The ER was mad yesterday. MAD! Who would've thought that people would storm the A&E department on a Friday morning? It was just non-stop from 8am onwards, and even the registrars and consultants helped out in the consultation area. At the end of my shift, I was actually panting. There seems to be a major dengue outbreak going on, and I must've admitted at least 3-4 cases, with a couple of others which I decided to manage outpatient. Plus, I was a little concerned about a few patients who got pneumonia and shared a common travel history of recent trips to Johor Bahru. One such case had high spiking fever and chest X-ray changes, but completely normal white cell counts. Haven't heard anything about SARS here so far, so hopefully she's clear.

Just after lunch, there was an unexpected code blue for a jumper who landed in our ambulance bay. I wasn't in the resus room, but a nurse told me he didn't make it. Don't think I'm allowed to reveal further details on that, but it was a pretty sad story.

Ended my day with 2 gratifying cases. :) One was a pretty big finger laceration that I stitched up, and the other was a wound exploration for a foreign body lodged in this poor Thai worker's thumb. Some people may not think much of this, but I've never managed hand cases before, 'cos the last A&E department I was posted to a few years ago had its own hand surgery MOs. The FB case was really fun. The guy's company doctor even did an X-ray to confirm it, but referred him to us for further treatment. I just used a simple digital block, poked around a bit, and voila, got it out in under a minute. ( Digital blocks are my latest favourite procedures :D )

Today, I saw another big group of people with dengue. I think they're all staying in the Eastern part of Singapore, considering the hospital I'm currently working in, so be vigilant! And finally did my first successful reduction of a dislocated shoulder today, woohoo! I haven't seen that many to begin with, and with those that I attempted I used a method that really saps my energy ( ie. Kocher's manoeuvre ). Over here, there's the Spaso method, or if that fails, the Milch manoeuvre. The guy I attended to has one of the lowest pain thresholds ever, and I had to whack him with Entonox, IV Dormicum AND IV Pethidine before he'd even lie still. Good thing the joint popped right back in the first time round. And I didn't pass out from the traction either. :D Fantastic method, especially for small-built females like myself.

Just received word from the editorial assistant of the SMA News that Tania, the late Dr. Ong Hok Su's fiancee, will be featured in Sunday's edition of The New Paper. I may not be able to get my hands on a copy of it, so let me know what is says.

Last night's Amazing Race was quite exciting. I've already picked out 2 teams that I'd like to win -- Jon and Al, who are professional clowns, and Millie and Chuck, who have dated each other for 12 years and are still virgins (!). Millie is very plucky, yet plays a fair game, while Jon and Al are really kind and nice guys -- when Millie had an acute asthmatic attack and needed quite some time to recover, these 2 fellows stayed with her throughout the entire episode, instead of just grabbing their bags and running off like the rest. It's under such stressful circumstances that you see the true characters of people, and these two have got my support! The ones I detest are the married gays -- are gays all jerks, or just the ones on this particular show? Reichen and Chip make my stomach churn with their smart-aleck remarks and bullyish behaviour -- one of them shoved Millie during a mad dash for some horse-drawn carriages, what an ass! The first Amazing Race series also had a gay couple that everyone loved to hate. Must be a trend or something.

And finally, my thoughts on the pilot episode of The Bachelorette: Well, first of all , it's way superior to Joe Millionaire. Trista is very pretty, classy and intelligent, and the guys are of a decent calibre too. I already know the result, but I do have 2 favourites -- Ryan the firefighter, who also looks like David E. Kelley ( though my mom says he reminds her of Josh Hartnett! ), and Rob the ?writer, who reminds me of Brian the lead singer of Backstreet Boys ( albeit a much blonder one ). I'm more partial to Rob, 'cos he's just sooooo sweet and soft-spoken and sincere. But Ryan is also very likeable. Clue: One of them made it to the final 2. :)

Took me a whole 8-hour shift to finish this entry. Time to go home, and meet up with an old pal for dinner at The Tanglin Club. Will be on afternoon shift tomorrow. Bye!