Kettering Hotel Randesvous

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a talk on 'Reducing multiple cardiovascular risk through obesity management' at the Kettering Hotel. The talk was organised by Orlistat, and was attended by hospital doctors, medical students, GPs, dieticians and various members of the multi-disciplinary team that make up the hospital staff. The talk was presented by my current endocrinology consultant, Dr K. Rizvi. Like me, he also did his medical degree at the University Hospital of Cardiff, Wales.

Overall, the evening was excellent. Dr Rizvi's talk was pitched just right and was interesting throughout. I'm sure all the attendees felt the same.

The highlight of the evening however, was the dinner. It was a full three course meal - the starter was a salad with grilled cheese, pasta as the main course and the dessert was raspberry cheesecake with clotted cream. The coffee afterwards was just heavenly.






Dr Rizvi delivering his talk




After the talk we were exploring the hotel and taking pictures at opportune moments.


Dinner




The starter was grilled cheese salad




Anand and our organiser


Suboohi and Hanna

The other side of the story...

I had been looking forward to the talk last night for days before - the talk was scheduled at 7pm, and I was planning to stay at the hospital accommodation overnight. That meant after work I would have a full 2 hours to spend with my friends before the actual talk, and if the talk finished early - maybe, just maybe we could all go somewhere e.g. for a meal or the cinema I was hoping.

To my utmost disappointment when I arrived at work yesterday morning, everyone's mood was just "bleah" (translation: cannot be bothered) about the talk. In fact, by 5pm they even managed to drown my enthusiasm in their moat of indifference. One or two of us even decided not to go.

Suboohi was kind enough, and invited the team to her flat for tea and a light meal before we actually head for the Hotel. Tea at Suboohi's house was wonderful, but what I enjoyed most was the conversations I had with her husband Bilal.

My friends dragged themselves to the talk with heavy hearts - and I bet they didn't regret it as the evening was beyond legendary.

The talk and food was superb - but the best thing to me, was the time we spent laughing and making jokes at the dinner table - and that was *only* with three members of our team. Imagine if we had full attendance - the evening would have been phenomenal.

The icing on the cake was, literally and metaphorically, free.

PS
I've also updated my Fotopages.

Althorp Night Out

On Thursday night, my team at work arranged for a night out as some members of the team are leaving next week.

Right after work we drove to a retail park around 15 minutes away from the hospital. There's a movie theatre and several restaurants around the area - ideal for a night out.

(Illuminated buildings are so incandescent at dawn)

As was pre-planned, we all agreed to watch the latest movie - 300 together at the Odeon cinema. We bought tickets for the luxury seats, lots of popcorn and coke and all of us truly enjoyed the movie. The movie itself was really excellent, I can't wait to get it on Bluray.

Afterwards, we went for a meal at the Indian restaurant nearby.


My friend is fascinating to watch when he's talking - he's becomes so animated.



Ordering our dinner

Above is our order

It has been an excellent team - it's a pity we have to say goodbye to a few members.

Althorp Ward

Before you guys read any further, I'd be honoured if you guys wouldn't mind jumping over to my fotopages to see the edited version of these photos. Thank you. They are much better than these Picasa processed ones.

I haven't updated for a while, so let me reveal that I am currently working in endocrinology, now as a senior senior house officer (SSHO).

Yup, it seems that the hospital I work in has seen it fit to promote me to a more senior level despite in my opinion that there are so many other superior candidates there. I've heard the rumours several days before I was actually officially informed - and I was quick to the rumours as impossible. I was EXTREMELY shocked when the clinical director stopped me along the ward corridor to offer the promotion. I humbly accepted. I've now worked as a senior for around 2 months. Initially I didn't post about it on this blog as I myself couldn't believe everything and it has taken all this while for it to sink in.

Honestly, being a senior does change many things. There are slightly more responsibilities, and there are many more opportunities to do the "fun things" during oncalls (my first night oncalls as a senior SHO we had to insert a cardiac pacemaker - a process that took 6 hours! It was darn exciting).


