A different kind of posting;

Sometime in April, May and June, I had my semester 6 posting at a few specialty places. It was one of a kind and unforgettable.

Now let me tell you my story.
1.
Our first stop was to Tanjung Rambutan, at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta (HBUK). It was for our mental health (module) posting. 

We've been to...
-the psycho-geriatric ward
-the normal ward (Ward 2 & 3)
-rehabilitation wards (Ward 7 & 8)
-the ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) room
-the library and
-the centre where the recovering patients actually WORK - making handicrafts for visitors, assembling flowers, tailoring and so much more. They are actually trained to adapt to the working life when they are discharged later. When I mentioned that they are TRAINED, each of them has a punch card and respective off day just like a normal worker. /impressed/

I have bought some souvenirs from the centre because hands down, all the handicrafts were really  impressive!

There were a few dramas during our time being posted there. A few hurdles rose, it kinda shook each of us as the drama was nothing small but a dang serious thing that all of us cannot forget. Nevertheless, I was so glad that we went through together as a team, never pointed fingers to anyone, instead solved it together as one. :)

When we were there, we stayed at the hostel situated a kilometer away from the hospital. Speaking of THAT, I shared a room with my dear (P)s - Prissy and Pau and we sort of had a blast sleeping and giggling together every night. HAHAHAHA. 

I can never forget the 'bugs' moment, 'cats, cats everywhere'  conversation, 'omg it is lizard!' situation, the scorching heat days, the 'shit smell' story during one of those midnights, my burnt fan story, and those nights when we practised (our Hokey Pokey dance) for the 'party' on the last day of our posting! lulz.

Such great memories, man.

But what really left an impact on me was a few touching moments that we had gained during our posting experience. One of patients there actually handwritten us a letter in Mandarin Chinese, to thank our company and presence. I mean... we were only in each designated ward for a couple of days and all we did was just talking, spending time doing activities with them and doing nothing much, really. To the point that we were appreciated is just :'). 

Actually to be honest, seeing patients laughed happily and seeing them changed from being quiet to engage themselves with us in most of the activities was one of our best accomplishments!

However, reading patients' documents on their past history and hearing them telling us made me feel very upset. Broken relationships, abandoned family, inability to cope with stress, and their frequent questions to us, "Where are my children?" and "When can I go home?" really teared the inner me apart.
I was also shocked to see those mentally ill patients who are placed at the psychogeriatric wards. Some of the shocking habits (I wish not to disclose here) were very depressing and these two words 'human values' really striked me bad and I have reflected so much from it.

But one definite lesson that I have learnt was,


"Each of the patient there despite having mental illness deserves to receive all the human rights, respect, nonjudgmental comments and treatments. We all (regardless whether we are healthcare providers or just simple human being) have to always be empathy, sensible, wise, fair and sensitive. Be a human being to another human being."


I will on and off read back this invaluable thought and remind myself to be grateful, to be all of the above said.

... On the last day, after the party that we organised for the patients, I was quite reluctant to leave but I guess two weeks was impactful enough to let me learn. The only shame part was that we did not get to go to any of the admission wards, that is the Wad Kemasukan Lelaki/Perempuan. Cuz' we were told that there were more acute cases that we can see there. Oh wells, no luck for us then.

14 days but so much of memories.


__
2.
Second stop was at Petaling Jaya - Alzheimer's Disease Foundation Malaysia.
We had our Healthy Ageing (module) posting at there. No doubt, it was another memorable posting that I shared with my classmates.

Basically, what we did there was quite routinised.
The morning was started off with 'brain-gym exercise', then followed by morning breakfast for the clients, then karaoke session and arts and crafts session until lunch. After lunch there will be interactive games planned by the ADFM staffs for all the clients to spend their time in the afternoon while they wait for their loved ones to fetch them back from the centre.

Looking at the display at the memorial wall, I was impressed by the handicrafts that the Alzheimer clients made during arts and craft session. So artistic and creative I give them all a thumbs up! We were there for two weeks -in which we mainly observed during the first day of posting, then subsequently (slowly) taking over from the staffs to organize the activities by our own. We did not adjust/alter much (just change some content of) the routinised activities (slightly) because it might cause confusion especially for those clients with Alzheimer's disease. 

