updates updates... hmmm... since the last day of clinicals last fri, i was working on sat and went to play badminton with michelle and her colleague... and then she came back and had an urge to do baking again... some strawberry pastry thing... but this time i was really not in the mood to bake so she got her bf and her colleague to help out... and my uncle had guests from singapore during the wkend so the house was busier than usual...
and as u noe... this week is the first week of uni but i still have not gone to uni till now... because of the WFOT congress, all OT lectures are starting only in wk 2, which meant that this week only have like one lecture a day so i dun want to travel all the way to uni just for one hour of lecture... so i pon uni for three days already... how bad am i... and apparently today's the last day to buy the manuals... which meant that i have to get the manuals directly from the individual schools... 'mah fun' man...
okay yesterday went to the congress finally... when i arrived, it was crowded with ang mohs... which showed that OT is still very much a westernized profession... so i registered and went to the opening ceremony... they had like this aborigine man blowing this long wooden pipe thing that curved at the end... dunno what is it called... and three girls playing violins... quite cool... and then i just went to talks after talks... three of my lecturers at uni presented their research papers that day... topics presented yesterday included things like dementia, cognition, young adults with motor disabilities, information processing in young preschoolers, evidence-based practice... quite interesting but i was quite tired becos i slept late the previous night so i dozed off during the presentation of my ORL lecturer's paper on parkinsons disease... haha... and they had many booths in the exhibition hall on OT related stuff, like the australian unis offering OT, different companies which supply equipment, the publishers of OT textbks... all in all... i am glad that i got to attend the congress, although i still thought the price is damn expensive for one day... and i have never been inside the sydney convention centre before till yesterday... and i also took back many brochures, free stuff like the pens, mousepads, measuring pads, calendars... my s'porean kiasuism trait was revealed... haha...
okay... i am hooked again on ANOTHER korean show!!! it's all prisy's fault... asked me to watch the show bcos the subtitles were in chinese and it flashed really fast... so she could not read it... wanted me to watch and translate for her... otherwise she has to pause after every sentence and slowly read the chinese... and now i got hooked to the show... but let me warn those who has not watched it yet... it's a sad show but it's a happy ending... although i thought they should not end the show that way... abit corny... and i still think kim sam soon is still nicer... but i would still recommend it to those who have not watched it yet... and the guy is not as cute as hyun bin... ahhhh!!! and also the theme song, which is in english... is really nice... but the lead actress is really cute... and the scriptwriters who wrote this show made the lead actor say such mushy stuff that i got goosebumps while watching and he cried all the time and the show is quite draggy and spans a few years...
okay... u guys must be dying to know what show i am talking abt rite... let's now reveal the show name... drums and gongs pls....
the show' name is...
Save the last dance for me...
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Saturday, July 22, 2006
DaY 10 oF cLiNiCaLs... YAY!!
Lalala... today was the last day of my early mornings torture... although i have to say that i quite enjoyed this placement... i had a nice supervisor... can u believe that she's only like 2 years older than me??... anyway... since this was the last day, me and the other student decided to give them a card and bought chocolates for them...
this morning... went up to the ward again to do a shower assessment with this elderly male patient... the ward was still under quarantined... so we had to gown up and wear gloves... and whenever we see another patient even if it's within the same room... we had to change into a new gown and gloves... and according to my supervisor... those were not cheap at all... one box of gowns cost like $200... wow...
so after helping the patient undress and sit on the shower chair... my supervisor suddenly turned to me and said, do u want to do this?... i was like what???!! how come never tell me beforehand? so that i can be mentally prepared... but of course i said yes... so... i was standing there watching him wash himself... luckily he did not require much help... only with his back and legs... still not quite comfortable with watching and helping someone shower, and a male patient... and the patient was taking such a long time shaving... till his whole jaw was red and bleeding... my supervisor was like be careful... but he still kept on going... ??!!
so after the shower assessment... i had to dry him and help put his pants on for him... i think with practice and more time... i will become more comfortable with this...
after that... we went to complete my clinical evaluation form... well... i passed my placement...
and after that... we had a talk in the stroke unit and we were also provided with free lunch... upon arrival... found out that the free lunch was vegetarian sandwiches... yuck... no choice but to take one and eat... otherwise paiseh... and my supervisor had to leave even before the talk started... so i was left there listening to the talk on diseases of the muscles... i think it was supposed to be useful... but it was so seriously boring and i dun even understand most of what the speaker was saying also... i almost dozed off... the talk was so long... in the end... i was so miserable and tired already... hungry and sleepy... and there was not much to do in the ward...
so in the end... i was asked to do more orientation charts for the other OT who needed some for their confused patients... and then went back to the ward, wanting to conduct the cognitive test on this patient but she was fast asleep... so my supervisor said try waking her up and see how... in the end... although she was really talkative but still very confused... it was obvious that she was concentrating on the questions that i was asking her... so we had to stop the test halfway... alamak... and then we had to ask ard to see if the other OTs need help with their patients...
finally... we got to do an initial interview on this elderly male patient who actually was ready to be discharged... so it was quite an easy interview... we finished the interview within 10 min... the other OT was so impressed by our efficiency... actually my supervisor's efficiency cos she did the interview... i was just an observer... after that... nothing to do already so i was sitting in her office reading the upper limb treatment tools when kathryn came in and said her supervisor let her off early... so my supervisor also said i could go early... when i was about to go... like it was the last day already... but i really could not think of anything more to say besides thank you... and afterwards... i felt like i should have said something more rather than just thank you... after all... she really taught me lots of stuff and really nice to me also...
oh and today... after the shower assessment and after doing the documentation... there was nothing much for me to do right... so i was just standing there when my supervisor started talking to another OT and the SP there saying that she was dumped recently and she was feeling really depressed... and then they started talking about their past experiences with failed relationships and abt their ex... some of their stories were really funny but i was like hmm... maybe i should not be listening to this cos i dun noe head or tail right and would seem as if i was eavesdropping... but then again... if i leave... where should i go and what should i do... so in the end... i just stood there listening to them comforting my supervisor abt her break-up and stuff... i felt really 'extra'... but she also never tell me to leave or go somewhere else and they were talking quite loudly too... so i was pretty sure that the whole ward now knows that my supervisor got dumped...
this morning... went up to the ward again to do a shower assessment with this elderly male patient... the ward was still under quarantined... so we had to gown up and wear gloves... and whenever we see another patient even if it's within the same room... we had to change into a new gown and gloves... and according to my supervisor... those were not cheap at all... one box of gowns cost like $200... wow...
so after helping the patient undress and sit on the shower chair... my supervisor suddenly turned to me and said, do u want to do this?... i was like what???!! how come never tell me beforehand? so that i can be mentally prepared... but of course i said yes... so... i was standing there watching him wash himself... luckily he did not require much help... only with his back and legs... still not quite comfortable with watching and helping someone shower, and a male patient... and the patient was taking such a long time shaving... till his whole jaw was red and bleeding... my supervisor was like be careful... but he still kept on going... ??!!
so after the shower assessment... i had to dry him and help put his pants on for him... i think with practice and more time... i will become more comfortable with this...
after that... we went to complete my clinical evaluation form... well... i passed my placement...
