Recurring Themes This Week

Exhaustion -- more constant than recurring actually. Just fighting hard to get through the next 4 days of the course, with afternoon shifts in between. Can't be helped, but definitely taking a toll on me. :(

Getting drenched -- Every single day for the past 3 days! Aargh! First at NUH, then TTSH ( parked at the NNI's open carpark, cheap-skate that I am :P ), and today, SGH. Will probably escape a similar fate tomorrow since I'm at CGH ( covered lots, yes! ), but if the weather doesn't hold up, I'll surely get wet again on Friday and Saturday. Terrible lah.

How's the course going, you ask? In a nutshell, I'm enjoying myself thoroughly, even though it comes rather early considering my exam is in August. It's timed this way mainly because our visiting lecturer just attended the local emergency medicine conference last week, and he is none other than Dr. Robin Illingworth from Leeds, whose name is #2 on a list of 5 on the front cover of the Oxford Handbook of Emergency Medicine ( a book I can't function without! ). In person, Dr. Illingworth is an extremely nice man, with a great sense of humour and a very likeable personality. We have 2 doctors from Hong Kong with us as well, and guess what? One of them actually asked Dr. Illingworth to autograph his Oxford handbook! The rest of us have already decided to follow suit on the last day of the course. Wouldn't that be cool. :D

The lectures/ tutorials and mock vivas are a lot of fun, but the clinicals are the best parts, and are conducted by emergency physicians and various doctors from the respective hospitals' medical and surgical departments. Over at NUH, we had a feast of patients, one of whom is a young man with a prosthetic heart valve and classical signs of infective endocarditis. I don't think I'd ever seen splinter haemorrhages or Osler's nodes till that day! And I was pleasantly surprised when the medical registrar / associate consultant ( I'm not too sure which ) told me I "did very well" on this case. The medic in question is none other than Dr. Gerald Chua, someone who's highly respected by many, including myself. Did wonders for my morale, haha! :)

Today, we had Prof. Ng Han Seong and Prof. Ng Keng Yeen from SGH Gastro, both of whom I know from my very first MO posting in their department 4 years ago. We were taken through many fantastic cases, including motor neurone disease, a whopping loud mitral stenosis murmur, and massive polycystic kidneys. Mind-boggling, I tell you!

I'm on 4-12 shift today, and due to return for the next course session tomorrow morning at 8, which gives me little time to rest -- again. I think I broke my personal record for sleep deprivation these past few days. Oh wait, that was in internal med actually. Nothing can ever beat that. ;)

And in non-medical news: I've reserved my copies of Clay's new The Way / Solitaire single, due out next week. Looks as if we'll be getting it on the same day as Americans ( just like we did with Measure of a Man ). Fan club members get priority -- one of the perks of being a part of Clay Aiken Singapore, heh heh. :)

So we met with our "home furnishing consultant" at Ikea yesterday evening. A very pretty and sweet young lady named Evelyn. She's got good taste too, and made some excellent suggestions. Will be seeing her again soon for site measurements at the condo.

Someone told me I have an ability for looking deadpan when I'm actually thrilled about something. Is that so? :P Seems I might've appeared a bit disaffected during the LSO concert. But that's probably because I had to stifle my excitement in accordance with the rest of the crowd. Everyone's so SERIOUS and QUIET and a bit STIFF. I'm not saying people who attend such shows are boring blocks of wood. I just have a hard time being, err, "exuberant" in such settings, know what I mean? I'm the type who screams myself hoarse for Robbie Williams or Michael Buble, even The Ten Tenors. ( Clay Aiken's next if he ever comes to Singapore. :)). But then, I extend my apologies to this person for not being able to stay for drinks after the concert, or else we may have been able to discuss the performance in more detail. Okay, for the record, one of the LSO's (second?) violinists in my direct line of vision is quite memorable -- young, blonde, really handsome fellow ( like a thinner, more youthful version of Guy Ritchie ). Exuberant enough? ;)

I was also asked about good upcoming jazz acts. Unfortunately, my tastes run along a certain line, which many readers are probably fully aware of. :D I emailed the Esplanade staff about Peter Cincotti, and they told me they've forwarded it to the Programme Director to see if arrangements for a concert can be made. Something to look forward to eh? :)

11pm! One more hour to go before I get to call it a day. I've been up since 6am, ack! Really miss my bed...