My Work Diary

Last Thursday and Friday I was at Alexandra Hospital.. Had my job attachment there in the rehabilitation department. Hehe.. Here it is:

Day 1

We started off by meeting up at Redhill MRT before leaving for Alexandra Hospital (AH). I was quite excited about it, as it was my first time going to a hospital to learn what the professionals do.

Upon reaching the hospital, we were given employment application forms to fill, spent about an hour to settle all the administrative procedures before we set off for the rehabilitation department. We were given name tags each, but we’ll have to return them once our job attachment is over.

The head of rehabilitation split us in groups of 2 for different sections of rehabilitation therapy. Xiu Yi and I were sent to the physiotherapy section, where we had a therapist each to follow.

I was quite disappointed at first when I saw the therapist, whom everyone calls Cong Cong. I found him to be a little reserved, and he seemed a little busy to attend to me. But as I asked him questions, he began to open up little by little, telling me a lot of things regarding physiotherapy that I have never known.

It was quite a busy morning for him and Gregory (Xiu Yi’s mentor), thus he couldn’t attend to me and left me with Xiu Yi at the consultation tables. Poor Cong Cong and Gregory, they had to take turns to attend to us and explain some biology behind the different therapy techniques they used. They had machines like those you find in gymnasiums, gym balls, shock wave machines and more. We were given explanations on how it works. Certainly amazing on how advanced our technologies are!

In the late morning when there were less people, Gregory came to talk to us about functions of muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones. Also about sprains and fractures, how these causes swelling. Then Cong Cong came to follow up on what Gregory said while he went to attend to other patients. As I had a sprain too, on my little finger on my left hand, so bad that I couldn’t even bend it properly. Cong Cong examined my finger and suggested we try out some therapy. Xiu Yi and I were quite excited, for we didn’t expect to try out therapy itself.

Cong Cong brought us to this cubicle where there is this big metal tub containing warm liquid wax. He asked me to dip my little finger inside and then take out, wait for the wax to dry. This was repeated a few times to thicken the wax. Then while it was still warm, he took a special piece of paper to wrap my hand up, and then proceeded to wrap my hand up again with a towel to keep the wax warm.

We were curious what the function of the wax is, and Cong Cong told us that the warm wax helps to circulate the blood in my finger. After about 15 minutes, we took the wax out and did some finger exercises. He took 2 rubber bands and hooked them on my little finger, telling me to pull against the strain of the rubber band. I did it a few times, and to my surprise, my finger could bend all the way this time! The swelling was still there, but it was definitely better. Xiu Yi and I were quite amazed, that even such simple exercises are so useful in physiotherapy.

We had lunch at the cafeteria in the hospital. The food is quite delicious. The stallholder was quite friendly too. I was rather happy about it because I noticed that everyone in AH is very amiable.

After lunch we were stationed at the Sports Medicine department, where people come here for therapy when injured that causes them to be unable to function at their maximum potential at sports or at work. There is a gym too, with more equipment to aid in the therapy.

There were not many patients that show up in the early afternoon, so we went to try out some gym equipment and watch some patients undergoing therapy. Cong Cong then decided that we shall try out ultrasound, and it is on me, again! Initially I thought ultrasound is to scan for foetus in a woman’s womb. Cong Cong said that is not ultrasound, but diagnostic ultrasound instead. Ultrasound is just using sonic waves to penetrate to the part of injury, where it’s said to help the swell go down.

He applied this sweet-smelling gel on me called Fastum (and if I didn’t remember wrongly, it is to tighten the ligaments) and put some other gel on the electrode (I assume this is what it is called) from the ultrasound machine. The gel on the electrode is used to spread the waves evenly on the part of my finger for therapy. I was quite afraid that it would hurt, but I didn’t feel anything, at most only a tingling sensation.

Next Xiu Yi and me went off with a nurse to try out EF. I didn’t want to be the guinea pig again so this time Xiu Yi tried it. The machine was very complicated, and all I could say is that it made Xiu Yi’s leg hurt to quite an extent. It causes muscles to contract and thus making her leg jerk. It looked scary, for she seemed almost really in pain in midst of her laughter.

Soon it was almost time to leave the hospital, and we went back to the physiotherapy department to try out some other simple equipment, and went home happily after a fun-packed, exciting and fruitful day!


