Dissecting a Frog =D

No one's been writing in this blog for a while now... and I'm bored ... so anways, today I dissected a frog in Science class and it was really cool. We got to cut it up and see all the little organs and stuff. The preservative they used smelled like the Tofu Dessert that Adhi likes after it's been left out for like, ten years, it wasn't that bad though, not as bad as I've heard it to be. So, that's all I got and now I'm bored again so I'm probably gonna do my Religion CPT D=

My weekend away

Haven't updated the blog in a while....so I will today while there are some time to kill.

My 2nd week in ICU is getting better, things are going well. I'm not getting grilled by the staff as much as before, so everything is actually going quite well.

Here's the highlight of the week though: I have NO rice!! T_T there's no more regular rice :( I still have some Uncle Ben's though so that's allright...should last me until next weekend =) 

@Iyan: how was the Christmas concert??? What songs did you guys play?? any videos/pictures?

@Mom and Dad: Thanks for the transfer!! I hope it's OK that I'm keeping the car over here until next weekend

I broke my phone yesterday!!! :'( now it just freezes when I try to turn it on....and now I'm on the hunt for a new one :( .....no I didn't break it on purpose!! Come to think about it though...this phone has been used for 4+ years, I'm thinking around 5 years actually so I guess it was bound to retire sometime, unfortunately. 

OK, that's all the stories I have...everything has been very routine. 

@Everyone: WHAT ARE YOU ALL UP TO?????

Supper Encounter

I met this lady on Friday. She was selling her commercial freezer because her business closed down. It's called Supper Encounter, a place where moms can come and cook without the trouble of doing the preparation or the cleaning. Apparently it was a good business in the US. But this lady opened just before recession hit, also I guess there was not enough promotion, that she has to close down only after a year or so. She said she spent her life saving, about 200K, on the business! What a pity!
It makes me realize (again!) how much blessings God has poured upon our Lunch Lady. The fact that the business is doing well and also that He always provide me with the helps I need.

Just last Tuesday my 'assistant' cook quit. This job (and working with me :-( is too stressful for him. I didn't like him anyway, he is too slow. It so happened that one of my previous employees called about 2 weeks ago to ask me if it's ok for him to use my name as his reference. (All this time I thought he already got a job as Malou has told me so). So on Wed I called this Albert guy and what a coincidence, he was going to take his final exam on Saturday and after that he is avaialable at least until he got a permanent job which could take a while. So now I have Albert helping me in the kitchen (he used to do delivery only), he started on Friday, and he is good! He is fast and smart. That's so much relief for me. God is good and His timing is perfect!

My sense of familiarity

Before anything else, I found an extra hour of sleep today! I think it's the one we lost sometime last Spring :D I put it to good use indeed....an extra hour of sleep is SO effective in improving one's day hahah

Anyhow, I went to church yesterday, they had a 5:00 pm mass here and the priest was from New Brunswick! He said he was from Acadia so he had a bit of a French accent, anyhow when he introduced himself I remembered our trip to the East Coast and how the Acadian flag kinda looks like the Filipino flag (I think...). By the way, the choir for the 5:00 pm mass was just like the Bosses who sing at the 5:00 pm mass at St. Josephine Bakhita...imagine that lol the choir had a bass guitar, acoustic guitar, and a group of singers...who actually are pretty good! They had melody/counter-melody thing going on....it was pretty impressive I have to say. The Psalm was said though, not sung =(

Aanyway, while the priest made a pretty good homily..he was talking about how we have to be strong and stand our ground even in a secular culture that is the norm these days. He made a few jokes that it's easy for him to say a prayer before eating at a restaurant because he's always got the collar on and thus, people expect him to say something...but for us...it takes courage to do so. In an analogy, he said something like: we know the final chapter and that is we win...if our life was like a movie, the Bible spoiled the happy ending, but we still don't know the action, horrors, sadness, and joys that stand between the present and the end of times...and thus, stay strong and be courageous because we know the end of the movie. As a final statement, he quoted the letter from St. Paul to the Philippians, "I can do everything, through Christ who strengthens me."  I thought that homily was very inspirational to say the least...there were other things he said to make it even better, but I forgot how everything kinda fit =P 

So when leaving the church, I realized that one of the great things about going to Church is that it gives us a sense of familiarity with home and the family, wherever we may be. Partly it's because the priests tend to do same things during Mass - as they should, but even more so because going to Mass remind us (at least for me) that we belong to a family that is much bigger than our own families and going to Church is like going home all over again...where we get resupplied with stuff, whether it be for the mind or body.

