Patient in bed 6

The old man waited for his children to pick him up from the ward, they had promised him yesterday. It's already half past 6pm and yet there were still no signs of them... and he waited.

At that time he reminded me of my own dad...

Step one you say we need to talk

He walks you say sit down it's just a talk

He smiles politely back at you

You stare politely right on through

Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right

Between the lines of fear and blame

You begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

Lost soul

"1 mississippi 2 mississippi 3 mississippi..."

I'm looking down on a 26 year old chinese lady whose heart just arrested 30 minutes ago on a Chinese New Year morning.

She got admitted via the A&E the night before with breathlessness, diagnosis of pneumonia was made and she was treated accordingly.

Her breathing became more laboured in the wee small hour of the following morning and the high flow mask device just couldn't cope up with her deteriorating lung function.

" 20 mississippi 21 mississippi.. i need more adrenaline!..." a sense of agony & frustration fills my voice..

She was supposed to attend the CNY's reunion family dinner that night...Alas, she ended up collapsed and intubated, it can't get any more tragic than this.

"Let's call it... time of death 0900." Our futile resuscitation attempt lasted almost an hour.

A message to my dear future young doctors out there... learn your arterial blood gas good. As the frontliners in our public hospital settings you will be doing on calls at night --- and trust me that between 2 and 6am in the morning what you know could save or lose your patients' lives. 'nough said.