A New Instrument

As mentioned before, when it came to pen, I was very fussy. I loved to write but since my hospital went paperless, I had to change tact. Certainly it made me miss my pen.

I always carried a couple of pen with me in coat. As a houseman, I used to carry three. A ballpen, always black and of a broad nib, and a fountain pen - again broadest nib available carrying a blue ink. My third pen used to be another fountain carrying a red ink. I used to write all my blood results in red at the left side of the medical notes. That made looking for results that much easier.

Now, my ball pen was a Mont Blanc. I used to carry a Parker fountain before I discovered Pelikan. I dabbled with other fountain brands including another Mont Blanc, but that unit stayed on my table. The nib wasn't smooth enough. But the Pelikan was great - going well with my royal blue Pelikan 4001 ink.

3 years back I changed to a Lamy before going back to Pelikan.

A few months back, I tried a Faber-Castell and it felt great. The main thing about them was the heft that it had, balanced at the nib. Not all fountain have that kind of balance. So, I tried a few of their models before finally settling for one. But unfortunately they didn't have a broad nib in stock. I had to order one.

So, I received the call that order was in and the timing was perfect as it had quite a bit of discount for the Xmas sale period. Been using it all evening and I was certainly liking it.

My Pelikan pen was of special broad-nibbed, heavy flow model which wasn't designed for daily use. The fact that it lasted 3 years was a bonus. Time to shift. So, great news all around ...

Plan for the Week

It was the week before Xmas, when colleagues and patients were away on holidays. The clinics and wards are usually quiet but since I was not celebrating, I would be hanging around the hospital most of the time, covering for colleagues. I could feel things were slowing down since last week and hopefully things would not be so busy as I could do with some chill out time as well.

Morning meeting in AraEarly lunch in BangsarMonday started with a meeting at Ara Damansara, followed by ward round in Subang and clinic later in the afternoon. I have booked for tickets to watch Star Wars with Anita and the boys later this evening and we would be enjoying the time since from Wednesday, our maid would be away until the New Year. Anita was already dreading that.

Coffee after lunchPlanning for the week ...Parents-in-law would still be around with their maid to help Anita about. Dad was still weak and I thought the effect of some of the medicine didn’t quite agree with him. He had been feeling dizzy all morning.

Looking forward to some down time and hopefully some photography ...

Welcomed Days Off

Every once in a while, I could do with a day off, or three. And that was what I had in store this weekend although due to family circumstances, the plan had changed somewhat.

The boys were still at school but with Friday being a public holiday, we were thinking of spending a long weekend in PD. Now, we decided to chill at home. We also had an event to attend on Saturday evening, so best just to stay put. Maybe we would drive somewhere on the Sunday.

Unfortunately as it was often the case, the weather tended to be horrible when I had a day off. The curse returned again to Day to haunt me. The weather had been horrible. I don't if it rained. Instead it stayed dull all day.

Typical weather when I am on leaveAfter my morning rounds, I decided to join Anita for breakfast. Then came a quick drive for some shopping with my camera in hand. Alas, the lights were bad. I was already home for lunch, catching up on an episode of Sherlock while waiting for the boys to return from school.

I might catch a movie or two on Netflix tonight. Difficult to wind down if you couldn't do what you wanted to do ...

Not the Best of Starts

It was a Monday morning. And just before 6, I got a phone call from our ICU to inform me that one of my patient was rapidly deteriorating. I jumped out of bed, changed clothes and drove to the hospital.

No shower. Groggy and hair all over the place. Unfortunately the patient did not make it.

There went my Monday. I went on to do my ward round, followed by a quick procedure before heading back home for a shower after the morning traffic had subsided.

I had the coming weekend off originally planned but changed the plan somewhat after Dad took ill. Maybe I could do with a day or two without clinics and free from the hospital. With the Xmas season coming up, I could see myself spending more time in the hospital doing calls and covering for colleagues who will be away.

Hopefully the rest of the week will go on smoothly ...

Clearing Up

Although it would only be a single day break, Deepavali coming in the middle of the week felt that it was more than just a day off. My clinic also went smoothly this morning as most of my patients already had other plans and would prefer to start things early. I managed to finish the clinic on time.

My boys are having a week break but they were not keen to travel. I would be on call on Thursday, so from the looks of things it would be a day in tomorrow. Maybe I would be watching plenty of TV, binging on a series or two ...

Happy holidays all.