One night, a classmate from med school came to chat with me after admitting his patient to my ward. Actually Dr Og has the memory of a goldfish and had forgotten his name altogether. So I tried to quickly switch the topic to his girlfriend, another classmate whom I knew better.
Og: So how's A ah?
Classmate-dunno-name stared at me in awkward silence but managed to mumble something after a while: She should be alright..... I guess.....
I got the drift and quickly excused myself on the pretext of having to answer a page.
The next day, I went to kaypoh abit and found out that A had broken up with T (I also found out his name hahaha). The disturbing thing was that A is now going out with C another colleague of mine and T is going after J, also my classmate. T also happened to be the ex boyfriend of W who was in the same department as me. Confused? Go draw the relationship diagram yourself!!
Indeed, inbreeding (jargon for those involved in doctor-doctor-relationship) is prevalent in medicine. This results in the intricate and sometimes embarrasing relationships amongst doctors. Consider this imaginary scenerio:
Dr Tan's wife is pregnant with twins and will be undergoing lower segment caeserian section at a local hospital. In the OT,
Anaesthetist: Hi, Mrs Tan. I'm Dr W, your anaesthetist for today. Oh, I happen to also be your husband's ex girlfriend. Your surgeon today is Dr C, (lowers her volume), I actually dumped him last time for your husband. Don't worry, I don't hold a grudge against Dr Tan. I'm now happily married to Dr B. He is your baby's neonatologist!
Mrs Tan: Can you get my husband here, I will like to kill him!
So you see, relationships between doctors are often uncomfortable and bizarre with the rampant inbreeding. If Dr Og needed a circumcision, rest assured he will be crossing the causeway to our neighbouring country.
er....inbreeding is never healthy, socially and scientifically. i shall try my best to intro 'outsiders' to my single doc frens....
ReplyDeleteah.. ur wife pregeant ah?
ReplyDeleteanyway loctor no need to downgrade wat... downgrade still loctor inside :P
I guess it's like being in highschool, everyone went out with everyone else.
ReplyDeleteu mean u are not circumised?
ReplyDeletewould u recommend that then?
i can understand how it is. very awkward. i guess it is because doctors and med students tend to mix around with each other a lot, creating more chances for relationships to develop.
ReplyDeletewhy are you still uncircumcised?
because its damn bloody painful, thats why!
ReplyDeleteMaybe as a result of this inbreeding there'll be lower genetic variance between individuals. Then every doctor will be like BL Og. I wonder if that'll be a good thing...
ReplyDeleteshit...mistake. The above statement will have to assume similar environment for the various lor kuns. Sorry.
ReplyDelete(but still, the possibility is kinda scary.)
hey..add some music to ur blog leh..hehe..to make it more interesting..
ReplyDeleteno!
ReplyDeletedun add music!
that's why i think better not date doctor if you are not healthcare professionals. they may easily get another relationship in the hospital
ReplyDeletei personally think its easier for a male dr to find a non-doctor wife than a female dr to find a non-dr husband. for male drs, they can find xiao niao yi ren nurses, dietitian, medical social workers etc etc..but female drs v cham, most men, on hearing tt a female is dr, most prob will not consider her one--no time to date, look after hse n children..not like in the shows where some hunky male nurse will stil chase the female doc, hahahaha..
ReplyDeletei see nowadays the trend is for doctor to marry doctor - maybe is financially compatiable
ReplyDeletewhat's the point of getting a Circumcision?..just painful...
ReplyDeleteanon @ 10pm, some female docs are also very ambitious. by the time they realise a family is important, might be too late.
ReplyDeleteIs having a family really that important? maybe it is, but i think dr blog is right, most female doctors, or female med students don't think getting married and having children is a priority.
ReplyDeletehaving children and marrying early will just be so inconvenient when you are trying to establish your career.
That maybe why my parents keep nagging about how i am not getting any younger and should think of getting married!
I wish everyone would just realise that not all girls want to start a family before they are 30.
Why is it ok for a guy to marry in his late 30s but not ok for a girl to do so? society is still stuck in their mindset that a girl's priority is to have children.
