A Day's Work or Two

Dear Diary,

After a “clinical” meeting, we had some “non-clinical” tasks to do… they are those tasks which permeate the retail pharmacy scene for so long… the tasks of rivalry! Haha… Frankly, I don’t relish such tasks… Call me naïve or what… but hopefully, rivalry will end eventually and then we can focus on “real” clinical care for patients and their family. =)

I may not be exactly famous but definitely “famous” enough to be identified if I step into a nearby rival pharmacy. So I did the “unthinkable”… I bribed my promoters to gather information for me, keke… I practically taught them what to speak, what to purposely say wrongly… so that they would be corrected by the pharmacist, and then hence they could ask further questions without arousing suspicions. It was like writing a psychological script. The first “script” went well at lunchtime. Information gathered. The second one was a little disastrous because the second promoter did not expect that the earlier pharmacist to be still around. So when she went there during dinnertime… there were actually 3 pharmacists at the counter… so she said…

Couldn’t imagine such a brave 21-year-old university girl! She practically asked the three increasingly suspicious pharmacists all those questions I had taught her. When she came back with all the information and “blamed” me for the difficult task… she told me the motivation was chocolates. So I bought her whatever she wanted which wasn’t too much actually. They made my job easier, haha…

I spent some time assessing some English literature passages and doing some assessments over the day. Quite pleased that I haven’t quite lost my ability to comprehend abstract literature. Yesterday, a locum pharmacist even teasingly told me to stop working so long hours or write “plays”… but that I should go try Social Development Unit (SDU) activities. She said she would have continued those activities if not for the fact she got married 6 months after graduation! Hahaha… That interesting meh? Haha…

I saw a former TTSH pharmacist just as I was about to close my pharmacy today. She used to man the Emergency Pharmacy (EP). She came over to ask my name and we had a 10-minute chat. Then after about 10 minutes since we completed the chat, I ran up to her and said, “Sorry Miss, I gave myself 20 minutes to recall your name but I failed… What’s your name ah?” Her friends and her practically burst out laughing. As time goes by and when I start to be really comfortable with retail practice, I sometimes talk “rubbish”, haha… Yesterday, there was an approximately 50+ year-old lady who brought her 20+ year-old daughter to see me about her daughter’s hair loss. I asked a little… and realised that she was on carbimazole for hyperthyroidism. Yeah… identified the problem! However, I was told that she did not have hair loss when she was initiated on carbimazole then. The dose had been constant all these while. The hair loss started only when she took iodine. Ahhh… I flipped my reference…. “No such side effect lei,” I said, “Maybe she is just getting old lah…” They both laughed so loudly that the pharmacy was like echoing… whew… That’s retail life… Jokes sure make it more interesting and memorable ;-P

Okay, nothing much left to type further… just leave you with this amazing stuff… hahaha…. Read on and goodnight! =)

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.


cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if
you can raed tihs psas it on !!

God Bless,

Andrew