and after that... we had a talk in the stroke unit and we were also provided with free lunch... upon arrival... found out that the free lunch was vegetarian sandwiches... yuck... no choice but to take one and eat... otherwise paiseh... and my supervisor had to leave even before the talk started... so i was left there listening to the talk on diseases of the muscles... i think it was supposed to be useful... but it was so seriously boring and i dun even understand most of what the speaker was saying also... i almost dozed off... the talk was so long... in the end... i was so miserable and tired already... hungry and sleepy... and there was not much to do in the ward...
so in the end... i was asked to do more orientation charts for the other OT who needed some for their confused patients... and then went back to the ward, wanting to conduct the cognitive test on this patient but she was fast asleep... so my supervisor said try waking her up and see how... in the end... although she was really talkative but still very confused... it was obvious that she was concentrating on the questions that i was asking her... so we had to stop the test halfway... alamak... and then we had to ask ard to see if the other OTs need help with their patients...
finally... we got to do an initial interview on this elderly male patient who actually was ready to be discharged... so it was quite an easy interview... we finished the interview within 10 min... the other OT was so impressed by our efficiency... actually my supervisor's efficiency cos she did the interview... i was just an observer... after that... nothing to do already so i was sitting in her office reading the upper limb treatment tools when kathryn came in and said her supervisor let her off early... so my supervisor also said i could go early... when i was about to go... like it was the last day already... but i really could not think of anything more to say besides thank you... and afterwards... i felt like i should have said something more rather than just thank you... after all... she really taught me lots of stuff and really nice to me also...
oh and today... after the shower assessment and after doing the documentation... there was nothing much for me to do right... so i was just standing there when my supervisor started talking to another OT and the SP there saying that she was dumped recently and she was feeling really depressed... and then they started talking about their past experiences with failed relationships and abt their ex... some of their stories were really funny but i was like hmm... maybe i should not be listening to this cos i dun noe head or tail right and would seem as if i was eavesdropping... but then again... if i leave... where should i go and what should i do... so in the end... i just stood there listening to them comforting my supervisor abt her break-up and stuff... i felt really 'extra'... but she also never tell me to leave or go somewhere else and they were talking quite loudly too... so i was pretty sure that the whole ward now knows that my supervisor got dumped...
Friday, July 21, 2006
SecOnD Last DaY...
yay... it's the second last day of clinicals... dun have to wake up so early every day and freezing cold anymore... today on the way back from kingswood... okay, i always sleep on the way home cos the journey's quite far right... and today i actually almost missed my stop at strathfield... it's never happened to me before... i just suddenly opened my eyes, and still sitting there blur blur for like 5 sec... and then i was trying to look around for the name of the station... and when i realised that i was already at strathfield and the door's was about to close... i shot up from my seat and ran to the exit... whoa 'heng' man otherwise i would have to backtrack... and miss my express train...
today was quite interesting... actually spent less time in the student's room today... in the morning... went back to the wards to check up on the patients... our ward's still being quarantined... and more pple were apparently getting the virus... we had to gown up and wear gloves whenever we were going to see the patients and sterilize our hands... and then after... i was told to observe in on one of the outpatients wheelchair fitting clinics... where the person comes in to be seen by an external OT who specializes in wheelchair fittings... the lady today was already in a wheelchair... a pink one i might add... but her current one was getting unsuitable for her so she had to get another which would better suit her needs... and today was the first day i saw an actual electric hoist in action... like we actually did it once last year during human occupations... but it was really brief and i dun think we got to try it... anyway... yeah... it was really cool... we also did some turning in bed with the patient... and i learnt that there were again many factors to consider... like her current condition, pressure sores, body alignment, whether she's comfortable in that wheelchair cos she would be permanently in it unless she's showering or sleeping... the OT who came in for the wheelchair fitting was really good at what she does... i hope that i can be like her... we also took the patient for a little trip around the hospital to trial her wheelchair...
after that... i was so starving cos it took about two and a half hours just to do one wheelchair fitting... after that... went back up to the wards to visit our patients again... just observed my supervisor assessing one of the patient's upper limb functional abilities... after that, basically nothing much just sat in the office looking through some of the product catalogues... and some outpatient files... and u noe what... my supervisor actually said something that i thought was one of the highest compliments that anyone could give me... she said i had a good memory bcos i could remember the patients' names and that's why i would be a good OT in future!! thanks! and then bcos tomorrow's the last day of clinicals, i hand-made two cards, one to my supervisor and the other to the OT dept... also bought them expensive chocolates... as a bribe maybe??!! haha...
today was quite interesting... actually spent less time in the student's room today... in the morning... went back to the wards to check up on the patients... our ward's still being quarantined... and more pple were apparently getting the virus... we had to gown up and wear gloves whenever we were going to see the patients and sterilize our hands... and then after... i was told to observe in on one of the outpatients wheelchair fitting clinics... where the person comes in to be seen by an external OT who specializes in wheelchair fittings... the lady today was already in a wheelchair... a pink one i might add... but her current one was getting unsuitable for her so she had to get another which would better suit her needs... and today was the first day i saw an actual electric hoist in action... like we actually did it once last year during human occupations... but it was really brief and i dun think we got to try it... anyway... yeah... it was really cool... we also did some turning in bed with the patient... and i learnt that there were again many factors to consider... like her current condition, pressure sores, body alignment, whether she's comfortable in that wheelchair cos she would be permanently in it unless she's showering or sleeping... the OT who came in for the wheelchair fitting was really good at what she does... i hope that i can be like her... we also took the patient for a little trip around the hospital to trial her wheelchair...
after that... i was so starving cos it took about two and a half hours just to do one wheelchair fitting... after that... went back up to the wards to visit our patients again... just observed my supervisor assessing one of the patient's upper limb functional abilities... after that, basically nothing much just sat in the office looking through some of the product catalogues... and some outpatient files... and u noe what... my supervisor actually said something that i thought was one of the highest compliments that anyone could give me... she said i had a good memory bcos i could remember the patients' names and that's why i would be a good OT in future!! thanks! and then bcos tomorrow's the last day of clinicals, i hand-made two cards, one to my supervisor and the other to the OT dept... also bought them expensive chocolates... as a bribe maybe??!! haha...
QuAraNtineD...
Day 8 of clinicals...
our ward now has become quarantined... they were not accepting any new patients and nobody were allowed into the ward except absolutely necessary, all the doctors and nurses were all wearing the blue gowns, gloves and masks... we even had to sterilize our hands before going into the ward...
so we had to go up to the other ward to see if the other OTs had other patients which we could see... did another shower assessment with this elderly lady... she was the very confused one which we interviewed the day before... when we went to see her this morning... she told us that she finally realised that she was in hospital... despite us telling her many times... anyway, she really needed help showering... and she was splashing water all over the place, nearly wetting us both in the process... my supervisor quickly went to get the disposable aprons for us to wear... after doing all these showers... i dun noe if i can do it myself when the time comes... and sometimes it can be quite yucky... like if the patients have incontinence pads on and u have to remove them... or if they can't wash or dry themselves properly, u have to help them, sometimes, the bottom areas... oh man... oh well, i will deal with it when the time comes... hopefully not too soon...
after that, we had to go attend a case conference at the stroke unit... apparently it's still on despite the quarantine... it was really interesting though... we had the doctors, the PT, OT (my supervisor), SP, social worker, the head nurse and the head neurologist of the stroke unit present... each doctor would then present their cases on each patient, and the allied health would also provide their inputs... and they would also put up each patient's CT scans and discuss about it... I have absolutely no idea what they were talking about most of time, only knowing that they were scans of the brain... haha... my supervisor later told me that sometimes we were also expected to know how to interpret the scans... alamak...
