this old woman, coming in for chest pain, and the normal stuff. sounded like stable angina but she was still worried. i took all the time in the world to explain the possibilities of re-stenosis after a balloon, how myocardial ischemia works, and then started to take blood. good grief, i got flash-back the moment i put the canula in. and when i took the needle out she started to leak blood.. i compressed the vein proximally but she still leaked la. got the blood taken and she was grumbling about how she lost "so much blood" and how the polyclinic didnt spill this much blah blah blah. i was super apologetic, but man, the way she berated me made me want to reverse time and let some other person do the poking. preferably someone with shaky hands and bad technique, taking all the time in the world to get flashback and wiggle around inside the vein like exploring unchartered territory, and cause her a hematoma, and 100x the pain she experienced under me, oh, and poke her multiple times cos her freaking veins were damn irritatingly thin-walled and fragile.

seriously? students need to learn. losing an ounce of blood will not kill you. and i poked you once, i didnt hesitate and kink the canula or have to repoke you multiple times even though you're some old lady with BAD VEINS. bitching about it to everyone you see wont change the fact that you have a stable angina and it probably wont kill you. but at the rate you're treating everyone.. something definitely will. eeeeeesh.

why cant all the patients be like that nice uncle, who allowed 3 medical students to try taking blood from him, and despite the failures, he was so understanding. he went through so much more discomfort than you la! you pink-bloused old lady who has the level of understanding of a MR patient. in fact i prefer an MR patient, at least they dont bitch like you.. female patients like this stable angina one, have time to wear nice pink embroidered blouses, and have hair combed nicely, with matching shoes etc. AMI? duh no. when i left the a&e she was still waiting for a bed, i poked her at 9pm and i hope she waits till 9 am the next morning and they tell her there's nothing wrong and she has to go home. I-R-R-I-T-A-T-I-N-G.

i felt so bad, cos the MO had to cover for me.. and she was so nice and told me to not get bothered with such patients. your ovaries may be shrivelled up, but please still respect those who are trying to "help" you. berating everyone wont get you better in a faster time. it might just do the reverse.

anyway she was still talking about me when i walked by, to her daughter. eeegad! seriously, a speciality with less talk with patients and more action (ie. SURG) is for me. i cant stand bitchy patients. sorry, my patience level with them is at level -20.

sometimes i miss those days when patients respect doctors and dont talk back. now, medicine has become more like a service.. and patients are all about rights. you want better treatment, dont come to a public hospital. its a teaching hospital for goodness sake.

"omg im losing so much blood. im going to die" --> refers to small patch on bed.
should have let her bleed more.

-cheryl~*

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