phlebotomy

listening to jesse mccartney - because you live

still stuck at the phlebotomy course at NUH.. still got this week and the coming week to go.. =(

attended the BCLS ( basic cardiac life support ) course yesterday.. we got to learn CPR for adults and infant.. and those hemlich maneuver thingy..

i thought the one man CPR was chicken feet because ive done it like countless times already for years at the annual civil defence competition..

i was proven wrong.. very wrong..

the one man CPR is the most difficult station to pass.. the dummy for the CPR is linked to a device that produces a printout of the process..

which means.. everything that you do.. every breath.. every compression.. are monitored by the device..

on the whole dummy, theres only this particular spot ( super duper small) that you can compress in order not to activate the freaky alarm.. and get a series of ugly crosses on the printout..

8 breaths in total.. they can only allow for 3 mistakes..
60 compressions.. only 18 mistakes allowed..

thats not including the freaking difficult theory paper that we had to pass in order to proceed with the practical exam..

the whole experience is so traumatising that i dont ever want to go through it again..

ended up with wrist and butt pain today.. i dont know whats the link between CPR and butt pain.. but im not the only one.. almost everyone that i asked has the irritating butt pain too..

imagine (ouch) butt pain everytime you sit on the toilet bowl..

imagine the pain when you are happily sitting down to enjoy your meal..

ultimate sianzation..

***

speaking of phlebotomy.. ive finally succeeded in drawing blood from the first attempt.. i really hope i didnt cause the patient much agony..

the failed attempt that happened the other day traumatised me so much that i couldnt sleep properly the entire night.. its like the guilt that you feel when youve done something real bad..

that sucks..

hope i can continue being lucky just like today..

***

being in the wards everyday.. seeing those same faces lying on the beds everyday is zapping away my happiness..

for people who read harry potter.. the way to describe what im going through now is like an overdose of dementors.. its like dementors are floating everywhere in the hospital..

case 1

this is the first patient that we saw on monday.. he was still joking with us when iris (the phlebotomist) took his blood.. still told us to feel free to touch his vein.. free of charge..

he appears to be much much weaker when cuiwen and i saw him on tues.. much worse today..

case 2

there was this lady that was in the isolation ward that we attended to on mon.. she took her own sweet time to hang up her phone when she knew that we were waiting to take her blood (attitude problem)..

just saw her again today.. she looks like she has lost more than 5 kg.. her beautiful long hair has become messy and dirty..

case 3

this was the case that almost made me cry.. its this old man whos in the isolation ward.. theres this oxygen pipe thats stuffed in his nostril.. and i think he cant really breathe well because he keeps puffing his lips out when hes breathing..

when we saw him on monday, he didnt had that much tubes connected to his body.. and he could at least open his eyes to look at the surroundings..

when we saw him a day later (tues), he was lying at an odd angle and only his right eye was open.. his left eye was shut all the time..

and his right eye was welled up with tears.. and he was still struggling to breathe properly cos hes still puffing out his lips constantly..

on his bedside was a family photo that he took with his grandchildren.. seeing how he looked in the photo.. and the person thats lying at the odd angle on the bed..

it took me a lot of effort to stop my tears from coming out..

***

its not that im pessimistic and im only trying to focus on the deteriorating cases instead of the recovery ones..

the problem is ive not seen a single patient who appeared better than i last saw him/her..

the most optimistic cases were the patients who looked the same throughout these few days..

case 1

the uncle who grabbed my hand really tight on monday.. hes lying peacefully on his bed now that no one's there to take his blood..

case 2

the drunk guy who still looks like hes in a state of shock since monday..

the story behind was that he was found dead drunk in a lift and was sent to hospital..

he just lies there the entire day without moving a single muscle (or rather, he cant).. his eyes are wide opened all the time (that is, no blinking) staring at the ceiling..

i dont know if hes ever going to get well.. no one has been to visit him also..

***

its really depressing to stay up at the ward for such long hours everyday..

but the weekend is finally nearing.. at least i got survivor to look forward to tml.. the finale's on this coming monday.. cant wait..