the weekend that was.

thks for your concern peeps :) i am now well, & very much healthy. it's been a long battle with the BUG :P

here are some pictures from our recent LG bonding/fun session @ GLENELG!!!!! Good weather, good company.. what more can you ask for? ;)

The Village LG then... (Sem 1)

The Village LG now... (Sem 2)


More pictures on facebook :) So get a facebook account today!

determined...

as a continuation from my previous 2 posts, yup i'm still sick. but that's not the point of this post. haha.. wait for it..

it has been abt 4 weeks now, and it was also 4 weeks ago i started o&g. while paeds kept me really busy, and the amount of things to study overwhelming, i didn't dread it. o&g on the other hand, haish~ the travel.. 8 am starts.. is getting to me. doesn't make it easier that i'm sick. yesterday i was so tired (cos i had to go to gawler [85 bus stops from the city, go figure!] as well), i came back & cook cos it was my turn, and went straight to bed at 730pm! i wasn't intending to sleep until the next morning but i did.. i woke up at 4 am, startled, distress & crying because i had so many things to do but i SLEPT! i don't know why i was so distressed! i didn't know what to do.. i settled a bit and read the bible, and then rolled around for a little while and drifted off to sleep again..

woke up again, and got ready.. left the house and walked to the bus stop. waited for a bit, the bus didn't turn up (panicking!! it left without me??!!). anyway, cut the long story short i had to wait another half hour for the next one to come, and i was late, again. because i had to depend on the bus! these are days when i pray to God that i had a car.. you have no idea how much i want it.

it's not that i hate taking the bus. i actually enjoy the rides. cos during these long rides, i take time to admire the scenery, reflect & spend time talking to God, and read. today was one of those days when i had a good chat with God. nevermind the fact i had to wait an extra 30 mins, and that i was late for a tutorial. why get worked up over circumstances you can't change huh? i guess i wasn't worked up, but i did complain to God la - why am i sick for so long la, why i don't have a car like other people la, or why put me in this hospital when i don't have a car, why do i always feel tired? why this, why that.. haha, i'm not always like that la..

after i had complained non-stop, i looked up towards the sky, and there i saw sun shining through the clouds and i felt God say, "You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased" just like what He said to Jesus when he was baptized.

i sat there stunned for a moment. in the end, all my complaints didn't seem to matter anymore. because God had just told me, again, He loves me. and that He was pleased with me. eventhough i complained. eventhough i was imperfect. because He saw Jesus in me. grace. amazing grace. i don't deserve it, at all. my strength, my faith, my fighting spirit has been at an all time low these past weeks, but God has not forgotten me, neither has He left me to fend for myself. and He did not let me go through what i cannot bear. He knew i was near collapsing point, and His gentle reminder of love picked me up again.

i was wondering why the word 'freedom' has been repeating in my mind all this while.. i didn't think i needed it. i thought i was ok.. but i guess now i know. in His presence there is liberty, fullness of JOY. i should not be feeling tired all the time. i should not be dreading my rotation all the time. i should not be dreading waking up in the mornings. i should be looking forward to each day! thanking Him for the opportunity i have to study.. the opportunity to meet people!

hence, i am determined.. to get well, and seize the day! by God's grace of course ;)

addit: oh!! and, and!! i just saw my paeds results on the board. an A!!! *beams* thank You Jesus!

relapse! :(

ahh, i'm sick again.... *cough cough* everything was going well, finished my course of antibiotics, and the very next day my sore throat and cough came bck again! *sobs* sigh.. halfway through the amc exam (which i signed up for as a simualted patient), the examiner jokingly said, you sound more like a TB patient than a paranoid schizophrenic! (oh yeah, i was acting as a schizophrenic. haha.. it was heaps fun!)

please pray along that i get well soon. i have a very busy week ahead. FOUR PBLs back to back. not funny at all..

will blog about my amc experience when i get better :) until then, have a good week people!

I will guide you along the BEST pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.. Psalm 32:8

My first "official" encounter with the Australian health system

as a patient, as an international student.

to describe it in one sentence. "it burns a whole in my pocket (well my dad's pocket technically)".
i woke this morning feeling really lousy. had been coughing throughout the night, and my throat was really sore - couldn't sleep very well at all. went to see the gp who prescribed me the above. ahh, AUD 57 poorer :( and my card got rejected, somehow my money transfer didn't go through this morning. thank God for credit cards :)

you see, the system here is, you see the gp. your insurance covers 75% of the consult, so we usually end up having to pay a "gap" which ranges from AUD10-30 (depending on the nature, and length of your consult). after that, the dr usually writes you a script, which you have to go to your local chemist to get your medications. and for overseas students, our insurance only covers medications costing AUD31 and above for EACH medication. hence, the hole in the pocket :)

i guess for the sake of getting better, it's worth paying? hope i get over this soon. being sick is no fun at all...

pray along with me :)

the blogger's back :P

i've now found a good time to blog. that's when stuffs get CANCELLED (omigoodness-how-annoying-is-that). i DO NOT wake up at 5.30-6 am in the morning to travel all the way up north to this hospital called LMHS to attend clinics in which:

