The first day at work while staying in the appartment

Things didn't start well. It seems my travelling troubles have followed me to Malaysia as, even though I woke up and got ready leaving plenty of time to get to the hospital, I managed to still reach the hospital half an hour late. I can't believe how many dead ends there are on the way to the hospital! It seems I found every single one. I also found the graveyard if anyone wants to visit it.

I ended up riding up and down hills for 1 and a half hours, often retracing my steps (or should that be tyre tracks although, riding on a road for most of the journey, I didn't actually leave any). I was actually surprised at how easily I was able to ride the bike seeing as I haven't riden one for a number of years.

By the time I reached the hospital I was completely exhausted and sweating a lot so it was lucky I had brought my shirt, tie and suit trousers in a bag rather than wearing them on my ride to the hospital. I was able to have an extremely quick shower and change before I started my shadowing. I felt terrible for being so late but at least now, as a result, I have the route to the hospital cemented in my mind.

My time at the hospital was really interesting and I definately feel I got a better idea of what medicine will entail. I saw a lot of things, ranging from ankle swellings (which even 2 x-rays couldn't reveal the cause of and so the GP had to refer the patient to the orthapedic doctor) to suspected kidney stones. I also got to try taking someones blood pressure manually (a nurse, they haven't yet let me loose on a patient..................I don't blame them). Saying that I was quite accurate with the blood pressure reading (they compared my reading to the machines).

But the reason I say I got a better idea of what medicine will entail is that I got to see one of the more negative aspects of medicine, children in great pain. Of course when I decided I wanted to do medicine I knew i'd be seeing people in pain, but when you actually see it, especially young children, its still shocking and quite difficult. I have seen people in great pain before (the births I witnessed come to mind) but I guess it takes a while to get used to.

One child was showing signs of having an epileptic fit. He was only semi-conscious (his eyes tended to roll back into his head and then come back down again), he wet himself, kept almost throwing up and was sweating a lot. Another child couldn't eat or drink anything without projectile vomiting and a third (who was a baby) had to have a hole in her neck from previous surgery cleaned and dressed.

The technician in the treatment room who dealt with these cases got me to help him (in the very limited way I can). I was gripping their wrists to help get their veins in their hand to show up and therefore make it easier for the technician to insert the needles for injections, blood taking and the inserting of drips. I was holding the children's heads or keeping their bodies still to try and stop them moving about too much when the needle was being inserted. I was getting things the technician needed for him when he asked for them. I have to say it was pretty cool being allowed to help out, even if it was in such a limited way.

Seeing these ill children however, although they're in pain, made me more determined to do medicine. This is because being a doctor gives you the opportunity to help relieve the children (and adults alike) of their pain, which they would suffer from regardless of what occupation you decided to do. And seeing the children leaving the treatment room smiling and happy again after treatment has been administered certainly makes up for seeing their pain. What other job could potentially give you such a feeling of satisfaction and purpose in life?! (rhetorical question by the way).