As usual, time flies. I’m in my 11th month of housemanship, and yes I was lazy for the past 3 months, so there was no entries at all. Instead of entering O&G, I went into orthopedics.
Yes I deal with rotten, foul smelling legs almost on a day to day basis, there are patients who deserve our care but most of the time, patients with diabetic foot ulcers deserve some good lecturing because they don’t take care of their own foot and they expect us to do so. They’ll skip their daily dressings, and when asked why, their answer would be : DR, kaki dah bersih, sudah pulih, tak payah cuci sudah.. and when you look at their foot, pus are oozing out at the slightest touch. There goes their sudah bersih.
Few days back, when I was in minor OT, there was a patient who was sent down because of an infected ulcer, and oh my what a sight to behold when we prep him for wound debridement. His wound was full of maggots, yes MAGGOTS crawling in & out enjoying their new found home. When asked, he claimed that he goes to a nearby clinic for daily dressing without fail but why would his leg be that bad if it’s washed daily? I can’t say whether it’s his fault or it’s our own health care staff who didn’t do their job properly?
And about fractures, I see that almost everyday too. I’ve had my fair share of close fractures, which most of the time can be treated conservatively, meaning using the plaster of paris after reduction if it’s displaced, and open fractures which usually require immediate would debridement & stabilization of the fractured bone. In my hospital setting, we usually will debride the wound, and use a temporary ext fixator before we proceed with a permanent locking nail, screw or plate. We only have 2 OTs running during office hours and after 5pm, it’ll only be 1 left for emergency cases.
Life was kinda good for the past 3 months, as the HOD was a really nice person to work with. I will never forget his kind words & teachings in OT. From the person who wasn’t a weeny bit interested in orthopedics, somehow now I’m quite interested in it, but I still HATE diabetic foot ulcers, the smell is just so ‘unforgettable’
I still have another month to go before I leave for O&G, I did thought of doing ortho for my masters but well it’s a pity I have a prolapsed L5/S1 intervertebrae disc so it’s kinda impossible for me to stand for long hours in the OT. Well, at least I did learn a lot from my current boss and even though I’m not going to specialize in this field, I have no regrets.
Will be going for a short holiday to Krabi next week as it’s my birthday, time to have some self reward after working for a year eh? =) Will write soon, this time for real I hope. Till then peeps..