after that, nothing exciting, cos we could not go into the ward, and there were no other patients in other wards that we could see... so i was once again stuck in the student's room reading... and then apparently we had another meeting... with the other OTs working in the acute setting... basically they were discussing house-keeping stuff and we had to read a journal article and talk about the article... and apparently my supervisor will no longer be working in the stroke unit after next week, she will be going to outpatients... anyway, they started exchanging stories about their patients... some were quite amusing too... haha...
our ward now has become quarantined... they were not accepting any new patients and nobody were allowed into the ward except absolutely necessary, all the doctors and nurses were all wearing the blue gowns, gloves and masks... we even had to sterilize our hands before going into the ward...
so we had to go up to the other ward to see if the other OTs had other patients which we could see... did another shower assessment with this elderly lady... she was the very confused one which we interviewed the day before... when we went to see her this morning... she told us that she finally realised that she was in hospital... despite us telling her many times... anyway, she really needed help showering... and she was splashing water all over the place, nearly wetting us both in the process... my supervisor quickly went to get the disposable aprons for us to wear... after doing all these showers... i dun noe if i can do it myself when the time comes... and sometimes it can be quite yucky... like if the patients have incontinence pads on and u have to remove them... or if they can't wash or dry themselves properly, u have to help them, sometimes, the bottom areas... oh man... oh well, i will deal with it when the time comes... hopefully not too soon...
after that, we had to go attend a case conference at the stroke unit... apparently it's still on despite the quarantine... it was really interesting though... we had the doctors, the PT, OT (my supervisor), SP, social worker, the head nurse and the head neurologist of the stroke unit present... each doctor would then present their cases on each patient, and the allied health would also provide their inputs... and they would also put up each patient's CT scans and discuss about it... I have absolutely no idea what they were talking about most of time, only knowing that they were scans of the brain... haha... my supervisor later told me that sometimes we were also expected to know how to interpret the scans... alamak...
after that, nothing exciting, cos we could not go into the ward, and there were no other patients in other wards that we could see... so i was once again stuck in the student's room reading... and then apparently we had another meeting... with the other OTs working in the acute setting... basically they were discussing house-keeping stuff and we had to read a journal article and talk about the article... and apparently my supervisor will no longer be working in the stroke unit after next week, she will be going to outpatients... anyway, they started exchanging stories about their patients... some were quite amusing too... haha...
Thursday, July 20, 2006
COunTdOwN...
Day 6 of clinicals...
we had no new patients in our ward... so it was really boring that day... stayed in the student's room and read up on stuff on stroke... sian man... dozed off a few times also... completed my assignments... and in the afternoon... only did one initial interview with this elderly lady who was really engaging, talked alot but she was also really confused... she did not know that she was in the hospital and kept repeating herself...
that's about it for that day... not very exciting... oh and received my exam results... did not bad... considering that i was sick during stuvac and during the exams... we actually got high distinction for the groupwork... i guess that's the good thing abt groupwork... haha...
Day 7 of clinicals...
Did a shower assessment with the same lady that we saw yesterday... She initially refused to shower but later reluctantly agreed... she talked alot during the shower, but she still required assistance with her showering and drying... after that, we had to do more documentation (what else is new??) like seriously... we have so much stuff to write that it can actually take at least half an hour to report on a shower assessment... and the other staff in the hospital also dun really read everything, they only read the summary, according to my supervisor... it's more for legal reasons...
after that, we were informed that the stroke unit had a gastro virus breakout... so they prohibited all allied health pple from entering the ward... i was like great... what are we going to do now?? was supposed to do a kitchen assessment with a lady in the ward... but it was cancelled due to the virus infection...
but later in the afternoon... we went on a home visit to bring a sling to the patient's house...this home visit was really short compared to the one i went last week... we were like in and out of the house within 15 min... bcos apparently we brought the wrong sling... i actually got to read the patient's file before we went there... but when i reached their home... the patient was actually in a worse condition than i thought... she was literally strapped to her seat, and she could not talk or do anything by herself... both her parents had to do everything for her... and she's been like that since she was young... really sad... cannot imagine what would happen if both her parents passed away one day... what's going to happen to her... dun even know if she can understand what anyone's saying...
after the home visit... we went back to the hospital and made two orientation charts for two really confused patients of ours... basically we just included information like the name of the hospital, the date, month and year... and we pasted it on the wall beside their beds... so that they would be more orientated... after that... did another initial interview with this elderly male patient... tested his coordination skills and functional grip strength... and then went to see another male patient who apparently had another stroke recently and his condition deteriorated rapidly... it was really sad... he could not turn his head to the left side and he could not write... his left side was totally non-functional...
we had no new patients in our ward... so it was really boring that day... stayed in the student's room and read up on stuff on stroke... sian man... dozed off a few times also... completed my assignments... and in the afternoon... only did one initial interview with this elderly lady who was really engaging, talked alot but she was also really confused... she did not know that she was in the hospital and kept repeating herself...
that's about it for that day... not very exciting... oh and received my exam results... did not bad... considering that i was sick during stuvac and during the exams... we actually got high distinction for the groupwork... i guess that's the good thing abt groupwork... haha...
Day 7 of clinicals...
Did a shower assessment with the same lady that we saw yesterday... She initially refused to shower but later reluctantly agreed... she talked alot during the shower, but she still required assistance with her showering and drying... after that, we had to do more documentation (what else is new??) like seriously... we have so much stuff to write that it can actually take at least half an hour to report on a shower assessment... and the other staff in the hospital also dun really read everything, they only read the summary, according to my supervisor... it's more for legal reasons...
after that, we were informed that the stroke unit had a gastro virus breakout... so they prohibited all allied health pple from entering the ward... i was like great... what are we going to do now?? was supposed to do a kitchen assessment with a lady in the ward... but it was cancelled due to the virus infection...
but later in the afternoon... we went on a home visit to bring a sling to the patient's house...this home visit was really short compared to the one i went last week... we were like in and out of the house within 15 min... bcos apparently we brought the wrong sling... i actually got to read the patient's file before we went there... but when i reached their home... the patient was actually in a worse condition than i thought... she was literally strapped to her seat, and she could not talk or do anything by herself... both her parents had to do everything for her... and she's been like that since she was young... really sad... cannot imagine what would happen if both her parents passed away one day... what's going to happen to her... dun even know if she can understand what anyone's saying...
after the home visit... we went back to the hospital and made two orientation charts for two really confused patients of ours... basically we just included information like the name of the hospital, the date, month and year... and we pasted it on the wall beside their beds... so that they would be more orientated... after that... did another initial interview with this elderly male patient... tested his coordination skills and functional grip strength... and then went to see another male patient who apparently had another stroke recently and his condition deteriorated rapidly... it was really sad... he could not turn his head to the left side and he could not write... his left side was totally non-functional...
