Moonlight Over Manhattan by Sarah Morgan | Book Review

December 21, 2019

I bought this book just because the synopsis sounds cozy to be read in December, where Christmas is just around the corner. I believe some of us feel the same too, the urge of watching movies involving snow, winter, Christmas when it comes to December, right?



Title: Moonlight Over Manhattan
Author: Sarah Morgan
Pages: 376
Publisher: HQ
Publication Date: October 2017


Synopsis:

 Harriet, the dog walker is known for her shyness and lack of confidence compared to her twin sister,  Fliss who always be the speaker for her - until she realizes everyone has their own life to live to, including Fliss. After Fliss moved out from their house to another town to get married, Harriet needs to survive on her own. Since then, Harriet comes with a idea of Challenge Harriet - doing things that she normally would never do.

On the other hand, there is Dr Ethan, who end up fated to meet Harriet, as a result of Challenge Harriet. Thought that will be the only meeting between both of them, the world actually wants them to meet again and again, for the sake of Madi, Ethan's sister's dog - in which at the end Harriet moves into Ethan's place to take care of Madi. Ethan is clueless about taking care of a dog and he can't spend lots of time with Madi.

Living together surely blossom things around them. Harriet slowly become comfortable with Ethan, pushing the boundaries, till the time Harriet exposes her love to Ethan, where Ethan ends up reply nothing to her.

What will happened to the chemistry between both of them?


"Do one thing every day that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt


I think this is my first book by Sarah Morgan and I just knew that there are few other books in this series. Seems like this book can be read as a standalone as I don't find any difficulties to read through it :)


1. "What makes you so wise?"
    "Age and experience."

I believe as we grow older, we tend to do stuffs more confidently, or maybe at least we feel calm. With time, it helps to develop our skills and knowledge on how to encounter specific problems. Same in life, we tend not to hold on grudges and anger for too long as we don't feel it is even necessary. Move forward and live the life.


2. "Skill is the ability to do something well. That usually involves two elements - training and practice. Being a doctor is all about training and practice. It's not magic. 

A thing I look forward to read was the journey of Dr Ethan, who is currently a ER (emergency room) trauma team leader in one of the most prestigious hospital in New York. Oh myy, I can totally relate whenever the author describe the situation of ER there, including how Dr Ethan need to face the reality of that department.

The advice helps to reflect there are so many things to be improved in my career life. :)


3. "You always see the best in people."

Harriet said that sometimes she is trying to see the best because she just don't want to believe that people can be so unkind. Sometimes, I feel it is easy but on the other times, I struggle to do the mentioned above. Working in the area, it needs me to meet all kind of people, the rich, the poor, the lovely, the shitty, the kind, the unkind, the most calm, the most annoy - it involves a lot of energy to entertain humans. Haha.


------------------

The book is surely one to go if you want to enjoy and relax :)

My rating: ★★★★★

SM, Perak, Malaysia
191221

Write This Down by Claudia Mills | Book Review


A book I bought during recent Big Bad Wolf. After realising the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair is coming soon, I think I should start reading my TBR list so that I don't have to feel guilty to maybe buy some more, perhaps? :)


Title: Write This Down
Author: Claudia Mills
Pages: 248
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: September 2016
Synopsis:

The book is about a twelve-year-old Autumn, who was closed to her brother, Hunter when they were young. But Hunter who is going through a rebellious, trying-to-find-his-own-path phase, keep on doing stuffs that annoyed Autumn and frustrating their parents. 

Hunter is not into academics and sports, while Autumn is excellent in at least academics and kinda acceptable in ballet so Hunter felt left out when the parents seem not to understand his passion and keep on pushing him to do stuffs he dislike. 

Autumn has a crush on Cameron, a friend in her journalism class. Cameron is actually a brother of David, where David is Hunter's band mate. There was one day where Hunter and his band mates accidentally read Autumn's poems for Cameron and since then Hunter keep on making fun of her sister for the cheesy lines. Since then, Autumn is passionate on getting her writing to be published to prove Hunter that her talent is not that bad. 

