Gamma Rantings...

•Monday, April 23, 2007•

Hospital Attachment (DAMN COOL) and Orchestra Performance

As there's been so many events in so short a time, I'll just merge the Hospital Attachment and Klavier Splendour (with Sharon, Ling Hui, and Wan Kimm) into one post. Pics included.

Oh ya, before that, updates from Ah Long. She said she went kayaking, and starting this week, she'll be doing Community Service twice a week.

The hospital attachment program (organised by Taylors, not JPA) was truly an eye-opening experience! Ok, credits to the fact that there were only 8 of us there, so we were given maximum exposure of Taman Desa Medical Center.

Frankly, the first day was rather dull, apart from the tour around the X-ray department. We started out in the Pharmacy, which, admittedly had slightly discouraged all the would-be pharmacists in the group *cough hint Basil*. Everyone seemed rather put off by the stay-in-a-dinghy-room-all-day-dispensing-meds kind of life. Well, pharmacy had never really appealed to me, but still...

Next stop: The X-Ray department. This was more interesting, as we were even showed real images from a CT scan, rotatted and "sliced" in the computer, and even the CT scan machine itself! The jovial radiographer then took us to the General X-Ray room, where he explained in detail about the process of X-Ray, as well as the safety structures of the room. He even demonstrated the structure of the cassete by wedging it open and doing the X-Ray with everyone safe behind the glass panel.

After the General X-ray, we were taken to the Mammography Room, and later on to the Ultrasound room where Yik Sheng became the "patient" and all of us got to view is liver via ultrasound. Before leaving the X-ray department, we dropped by the dark room where the X-Ray pictures were printed out. There, the radiographer busied himself grumbling about unskillful X-Ray taking, while showing us all sorts of pictures of X-Ray mistakes of all over the body! Man, they should give all these imperfect slides to the schools...I'm sure the Pergerakan dan Sokongan topic could really use them...

Ok, then began the really dull part. W-A-I-T-I-N-G. We were scheduled to talk to (more like interrogated by) a senior GP in the hospital. However, as he was really busy, we had to wait for AGES before he could actually spare some time to see us, and mind you, that was already about lunch time. Thank goodness Erik had loaded the entire Sound of Music into his (read: BRAND NEW) iPod, and we spent the time watching and humming all the songs.

Finally, the doctor consented to meet us, and then began a half an hour long talk on why should not become doctors but should take up AGRICULTURE instead. (??!!) Better prospects, apparently..........

Frankly, we were rather restless (and HUNGRY), so we were quite thankful when the "take up Agriculture" lecture ended. Wei Han then drove Erik, Basil, and me off to lunch.

The agenda after lunch was another discussion, this time with a kind but sharp-tongued General Surgeon. 5 minutes in his office, and we were all beginning to feel like the Amoeba he kept mentioning. (he kept repeating that students felt like Amoeba when they started their housemanship) He would quiz us, then when we failed to answer he would sigh theatrically, and remark on how unprepared we were. However, when he started elaborating on his work and some of the more interesting cases (something about a psychiatric patient delivering a baby in the psychiatric ward), we could see how passionate he really was about his profession. All of us couldn't help but feel a deep respect for his passion, (and the fact that he was reading medical journals in lower secondary). If the first doctor kept repeating the word "AGRICULTURE", this one was going on and on about doctors being THINKERS, the importance of INSPECTION, as well as AMOEBA...

3 hours later, we were "released" and Erik's dad dropped Chong Yong and I back in Taylors.

The next day, though involved a lot more of the W-A-I-T-I-N-G, was far more interesting. Our first destination that morning was to the A&E (Accident & Emergency) department, which, may I add, was totally void of patients.

After seeing all the gadgets and machines to resuscitate and stabilise patients and briefed on the A&E procedures, we were sent to the Laboratory (Pathology Lab) on the First Floor. Those had VERY high tech (at least to our jakun-ded eyes) machines that seemed to be able to do EVERYTHING; from blood count to newborn baby screening.

Of course, we couldn't wait for the highlight of our attachment, the tour of the Operation Theater. However, this was when all the waiting started. You see, we needed the patient's consent before they allowed us to enter and watch the operation (YES, WE GET TO WATCH!!! LIVE!!!) The patient undergoing the first procedure, a Caesarean, did not want students hanging around, and the second procedure was postponed because the patient had developed a fever. Therefore, from 10am to 1am, we had nothing to do whatsoever.

