Crimson Bisque

Saturday, September 08, 2007

ah what a week.

gradually settling back into work and am feeling slightly more motivated.

shall read up on chest x rays and ECGs if i have the time as well as hypersensitivity etc.

have to do a case presentation on the last day of the term as well :(

sigh, at least i've made some effort into updating my blog.

heard from mum that she went for lunch with limin. it's really strange to heard council mates going out with mum!

hope mum's arm is feeling a lot better.

i can't remember if i've blogged this but on the 2nd day we were in cambodia mum was climbing one of the Angkor temples in Angkor Thom and slipped and broke her arm. :(

Dad had said that he would wait below the temple for us so I (stupidly in retrospect) asssumed that mum was gg to do the same.

Unfortunately, after i had gotten to the top and done my share of photo taking (and in fact was on my way down) i heard someone screaming my name.

Now i thought it unusual that someone was screaming my name out loud in Cambodia. At 1st I thought someone at the top wanted someone below to take a picture of them at the top, so i just left it.

However, upon hearing the voice again, it really sounded like mum, so i told mairi to head down the rest of the way while i went back up to investigate.

lo and behold, other pple started screaming my name, and the voice kept shouting "where is charlotte? i've broken my arm"

ok by then, i was really panicking, so i climbed up the rest of the way and saw that:
1. yes the voice was my mum
2. yes she HAD broken her arm, it wasn't even in a straight line anymore

now i never ever thought i had to put my medical knowledge into practice outside a hospital context as a student, but i think on hindsight it really just convinced me that this is the career that God has led me to and has encouraged me to keep learning, despite this being the final year! (as you all know, senioritis can set in, even for medics!)

either way, mum's arm was stabilised as best as we could. I gave her paracetamol. I knew how to manipulate it in theory to straighten it but:
1. i really needed LA or mum would have screamed her head off
2. i really think that she should see a doctor

we 1st went to this newly opened international hospital that was supposed to be for tourist (read: ka-ching). doctors? check. x ray machine? check. orthopaedic surgeon who we really needed since it was obviously an orthopaedic case? NOPE. it apparantly was the soft launch of the hospital and they didn't have anyone in place.

to cut a long story short, we ended up in a cambodian hospital. it was quite a reality check for me. the patients were everywhere, even on the corridor. wound edges seem to be pus filled, the place didn't seem really clean (what with a construction site right across the way from it and i just remember feeling so sad as i looked at their faces.

the doctors office wasn't any better, it looked slightly cleaner than a hawker stall and in fact the doctor dressed like my fav chicken rice stall man, complete with faded brown polo shirt, faded trousers and slippers. he had tattoos up his arm as well. wah lau, was scared for a moment. but he did the right thing, so i guess it was better than nothing.

mum had to leave cambodia with dad a couple of days later anyway, because it turned out tt she needed surgery.

but the people of cambodia and the hospital i've seen has really made me appreciate how blessed we are. i thought i was never one for medical missions, but i think i might change my mind.

in cheerier news, check out this puzzle from makezine. let me know if you guessed the right answer!

Inscribed @ 5:56 pm