There were ups and downs for Autumn to be a recognized writer. At first, the story line was bit boring for me as it shows how Autumn as a complicated girl, who always think of so many possible results of one specific event. Read the book and you will understand when I said Autumn thinks too much.

"She might even write something about him to show the world what a terrible brother he's turned out to be. But what if publication comes at the cost of revealing painful family secrets? Is being published worth hurting those you love?"


From the book, there are few things I learned.
Oh, I love Autumn's name, anyway, as much as I love the name Summer. :)



1. "Personal essays have a theme. They take the writer's personal experience and find some universal truth in it."


Well, seem this book has a lot to do with writing, these specific sentences remind me of blogging. There were few times, my friends asked me why I love blogging and why exactly I love reading stories of others?

That's the answer, I guess. Reading stories help me to learn new stuffs and at least learn about myself too. 


2. When parents get extra irritated, they tend to call their kids by full name.

Little did I know it happened in the Western world too. Haha.

When my mother called me by my full name, I know there is something that needs explanation. :D


3. How to write a book review?

In this book, there is a part of Autumn's journalism class that shares about how a review should be. Well, this is a subjective question to me, but the things Ms. Archer, Autumn's teacher described are quite nice to ponder on what good contents should have.

But, still, I am writing reviews my style and I see no problem as I am writing for self reflections and memories. :) Hehe


4. "The pen is mightier than the sword." 

Oh myy, this is very true. In this current world we are living, words are obviously something that can soothe someone yet can also kill people. I still remember few patients coming to ED with alleged assault by family member, mentioned that they usually being attacked mentally with those harsh words before the physical assault came into picture. 


Enough with four above, I guess. :)

------------

So...

Do Autumn gets to know Cameron at the end? What happen to them?
Do Autumn managed to get her writing published?
What will happen to the relationship between Autumn and her brother, Hunter?
What about their family?

I must say, the ending is cute actually :)

My rating: ★★★★☆

SM, Perak, Malaysia
191221

Vampire at Night

December 19, 2019


I saw this post in my draft, just the picture below.

I bet this post was drafted when I was in medical posting (at least a year ago).

Usually only in medical posting, we have huge number of bloods to be taken before 6am for a night shift houseman. Honestly, the process of blood taking is not that long (it can be as short as 1minute) ONLY IF:
- the patient is cooperative, 
- the patient does not have any chronic kidney disease / on chemotherapy,
- the patient is not obese,
- the patient is not dehydrated,
- the patient is not a kid or elderly,
- the person doing the blood taking has good experiences.

Add caption


The are two ways to take blood - from venous and from artery (in Malay, we call artery as nadi - the pulsating one). 

For difficult blood taking, somehow taking blood from artery will be the best way instead. Just, I believe it is painful compared to via venous, but only arterial blood can give the best result to see the good is our oxygenation in our blood system. 

Few problems you can encounter during blood taking (venipuncture) / branula insertion:

1. Delicate / running veins
  • Usually these can be seen in elderly
  • Our veins are elastic - the moment a needle is inserted into the vein, our vein will hold the needle in place (like... hugging the needle) - there will be no way for blood to escape - like a seal. 
  • But for elderly, their veins are less elastic --> hence, blood will slowly go out in from the hole in between needle and vein, leading to hematoma. 


2. Neonates
  • I believe many of us have seen the current issue about blood taking in baby.
  • It is difficult to be honest - you need steady hands and at least one assistant. Usually taking blood from neonates without assistance is doable, if you cover the other limbs nicely and know how to retract the skin well to properly expose the veins beneath.
  • But, to insert branula to a baby can never be done alone. Trust me, I have tried once, the branula was successfully inserted (just the way for blood taking is done), but the secure the branula will be another issue. Assistant is obviously needed to secure the branula on the baby's hands.