Monday, July 17, 2006
GeT wEll sOOn...
this weekend thankfully i am not working cos i took leave for the whole 2 weeks for clinicals... but even though i told them i was unavailable, they still called my handphone during the week and auntie told me they also called home... oh well... it's not that i am deliberately not wanting to work, it's bcos i am on clinicals... dunno if they might get upset at me... and then on fri, when i came home... auntie told us that nainai has a high fever and they suspect it's dengue fever... called home and talked to her and sounded unwell... high fever and her whole body like very weak... and then yesterday, she was hospitalised... sigh... all of us are really worried abt her... dunno why suddenly got dengue fever... is it bcos the weather's very hot now in s'pore or what... really hope that she will get well soon... she hates the hospital... i can't even take care of her now that she's old... when she's the one who took care of my sis and me when we were young cos both my parents are working... whenever i think of that, i feel like crying... why it has to be nainai... she's had a really hard life, and even now when she's old... she has to suffer...
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Day 5 OF CLinicaLs Cont'...
alamak... realised that it should be day 5 of clinicals... and i forgot about the rest of the afternoon after lunch... yeah so after lunch... i was finally able to do an initial interview on my own while my supervisor observed... the patient was really cooperative thank God... so i thought i went okay... except i couldn't think of what to say to end the interview, so i was like uhhh... and then my supervisor quickly stepped in to help me... anyway, yeah that was it... need more practice... and then after that, we had no patients to see already so we went back upstairs to complete the halfway evaluation forms for my placement... both my supervisor and I each had to complete one copy each... yeah nothing much happened... except that time passed really quickly... i can't believe it's already friday and i only have one more week to go... also glad that the weekend is here... dun have to wake up early tomorrow and on sunday... i can't help but think abt next year when we have clinicals for the whole semester... ohmigod... they better send me to a nearer location otherwise i am gonna kill them...
up till now though... i am glad that i came to nepean hospital... the whole environment is really nice and the people there are really nice and friendly too...
up till now though... i am glad that i came to nepean hospital... the whole environment is really nice and the people there are really nice and friendly too...
Day 4 OF cLiniCALS...
Began the last day of the first half of the clinical placement with crappy clients... the first lady was too upset to talk to us... she started to cry when we started asking her questions, so all we could do was try to comfort her and go to plan B... which was another elderly male patient, who saw us coming and told us outright that he does not want to be interviewed, that he had enough interviews already... we were like oookay... so we left him alone and went to look for a plan C... fortunately this other OT was going to do a home visit today, and he said we could follow along... yay... my first home visit since i started...
we brought the elderly lady along with us and drove up to her home in the retirement village... it's quite a long drive up about 50min... and along the way... i saw horses, cows, lambs and sheeps... and vegetable farms... how cool is that??!! it was really nice drive and it was really cloudy today too... drizzling abit... after the home visit today... i realised many things... one, being old sucks... especially if u have illnesses or diseases... and also if u are living by yourself... it was obvious that the lady really was hoping to be able to go home but after we have been to her home and watched how she carried out her daily tasks like moving ard her home, going to the toilet, preparing a cup of tea... it was clear that she was not safe to be living by herself at this point... which the OT explained to her too... and it was just really sad... bcos it was obvious that she was trying really hard to show us that she could cope by herself... but she even have difficulties going into her house bcos of the ledge of her front door... and bcos she has an amputation and is currently in a wheelchair... and her home was just too small for the wheelchair... and doing a home visit was not as easy as i thought... there are many things to consider... the person, the environment and the supports available to the person... like today i was observing the OT discussing with the lady and her daughter about the barriers that were in her home and the reasons why they thought she would not be able to live by herself at home... it really opened my eyes to what OTs do on a home visit... we have to consider stuff like how the patient is going to get from one place to another, how she is going to get into her home, any steps, how is she going to move ard her home, how is she going to the toilet, prepare her own meals and stuff... and then from there, think of solutions to make their home environment safer for them... like building ramps, movinig the furniture ard so that she has space to move ard... installing rails in the shower...
and then also found out today that we only will learn home modifications once in the entire 4 year course, like there would not be any more subjects on home mods... i was like shit... are u serious?? we did home mods in first year and they expect us to remember after we graduate? and last year i was not the one doing the home mods at all... i have no idea how to draw the diagrams and stuff... and my supervisor was like saying that's what the clinical placements are for... oh man... i cannot even draw straight lines...
and these past few days, i have been having lunch with my new found friend Kat... it's just weird like i realised that i have never sat down and eat lunch or spoke more than hi bye with any aussie pple since i came here... she's like the first aussie person whom i have eaten lunch with and we talked abt stuff... although sometimes i couldn't understand what she said but she also admitted that sometimes she also dun understand what i was saying... but it's fine cos we got along quite well... my only concern is if we would still be on such good terms once we are back in uni... like u noe how some pple act differently when they are in different environments and she also has her own friends whom she has known for a year already at uni... or if we would just be hi bye friends when we go back to uni... sometimes i wonder why pple are so complicated... it gets harder when we grow older, does it not??
we brought the elderly lady along with us and drove up to her home in the retirement village... it's quite a long drive up about 50min... and along the way... i saw horses, cows, lambs and sheeps... and vegetable farms... how cool is that??!! it was really nice drive and it was really cloudy today too... drizzling abit... after the home visit today... i realised many things... one, being old sucks... especially if u have illnesses or diseases... and also if u are living by yourself... it was obvious that the lady really was hoping to be able to go home but after we have been to her home and watched how she carried out her daily tasks like moving ard her home, going to the toilet, preparing a cup of tea... it was clear that she was not safe to be living by herself at this point... which the OT explained to her too... and it was just really sad... bcos it was obvious that she was trying really hard to show us that she could cope by herself... but she even have difficulties going into her house bcos of the ledge of her front door... and bcos she has an amputation and is currently in a wheelchair... and her home was just too small for the wheelchair... and doing a home visit was not as easy as i thought... there are many things to consider... the person, the environment and the supports available to the person... like today i was observing the OT discussing with the lady and her daughter about the barriers that were in her home and the reasons why they thought she would not be able to live by herself at home... it really opened my eyes to what OTs do on a home visit... we have to consider stuff like how the patient is going to get from one place to another, how she is going to get into her home, any steps, how is she going to move ard her home, how is she going to the toilet, prepare her own meals and stuff... and then from there, think of solutions to make their home environment safer for them... like building ramps, movinig the furniture ard so that she has space to move ard... installing rails in the shower...
and then also found out today that we only will learn home modifications once in the entire 4 year course, like there would not be any more subjects on home mods... i was like shit... are u serious?? we did home mods in first year and they expect us to remember after we graduate? and last year i was not the one doing the home mods at all... i have no idea how to draw the diagrams and stuff... and my supervisor was like saying that's what the clinical placements are for... oh man... i cannot even draw straight lines...
and these past few days, i have been having lunch with my new found friend Kat... it's just weird like i realised that i have never sat down and eat lunch or spoke more than hi bye with any aussie pple since i came here... she's like the first aussie person whom i have eaten lunch with and we talked abt stuff... although sometimes i couldn't understand what she said but she also admitted that sometimes she also dun understand what i was saying... but it's fine cos we got along quite well... my only concern is if we would still be on such good terms once we are back in uni... like u noe how some pple act differently when they are in different environments and she also has her own friends whom she has known for a year already at uni... or if we would just be hi bye friends when we go back to uni... sometimes i wonder why pple are so complicated... it gets harder when we grow older, does it not??
Friday, July 14, 2006
DAy 4 oF cLiNicALs...
