~JcZw

The end of attachment was much more sobering than I thought it would be. Although I only stayed one week... i kinda miss it... the various doctors, nurses, even the st. john members whom I'd seen come and go for a week (It was always the same 6 people). Weird that I should miss it, even though I was really sian at the start of the week.

But I think it was also sobering cos I saw some really horrific injuries... to me, even more shocking than amputations and all... while they didn't make me throw up or anything, they made me flinch and realise just how thin a line it was between life and death that doctors had to struggle to bring their patients across... Had this convo with Dr Ler in the doctors' room:

Dr Ler: Have you ever seen a patient collapse?
Me: Collapse? You mean, die
Dr Ler: Well, yeah
Me: Err... no. Not yet. Have you?
Dr Ler: Yes... maybe about twice

It seemed unreal how death was treated as a constant thing that had to be endured, that continually overshadowed your occupation. I must consider if I could stand to see a patient collapse on my hands should I get into medicine... I dunno...

Nevertheless, its been an enriching experience... N I owe a lot of people for this...

Thanks to:
Dr Helen Oh, whom we originally wrote to, and who organized the attachments for us students
Drs KC Chong, Dave Chua, Vincent, the orthopedic surgeons I was attached to, for arranging everything, bending rules to help me get more exposure, treating me to breakfast, explaining diagnosis, etc
Dr Edwin, MO, letting me follow his rounds, n helping him treat patients
Dr Roland, MO, sharing his past experiences as an ex-VJ guy (S14) and making me feel at ease
Dr Rowena Ng, Ward Registra, explaining entry criteria, telling me how to get the best out of my attachment
Drs Aaron, Zi Xin (I think), Audrey, Teck Siang, Kai Ling, Patsy, Raffi, Jimmy, the housemen, who let me eat with them during lunch, treating me to the odd drink, and more importantly, letting me tag along for almost the whole day!

and of course,

Belle, Julian, Meifen, Wanling, Nagar, and the rest of the Year-3 NUS Medical students that I met during the attachment, who explained procedures, acronyms and gave a lot of advice..

Thanks to everyone yeah =)
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Just a random quiz....

On the contrary, I do not really have an obscure name. If there's a name in my phone contacts thats repeated the most, its different Jonathans. I have a Jon ChuaH, Tay, Boon, and another Chan... Just that my name is really difficult to spell it seems. I wonder if people spell his name "Qui-Gon Jin"...

I also do not do yoga or pilates, but like him, I like to use blades to hit people =D
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Anyway I'm off to FM now... There's a mini-foil tournament today! Hope I can do well =)