Gebu gebas


3. Advanced kidney problem
  • Especially patients on regular dialysis. 
  • In these patients, the blood vessels will slowly constrict (smaller diameter) --> hence the difficulties.
  • They also will have one side of upper limb with fistula / prepared for future fistula, so we lost chance to take blood from one limb. 
  • Don't ever poke patient on the same side of limb with fistula - we are going to risk the pathway for him to do dialysis later by introducing injury / infection. 


There are lots of more actually, you can further read about difficult blood taking here. I believe I have encounter almost all difficulties as shared in the link.

Not to mention, other situations to be taken into account - like, patients pergi mandi/solat/toilet, nak kejut patient dulu untuk bangun tidur, nanti ha terkejut tiba-tiba kena cucuk.

blood taking trolley



I must say, blood taking / branula insertion is surely painful. But, reminds ourselves that blood is like our identity, it reflects the condition of our body - is the water enough? is the kidney / liver okay? is the blood sending good amount of oxygen? is there any infection - is it bacterial / viral?

So many things can be checked from the blood. Blood is precious. But don't worry much if you think doctors are taking lots of blood, we at least have around 4500 - 5500ml of blood in our body and usually the maximum amount taken daily is maybe 10ml - it is like 0.2% only hehe :)

20191219
SM, Perak

Latest Me.

December 18, 2019

Oh my, my last entry was in August, that was at least 4 months ago. There were obviously multiple life events happened in between those gaps, and I am looking forward for all the future uncertainties. :) 

1. I am a wife :)
Alhamdulillah, on 16th of August, I became a wife to my husband, Haziq. The marriage life is going okay so far, alhamdulillah, still trying to understand each other's differences and preferences. I realized it is definitely true when people said you will never know someone until you get married to him/her. You wake up in the morning with him by your side and finish the day with him too - on good (non-night-shift) days. So, basically you can observe each other's liking at every minute of life if both of you are on off days. 




To have a doctor as my husband is a blessing in disguise. Alhamdulillah.

Previously, I have no idea how to live my life talking about medicine at home, in the car, etc - practically everywhere and almost every time, like breathing medicine. But, right now, I am very glad to have someone who can genuinely listen to what I am sharing about - all the struggles of working, all the happiness achieving success at work, all the sadness of unable to revive patients, the lethargy, the hunger yada-yada. 

Thank you for being there, my understanding husband. :) May Allah bless us with mutual understanding and love, always.

Source - https://www.marriage.com/quotes


2. I move to a new house :)
It is an apartment, people said it is bit pricey for monthly rent but we both agreed this is the best bet we can get with the price - a lovely 3 bedrooms apartment, on a good level, with nice view plus fully furnished IKEA furniture and we basically the first one to rent the unit - so you can imagine how brand new and fresh items we are dealing with. :)

I am sure all of us agree that a comfy, lovely home is what we are looking for after a hectic working day :) Hehe.

View from the apartment.

A room is specially allocated for our activity like studying, ironing etc.
Another room is the guest room - especially if the family members are coming for overnight trip :)
While we use the master bedroom.

Since the kitchen is kinda fully equipped as well, we have a target to cook at least 2-3 times a week. Sounds so lazy but that is the best plan we can try to do. Our schedules are quite tight, working at the hospital for at least 10-14 hours a day and coming home with lethargy - we can't afford for frequent home cooked meals.

Trust me, the moment we returned home at 10pm-11pm after working the whole day since 7/10am, we feel too tired even to stand properly. However, we are trying our best to at least complete these three things - 1) make sure our solah is done, 2) eat dinner/supper and 3) take bath. 


3. I am in my final posting :)
Reading my old post about starting my housemanship, I feel grateful to see how far I have become. 3 months more towards the end of housemanship and there will be another battle of being a doctor.

Anyway, my final posting is emergency medicine (ED - emergency department). :D

I chose this department anyway, instead of anesthesiology, just because I would love to learn how to be a good front liner and to practice and develop more confidence to deal with emergencies.

During moulage in ED. 



ED can also be called as ETD (emergency & trauma), A&E (accident and emergency) or ER (emergency room) - this place witnessed hundreds of patients coming everyday (at least for minor specialist hospital) and of course it can reach up to thousands for state hospital. 