Even though I didn't go home this weekend, I still felt very much at home when I went to Church. Honestly, when I went in, I felt "Gahh finally!"...and when I walked out, feels akin to the that feeling you get when you're just getting out of the shower: refreshed and ready to start the day. 

K that's all I got...gotta run out for groceries again sometime soon x_x I used up all my maling and about half a bag of Shells pasta =_='' still got half an apple pie though =P

My Grocery List

Okay...today's lesson: I am really bad at shopping for "essentials-only" groceries! I went out this morning to get some milk. I came back with an apple pie, a bag of raisin bread, 3 bags of PC Chips, and a bottle of Pasta sauce!! oh and a box of Milk too...

oh and Mom, Fortino's does the 50% off thing too, the apple pie was 50% off =P so it was $4.98 for those big ones that we usually buy hehe

So breakfast for today: raisin bread with peanut butter....yes it was toasted, i felt like frying it with egg actually to make French toast, but there's no brown sugar so....anyhoo, breakfast time!

TGIF!

FINALLY! it's Friday!!!! I feel like I have been undersleeping for the whole week! 

This weekend will be the first weekend that I'm staying in Hamilton...and I gotta say I'm gnna miss the hockey games =[ buuuuut, my days in the OR have been hit-and-miss, my preceptor even said that I'm still working rather slow. See in the OR, as Anesthesiologist Assistants, we have to do checkouts on the Anesthetic Gas Machines (AGMs). At St. Joe's, there are 14 OR suites (therefore 14 AGM machines), we have 1 hour to do them all. This guy is so specific in what he does and how he does it (I think he has been an RT for too long to deal with some new student who is coming up with his own version of how to do the checkouts)...so anywho, in order to do 14 machines in under an hour, we have just over 4 minutes on each machine. First of all, he says he starts at 0600, but I would come in at 0625 and he'd still be changing, so that brings our time down to about 40 minutes. so now we have under 3 minutes per machine!! So I try to work as fast as I can, and I got 2 of them done in 10 minutes today....and that's still too slow for him!!! 

Anyhow, next week I'm expecting to do some intubations...which is when we put a breathing tube down someone's trachea. Some people are harder than others of course, so hopefully I'll get them done...I need 10 like the ABGs...this is kinda hard b/c the medical AND anesthesia residents want to learn how to do them too...so it's going to b a frenzy that could turn into a bloodbath if the preceptors don't take care of us properly haha

I ate the soup tonight....they were goooooood meat =P and had a lot of bawang goreng to go with it too! so good dinner tonight hahah tomorrow...it looks i'm back to Pasta, Spam, and beans...It'll b time to restock on groceries soon, and that means seeing what's on sale at Fortino's...considering there's a sale on Haagen Dazs ice cream bars there, you all can imagine wat my meals will be made up of =P oh and what's the cake for this weekend? I might run out and get some tomorrow....

newly found indian/pakistani restaurant

so we bought some foods from this indian/pakistan/hakka chinese take out today based on a friend's recommendation. it's in the same complex with the srilankan one that we patronized last week. it's $5.99 for this huge pile of biryanni rice plus any 2 curries (they have like 4 veg curries, 4 different chicken curries and some meat curries). the naan was huge at $1.25 and it is very good. they gave us samples of their fried fish and malai chicken (kebab), delicious! next time i'll buy these. well, that's the closest to nasi rames we can get here I guess.

My Baby CPR

So....I'm back in Hamilton again.

Today was a day spent in Toronto and it started off pretty weird...the GO train had some pretty weird track problems that delayed us for a good 15 minutes. But I made it for class only about 10 minutes late so it was alright in the end.

