So, today I find out that my Prime Minister has been ousted by his own party...I am so out of touch with all that has been going on at home!! I know everyone is saying that no one expected this, but I didn't know that people had so turned against him!! Amazing what being out of the country and not having a tv can do!! I think I need to start reading the news online. Anyway, I don't want to talk politics, but I do have to admit that I'm sad.
So, for some reason I seem to be addicted to doing these after I've been on call, when I should be going to sleep, but oh well. I always seem to be out of luck when it comes to delivering babies. At this rate I think I'll have to stay overnight one night, which is not going to be that easy here, but it'll probably e the only way. I thought I'd get to deliver tonight; I spoke to a patient who was 4cm dilated, and was there when they ruptured her membranes (broke her waters). I thought I'd still have a few hours to spend with her and prepare, but unlike all of the other deliveries I've witnessed, she delivered 15 minutes later. The baby's head was basically out before anyone could get gloves on!! It was so fast. Needless to say, I was not able to be the one to deliver the baby. My next patient was progressing very slowly, and probably won't deliver until the early hours of the morning. I did get to go watch and emergency cesarean section though, which was good. It's always interesting and eventful, but I am starting to stress about managing my 4 deliveries!!
Anyway, enough medical stuff; those of you who are not medical are probably already grossed out enough!! I spent the weekend in KL again with friends, which was great!! We stayed with my friend Chrsity's parents ('we' being another of my friends, Priscilla, and I) who were absolutely lovely and so hospitable!! They took us out for so many meals; and really rare meals that you can only get in certain places. On Friday night we had this delicious fish, and steamed seafood (prawns and crab and much more), barbecued lamb and so much more. On Sunday night we had Beggar Chicken. The chicken is covered in spices and wrapped in foil and then encased in clay/mud, and cooked in a big dirt oven. When it's cooked they break it out of the clay and remove the foil and it's delicious!! On Saturday we went to several different shops and markets and I had a very nice version of one of the national dishes, Nasi Lemak. It's basically chicken and rice with chilli and other things on the side. It was fun just getting to spend time with my friends and get out of Seremban. I an looking forward to a weekend at home though this weekend, as I have a lot of study to do. I really need to get on top of everything before Nic comes! I think I've probably already studied more in these 5 wks than I normally would have though, so I hope it ends up being reflected in my marks!! So tired though. I think when I get to Phnom Penh I'm just going to sleep!!
Anyway, my week has been a bit crazy, jumping between obstetrics and gynaecology. Only three weeks (and one day) of this rotation to go!! YAY!! I'm looking forward to a weekend of study, and then next weekend taking Nic around KL!! So much to be thankful to God for!!
Hope all of you are doing well!! Love you and miss you!!
Aimee
Friday, June 25, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
4 weeks down...5 to go...nearly halfway!!
Hi everyone!!
Sorry it's been a while since I've written...I have been pretty busy!! So, what have I been doing with myself you ask?? Well, last Friday night I headed back to KL by train to meet up with a friend. I hung out at her house Friday night, just relaxing and watching the soccer ( a novelty, as I don't have a tv or the time to watch!) She's originally from Zimbabwe, so she was barracking for South Africa against Mexico. I have to admit, I was a bit torn, I like both of those countries!! Anyway, on Saturday morning we met up with her old boss and went to some markets to try to find her some pearls. We were out of lick though, and went to have breakfast at a chinese restaurant. We had dim sum for breakfast, which was yummy, but a bit too heavy for me. I tend to like a lighter breakfast, but I'm always happy to try something new! :) For those who don't know (or haven't watched masterchef) dim sum is actually a way of eating as well as the name given to the food. You sit at the table, and the waiters bring around trays filled with dishes of two or three items. For example, fish balls, steamed rice paper parcel things (so hard to explain if you haven't had it!!) Anyway, there is a huge variety and you just take whatever dishes you want. They keep coming around though, so you have to be careful or you inevitably end up with too much food, hehe!! Anyway, I love this meal, but probably prefer it for lunch or dinner :).
