Who said being a doctor is glamarous???

Okay Alhamdulillah I'm alive after one of my worst calls ever! Nursery calls Suck!

The call started off quite well and then things just kinda spiraled a bit out of control - 2 Resus's and 1 didn't make it:( so then there was tons of paperwork to be filled in at like 3:00am.  And seeing that everything in the hospital is based on 

It didn't make my life much easier!

I dragged my sister (BintMahmood) along with me. I left her snuggled in my sleeping bag for most of the night

 

but she really helped me out this morning and had to run quite a few times to the lab. I felt really sorry for her though, coz Nursery is very very warm even though it's freezing outside, and shame she kept feeling dizzy and faint... so she had to go out a while and then come back to help me!

For my sis

The worst part about a Tuesday call is that handover happens late coz of a departmental meeting on a Wednesday. So yeah instead of being relieved at 8am, I had to cover the ward and C-sections till 10am.

And as luck will have it, the sisters kindly informed me at 7am that 5 IV lines were infiltrated!

Gosh these IV lines on these tiny babies are just soooo frustrating! After walking around the whole night my feet were killing me,

I was hungry and exhausted and really struggled with the lines:( I was so fed up, I just felt like bursting into tears.

The best part was: I inserted one IV line on a baby after struggling for about an hour,( I secured it really well) and then had to go for a c-section. When I got back the sister tells me that this baby needs a drip, and I was like sister I did that one already before I went to theater. She looks at me and she's like oh she thought that was the old drip that was infiltrated, so she removed it! Seriously I didn't know whether to burst out laughing or crying!!! I attempted it another 3 times, failed and then gave up and decided to leave it for the day staff. The mum was quite upset and started crying but I mean if I can't do something, I can't!! 

So I was still battling away with drips when the day staff eventually came - boy was I relieved! It seemed as though my shift was never gonna end! 

Alhamdulillahi Allah Kullee Haal.

(Next Nursery Call: 26/07/2011)

I Don't Know How To Respond Or What To Answer When...

People tell me;

1. "Oh you so short?"
Really people, I've lived in my body my entire life - tell me something I don't know!


2. "How old are you?"
Do I just say my age or what?(but u don't just go about asking people their ages anyway!) I already know the response is gonna be " but you look so young" as though it's so shocking!


3. "Oh so you just a GP?"
WTH!!! Do you realise what it took just to get into Med School and to stay in there for 6 years? And hey every Dr has to start off as a GP anyway!

4. "How's your husband doing?"

Oh dear where do I begin! Should I just smile and mumble he's fine or do I go into the whole history:(

Family members ask;

1. "So how much are you earning?"
Isn't that personal? Sorry uncle but I don't exactly ask you how much you earn!


2. "So how many patients have you killed already?"
That is so not a funny question.


3. "The specialist said I'm going to need this Medication/Operation/Test, you think it's necessary?"
Hey you've been to a specialist and now you asking my opinion? I'm Confused?


4."My back/finger/toe/ear/hair/any other body part.... is paining, what do you think is wrong?"
I'm flattered by your faith in me but seriously I really can't just make a diagnosis based on your vague symptoms only!


5. "So do you think this drug 'trade-name' is good?"
I'm sorry I know I'm a Dr but I don't know the trade-names of all the drugs available.


6. "I would never send my daughter to University like how your mother sent you."
I'm glad I'm not your daughter:)




Patients say:


1. "I don't have money for bus-fare or to make a call to my family"
I'm really lost when it comes to this coz I mean I wanna help but then again majority of the patients are from poor social circumstances and I can't help everybody:(

2. "But Dr am I gonna be ok?"
Ooh I just hate this:( Usually get this after having explained a condition in simple terms. Should I be honest but cruel or just give false hope???




Colleagues say:


1. "You don't watch TV!! So what do you do when you get home?"
I don't know! TV has not been a part of my life for so many years so my routine is without it, anyway.


2. "You can definitely eat these gummy sweets, its got the halaal stamp on it:)"
No I can't! Why the hell do we have to have so many halaal certifying organisations in SA and no consensus amongst them!


