Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Le Jinx

After doing a brief rotation in intensive care, I've slowly come to the sad conclusion that I'm actually quite a jinx. Seriously! Obviously the singularly bad karma during my eventful housemanship - where I was one of the few with the unfortunate misnomer of the Angel of Death - must have carried over to my current stint since my oncalls here are.... nerve-wrackingly insane to say the least.

All I need is to walk into the place to cause instant mindless chaos as patients destabilize, machines deteriorate and nurses defibrillate. Just a fateful slam of the doors and the ward turns into a literal suspenseful heart-pumping medical drama with people rushing about setting up monitors, filling up much-needed syringes of adrenaline / atropine and me standing still, grunting out the usual barrage of orders.

You know, sometimes I think I need to get a bath sprinkled with the blessed flowers of a thousand spring mornings - or whatever people to do to get rid of such jinx. Anyone have a potent cure-all for such a jinx?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or as I said to you over the phone: the dead wants to make friends, and they are enticing the living to the other side...

Anonymous said...

The producers of ER can just bring their camera crew and have you followed for one whole season... :)

Anonymous said...

You and I know there's no such thing as a jinx. :)

Let's start with two premises:

(1)No one dies without God's consent (for our lives belong to him and he alone has the right to take it away)

(2)Everything that God approves of is for a greater good - we trust that he is omniscient AND all-loving. ;)

Conclusion: You can be sure that the death of your patient was not in vain but for a greater good.

What sort of "greater good" could it be? ... I don't know.

Maybe in hindsight you'll know. :)

Take it easy doc.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of an old movie "City of Angels". ;)

Anonymous said...

You reminded me of my two doctor friends, two decades ago, one in JB and on in Singapore. Both were always in a tizzy to try and make time to get together to make "babies" - we always worried if they actually left their patients dying to get their bonking done!

Now they still bonk, but at leisure - now having their own "string" of clinics in Singapore :-)

LOL

nyonyapenang said...

ya..ya...itu mandi bunga la. and thaipusam cumming liao; can also do some cleansing ler. :)

Anonymous said...

Ask the datex ohmeda guy come lar if the spO2 fluctuates! lol
I tot propofol was better than atropine lol

Musang said...

uhuh... i heard about this one very famous tok bomoh. we can get a sample of minyak pengasih too.

:)

Anonymous said...

mmm. i always thought docs hope for such dramatic events... like there's some epidemic, issue etc... i mean how else you would get business?
so... it's a good thing!!!
;o)

Anonymous said...

my my. i have the same problem. my department has two linear accelerators, and whichever unit i am rotated on is guaranteed to breakdown, while the other one runs like a dream...

Anonymous said...

Cross over a pot of burning fire and bathe using water with pomelo leaves. :)

Anonymous said...

I don't believe in jinxes. In sports, when one is in down on one's luck, they shake it off and continue. In your profession, when you are down on your luck, unfortunately people die, though through no fault of your own. So I say, shake it off, even if it brings you down, which it is bound to. This too shall pass. [hugs]

Anonymous said...

Apparantly there's a Tiger Deity one prays to for good karma at the office. You can find one at your local friendly Taoist temple.

Anonymous said...

get a lucky charm ;)

wait you already have one... 'Charm'ing Calvin ^_^

Let's spread some C'mas cheer

Las montaƱas said...

yes, you need to be in a mandi bunga. the catch is, that is to be done in the hospital itself. ;)

Anonymous said...

You'll need the semen of a righteous man, 7 dulang hati nyamuk, .....