So far, I am enjoying and appreciating all moments in ED because this is basically the place I can practice to give a plan as a MO. There are too many things to learn in ED - doctor skills, knowledge, empathy, how to improve patience, how to break bad news etc.

And this is the place I feel 'stupid' when encounter patients from departments that I've left quite long time ago. Since I just finished my Paeds posting, the knowledge is quite fresh in my brain and the skill of blood taking / branula insertion is still okay. Alhamdulillah. But when it comes to other departments stuffs, it takes me a while to come down to few differential diagnosis.

Still, I can't really tolerate patient who come to ED at 3am, with complaint of headache since 1 previous hour. We gave tablet Paracetamol (equivalent to Panadol) and the symptom resolved. The reason for this headache was the patient sleep late at night. T__T. Boleh tak rasa nak nangis? Kecemasan ialah untuk kes-kes cemas. T_T. Even if you have persistent headache and it is affecting your life very much (like taking frequent MC), you can go to outpatient department (OPD) or any klinik kesihatan for further management. Usually they will try to investigate the reason, make future plans and most importantly, you can continue follow up with them.

--------------


All in all, I guess 2019 is amazing so far alhamdulillah. It has all the adrenaline rush, happiness, tears and smile. Adorable 2019.


* Moulage (French: casting/moulding) is the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training emergency response teams and other medical and military personnel.

20191218
SM, Perak

Just Because It is August | 2.0 :)

August 4, 2019

I realized I tend to reflect myself more in this month, I mean August. And yeah, August this year gonna be a step to another level in my life, insyAllah. :)


JUST BECAUSE IT IS AUGUST :)

PRIORITIES



To be honest, I regularly read my own posts and reflect how I used to be before and how am I currently. Obviously, life changed me a lot, from working experiences dealing with different kinds of patients, appreciating life when dealing of newborns and oldies etc. Nowadays, I am struggling to put my thoughts into words as I think I haven't properly reflect myself the past one year plus. And I miss to do so, very much. 



Just a recap of what I have go through so far - so that the future me will further appreciate how my life have turn myself into a better person, insyAllah.


1. I am already in my 5th posting, Alhamdulillah.

It means I have been in this housemanship for more than a year. To be honest, I still feel afraid to think about dealing with people's life. Recently, my new head of department asked this popular question to us, the new comers in Paediatrics - "Why do you choose to be a doctor?" Seriously, this is a very general question, yet can be quite tricky to answer. I bet different doctors have different reasons for this and there are simply no right or wrong answers. You can help people by being a doctor and you can still help people by not being a doctor. 

Attending newborn.


After a while, I realised for me it is actually medicine that chose me and Allah led my way towards medicine. It was hard at the beginning to have the passion as this job is physically and mentally challenging.

But, after few initial weeks of working, I can feel the satisfaction of being a doctor, despite I am still learning my best to be the good and safe doctor. It started with when the patient admitted to ward for some symptoms and I need to figure out what actually happened to the patient based on his/her clinical symptoms, trying to correlate with the physical examinations with the help of imagings (like ultrasounds / x-rays / CT scan ets) plus blood investigation then come out with a diagnosis and try to manage the disease with some plans.

The best feeling is when I would be the one discharging the patient after giving treatment and the patient got better and well. I really love the feeling when the patient does not have the symptoms anymore and when I can see clinically he is getting better - having appetite to eat, able to move around, able to smile and have better conversations with family members.


2. I am getting married soon, insyAllah.

We knew each other for a year plus, have been working together as well. Many colleagues were surprised about this as we don't really show our relationship to others, only those who are close to us knew about it. And I feel glad when the close friends keep on supporting us and still keep the info to themselves. :)

I feel so blessed when Allah gives me the opportunity to have this feeling and may Allah lead our hearts, together, towards the right path till the end, till Jannah, insyAllah ameen.

