On my 26th Birthday

Before this incident slips past me, I better record it down somewhere..

Recieved a call at 1am on 28th July, from an AnE MO regarding this lady who brought in her whole troupe of kids for dental problems. He requested for a review, saying that the lady is on social welfare. I was thinking to myself.. Gosh.. what was she thinking of? That I'm able to operate a dental clinic over here myself? AnE is not for dental decay, that is a thoroughly preventable disease!

Went down to AnE and was greeted by a circus of kids outside my door. 3 boys and a girl. No adult to be seen anywhere. From the corner of the room, a lady with pen engravings on her skin appeared. She looked around my age (after looking at her notes later,she's two years older than I am), and has 4 kids! On closer examination, the pen engravings appeared to be the names of her children.

Did up all the paper work, called one of the boys in to take a look. He was complaining of toothache on the bottom right. Clinical presentation was a classical case of severe early childhood caries. Told the mum that it's best that he be followed up at SDS for a more definitive preventive treatmetn plan. Done, next patient: Mum.

Looked up the case notes. What I read made me look at the patient in a different light. The MO had done a detailed history of the patient. She was actually on follow up for depression, juggling with 5!(not 4) kids, the youngest being 7 months old. Been through a divorce, exhusband not contributing to the family. Current husband unemployed. Looking from her small build, one would usually underestimate the amount of hardship that she has to endure to sustain the family. Had a few words with her, and what she told me really struck me in the heart. She mentioned that what is keeping her going from the rest of the havoc that's going on in her life, are her five children. A mother's love truly knows no boundaries. To be able to sustain all the wreckage that's going on, is really amazing. This really teaches me to feel thankful for the things that are going smoothly in my life, instead of focusing on the misgivings; and to appreciate what my mum has put in all these years.

(Not that most coherent post, but it's 145am in the morning, cut me some slack lah)

Mid point

I'm approaching the end of one more posting, which will be ending in June. Starting work, rumoured to be at another level come July.. feeling excited about returning to the old place, sense of deja vu, but with a different group of people brings with it different human dynamics, shall see what the next posting will be like.
Some clinical situations still throw me off, leaving me flummoxed at times, but somehow, basic principles never fail, not the basic principles that they taught in school, but having enough humility to ask, and willingness to learn should keep one safe from committing massive mistakes. I've been pretty fortunate to be able to learn from the many consults that I've gotten, and with this posting, doing so much of general dentistry, also taught me a great deal about time management,great being an understatement. Doing so much has also made me realise how much more I don't know.. irony huh..
Am now embarking on a self enforced regimen to prepare for The Run in July. Progress has been... mediocre at best ha.. but well..the procrastinator in me will assure myself that I've still got time. Shall see how much I can pull off this time round.

Sungei Buloh, Kranji War Memorial