Day 2

Today was not as exciting as yesterday, but I cannot deny that I have learnt much! The day started off with Xiu Yi and I observing the Occupational Therapists. Jane Sim was the woman who attended to us, and she definitely is very skilled and informative regarding her area of work.

I learnt that occupational therapy comes into play when people are unable to resume their work concerning their occupation. Jane cited 2 interesting examples: 1. Babies’ occupation is to eat and grow. If they’re unable to do that, which is especially crucial for premature babies, the occupational therapists will then carry out therapy for the babies so they’ll eat and grow like other normal and healthy babies. 2. Old people too, have an occupation, which is to be able to dress themselves and move about on their own. If they’re unable to do so, occupational therapists can also help them by giving them certain exercises too.

We saw new machines this time, and these machines have different gadgets that require the patients to exercise the muscles that are not functioning well. What we see in occupational therapy is gorier than physiotherapy and sports therapy. In occupational therapy, people with all sorts of wounds come in to seek treatment. Some of them have their injuries so bad that they feel nauseous and want to faint. It is quite a terrible sight. The therapists had to peel off the scab for some of them because the scab is so thick that it will hinder their skin growth. Pulling off the scab is quite a painful process, and we can see the patients’ face skewer in disgust as they see blood spilling from their wounds. Seriously, untying a bandage and bandaging a wound isn’t as easy as I thought after all. There are many procedures to it to prevent infection of the wound. It was a real eye-opener!

Most of the patients that came in the morning had similar hand or finger injuries. Xiu Yi and I noticed that most of them are Indians too. We really felt sympathy for them because most of them probably suffered these injuries from hard labour, and it is not really fair that they have to work as labourers because it is not their fault that they are deprived of proper education. But we were glad to see that they will be receiving good treatment from the hospital, hoping their recovery would be fast.

Jane also demonstrated to us how splints are made, to suit the sizes of the different patients that came for treatment. Soon, more and more people came to seek help for their injuries, Jane and her colleague Kok Yeow couldn’t attend to us much anymore. So we were let off for lunch.

In the afternoon, we were brought by another physiotherapist named Wen Jing to visit the inpatients. Most of them are quite old, about 60 years and above. Mainly suffered from stroke and bone fractures, causing immobility problems. Wen Jing was very patient, explaining to us why certain things are done in a weird fashion. We learnt a lot of things too, like how to handle the patients as we might accidentally cause their fracture to be worse.

There was this old man with a bad temper, and he kept insisting that all of us leave him alone and not carry out the therapy. Wen Jing tried to talk through to him but he was quite stubborn, so we had no choice but to leave and attend to another patient.

Next, we visited this old woman who suffered from a hipbone fracture (if I didn’t remember wrongly). She was rather adorable, as Xiu Yi and I pretend to be her granddaughters visiting her. She was a little confused, as according to her, she has a lot of grandchildren. She kept trying to guess if we were really her grandchildren, while the therapy was being carried out. She was just like a kid, wanting people to coax her and pat her, to make her feel loved and concerned. At the end of the therapy, she then decided that we are not her grandchildren, just because we don’t look like her son! We all were very amused, and went on to visit a few more patients.

There was this patient whom I feel that has the biggest impact on me. Unlike the others, he is very keen on doing the therapy and all, hoping to get well fast. Wen Jing said that although this patient is doing the exercises the wrong way, she admires his motivation to survive. We chatted with him as he does his exercises, and found out that none of his family members actually visits him. We were quite shocked and felt sympathy for him, for he’s such a nice old man with a very good attitude, yet he doesn’t have his family members to show concern and provide emotional support for him. He certainly earned our respect.

After a day’s observations, I learnt that other than having all the knowledge, a therapist must be equipped with many different languages too. Many of the patients are old people, so Wen Jing has to know quite a lot of dialects, like Hokkien, Guangdong, Cantonese and even some Malay. Lucky for her, she has a helper at this, or else she’ll have difficulty communicating with her patients. Also, I learnt that a therapist must have very good physical strength too. Some of the patients we visited suffered from stroke, and have difficulty moving about. So Wen Jing and the helper had to aid the patients in moving by holding on to their pants of shirts and tugging at them. It is definitely not an easy job, but Wen Jing’s spirit inspired me to consider rehabilitation as a profession for my future.

Our attachment thus ended, and we presented our little tokens of appreciation to the head of rehabilitation department. It was definitely a very enriching experience, and I eagerly hope that I will have another chance to come back and help in the hospital in one way or another.

