Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Oh bugger.
A girl was going to have her tonsill out today. I told her exactly what was going to happen during my pre-anaesthetic visit.
I didn't talk too fast (I don't think), didn't slur, didn't start talking about scary movies and definitely didn't use any of those casually-dropped-I'm-sure-you-know-what-it-means TLAs. Hah! What's TLA you ask me.
It's Three Letter Abbreviation. You would have seen these in the ER series. It goes ...WeeeeeeeeeeOOoooooo WeeeeeeeOOOOO
(the siren from the ambulance)
Paramedic jumping out of the ambulance pulling out a stretcher with a woman, head strapped, neck strangled with a rigid collar and looking ghastly. Along the corridor it'll be the standard :
"30 year old (single) woman (possibly working for NHS) found at the bottom of the pavement of 13 storey apartment. GCS 3 throughout." said the paramedic.
Hearing that, the receiving doctor goes "Guys, we need ETT, ECG, CBC, yadayadayada. So, that's what I mean by TLA.
So back to the girl who was probably about 24 years of age, going to have her tonsill out. Looking rather like that startled Japanese woman ghost, murdered by her husband for stalking another man, and came back to haunt the house with pale purplish face and long frizzy hair, she didn't look like somebody who was going to go to sleep very easily.
So I had to slow down and do the talk with her, which is what you would obviously do unless it's a 3 year old girl. As soon as I saw some positive signs , took out a 20 G needle ready to stab her. ..I mean insert into her vein.
One look at the needle and she jumped. She asked me if it's going to hurt. I was caught off guard. I looked up at the clock behind her : '5:15'. Really wanted to go home by then, considering it's the last day before my annual leave starting the next day.
I was hesitating as to what to say to her. Yes its bloody painful , I had one myself and I would really reconsider having this operation, or no.. no.. just a sharp scratch, won't hurt a single bit?
Out of nowhere I heard myself saying 'We haven't invented a painless needle just as yet' and I grinned. Did I tell you she was a blonde? Yes she was very. She took a while to come out of that puzzled face. And as soon as she did that she started crying. O ma gawd..now what have I done.
We abandoned the needles and gas the woman down. So much for finishing early and buggering off to London. Oh yes why am I going to London? Because it's Raya in 4 days!!!! Selamat Hari Raya everyone!!!!Maaf zahir batin.
I didn't talk too fast (I don't think), didn't slur, didn't start talking about scary movies and definitely didn't use any of those casually-dropped-I'm-sure-you-know-what-it-means TLAs. Hah! What's TLA you ask me.
It's Three Letter Abbreviation. You would have seen these in the ER series. It goes ...WeeeeeeeeeeOOoooooo WeeeeeeeOOOOO
(the siren from the ambulance)
Paramedic jumping out of the ambulance pulling out a stretcher with a woman, head strapped, neck strangled with a rigid collar and looking ghastly. Along the corridor it'll be the standard :
"30 year old (single) woman (possibly working for NHS) found at the bottom of the pavement of 13 storey apartment. GCS 3 throughout." said the paramedic.
Hearing that, the receiving doctor goes "Guys, we need ETT, ECG, CBC, yadayadayada. So, that's what I mean by TLA.
So back to the girl who was probably about 24 years of age, going to have her tonsill out. Looking rather like that startled Japanese woman ghost, murdered by her husband for stalking another man, and came back to haunt the house with pale purplish face and long frizzy hair, she didn't look like somebody who was going to go to sleep very easily.
So I had to slow down and do the talk with her, which is what you would obviously do unless it's a 3 year old girl. As soon as I saw some positive signs , took out a 20 G needle ready to stab her. ..I mean insert into her vein.
One look at the needle and she jumped. She asked me if it's going to hurt. I was caught off guard. I looked up at the clock behind her : '5:15'. Really wanted to go home by then, considering it's the last day before my annual leave starting the next day.
I was hesitating as to what to say to her. Yes its bloody painful , I had one myself and I would really reconsider having this operation, or no.. no.. just a sharp scratch, won't hurt a single bit?
Out of nowhere I heard myself saying 'We haven't invented a painless needle just as yet' and I grinned. Did I tell you she was a blonde? Yes she was very. She took a while to come out of that puzzled face. And as soon as she did that she started crying. O ma gawd..now what have I done.
We abandoned the needles and gas the woman down. So much for finishing early and buggering off to London. Oh yes why am I going to London? Because it's Raya in 4 days!!!! Selamat Hari Raya everyone!!!!Maaf zahir batin.