3. "How come Muslim guys don't drink alcohol but they are allowed to do drugs?"
No they not supposed to do either...but how do I know what makes them think drugs is a lesser sin!

4. "You don't know what you missing out by not eating bacon. You should try some when your parents are not around"
Seriously do I look that starved?? And hey it's not my parents making these rules!

Nursery; The Woes, The Joys

Ok so being in nursery is becoming a bit monotonous! I mentioned previously that I don't exactly work in nursery itself, rather I'm in charge of all the post-delivery wards and have to do a head-to-toe examination on all the babies and discharge asap coz there's a shortage of beds!!! I mean seriously can't a mid-wife/nurse do that??  And when I'm done, I then become this kind of 'floating' staff-member that has to go help out wherever I'm needed:(

Anyway it's so amazing to see so many babies being delivered daily :) It's actually quite weird coz you have like a whole ward of babies with the same birth date! I wonder if they'l ever meet up again in the future??

 I guess it's becoming monotonous for me coz there's so many babies to see and there's always a rush to see each one and it ends up feeling like I work in a factory!

Typical scenario: "Hello mum how are you? How's baby doing? Are you going to breastfeed or use formula milk? Is baby feeding well? Has baby passed urine? And Stool? Okay now I need to examine baby" - followed by a head to toe examination."Okay mum your baby is fine, so baby is discharged". I move to the next bed to repeat the procedure while the nurse gives the immunisations and gives the mum the date for the follow-up visit. And so I move from cubicle to cubicle...and once I get to the last cubicle the 1st one has some new babies already! Alhamdulillah most of the babies are normal :)

It's actually quite a mission to communicate with the mums that don't speak any English! The Zulu word for urine involves clicking of the tongue - something I'm quite pathetic at and so it always sounds so funny and some mums still don't understand me LOL!

Another thing is that it's winter here and my hands are constantly cold so I feel really sorry for the tiny ones! It's really cute examining them but off course there's some things I just hate; like palpating the head of a just delivered baby - the hair is all matted with blood and amniotic fluid and oh gosh I don't even like to think what else!! I also hate my stethoscope coming into contact with the freshly cut umbilical cord - gross! Babies that have caput also kinda freak me out. (Caput is when the baby's head goes into this cone shape due to a difficult delivery, becomes normal after a while.)

 

It's really sad to see so many babies born to mums who are HIV positive. However the good news is that apparently our PMTCT programme  (prevention of mother to child transmission) is actually working :) Majority of babies of positive mums are now found negative :) The sad part is that some mums opt to formula feed (instead of exclusive breastfeeding) and they can't afford it so the babies end up dying from severe malnutrition:(
Anyway that's all for now....

Another 'Everything' Post

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah! I'm officially over with 'that' ward at EDH :) I am just so happy! This last month was just too hectic! My call on Saturday wasn't too bad though, except that POPD was freezing cold! POPD is located in this container that's attached to the main hospital building and none of the heaters are working there currently [This is Edendale;) ] My teeth were like constantly chattering and my nose and fingers felt like they were gonna fall off! Luckily I got an early post-call and I blasted the heater in the car! Even though I still have 2 months left in Paeds, I'm certain on one thing - I will NEVER become a Paediatrician - it's just not for me.

So I started in Nursery today at NDH and it's quite busy, but busy in a 'nice' way. It's a district hospital so the Nursery itself is not high-tech and I have to go to all the post-delivery wards and check the newborn babies before discharge :) Apparently here post-call is at 8:00am and you get one half day off a week :) :) :)

Anyway here's some pics from the wedding I recently attended:

Sweet Table

The hall decor was stunning!! While I don't believe in spending a lot on decor, it was nice to attend such a function:) Sadly my pics don't seem to do justice to the beauty:(

Designer: Mohamed Paruk

Stunning Handpiece :) [Designer: Mohamed Paruk]

Walimah:

Bride & Groom

Yummy Burfee

Designer: Mohamed Paruk