My parents were very excited to know about this, so do his... and for me parents' blessings are one of the most important thing I consider for a relationship. I love how he approached me, it was sweet, simple and direct, not leaving me with uncertainties :). The exact moment when I seriously considering to proceed was when he went to meet my parents and when he said something like this to me - "I would love to know more about you and to have you as my life partner, my best friend, my companion, my wife, the mother to our children, my partner in crime, my travel mate." 

Thank you Allah for sending him into my life and please guide us towards a happy and blessed marriage.

3. #kemasrumahwithhani

I just discover this FB group - #kemasrumahwithhani recently and I totally fall in love with all the posts. My brain wants to live a minimalist life but my heart keep on buying stuffs that I thought I will use. It was difficult to de-clutter stuffs without the guilty or sentimental feeling but some things I need to let go as I don't want to be a hoarder. Alhamdulillah, I can currently control myself not to buy random stuffs, hehe.



Try to explore the group, we can get ideas on how to organize our stuffs - even like how to fold the clothes, how to dry clothes in rainy seasons, how to easily clean the kitchen, how to deep clean the washing machine, how to do food preparation, how to decide when to keep or let go of our stuffs and etc. :)


p/s - pray for me yea and kindly share tips for a good marriage if you have any :)

SM, Perak, Malaysia
190104 

Recaps of Pangkor Run 1.0

June 24, 2019


16/6/2019 - Pangkor Island, Perak

To my surprise, there are lots of running events being organised around my working area - Manjung. Or maybe it is because currently I don't have much issue with logistic - like I can drive around to almost anywhere haha. So, after meeting few friends with common interest which is to join running events, we decided to give a try with this Pangkor Run. 

I were very excited to imagine myself running along the beach and yeah, it was one of the nicest feeling ever! :D


Anyway, I feel like I gradually losing my writing skills, so, bear with this one yea. :)

15th June 2019
Most of us were on postnight shift that day. It was quite an eventful night shift the previous day - with non-stop cases referred from Emergency Department and of course no sleep achieved that night hahaha. We were basically berkampung in ED attending new cases.

Went home around 10am, took our breakfast, did few pending stuffs here and there then... suddenly it was already 1pm. Actually we planned to take a ferry to Pangkor around 3pm. Unfortunately, the three of us overslept and woke up almost 5pm. We rushed to pack our bags, aimed for 6pm's ferry from Marina Island.

How to get to Pangkor from the mainland?
Only via ferries. I heard they want to redevelop the airport but later I guess.

You can take ferries either from Marina Jetty or Lumut Jetty.
It's been a while since I took the ferry from Lumut, so, not sure much about the rate and schedule. But if from Marina Jetty, here are the schedule and rate - much expensive but you can get to Pangkor at shortest time compared to Lumut :)

You can park your car around the jetty with RM15/day.


Ferry Schedule

Ferry Rates

Here is the ambulance boat - to transport patient from Pangkor Island to Hospital Manjung - for any emergencies that need further management in bigger center. There is a Klinik Kesihatan there, in Pangkor anyway. :)

We checked in Puteri Bayu Beach Resort that night, booked a room for girls and another room for boys. Rate was RM100 for each room, with 2x breakfast each. 

16th June 2019
Woke up around 5.30am, as the run will start around 6.30am. To be honest, this was the first event that really start the run on time, lol. Actually, even 5 minutes earlier. Run was okay but my pace was just acceptable. Hahaha. 

Dah lama tak lari, memang haru la pace nya.

5 of us. Another one was having AGE-_-'
Tadaaaa, here is the medal :D


After the run and taking pictures here and there, the girls decided to enjoy the beach and the view. Since the hotel was connected to the beach, we didn't have to take any taxi / walk far though. :)

The view was amazing. I have not much memories of Pangkor since the last time I went to Pangkor was ages ago! Even, I have been working in Manjung for 1 year plus, yet, I didn't have the chance to go there within this 1 year haha.


Loving the wave :D

Nak berenang, tapi segan :D

The water was really cold :D But, still mesmerizing!

