Musical chair

Recently the clinical director stepped down, another consultant has taken over the role. In my hospital there is this tradition where the clinical director will occupy this big room next to the clinical oncology seminar room. Thus each time someone steps down, the old director will move out, and the new will move in. However [...]

Read Full Post »

Giving A level tuition

For half a year now I have been giving free A level chemistry tuition to church friend’s son. They have very modest earning income; so I was happy to obliged. I thought surely a level chemistry can’t be too hard, since I got an A without any sweat those many  years ago.
But then it was [...]

Read Full Post »

Remember

In Boston at the moment attending an international conference.
Visited a holocouse memorial site and several stories really stuck in my mind and affected me. One particular story made me feel like crying.
A cancer survival who saw her whole family killed described how her little sister pleaded for her life. She was just a little girl, [...]

Read Full Post »

Unexpected

A patient who was finishinhing his radiotherapy gave me something unexpected last week. First is a small chque as a donation to the cancer research fund. The amount is very little, but it is the thought. Just like the lesson Jesus told of how the poor widow who gave a worthless little mite at the [...]

Read Full Post »

What to do with whiskey

Keep getting whiskey for Christmas, whether it is colleagues or patients. Not sure what to do with them, cause I don’t drink in general, apart from the rare occasional half glass of wine when going out for meals. Alcohol doesn’t agree with me, especially whiskey.
So I don’t know what to do with these whiskey. Sometimes, [...]

Read Full Post »

Common sense

Lately, I have been more busy than usual. One of the clinical oncologists in my group has broken his patella during a fall. Another is on maternity leave. So some of their referrals are passed to me. Another found that he cannot cope with his workload and has passed over a large amount of work over to me.
I [...]

Read Full Post »

Jobs, jobs, jobs (or the lack of it)

The Hospital Doctor just reported that the NHS recruitment freeze is starting to impact on the number of consultants. There have been a fall in the number of consultants in dermatology, rheumatology, immunology and theraupeutics. The increase in consultant physician last year is only 1.8%, barely able to cope with the increasing aging population and [...]

Read Full Post »

Going to school

I remember how awful it felt to see my oldest child in school uniform. No longer that little toddler running about the home, growing up so quickly, oh no! already starting to attend school now. It was a strange feeling: like you wish your child won’t grow up too quickly. Part of you miss all [...]

Read Full Post »