Aw, my hospital attachment is over. The Prof asked if I wanted to come again next week, but I really have to start studying for my SATs, so it's a no. Aw.

Anyway, like I have done every day, I'll write what happened today.

Got to the hospital early, as usual. At 8am there was this meeting thing by the Paeds doctors - a professor was reporting on a conference he and a couple other professors attended in Hangzhou... last week. It was pretty funny, at the end, he was showing some pictures of Hangzhou and they were making all sorts of lame jokes and talking about 'eventful' things that happened in China and complaining about the smoking and the spitting and the general loudness of the Chinese. And how the Chinese's Chinese sounded very 'chou lou' (rough). But, hey, you're in Hangzhou. Their dialect of Chinese sounds pretty rough. And you'll get the smoking and the spitting and the loudness in Europe, as well. Oh, and America. Anyway, the report was pretty funny. And it was Prof Lee (That rather scary Prof from Day 2... which I realized I hadn't blogged about. To make things simple, he's rather House-like. Not sarcastic or anything, but there's something... Unapproachable... about him) who was reporting, so it was pretty awkward.

During the morning rounds at the BMT Ward, GVHD boy's condition is improving slightly, though Brat and Addict's platelet counts are still unstable, though Addict should be ready to go home in about a week. Bone Marrow Harvest Girl is feeling a lot of pain from the harvest sites (I've actually got some of the sketches done. It should be up soon! :D), but that's kinda expected. Mum couldn't stand up for a week or something, according to Dad. Anyway, Mum's an adult and BMHG is a kid - the kid should recover faster. Cord Blood Transplant (CBT) Girl seems okay today - at least, no complications so far. They're just keeping an eye out, since Singapore said that the cord blood transplanted has 95% viability, while UH's own MLTs reported a viability of only about 36%, which is utterly ridiculous and mind-boggling.

Once rounds were over, The Prof thought I should have a look at what usually happens at the Paeds Daycare (Which is just outside the BMT Ward. Basically, you get out of the lift, turn left, and you're in Paed 6. The Daycare is part of Paed 6, and the BMT Ward's basically the isolation ward in Paed 6). So she left me with yesterday's MO (Dr Myrna). Dr Myrna was very nice, teaching me how to feel the liver and the spleen (Spleen on the left, liver on the right) and stuff like that, and was like, "Want to set a line?", because these are pretty much thalassemia patients who are undergoing chelation or blood transfusions. And I was like, "WHAT? NO. IF ANYTHING HAPPENS... NO" and we LOL'ed about it. Hee.

Anyway, some routine checks, setting lines, things like that, then there was a LUMBAR PUNCTURE. MRUAHAHAHA. Dr Shanti (Dunno if it's Dr or Prof. She's ranked higher than an MO, but she's not a Prof either, I think) was asking Dr Myrna if she had done any LPs before, and Dr Myrna was like, "Uh, not many?" then Dr Shanti was like, "Then Dr Joyce will do the LP, and you (meaning me) can watch the procedure". Oooooooh.

The poor kid. She was all drugged up with Ketamine (And I was just talking about Ketamine yesterday, LOL) when they did the LP. And injected the cytotoxin/chemo drugs up her spine as well. Ouch.

SO, by that time, it was almost 12, and my parents had called The Prof up to say that we're going out for lunch and blah blah blah so we went for lunch and THAT WAS THE END OF MY HOSPITAL ATTACHMENT.

Just before leaving, I thanked Dr Shanti and Dr Myrna and whichever Dr/Nurse from the week that was conveniently in Paed 6, and Dr Shanti was like, "SO, DO YOU WANT TO BE A DOCTOR?" and I was like "I DON'T KNOW" and she was like, "YOU DON'T KNOW? THIS WEEK DIDN'T INSPIRE YOU?" And it went all awkward and all, "Of COURSE I was inspired! It's just that... *mumblemumble*" hahaha I fail.

Anyway, this whole week has been awesome. The nurses at the BMT Ward are very nice, they really are good at their jobs (Hey, nurses are just as important as doctors, okay?), even the clerks. The MOs (Um... let's see... Dr Joyce, Dr Eg, Dr Myrna, Dr Hannah and one more whose name I cannot remember) whom I followed around/told me all sorts of things (Special props go to Dr Joyce and Dr Myrna), the Housemen (Dr Khaw and Dr Uzair. HA, if they Google their names I'm going to LOL), Dr Shanti, the MLT who was telling me about cord blood, and of course, The Prof.

I've drawn blood, checked BP (Okay, I did that even BEFORE the hospital attachment), seen a cord blood transplant, seen a bone marrow harvesting (And put on scrubs), seen an LP, gone on rounds (Putting on the gowns and shoe slips), seen lots of blood drawings, gone to an empty paediatric ER, gone for a lecture, gone for a conference report, a department meeting and had clinic duty.

I may not become a doctor in the near future (Well, I still want Columbia/International Relations), but one does not know what God has planned for our futures, so I'll just study hard and let my life be the way God planned it to be. :D

It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am thankful as well as grateful as to have experienced it. I mean, I left having more respect for hospital staff than I already had, and my Bio paper on stem cells tied in perfectly with paediatric oncology, where one of the earliest forms of stem cell therapy is used to treat patients every day - bone marrow transplants, so I have some pointers I could use for my presentation once the holidays are over.

So, next on my list: SATs.