Where am I?

Actually I'm around, just been too busy to even get on the net!

Almost done with internship - can hardly believe the two years are almost over! Awaiting news of my community service placement....alhamdulillah I haven't been second rounded so at least I know I'm going to one of my five choices lol.

Currently busy with Internal Medicine...its okay so far. Not a bit like surgery, which I was busy with before this. U know, before I started with my surgery rotation, I expected that I was gonna enjoy it alot....haha total opposite! I ended up hating it:( By the end of the rotation I was totally burnt out. It was really a combination of factors that left me feeling this way, but honestly speaking it just felt like I had no life.
Surgery here is BUSY guys!!! I mean really BUSY. Yep its full of action and really interesting and I had at one stage toyed around with the idea of specialising in Trauma, but seriously when yet the next totally drunk guy with multiple stabs, is brought in by his equally drunk friends (who miraculously escaped any injuries)....agh ja...you just roll ur eyes and for the millionth time think "Why the hell am I doing this!!!!"
The stench, the vomiting and weeing and defaecating, the swearing....It really gets to you. I cannot stand drunk patients!

I think the trauma here is on another level...I mean seriously many of the patients come in and their files show that they have a 'history' of assault/stabs etc. Most if not all the cases are alcohol related. And the worst part is many of the patients actually use their inpatient time to plan their revenge! I'm dead serious - the patients actually tell you about how they cannot wait to go teach the perpetrator a lesson....

I also ended up being one of the 'lucky' few interns to work in the burns unit...and yep it was winter here in SA i.e. Extremely busy. Hot water burns, flame burns, electric burns, u name it we had it. Also very sad and depressing:( I had nightmares of the kids screams during dressing-change.

Fasting and surgery, especially the calls, were really not a good combination...looking back I wonder how I actually managed it.... Allah was merciful.

Nway think thats enough of this totally depressing post...Surgery is over now Yay:) Hoping to have more of a 'life' during this rotation:) Till next time:)

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)

Comforting Myself

Today was just one of 'those' days. I just could not wake up this morning and after pressing the snooze button for the hundredth time, I finally decided I'm just not gonna go for the morning meeting. When I eventually woke up I just kept thinking why do I have to put myself through this? I literally dragged myself to work today and as soon as I got there I realised it was gonna be a long day!

Our reg was post call so the other intern and I were left with all the ward work and I don't know what happened but the consultant was on a roll today so it was like every patient required something; bloods, urine cultures, stool cultures, lumbar punctures etc. etc. So we worked together, skipped lunch and  I eventually managed to finish at 18:00p.m. (normal working day is till 16:00). While walking to the lab to drop off some specimens before going to my car, I felt really sorry for myself and kept thinking why am I doing this? It's just so weird coz in medicine you can't really put off tasks till the next day - things have to be done coz people's lives depend on it! And as the intern doctor you can't exactly just pass on unfinished work to anybody... so ja.....And then the walk to the car - I didn't realise it was dark outside already and I had quite a far walk to my car. [In any other place (besides South Africa) an evening walk would be quite pleasant.]

Anyway while driving through Edendale hoping I reach home safely - Edendale is not the best place for a woman to be driving alone at night - I had Allah Knows by Zain Bhika playing. The following words really struck me "When you carrying a monster load, and you wonder how far you can go, just remember no matter where you are, Allah knows" When I heard this I was like how stupid can I be, obviously Allah knows what I'm going through and He will never put me through something He knows I won't be able to handle. So I just said Alhamdulillahi Alla Kullee Haal, I mean things could have been worse, so why am I feeling so despondent and being so ungrateful?
I've become a doctor through the will of Allah and Insha Allah I'll be rewarded for my sacrifices. May Allah guide and help us all, Ameen.

1st Month Over

Yep I can't believe I've already completed 1 month in Paeds. So from Monday I'm going to another ward that's reportedly much more busy! Anyway since tomorrow's my last day, I'm taking some treats for a small party for the little one's. It so amazing and sad - some of my patients were there before I started and are still gonna be there for at least another month. I mean, can you imagine staying in a hospital away from home and your family for so long?

I really like one little boy in particular, he's so adorable but I feel really sorry for him coz he's so sick. Just yesterday he wanted to know from me when he can go home. So I was like when you get better. Then he looks at me and says when am I gonna get better? I looked at his small sad face and was a bit lost for words because to put it bluntly I wonder if he ever will get better - Stage 4 HIV, Disseminated TB, Marasmus - you get the picture? So I just told him I don't know and as kids do he started again with "but when am I gonna go home? I miss home!" It's just so sad, so cruel... this small body has to suffer because of his parents.... even today I had to take bloods from him (again!) and it's really difficult because he just simply does not have veins! So while I'm preparing he keeps asking how much am I gonna take and is it gonna hurt. He tries to be really brave and walks confidently with me to the procedure room but gosh when that needle goes in, he screams like anything and keeps shouting "No dokotela, no dokotela" and I don't know what to do because on one hand I have to get the blood but on the other hand it's like tearing my heart to hear him pleading with me to stop. I just wish they'd develop some other means of getting the results we need from processing blood samples!

I promised to give him chappies before we started so when it was all over and tears dried and I'm busy discarding stuff, he looks up to me and says "Doctor you said you'l give me chappies and can you please make me a balloon from the glove?"

"On Call"

So what does it mean to be "on call"? Basically it means you are covering the night at hospital, in whichever department you are working. The person on call starts the day as everybody else at 7:30/8:00. Then from 16:00 till the next morning, the person on call works in casualty/OPD or the wards - depending where the person is allocated. If you lucky (usually not!) and it's quiet you can get some sleep. The next morning the on-call person does normal duties until 12. After 12 you can leave and it's now your post-call day :)

I don't know how the timetable was planned coz I didn't have any calls the past 2 weeks and now I'm on call Tuesday, Friday and Sunday!

