Well, not really Day One. More of Day 0.5 of my Hospital Attachment.

I spent my half-day there today following a paediatric oncologist around! We will now refer to her as The Good Doctor, because it's more fun that way. And no, cancer kids aren't like Wilson's Cancer Kids, either. Apart from the bald heads.

So I got to UMMC this morning, and the first place I was brought to was... the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) ward! The 'new' BMT ward. I call it new because the last time I was there, I was probably about 4, and that was before UH/UMMC had a renovation/new tower/new block/something new. Anyway, the BMT ward in Paed 6. 4 patients in isolation (Read: Post-transplant, shot immune systems). Not going to talk much about these patients, especially since I'm not too sure about patient-doctor confidentiality and stuff like that.

When I walked in, there was a senior nurse, and the doctor I'm following asked her, "I don't know if you remember Shu Yin, but this is her sister" Haaaaaaa. And the nurse was, "Oh! Shu Yin's sister!"

Anyway, a kid in there had Acute Lymphoblastic Leaukemia (ALL) (Shoutout!), another one had some other kind of leaukemia, and someone else had thalassemia and someone else had something else, they were all young kids (Paeds, duh), from 3? 4? years old to 10.

Seems that there were only 2 doctors then (Doctor I'm following and a Dr Hannah, a Medical Officer. Don't be fooled by her English-sounding name. Dr Hannah's a Malay. Hahahaha. She seems good, though. She's training to be a paediatric oncologist). I wasn't allowed to put on the gowns and stuff to go into the rooms to look, but I didn't mind. If someone gets an infection, I don't want it to be my fault, hahaha.

Since it was Monday, The Good Doctor had Clinic Duty. No, not House-like, typical cough-cold clinic duty. Monday's the Hematology/Oncology Clinic, so the patients The Good Doctor (and me!) were going to see were pretty much post-transplant/treatment/long-term survivors (Eg. Someone I'm related to). I didn't know 2? 3? months post-treatment's considered 'long-term', but at least they fit in one of 3 of the given categories. Hahaha.

SO, SINCE I ONLY HAD HALF A DAY, I think I only saw about... 10? patient? I KNOW, THERE'S NOT MANY AND HOMG HOW COULD YOU LOSE COUNT OF 'THAT MANY', BUT, WHATEVER. THIS IS MY HOSPITAL ATTACHMENT, NOT YOURS.

The Good Doctor let me read the patients' reports before they came in. These reports are basically brief summaries of the patients' diagnoses/treatment/complications/transplant info and stuff like that. Familiar terms included 'Prednisolone' and 'IV Augmentin' and 'IV interferon' and 'chelation'.

So, some of these patients has had some form or other of leukemia (It sounds like Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leaukemia's pretty rare - 2 patients had it, but their reports show that they actually went to Singapore for a second opinion/The Good Doctor called some other doctor in Singapore for a second opinion), one? case of Aplastic Anemia (Thank you, House, ER and SAM Biology), and mostly Beta-Thalassemia Major (The Good Doctor's 'Pet Project', she's doing some sort of research on cord blood/stem cell treatment for beta-thalassemia major in our country. I have a feeling that her role in the local medical scene is a lot bigger than the impression I'm getting).

Things I did today:
- Tail people/a person
- I DREW BLOOD. AHAHAHAHA.
- Checked a patient's BP. I ACTUALLY FORGOT HOW TO DO IT. HAHAHAFAIL.

ELABORATION ON THE STORY, "I DREW BLOOD TODAY!!11!!"

No, I'm not as awesome as I make myself sound, and no, it was not as impressive as my multiple exclamation marks and capslocked words made it sound. So this girl came for her checkup, right? With her older brother - they both have (had) b-thal major. Checkup with boy went by fine, then the girl (She's skinny. Like I used to be. Hahaha. At least, when I was a kid. Although I don't think I was that skinny any more when I was... I think she's 9. I cannot remember) needed to get 200cc/200mL s of blood drawn. 20mL was to go to the labs to check for ferritin (If I recall that's what it's called/how it's spelt), and the next 180mL... to throw away. So we were using these 25cc/25mL syringes, and then The Good Doctor went, "OH, HEY, WHY DON'T YOU DO IT?" and I was like, "WHUT?"

