Serendipity

To all the anxious medical students who will never find this blog,

When I was well, younger, I used to worry about whether I'd ever be able to train in what I was interested in. What if no one wanted me, and I was forced to bide my time in a lonely string of polyclinic and dumping-ground postings? (Like.. Geriatrics. Or Internal Medicine. Or Rehab.) Notthatthesearen'tgoodandvaluablepostingswithmuchtolearn.. etc. Must get that disclaimer out there even if no one reads this.

I wasn't brilliant, or even clever. My grades formed the part of the curve that makes it look like a curve - the gigantic hump in the middle. No pedigree, and no polish. No connection with a tutor who would ease my way into a popular department. And frankly, not much passion either, so that's the last box on the checklist empty as well.

Like most other things that I worried about, this one faded before the shadow of a larger fear : the final MBBS and the specter of housemanship. The exams swept us up and tossed us along, and then spit us out into a brief leisurely paddle for the grad trip, before tipping us over the vertiginious edge into the rapid ride of HO year - where staying afloat and sane is the name of the game.

And then suddenly I was done being a HO - a whole year of humor, drama, tragedy, frustation etc etc.. and I had to decide where to go.
I knew I wanted to try Paediatrics and Anaesthesia - 2 unlikely postings, Anaesthesia because it's difficult to get (popular for the useful skills, the ability to sit down in air-conditioned surroundings all the time and use a laptop while you're at it), and Paeds which I didn't manage to do as a HO.

I got SGH Neonatology instead. Which was probably the best introduction to Paediatrics for a brand new MO who didn't even know how to take blood from a baby.
Then I got KK Paeds - which is almost like being a HO again in terms of how hard it is to get used to the sheer volume, and how dumb you can feel in the middle of the night; and I thought for the next posting, I'd hide out in KK CE and avoid the brand-new HOs.

And MOHH sent me to CGH A&E.

I'll let that stand in its own little paragraph because it literally stopped me like a clock to see those letters in the MOPEX result list. It took a lot of calling, and emailing, and the help of the HOD of the CE (I will be forever grateful) to convince MOHH to give me a Paeds-related posting.

They gave me NUH Paeds. So I'm now the first MO is quite a long time to have done 2 consecutive paeds postings in both NUH and KKH. It's a unique perspective, and a great opportunity.

Serendipity - every time I thought my life was going zig, it would go zag instead. And yet it has brought me to wonderful places.
Sometimes things do work out.
Have patience. Don't stop doing your best. You never know what might happen next.

5am again

There's a point in the middle of the night call when everything stands still.
In SGH, it used to be around 1-2am when I'd be writing the "S"es, with the sounds of the radio .and the beeps of the monitors in the background.
Everything's quiet. Everything's calm.
The lights are dim, the nurses are talking quietly (or .. updating the roster) and the patients, thank God, are usually sleeping.

At this point, half the call is done and there's all of that glorious glorious post-call afternoon to look forward to. It's like cresting the hill in a jog - most of the pain is over. (Just hang on til morning!)