We then headed back to the centre of KL, and, along with another friend, travelled up to the Genting highlands. It's about 1hr from KL, depending on the traffic, and up in the mountains. It's therefore much cooler up there. It's actually a hotel and casino city built up on this mountaintop in the clouds. From the bus stop we took a cable car up to the top, which was pretty cool as we were travelling through the clouds. The view is great on the way up, but unfortunately, once you get up there, it's mainly just hotels and a theme park, which we decided not to bother going to. It was nice to look around and enjoy the cool air though, hehe. We had lunch and headed back down to KL in the evening. I took the train back to Seremban and stayed over at one of my friend's houses here. I've actually been staying there all week as her housemate has been away. It was really nice!! I didn't realise how lonely I was until I spent the week there!! Even just being able to hang out in the living room studying together has been nice!! Plus, she has couches, hot water and air conditioning!!
Sunday after church I was on call at the hospital all day, and monday night after the normal uni day as well. I've seen so many ruptured ectopic pregnancies now, it's crazy!! At least one a day here at the moment!! It's been a busy week trying to catch up on study, and I still feel so far behind. I'm grateful to have gotten through the week though. Plus, I got the awesome news that Nic's coming over in 2 weeks!! So so so so so excited!!
Anyway, heading back to KL now with my friends for hopefully what should be a great weekend!! Hope to still find time to study though, hehe.
I'll update you all soon!!
Love Aimee
Sorry it's been a while since I've written...I have been pretty busy!! So, what have I been doing with myself you ask?? Well, last Friday night I headed back to KL by train to meet up with a friend. I hung out at her house Friday night, just relaxing and watching the soccer ( a novelty, as I don't have a tv or the time to watch!) She's originally from Zimbabwe, so she was barracking for South Africa against Mexico. I have to admit, I was a bit torn, I like both of those countries!! Anyway, on Saturday morning we met up with her old boss and went to some markets to try to find her some pearls. We were out of lick though, and went to have breakfast at a chinese restaurant. We had dim sum for breakfast, which was yummy, but a bit too heavy for me. I tend to like a lighter breakfast, but I'm always happy to try something new! :) For those who don't know (or haven't watched masterchef) dim sum is actually a way of eating as well as the name given to the food. You sit at the table, and the waiters bring around trays filled with dishes of two or three items. For example, fish balls, steamed rice paper parcel things (so hard to explain if you haven't had it!!) Anyway, there is a huge variety and you just take whatever dishes you want. They keep coming around though, so you have to be careful or you inevitably end up with too much food, hehe!! Anyway, I love this meal, but probably prefer it for lunch or dinner :).
We then headed back to the centre of KL, and, along with another friend, travelled up to the Genting highlands. It's about 1hr from KL, depending on the traffic, and up in the mountains. It's therefore much cooler up there. It's actually a hotel and casino city built up on this mountaintop in the clouds. From the bus stop we took a cable car up to the top, which was pretty cool as we were travelling through the clouds. The view is great on the way up, but unfortunately, once you get up there, it's mainly just hotels and a theme park, which we decided not to bother going to. It was nice to look around and enjoy the cool air though, hehe. We had lunch and headed back down to KL in the evening. I took the train back to Seremban and stayed over at one of my friend's houses here. I've actually been staying there all week as her housemate has been away. It was really nice!! I didn't realise how lonely I was until I spent the week there!! Even just being able to hang out in the living room studying together has been nice!! Plus, she has couches, hot water and air conditioning!!
Sunday after church I was on call at the hospital all day, and monday night after the normal uni day as well. I've seen so many ruptured ectopic pregnancies now, it's crazy!! At least one a day here at the moment!! It's been a busy week trying to catch up on study, and I still feel so far behind. I'm grateful to have gotten through the week though. Plus, I got the awesome news that Nic's coming over in 2 weeks!! So so so so so excited!!
Anyway, heading back to KL now with my friends for hopefully what should be a great weekend!! Hope to still find time to study though, hehe.
I'll update you all soon!!
Love Aimee
Friday, June 11, 2010
Ok, so, I know it's high time I wrote a new blog!! I've had so little time, it's crazy!! I always end up writing these after I've been on call, so it's really late at night but for some reason I can't come home and go straight to sleep. I am supposed to be doing some uni work before I go to bed...writing up some cases etc, but oh well. I decided to do this instead.
