor would but I have no patience with ppl who demands free stuff like it's their goddamn right! Just as I said in my previous tweet - how about a stretch limo or private jet to send you home from hospital or a butler who will bring your pills on a silver platter? These are the ppl that is part of the reason why the healthcare budget keeps ballooning year after year.

Wild Harvest
Marina Drive, Coffs Harbour (next to Fisherman's Co-operation)
Rating: 3.5/5

Was in a mood for seafood and thus this review. Wild Harvest is a restaurant/ bistro that serves dinner on weekdays and weekends, lunch on weekends and breakfast on sundays. While the repertoire of the menu is quite limited, I have to say they serve one of the best fish and chips in NSW I had so far. One of the selling point of the place is that it is literally next the the sea. During winter the lower deck of the restaurant is closed but the upper deck is opened and it is quite a view to behold. Imagine having your lunch/ coffee out on the upper deck and hearing the waves crash against the breakers and sea gulls flying overhead (beware of them pinching food off your plate though).

One of the main reason why I love the fish and chips is the light batter used. It's light, crispy and not thick. It's not overly salted either so you can enjoy the freshness of the fish. The fish is fresh, no fishy smell or after taste and it's juicy and melts in your mouth. It's serve with a generous portion of chips which is just about the right thickness and but crisp on the outside. As usual there is a green salad by the side. The one complain I have about the fish is that it's a tad too oily. Perhaps kitchen paper towels may solve the issue easily.

I also ordered a thick chocolate milkshake which is good and thick. I have had experiences with other cafes/ bistros where thick shakes are not thick at all.I'm a chocolate lover and thus I find the chocolate is too mild for me. It's more like a after taste. Service is nothing to boot about but prompt. Overall, I would go back for their fish and chips or maybe try something different the next time.

Bangkok Thai Hut
18 Elizabeth Street, Coffs Harbour
Rating: 3/5

I'm starting a new section in my blog i - reviews of restaurants in Sydney/NSW. Note I'm not a professional food critic but who doesn't. So here's my inaugural review.

First of all, from the exterior of the restaurant you wouldn't think it was a thai restaurant because the building looks more european than thai. The same goes for the decor. We have a very european (think Louis VIII) huge mirror, phoenix wallpaper that looks like it has seen better days and tulip-shaped lampshades. The only decor reminiscene of thailand are the 2 buddha statues. The placemats are of a disgusting dark green color which sticks out like a sore thumb on white tablecloths.

The atmosphere was more of a western style than thai. While the restaurant tries to set a atmopshere of a 4 star restaurant, it failed to carry it through. The food I ordered were not remarkable. My entree was a mixed entress plate. When the service staff first put it on the table, it looked like the waitress had taken a tumble with the plate. While the entrees were arranged properly but the presentation was just a mess. It looked like the chef while trying to decorate the plate with bean sprouts did not quite know how to go about it and decide to just throw them around the plate. There is a serious lack of asthetics. The way I see it is if you can't decorate a plate well, then don't.

The mixed entree plate consist of a serve of thai fish cake, fried dumpling, beef puff and fried vegetable spring roll. The only entree I enjoyed was the thai fish cake. Rather than to use commercially ready thai fish cakes, the chef have made his own. Hence it is not the perfectly round fish cakes some restaurant serves. The beef puff is oily. Every bite oozes a fair bit of oil that I have to wipe my mouth after each bite. The spring roll was unremarkable. My grandaunt makes much better ones. The fried dumpling was again unremarkable.

The 2 mains I ordered were Changmai noodles and one of their specials - Fish Panang curry. The noodles were literally swimming in a pool of oil. After a few mouthfuls, I had enough and this is with the pineapple juice I ordered. When you order the noodles, you can specify how spicy you want it to be. So I ordered it to be hot. For a restaurant that appears to cater for majority of western clients, they did make it rather spicy. Another thing about the noodles, it was severely overcooked. It's just a plate of starch.

The fish curry was good but not fantastic. You can tatse the creamy coconut texture without it being overpoweringly sweet. Fish itself wasn't the freshest but not stale.

Serivce was average. The one thing I found disconcerting was probably my own experience with one particular service staff. She leans too close when she talks and in a rather loud voice - not rudely loud but just a few decibals above what I expected.

Overall, food is passable but if I have a choice I would not go back for seconds.

Working in rehab unit made me realise just how much elderly folks are alone in the community. Many of the patients live by themselves and can only depend on themselves on a daily basis. While some may say it's a good indication that elderly folks can be independent, sadly that is mostly not the case. For many, it's not a choice but rather necessity. Their children have all flown the coop and have their own families to look after.
The scary part is that there have been cases where an elderly had died and no one realises until several weeks later and it's not because someone has notice them missing but rather because of the smell of decomposing flesh that alerted the neighbours.
Sometimes, it's not the physical loniness but the loniness caused by the diseae itself. Some of the patients have what we describe as having expressive dysphsia - the inability of the brain to make the part of the brain that handle thoughts and ideas to cooperate with another part of the brain that makes speech. So the patient may want to say "bread" but something like "gruish" comes out of the mouth. It becomes extremely frustrating for the patient he knows what he wants to say but just can't get it to come out the right way. I can't imagine how frustating and isolating that makes one feel. They can understand everything we say but just can't give a understandable reply.
But the worst happens when they have both expressive dysphasia and receptive dysphasia. That is when they can't even understand what we are saying. It's not because we are saying any thing differently but rather their brain is unable to process speech into thoughts and ideas. So wheb we say " howls your day?", their brain processes it to a jumble of letters and words that makes no sense to them.