As stated by me in my previous entry, the week that was was a horrible one for two reasons: my co-Pediatrician Dr. Yasser worked only on Saturday, and then went on leave, so I was alone; and two, the weather changed suddenly for the worse (it became much more cold), so that children came in huge numbers with respiratory illnesses, both to the OPD and to the ER. On any of these five days, I had at least 8 patients in the ward and up to three calls in the night.
I had barely any time to explore the net, or check out my favourite web-sites or email, let alone time to publish the blog entries. On last Monday, I had to refer three patients to the larger Children's Hospital in Ta'if. This irked the residents since I had insisted that one of them accompany each of the patients in the ambulance.
In between, I managed to cook simple food, and I had to do this, as I had been away the last weekend and there was no ready food. The pakora kadhi satiated me for two meals and a breakfast (which I had with brown, whole wheat bread). I also made do with a few meals at one of the local eateries, and at least two lunches in the hospital cafeteria. I could not leave the hospital premises for lunch at home (something that I usually do as I go home with Dr. Narendra in his car), so I brought fruits, slices of buttered bread or something similar to have in the afternoon.
In the evenings, I continued my routine of walking and jogging on at least 3 of the five days. The other two days - I was busy on one of them, and plain lethargic and not in the mood on the second. I "skyped" with the family on two or three days, making up to them with a call to one of my daughters or Nishrin on the remaining days.
The work-centred week made me realise that things can change, and change rapidly, in this country. The cold wave that came in did so quite fast, and brought with it a wave of illnesses that made work so heavy. Just as suddenly, though, the intensity of work declined on Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday, the OPD and ER work had reduced considerably, the wards emptied out, and I had, finally on the Wednesday, not a single night call.
Of course, my on-call continues through the week-end, but, if the trend is anything to go by, I should have an easy weekend.
On Wednesday evening, I prepared Dal, chopped and fried onions, marinaded some chicken and made a light mixed vegetable. I would make chicken, rice and may be some more food over the weekend ... lets see.
I had barely any time to explore the net, or check out my favourite web-sites or email, let alone time to publish the blog entries. On last Monday, I had to refer three patients to the larger Children's Hospital in Ta'if. This irked the residents since I had insisted that one of them accompany each of the patients in the ambulance.
In between, I managed to cook simple food, and I had to do this, as I had been away the last weekend and there was no ready food. The pakora kadhi satiated me for two meals and a breakfast (which I had with brown, whole wheat bread). I also made do with a few meals at one of the local eateries, and at least two lunches in the hospital cafeteria. I could not leave the hospital premises for lunch at home (something that I usually do as I go home with Dr. Narendra in his car), so I brought fruits, slices of buttered bread or something similar to have in the afternoon.
In the evenings, I continued my routine of walking and jogging on at least 3 of the five days. The other two days - I was busy on one of them, and plain lethargic and not in the mood on the second. I "skyped" with the family on two or three days, making up to them with a call to one of my daughters or Nishrin on the remaining days.
The work-centred week made me realise that things can change, and change rapidly, in this country. The cold wave that came in did so quite fast, and brought with it a wave of illnesses that made work so heavy. Just as suddenly, though, the intensity of work declined on Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday, the OPD and ER work had reduced considerably, the wards emptied out, and I had, finally on the Wednesday, not a single night call.
Of course, my on-call continues through the week-end, but, if the trend is anything to go by, I should have an easy weekend.
On Wednesday evening, I prepared Dal, chopped and fried onions, marinaded some chicken and made a light mixed vegetable. I would make chicken, rice and may be some more food over the weekend ... lets see.
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