Someone's gotta work!

When we were house-officers, due to the overwhelming number of Chinese colleagues in our department, my husband and I were not able to take leave. Both of us were on-call on new year's eve and by 4 pm I was the only doctor left in the ward. I had never felt so alone in my life! I was an ocean away from home, and for the first time in my life missing the reunion dinner with my family. But my MOs had other ideas. One bought us chocolate cakes from Hilton, one delivered a 5-course meal (befitting a reunion dinner) from Sarawak Club and another got us a whole roast chicken! And so the 3 of us (me, hubby and our MO on-call) had the closest thing to a reunion dinner while on duty, in the nurses' pantry! During that moment, we were indeed "family" - bonded by the common pain of missing our real families, yet deeply obligated to care for our patients, festivities or not. That night, as expected, admissions were few - I think there were only 2 after dinner; for fast AF and hypoglycemia. At 12 midnight, I stood by the windows on the 6th floor, and joined by my patients, stared in awe as the night sky exploded in a myriad of colours. Well, I guess I never could have witnessed it from this vantage point if I were some place else. I knew that in the other ward, my husband was sharing the same spectacular sight. Since then we have experienced several Christmases in the hospital and enjoyed the carolling and fireworks.

To our Chinese co-workers holding the fort during this holiday season, thank you. May you have fond memories of your experience, like I did.