(another one of laura, this time i visit her. kyoto jan 2005)

what a failure... after two consecutive midnight shifts, i was broken down. exhausted and starved, i woke up this afternoon with aching chest (god, what have i done to it!?) and started my venture in tom yum soup noodle, and sadly, failed in disaster. been looking forward to trying out this this tom yum thing that i bought all the way from citysuper (you know, i'm not a city girl anymore) but then i think i've put a tad too much into the previously-edible noodles, i ended up draining the soup in vain and hotness and reluctantly not to waste it. hence my burned lips now. well, looks like i'll have to have another try of popcorn-for-lunch today...

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hehe, though i could hardly cope with two midnight shifts at one time (which turned my biological clock upside-down) it was a good 2nd night. for about 2-3 hours tuen mun hospital was not visited by people with silly complaints like runny nose at 4am (!) or those complaining of generalise malaise and unwellness and insomnia... i had a great time chatting with the doctor sitting opposite my station. a nice guy called palmer who lives on my block, i just found out. it was so funny that he was so seriously into drinking some charcoal in order to cure his belching,. i thought he was just joking but then he really called the nurse to bring him a bottle of activated charcoal and drank it in front of us 2 drs. (that we use in the emerg dept for drug overdosage, for mopping up all the toxins in the guts)... for those chinese people you might like to know activated charcoal might be a better option than 'pei dok mei an bo', the over-the-counter and unauthorised version of weight controlling medication, it's laxatives! not good for you really) ... somehow we got onto photography, though he's not a serious one, i once again had to explain what are holga and pinhole cameras. my specialty, ha... he looked like he enjoyed my unconventional photos, anyway...

anyhow, our conversation was cut short at 5am by a 111 call, someone who's cut both her wrists. i asked stupidly what 'a 111 call' was, and the nurse said that there's a lady coming in with glascow coma scale of 1+1+1(=3). normal would be 4+5+6. we'd say someone is comatose if the person has GCS of <8, and for GCS of 3, theoretically the patient would be dead. well, she was FAR from being awake. when we examined her wrists there were at least 5 slashes on each side, though relieved to know that they weren't too deep (but then you can't tell how much bleeding there's been). well, it was rather gross actually... and then she woken up (from GCS of 3? the paramedics must have done a great job...!) she vomited out stuff that smelled like dettol, and the chemical eroded her throat so much that she couldn't make a sound and told us how many pills (and what type?) she's taken. in minutes she was taken up to medical ward. a relief came as i reminded myself i'm now in the emergency department. 2 months before i'd be the doctor waiting (um, anxiously) at the other end in the medical ward thinking of the next steps on how to save her!! yikes, this lady had what we called 3 suicide attempts into 1 (dettol, drugs and cut wrist) i hope she's got a smart doctor up there and hope she gets through it...

sorry, been boring you to infinity i guess i'd stop now and have another think about my lunch, and my free weekend! that's the prize for having your world upside down for 2 days! have an amazing weekend, i'm all planned :)

luv,
betty