The Neonatal Resuscitation Program went okay, I had to re-do one part of the test once, but then everything went okay and we had to do a practical exam and that went okay as well. So everything is a-ok from hamilton =)

Tomorrow will be another OR day...I wrote up 6+ pages of notes today...worked from when I came back from Toronto (around 3) all the way to about 9 30...then showered.

Oh for dinner....I still had some Kimchi noodles...tomorrow will be roast pork....for lunch =P and soup for dinner hahahah

Aanyhwow, I'm going to get to sleep now, the bus will come at 5 45 sharp tomorrow...i am looking forward to it a little, I guess.

My Ray of Hope

I'm in my ICU Rotation this week...and that means there are only about 16 patients to take care of and we have to make sure they're doing OK every 4 hours...so 6x a day....it has been the best rotation YET!

 

My instructors this time are really patient with me...but the credit also goes to the rather impatient preceptors because if it weren't for them, I probably would still be very slow and seemingly-incompetent at what I do =P Today, my instructor allowed to draw a blood gas sample on my own...he wasn't even there to watch me. This isn't the one where you have to poke someone in the wrist though, there's already a catheter in their wrist and all you gotta do is draw blood from it...there are no needles involved. So it's relatively easier from a practical point of view, but equally dangerous from the patient's point of view. I feel that my instructors have more confidence in me and I feel like what I'm doing is actually doing some good for other people...feels prety good

 

The other housemates are getting ready to go to a party right now...there's a Halloween party at the school club in McMaster...No I'm not going, I'm working tomorrow and I'm not ever going to show up hungover...EVER!

 

Anyhow, the ICU is where the sickest patients go....and there's nothing much happening, yet the days are going by faster and faster...My days now usually start off with receiving report from the Night shift at 0630, then checking my patient's Chest X-Rays, blood work, and ventilation parameters. At 0730 I would be in the Unit reading over charts and thinking of how to tackle the day's workload...then at 0800, the staff RTs will arrive in the Unit and I can start implementing any ventilation changes, suctioning, and giving puffers. At around 0900, the Medical residents start their rounds and this can go up to 1200 at least...they spend about 30-45 minutes/patient...for ~15 patients...so yeah it takes a while to finish.

 

Anyhow, I'm gnna do some readings before I go to bed tonight, See y'all tomorrow! To Joshua, Melina, and Dad.....HOCKEY ON SATURDAY!!!!

 

 

We got the platinum award, again!

well boys (adhi and iman),

I'm proud to let you know that our Lunch Lady franchise got the platinum award again this year. (that's for highest sales).
Well, actually this other franchisee in Ottawa has higher sales than ours, but the HO has not come up with a new standard so they are still using the old one and as such we are still qualified as platinum award receiver, ha...ha... Maybe next year they will do a Double Platinum Award for the ottawa guy :-)

We also got the School Participation Award and a Chatty Cathy award for me (that's for being one who wrote sharpest complaints thru emails or something like that according to your dad. ). :-(

We'll celebrate next weekend along with Dad's birthday at Momiji?? That's a good excuse to celebrate, isn't it


mom

My Bad Ending

Another Code Blue today.....at 1800...one hour before my shift ended...

There were probably 20-30 responding to the Code and we tried CPR for about 15 minutes, but the patient was declared dead...the lady went for about 15 minutes being really pale and stuff....and it smelled bad in there and I had to do 2 of the gazillion cycles of chest compressions...i think it was a pretty traumatic death though...i mean we suctioned up bright blood during intubation and that means she probably has a broken rub or sternum from the chest compressions....if they do an autopsy they'll know what happened exactly. I didn't even find out the patient's name...just where she spent her last days

anyway, that's my update so far..

My first Code Blue (For real this time)

So today.....I actually responded to a Code Blue....

My preceptor and I were on our way to check on some ICU patients when all of a sudden the PA voiced: Code Blue, CT Room, Tower Level 0......Code Blue, CT Room, Tower Level 0. We were with another preceptor-student pair at that time and decided that I will go to this Code since the other student is almost done her year and figured I needed to see this more than she. So we ran down 2 flights of stairs, through the hallway, and finally went into the CT Room. uhmmm I have to say at this time, I was excited (don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing) but I was running then I realized I'm going faster than my preceptor...So I slowed down a bit and turned around, she said "Don't wait for me! Go to the bedside, get to the head and get a Bag going!" So I ran in.