The girls :D

The journey was short yet sweet.
Looking forward for more running events together with them! :)

Let's go home :)

I've completed my 4th posting in housemanship :)
Pray for my next one, guys!
It will be either Paediatrics or Emergency department hehe


190624
SS, Perak, Malaysia

MVA

May 13, 2019

My oncall last night was calm, alhamdulillah.... until 5am. I received an update from my colleague that he was going to ED for a new referral - intraabdominal injury, a condition in which I feel challenging to attend other than brain injury. 

MVA - motor vehicle accident.

I am not sure about the exact history, but this patient, Uncle L was riding a motorcycle and accidentally hit the tree. We are not sure about the mechanism much but it must be a very serious accident as the patient came to ED unconsciously. Blood pressure started to drop, which may indicate some bleeding was going on. 

He successfully underwent emergency operation (exploratory laparotomy + splenectomy) which mean, we cut open the abdomen to find out what was going on inside. There was at least a kidney dish filled with blood clot and approximately more than 3L of blood loss. And the spleen was totally injured and need to be removed. Few segments of liver were contused as well. 

Anyway, do you guys know how much blood the heart pumps out every minute? 5L/min!

And he lost more than half of blood in the body. So many blood transfusions going on this morning, my friend became runner to fetch blood between blood bank and operation theater. At least 3 large bore branula were in situ -  one for packed cells, one for cryoprecipitate & fresh frozen plasma, one for IV drip. 

He was still in critical phase and admitted to ICU post operation.



And actually there was another patient at the red zone this morning, he was also unconscious, lying flat just beside the patient we were preparing to transfer to operation theater just now.

Informed by my friend, he already passed away this morning, in his baju melayu and kain pelekat after finishing his Subuh prayer and he was being hit and run. Arrived in ED with no pulse, cardiac monitor showed asytole  (no heart rhythm), I've been told CPR was commenced and the team was unable to revive the patient.

May Allah bless you pakcik T_T

MVA of Uncle L and pakcik was not related, anyway.

Becoming numb and numb T_T

SS, Perak, Malaysia
190512


Evanescent Life

May 4, 2019



"Everything in this universe is evanescent.
Because it is evanescent, it is also precious.
Spend this precious moment wisely and beautifully."
- The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down

This view is enough to make me smile to the ears :D

Wonder if there are people who're still blogging their heart out? :)

SM, Perak, Malaysia
190504


C.O.D

April 9, 2019


"COD is no longer 'cash on delivery' when I become a houseman...
May Allah bless and grant you Jannah, ameen." - Hanis, 5th April 2019

Basically, death is not uncommon in Surgical department as well. 

Most of them are patients with advanced cancer that already metastasis to vital organs especially lungs. Not to forget, victims of MVA (motor vehicle accident) with ICB (intracranial bleeding) - bleeding in brain. I witnessed a lot of cases in which we ended up issuing Death-In-Line (DIL) and Do-No-Resuscitate (DNR) after discussing with the family members regarding poor prognosis or deterioration of patients.




To those who are clueless what is actually COD in medical line - it is a short form of cause of death. It is not easy to come out with diagnosis for a living patient and to be honest, it is even difficult to come out with cause of death as well. Superiors always remind us, be careful with what we are dealing with, document everything we have done and do everything that we have documented. 

There are few criteria before we can pronounce the death of patient.
  • check the vital signs - usually heart rate, blood pressure, SpO2 will be unrecordable - means cannot be detected anymore
  • check the glucometer (level of glucose in blood) - if too low, can be the cause of death as well
  • check the pupils - usually fixed, dilated
  • check lungs and heart sound - none... a bit tricky with patient supported with ventilator and we can still see lung expanding with transmitted sound on stethoscope 
  • check cardiac monitor - usually it will show a straight line (asystole) - print it out.


Usually if CPR is commenced to save patients life, it is only be done for up to 30 minutes. After prolonged shortage of oxygen, most of organs will slowly shutting down, especially brain. It is uncommon to go beyond that, taking note of resuscitators conditions as well. Commencing CPR is very tiring, pregnant lady should never do that. 15minutes of CPR = at least 165kcal of energy.