Off we went for lunch.

Surgeon junior? Lol...

When we returned at 1, we were asked to gown up like all the medical staff in the OT, and then given a tour of the VERY STICKY (floor, I mean, due to some detergent, apparently) Operation Theater by one of the nurses. This included the OT, Sluice room (for dirty equipment), Scrub room, and the Sterilising area where they "cooked" the instruments.

Waiting again...

Finally, the patient arrived and we were ushered into the OT where the jovial anesthetist explained to us how he sedated the patient (barbiturates and stuff). Then, he intubated her right in front of our eyes.

When he was done, the surgeon came in, and guess who? It was the General Surgeon from the day before! (cue amoeba feeling) He was fuming over the fact that the guys had had placed their shoes in the guys locker, when it was supposed to be OUTSIDE the rest room.

Matters aside, we were all continually bombarded with questions as he operated to removed the cyst from the patient's breast. And omg...the way he operated...I suppose he was so professional it must have been a routine with him, but all of us, especially the girls, were WINCING. It wasn't the blood, or the sight of the flesh, it was the way the doctor cut, poked his finger in and out, burnt off bleeding blood vessels...everyone was like OUCH!!!!!

Oh yeah, none of us will EVER forget the name of that soldering iron burn-off-blood vessels thingy EVER, after bing interrogated over and over again on whats its name. DYTAMINE!!! (not sure if its spelt right, though...

The cyst was HUGE. I mean, I expected something small, but this was amazing. It was quite a bit smaller than a ping pong ball, but quiet a bit larger than a marble. To be enabled such a comparison...get it?

Finally, the cyst was removed. Well, I never really knew this, but the surgeon did not cut it away from the flesh, he used the Dytamine thingy to burn the tissue off slowly.

Just then, we were informed that there was another C-Section coming in. We were positively thrilled at the prospect of seeing the process of a new life being brought into the world. In fact, we were so excited and jumpy; I supposed the father-to-be was wondering, who were the teens that were waiting outside the OT with him, looking about as nervous and excited as he was. We were all mulling around outside OT2, until they splashed the lady's abdomen with iodine, and then allowed us and the father to enter.

If the previous was a relatively simple, though "painful" operation to watch, this was BLOODY. The incision made was the entire length of the lady’s abdomen, and this time, instead of the soldering iron thing, a suction tube thingy had to be used to remove all the blood into a cylinder.

We could see all the layers of the skin on the mother's abdomen; this included even the fat tissue below...

When the surgeon reached the uterus, however, things started to get real messy (messy for us, not the docs). The surgeon sliced through the uterus (blood starts flowing out) and then ALL THREE of them used their gloved hands and RIPPED THE UTERUS TISSUE OPEN!!! OMG...It was as if they were OPENING A DURIAN or something. We could see them straining and using ALL THEIR STRENGHT to rip it apart. By then, the blood was gushing out, and we were beginning to wonder whether the operation was still going on fine.

Turns out, it was just a routine procedure. The surgeons had everything under control.

She reached into the mass of blood and pink tissue, and pulled out the infant (a boy). Tilting the baby a little, he started to cry, and the umbilical cord was clamped and snipped. I could see it in my friends; we were all in awe at the new life that had emerged before us...

The baby was then taken outside to a heated infant resuscitation machine to keep him warm, and ensure that he was receiving adequate oxygen. We could hear the infant's cries all the way inside the OT, and couldn't help exchanging smiles with each other.

The doctor then collected the blood from the umbilical cord into a packet, meaning to store that as stem cells. Then, she began tugging on the cord, and within moments, the entire placenta was dragged out of the uterus. It was dark red, a huge mass of wrinkled, bloody tissue which the doc later described as "flowery"...

When the placenta was out, she began to close the wound.

We finally realized that the part on getting the baby out was the fastest part; the rest of the time was spent on sewing the mother back together. Frankly, I just could not see how the doctor was going to seal the gaping wound. The blood that was gushing out continually could have easily caused a haemo-phobic person to faint. (Thank goodness none of us were...)