The last week and a half have been pretty frustrating as far as uni has been concerned. I spent so much time in the labour ward last week trying to deliver babies, only to end up just watching every time!! I was especially frustrated on Friday, because I spent all morning befriending the midwives and the patients, in preparation for being the one to perform the delivery. The first couple of patients went into the second stage of labour (pushing stage, hehe) when I was with a different patient, and so I missed the beginning and couldn't deliver. After that I chose one patient and stuck to her all morning, doing her fetal heart monitoring, keeping the fan on her, everything. However, just when she was ready to push, they had a change of nursing shift, and the new midwife, who hadn't introduced myself to yet, just came in and took over. Then she said I could do the next one, but of course the next one was with a different midwife again, and so once again I was left to watch. It was so frustrating!! This week has been long. I've been based on the ward this week instead of the operating theatre and labour ward, and although I like talking to the patients and examining them, the day just seems to go so slowly when you're confined to the ward. I've also been struggling to find patients that speak english this week too, which has made it twice as hard. I feel bad also, as my group is supposed to 'cover the ward' this week. That basically means that they split the beds up between them (40 beds), and make sure they know everything about their patients. They're all so nervous about not knowing their patients that they stay until 10-11pm every night this week to clerk any new admissions, so they are prepared for the morning ward round. We also have to come in early and do a student round before the consultant round. The other students didn't even include me in sharing out the beds because of the language barrier, and so I feel quite useless. I've managed to pick up a few patients, but it looks like a token effort compared to what they've been doing, and I feel like such a burden. I'm trying to do as much as I can though...I just have to hope that they can see that.
Tonight was better though. Even though it means a late night, being on call is always better. There is more freedom to be where you want, and more exciting things happen at night. Tonight I spent some time chatting with a couple of ladies having their chemotherapy for cervical cancer. They could both speak english, and it was really great to talk to them about their experiences of cancer, what they have gone through and what supports they have, etc. One of them is a training manager for a resort/hotel in Port Dickson (by the beach, about 40min drive from here), and she was trying to convince me to come down there and stay for a bit. She even said she'd have her driver pick me up, hehe!! If there is one thing that I love about Malaysian people, it's their generosity. So many people have been so welcoming and generous with their time, their home, their money...I have really been blessed. After chatting to those lovely ladies I went to theatre to watch an emergency surgery, which is always great.
So, I guess my time here so far has been filled with highs and lows. I'm sad to say that I'm probably not enjoying my time at the hospital as much as I was hoping, but I am continually trying to keep a positive attitude and learn everything I can. On the other hand, I had a fantastic weekend in KL. I love Kuala Lumpur!! I kinda wish I was staying there, but I guess being here makes me appreciate it even more when I get to go. I went with one of my friends from the Uni to KL on Friday night, and stayed over at her house. Her family are absolutely wonderful...they were so generous to me and it was an amazing time. We had chinese for dinner, which was great. On Saturday they took me to see some of the sights in KL; the main square where all of the old buildings are, up the KL tower, and later to KLCC (Big shopping centre beneath the KL twin towers). The view from the KL tower was pretty awesome, and it was quite funny going on the 'formula one simulator' - more like a timezone game, hehe. KLCC is quite a fancy shopping centre, they even have a Cartier and a Harrods!! I had my first laksa in Malaysia there, and really enjoyed spending time with my friend Kim and her family. They have this really cool park outside too, with a water park for kids and even a soft running track. Kinda wish i lived close to there, hehe.
On Saturday evening I met up with a friend of my uncle's, who took me, along with his lovely wife, to the Batu caves. They are limestone caves, and a hindu temple has been built inside. Apparently it's 277 steps up...it didn't really feel like that many. It was pretty interesting though. Then we went to China town and had a look at the markets, had a late dinner (Indian) and headed back to their place. In the morning I went to church with them, and met an Australian man from my Uncle's church, which was pretty funny. We went out to lunch (more Indian food...yum), then went to a couple of other places (Brickfields - 'Little India' and the Grand Palace), before I headed back to my friends. Had another wonderful dinner with them before we headed back to Seremban. It was such a busy weekend and I was exhausted, but it was so much fun!!
I'm actually heading back to KL tomorrow, but only for the night. On Saturday I'm going with a couple of girls to the Genting Highlands - supposed to be pretty and a lot cooler than here!! Hope to come back Saturday night, because I need to be in the hospital on sunday.
I hope that gives everyone a bit of an idea of what I've been doing!! I hope to have some photos up here soon...waiting on my husband to upload them, hehe.
