Welcoming the Break with Big Open Arms

I will miss the children's ward and the excellent staff and nurses

It is such a big relief to not make the 2 hour journey daily to and from work. Although thanks to the new car we bought in January, the journey the last few months was made a breeze and I found it much easier on my back.

This much needed break will be a therapeutic escape from the demanding job that at times took a toll on my physical and emotional health.

But above all the turmoils and upheavals the past few months, it was one great experience that I should be thankful for.

As I am now officially on annual leave and will be commencing my 6 months of paid maternity leave soon after, I am  looking forward to this long holiday  and what bliss to get up in the morning and NOT think about work-  a big, big hooray!

Our Christmas Nightmare

Despite getting a bunch load of presents from friends and colleagues, my favourite were these personalized cookies!

It has been a rough week for me at work despite it being the holiday season.

Being the only one on the Paediatric team who does not celebrate Xmas, I volunteered to do the call thinking the day would be smooth sailing with no mishaps. I was adamant that no parent would bring their child to the hospital on that very day!

But I was wrong, I worked non-stop for 27 hours from 9am Xmas Day to 12pm the next day with only one hour of sleep. Believe it or not, I saw a total of 40 patients with 9 admissions onto the ward. This was a record for me!

Despite the tiredness (and being pregnant) , my heart went to this mom who was completely distraught. Her 2 year old daughter was really ill and had to be transfered to another hospital the next day. I was up all night with this child and consoling both parents and at the same time, seeing other patients who were coming in by the bus load throughout the day!

Hubby who was oncall in another hospital faced a similar situation, he too had very a busy night attending to 2 very sick patients in ICU. He didn’t manage to catch any sleep too!

Our big plans to go shopping on St Stephen’s Day/Boxing Day had to be scrapped obviously. We both slept right after arriving home that midday the 26th of December, no major handbag sale could bring me out of bed even if Louis Vuitton or Chanel decided to do it’s first ever sale!

Anyway, we completely recovered the next day and woke up really early to catch the sales. I am really happy with my buys which I believe were essentials That’s what I call major retail therapy!

Blogging From Work

I’m blogging from the hospital with my new toy!

I upgraded my phone last week to an iPhone for only 99 Euros and so far I’m absolutely loving it.

I had the previous phone for over 2 years and thought it was high time I bought a new one. The old phone was pretty much entry level and there was no way I could store medical software let alone blog. And now I can gladly check my email and surf the net 24/7 anytime, anywhere. The 2MP camera ain’t bad either for taking quick snaps!

Anyway, I recently uploaded iQuran and I find the software brilliant too. It comes in really handy when you’re working long hours and pretty much stuck in the hospital during Iftar and fajar. Hubby thinks it’s brilliant too and has been pestering me to swap phones with him. He was strongly against me getting the iPhone in the beginning as he thought I wanted it merely as a fashion statement, heheh.

So anyway, I really don’t know when I’ll get to update again, hopefully soon. I’ve been really busy nowadays and the tiredness isn’t helping either, I so need a break!

Till next time, tadida!

ps: Im trying to put up photos I took with the phone and it’s turning up at the bottom of the post, strange!

Motivation, please!

I am having a super lazy Saturday afternoon as I am going to be super busy in the next 2 weeks! *sigh*

The other night, I was nearly punched in the face by a drunken 13 year old.

Security had to be called in as he became really violent and the nurses and I were no match in holding him down.

The next morning, he turned out be the sweetest boy ever! What???

(It’s true that alcohol brings out the dark side of people)

I wonder what’s in store next.

Sometimes you need just a little encouragement and motivation to keep you going!

Weekend’s here,

BUT I will be oncall!

So there goes my plan to watch reruns of S*X and The City.

Oh, and did I tell you the movie was really, really good? Heheh.

Work wise, it has been a relatively good week with clinics ending at 4pm and reaching home by 4.05pm. And by 5pm, I’ll be bored out of my wits.

Meant to go for aerobics/swimming with a few friends during the week but scrapped the idea last minute for I had to prepare a presentation the next day. I hate the fact that we don’t have broadband as yet and loading the journals took forever to do so.

We also received some pretty bad news this week. Remember this post ?

Mr S finally emailed us last week with devastating news concerning his health. Our prediction was accurate, he had all the signs and symptoms that went along with it and true enough, it was gastric ulcer .

BUT… what came as a complete surprise to us was that he was diagnosed with cancer too. We are confident though that with prompt treatment, he will recover fully as we think it was caught early.

His operation is scheduled early August and hopefully it will be a successful one so that one day, be it Malaysia or Japan, we will cross paths once again.

Back To The Daily Grind

our street

We have moved to a new place and hence the lack of updates.

the new neighbourhood

We are slowly finding our way around and last week was all about discovering the local Tesco, post office, bank, indian takeaway etc. So far things are looking good and it is just a matter of time until we fully adapt
ourselves.

our apartment block

The move was somewhat tiresome and moving 11 years worth of belongings across the country was definitely no joke. I couldn’t believe at the amount of clothes, coats and shoes I have collected over the years and I blame it on the four seasons!

the big move

Anyway, the long break is over, sleep is a luxury nowadays and occasionally, I do miss the freedom and liberty I once had before.

I was terrified the night before I started my new job but thankfully the week went by pretty smoothly. As before I was only dealing with premature babies (who only cry and poo) and hormonal moms, now it’s back to interacting with bigger kids who are so much easier to work with. A big sigh of relief there!

The hospital too is just a 5 minute drive from home so unlike my previous job, it’s great not to spend too much time on the road.

I have 2 paediatric courses and a presentation lined up for the month of July which requires me to do a little bit of studying, so, if you don’t hear from me in the next few days/weeks/months, you know where I am.

Didn’t I say ? *Gulp* The break is over!