Food filled weekend in Manchester

It was finally, the end of the super tiring A&E rotation. At the first opportunity, I bought my bus ticket to visit PL and YY in Manchester.

Dim Sum at Pacific Chinese and Thai Restaurant:

I haven't seen PL in almost 2 years. Had a great time catching up. Met so many new people as well.

From prawn dumpling, siu mai, super xoxo white carrot cake to really delicious rice and noodles. I was so full and the cost was only 5 pounds per person. Almost half the price of dim sum in Liverpool. It was unexpected that one visiting friend's friend who works as a chef agreed to cook for us that night. Look forward to more pictures of mouth watering food below.

PL offered her kitchen for that evening, so she went home earlier to start her 2nd round of spring cleaning. YY and I on the other hand, went shopping at Harvey Nichols (which of course we ended up not buying anything as 99% of the item there is priced with at least 3 figures before the decimal point) and we visited the exhibition at Urbis.

 

Saw some really old television sets which surprisingly is still working.

There were exhibitions on the Hip Hop culture in the UK.

 

 We saw some random but interesting exhibits there.

Dinner time!!! I felt so fortunate getting to eat all that food.

Professional cook in action. Even the chopped ingredients looked so organised.

Seriously mouth watering!

 

 I feel hungry again. I think I had 5 pieces of fish in total. It was so good, so good.

 

It didn't stop there. We had sweet potato tong sui for dessert with sweet potato pancakes. Already so full from the main course but there is always room for desserts.

I had like the best sleep ever at PL's place. Her bed was so comfortable and she herself was thinking of shipping the whole bed back to Malaysia. I'm going to look for the Egyptian cotton bedsheets too.

I feel like a Polar bear in Manchester. After eating so much and storing all that energy, I start my hibernation in her bed which is so conducive for hibernation. Woke up this morning and was greeted by snow.

Lunch at Varsity Pub which has the best curly fries

The pub food there is one of the best that I've tasted so far. Highly recommended. The portions are really big too. Just remember to bring you ID which proves your age.

Met up with AL too. Haven't seen her in a long time since our trip to Budapest.

My reflection week starts tomorrow. I've decided that I'm going to reflect on which camera will I be getting as my current camera is showing signs of retiring soon.

More food projects coming up soon. Keep reading.

Year of the Tiger

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone! Like what my dad said, I'll definitely Fa Cai this year cause I'll be starting work soon.

What I had on Chinese New Year Eve. Miss all the nice food that my parents will prepare when we have our Reunion Dinner back home. Ferrero Rocher thrown in as it was Valentines too.

Chinese New Year Day 1:

This day was hectic. I finished my night shift at 6.30am. Slept for 5 hours and the next moment, I was at Harbour City in Chinatown for Dim Sum.

All the delicious Dim Sum.

No, the food doesn't end there. We went shopping for ingredients for our Steamboat that night.

From sushi, crab sticks, chicken, mushromms to grilled sausages. We were really full. The chili sauce was really nice but the effort of chopping the chillies left me with stinging fingers.

Anyone lost their dentures? Never fear, ice dentures available.

Serious photographer at work. I'm still wondering if the pictures turned out well.

 Competition from another paparazzi.

The serious games begin:

 Kam Min Toi (Hit Table Top game) - Our counting went like this 'Yi (Mandarin), Two, Sa (Hokkien), Empat (Malay), etc. etc.' Super challenging! Too bad for those who didn't understand Malay. Better count in your hearts.

 

Super serious game of UNO. I bet that you don't have any red cards.

Texas Hold 'em Poker. The anguish, the pressure, the stakes.

To bet or to fold? That is the question.

Chinese New Year Day 5:

The CNY dinner organised by the Malaysian Society. There was so much good food. From salad prawns, steamed chicken, fish, duck, seafood hotpot to stir fry kang kung. Reminds me of home.

 Ended with bubur chacha. A type of sweet potato and sago dessert.

Had a nice time catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones.

Last day of A&E tomorrow!!!! I'm free! I'm free!!!!! But I'll have to go back on Monday to sort out my feedback. Finally passed ALS as well. More reasons to celebrate.