The call rooms here are not that grand (and there's been a rumour of a rat in the surgery intern call room!) so I just use a couch in the doctor's lounge. For me, the worst part about a call is having to use the bathroom! I can never ever use a public toilet so using the doctors's toilets at the hospital is just pure torture:( It's such a procedure for me - I have to using seat covers and wipes - ag I just hate it:(

Anyway enough complaining - think of me tomorrow!

Just about my day

Had to attend a tutorial today on Paediatric Resus. Yep on a Saturday:( Anyway glad I attended - it's pretty important stuff!  I was so annoyed though, coz it was scheduled to start at 8am but from the 30 interns who were supposed to attend, there were only 12 and so they waited until 8:40 just in case the others were late!

We got to practice inserting an intra-osseous line on a chicken drumstick - real cool :)

Paeds Pics

 Told you the ward's dreary:(

Doctor's Lounge Chat 1 ;)

Topic: The strike last year

Doctor1: "The military had to come in to assist at the hospital I was working at last year. I must say the military nursing staff were quite good but some of the military doctors seemed a bit dodgey!"

Doctor2: "Well I guess that's because they only know how to manage gun-shot wounds!"

Doctor3: "Gun-shot wounds? I don't think so. They probably specialists in treating STI's (Sexually Transmitted Infections)!"

Doctor's Lounge Chat ;)

Doc1: "That patient seriously needs barrier nursing. I'll have to inform the nursing staff."
Doc2:" HaHa! You really think the nurses here understand what  'barrier nursing' is? Normal nursing care here equals: Eating KFC and then touching the patients with the same oily hands. Barrier nursing for them would mean : Eat KFC, wipe hands on buttocks and then touch the patients!!"

Embarrassing Phonecalls

1. It was my first call for Ortho and a patient came in and I needed advice from my Reg. So, I got his number from a list in casualty and as soon as my call was answered, I was like " Hi Dr, this is Sabeehah here, I just wanted to know - there is a 6yr old boy here, who fell while playing soccer presenting with a painful, swollen right forearm. Normal sensation, range of movement limited by pain. X-ray shows what looks like a greenstick fracture of the radius to me. So I wanted to know what I should do for him?" That's when I heard a "Huh?" in a very african accent. So I'm a bit confused and I'm like " Dr?" Then I get this reply in Zulu and I'm like oops wrong number! Talk about a waste of airtime! ( BTW I did take down the number correctly - the list had a wrong digit!)

2. The speed dial numbers at the hospital changed about half way through my rotation so I made a point of writing down the new speed dials of certain important departments, one of which was Patient Transport. The following week, I had to organise transport for a patient to a hospital nearer her home so I dialed the number I had and explained the story. The lady speaking to me seemed a bit confused and said something about being a new lieutenant so she would have to ask her superintendent. While waiting for her to get back I was thinking to myself 'since when do the patient transport call operators have titles like lieutenant and superintendent?' Anyway the lady gets back and asks me the name of the prison I'd like to transfer the person to.
Me: "Prison? No I want to send a patient to Madadeni Hospital"
Lady:" Oh I'm sorry I don't think we can help you with that, as far as I know we've never done something like that."
Me: "But aren't you the patient transport people?"
Lady: "No my dear you've phoned the police station!"

Me (Obviously embarrassed): " I'm so so sorry, I think I dialed the wrong number!"
Me to ward sister: "This speed dial for patient transport when through to the police station!"
Sister (after glancing at the number on the page): "Oh no that's not the number, they re-changed the speed dials 2days ago"

3. Me again trying to organise transport for a patient to Madadeni Hospital. After a frustating 45minutes of being put through to someone who puts me through to someone etc. I finally am transferred back to the person I called initially!! So the lady understands my frustration and gives me the number of patient transport at Madadeni Hospital and advises me to call there directly and see if they can help me. So I call the number.

Me: Hi! Its Dr V here from Northdale Hospital. We have a patient here who was initially transferred from Madadeni Hospital. She is now Day 8 post-op and very stable and we'd like to down refer her to Madadeni. I've been making a lot of phone calls but they've been sending me in circles. I really hope you can help me - she's only 16 and would really like to be closer home."
Lady: "Does the client have an account with us?"
Me(do they really refer to the patients as clients??): "Account? I don't know but she was initially transferred from there.What do you mean account?"
Lady: " An account here at OK's"
Me: "Sorry can I just ask where exactly I've called?"
Lady: " This is OK Furnishers in Newcastle."

[This one became quite a joke in the department!]

Yuck!

I'm busy with Anaesthesio at the moment - so today one of the patients was a muslim man (foreigner) and he had a spinal anaesthesia which means he was awake during the op. So everything went fine and I kept checking on him as I would with any other patient. At the end of the op, the anaesthesio nurse turned him over in order to pull out some sheet or something and I think he got a bit startled, lost balance and it looked like he was about to fall off the bed, so I grabbed his shoulder quickly to stabilise him and his face landed my hand. He steadied himself and moved his face and THEN I have no idea what possessed him but he purposely turned his head so that his face rested on my hand!! I was SO disgusted - I didnt know what to do! [my mum said I should have pinched him really hard:)] Anyway we eventually moved him onto his stretcher and I held onto the foot-end of the stretcher as we wheeled him to the recovery room - the dude kept this unfaltering gaze on me:( It was so freaky, I was really upset, so when he asked me something about the op I just ignored him and went to wash my hands thoroughly!  Later while doing pre-meds in the ward he saw me again and wanted to know something but I just pretended I didnt hear! It was really a yucky experience and I shudder just thinking about it!