..
Truth be told, it was one of the most relaxing postings I have ever had. Spending time interacting with the clients made me happy.

I still remember encouraging Mr. W in one of those A&C sessions because he was feeling quite timid and low self esteem at first. But with constant motivation and support, I was glad to have boosted up his self confidence that he was all smiling from ear to ear after his 3D (DIY) dinosaur, "Long Life" (he named it himself) was properly done. 

Shortly after that, he invited me for a dance during one of those karaoke sessions, lol. I was taken aback but at the same time I was  genuinely touched for such gesture. :') This 'bravo' client has wonderful  smile, sings beautifully and he was one of those inspiring people I met whom I won't forget.

And to conclude this posting, a major thanks to all the ADFM staffs for being so nice, friendly and accommodating. All of you have such caring heart yourselves, please keep it up the excellent job and may God bless you all always. :)

People often ask me, "So when you were talking to people with Alzheimer's, they often forget what they did/say thus they always repeat, don't they?"

Yes. They forget, thus we are there to remind them, to care for them. Caring for people with Alzheimer's is not easy but think back how your parents took care of you when you were young, that's how exactly we should take care of them. They might be forgetful, misplaced things, clumsy, hard to please, but with patience, compassion and great amount of love, you will get through this. Get a respite care when you need, take a break when you're tired.

Also, don't forget to offer your hugs and kissed to your loved ones (although they have Alzheimer's disease)! It is an important physical affection, they will feel happy just like us normal human beings. We feel loved whenever our dear ones gave us a touch/hug/kiss, don't we? :)

"Although they can never remember what we did to them, they certainly will not forget how we made them feel." :) :)

These are some of the lessons I have learnt through a 'Alzheimer's disease-caregiver' talk and also during this posting.
__


3.
Next up, Management posting.
One word : Stressful.

Super, super stressful actually.
Having to juggle between workload (research, incidental-reflective writings), tasks (Team leader, medication nurse, runner), coping with functional nursing, work shifts, tiredness, long distance travel... those days surely weren't easy.

BUT the interesting part of the posting was surprisingly the night shifts days. Hahaha! I must declare that I was one of those who didn't drink a sip of coffee yet survived those wee-and-dawn hours with so much style and pride. #shamelessconfessionhere
Oh well, it was an experience but I am not too sure whether I can cope in the near future. Imagine night shift today, then afternoon shift the next day, etc?

And another incidence I will not forget is definitely 'Dexamethasone 1mg.' Please remember forever, pk.

Also, I'd like to thank some of the staffs there who taught me patiently on how TS Hospital actually works in terms of management and also C.I. for giving me good input for nursing tasks such as passing over report. Despite the struggles that we went through, I still thank YOU olls. :)

___

4. 

Klinik Kesihatan Pedas is next! *woots*

Actually I wasn't expecting a lot for this posting because I had no time to expect to be honest. Hahaha but going back to Seremban feels great. That was my last time staying at Bukit Rasah at Uncle D's. Last time intruding clinical school like nobody's business and last time being member of the Rasah neighbourhood! :)

Community posting was surprisingly fun for me. We started off with school visits and clerking pregnant mummies as well as kids in the first week. It was my first time giving vaccines (MR and DT) to school children. Albeit feeling super nervous, surely it was a cool experience. :)) Subsequently we went for home visits for antenatal and postnatal cases. Pedas is situated near to Rembau, a small town not far away but houses around are made of wood and this small town has a lot of 'kampung' feel which I lovelovelove.

So during home visits, we clerked the patient, checked on the babies, did some anthropometric measurements, updating mum and child's progress in the very important (pink and blue) book that every mum and child suppose to have. On the last week of this posting, we also did a 'mopping' session, meaning we traveled to houses to enquire the families on the updated immunisation status of their children. As you all knew, diphtheria cases went viral due to parents refused to vaccinate the child last July.