Anyway, goodnight everyone!!
:)
The last week and a half have been pretty frustrating as far as uni has been concerned. I spent so much time in the labour ward last week trying to deliver babies, only to end up just watching every time!! I was especially frustrated on Friday, because I spent all morning befriending the midwives and the patients, in preparation for being the one to perform the delivery. The first couple of patients went into the second stage of labour (pushing stage, hehe) when I was with a different patient, and so I missed the beginning and couldn't deliver. After that I chose one patient and stuck to her all morning, doing her fetal heart monitoring, keeping the fan on her, everything. However, just when she was ready to push, they had a change of nursing shift, and the new midwife, who hadn't introduced myself to yet, just came in and took over. Then she said I could do the next one, but of course the next one was with a different midwife again, and so once again I was left to watch. It was so frustrating!! This week has been long. I've been based on the ward this week instead of the operating theatre and labour ward, and although I like talking to the patients and examining them, the day just seems to go so slowly when you're confined to the ward. I've also been struggling to find patients that speak english this week too, which has made it twice as hard. I feel bad also, as my group is supposed to 'cover the ward' this week. That basically means that they split the beds up between them (40 beds), and make sure they know everything about their patients. They're all so nervous about not knowing their patients that they stay until 10-11pm every night this week to clerk any new admissions, so they are prepared for the morning ward round. We also have to come in early and do a student round before the consultant round. The other students didn't even include me in sharing out the beds because of the language barrier, and so I feel quite useless. I've managed to pick up a few patients, but it looks like a token effort compared to what they've been doing, and I feel like such a burden. I'm trying to do as much as I can though...I just have to hope that they can see that.
Tonight was better though. Even though it means a late night, being on call is always better. There is more freedom to be where you want, and more exciting things happen at night. Tonight I spent some time chatting with a couple of ladies having their chemotherapy for cervical cancer. They could both speak english, and it was really great to talk to them about their experiences of cancer, what they have gone through and what supports they have, etc. One of them is a training manager for a resort/hotel in Port Dickson (by the beach, about 40min drive from here), and she was trying to convince me to come down there and stay for a bit. She even said she'd have her driver pick me up, hehe!! If there is one thing that I love about Malaysian people, it's their generosity. So many people have been so welcoming and generous with their time, their home, their money...I have really been blessed. After chatting to those lovely ladies I went to theatre to watch an emergency surgery, which is always great.
So, I guess my time here so far has been filled with highs and lows. I'm sad to say that I'm probably not enjoying my time at the hospital as much as I was hoping, but I am continually trying to keep a positive attitude and learn everything I can. On the other hand, I had a fantastic weekend in KL. I love Kuala Lumpur!! I kinda wish I was staying there, but I guess being here makes me appreciate it even more when I get to go. I went with one of my friends from the Uni to KL on Friday night, and stayed over at her house. Her family are absolutely wonderful...they were so generous to me and it was an amazing time. We had chinese for dinner, which was great. On Saturday they took me to see some of the sights in KL; the main square where all of the old buildings are, up the KL tower, and later to KLCC (Big shopping centre beneath the KL twin towers). The view from the KL tower was pretty awesome, and it was quite funny going on the 'formula one simulator' - more like a timezone game, hehe. KLCC is quite a fancy shopping centre, they even have a Cartier and a Harrods!! I had my first laksa in Malaysia there, and really enjoyed spending time with my friend Kim and her family. They have this really cool park outside too, with a water park for kids and even a soft running track. Kinda wish i lived close to there, hehe.
On Saturday evening I met up with a friend of my uncle's, who took me, along with his lovely wife, to the Batu caves. They are limestone caves, and a hindu temple has been built inside. Apparently it's 277 steps up...it didn't really feel like that many. It was pretty interesting though. Then we went to China town and had a look at the markets, had a late dinner (Indian) and headed back to their place. In the morning I went to church with them, and met an Australian man from my Uncle's church, which was pretty funny. We went out to lunch (more Indian food...yum), then went to a couple of other places (Brickfields - 'Little India' and the Grand Palace), before I headed back to my friends. Had another wonderful dinner with them before we headed back to Seremban. It was such a busy weekend and I was exhausted, but it was so much fun!!
