When I went back to Singapore over Chinese New Year this year, little did I expect that that would have been my one and only visit this year. I did heaps though – I visited my dad’s extended family over Chinese New Year and met many of my cousins whom I have not met for the past 10 over years. I met up with ex-classmates, had lunches with church mates, and even caught up with many of my mummy-friends. Essentially, I did almost all that I wanted to do in that few weeks.
I had wanted to come back again in April as it was my dad’s birthday, but COVID-19 happened and Scott Morrison announced a lockdown that very week before I was supposed to fly back. That essentially meant that I was stuck in Australia; and leaving Australia then and coming back meant that I would have had to get a COVID-19 swab and do a 2-week quarantine – which I was not very keen on.
That had been a very stressful period for me. I don’t have friends in Brisbane then and I relied heavily on my return trips to Singapore to “recharge”. Work at the hospital had been horrendous. I felt I had been bullied, but I had nowhere to turn to. I spoke to my GP about it and she suggested some avenues – but even that was to no avail.
I was subsequently posted to a busy surgical rotation where I worked from 530am to 9pm on alternate days; and even on short days, I finished at 3pm to 4pm on most days. I wouldn’t say life was miserable; but conversely, it keep me from thinking too much about my own misery.
Just as I thought I was finally done with my rotations and head on to O&G, I was denied that as well. Again, I felt the reasons given to me were weak but I had no choice but to live with it. I then started to look for other jobs elsewhere.
I got a job offer in Victoria eventually and I thought I would be out of the “hell-hole” that I was in; but no. The hospital had initially refused to sign my papers, and eventually when they did, they made it very hard for me to get another job.
So here I am, stuck in the COVID clinic, signing pathology forms every day; and of course, asking patients relevant questions. I did send a few patients with serious symptoms back to the ED, but thank goodness most of them are quite well.
And this is where I am now. I joked with a few of my guy friends that this is a “hentak kaki” posting. Most doctors who get posted here do not get much training knowledge out of it, but I make it a little more interesting for myself by asking more relevant questions and reviewing a bit more of their medical history – when time allows.
There had been much more things happening, but I decided to cut them all up into bite sizes – because, don’t we all love things in small bits? 🙂
And also, it allows me to post more often here 😛
