I think the greatest barrier standing between me and the Lord this year, would be ambitions into the luming future. Work has been fantastic - in fact, most of the time i'm beaming at the thought of life without the constrains of having uni exams and no money. Yet, at the same time, its all been a distraction - its so easy to unsuspectantly lose our godly definition and pursue the fading earthly treasures...

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things".  Phil 3:7-8

Long lost Xanga - overcome by the ever more popular Facebook. I've decided to get back in touch with Xanga - the constant flicking through the profiles and photos of others sometimes makes me wonder if it really helps me "stay in touch" and connect with people, or just a legal entry into peering into other people's perceivably more fun & exciting lives.

So Internship 2008  - words springing to mind are ADRENALINE, JOY, SUFFERING, REWARDING.....Hmm, obviously quite mixed, dependent on which part of the happy-sad intern cycle i'm at.

i've completed an Emergency Department term, General Surgery and a Relief term....and coming right up would be a Respiratory term and another Emergency term.

PERSPIRATION MOMENTS of being an intern.....

i. in emergency department, 3:30pm I pick up a patient with major systolic bp difference, abdomiinal pains, tachycardia but stable....I'm thinking AORTIC DISSECTION (ahhhh!!!) ....CT booked 4:30pm - ...that evening, i happened to also be Intern Ward cover for the whole hospital (country hospital you see) starts at 4:30pm.....at 4:30pm on the dot pager starts beeping...."patient needs urgent cannula for CTPA for PE, patient waiting in CT department"..."Patient losing vision suddenly and has temporal headaches"...."Patient vomiting faeculent material"...."Oncology patient with BP of 72, decreased consciousness"...... So what does an intern do when things start to crash? Call for help!!! However, to add to the dilemma of things, all the registrars were in a protected teaching session and the one and only ED registrar was dealing with a VF. And from then onwards, things just became a mere blur of running, sweat, ordering, panic, running, ordering......

ii. first evening shift ...ever, i receive 3 consecutive pages to certify 3 separate deaths. Great - I've never seen a corpse before, other than the mangle jangle in first year anatomy class. What does a fresh corpse even look like? I think the most saddest death I had to certify was a gentleman we admitted into our team who had the most jovial personality, and everytime i missed a cannula in him he would always say encouraging comments like "its all part of the learning process" and "you're doing a great job". Slowly his cancer overtook him, and each day he became more and more confused that he didn't recognise me anymore. So seeing his lifeless flaccid body and frozen facial expression as the nurses zipped him into a body bag really puts a thought into your mind on what weak creatures we humans are, that we cannot even overcome the power of death.

iii. Medical nights -- 7 consecutive gruelling 12 - hour shifts....as the intern, most of the pages you receive are relatively non-urgent, otherwise it would go to the registrar. Sometimes, it can be so non-urgent to the possible extent of non-relevant...."patient just broke up with his gf, he is rather upset, can you come counsel him"....and also the "patient has small bruise surrounding site of injection of subcut heparin" and then there's always the "patient complains of itchy armpit"...  .... 2am brains sometimes fails to triage properly and strangely enough, i do end up seeing these complaints.

JOYFUL moments of being an intern...

i. i think the happiest moment of being an intern is knowing that every exasperating moment is being shared by every other intern out there. In my first weeks of internship, i lived with a few other interns - and our daily post-work ritual would be to ramble off the minor details of our days. From the cannulation experience to the food menu at the orthopaedics meeting. I know, how sad -- but in a way, it provided relief from the daunting nature of what we were initially faced with.

ii. Thank you cards! Okay, so i'm just the mere intern, and the thank you card would probably not have habituated if it wasn't for the fantastic surgical/medical input by my registars and consultants - however, being handed over a small decorated hallmark envelope by a patient and reading the words of profound gratitude always smacks a big grin on my face every time.

iii. Finally being a more visible member of the team - you know the days as a medical student when you'd jump with glee if someone offerred you the opportunity to assist in a surgical procedure but otherwise be shunned to the deep dark corner where nobody sees or hears you, ....as an intern, you're expected to be here, there and everywhere, NOW - the most wanted person to do the most unwanted tasks.

So I'm off to New Zealand this saturday for a road trip around the South Island. Sub-zero climate lies ahead -- like sydney isn't cold enough!!