When I entered, a doctor was already "manually ventilating" (aka bagging) the patient and CPR was underway. So I found the Code Blue cart and began digging around for intubation equipment. I turned around and saw that there was already a Laryngoscope on the bed so I figured someone already had all the intubation equipment ready...this was not the case. My preceptor soon came into the room and I told her, "Should I prep for intubation?", "Please do" was her answer. So I got everything ready - unfortunately I was quite slow b/c I wasn't sure where all the equipment was and the environment in general was so busy. Another staff RT entered and she quickly looked through all the equipment I have prepared, soon after, it was passed to another staff RT who was helping my preceptor bagging the patient...so yes at this time, there were 3 staff RTs and 3 student RTs in the room, in addition to the multitude of Doctors, Residents, and Nurses.

About 5 minutes (felt more like 15 but that can't be...) into CPR, the docs finally decided to intubate and an Anaesthesiology Resident tried intubating twice with no success. The Resident then asked for a different type of artifical airway, but we don't have these things on the Code Blue carts, they're on the Difficult Airway carts...so 2 of the Student RTs ran all the way up to ICU to grab some. He then asked for a smaller sized tube - something that I should have prepared but totally forgot about - hoping it'll be easier to intubate with. So I grabbed a smaller sized tube and prepared it. After failing to intubate again, the doctor stepped in. He had some trouble getting it in as well, but after a 2nd try, he got it. The placement of the tube was confirmed by my preceptor and he was prepared to move into Emergency Dept. Remember those 2 student RTs who ran up to ICU? they came back....all sweating, flush red, and looking like walking stock carts...AFTER intubation was successful...so at least they got a good run out of it and the patient did not die...at least not on our watch.

Oh and also...remember in the beginning when I was with another pair of student-preceptor? well their patient also crashed in the CCU....it was a gigantic mess this afternoon...2 patients crashing at almost the same time...

Ahhh.......so there...I got my first real Code Blue where CPR was actually happening and the patient had to be intubated, ventilated, and ICU-bound...pretty scary stuff, but I think I did pretty okay considering this was my first Code...I kinda just stood in the back, trying to stay out of ppl's way, but I was trying to help out as much as I can by prepping equipment etc...next time I will run to the bedhead and take over bagging the patient so the physician can control the situation freely....

New pictures

Hey everyone, just want to let you know that I have posted the pictures from our East Coast trip on Facebook. I am still missing all Maine pictures so if anyone's got em, please post.

My first real work

So today was my first 12-hour shift...it was AWESOME!

So I started "work" at 0630 this morning and I woke up at 0500 to make sure I'm not late. When I finally got to the hospital though - around 0545 - the parking attendant for the parking lot that I usually go to wasn't even there yet! So I went looking around for an electronically-attended parking lot and I found one...for a much cheaper rate too! Early-birds (before 0930...pfft I'm so early, I should get 50% off the early-bird price) only pay $7 for the daily maximum. Remember the last place I usually go to cost $10 for the whole day...one small problem though...they don't take bills and I only had $20s in my wallet =_='' So I scoured the car for some change and came up with about $4...that will last me one hour....so then I decided to not do it at all b/c as soon as I walk into that hospital I'm not walking out until 7:00 PM. So reluctantly....I went into the hospital's parking lot...for $20!! T_T but tomorrow I know what to expect =P I will trade my $20s for change and keep it in the car for parking every day. Anyhow, my work day lies ahead of me...and I couldn't stay to mourn my parking money...so at 0620, I was already in the Department and the Shift Report took place for the next 30 minutes.

Shift Report is like a briefing that the Day staff get from the Night staff regarding patients who are under the care of Respiratory Therapy Department (whether they be in Wards or Emergency Dept.) and all ICU Patients...the Day staff will brief the Night staff also at 1830.

So...some highlights from my day..one of the chronically home- ventilated patients had to come into the hospital by ambulance because she wasn't doing too well at home and my preceptor was paged to the ED to wait for her. Turns out our patient was known to the hospital because we weren't the only ones paged...when she finally arrived, there were a total of 5 RTs (2 of whom were students), 3 Residents, and at least 2 Nurses....there was a welcoming party for this woman!! and when she came in...she was surprisingly doing quite well...I was almost expecting a Code to happen...but no such "luck".