"Vaccinations are very important, dear parents. Bring your children to the nearest clinic to get the jab if any of them missed a dose/hasn't taken any vaccines before! Please have a thought about it, it is always better be safe than sorry."

... Back to the story, during the 'mopping' session, we went visit houses near the estates and railway track. Along the journey, we met some friendly chickens, running goat, a family of dogs, cute kittens , a unique duck, an active squirrel and many many palm trees!

Ahh the 'kampung' feel. Love, love! 

Hands down again, this is definitely one of the best postings that I will not forget! Special thanks to all the KKIA staffs for being so amazing and patience in teaching us the proper way of clerking pregnant mums and kids. Thanks to Mdm L and Pn K for always encouraging us to try and do a lot of hands on. FYI, community nurses are very EMPOWERED and basically they are the ones who run the clinic, other than the other healthcare providers like DUH. /proud/

Also, I will not forget the good times I had together lunching and decorating the 'breastfeeding' room with my classmates. :)

Such a memorable posting. That's all for this post. Till then, y'all!

xx

Golden and seized ;

I still remember posting this 4 years ago at Facebook.

Fast forward 3 years later....

I found an opportunity...

A great opportunity that appears just perfectly right in time..

seized it before it silently went away...

and ...

here 

are

the 

OUTCOMES!

:D

A huge thank you to Ray for borrowing me his precious camera and lenses (D5100, 50mm and basic kit lens) in order for these to be produced! :D

Endless gratitude to Kah Heng and Chia Yen for joining this mini adventure, and for saying YES to my humble request! They are both very sporting and supportive to my idea and request, so tolerating, so humble and very kind people! :))

...

The moment when they approached me to snap a photo of them during a graduation ceremony, that was the time I knew that they are the first couple that I'm gonna approach when it comes to doing my first couple photoshoot!

There was a lot of give and take during the process, I almost thought that the plan was about to fail since we were all busy with our respective things. But phew, thank God, the plan worked and we all had a great time!

On the day of photoshoot, the weather was kind of not convincing enough for a photo taking session. It was the hazy season, btw (October 2015). We were hoping for a beautiful sun to set that evening, unfortunately it went on drizzling-raining in between the shoot, and we all had to endure it by sheltering ourselves under a huge tree while waiting for the rain to stop. Nevertheless, I did manage to snap some good photos which I hope both of them like love it! :))

Thank you so much for realizing my little dream, you two. It means so much to me, you can't even tell how many times I thank God for this golden golden opportunity.

Thank you for contributing ideas and give me suggestions, enriching my experience and ideas. Thanks to both of you for understanding and tolerating my slow speed in snapping photos, my busy schedule and delay in editing those photos. I had a wonderful time getting to know more about you two, your love story and your individual thoughts!

It was once in a lifetime opportunity, I must say. If there's such a great chance again, I am definitely 100%ly going to say yes to snapping pictures of both of you in the near future. A better and more creative set of pictures, I pinky promise!

(That's if you guys want me to be your photog again, hehe)

Anyways, it was such a great pleasure working and interacting with you two :)

Stay sweet and lovely!

Cheerio.

More photos at : https://www.flickr.com/photos/theybelongtopk/albums/72157664593336616 :)

xx

Gratitude ;

Good news today!

My patient is discharged with her baby girl just this afternoon :) #cheers

.......
Being able to nurse this patient is definitely a golden opportunity for me and my learning experience. Two weeks ago, she was diagnosed with Extended Breech in which she was supposed to do ECV (External Cephalic Version) in the ward initially but baby girl inside the tummy decided to descend a stage further to mummy's pelvic hence the plan for ECV failed.