The Good Doctor set up a line with a butterfly, and did the first 40cc, I did the 3rd syringe, failed at changing syringes (LOOK, I'M NOT A TRAINED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, OKAY? And I never really followed my sister for checkups when she needed blood to be drawn), but all went well after. Except for the fact that it took forever to draw blood for the 4th syringe, and as I started the 4th, The Good Doctor was like, "OKAY, I'M GOING TO LEAVE YOU HERE. I'LL BE NEXT DOOR. HAVE FUN!" while I'm thinking, "WHUT? WHUT? LEAVE ME - WHAT IF I KILL THIS PATIENT?" No, I was kidding. You can't kill the patient by drawing her blood. It's just that I was really worried if I moved the needle, because my sister always whined about how some new MO's/nurses would move the needle ALL THE TIME AND IT HURT LIKE SHIT (and then we'd sekritly chuckle about their incompetence). And it's actually really, really hard to SUCK BLOOD out of a person. I mean, seriously, you're SUCKING BLOOD.

If you know me well, I have no problem with GETTING injections, but I'd never try INJECTING SOMEONE. Nor do I have a problem with blood. Anyway, continuing. The Good Doctor (Okay, I'll call her The Prof now. Good Doctor's getting too long) came back and asked, "So, how's it going?" and I'm all, "Uh, we're still kinda at the 10th cc of 20" "Huh? So slow?" and she came by and went, "Oh, no, you were to slow, blood's clotting" *cue panic sounds in my head* "Nevermind. It's normal with this girl. Her clotting factor is really, really good."

So then The Prof asks Fierce Clotting Factor Girl if it's okay if she set up another butterfly on her other arm, and FCFG nodded okay. So we did, and drawing the next 6 syringes of blood was a breeze. And it was fun!

Did you know that, because there's such a thing as internal body temperature, when the blood is drawn, you touch the syringe and it is warm? Anyway, I hope I didn't suck too bad at drawing blood, and that Fierce Clotting Factor Girl doesn't go home and evilly giggle at my incompetence at drawing blood with her brother.

--End Story--

So I actually met even more interesting patients in the clinic today, but I don't think I have the right/liberty to elaborate, so I won't.

IN CONCLUSION:
- I am suddenly fickle, therefore, my mind has suddenly gone back to, "If I'm applying to Australia, I'll apply for Biomed, and if I work really really hard, I'll still consider bridging to Medicine" Well, the first part is actually still the plan. The latter part was kinda dropped for I-don't-know-why reasons. Also, I just remembered that, if I do Medicine, I'll actually get the Chia Family Financial Aid Package. Hee.
- You know that past patients will be very nonchalant about getting blood drawn when they reach about age 10. Need to inject you? Okay. Need to draw blood? Whatever. Growth hormone treatment (Okay, moving to Endocrinology for a moment), requiring injections every night? Sure.
- And past patients' siblings will be relatively nonchalant about needles as well. Looking at blood/people getting injections/whatever? Hm. Freaky, but, whatever.

TOMORROW:
- Radiology Department is having a meeting/briefing thing. The Prof thinks that it's a good idea if I go.
- A new patient is coming in to the BMT ward, pre-transplant. Prof thinks that it'll be perfect, since I will be able to catch WHAT HAPPENS, BEFORE A TRANSPLANT
- I AM STOKED.
- I STILL FEEL LIKE I AM INTRUDING, THOUGH.

[Note: To Dear Sister: NO MENTIONS OF THIS ON THE PHONE. NONE. NO, "OH, YEAH, I READ IT ON YOUR BLOG". Okay? Please? Especially since we mostly talk *with loudspeaker on*. Hahaha. You totally blew my 4-year-old cover the last round. xD]