I made a patient cry...

....and of all places to do it, I did it in this small, little town. Now I'm praying and hoping not to bump into her on the street or while doing my shopping in Foodland (the most happening place in town). And you know the worst part? I can't remember her face!

She came in for a simple follow-up. I was supposed to take her history and the doctor would evaluate me. I introduced myself ("Good morning. I'm Leng, a 6th year medical student. Is it alright if we have a chat?" *big smile*) 2 minutes into the history, she suddenly said "I find this all very uncomfortable. I can't take this anymore!", burst into tears, and ran out of the office. Neither I nor the doctor saw that coming. Suffice to say, it didn't go down well with the clinic staff. They had to call to apologize and calm her down. She said she was very upset and felt that she was being interrogated. She didn't come back for her consult that day.

Looks like my people skills still need heaps of work. Wish I could apologize to her in person. That's the first time I upset a patient, but I guess I should be grateful it happened when I'm still a student.

More photos of this little town:

The main street. Key attractions include the supermarket, post office, bakery, pub and butcher.

The most happening place in town. Seriously.

Aside from the quiet, there's a nice country charm to the place.

For some reason, no matter how small a town is, there's ALWAYS a church. It really echoes of Adelaide a.k.a. The City of Churches.

Anzac Day is coming up this weekend. Sucks that Monday won't be a holiday too.

The simple life

I survived the drive to Maitland! *phew* I still need a lot of practice on the road, though. Kena hon a couple of times while driving in the city. They were near misses at that too. -_-" Damnit I hate roundabouts! But once we were out of the city, the drive was pretty straightforward. Nice long country roads. The stretch heading towards the town via Arthurton and Kulpara was a bit bumpy.

Some hand-carved soap roses Xian-Nian got for me from his Mt. Kinabalu trip. It's amazing they survived the plane ride to Melbourne and Adelaide. Thanks Darling!

Eggs Benedict at a cafe in Norwood. Fuel for the journey.

Flat and brown all the way through. It's no wonder one friend told me to "be careful, don't fall asleep at the wheel".

Students' Accommodation on Samuel Street, Maitland. A nice cosy, 3-bedroom house with wireless internet. Alone in the middle of nowhere with no internet certainly won't work for me.

Somehow the printer doesn't work. And the bicycle wheels are flat. And the bicycle pump is broken.

A nice spacious backyard with an orange tree! I've always been fascinated by fruit trees (some weird obsession). Unfortunately the oranges aren't ripe. Plucked one and it was so hard and sour. *edit 28/4/2009 - the rain seemed to have plumped them up a bit. Lets hope they'll be ripe and ready to eat soon!*

There's also what looks like a garden shed in the backyard. Upon further investigation, we found remnants of a gruesome past....

Chicken coops!

...and bones!!

This looks like a scene out of an old Western-psycho-murder movie. I'm dreading the week when Xian-Nian won't be here with me.

International Primary Health Care

Am halfway through my GP SCAP now. It was a good thing I got International Primary Health Care (IPHC) instead of a city GP (for those non-Adelaide Uni ppl, we get to choose the type/location of our GP rotation from a list of things. Some students even opt to create their own). IPHC was unexpectedly fantastic! The first half was basically interactive lectures on medicine in a Third World setting. Things like sanitation, maternal and child health, HIV, TB, mental health and cross-cultural issues. I think it was not just the lecture content, the speakers themselves were so passionate and experienced in what they did. Most of them spent a large part of their careers working and living in areas of need like Nepal, Cambodia, Africa etc. A whole heap of sad things happen as we speak, but the suffering of the unfortunate millions aren't heard by those on greener pastures. Nothing is ever enough to change everything, but what these doctors did made a world of a difference to those they touched. Also, I learnt that it's more important to ensure sustainability of your works rather than playing 'saviour' for a month and flying off, leaving people to sink back into helplessness.

We had to put together a presentation for our own development program at the end of the 3 weeks. Basically had to explain to a panel of donors/judges a.k.a. our examiners what our development program was, and why we deserve xxx amount of cash to fund that project. Our examiners were quite meticulous, so things had to be done up as if it were the real thing. My group chose to build schools and set up an education program in Bhola Island, Bangladesh. It was a bit hard to get things together since we had the Easter weekend in between, but luckily I had awesome groupmates. =)

We also got to visit the Royal Flying Doctors base. Climbed into one of their planes like the little jakuns we were. :P Overall a very productive and fun rotation. It kinda inspired me to spend some time working in international health. I wish I had this rotation early on in 5th year, or maybe 4th year. If I did I would have jumped on the opportunity to follow one of the doctors on their missions overseas. Maybe Nepal.

For the second half of my GP SCAP, I'll be in Maitland, Yorke Peninsula. It'll be like a rural posting 'cos Maitland is 2 hours 45 mins drive from the city. And guess what? I just bought a car and collected it TODAY aaaaand will be driving there! OMGWTF that's scary shite for a hopeless driver like me. Thank God Xian-Nian is here now with me!

Feast your eyes on my brand new Hyundai Getz 5 door hatchback in Sky blue. Automatic transmission of course. Thanks Papa! Please pray for the safety of me and my car. And stay tuned for my next adventure. :P