Another thing we did today was I learned how to test these really old ventilators that the school does not even teach us anymore...we are taught a number of modern-day ventilators, but this hospital still runs about 10 of the old, annoying kind...it was still using dials and monochrome screens =_='' I was so used to touchscreens and multicoloured screens and digital information readouts....I had one needle-based pressure readout =_=''

Alright that's long enough, I will now go eat some oatmeal and get ready for a day off tomorrow!! =D gd night y'all!!

Today

gahhhhhhh almost done Rehab!!!!!!!!!! can't wait!!!! but other than that, I had to do a presentation today on the Diagnostic methods that we use. These methods range from X-rays to full-on pulmonary function testing. In a nutshell, I was really nervous and some parts were very short and choppy. The feedback that I got from my teacher was that I tend to talk ahead of my powerpoint slides and when i arrive there, i have nothing to talk about.... so my presentation was pretty choppy and the patients were nice enough to say that i did good and all....but c'mon...they're just being nice =/

K dinner tonight will be fettucine alfredo.....with pork chops LOL

to be continued...

My life in rehab

Just a quick update for you all.....this Rehab rotation is REALLY boring... I mean seriously...The only exciting thing i have ever done this rotation is filling up a liquid oxygen unit, other than that, it's just talking to patients etc etc =_=''

Can't wait to get to Wards/ER - which is starting next week...oh btw I think I will need the Civic if that's OK for the entire month of October because i have Wards/ER for 3 weeks and then ICU for the last week in October

Now I'm just spending my days going to work, coming home to watch some Scrubs, then read my Neonatal Resuscitation textbook =/ I just want this Rehab rotation to be over

For meals the past few days, it has been rice and pork chops =P soon enough I will be making some more fettucine to go along with those....and then it'll be back to grocery shopping for me....

My First ABG

I DID MY FIRST ABG TODAY!

Arterial Blood Gas is a procedure where arterial blood is drawn for electrolytes and dissolved gases analysis.In most cases, ABGs are drawn from the Radial artery located in the wrist.

First thing we do is we make sure that while we take blood from one artery, another artery is sufficient to deliver blood to the organ / limb downstream of the said arteries. Second thing we do is prepare our equipment. Lastly, the wrist is punctured and roughly 1-2 mL of arterial blood is drawn into a syringe. Now, in order to be certified for ABG Procurement in St. Joseph's, a Student RT must successfully obtain 10 ABG samples under supervision of a Registered RT.

So umm.....we practice this alot in school b/c apparently it's one of those skills that RTs are supposed to be better at...at school, we use life-sized rubber arms with actual "blood vessels" inside and we hang an IV bag filled with red liquid and used a hand-pump to simulate bloodflow. During the simulations we can also feel for a pulse so we would know where to stab. In today's case though, I found the pulse, prepared the patient, prepared the equipment, and was so ready to stab....but when I was actually supposed to stab, I found it really hard b/c the patient was already anticipating the pain and I could hear him breathing more. So when I finally stabbed his wrist, I didn't get any blood and yet I heard him being in pain =( I tried again with a brand new needle and ensured that all the bleeding has stopped, but yet I did not get blood again. My preceptor finally stepped in and did one more puncture, she finally got some blood and sent it down to the lab immediately.

Reflections for today: stabbing someone for an ABG is A LOT harder than simulation, but I will get used to it....and I will get certified!!

First blog ever

So, I guess I've never really written in this blog before, but here goes:

The Sydenham building that I now call my second home was once so strange. The pale walls were unfamiliar and seemed so unwelcoming. After spending two-ish weeks here though, everything seems so familiar, and when I say "I'm going home" after a long day of classes, I can genuinely mean I'm going home.