Mummy's diagnosis was changed to Engaged Breech and she was planned for Caesarian section instead. Feeling all nervous as this was her first time having her baby sitting on her pelvic bone rather than the other way around, she can't stop thinking how did it happen and how C-section is gonna be. Albeit feeling anxious, she was willing to answer my strings of questions and was kind enough to give me her permission to do physical examination on her with my tutor. :) #gratitude

The abdominal palpation experience was sure an interesting one. Imagine a baby sitting on a pelvic bone with her lower limbs extended up to mummy's left abdomen and her upper limbs are probably hugging her own self, finding her comfort zone while she lies comfortably under mummy's tummy.
Baby's tiny lower limbs were easily felt that day. Her fetal heart rate was the best thing I ever heard and it was so loud and clear :')

A day after, which was the day she needed to go for C-section, mummy's hubby was finally here to give his best moral support! I know that mummy looked calm on the outside but deep down, she felt nervous as hell. You really can tell by the look of it. Hubby was equally anxious as the wife, needless to say as this can considered as one of the major operations for both of them and also for the little baby who was coming out soon.

As we pushed the stretcher to the general operating theatre, hubby was holding his wife's hands, walking along with the moving stretcher while holding his bag with another hand.
Upon reaching the entrance of the reception bay, one of the staff nurses announced,

"Alright. Both of you can wave goodbye here. Kiss or hug, do whatever you need!" in a joking way.

All of us were stunned for a while and then staff nurse corrected,
"Urmm I meant kiss each other's hands y'know.....", understanding our stunned expression and all of us laughed.

Mummy kissed her hubby's hands, in the meantime giving apology, and the husband did the same.
#thatlovingandsweetmoment
While ticking away the peri-operative checklist in the reception bay, O.T. staff nurse asked,

"So what is the operation that you're going to do today, mummy?"
"Operation of extracting my baby out, nurse." saying it in a darn cool tone.
Everybody laughed again.

I'm amazed by how positive she was at that moment, who still can cracked jokes although she must be feeling extremely jittery inside. I was glad to see her being so optimistic. :)) I prayed hard, for a sucessful operation, for her and her baby girl's safety and health.

As she was wheeled into the room, she sent goodbye kissed to all of us, especially to her husband who was waiting anxiously outside. Every time the door is opened, he would jumped out of his seat to ask about his wife, etc. To be frank, I have never seen anybody (especially husband) so nervous like him (only in movies) but I find it utterly sweet when he constantly asked about his wife although he was acting like he was the one who undergoing the operation but in fact he was just feeling as equally nervous as the wife.
I don't know why but I find #thissolovingandsweet <3

On the following day, I was told that a 2.5 kg baby girl was successfully taken out from mummy's tummy which both mummy and baby girl are safe and sound. #sooooglad
Unfortunately, baby was sent to special care nursery due to hypoglycemia :(
Thankfully, mummy appeared cheerful although baby was not by her side for her to breastfeed.


On the 4th day, baby girl was finally discharged from SCN and admitted to the ward! #woohoo
I did top and tail for her today with the help of my friend. :) Baby girl is sho sho sho cute :> She did not cry a lot when I was cleaning her, just a little wailing when her cord was cleaned using surgical spirit. Haha, otherwise she was all good and well.... cute :>

Since baby girl passed urine and motion, she and her mummy were allowed to discharge! #yays
So I went to talk to her before she was prepared to go back home. We had a little chat about the whole process, from her being admitted to the ward, to C-section, to today, which she was going to discharged with her precious second child. 

She said,

"The operation was quite quick for me. I went in at 12.30pm and came out to the recovery room at 1.45pm. As soon as I was wheeled out from the operating theatre, my husband was relief to see me and our daughter, and good god, he paid more attention to our daughter than me! He can't stop saying how cute our daughter is. Hmmph!"

I grinned for her little complain, yet I find it so sweet, the relationship between all of them. :))

I told her about how her husband went so anxious and worried about her and the baby when she was wheeled into the operating room. Upon hearing, she was touched and thanked God for everything -her husband, her successful C-section, her daughter, etc.

She continued,

"Along the process, I want to thank YOU, girl for always helping me throughout, asking about my concerns and my well being. You are very helpful, hardworking (to ask questions), polite and patient. Please keep it up! Being patient is definitely a golden value that will bring you far in life. Whatever you do, even if you get scolded by anyone, always be patient. Because by being patient, you will be able to go through all the hardships, and the outcome will always be good in the end."

