Monday, July 18, 2005
First day of "work"
Today was the first day i went to "work" at the changi general hospital. The inverted commas are there because it really isn't work. It's actually an attachment i've been blessed with by my favourite(one of the many lah) cousin and my favourite cousin's hubby(only one lah). Yes, all i do is to follow a doctor around wherever he goes. I observe, ask questions and everything else a curious amateur would do. T
Today, i followed a certain doctor around the endoscopy department. Haha it was quite a memorial experience. What is endoscopy you ask. Endoscopy is the procedure in which you stuff a thin, long, tube camera/probe/torch/injector/electrode into the patients body to check the digestive tract for abnormalties such as tumors, ulcers and other disgusting stuff like that. How does the camera/probe/torch/injector/electrode thing go into the body you ask. Ah, here's the tricky part. The thing(which kinda reminds me of a tapeworm) is shoved(literally) either down the patients' mouths or up their .. um.. dark side. So when the thing is down there(or up there), the camera sends a live feed to a television screen, so that the doctor can steer the long thing along the intestines of the patients.
So, as an attachment student, i get to see the whole thing. Cool huh? Haha. It was sick. When it was down the throat it was fine. You could see the oesophagus, stomach and all the other sights and famous landmarks till the duodenum. But when the thing goes in from down under, it's not pretty i tell you. There wasn't much faeses coz the patients were given laxatives the day before, but there was alot of slimy greenish alienVSpredator like goo all over the large intestines. It was the "pre-faeces" as Dr called it. Green coz of bile. The stuff kept on getting stuck on the lense of the camera, filling up the tv screen. THe cam was pretty high tech though. Self cleaning mechanisms. Thankfully.
Steering the thing down or up the patients is no easy task. I can only say it as a person who's seen the thing, not done it. But it is tough. The tip of the camera can bend 360 degrees, and is controlled by the doctor with this joystick like handle. Then the doctor has to push the thing down (or up) with the other hand. It was quite a funny scene. Imagine this. A patient lying on his/her side with a long black thing sticking out of his/her mouth/rear end. A tv on one side, and a doctor with a joystick constantly meddling with it and intently watching the screen, as if he was playing some video game. It's even funnier when the Dr has to inject an ulcer or something.
"Left left!"
"A little more... little bit more"
"okay INJECT!!"
"Injecting! 2 mils"
"target destryoed, mission accomplished!!"
Yes it goes something like that. And i just happily sit back and watch the action.
Other than the medical side to this, there's also this kinda funny social aspect to it. I don't know if i should be saying this... K there are lotsa nurses see, and they're all pretty young. And the Drs are mostly single and all, and they have to work the whole day and well... lets just say you don't need an A in science to understand this chemical reaction. Okay better stop here before the hospital sues me for revealing stuff about the staff and patients.
Doctor: "Oei oei, mei nu. Can get me tissue to wipe my face please?"
Nurse1: "Yes doctor. Wah you so hard working..."
Nurse2: "Bu yao distract ta lah!"
Nurse1: *stares at other nurse*
Me: *Giggle giggle snort*
Oh and by the way this is NOT the reason why i wanna become a doc someday.