1) is cancelled
2) is not cancelled but 70% of the patients fail to attend
3) is not cancelled but starts late
4) is not cancelled but hm, let's just put it this way, i don't get any/much teaching.

ahh.. i could've been at home studying right. or at least sleeping. haha.

anyways, it took me a long time to consider before i decided to blog about this because it's controversial lah.. but here goes...

sex.

ok guys, calm down. and before all ye people who has already picked up a stone and is ready to throw it at me. wait! and also it's not X-rated la. so don't have to close eyes/ears etc.

aih~ i just wanted to say la, in this o&g rotation is my first sort of formal sex education. we had a contraception and std tute recently, and i was like.. omigosh.. how can i confidently talk to my patients about these things when i don't even know all of it myself. i'm 24, and most of the people who would come for counselling would be in their teens or around my age.. i guess on one hand, i'm glad i'm so protected. but on the other hand. how naive can one be? it would be most embarassing to blush/feel awkward while taking a sexual history eh? it would also be difficult not to be judgmental as well.. ahh.. coming from an asian background and all..

and yeah, so while i was quite apathetic to the hype of early sex education in the past.. now i think, it's actually not a bad idea at all. i think kids should learn it the right way, rather than find out for themselves - of which i've heard some funny theories before in the past. i myself was just told, children come from God. and i remember asking my parents, err.. then how come Mrs A has a baby, but she's not a Christian also? not that i think other religions have no gods la. i was young at that time ok!! anyway, i don't think i ever got my answer until i was in form4 or something. heh.

so there.

next topic (also because i'm doing o&g now) is pregnancy.

haha.. i think those in imu knows all my "crazy" ideas of initially: NO BABY POLICY ie. adopt or nothing because SVD/LSCS is just UNTHINKABLE! stretch marks, weight gain aren't all that appealing as well.

then it progressed to.. ok fine. i'll have babies. but they must be delivered by LSCS. and also after i'm all qualified and accomplished, of course.

to now. actually, nothing much has changed since then. c-sect is still the way to go. haha.. except.. maybe, having a baby sooner than later is not such a bad idea after all. as in after getting married la of course, but not in the order of career first, family 2nd anymore.

and i guess also, i've come to this stage of life (mid twenties, quarter life "crisis") where one by one my friends are starting to get married +/- have kids, it kinda makes you think about stuffs like this too. and i know what you're thinking... NO, i am not desperate to get married. right chris? :P hahaha..

anyway, back to the topic. omigosh, after you've seen a delivery, you would so appreciate your mother/wife so much more for the pain YOU put them through, goodness gracious me. it's terrible................. *sigh* why did eve eat the forbidden fruit?? haha kidding. so human am i, pushing the blame around. but i thank God He is gracious eh? :)

ok. i'm going for a tute on vaginal examination and PAP smear now. it's going on till 8pm. wish me luck :S

p/s: and again, i'm sorry for the explicit details. i'm going through medical student diarrhoea syndrome now.

sorry...

*runs for cover*

i know i've slacked with my blog updates. it's been a crazy busy month. now that i have 1/2 hr to spare before i go for my urea breath test, i thought, why not update it.. because silly me woke up with a dry and sore throat and took a quick swig from my water tumbler (without thinking obviously) which contained barley water and i was like oh noooo!!!!!!!!!!! i'm supposed to FAST since midnight and only take water -_-"

oh wells, if it weren't for the wait, i guess the spider webs in my blog wouldn't have been cleared eh? haha..

so why has it been a crazy month? studying for paeds exam was not funny. not funny at all. there were so many things to cover!!!!!!! i guess i spent too much time playing with kids instead of actually studying them, heh. so after paeds it was bang bang bang bang, every minute of my weekend was filled, and then came O&G (at LYELL MC!!! ahh pls let me complaint. it's soooo far!!!).

anyway i fell sick on the first week of O&G. epigastric pains, dyspepsia on monday and tuesday. fever, sore throat and body aches on wednesday (i was supposed to do a 24 hr shift here but i left early cos i couldn't take it anymore). dysmenorrhoea on thursday +++. (not that the other symptoms resolved, they were all just overlapping) haha.. went to see the dr, who thinks it might be h.pylori??!! no harm ruling out i guess. what's odd is.. chris has the same tummy ache too! so we both had to do a urea breah test, just in case. hopefully it's nothing. put both of us sickies together and you get 2 very tired ppl. also, august seems to be a happening month! it was like i had something on every single day.

come sunday, i was pooped. i thought i was strong you see.. it never occured to me how tired i was. until, i just broke down and cried. like a baby. haha.. not that i didn't enjoy what i was doing. or that i felt like giving up. i was just tired and overwhelmed. and all i asked was for a touch. just a refresher and i knew i'd be able to carry on. a touch was what i got. and i thank God He loves me so much! it feels good to cry - in the loving arms of God.

woohoO! so yeah. that's pretty much how my life has been since i disappeared from the blogosphere.. had a good chat with my dear great granddaughter eels last night. it's been a long time since i had one of these therapeutic chats. i miss you darl :)

ok time for my breath test. pray that it's NOT h.pylori otherwise triple therapy awaits.

p/s: sorry for the jargonic explicit description of my sickness.