Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Today I went to my uncle's clinic at Mount Elizabeth Hospital Medical Centre to observe him at work. Nothing so exciting as major surgery of any kind; it was more of seeing him see his patients.
I was actually worried that I wouldn't be able to find his clinic. Thank goodness they have a sensible chart at the first level arranged according to specialisation, so I could find out that his clinic is on the 10th floor. It's actually the first clinic to be seen after coming out from the elevator.
He's a gynaecologist/obsetrician, so obviously all his patients were women, though not all were pregnant or trying to get pregnant, as I had thought they might be. Some have had menopause, others with menstrual problems, etc.
I think everyone who walked in wondered for about 5 seconds why there's this weird girl sitting beside the doctor and not doing anything but listening. There was actually a lady who looked like she worked there or something, since she had some sort of nametag/pass card on her; and she looked more at me than at my uncle when she entered, so I felt a little uncomfortable?
It wasn't that she was antagonistic or anything. At the beginning she said she wanted to ask him something in private. Just as well, after he did the checkup first, I asked him if I could be excused to the toilet, so he told me to go and only re-enter the room when he called me.
I had to go for lunch all by my lonely self. At first I confess I imagined I'd be eating in the hospital, but instead I was directed to Lucky Plaza. It was really crowded, since it's the lunch hour, but thankfully I was able to find a seat and eat my chicken rice :D
For two of the patients, I was allowed to write names on the glass slides with the pap smears! I know it sounds like a cheap thrill, but at least I got to do it, okay.
I learned a bit of how they estimate the foetus' weight by measuring the head, abdomen and leg, and a bit about how fat people have it better for osteoporosis, and that it takes about 5 months to know the baby's sex, I think.
Mummy was able to fetch me home after picking Yan up from her violin lesson. I was waiting at the bus stop, and behind me were two girls talking in Korean, from what I heard. Then they came up to me and asked, "Excuse me, do you speak Chinese?"
I think I just stared at them, and wondered if I'd heard wrongly. They said they wanted to interview me for their mission for school, in Chinese. The moment she spoke Chinese I understood that they must be Korean students practicing their Chinese in Singapore, and it must be some assignment of theirs.
They were really simple Chinese questions, like "How old are you this year?", "Where are you going now?" After the few questions, I said, "You're Korean, right?" And they affirmed it. I realised only too late that I should have asked if they know DBSK or Super Junior. Just to see if they're fans!
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
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