"So thank you, again girl. I appreciate all your kindness and help all this while. I will always pray for your success in your future endeavors. Good luck to you and don't forget to be kind to everyone you meet!"
....
I was beyond thankful for what she said to me. When I was doing what I should be doing, helping people with all I can, with my skills and ability (which to be completely honest), I wasn't hoping for any compliments nor expecting any kind comments like this. 

But having a patient that I nursed from the day I started to work at antenatal/postnatal since Monday until today, seeing the whole process of her from still having her baby bump with a breech presentation to wheeling her to O.T. for C-section to seeing her again at the ward with a compressed stomach and then to the day when she is completely discharged (today), it just feels wonderful. I definitely feel accomplished not by what she said, but being able to nurse her from the beginning until the end.
Y'know the feeling when she wants nobody else but me when it comes to helping and nursing her? I am definitely feeling very privileged and I guess what makes me very glad is that she trusts me. :))


This mummy is thankful for all my assistance and help but you know what, mummy?
Thank YOU for giving me the opportunity, chances, and most importantly, TRUST.
I will always pray for you and your family's well being and if fate permits, we'll definitely meet again. :)

I can't promise (you, mummy) but I'll try to drop by at your Apom Balik's stall (opposite BSN at S2) if I happened to be around the area :D
....................

"Always think positive, girl. Be patient and you'll definitely go far in life."

This is definitely an experience that I am going to remember for a long time. :)


P/S : This is not a bragging/show off post. Rather, I want to be reminded that this is the reason why I still hold into nursing and how it gives me so much satisfaction and accomplishment by simple little things you do to people.
PP/S : I'm glad. I'm really really glad that I chose this. I don't really hope for my posting to end this soon, honestly speaking. Gonna treasure the rest of the days. :))


xx

Grandma's 83rd ;

Happy grandma posing with my hand drawn card *smiles

What a lovely family gathering it has been since.. chinese new year?

Can't wait for more family visiting these coming few days :)

xx

Second 10km ;

Nottingham Charity Run 2015 - checked!

It's been so long (months!) since I last joined a marathon and here I go again, another 10km at Nottingham University. I was expecting a 21km run but meh there isn't any.. so yeah.

I don't know it was due to the weather or the route itself, I felt very demotivated to run (I did feel the same during my Standard Chartered run but the feeling doubled this time). There wasn't any motivational board says something like, "YOU HAVE 2KM MORE, YOU CAN DO ITTTTT" or anything that's similar in every 1km or at least 2km.. (I secretly wish there is though) but the motivation is just... not there.


All I see was just a plain (endless) road with lots of construction sites, trees on my left and right, and a blurry, hazy weather. So, I did a lot of walking, rather than 'running'/'continuous jogging' this time. As I had already exceeded my personal targeted time, I was like..

"Ugh, I'm not gonna make it."

Besides, I saw many people who were ahead of me, I guess I was one of the hundred people that were still left behind, running at our own pace. (The #sobs moment when that angmoh surpassed me and was wayyyyyy more consistent than I am)


.............................................
When I was at the last checkpoint (2.5km away from the ending point), I told myself,
 

"It's okay, self. Let's walk."

70% of walking, 30% of running. I can say my thighs are pretty sore now! Hahaha

For the last 200 metres before the ending point, my thought was just : C'mon. Let's finish this and meet the rest!

When I reached the ending line, a girl passed this to me and said,
 

"Here's a medal for you. 

Congratulation!"

O_O

REALLLLLLLLLLLLLY??

Like whoa. 

W.H.O.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.

I was really surprised.

Top 100 for Women's Category? NOT BAD. lol
My timing this time was between 1-1.6 hours, 5-10 minutes later than my timing for Standard Chartered Run. Obviously, there was no improvement :( #sobs

A friend of mine said,
 

 "The more important fact is that you didn't give up, and to me that trumps timing! Keep it up and you'll be in top 10 in no time!"

