Looks like the fever at the IMH is caused by influenza, rather than SARS. Fantastic news! Not just because this brings Singapore closer to being declared SARS-free by the WHO, but also because the chance of our postings being extended yet again will decrease. Yay! ( No offence to the department I'm currently in, but with my MRCS (A&E) Part 2 coming up in August, I need to get to the A&E Department as soon as possible, or I don't think I'll pass! )

Yesterday, while at the neighbourhood wet market with my parents, I saw a man in his 30s sneeze onto a whole pile of fish. I gave him a really long, hard stare, but he was oblivious. Some people are just terrible, I tell you.

Wore the space suit for the first time on Wednesday night when I intubated a patient with sepsis and metabolic acidosis in the ICU. I must say it conveyed a wonderful sense of security for me, since my N95 mask has a tendency to leak when I look down or move my head too much. And don't even think about laughing or smiling with that thing on -- your glasses will fog right up and scare the wits out of you.

The only problem with the suit is the inability to hear anything besides the whooshing of air as it passes your ears during the generation of positive air pressure within the head-piece. The nurse assisting me was also wearing one, so we were practically yelling at each other during the procedure -- "3mg of Dormicum!", "What?!", "I said, Dormicum!!", "Huh?", "Oh, never mind, here it is."
One way of getting past this is to press on the sides of the head-piece to stop the airflow temporarily. In any case, it was a novel experience. :)

Before I end off, let me relate a conversation I overheard on Class 95 this morning. The radio DJs asked its listeners to guess the answer to the question: The average person has 120 of these. One smart fellow, named Brian, said "vocal cords". I used up quite a few tissues after hearing that one! In fact, I'm still laughing now. :D