May the Year of the Tiger be filled with good luck and prosperity for everyone. Xin Nian Kuai Le. 10 more days to celebrate.

Numb

I'm not sure if the start of feeling more numb towards death of a patient is a good or a bad sign.

I thought the 2 shocks and return of spontaneous circulation would mean that he'll be all right. But suddenly, he stopped breathing and dropped his pulse.

Pulseless electrical activity (PEA)........oxygen, chest compression....asked to insert a cannula which miraculously was successful on my first try......2 minutes, still PEA.......2 minutes after....adrenaline.....

After the 3rd lot of adrenaline, he was still in PEA and the whole team agreed to stop....

I helped dress him, shut his eyes, made sure he looked decent and properly covered. All this while feeling weird that I no longer feel those heavy feelings.

Stepped into the next cubicle to help log roll a patient involved in a RTA.

I've just got to move on.

Start of the graveyard shift

From today and for the rest of the week, my shift starts from 10pm and finishes at 6am.

I'm hoping that it wouldn't be too exciting.

Feel like a vampire already. Appearing in the middle of the night and asleep during the day.

I'll miss the sun.

By the end of this week, I might melt with sun exposure.

The doctor that I wish to be

A doctor who does no harm to my patients.
Who takes necessary precaution and is extremely good knowledge wise and practical skills wise, especially the practical procedures.

'I'm sorry, I have not enough experience' will be rarely mentioned as I will be good at it the 2nd time round.
Regrets and guilt will be my reminder of this sole pledge for the rest of my life.

Remembering not the ones saved but those whom I failed to save.
This will be the burden that I will have to carry for the rest of my life.

Solely being caring will not make me a good doctor.
But being competent, safe and caring makes me the best doctor.

This memory from today, sadly, will be one of the many scars that will flash back from time to time.
I guess this will be the best punishment and reminder of the mistakes I make.

Think positive

The orange yolk in the sky slowly disappeared into the horizon.

I just felt really weird with the mixed feelings.

Those voices are still not leaving me alone.

I hate the darkness but at least they keep me company.

As I fell, you thought it was bad enough.

Somebody comes along and pour mud all over.

Think positive you say?

At least no one recognises the crippled me on the ground.

I just hate myself for not being able to stand up again.

But can I blame anyone? I just want to have a good cry.

You just came up to me with an outreached hand.

Too bad you're not the hero you think you are.

Could you please leave me alone?

I had this feeling for a long time.

Maybe I don't want to admit it.

Maybe I'm not the person you said I was.

I want to scream to release all the hatred.

But words are just not coming out.

Think positive she say?

'I'll scream on your behalf, but inside your head'

My thoughts are muddled enough.

But those damn voices, they kept getting louder.

Think positive he say?

I just want to sleep and never wake up.

Knowing too much might not be a good thing.

I know the quickest and most painless method.

Think positive they say?

I could easily end it all if I wanted.

Diary from the future

Dear diary,

Can’t wait till I finish this research article of mine. Hopefully it’s going to bring me closer to wining the Nobel prize. I still don’t understand myself. How can I live in such contradiction of constantly wanting to win the Nobel prize and yet dream about retiring in every single dream? At least I’m living comfortably now. I’ll have to remember to go to the lawyer’s firm this Friday to sign those documents. Really need more brain cells to remember what properties I’ve bought and what installments are due. Glad that I’ve sold off most of that share before the US market crashed the other day.

Next week is Mama’s birthday and I haven’t got the time to pack yet. At least I’m off for 2 weeks. Now I can tick off Taiwan from my list of places to travel. Need to give all of them a call but I think the two old people are out jogging at this hour and M might be sleeping after her lecture. Aiyo, how can she end up being so similar to me? Sleeping at this hour. I miss those days. Maybe I should take a nap too. Hahaha. But my article….it’s due too soon. Haih….I need to go on this holiday. Noreen, go do work! 