That's the explanation why my return to Malaysia has been slightly delayed - but just for several months. I am definitely, absolutely, positively going back to Malaysia very, very soon - frighteningly soon, in fact. My parents seemed to encourage me to gain experience training in a more senior post.


Anyway, I am so happy to be working in my current ward. My colleagues are absolutely amazing to work with - the nurses and doctors are all hardworking and friendly. The ward is extremely efficient and our consultants are cool & very supportive. It really is a great team - it probably is one of the best wards I've worked in so far.


All the pictures above were taken today in my ward. The first few pictures are the doctors having what we call "journal club", which is a code we utilise to indicate "having a break for tea or coffee while occasionally discussing medical matters".

The first four pictures are of the other doctors in my team, the second last picture is of some of the nurses. The last picture is of the ward, my favourite ward Sister and our House Officer.

PS
Remember, better pictures on my Fotopages.

The Cardiology Team

It has been such a long while since I've last updated the blog that it doesn't feel second nature anymore logging in to my account! Anyway, this time I just would like to share with you guys some pictures of my current cardiology team. By the end of this month, some of us will be staying and most of us are leaving. It just so happened that this week most of us in the team were present for work that I thought it'd be a good photo opportunity to remind me of the great team I've had the pleasure of working with these past couple of months in Cardiology.

Above is some of the team members but by far not all of us. Many are not in the picture due to (a) religious reasons - apparently some people do not believe in their pictures being taken (b) some of us were on annual leave (c) some were oncall.

This is one of my registrar - and also a great friend. I have absolutely learnt A LOT of cardiology and medicine from all the discussions we've had. He is extremely dedicated, helpful and supportive to all of us juniors and I wish him all the best in his future career in cardiology. I couldn't have wished for a better senior.



Above two are some of my best friends in cardiology. Together, we've ploughed through good times and especially the worst of times sorting out various difficult situations all that funnily seems not that terrible in retrospect.


In the background is our extremely organised ward clerk. Thanks to her the notes are all well organised and streamlined. This spot seems to be our favourite for various discussions - probably due to the strategic proximity to the x-ray viewing box.


Didn't I say this spot is our favourite for discussions? Above are our two registrars - our seniors if you will - engaging in heated discussion regarding patient management. Seriously, both our seniors are absolutely excellent & supportive. Darn intelligent too, both of them.



No medical team is complete without caring and hardworking nurses - and above are ours. Top picture shows our nurses in what is called "barrier nursing", measures we take to prevent cross infection between patients - a rampant problem in hospitals nowadays. The picture below is a nurse diligently preparing an intravenous medication.


This is our house officer - the youngest in our team. Despite fresh from medical school, our house officer is extremely efficient, hardworking, earnest and quite knowledgeable too.


Above is our (messy) doctor's station - the tiny desk we all share, complete with a computer terminal for checking blood results, x-ray films and write referrals.

Yes, it has been an educational, fun yet sometimes hairy past couple of months - it's difficult to think that 6 months in cardiology has come and gone so quickly. I've been blessed with an excellent team; from the consultants right down to the house officers - that most of the working days have been tolerable at worst.

Here's to our cardiology team!

Dinner with the Cardiology Team

Tonight, the cardiology team from my hospital gathered for a farewell dinner party to some of our colleagues leaving for other jobs in December. The dinner was held in Lee Gardens, a Malaysian Chinese restaurant quite near the hospital where we work.

For starters I had Japanese style king prawns.

Ordering dinner. Above are all the male doctors in my team.

Nurses of Harrowden Ward.

Digging in. Senior nurses from the ward.

Friendly chatter.



My fortune cookie read, "Two heads are better than one so are two hands on the wheel", just when I was about to make the 1 hour drive back to Coventry on a rainy night at 1030pm!

More here: My Picasa Web Album