Well, HOPEFULLY! *finger-cross*
Hahaha. I am aiming for 21km run next and colour run perhaps?
I really need to find the 'running' motivation for myself. 21km is double the distance of 10km duh o_o


Anyways, it feels good to sweat again :) A good activity to destress myself, definitely!

Story of my life #1 ;

#asanursingstudent

Note : A lot of medical jargons are used here. I'm afraid you will not understand what I am saying here unless you google. It's okay if you skip this, but if you insist on reading, you're welcome to!


Semester two ;
One word to sum it all : BASIC.
All my first time was dedicated to these 10 precious weeks of postings.

Vital signs, bed making, bed bath, perineal care, subcutaneous injections, blood glucose monitoring, giving oxygen therapy, disposing urine, recording I/O chart, TPR chart, dengue chart, positioning, assisting patient in activities of daily living, handwashing and so much more.

For my first 5 weeks at PD,
I had familiarized myself with procedures like bed bath and perineal care because in PD, you get plenty of those procedures (during my time) because there were quite a number of bed ridden patients. We also have came across patients who are morbidly obese (it was stated in the case notes :B ) and I was always very scared to take blood pressure from them because either the cuff cannot fit or the machine will give no reading. Heh, but it was manageable after that.


Of course, there was a lot of frustrating moments especially when we did things "slowly" and made a lot of mistakes although we had been reminded several times. :(
But all of us managed to buck up and remained positive throughout the posting.
I still remember there was one time this patient was suspected to have MERS coronavirus and I didn't know it. I took his vitals in the morning without wearing any P.P.E. (personal protective equipments). The moment I knew when the staff nurse informed me... 

I was like, holysh*t, sh*t, sh*t. What should I do now??


After the unnecessary worries, the patient was finally ruled out from having MERS. 
The instant relief within me... Phew! *wipe sweats* 

Lesson learnt : ALWAYS know patient's diagnosis/conditions/underlying conditions before attend to patient!

Then for another 5 incredible weeks at Seremban, we also did more or less the same thing.. just that it was way busier at HTJ's medical ward. Time passed very fast there and I was glad to learn many valuable lessons during my tough-stressful time there :)

I had my second and third (and probably fourth) time giving subcutaneous injection at HTJ. Needless to say, I was very very nervous because giving people injection was my fear and I had to face it and conquer it.
Thanks to Ms. A, (although trembling) I had the most strict yet the best guidance under her and strangely speaking, I am not afraid anymore :)

In PD, five of us got the chance to observe abdominal paracentesis and also insertion of internal jugular catheter whereas in Seremban, we managed to look at how a catheter was placed for peritoneal dialysis and also how last office was done by the KKM students. My first time again, and I already felt the coolness being in the hospital! Hahaha #whatnoobyusuallysays

Honestly speaking, I tend to get excited easily when I heard any new conditions. In semester two, Steven Johnson syndrome, psoriasis and eczema sounded really new to me, believe or not I once thought that patients who have eczema can easily spread to other people by contact. But after some thorough research, I knew that I was wrong. #whatnoobysays

Haha, after ten weeks of postings, 6 working days a week, I must say that I was very glad to be back home! Prolly I can't stand the life - the life of having only one day of weekend. /sobs/
Don't know whether I can still move on and get used to the life in the upcoming sems.

-Fast forward-

Semester three ;

Hey ho!
In this semester, we have learnt more in depth about what we learned in semester two.
*Condition
*Pathophysiology
*Investigations
*Treatment (Medical and Surgical) including medications
*Nursing care/responsibilities
*Health education

The systems we learned were Respiratory system, Cardiovascular system, Haemopoietic system, Gastrointestinal system and Endocrine system.
It was pretty hectic but we made through all these five systems and I'm proceeding to semester four (tomorrow), woohoo!