Almost missed the train this morning… alamak if i missed this train... i will be late for clinicals...
In the morning, followed Rebekah to do an initial interview with this elderly lady who’s really alert and she could understand us and who could also joke with us… a really nice old lady… after that, there were more documentation to do mainly completing the initial forms and progress notes… like seriously, I was telling prisy earlier that in a day, we only see 3 patients at the most and the rest of time was spent looking for the patient’s files and writing notes… this is definitely not efficient… I mean, the patients are constantly piling up but here we are, as OTs, being stuck writing out all the documents and stuff… wasting time… might as well spend more time with the patient… and then after that, we were called to do a shower Ax on this elderly male patient… I dunno abt you, but I personally have never seen a guy’s penis up close and personal before… only on pictures in anatomy TBs and the atlas… so today was quite an uncomfortable time for me… like I think my supervisor’s actually trying to shield me from him bcos she stood in front of me and pulled the curtains but I would see it eventually anyway, if u noe what I mean… so anyway, it was not a comfortable experience for me… at least I didn’t have to help wash him or something… but he did asked me to help him put on his socks… I have no idea why… like he wanted me to do it, even when my supervisor said she would help him put it on… abit creepy there…
So after that, more documentation stuff… and then it was morning tea… after morning tea, the OT dept had a dept meeting which we attended also… so us students just sat there and listen to them talk about some housekeeping stuff… one interesting thing that they were discussing abt was whether they should continue with making attendance at case presentations compulsory, which was like every fortnight, one of them has to do a presentation on a certain illness/ disability, which I thought was interesting… I mean, as OTs, we cannot just focus on the clinical area that we are working on currently, it is always good to learn more abt other clinical areas, bcos who knows in future you might need the info… so anyway, today’s presentation was on dementia… quite interesting as the OT presented it was well-prepared and I thought she presented it really well, and she also all these cognitive tests that she found were useful for screening pple with dementia…
and then after the meeting, we went back down to the ward again... did a mock initial interview with Rebekah to practise... tomorrow i will be doing one by myself... i kept wanting to laugh during the mock interview... dunno what to ask also... anyway, then after that, followed this other OT Melanie who's got this Polish client and she got an interpreter to come in to translate... i got to sit in and observe her doing a cognitive screen thru the translator... really interesting... and the patient was in a good mood today, not like the last time i saw him... and then after the interview, Rebekah suddenly dunno disappear to where and i waited for her for like half an hour... feeling so extra at the ward... alamak... and the remainder of the afternoon was spent reading up more case files and walking ard the hospital... did not do much after... hope i will do well for my initial interview tomorrow...
In the morning, followed Rebekah to do an initial interview with this elderly lady who’s really alert and she could understand us and who could also joke with us… a really nice old lady… after that, there were more documentation to do mainly completing the initial forms and progress notes… like seriously, I was telling prisy earlier that in a day, we only see 3 patients at the most and the rest of time was spent looking for the patient’s files and writing notes… this is definitely not efficient… I mean, the patients are constantly piling up but here we are, as OTs, being stuck writing out all the documents and stuff… wasting time… might as well spend more time with the patient… and then after that, we were called to do a shower Ax on this elderly male patient… I dunno abt you, but I personally have never seen a guy’s penis up close and personal before… only on pictures in anatomy TBs and the atlas… so today was quite an uncomfortable time for me… like I think my supervisor’s actually trying to shield me from him bcos she stood in front of me and pulled the curtains but I would see it eventually anyway, if u noe what I mean… so anyway, it was not a comfortable experience for me… at least I didn’t have to help wash him or something… but he did asked me to help him put on his socks… I have no idea why… like he wanted me to do it, even when my supervisor said she would help him put it on… abit creepy there…
So after that, more documentation stuff… and then it was morning tea… after morning tea, the OT dept had a dept meeting which we attended also… so us students just sat there and listen to them talk about some housekeeping stuff… one interesting thing that they were discussing abt was whether they should continue with making attendance at case presentations compulsory, which was like every fortnight, one of them has to do a presentation on a certain illness/ disability, which I thought was interesting… I mean, as OTs, we cannot just focus on the clinical area that we are working on currently, it is always good to learn more abt other clinical areas, bcos who knows in future you might need the info… so anyway, today’s presentation was on dementia… quite interesting as the OT presented it was well-prepared and I thought she presented it really well, and she also all these cognitive tests that she found were useful for screening pple with dementia…
and then after the meeting, we went back down to the ward again... did a mock initial interview with Rebekah to practise... tomorrow i will be doing one by myself... i kept wanting to laugh during the mock interview... dunno what to ask also... anyway, then after that, followed this other OT Melanie who's got this Polish client and she got an interpreter to come in to translate... i got to sit in and observe her doing a cognitive screen thru the translator... really interesting... and the patient was in a good mood today, not like the last time i saw him... and then after the interview, Rebekah suddenly dunno disappear to where and i waited for her for like half an hour... feeling so extra at the ward... alamak... and the remainder of the afternoon was spent reading up more case files and walking ard the hospital... did not do much after... hope i will do well for my initial interview tomorrow...
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Day 3 OF CliNiCaLs...
Day 3...
In the morning, bcos my supervisor had to attend a conference so she arranged me to follow another OT Melanie who works in rehab ward... before we went down to the ward, she showed me a home modification which she did for this patient who is an amputee... thinking of the home modifications and the drawings that OTs have to do make me dread being one... cos my art is like beyond fail... i simply cannot draw and visualize stuff... how... i can't even draw straight lines... anyway, out of the 4 of us at placement till now... i am the only one who still has not been on a home visit... the rest all have gone at least once... i would like to go on one home visit to see what we actually do... we'll see...
and then after that, we went down to the rehab ward to do another shower assessment for this elderly lady... and again all i did was stand there and watch her shower... i think the more you do it, the more immune you get when u are watching someone showering... seeing them makes me dread getting old... u start having illnesses, pains and ur body starts to give out on you, even ur physical appearance declines, body parts start to droop and stuff... and the lady could not wash her bottom so melanie had to wash for her... abit confronting... and after that, she was like telling me like during the assessment, it is quite difficult to remember everything u saw, so what she does is have a mental picture of the human body divided into face, neck, chest, trunk, genital areas, UL and upper and lower parts of LL... and while u watch them showering, note down mentally which parts they wash and which parts they didn't...
after morning tea, i followed another OT Ruth... we went to the cardiology ward first... and again, did another shower Ax with an elderly lady... her right UL was totally flaccid and her UL and LL were swollen badly... and she required assistance with her transfers and mobility... the thing was Ruth... i found out that she's actually Irish... i mean, how cool is that? i dun even noe any Irish till her... and u noe how pple from Ireland speak as if they are singing... really cool... i actually get to meet alot of pple from different countries here... and after that, more documentation to be done, and i got to fill in initial interview forms again... i think i would have to do an initial interview soon by myself... dun noe if i can do it... what if the pt's not cooperative? and also sometimes i can't understand what the patient's saying... cos they are like mumbling to themselves...
after lunch, followed Ruth again to the respiratory ward... and she interviewed this male patient whose both feet were swollen and i think he has ulcers on his feet too... and there was this other case where the file has pictures of the patient's feet rotting and turning black and red... urgh... gross... that's why i am never going to be able to do podiatry... anyway, the initial interview took an hour... oh man... like she was really detailed whereas in the stroke ward, the initial interview at the most only takes 15mins... i was trying my best to understand what the patient was saying and i almost dozed off halfway... got released half an hour early today though... becos our tutorial on confidentiality and professional behaviour ended early... and I still have not got a topic for the project yet... how...