Slowly getting numb to this.
Ya Allah, guide me to Your light, ameen!

SM, Perak, Malaysia
190409






The Baju Kurung Girl

March 24, 2019

I adore girls with baju kurung in the hospitals, as I can't tolerate the heat much to wear baju kurung at work. The only time I wear baju kurung is when I have the shortest working hours which is normal shift (7am - 5pm), otherwise I will wear trousers with blouses instead :)


One of the thing I wish not to happen on the day I wear baju kurung is "dr, patient bed xx collapse / asystole" (in which I hope will not occur on any day pun actually) 

Because it seems so hard to climb up patients' beds to do chest compression. 😅

Doing CPR can drain much energy and I pray patients will have fast recovery and discharge very soon. Ameen!

Tempting Veins

March 23, 2019

I am currently in my 4th posting, to be specific I am now in Surgical department. Wahh, time surely flies very fast. It was just a year ago when I started my housemanship and now it is already my 2nd year. I've been trying to update my experiences here, but after quite a while not updating stuffs in my own blog, it feels awkward. Haha.

But, I planned to update a glimpse of my daily life in short posts regularly. I don't have much time to really make posts with something like "3 life lessons I learned from...." T_T in which the one I really miss to create. 


Honestly, working as a house officer need energy - mentally and physically. I am sure being medical officers and specialists require more energy, just... being a house officer is my level for now.

Why the bulging veins?

I don't realized I have them actually. But, whenever I encountered patients with difficult blood taking, I automatically look at my own hands, only then I realized them. Suddenly I wish all patients have these bulging veins, just to avoid the need to prick the patients more than once just because it is hard to do so. 

And actually, after working for more than a year, I can say that blood taking needs experiences, good instinct and sensation from our fingers. Sometimes, doctors can't really see the veins but we can feel them with fingers. 

Such veins are more visible in people with less fat, patients who are not edematous (no water retention in body) and people who workout a lot.

And most doctors have bulging veins, thanks to frequent CPR we need to do, maybe some retraction done during operation... ohh, maybe fundal pressure to help delivering the baby in C-section? Hehe
-_-'

Just a random post, I guess?
I miss blogging, but I think I lost that magical blogging touch. T_T



2018 Best Nine

February 11, 2019

I was scrolling my own blog and suddenly my eyes found my featured post - 2017 Best Nine. Maybe it is too late to share my 2018 Best Nine now, but who cares though. :)




I didn't expect I only posted 13 pictures in 2018. Such a drop in number.


A post shared by Hanis Amanina (@hanis_amanina) on

Completed my tour in Malaysia with Sabah as the last state I went to. Alhamdulillah, finally in February 2018, I managed to go to every state in Malaysia. I always love road trip, although seems like I can't help to sleep in the car nowadays... I can't imagine how my next road trip will be, in view of I haven't drive long distance for quite some time.

But, let's embrace the uncertainty. Too many places in my head, I will catch up on them when the time comes :) with the plus one too, ameen. 



Not many people know about this, but I actually went to Macau last year, during my end of posting leave. It was a last minute plan obviously, bought the tickets maybe 2-3 weeks before departure. Don't care much about the price as I need to appreciate the short holidays that I have and spend them with my parents. 

Macau is a beautiful, small city. Not sure to call it a country or not. Is it belong to China or is it independent? Some said the first one, some other said the latter. Can't afford to write entries on the trip though. I wish I could. 

But Macau is lovely to check it out :D

A post shared by Hanis Amanina (@hanis_amanina) on 
Sunset is always one of the thing I will look for especially after I went through any interesting oncall. And the beach with sunset are the best pair to enjoy myself with.


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Somewhere in Pos Kuala Mu.