I'm actually heading back to KL tomorrow, but only for the night. On Saturday I'm going with a couple of girls to the Genting Highlands - supposed to be pretty and a lot cooler than here!! Hope to come back Saturday night, because I need to be in the hospital on sunday.
I hope that gives everyone a bit of an idea of what I've been doing!! I hope to have some photos up here soon...waiting on my husband to upload them, hehe.
Anyway, goodnight everyone!!
:)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Gynaecology begins...
Aaaaaaaagh!! It's 1.30am and I should be going to sleep, but I only recently got back from the hospital after being on-call tonight. I spent the whole night in theatre, which was great! Definitely one of my favourite places to be in the hospital (except when it's soooooooo cold)...really thinking I'm destined to be a surgeon, hehe. Can't rule out emergency though yet as that's my other fav place to be!! :)
So, I had a great weekend, hanging out with some of the other students. They keep taking me out for meals, which is great. So far I've had traditional Malaysian, Indian, Thai and Chinese dim sum!! I'm cooking for myself all week though, because I'm trying to eat healthy and save money. Hard to eat healthy when you eat out as even if you don't buy anything fried, you don't know how much oil is in the curries, etc. Luckily, the most I've paid for a meal and drinks is roughly $4 Australian. I keep thinking of the ringgit as equivalent to the dollar, and then remember it's not, and my meal is way cheaper than I thought, hehe.
Pros and cons of this week:
- Cons - some of the other students are not that proactive with their learning, and I don't want to be the pushy foreigner, so I'm occasionally a bit frustrated at not being able to get in their and do more. The language barrier is also hard, although there are some English speaking patients. I also have sooooooooo much study to do and not enough time to do it!! I have seen a few too many D&Cs...starting to panic about having miscarriages and I'm not even contemplating pregnancy yet.
- Pros - Have been to several gynae procedures, and got to go to an emergency op tonight for ruptured ovarian cyst - very cool. Also managed to present my case at bedside teaching without any hiccups, yay. Picked up a murmur today that the residents hadn't noticed, :). Most of the doctors and nurses are really nice and I'm getting known around the place now, so hopefully I'll be able to do more soon!!
I'm going to KL this weekend, yay! Going to go up on Friday with another student and stay with her friday, look around the city centre on Sat, and then spend saturday night and sunday with the family of the brother of a pastor my uncle knows...if that made sense to anyone, hehe. Excited about finally seeing KL, but a bit stressed at how little study I'm likely to get done on the weekend!!
Starting to get into the swing of things here but still missing my hubby of course. Well, I better go to bed...have to be up in a few hrs!!
:)
So, I had a great weekend, hanging out with some of the other students. They keep taking me out for meals, which is great. So far I've had traditional Malaysian, Indian, Thai and Chinese dim sum!! I'm cooking for myself all week though, because I'm trying to eat healthy and save money. Hard to eat healthy when you eat out as even if you don't buy anything fried, you don't know how much oil is in the curries, etc. Luckily, the most I've paid for a meal and drinks is roughly $4 Australian. I keep thinking of the ringgit as equivalent to the dollar, and then remember it's not, and my meal is way cheaper than I thought, hehe.
Pros and cons of this week:
- Cons - some of the other students are not that proactive with their learning, and I don't want to be the pushy foreigner, so I'm occasionally a bit frustrated at not being able to get in their and do more. The language barrier is also hard, although there are some English speaking patients. I also have sooooooooo much study to do and not enough time to do it!! I have seen a few too many D&Cs...starting to panic about having miscarriages and I'm not even contemplating pregnancy yet.
- Pros - Have been to several gynae procedures, and got to go to an emergency op tonight for ruptured ovarian cyst - very cool. Also managed to present my case at bedside teaching without any hiccups, yay. Picked up a murmur today that the residents hadn't noticed, :). Most of the doctors and nurses are really nice and I'm getting known around the place now, so hopefully I'll be able to do more soon!!
I'm going to KL this weekend, yay! Going to go up on Friday with another student and stay with her friday, look around the city centre on Sat, and then spend saturday night and sunday with the family of the brother of a pastor my uncle knows...if that made sense to anyone, hehe. Excited about finally seeing KL, but a bit stressed at how little study I'm likely to get done on the weekend!!
Starting to get into the swing of things here but still missing my hubby of course. Well, I better go to bed...have to be up in a few hrs!!
:)
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