Yay.. Finally back from Indonesia! Went back to visit my relatives over there last Saturday, and saw a lot of stuff! We lived with our grandma (my dad’s mum), my big aunt and 3rd aunt, and my cousin. Oh, not forgetting the two ferocious dogs sleeping at the ground floor. Really ferocious! My dad was so kind to bring them out for a walk, and one of them bit my dad! Thank God they’ve got no rabies.. Anyway, my grandma’s house is FIVE storeys high! Goodness gracious. The ground floor is the shop, selling things like paint, spray, tiles and all that. The kitchen is in the ground floor too. Then the 2nd floor is where we have our living room, many bedrooms, about 3 or 4 toilets.. Very big.. Gosh. The first time I got there I got confused with the rooms.. Haha. The 3rd floor is where we have our yard to sun clothes, grow plants, play table tennis and used as a storeroom too. As for the last 2 storeys, they’re used to.. Breed SWALLOWS!! Yeah.. Swallows fly in, live in there, and that’s where we get all the bird’s nest.. Ok, don’t look so shock.. Breeding swallows is a common thing at the town where my grandma’s house reside.. Oh, that’s not all. They had another empty house just behind the one we’re living in.. It’s used to store goods and.. Yes. Breed swallows again! And THAT’S NOT ALL.. They have another house in God-knows-where-in-which-part-of-Indonesia.. Meant for breeding swallows too.. Gosh. I heard that these fetch a lot of money.. *envious* They’re so rich, we ate a lot of shark’s fin (I didn’t want to eat.. So bad to eat endangered animals! But later we found out that there’s no shark’s fin in it.. Darn. Got cheated. So I ate lor.) and bird’s nest..

Anyway, I must say I had an exciting time there! Ok, not that exciting for the 1st two days. When I got there, I was so tired that I slept throughout those 2 days! Only woke up to bathe and eat meals and memorise my scores (Yes, I actually brought my choir scores there to practise!! Hee.) Well, partly my dad’s fault, because he kept going out to visit his old friends, leaving his poor wife and kids at home staring at the gigantic house.. Made me feel like a pig. Bleah. While at home, I spent some time looking through my dad’s old photographs too. According to my big aunt, my dad had red hair last time (so it was true after all) and that he was very famous in their little town.. Haha. Surprising sia. But I must say, my dad looked very ugly last time. His hair was long to his shoulders, and permed!! Yeah, he’s vain. So were his efforts in making himself fashionable-looking. Feel sad for myself. No wonder I’m so ugly. Haha.

The 3rd day was slightly more exciting. My dad brought us to see a lot of things. The first place we visited was the pig farm. My dad used to work there! Haha. So old.. And smelly too! But it was real fun, because you won’t get to see these in Singapore. The pigs are enormous! They’re at least twice my size! Goodness gracious.. Don’t think you can find such big and fat pigs in Singapore! Oh, but not to forget the piglets.. They’re real small and adorable.. We went to my dad’s friend’s house.. He grew a lot of plants, like cocoa trees, papaya trees, mango trees, coconut trees, yada yada. He has a well at the back of his house too! Real clean water.. Wah.. But the place is damn old and full of rubbish.. Yeah cos they don’t take care of their property lah. Wasted. Anyway, I realised that most people there like to give birth to a lot a lot of kids despite their poverty. After that we went out to this fish farm for lunch. They breed fish that looks like koi.. Yeah and they became our lunch by different cooking methods like barbecue and frying.. Can you imagine? Eating koi-like fish?! Anyway, it’s quite a pretty sight especially when you see the fish flock together in the pond, fighting for food. Haha. They sure do make quite a splash!! That night my 4th uncle (my cousin’s dad) came back from another town, bringing a lot of lobsters back for dinner! What a feast! Those lobsters are big and fresh and cheap, I really felt pampered there, no wonder I’ve grown so fat over these past week!! Not only that, we had a lot of fruits like durian, rambutan, mango and all that. All good quality fruits! Hee.

