Something quite interesting happened to me last night. I was in the middle of dinner at home when my handphone rang -- it's seldom on, but was active at that very moment because I was waiting for an update from a relative ( which I'll explain below ). When I answered the call, I actually saw the number but failed to recognize it ( even though I know it well, duh! :)).

"Hello?" I said, munching away.
"Hi there! Is that Jen?" a chirpy male voice asked.
"Yes, speaking."
"Hi, this is Mark Richmond from Class 95."
Silence as I stopped chewing.
"Err, hello..." I managed to sputter.
"Congratulations! You're our lucky winner for the Sugababes exclusive showcase next week!"
My jaw dropped. "How did THAT happen?!" I stammered.
"You took part in the Car Tunes contest! You voted for Celine Dion, remember?"
Aaaahhhhh. The light dawns. I'd completely forgotten about it! I voted on Wednesday evening while listening to my Walkman.
"You're the last winner for the Sugababes contest. Can you hang on the line so we can put you on the air in a short while?"
"Sure," I replied. Before long, I was live on Class 95. Mark went on about my winning the tickets to the performance, then asked me to announce the next singer.
Huh? Did he mention it earlier? My mind went blank after he asked me to wait!
"Who is it?" I asked, feeling stupid. But he was really nice about it.
"Madonna," he said.
"Which song are you playing?"
"Borderline."
"Okay," I began. "Here's the #1 female singer as voted by the Class 95 listeners. This is Madonna with Borderline."
"Wow! You did a great job!" Mark responded enthusiastically.
"Thanks!" I felt so relieved. :)
"You want to work here?" he asked, actually sounding serious, heh heh.
"Oh, I already have a job." That made him laugh quite hard. I'm just glad it didn't offend anyone. :P
Anyway, he took down my details and said someone will contact me later about collecting the passes as well as a free Sugababes CD. I kinda like the gals 'cos their songs are pretty good. But sadly, I can't attend the showcase 'cos I'm on night shift! Aaaaaagh!

Anyway, I'm going to email my department first to see if there are any takers. If not, then it's a free for all for local blog readers. :D

The issue about my relative concerns another cousin of mine, a 34-year-old guy who is currently admitted at SGH for some neurological symptoms. An MRI brain is being arranged for -- get this -- tomorrow. When did the hospital start doing MRIs on Sundays? Impressive! Compare this to a certain hospital ( which I shall not name ), where certain radiologists refuse to do scans even if clearly warranted. A friend of mine personally experienced this problem during a medical posting a couple of years back, when a patient with suspected deep vein thrombosis needed an urgent Doppler prior to commencement of anticoagulation therapy. The radiologist-on-call said no to his request, and no again despite my friend's repeated persuasion. In the end, my friend was so concerned he called ANOTHER hospital's on-call radiologist, who immediately agreed to do the scan.
So the patient was transferred -- via ambulance -- to the other hospital, where the scan CONFIRMED a DVT, then transferred back to his original hospital, where IV heparin was begun.
Sigh.
Anyway, I hope my cousin's MRI will be normal.

The afternoon shift in resus today was quite busy, but it's now coming to an end. Lots of admissions, which isn't going to be fun for the ward teams. But I have to commend the medical house officer who came down multiple times to accompany our patients to the CT scan room. He's extremely obliging and shows up stat whenever we call him, unlike some other HOs I've encountered. Wish more people could be like him. Keep it up! :)