Today I woke up extra early, 8:30. Calculus class started at 9:30 and I had to book it through breakfast (sausage links and hash browns ($1.45)), shower, and run to class. As soon as I got there, it was like looking at an enormous sea of people. 400+ students were stuffed into a single lecture room, and finding a seat was a mission. After going through an entire lecture with a professor who has an extremely thick asian accent, I went to the WSS to pick up my OSAP. To my surprise, I was granted a total of $11.5-$12k. The wonderful thing about Ontario, which I later realized, was that in a ingle year, I am only accountable to pay $7350 worth of loans. Ergo, I was given $4000-$5000 worth of money for absolutely nothing.

That marked the beginning of good things to come. I then went to psychology class, halfway across campus (good exercise to combat freshman fifteen), where I found that I was accepted to join the VESA program! This program will allow me to volunteer in Africa, Fiji islands, or the Amazon, all for a hefty sum of $2000. If I have the necessary funds, there's no question that I'm going to go.

When psych class finally ended, I ran across campus again to attend a chemistry lab. Whereas chemistry labs in high school, and (ahem Josh) elementary school, were mildly interesting, a University chemistry lab felt like honest-to-goodness science. With beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, solutions that change colours when mixed, it's no wonder I chose science!

I realize I'm pretty much going on a rant now, but this is my first blog, so ... Anyway, after going home, I ate dinner (pulled pork burrito $2.55) and rested for a short while, waiting for my room-mate to come back from class. When he got back, we finally bit the bullet and finally, FINALLY visited the campus rec center. Oh boy, was it ever one of the greatest decisions. The rec center is absolutely beautiful. A $27 million facility, it was equipped with everything I could have needed.

Wow that's long. I'll probably add every week; that way my blogs won't be absolutely congested and as ridiculously lengthy as this one.

Cheers guys~

Today's events

So here's to another post in one day wow look at how productive i am!

hahah well today hasnt been much difference than yesterday, my instructor was busy in meetings again all day =_='' and so i went to talk to some of the patients (as per her instructions btw) and some of these ppl were very talkative 0_0 so i spent my morning basically talking to patients and getting to know them. One of the patients is an aunt to the NDP MPP representing a part of Halifax and her niece in Halifax also owns a store that sells Balinese woordwork and stuff like that so every 6 months they would go down to Bali and buy new stuff for their store...apparently theyre making pretty good money off of it

Today's menu was omelette with hotdogs, lettuce, and baby carrots....err and coleslaw. lol i can Mom shaking her head at that =P there was no rice cuz whoever used it last didnt wash it properly and so i was soaking it in water to get all the rice off. tomorrow i will have rice though for lunch =) with the same menu..err minus the lettuce, tomatoes, and coleslaw. But for dinner.....i will make some good fettucine =) ive been craving pasta so much, but the alfredo sauces were taken off sale =( so i had to buy the tomato sauce, those Ragu bottles for $2 something. The alfredo sauces were on sale for either $2.50 or $3 a bottle, but now theyre $4! so no chance im going there again unless it was on sale...

anyhow, that's pretty much it for Tuesday, maybe if i remember anything i will post in the next entry hahah right now, im scrambling to prepare lunch and get to sleep.

gd night!!

checking in

alrightyyy so i haven't posted in a while and that is actually because i have been pretty busy!!

Let's see...Monday was my first day in the Pulmonary Rehabilitation environment for clinical and it actually started off quite bumpy...my intructor was busy doing a recertification for her Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) certificate so she was gone all morning and some poor RT got stuck with me shadowing him all morning haha. On Monday afternoon, i went to actually see the pulmonary rehab floor and its filled with old sick people. So during that time, i went to go observe a breathing exercise with one of the Physiotherapists.....it was the weirdest thing EVER!! it looked almost like yoga, done in slow motion and while sitting down...by old people who may or may not be connected to Oxygen...anyhow it made me realize how many things i take for granted...like being able to breathe properly, being able to bend down and tie my shoes or putting on clothes without losing my breath....it was a pretty sad realization...but i can take comfort in the fact that over 95% of these diseases are caused by smoking and no one in our family has a significant smoking history...riight???

When i got back from work on Monday, went to do so many things! got more groceries (i bought stuff to make fettucine bolognaise with mushrooms haha it helps to know what some of these pasta entrees are called in Italian...makes them sound so fancy lol), then i did some laundry, then i watched the very-odd Season premiere of House, then i went to do some reading on pulmonary rehab...and that's Monday for ya!