So during clinical posting (or hospital attachments) at dear HTJ,

First day at medical ward : Orientation. Briefing. The environment of the hospital surprised all of us. New curtains, the floor is somehow cleaner and more sparkling than before. Things are neater! I have to give two thumbs up for the major improvement :)

Second day : Observation of BMAT (Bone Marrow Aspiration Trephine) procedure O_O

It was pretty traumatizing for me. I simply can't imagine how the patient felt that day. I'm sure it was a horrifying experience for him too.

Week two, third day : Observation of liver biopsy done by a specialist, a nice and kind hearted doctor :))

The rest of the three weeks : I had my first try on NGT (nasogastric tube) feeding and removal. I was lucky to get to carry out one of the blood transfusion procedures in the ward. 
Not to mention, I had plenty of chances doing ECG at cardiac clinic. Ohh, there were a few echocardiography and stress tests for us to observe as well :) Then the normal routines (which I practised in semester two) was carried out as usual.


Anything more interesting?
Well I guess it's a yes because there was this one day I finally encountered with a 'brilliantly' smelled stool called, Melena stool. I don't mean to be rude but I almost fainted that morning when carrying out perineal care with my colleague and my dear tutor. What's worse was, the patient can't stop passing motion because the night staff nurse gave him enema which I believed he was scheduled for colonoscope in the afternoon. :/

Other than that, I guess it was so far so good. The learning experience was awesome as we get to relate better with patient's condition, investigation, and also our responsibilities. 

Some new conditions that I came across this semester include : Nasopharyngeal cancer, mitral stenosis, thalassemia, pantocytopenia, malathion poisoning, myeloid leukemia, sickle cell anemia, patient with Charcot foot, Noonan syndrome, acute myocardial infarction (Killip classification) , Meliodosis and many more.

Under ms. V's guidance I have learnt tremendous amount of lessons - about patients, patient's conditions, our nursing roles and also about life.

The one thing I must say that I have great respect for her is the professionalism in her when she's at work. She gave us a lot of motivational and constructive comments which helped us a lot in improving our skills, theories and also as a person. /very very grateful/ 

"There's a diamond in each of you right here *in your heart*. As you go forward, you'll get better each day. As you move forward, the diamond will be slowly polished and soon,

 you all will be shining"

..................... Moving on to another 5 weeks at surgical female ward,
I went with zero expectation and came out with countless of amazing experiences.

The ward was way more relaxing than medical ward, nonetheless.
I had many chances to carry out dressing for different types of wounds - fungating breast, bed sores, venous ulcer, pinsite, etc.
Sadly I didn't get the chance to carry out wound packing YET. Hopefully in the coming semesters I will be able to do that dressing :)

As our clinical assessment was approaching, we also took opportunities to practise health assessment as much as we can as a preparation for the coming exam. 
Thank god, we all did fine on the actual day of exam (though I must say I was very nervous). Still, whether it was good or bad I am thankful for their overall comments. :)

I guess the highlight of my working experience in surgical ward was catching maggots from a wound, cleaning fungating breast (wound), giving enema to an elderly patient and also removing staples from a patient's surgical wound.
Removing staples wasn't really tough for me. As I tried to remove using the technique learnt, I comforted the patient at the same time, trying to ease the tension and nervousness. In the end I managed to remove at least 8 of the 30 staples, whereas the rest of the staples were removed by my fellow colleagues :)

I am sure you are intrigued when I mentioned catching MAGGOTS from a wound. Yes reader, you read that right.
I swear it was one of the most disgusting moments I've had but it was fun! lol #whatnoobysays Hahaha, out of nine big FAT maggots which love sloughy tissue so MUCH, I managed to catch 3 out of the 9 big FAT maggots. Not bad for a first timer huh, self achievement unlock! #whatnoobysays :B

On another note, I WISHED I had the chance to change colostomy bag for at least once but too bad I hardly get any. Just managed to observe my friend doing it :) 

And for the last two weeks at surgical ward, we had our time to visit endoscopy rooms to observe colonoscopy, endoscopy, ERCP, and insertion of PEG tube! Didn't have the privilege to observe bronchoscopy though :(
The time spent at scope rooms wasn't as boring as the time I had at cardiac clinic, to be honest. At least, I get to see different type of images when the specialist was doing the job, haha. The best part was when the surgeon explained to us and probed our critical thinking by asking us questions.
It's something I will not forget. The humor, the experience, the 'first try', the interaction.. Thank you, Dr. M :)