Well, now if anyone asked me what skill did one need to become a doctor, I would definitely include SKILLFUL, STEADY HANDS!!! The blood never really stopped trickle of blood into the flow. There was already a lot of blood-soaked gauze and flowing out, and each puncture she made with that fish-hook like needle added another stream of red. Red, soaking wet gauze and abdominal pads littering the OT. The nurse was hard at work with the suction, and slowly, most of the blood was drained into the cylinder.

No words can describe the speed and efficiency the surgeon sewed the perineum, muscles, and skin back together. They were even so relaxed that before they started really closing, the surgeon was gracious enough to further enthrall us by showing us the Ovaries, the Fallopian tiub, etc etc etc...

Finally, the wound was closed, and there we were, gaping in amazement at the woman's stomach that bore nothing more than just one line across. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I probably would not have believed that less than an hour ago, that same wound was gushing so much blood.

All in all, it was truly an eye-opener.

*****

The very next day was the Taylors Award Presentation Day. I was already out of formal clothing, so I ended up taking Jo Ann's advice: "recycling"...Haha...HAd to borrow my cousin's skirt, though...

I was nearly late for the event as I was very intent on recording my hospital attachment experiences before they faded from my (short-term) memory. But nevertheless, when I got to the hall, I found that many of my friends were also ALMOST late for the same reason, using the com without noticing the time.

I sat with Jo Ann and Mee Wei throughout the entire ceremony (we camwhored out of boredom). There was a lot of photo sessions as well; the one by categories, the entire group pic (we expected the stage was about to crumble) and later on after the award ceremony, us Group 1 students had to take pictures according to our schools. (For the Subang Utama pic, we were asked to HUG each other on stage, and to lunge forward...) SS betul...

Camwhoring...Out of Sheer Boredom...Mee Wei and I...

And again...Jo Ann and I...

*****

Sharon had the nerve to tell me that we were allowed to wear JEANS to watch Klavier Splendour in the Malaysian Tourism Center. *breathes sigh of relief as I was really out of "formal" stuff*

That morning, my violin teacher, Mr Hao specifically EMPHASISED that jeans were NOT ALLOWED!!! Uh Oh...*glares at Sharon*

Therefore, I had to "recycle" my slacks.

Kimm and Ling Hui arrived at my house and played with the dogs for a while before Sharon's dad came and whisked us all away to MTC. In the car, I was enjoying myself GROSSING Ling Hui out with my extremely descriptive tales of the Caeserean and the cyst removal...MUAHAHA...

Overall, the performance lived up to expectations. Most of the pieces (except Sungai Pahang) were from the Classical era, and were well portrayed by the orchestra and the soloists.

Speaking of soloists, we were all being wannabe critics, passing intellectual comments on their playing style, expression, and tempo. However, the very last soloist to play, who performed Chopin's Variations from Don Juan, just blew us off our feet, intellectual speech and all. Kimm and I were desperately trying to find words to describe it She had the stamina of machine, yet the grace and expression of one who was fully in tune with the instrument, so much so that they combined as one; not a pianist and a piano but a singular unit that was both mesmerising to watch and hear. (Ok, my description stinks) In short, she gave a "whole new meaning to 'flying fingers'..."

Oh yeah, mention must be made of the emcees, who were two siblings, both of which I recognised as 2nd violinists in th PJ Philharmonic. They made some relatively "lame" comments ("Mr Lam, can you write a Sungai Klang for me? or Sungai Gombak?" during the performance of Sungai Pahang...Lol...) However, it did add a dash of humour into the otherwise serious performance...

During the 20 minute intermission, all of us came out of the hall to serach for food. I was tasing Sharon non-stop that during the performance of Sungai Pahang, she was busy fantasising about all the seafood she could get from that river...LOL...

So, off we went and ordered some sandwihes, but UNFORTUNATELY, they DID NOT ARRIVE even after the 20 minute intermission was over. Having no choice and much to Sharon's dismay, we forgot about the sandwiches and returned to the hall. Ling Hui jokingly said that they were probably still PLANTING the cucumbers...

Guess what...

We returned to the restaurant after the performance, and our sandwiches and wedges were waiting for us, COLD, and wrapped up in some plastic...

Anyway, will elaborate more some other time. College is reopening tomorrow and I really have to get get my things ready, or risk.................................................

In Malaysian Tourism Center...During the intermission...While waiting for the sandwiches

The teacher and his students

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