The Weekend

Yesterday the kids, Kristian, Joshua and Melina, worked at the kichen. Hopefully this can be done regularly as planned. They get the actual time sheet to clock in and clock out and I gave them each separate task. At the end each work for nearly 2 hours. Not bad, eh.

Dinner was a simple 'telor kecap'. Too much meat already, need a break.

Today we went to church at 11.00 am as usual. Lunch was home-made burgers. I'll try to make our own burgers from fresh ground beef from now on. Cooked a lot, enough for dinner as well. But made it as burger steak served with pasta. For soup: butter nut! yummy!!

Tomorrow the kitchen start, not with a big bang though, ha..h.a.. Just a warming up with 2 schools and about 70 orders. Will be training some newbies as well.

Well, I guess summer is FINALLY over. But hey, beautiful FALL is coming.

maternal skill

Upcoming Family Event

We are planning to go on a retreat at the Abbey in Genesee www.geneseeabbey.org on Nov 26-28.
We will be staying at the Nazareth House. Adhi and Iman, you guys are welcome, and strongly recommended, to join. It's a very nice and serene place. Some friends have been there before and they love it!!

The monks also make fresh bread and pastries that we will be able to enjoy! Hmm, imagine having these with nice, hot tea in the cold nights.

Can't wait!!

Free Entertainment

We spent 3 hours at Chapter's today. Should be a nice and free entertainment if it's not for Melina's $5.00 Strawberry shake and Joshua's $3.50 ice coffee.

This Chapter's on Argentia is much better than the one in Square One. There is no dividing wall between the bookstore and the coffee shop and there is many more seats including the bean bag that Melina likes so much.

Well, looks like we will be visiting this place a lot in the coming cold winter months. It's fun, it's free and it has nice hot coffee in it.

Dinner today

Today's dinner menu consists of the following:

Buttery mashed potato with mushroom sauce
Creamy Asparagus Soup
Savoury Honey mustard Pork Chop

yum yumm

who wants to come home?

My First Groceries

So i had to run out and get some groceries today from Fortino's....here's what I got:
- A dozen eggs
- Oktoberfest sausages
- 2 cans of Campbell's soup
- A box of NeoCitran Total
- Andy Boy lettuce
- Peaches and Cream Quaker Oatmeal
- 2 bottles of alfredo sauce
- 2 lb bag of baby carrots.

Total came up to about $35....i will leave the commentating on the price for Mom hahah

So other than the groceries, nothing much happened here except that 2more ppl are sick now: Joyce and another of our housemate, 'Tis the season to b siiiiiiick fa la la....la la...la la =P <-- that's called making lemonades out of lemons...err or in this case making NeoCitran out of lemons =P

Anyhoooooo.....where is everyone else in this blog?? feels like it's just me and Dad talking!!

[Enter title here]

So some things to share today: i finally got my teachers to finish these "daily evaluation forms" that they're supposed to have filled out last week and the results seem to be pretty good! One of my teachers - the one who keeps asking me stuff - was kinda reluctant to do the eval. form, but in the end he said that he didn't have an issue with me, cuz even though sometimes i don't know the answer to something, i'd work on it and try to figure it out. So he's quite happy with my progress it seems, and he seems to enjoy discussing the reasoning behind most things we do in Pulmonary Functions testing. The other teacher who did the eval said that I'm quite competent in what i do, just that I need to improve my introduction and overall flow of the procedures, but everything else was good.

So what i took from that is that there is still lots to be done and improved upon...i've got 3 more days left in this environment to do well.

OH! important fact: i think i'm getting sick =_='' either allergies or cold, but i dnt hv a fever...so its probably just the cold - which is actually still enough to keep out of the hospital actually =(
So i'll see how i feel tomorrow...oh btw, i heard Reactine is on sale at Shoppers...a rather big pack for $14.99! err if anyone's interested...ahem Joshua =P

goin to bed earlyy gd night!!