All in all, I enjoyed my posting very much. I even felt reluctant to come back, can you believe it?? #whatnoobysays
Hahaha neway, I want to thank tutors, fellow classmates and medic students (friends) who are willing to guide/teach/discuss cases with me. It was fun learning from each other, hopefully we'll do the same for the rest of the semesters and during our working life of course :D


Hehehe, more exciting stories to come (I'll blog about it if I have the time)!
Thanks for reading, dear reader. Till then  :)

#SUGAR ;

My lips like sugar, My lips like sugar.
This candy got you sprung, this candy got you sprung. So call me your sugar, so call me your sugar.

"December 6th 2014, we're going to drive across L.A. and hit every wedding we possibly can. It's gonna be awesome."

Woohoo let's do it!

Have you guys listened to this song?
Maroon 5 actually crashed each wedding by performing live during their weddings like homg!

I quote from the says.com, 

"Whether the wedding crashes are staged or authentic, it's still a pretty heartwarming video to watch over and over again."

Well I have to admit that Maroon 5's music videos are pretty weird and never my favourite. THIS one is exceptional.
Now watch!

#SUGAR indeed.
Hands down to the coolest and most heartwarming music video ever!

GIF Image sources : Tumblr

SEE-ESS-ESS-YOU :)

I'm already here at Seremban, continuing my next 5 weeks of posting. Before we head to the ward, our first week was spent at CSSU :)

The weather here is a little bit unpredictable. One day it can be really sunny (freaking hot), another day can be really dark and cloudy (sometimes rain!). Oh, just to introduce you that this is the pathway that I always walk back home after work :))

So basically at CSSU, what we did was washing, packing, folding, packing, sterilizing (autoclave machine will do this), arranging, sending. I shall just summarize the week with this collage :
First row (photos) : This is the packed dressing towels I did on Monday with Kak Afina, the unpacked dressing towels which I packed on Thursday, and introduction to some sets by Mr. Mohan on Wednesday- sims, cusco, protoscope, etc.

Second row (photos) : On Thursday, I was in the packaging area, packing dressing set, delivery set, child feeding set, and swabbing set. The centre photo shows some roti canai and (very tasty) dal -breakfast packed by Mr.Mohan for us before work! So so kind and generous of him <3 And the photo on the right shows Mr. Rashidi, one of the PPKs who was posing for me, lol! I wanted to snap a photo of the packed items which need to be pushed into the autoclave machine. But then he said, "Tunggu!" *pose for me* *I snap* "Ha macam ni barulah betul!", he said while looking at this photo. Hahaha
Third row (photos) : Mini dressing towels packed on Monday with Kak Afina and friends, and centre photo shows pk pointing at 400 well packed gauzes and the right photo shows 436 packets of gamgees (dressing pad) that me, Shaf and Pauline packed today. Today's achievement and satisfaction : Packed 400 gauzes, 436 gamgees, 120 eye pads in a freezing cold room and get to eat a piece of hot KFC, specially treated by Kak Guna! So much love from the staffs here <3 All in all, it was a good experience working at CSSU, knowing so many sterile items, the process and the working staffs here are all very friendly, kind, funny and helpful.
SN Kalai said, "If you work here, you must be happy. Be crazy, be happy and you'll finish your work faster. Set a target/limit each day, reach the target or beyond that. At the end of the day, you'll feel the satisfaction and sense of achievement!"
On another note, she told me a nice message (words of thoughts) when she was sharing her story about working at the ward (a few years back),

"When I first came to this field, I didn't like it. It was never in my list. Even if it is, it will be my last. After I entered, I tried. I tried to love it. Now the outcome is so much different than what I thought! You should do the same too. T.R.Y. Maybe you don't love it now, you'll love it (deeply) sooner or later." :))

(Written on Friday (12/7/2014) night)