  Holidays are always enjoyable, although also always made incredible when shared with enjoyable people  ~ In spite of having next to no input to planning my trip to the US, and clueless to the itinerary....the schedule somehow worked out-- and even if not perfectly, the relationships built and fun experienced patched it all up.

First Stop: Honolulu

What was meant to be a simple 2 hour stop-over, evolved into a 11 hour stop-over from hell. Our plane attempted to jet off twice, before they realised the brakes weren't working......gut feeling told me i should arrange for another flight since i had a flight to vegas the next morning, so after letting off a quick rage to the agent i was thereafter plonked onto a plane to Portland (imagine getting on a plane to a city you've never even heard of before), and then caught another plane to Seattle. Fortunately i got on another plane, as it turned out the plane without brakes eventually cancelled.

Second Stop: Las Vegas & LA

After boarding my 4th plane in a row and being in transit for a total of 36 hours, I was completely buggered, smelly and just wanted to plough myself into a hot tub of mud.

This casino hotel re-defined luxury for me -- I mean, a flat LCD screen in the bathroom and telephone in the toilet?!

My initial reaction when i stepped into one of these buffets was..."so which bit is the buffet?" 'cos the sheer size of these buffet restaurants were comparable to my local foodcourt. There was a chef stationed amongst every few dishes - and i think i could've had 10 of those creme brulees if everything else didn't taste so gooooood...

Third Stop: Roadtrip to Los Angelos

After 5 hours roadtripping through the Nevada Desert, we reached the land of fame and fortune -- Hollywood!

Movie sets for War of the Worlds and Desparate Housewives

Fourth Stop: New York

We couldn't tell which of these apartments was home to the cutsey Meg Ryan, as hunkster Tom Hanks fetches a bunch of daisies for her in the movie You've Got Mail...

The tunnel of the pidgeon lady in Home Alone 2!

NYPD were surprisingly jubilated in taking a snapshot with us... ...and the aftermaths to the NYE party...

Empire State Building: where meg ryan met tom hanks in the movie Sleepless in Seattle (okay, and a pretty view too)

   Saint Patrick's Cathedral                           Rockafellar Centre with sumo christmas tree

       Cathy (travel partner & sometimes related) gave the honour to this Ice Skating Rink @ Central Park to provide babysitting services to her cousin (me) for one hour while she went to do her adult business. Just kidding . Ice skating was so ridiculously fun i didn't want to leave, even when Cathy left....

Fifth Stop: Snowboarding @ Stevens

Sulking me as i experienced snowboarding, with no prior skateboarding or skiing abilities .... first time i got off the ski lift, I fell off flat on my face and had to be dragged by staff across the snow to avoid being hit by the lift chair coming from behind....

After some good instructing and training, finally got the hang of it and totally loved it!!!

  And you haven't experienced snow until you've had  a snowball fight and built a snowman.....

Sixth Stop: Vancouver

 This was a relatively honkie infested city -- so all my other photos were yumcha, chinatown and asian malls.

Seventh: Seattle, Washington

This quaint little city situated on the northwest corner of the states plays homage to a number of america's famous icons. Birthplace to Starbucks, residence to microsoft + Bill Gates, and origin of the Boeing aircraft. Their neighbourhood to Alaska means seafood is in abundance, especially the Alaskan king crab - crabs with the meatiest legs on the planet. And most importantly of all, home to a whole heap of my family!  my uncle 2, aunty 2, aunty 3, aunty 4........and Kenji's twin, Benji !!  hehehee...

Midway between Seattle and Vancouver is this goldmine factory outlet.....unbelievable cheap prices for labels. I went a little nuts on the zippy card the first day i went -- well, its not everyday you get good quality woolen jumpers for <$40 !

Trendiest American food around -- Pizza & Mexican ....

Happy hour $3.5 per plate @ Ivar's Salmon House                                  Hotpot with asian relo's

    delicious yet illegal in australia...           .....the fattest piece of sharkfin i'll ever digest in my entire life

Stop Eight: Portland, Oregon

So the only reason i went to Portland was to visit my Aunty 5 -- but i had the most exciting time driving back to seattle as it was snow storming + raining + hailing at some point.....so everyone else in the car were clinging onto dear life as we drove on ice, but I would gladly be stuck in a snow storm anyday  ...Snow snow snow....i could just lick it, eat it, gulp it...