September the 13th =_=''

So today was a really odd day of sorts at work....it started off pretty well, When i walked into the hospital and was standing in front of the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health (this is St. Joe's famous institute for respiratory care), I saw the RT Stockperson - his name is Claude something, but he prefers to be called Frenchie 0_0 Anyhow, I saw him and he quickly opened the door and said get in here, they need you to start calibrating all the machines! So I ran inside and found the RRT. She asked me what time i was starting, i said 8:30, it was only 8:00 am.

But then I found out that 2 of the 6 RTs who were scheduled to work called in sick...so that's 1/3 of our workforce gone >_< So anyhow, i calibrated the machines quickly and reported back to her.

Soon after I was done, the patients started coming in. So out of all the RTs present, 3 of them went into the actual "PFT Labs" - which is where they do full pulmonary function screenings and 4 were supposed to work in the "Clinic" which is where they do simple pulm. function tests. Anyhow, the Clinic always had more patients than the PFT Labs, b/c these tests usually take 15 min at most, while the Labs are scheduled for 45 minutes. So the Clinic was supposed to have 5 ppl working in it, but today there were only 3...and one of them was a student (namely me). The Clinic duty surprisingly went pretty alright, until around lunchtime!! =_='' At around 11 o clock, the computers started freezing up!! and the patient-load was only getting heavier! So my supervisor quickly did some magic with the computers and we found a workaround so they can work again. Soon after, everything was working again and the rest of the day went quite well.

But yeah....odd day today 0_0 we hv never had so many glitches in one day >_< They say it's all b/c today....is September the 13th!

Anyhow, that's all i got for now, time to make dinner.

My 2nd day!!

lol i'm running out of titles for these blog entries, so umm, today is nothing big, same stuff pretty much. One of my instructors though was very impressed apparently by how "keen" i was in working...b/c i kept getting the patients through and she said "is this your 2nd day / 3rd here? you're so keen" i was like ohhh okayy....thanks. err but of course maybe she was just being nice....idk w/e hahah

k everyone Joyce says hi =) she makes sure i don't drink too much >.> err...not to say i do drink much LOL i dont drink at all anyways XP the rest of the housemates were playing StarCraft all day =_='' feels alot like home hahaha they all made hamburger helper for dinner - don't wrry Mom, i ate your chicken =P its almost finished!! :( and of course the telor balado is gone already XP

k so tomorrow is Taco Salad day at the hospital and its apparently super famous with EVERYONE! i'm gnna try it and giv u all a review of this hospital-famous confection :P k time to review! oh btw, my instructor this time - an asian guy - is SO hard =_='' he asks me all sorts of things, while the other ladies just talk....i didn't know wat he was talking about today, so i better get reading!

tty'all tmrw!!

test

just to test

The first

So first shift today....code Blue at 0745 =_='' the patient was okay though, she just fell and someone called a code, nonetheless, i was one of (about) 20 ppl to respond to this code and our crashcart was the first to arrive so i'll take that as a pretty good start hahah oh the other RTs are also impressed that I know how to calibrate the machines as well....pretty good day today hahah

got lost on the bus ride home though LOL almost went all the way to Ancaster, but I asked the bus driver if he stops in front of Fortino's and he thought i was talking about a different Fortino's than the one right on front of Cottrill St. so i totally missed that and wound up in don't-know-where....got the bus back though. oh speaking of buses, bought the bus ticket as well...the line was SO long =_='' waited a good 45 mins probably.....all these kids =_='' LOL hmm wat else....oh im about to eat now so that is gnna come first =P thats all for now...gotta eat!!

Oh nts: gotta bring shower soap and shampoo next week, and detergent too

Day one

So it's finally here....Day one of clinical 0_0 we just came back from eating AYCE chicken wings @ Honest Lawyer's in downtown Hamilton. The chicken was good and we had a pretty good time there were lots of wings to go around, and it came up to about $15. Yeah I know it's a lil expensive, but w/e, it was pretty good. Mom's dinner will be saved for next time...errr read: tomorrow =P

I got to know some new people: Nikki, Daniel, Sam, and Janany <-- more stories about these ppl in upcoming posts

Oh also found out how to get downtown and back, and the Canadian Martyrs' Catholic Church near McMaster U.

That's it for today, it's almost 2300 and my shift starts at 0730 tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

Test blog entry

Test blog entry: 08/20/2010 22 42