The 4th day, my uncle brought us to Parapat (which is where Lake Toba is..) and we stayed over there for a night. My grandma, cousin and my cousin’s boyfriend came along too. Most of the better hotels are booked, so we had to put up at a lousy hotel near the lake. The first thing we did was dump our bags and set of for the lake! My uncle was real cool, he brought us to ride on jetski (or that’s what they call it). I don’t know what it is really called, but it’s like a scooter on water that requires motor to start it and it goes very, very fast, splashing a lot of water.. Haha. My dad and I shared one, my brother and uncle shared another one, my cousin and her boyfriend shared one too. It was real fun, I got to steer the thing myself! Hee. And I went very very far across the lake, riding the waves. It was a little scary at first, but once I got used to it, I sped very very far off from where we were at first, sight-seeing along the way. Ah!! Real exciting!! Well, not everyone in Singapore gets to try such things you know.. Plus, there’s no lake in Singapore.. Haha. Oh. Not to forget a scary thing. My cousin’s boyfriend saw a ghost in the guy’s room, kept disturbing him.. No wonder the 2 rooms in that lousy hotel were vacant..

We took a boat ride to another part of the lake the next day. Parapat is really cold.. Crossing the lake practically froze us to death.. Haha. Nevertheless, it’s still quite memorable. The place is really scenic.. Hm.. And based on my observations, I suspect the mountains are fold mountains.. Haha. After that we went back to my grandma’s house which took another few hours’ car ride back..

The 6th day, we packed up and went to stay at a hotel at medan near the airport. Took us another few hours’ ride again. Did nothing but slept in the car throughout the ride. Got to the hotel, slept again. Dinner was sumptuous though. What we had for dinner: Frog meat, fish, crabs, bird meat (yeah sounds gross but it’s edible and amazingly delicious!), chicken drumsticks, vegetables, cockles.. Don’t think I missed anything out.. Hm. Lime juice? Haha. Anyway the amount we eat is scary.. I better go play basketball these few days before I leave again..

Ah. What an experience. But I don’t think I’ll ever want to live there for long. It’s quite scary how the robbers and thieves thrive there like the flies in the city.. And the place is forever so dirty, with nobody bothering about hygiene.. And gosh, my uncle and the drivers that drove us around smokes a lot. Darn I couldn’t stand it, the smoke caused me to sneeze day in day out. Passive smoker you know! Poor me. And the vehicles.. Sigh. They should really consider installing catalytic converters in their cars or use unleaded petrol. But again, who am I to tell them what to do?

Hohoho.. Haven't been doing much to my blog for a long long time man.. Hope those taking A levels and O levels are doing fine.. *Heard the A level papers are mad.. Except for Math paper. Haha.*

Hm.. Been busy with many things lately, planning for the future ahead.. (Haha. My little secret. Maybe can ask me. "Ask and ye shall get the answer".. Depends on who's asking too. Haha. Bribe me?) Actually I don't really see any bright future ahead la.. But I trust in the Lord and the plans he has for me will definitely be amazing man.. Though life now is full of uncertainties and boundless surprises, I have a great bunch of friends with me.. Ah.. *ThAnKfUl* Wanna hereby thank God for giving me such a great family.. Hehe. (Especially to Ah Ma a.k.a. CS, Daddy a.k.a. YX, Mummy a.k.a. MC, Er Gu a.k.a. Clare, Xiao Gu a.k.a. Chit Eng, Cousin a.k.a. cousin, and not forgetting Uncle a.k.a. Daniel.. Hee. Those I didnt mention don't need to feel inferior, cos such things are meant to be said in the heart.. No need to say out de actually..)

TJChoir'll be going on a trip to Europe.. Hee I'm really SOOO excited about it!! All my wives and concubines will be there, except for Dimpy. Aw. So sad. But it's ok, I'm still anticipating it! Can't wait to feel the Christmas season over there! I'll be very very broke.. So I guess I won't get to spend much.. Must even bring MINERAL WATER there because the tap water there cannot be used, and their mineral water is quite ex.. It's ok.. It's good to save money isn't it? Haha. BUT. We must NEVER, EVER save money on.. ICE CREAM!!! Hee. I'm gonna bring my laopos and concubines to eat ice cream! But they'll pay for it themselves.. Haha. Oh. Overly excited. Xing xiang xing xiang. I really really miss eating ice cream there and BOING.. Haha. NOSTALGIC YI XIA. Ooh.. Excitement in the air. Can anyone feel it? I'm gonna start packing for the trip le.. Yeah! Anyway, just wanna tell ahschoir UN members that I miss boing with you all.. And that we'll get to hold our UN meetings again soon! Haha.

Take care guys! ;)