In the morning, bcos my supervisor had to attend a conference so she arranged me to follow another OT Melanie who works in rehab ward... before we went down to the ward, she showed me a home modification which she did for this patient who is an amputee... thinking of the home modifications and the drawings that OTs have to do make me dread being one... cos my art is like beyond fail... i simply cannot draw and visualize stuff... how... i can't even draw straight lines... anyway, out of the 4 of us at placement till now... i am the only one who still has not been on a home visit... the rest all have gone at least once... i would like to go on one home visit to see what we actually do... we'll see...
and then after that, we went down to the rehab ward to do another shower assessment for this elderly lady... and again all i did was stand there and watch her shower... i think the more you do it, the more immune you get when u are watching someone showering... seeing them makes me dread getting old... u start having illnesses, pains and ur body starts to give out on you, even ur physical appearance declines, body parts start to droop and stuff... and the lady could not wash her bottom so melanie had to wash for her... abit confronting... and after that, she was like telling me like during the assessment, it is quite difficult to remember everything u saw, so what she does is have a mental picture of the human body divided into face, neck, chest, trunk, genital areas, UL and upper and lower parts of LL... and while u watch them showering, note down mentally which parts they wash and which parts they didn't...
after morning tea, i followed another OT Ruth... we went to the cardiology ward first... and again, did another shower Ax with an elderly lady... her right UL was totally flaccid and her UL and LL were swollen badly... and she required assistance with her transfers and mobility... the thing was Ruth... i found out that she's actually Irish... i mean, how cool is that? i dun even noe any Irish till her... and u noe how pple from Ireland speak as if they are singing... really cool... i actually get to meet alot of pple from different countries here... and after that, more documentation to be done, and i got to fill in initial interview forms again... i think i would have to do an initial interview soon by myself... dun noe if i can do it... what if the pt's not cooperative? and also sometimes i can't understand what the patient's saying... cos they are like mumbling to themselves...
after lunch, followed Ruth again to the respiratory ward... and she interviewed this male patient whose both feet were swollen and i think he has ulcers on his feet too... and there was this other case where the file has pictures of the patient's feet rotting and turning black and red... urgh... gross... that's why i am never going to be able to do podiatry... anyway, the initial interview took an hour... oh man... like she was really detailed whereas in the stroke ward, the initial interview at the most only takes 15mins... i was trying my best to understand what the patient was saying and i almost dozed off halfway... got released half an hour early today though... becos our tutorial on confidentiality and professional behaviour ended early... and I still have not got a topic for the project yet... how...
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Day 2 OF cLiniCALs...
Day 2 of clinicals...
In the morning, did a shower assessment on this elderly assessment... it was quite uncomfortable for me and i think the lady also felt uncomfortable cos she's like showering while the two of us just stood there watching her shower... i cannot imagine how it would be if it's a male patient... peeping tom?? peeping andrea??? just weird... she managed quite well on her own and it was later found out that she was discharged just one hour after we did the shower with her... which according to my supervisor... is the aim of the acute stroke unit... discharge asap... which meant that we only get to spend little time with the patient, just enough to do an initial interview, review their ROM and strength briefly and that's it... we'll just refer them to some other depts... eith rehab or community OTs...
and my supervisor went thru the learning contract with me and told me that things are not as rosy in the real world as described in the lectures... where we learnt that we must spend time to get to know our patients... client-centredness... all the skills that we were taught like assessing ROM, manual muscle testing, PNF and NDT techniques... i was told today that we would rarely use them in real clinical practice...
anyway, i got to fill out some referral forms, initial interview forms and progress notes... and my supervisor actually filed what i wrote into the patient's file where everyone in the hospital can read and it would be like there forever... wow... it felt so real... like i was an OT already... my supervisor's also really nice and i found out that she's only like 2 years older than me... most of the OTs there are quite young also... in the afternoon... observed Rebekah my supervisor do an initial interview with an elderly man... it was quite funny cos we went in without looking thru his case file first, which we would normally do b4 going in to look at the patient... so i didn't know what was wrong with him, etc... and then the rest of the afternoon was spent reading thru more case files... so i was just sitting there reading and trying not to doze off again... and the weather these days are so nice... it's like clear skies outside and sunny but windy also... wanted to go outside instead of being stuck reading the files... a good thing that happened today was i made a new friend, Catherine... she's also one of the 4 of us at nepean hospital... she seemed like a nice person... but we'll see... like i recognize her face at uni but never really get to speak with her... we actually clicked off quite well today... :)
In the morning, did a shower assessment on this elderly assessment... it was quite uncomfortable for me and i think the lady also felt uncomfortable cos she's like showering while the two of us just stood there watching her shower... i cannot imagine how it would be if it's a male patient... peeping tom?? peeping andrea??? just weird... she managed quite well on her own and it was later found out that she was discharged just one hour after we did the shower with her... which according to my supervisor... is the aim of the acute stroke unit... discharge asap... which meant that we only get to spend little time with the patient, just enough to do an initial interview, review their ROM and strength briefly and that's it... we'll just refer them to some other depts... eith rehab or community OTs...
and my supervisor went thru the learning contract with me and told me that things are not as rosy in the real world as described in the lectures... where we learnt that we must spend time to get to know our patients... client-centredness... all the skills that we were taught like assessing ROM, manual muscle testing, PNF and NDT techniques... i was told today that we would rarely use them in real clinical practice...
anyway, i got to fill out some referral forms, initial interview forms and progress notes... and my supervisor actually filed what i wrote into the patient's file where everyone in the hospital can read and it would be like there forever... wow... it felt so real... like i was an OT already... my supervisor's also really nice and i found out that she's only like 2 years older than me... most of the OTs there are quite young also... in the afternoon... observed Rebekah my supervisor do an initial interview with an elderly man... it was quite funny cos we went in without looking thru his case file first, which we would normally do b4 going in to look at the patient... so i didn't know what was wrong with him, etc... and then the rest of the afternoon was spent reading thru more case files... so i was just sitting there reading and trying not to doze off again... and the weather these days are so nice... it's like clear skies outside and sunny but windy also... wanted to go outside instead of being stuck reading the files... a good thing that happened today was i made a new friend, Catherine... she's also one of the 4 of us at nepean hospital... she seemed like a nice person... but we'll see... like i recognize her face at uni but never really get to speak with her... we actually clicked off quite well today... :)
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
DaY 1 oF cLiniCALs...
okay guys it's confirmed!! I AM attending the congress on TUesday, 25th july... decided to fork out the really expensive price to attend the congress, considering that this might be my only opportunity to attend it since it's held at where I am now...
