My sister’s mother-in-law plans to go to the US for a vacation and to see her mother-in-law who has just undergone bypass surgery.
I volunteered to call the US Embassy for the interview appointment. I got a text from my sister thanking me for walking the extra mile helping out. It was nothing seriously, the least I could d for them since they let me stay at their place. Just when I thought that I’d be of help, toll free access on my cell phone does not seem to work.
How could I even get photo holiday cards if I can’t make it work?

The three-month training at the Lung Center of the Philippines has come to an end. We have had our case presentation and it went well, or so I thought.
I have asked around what are their plans after the training and mostly answered, they’ll be taking a break.
Our course in the ward might be short but it is long enough to drain our energy and interest.
We all feel that we paid to be enslaved. We are doing the bedside duties of the nurses and yes, even the nursing aid’s while they chill or sleep at night.
Although we have learned so many things, mostly on our own, we feel that we were pushed to the limit putting our endurance and patience to the test.
The irony is indeed palpable. Hospitals in the country lack nurses, yet they to do not hire instead they turn this problem into an entrepreneurship and ventured on draining poor nurse’s pocket. We understand that hiring additional workforce is out of budget but why collect fees for the so-called “training”?. The staff are fully aware of the big help the trainees give when they are around.
Instead of helping the nurses to land a job or at least get a decent hospital experience to land a job abroad, they chose to be vultures and rip their flesh off.
The government wants nurses to render service first here in the country before leaving for abroad but how can we do that if we are deprived of the opportunity?
We even opt to be volunteers just to gain hospital experience but most of the hospitals are too darn wise to make it as a profitable aspect of service. A total disservice indeed.
So now that my training is over, should I dish another serious amount to get into another training program? My answer would be a bitter yes but not at this very moment. I need to recharge financially and physically.
Sad to say, we are licensed to be exploited.

I am trying to ward off the idea that I am jinx because in the past two weeks, My partner, Mark and I have joined the code team in resusciating two patients. This evening, we again have had a patient who coded. He was just tranferred from the ICU. This time though, we were not able to be in the code team as those who brought him from the ICU were the ones who performed the CPR.
Actually, I did not knot that there was a code that was called since we’ve got a handful of patients that evening.
It was three in a row. I hope it will not be a sweep this week.

… of waiting, I finally got a call from an important person.  I did not personally get the call, our helper did. The person left a message that we need to meet up somewhere in Quezon City today at 1:30 p.m.  Good thing I was free the whole day because I could not say no to that person. I have been waiting for our meet up for almost two years.

I was at the meeting place an hour before the agreed time and I was able to talk with the person at past 5: oo p.m. already.   What is more frustrating is the talk did not last for 15 minutes and we called the meeting off.

I really wanted to storm off the building and just forgot about the whole thing but my sister texted me that waiting a few more hours is nothing compared to the two years of longing  for  that call.

So when will I hear from that person again? I jokingly texted my sister, maybe after two years again.

My rotation in the ward for my BST at the LCP has started last Monday and although sleep has been elusive, I still feel the adrenalin rush through my vein.

It is like I am an energizer bunny.

My feet are still swollen and although this signals me to follow the red light, I have no intentions of taking leave of absence. Although we are allowed to have 6 absences for the entire training period, I feel that it is just proper to maximize my training fee by taking the opportunity to be in the ward and learn new things about bedside care.

Aside from the bedside care, we are expected to perform admission and discharge procedures and to carry out doctor’s orders. If you want to excel in something you must not stop at just learning the 411 but you have to progressively learn the craft.

While I feel so pumped up in my training days, there are instances that sadness sucks the joy in my highly cholesteroled heart.

After every endorsement and rounds, I usually review the patient’s chart to check on the diagnosis, doctor’s progress notes, medications and everything I could wrap my mind around.

Last night, I managed only two patients.  One has so many medications needed to be given at certain intervals. The other has just prn (pro re nata) or as needed medications.  It was for pain.

The doctors made their rounds so I was not able to scan the charts of my patients.

At past 6:00 pm, I was asked by the charge nurse to assist the attending – an oncologist in medicating my patient (who only has prn med).  He was given Etoposide – a chemotherapy drug.

After regulating the drug, I looked for the patient’s chart and found out that he has bronchogenic cancer with non small cancer cells.  The cancer has metastatized in his brain.

He is undergoing 6-cycle chemotherapy.  I was really surprised because he looked healthy, not experiencing alopecia and he kept on playing tricks on me every time I entered his room.

I am imagining, If were in his bed, would I still be the same bubbly person that I used to be? Chemo is a very scary and horrible experience based on people who have undergone it.

I know that as a medical practitioner, emotion should not get in the way of my profession.  I was supposed to handle three patients that day but my third patient who had a DNR order expired. It is sad when you are in the room with the relatives to witness the doctor to pronounce the patient dead.

Every training day is a tiring and edematous day but at the end of the day, I do not feel exhausted.

This is what I wanted to do. Screw the odds, Death is not an option.

All I need now is my Trodat so that my hands will be spared from scribbling my complete name and license number on each page of the patient’s chart.

It was our second day of return demonstration and I came straight from my graveyard shift at work.  I managed to brush through my notes before punching at LCP.

Yesterday’s demo went well. The preceptor was cool and he even laughed at my mistakes. I am really not good at speaking in front of people (maybe I am cursed to speak with people just over the phone).

Today is another day. I took the number one tab just to get it over with  immediately so I could go straight home to rest. I was clueless that there’s a rear hole waiting for me down the demo hall.

Admittedly, I screwed up at some  steps in performing  tracheostomy care but for whatever that is worth, I do not deserve to be yelled at.  We are all professionals.  The reason I or we are there is to gain knowledge. This is not a collegiate school where it is okay to be howlered.

I paid up freaking six grand plus the uniform not to be humiliated in front of  other students and preceptors. I was really close to crying  and telling him that it is his job to teach me what is the right thing  to do. I bet that he did worse when he was a trainee like me.

I want to stab him in the neck so that he could be intubated then I could perform tracheostomy care on him.

I just kept mum about it.  It is not a dog-eat-dog system.  I am scared that I would blow up my chance of getting a slot there. I had and have to be nice.

Lesson learned.  Practice no maleficence and bring  lots of patience.