Wonder if the renovation of the new house is going well. Papa kept on saying that the kitchen was all right but I thought a bigger kitchen would be more comfortable to cook in. Plus, he’s still trying to perfect his fishball recipe. I’ve lost track of how many years has it been. He’s been more adventurous with his cooking since his retirement. So happy that I get good food when I’m at home.  At least my 2 share consultants have got something to occupy themselves over the weekend when the share market is closed.

Now, to gather any remaining motivation to finish this stupid article. 

Love, 

Noreen from the future

Life

Hang on, just hang in there

I am going to conclude that January is my unlucky month. Started on A&E rotation which is practically killing me slowly already. First time in my life, failed an MCQ test by 3 marks and I'll have to re-read that thick ALS book again. Not only that, I'll have to rearrange to resit it some other time.

Today, I found out that I forgot to update my calendar on my computer, so, ended up missing a module which I was supposed to attend (after they canceled the initial time that I signed up for and I totally forgot about the rescheduled date) yesterday. And that was the last module arranged for this rotation. What if there are no more available modules in the next rotation? What if I can't complete it before my portfolio is due? What if...... I just want to kick myself for forgetting about it.

Just now, one nurse asked me if I'd inserted the cannula into a patient's hand, which I did but I don't know why I kept on interpreting that she was asking if I'd catheterised the patient, so I answered 'no' twice. Finally, I realised what she was getting at and she reminded me to record down that I was the one who inserted the cannula. Haih....brain already shutdown.

Why are there so many patients who are only able to understand and speak Cantonese? And why are there no other doctors around who can speak the dialect? Why am I always called to handle them? My Cantonese is horrible, and I don't even know any medical terms not mentioning the name of parts of the body. No one will say Kidneys or Intestines in daily conversation, do they? I only picked up Cantonese through watching TVB dramas, and rarely I hear them mention any medical terms. Haih.....

Cases....need to get 18 of that, prepare 2 presentations, all before I can complete this module without fail. By the time I get home, I'm already half dead and without any motivation to even read anything medically related. I need something to inspire me. In these dark moments, I just wonder did I make the right choice in doing medicine? Have I gotten any joy from practicing medicine? How did I end up suffering like this? What's the point? I still get patients who are pissed at you cause you don't follow what they want you to do for them. Remind me somebody, why on earth am I becoming a doctor? Maybe I should just change my profession.

Enough of all the ramblings......I'm so not looking forward to the 36 hours oncall in Malaysia. I don't think I can handle it. I'll end up killing a few patients due to extreme tiredness. The existence of the the long oncalls just bewilders me cause there's an excess of housemans in Malaysia at the moment. I hope that they abolish it soon.

London before the end of holidays

New Year Countdown 2010

These 5 people who has been in the UK for the last 4.5 years and never countdown in London decided to leave at 11pm by tube to get anywhere near Central London by 12 midnight. Other people would have been there by 10pm to get a good spot and waited till the countdown but no, we slowly took our time and left late. To our surprise, the tubes were still packed like sardines.

We were asked to get down at Embankment as Westminster was already crowded with people. There were still crowds of people there. It was weird just getting pushed around by people and following the flow. We only heard a few fireworks and didn't manage to see much except for the really nice lighted Lion King Theatre building. It started snowing a bit as we made our way home.

In contrast to the number of people when we were making our way there, the tubes were practically empty on our way home.

Next day, we went for Sherlock Holmes movie. I joined my friends again after meeting my uncle, aunty and 2 cousins for lunch. I really like this movie and loved the part where Sherlock Holmes was trying to pick the lock and then Watson comes along and just barges through with Holmes still holding the pins in his hands. Recommended.

We had dinner at Tuk Din near Paddington after to celebrate the wedding of a new couple: A and L.

We caused quite a ruckus in that restaurant with so many of us. The happy couple in the top right corner.

Final picture with most of us.

No more backlog of posts. Back to my stressful life at A&E. Need to study for my ALS resit and write up my cases. Haih....

It's so funny how my dad described me as Liverpool FC cause it can win against really strong components like Manchester (Finals exam) but lose against weaker teams (ALS exam). Hmmm...that's why I'm in Liverpool.