Day 1 of clinicals...
nothing very happening... woke up early in the morning at 4am to watch the world cup finals... in the end, bcos the game went into penalty shootouts, I missed the ending cos i had to leave the house to catch the train... the journey to kingswood was horrible, freezing and i was so urgent... there were no toilets nearby so i had to endure like 45mins till i got to the station... normally, i dun even want to use the toilets in the station, but today really cannot 'dahan' already... my bladder's about to burst man... :(
the first session was an orientation ard the hospital where the supervisor brought us ard the hospital showing us where all the different departments and wards are... and after that, more talking abt the policies and procedures of the hospital... blah blah blah...
then after that, the 4 of us split up and followed our respective assigned supervisors... my supervisor was called Rebekah and she looks after the acute stroke ward... first, she brought me to the ward, and showed me ard again... quite a small ward, and she explained to me that bcos it's an acute stroke setting, we dun get to spend more time with the patients except to do an initial interview, maybe some reviews regarding their ROM, muscle strength, cognitive and perceptive abilities... we only saw 2 patients today... the first lady was quite alert and knew what was going on ard her... my supervisor asked her some questions, like do u know where u are now, asked her to cross out Es from lines of alphabets, and got her to undo her buttons...
our second patient was also an elderly lady, she was also quite lucid, but she spoke really basic english and her daughter had to translate for us... her only deficit was her weak left upper limb, but i thought we actually listened to her stories more than we did therapy with her... that seemed to occur often when we are dealing with the elderly... i like listening to their stories... like last time in njc, when we had to do community service at this nursing home, and the elderly there always got some stories to tell... even though sometimes i have no idea what they were talking abt since they were in dialects and i just nod my head... haha...
my supervisor was quite unprepared though cos she also just came back from holidays and she did not expect such a heavy workload... so when she had to do settle some stuff, she would dig out some stroke stuff and ask me to read... not that i am complaining, but i was really sleepy cos i woke up so early today... and i dun think the stuff i was reading actually went into my head... sigh... and... i actually dozed off while reading... luckily nobody walked past... and bcos this year's placement was supposed to be a 3 weeks placement, but the school shortened it into a 2week one, we had to do a project after the placement... and we have to come up with the topic ourselves... thinking abt the project is giving me a headache... when i get home, the only thing i wanna do is watch my kim sam soon... :(
Day 1 of clinicals...
nothing very happening... woke up early in the morning at 4am to watch the world cup finals... in the end, bcos the game went into penalty shootouts, I missed the ending cos i had to leave the house to catch the train... the journey to kingswood was horrible, freezing and i was so urgent... there were no toilets nearby so i had to endure like 45mins till i got to the station... normally, i dun even want to use the toilets in the station, but today really cannot 'dahan' already... my bladder's about to burst man... :(
the first session was an orientation ard the hospital where the supervisor brought us ard the hospital showing us where all the different departments and wards are... and after that, more talking abt the policies and procedures of the hospital... blah blah blah...
then after that, the 4 of us split up and followed our respective assigned supervisors... my supervisor was called Rebekah and she looks after the acute stroke ward... first, she brought me to the ward, and showed me ard again... quite a small ward, and she explained to me that bcos it's an acute stroke setting, we dun get to spend more time with the patients except to do an initial interview, maybe some reviews regarding their ROM, muscle strength, cognitive and perceptive abilities... we only saw 2 patients today... the first lady was quite alert and knew what was going on ard her... my supervisor asked her some questions, like do u know where u are now, asked her to cross out Es from lines of alphabets, and got her to undo her buttons...
our second patient was also an elderly lady, she was also quite lucid, but she spoke really basic english and her daughter had to translate for us... her only deficit was her weak left upper limb, but i thought we actually listened to her stories more than we did therapy with her... that seemed to occur often when we are dealing with the elderly... i like listening to their stories... like last time in njc, when we had to do community service at this nursing home, and the elderly there always got some stories to tell... even though sometimes i have no idea what they were talking abt since they were in dialects and i just nod my head... haha...
my supervisor was quite unprepared though cos she also just came back from holidays and she did not expect such a heavy workload... so when she had to do settle some stuff, she would dig out some stroke stuff and ask me to read... not that i am complaining, but i was really sleepy cos i woke up so early today... and i dun think the stuff i was reading actually went into my head... sigh... and... i actually dozed off while reading... luckily nobody walked past... and bcos this year's placement was supposed to be a 3 weeks placement, but the school shortened it into a 2week one, we had to do a project after the placement... and we have to come up with the topic ourselves... thinking abt the project is giving me a headache... when i get home, the only thing i wanna do is watch my kim sam soon... :(
Sunday, July 09, 2006
My shIny aNd NeW laPtOp...
okay, i am actually using my brand new laptop to type this blog... i am so happy... it finally came on friday and it's so shiny and it even smells new... wide screens and nice typing keys... everything is so nice, abit scared to use it cos it's so fragile... haha ... this could be one of the most exciting thing that happened during the two week holiday...
went with prisy to strathfield with her friends, actually wanted to eat at ceci... but it was so crowded when we got there, no thanks to michelle who wanted to detour to rhodes shopping centre on the way to strathfield... i was told that the chinese grocery store at rhodes shopping centre actually sold kaya spread, so i went in there to find, wanted to buy one bottle to try, but i couldn't find it in the end... miss my kaya spread... okay, so instead of eating at strathfield, we went to eat at this other korean place, where most of their dishes were soup-based... ordered this beef soup and pork rib soup with rice... didn't really like the food though... after that, we went home to make cinnamon rolls... HUIMIN!!! my cinnamon roll fanatic partner... i found this recipe online and decided to make it... turned out okay, not as nice as the ones i ate in singapore before they closed down... the dough tasted funny and the cinnamon were melting and leaking out of the dough... maybe next time i will find another recipe and we can make it together k... :)
ate till i was so full yesterday, with all the cinnamon rolls in my stomach... and we also made cookies... aren't we healthy??!!
tomorrow is the world cup final already... so fast... Italy vs France... my bet is on France... haha... wanted Germany to win... oh well... definitely staying up to watch even though the next day is my clinical first day... which btw, i am really dreading... dun want to go, juz want to stay at home and rot and bum around... what if the supervisor asked me something and i dun now anything how? year 2 already and still dun noe anything... what have i been doing in uni??
and then today, went to work in the morning, and when i came home, michelle wanted to make her custard puffs... so in the end we made her custard puffs, cheese pastries AND brownies... i am getting fatter every day... how to lose weight like that??? also got prisy to trim my hair cos it's getting so thick and going out of shape... haven't cut it since last december... thinking of growing my hair long... since it's winter now... i have not grown my hair beyond shoulder-length ever... we'll see how it goes... dunno if long hair will suit me though... it's a hassle having long hair also...still haven't decided if i should attend the congress... should i go or not??
went with prisy to strathfield with her friends, actually wanted to eat at ceci... but it was so crowded when we got there, no thanks to michelle who wanted to detour to rhodes shopping centre on the way to strathfield... i was told that the chinese grocery store at rhodes shopping centre actually sold kaya spread, so i went in there to find, wanted to buy one bottle to try, but i couldn't find it in the end... miss my kaya spread... okay, so instead of eating at strathfield, we went to eat at this other korean place, where most of their dishes were soup-based... ordered this beef soup and pork rib soup with rice... didn't really like the food though... after that, we went home to make cinnamon rolls... HUIMIN!!! my cinnamon roll fanatic partner... i found this recipe online and decided to make it... turned out okay, not as nice as the ones i ate in singapore before they closed down... the dough tasted funny and the cinnamon were melting and leaking out of the dough... maybe next time i will find another recipe and we can make it together k... :)
ate till i was so full yesterday, with all the cinnamon rolls in my stomach... and we also made cookies... aren't we healthy??!!
tomorrow is the world cup final already... so fast... Italy vs France... my bet is on France... haha... wanted Germany to win... oh well... definitely staying up to watch even though the next day is my clinical first day... which btw, i am really dreading... dun want to go, juz want to stay at home and rot and bum around... what if the supervisor asked me something and i dun now anything how? year 2 already and still dun noe anything... what have i been doing in uni??
and then today, went to work in the morning, and when i came home, michelle wanted to make her custard puffs... so in the end we made her custard puffs, cheese pastries AND brownies... i am getting fatter every day... how to lose weight like that??? also got prisy to trim my hair cos it's getting so thick and going out of shape... haven't cut it since last december... thinking of growing my hair long... since it's winter now... i have not grown my hair beyond shoulder-length ever... we'll see how it goes... dunno if long hair will suit me though... it's a hassle having long hair also...still haven't decided if i should attend the congress... should i go or not??
