A gleam of hope

-London's British Museum Nov '07-

Monday blues, and if that's what you are feeling right now, go to the mirror, and convince yourself that there is always a gleam of hope somewhere!

This is specially dedicated to a person so dear to me, i know she will soon be able to overcome all obstacles she has to face right now. i don't mean this as a post-secret kind of thing, but i well knew that she may not bump into this thing anytime now or soon.

Just my way of showing how much i love her.

Someone from high school

I saw her once at the psychiatric clinic a few months ago. At that time, i was following my senior pharmacist to learn more about discharge dispensing for psychiatric outpatients.

I was about to introduce my name to her, thinking that she may not have remembered so many names from school. but I was surprised when she called me by my name - she even remembered my full name!! I wondered why she visited the psychiatric clinic, she told me that she was under follow-up at the clinic. Of course, I was caught by surprise again - I'm not sure if she was on any medication, but it seemed like she was.

It was just last week, when i bumped into her again at the medical ward. She was at the entrance of the building, and she seemed as though she was lost! I greeted her, and I asked where she was heading to. She was looking anxious and tensed, and she told me one of her relatives just got admitted to the ward, but she wasnt sure which ward was it. She wasnt even sure which floor of the entire building to go to!

I asked her for the relative's particulars, made a call or two, and finally we managed to trace the ward the relative was admitted to. I could see how her face lighted up immediately when she saw the familiar face of her relative in the ward. It was a refreshing scene, at least to me.

She was my Pendidikan Jasmani teacher back in high school. And she taught me only for one month. Thank you for remembering my full name, that shows to me how a teacher really cares for her students.

I hope and pray that her relative is getting well by now.

das Paar der Rosen

Finely carved, they seem so rare,
On two lean stalks, they make a pair;
An exquisite beauty, they seem to bear,
With glistening silver, which makes them flare.
.

just another day, now.

a second,
a minute,
an hour,
and then a day goes by.
It's 11th again today.

I can lie to the whole world,
but at the end of the day,
i cant do it to myself.

4 ways to kill a mood

4 ways to kill a mood on a Monday (The Chinese believe the disastrous figure 4 anyway!):

• a mid-week presentation (and another presentation 8 days later, also unprepared yet)

• stepping into a puddle of water accidentally ( in my favourite shoes, sobs! )

• to be splashed with unexpected murky water from the ceiling (not drops of it, but gallons!)

• going to work on a Tuesday only to see a whole messy workplace (and having to clean them up)!

Period.

Splashing Monday!

Splash splash splash
It came in a flash!
Haste haste haste
I've no time to waste!

from pill-free to half a dozen of medications

I could sense that she was worried from her creased face. Her husband has just survived from an unexpected myocardial infarction, and that afternoon, in the pharmacy, she sat right in front of me to collect her husband's discharge medications.

The body of the prescription was penned with a long list of medications. When I started explaining to her each of the medications the husband is to take, the frail lady did try to digest, understand and remember everything. But I decided not to go on - I asked her if I could speak to the husband directly.

5 minutes later, the husband was escorted into the pharmacy. There were a few other in-patients waiting for their medications to be dispensed at the same time, but I didn't want to rush through the discharge counselling with this particular man.

I asked for his name, and led a casual conversation. I learnt that he's working in a farm, and he has previously no known health problems - he doesnt even know the taste of taking medications every day in his entire life.

Looking at the bag of medications on the table, it was pretty tough at first to explain to him that he has to be on those pills e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y from that day onwards. I had to make him understand the indication of each medication. I had to explain the dosage and administration. I had to make him aware of the possible side effects. And most importantly, I had to make him understand why he has to comply to all his medications.

For someone like me who even refused to take a pill when i have a headache, pain or a mild fever, I can easily understand how the man felt upon seeing those medications. To be bound to one medication is already a scare to some patients, what more to consume half a dozen of those coloured pills everyday after a course of hospitalisation.

It is really a daunting daily task, because for every pill that a patient is taking, it makes the person feels that he or she is aging 5 years older.