This place is actually in Sungai Siput, but not that close to my house though. If I am not mistaken, we took at least 1 hour plus to get there and it is actually quite close to the border of Perak - Kelantan. The place is getting famous but not that mainstream yet. :)


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Somehow, I am glad that I didn't take any part time job during the phase of waiting for job. I did some online stuffs to get money too, but most of my expenses that time were from the saving I had while in Czech. 

So, I was unemployed at that time and I must say I had the best few months of my life, exploring Malaysia with my parents. Not just that, I am thankful to have that chance to appreciate meeting and gathering with my relatives in which I don't have the privilege and opportunity much to do so now.




Umrah with my parents. 


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My favourite flower - tulips :) 

This is the background picture of my Whatsapp chat anyway.



The day I requested to go to this viewpoint and for the first time in my life I saw the scared face of Emak. -_-' hehe, kesian mak kena layan anak buat benda2 gayat macam ni. Still remember when I said to her I would love to visit Macau Tower later and to see Macau for the highest point, she agreed even though she mentioned in the first place that she will only stay around the lift. But to my surprise, she accompanied me around the tower anyway. 

Emak is always the best!


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And I miss hiking now. Hehe.

Towards many more memories in this 2019. And surprisingly I started to snap more random pictures lately. Hope I can share more stuffs in the blog too. :)

SM, Perak, Malaysia
190211




The Thought That Counts

February 10, 2019



I've shared this on my Insta stories but I think I better make a single entry about it, for my own satisfaction and to show how life really is plus to acknowledge awesome people do exist :)



It was the day when I stayed alone in my ward, trying to handle between new cases to clerk and to approach so many "doktor, nak noted patient bed xx, complain bla bla bla...." Well, it is a good thing there are nurses who can update doctor what has been going in the ward because seriously you have no time to really check on every single patient the whole time. And this is obviously a government hospital, please don't expect one doctor and one nurse for one patient basis. No such thing, okay?

I am sorry because sometimes, there are patient's relatives who keep on complaining this and that in which they can obviously help with. T___T

On that day, I received a call from a colleague from another medical ward requesting for one houseman to accompany patient to send to HRPB, Ipoh for further intervention. In view of there was only one houseman in each Ward A and Ward B, 2 housemen in Ward C (in which I am in charge now), so of course we need to help with man power. One houseman to take care of 35-40 patient is doable but trust me, it is super tiring. After informing my MO about the request, she told me to stay with her in the ward instead and to send another colleague of mine to HRPBI.

I wish I was the one sending the patient, especially when I have completed my beds' carry out...haha

So, the day went on.... until 9.57pm, I finally done with clerking the last new case before planning to call the day off. After reviewing the patient with MO, she asked me to prepare to go home after settling the carry out for new cases. And finally it was 10pm, time to go home. 

"Dr, patient bed xx tu GCS* drop, SpO2 pun tak boleh pick up, 80% je"

The patient was already on BiPAP (a device / machine to help with respiration) and I still remember my MO said to me to prepare with intubation if her GCS drop. Rushing to call my MO who was in ED with another new referral, she rushed back to the ward and intubate the patient. It was already 10.40pm when I was offering to manual bag the patient until the anesthesiology team arrived to connect the endotracheal tube with ventilator, meanwhile my on call colleague went to settle with the STAT blood for that patient. 

Since my HO friend was working alone that night, I didn't feel good to leave him. 

And phone kept on ringing, I suddenly remembered I was planning to have late dinner that night with friends. Staff nurse helped to cover while I picked up the phone. Trust me again, talking to a phone while you are bagging the patient is not something you should do. Family members can make viral of you. 

Approaching 11.30pm, finally the anesth came and I passed over the tube to the MO and slowly I went to pick up my bag to leave. Suddenly, I saw my friends walking to the ward, planning to help.

I felt like crying, blessed to have these people. T_T
They even had my meal packed, in case I am too tired to eat outside that night.



*GCS - Glasgow Coma Scale - to rate one's level of consciousness for eye, verbal, movement response. If GCS less than 8, indicate for intubation.

Good people exist!
Alhamdulillah.

SM, Perak, Malaysia
190210
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