Thursday, July 06, 2006
StAtuS: ObSeSseD...
obsessed... i am declaring myself to be officially obsessed over the show now... been watching it so many times now and thinking abt it day and night... i think that's all i have been thinking abt these past few days... alamak... how... now i really want to go korea already...
yesterday went to anna's house for a gathering to celebrate her bdae... bought her a tiramisu cake and she cooked korean dishes for us... really nice... although i didn't dare to eat the ox tail that she prepared... after lunch, we sat down and watched suddenly 30 while we ate cake and chips... ate till i was so bloated... took pics too... saw her son justine for the first time too... really cute... stuck to anna like a magnet the whole time, everywhere she went, he also followed...
nothing much exciting happened... just waiting now for my new laptop to come so that i can use, instead of using the old one which kept hanging on me... and watched the semifinals this morning between germany and italy... was hoping that germany would win... sigh... oh well... oh and saw the earth shaking news... haha... that david beckham quit as england's captain... think he must be really upset that england did not win... maybe also bcos he's getting old as a footballer also... he's still my alltime fav football player... think that he's a good father, husband and player...
clinicals starting next week already... dreading it actually... dun even noe what's going to happen... do i have to prepare anything? like read up on stuff or what? can't watch tvs anymore... oh and found out that i can't be a volunteer for the OT congress bcos the compulsory briefing's on mon, which is the first day of clinicals, so i can't attend... maybe it's trying to tell me that i am not meant to attend? i have to pay like $190 to attend the congress for one day... "hai wo bai gao xing yi chang!"
yesterday went to anna's house for a gathering to celebrate her bdae... bought her a tiramisu cake and she cooked korean dishes for us... really nice... although i didn't dare to eat the ox tail that she prepared... after lunch, we sat down and watched suddenly 30 while we ate cake and chips... ate till i was so bloated... took pics too... saw her son justine for the first time too... really cute... stuck to anna like a magnet the whole time, everywhere she went, he also followed...
nothing much exciting happened... just waiting now for my new laptop to come so that i can use, instead of using the old one which kept hanging on me... and watched the semifinals this morning between germany and italy... was hoping that germany would win... sigh... oh well... oh and saw the earth shaking news... haha... that david beckham quit as england's captain... think he must be really upset that england did not win... maybe also bcos he's getting old as a footballer also... he's still my alltime fav football player... think that he's a good father, husband and player...
clinicals starting next week already... dreading it actually... dun even noe what's going to happen... do i have to prepare anything? like read up on stuff or what? can't watch tvs anymore... oh and found out that i can't be a volunteer for the OT congress bcos the compulsory briefing's on mon, which is the first day of clinicals, so i can't attend... maybe it's trying to tell me that i am not meant to attend? i have to pay like $190 to attend the congress for one day... "hai wo bai gao xing yi chang!"
Saturday, July 01, 2006
1st WeEk oF holiDayS...
today is the last day of june already... my first week of holidays is coming to an end... on mon after orl exam, angela and me decided to take a train down to kingswood where the hospital that we are going to for clinicals is located... it was almost a 2hour journey there... and the train fares are hiking up again... a weekly ticket there is going to cost me $45!!! the hospital was quite new and nice, at least it's more than 1 storey, which most hospitals i have seen are... and the pple there are quite nice so far... we toured ard the place, found out that offer hostels for students to stay... and i was really considering to stay there for 2 weeks during the clinicals... but after thinking abt it, i decided not to... cos firstly, it would cost me more to stay there and i dun think i can stay there by myself... not as independent as i thought... so the down side would be that i would have to wake up really early in the mornings and travel for long periods of time in the cold...
during the week, i did not do much except bumming ard at home, looking for a new laptop cos my current one died on me during the exams... shitty... now i can't even start it and i still have stuff saved on it that i have not backed up... i dunno how am i going to transfer those... finally ordered one online yesterday night, after much browsing ard... it's a dell model and apparently it's got really good features at a reasonable price... went to eat yum cha at that north ryde rsl club again, this time with uncle and auntie, prisy and michelle... and again, it was really expensive, even though we did not order much... i dun even like to eat dim sum and stuff... but bcos we could not decide and prisy had to rush to work... i never ever want to go back there again... if i can help it...
went to eastwood yesterday and rented a korean series called my name is kim sam soon... quite hilarious but i dun really like the main actress, kim sam soon... i noe her character is to be like this person who does what she wants and dun care abt what others think, but sometimes she can be so overbearing, and okay, i have to say this, the main actor, hyun bin, is damn cute leh! haha... has a boyboy look also... i think he's better looking than Rain... anyway, i would give it 7/10, sometimes it can be quite cheesy... but cute...
went to hornsby at night with prisy... bought a navy blue pants for clinicals... nothing much... and went to work again on wed... felt so alienated when i stepped into woolies, cos i haven't been to work for almost two weeks... and i have officially worked there for 1 year and 7 days, since june 23... congrats to me... haha... dreading work this weekend... working the shitty shift from 1-10pm on both sat and sun... help!
during the week, i did not do much except bumming ard at home, looking for a new laptop cos my current one died on me during the exams... shitty... now i can't even start it and i still have stuff saved on it that i have not backed up... i dunno how am i going to transfer those... finally ordered one online yesterday night, after much browsing ard... it's a dell model and apparently it's got really good features at a reasonable price... went to eat yum cha at that north ryde rsl club again, this time with uncle and auntie, prisy and michelle... and again, it was really expensive, even though we did not order much... i dun even like to eat dim sum and stuff... but bcos we could not decide and prisy had to rush to work... i never ever want to go back there again... if i can help it...
went to eastwood yesterday and rented a korean series called my name is kim sam soon... quite hilarious but i dun really like the main actress, kim sam soon... i noe her character is to be like this person who does what she wants and dun care abt what others think, but sometimes she can be so overbearing, and okay, i have to say this, the main actor, hyun bin, is damn cute leh! haha... has a boyboy look also... i think he's better looking than Rain... anyway, i would give it 7/10, sometimes it can be quite cheesy... but cute...
went to hornsby at night with prisy... bought a navy blue pants for clinicals... nothing much... and went to work again on wed... felt so alienated when i stepped into woolies, cos i haven't been to work for almost two weeks... and i have officially worked there for 1 year and 7 days, since june 23... congrats to me... haha... dreading work this weekend... working the shitty shift from 1-10pm on both sat and sun... help!
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