October was a really busy month for me.
the whole month I was having Paeds Attachment at Hospital Pulau Pinang, which means, i have to drive all the way from Seberang Perai to Penang Island EVERYDAY.
and i have to get up at 5 something in the morning, (yes, it's FIVE FREAKING SOMETHING, when even the sun is still sleeping, crazy? yea i know...), and leave the house around 6.30am, and drive all the way there.

however, i do get my rewards for waking up so early everyday.
and that is, the scenery on Penang Bridge at dawn.
it is soooooo beautiful that i can't even put it down in words.
everyday, the colour of the sky is different, mixture of blue, gray, purple etc.
and i love looking at the lights,
lights from the cars, red colour on the roads towards Penang Island, and yellow colour from the opposite side.
or lights from the buildings, or the bridge.
really, it acts as a mood booster for me everyday, cheers me up and gives me energy to go through the day.
it feels wonderful. <3

i usually reaches the hospital around 7.15am. then i'll go for breakfast, and kick start the day.
by the way, for those of you who don't understand what Paeds attachment is, it basically means i was posted to a specialty in dentistry, which specializes in providing dental care and treatment for those children who are medically compromised, and those who are very uncooperative who need extra special care(which means can't be handled in general dental settings).

Therefore, throughout the whole month there, I've seen a lot of patients who are unable to take care of themselves, including brushing their teeth, due to their condition.
Can u imagine, everyday their carers have to struggle so much, just to get them open their mouth so that they can brush their teeth? some parents even got their finger bitten during the process.
And every time, the parents have to bring them here for check up and review. how much time and effort do they need to put in? some even sitting on a wheelchair.
but still, they are more than willing to do so, and that, is the love of parents. and i always believed, it is the greatest love of all.
really hats off to them, those carers, they love the child no matter what.

Seeing them always make me feel how lucky I am, how lucky we all are.
being fit and healthy and able to function normally(including brushing our own teeth), is already the greatest blessing in life.
you will be surprised, how many of them, could not even do the simplest thing as such,
i used to think cancer patient are really rare, and it's only mentioned in textbooks for the sake of learning. gosh, now i know how wrong i was. they are more than u can imagine.
and it's really sad to see.
for example, i saw a 2 year old suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in ward, he is so small size and he has to go through all the pain and sufferings.
and even one case, when we wanted to go and review that patient in ward, we were told that the patient already passed away, due to his cancer. while just few days ago, we still saw him alive.
and that is when u realized, we really should not take life as granted.  

by the way, have u realized that i've been using the word 'carer' instead of 'parents' in paragraphs above? carer means anyone who is taking care of the patient.
and that is because of one small story.
one day, a girl was brought to Peads clinic by her teacher. She is totally blind, and her face is severely deformed(she was born that way), her parents dump her, she was brought up by drinking coffee only everyday, until her family left her in a 'centre'(where there is this group of people volunteered to take care of blind people). then she started to get proper food intake and grow much healthier.
i asked the teacher, 'can she understand what we say?' and she said, 'yes, u can talk to her, she can understand, she is such a smart girl'. and i see love in her eyes. and she is not even related to her in any way.
i feel so touched, they took such good care of a blind girl, took all the trouble to bring her for all the medical and dental check-ups, treat her as their own child, without the girl's family paying a single cent!
FAITH IN HUMANITY restored.
salute to those volunteers. they truly deserves our respect.

ok, back to what i was doing everyday.
in clinic, sometimes we met very uncooperative child, and usually we need 5-6 people to hold them still during the dental procedure. please do not underestimate how strong the child is, based on their age or weight. really, yesterday i was just holding a 4 year old girl's shoulders, others took care of her other parts, and after that i felt like i just finish weight lifting session in gym. or worst.
it may sound cruel to you, but we have no other choice. it was just to provide treatment for them.
good news is, we give balloons to them after the procedure. like a reward. haha.

if u asked me, what is the most memorable experience during my Paeds attachment?
the answer would be, hey, I was bullied by a 6 year old boy!
he is uncooperative, so we tried to give him oral sedation(a drug to make him feel sleepy) so he cant resist while we provide the treatment for him.
he was feeling dizzy but he refused to sleep. instead, he forced me to read out his storybook to him.
some more he demanded certain pages to be read in english, some in mandarin... LOL!
i was feeling embarassed, because we were in specialist's office that time.
at first i was hesitant, then he merajuk, insisted i read it out for him.
and he was toooooo cute for me to say no.
so that was the 1st time i tell a bed-time story to a kid.
funny thing is, his mom thinks it's cute and i saw her recording it. ohhh myyyy.... pls dont post in fb... i surely look so dumb. thank god i was wearing mask. i dont think anyone could recognize me. lol.
even though in the end he still didnt fall asleep, well, he wakes up during the procedure and started fighting. so we have to hold his body parts. lol.
but still, he is really very cute lah! <3
i started to miss him already.

through out the whole month there, i saw a lot of cute kids. they are so adorable...
i kinda love treating them and trying to persuade them to brush their teeth properly.
now i cant wait to have my own baby! hahaha!

overall, i really learnt a lot during this attachment.
my communication skills with patients has definitely improved(last time i was scared to treat kids).
it's time to leave and go bk to KPSJ.
such a mixed feeling again.
i thk i will miss... the Pg Bridge view, the cute kids, and the infection control over thr.
i wont miss the traffic jam part though.
such a relieved now i dont need to drive so far everyday anymore. some more everyday paying for tol. haha.

alright, let me pack my mixed feeling up, and back to normal clinic life.
at least, from now onwards, i can hv extra 1 hr sleep everyday. yay! =D