But I thought this inbreeding is a pretty good idea to develop Singapore into... a Hospital Hub!
ReplyDeleteImagine Dr A marries Dr B to give birth to C which grown up to be Dr C to marry Dr D and give birth to E...
Dear Aus med student,
ReplyDelete"Why is it ok for a guy to marry in his late 30s but not ok for a girl to do so? society is still stuck in their mindset that a girl's priority is to have children."
I have heard this dozens of times.
I usually reply with a question to the woman : "Do you plan to bear and conceive children in your lifetime?"
More often than not the answer is yes. Well if it is yes, then you should realised that there is a higher risk of developmental abnormalities in the baby as a woman ages.
Approx risk of trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome) in a 35 year old woman is 1 in 360. Every fifth year after 35, the denominator is divided by about 3. To figure the risk of ALL chromosomal abnormalities, multiply the trisomy risk by 2 (or divide the denominator by 2.
If you plan to marry in your late 30s and then have a child, you are being selfish by putting the child at a higher risk to chromosomal abnormalities. This is something we cannot change as it is part of nature.
Having children is a privellege that women have. It is a beautiful gift that men can never have.
I find that this women's equality business is done rather silly sometimes.
When women say why can't women be treated like men, that in itself is an open admission that they want to emulate men, and in itself is an open admission that becoming like a man is more desirable than being a woman, which in itself implies that men are better than women.
Why do that? Why can't women just be who they are? Acknowledge the differences between men an women and build on the strengths of being a woman.
aiya, society never equal. sometimes it is not woman don't want to get married but man not devoted enough to one woman. they are promiscuous in nature.
ReplyDeletebeware of autosomal recessive diseases!
ReplyDeletewhat's that. so cheem
ReplyDeletedr blog, since your site so popular, can invite some young and pretty/handsome doctors to join yourself and we can then matchmake lonely singles
ReplyDeletelol is the inbreeding thing really so rampant? so next time you treat a patient in the A&E and he says "hey u look like my wife's ex-bf and my daughter's new bf's ex-gf's father" haha :P
ReplyDeletebut then again the inbreeders are responsible for the next batch of goondu HOs cos i heard that the interviewers for med fac always check first for candidates with dr mums and dads haha :P maybe growing up with dr parents somehow confer a passive "dr-ship" on the child lol :)
I think the equality thing is stupid too. I did not mean that women should be treated like men. What i meant was that society should accept the fact that some women just do not want to get married and have children. These women should not be regarded as selfish or labelled as old spinsters.
ReplyDeleteActually, i feel that some women right activists have double standards. They want equal rights in education institution and the workplace. Yet, they demand special things for women. For example, men have to pay maintenance fees to their divorced wives. Or only guys have to do NS.
Many times, i feel that some women think they deserve special rights just because they are women. That should not be the case.
biological needs have nothing to do with NS. Breasts are not time bombs. Being a woman is good. Not every lady gets PMS. No one is forcing you to get a pap smear.
ReplyDeletemaybe next time can invent a drug that can control period like a tap. when you want babies than turn on the tap. if not, no bleeding please.
ReplyDeletemaybe should do a survey on how many woman want to be a man next life. i guess it is 99.9%.
ReplyDeleteAgree with dr oz bloke's 11am comment. :)
ReplyDeleteC's 3.29pm comment:
I think it's a good idea to have the young women to go through NS.
IIRC, someone suggested that we have the gals trained in basic 1st aid care or smthg.
It's sad but true that everybody is scared off by female drs except male drs, who are too busy chasing nurses anyway. Everyone assumes that females who enter this competitive field are career-minded and will put work before family, even if in reality they are willing to make many sacrifices to balance both.
ReplyDeleteReply to female med student,
ReplyDeleteU forgot the Dentists!
At least i know 1 dentist who's not "intimidated". He married his uni sweetheart from KE7, who is now undergoing AST... and they have 3 lovely kids. This dentist is hoping that his wifey be v. successful in her career so that he can become a fulltime House husband, and part-time dentist. :P
many female doctors end up with engineering husbands nowadays. Maybe male doctors aren't attractive anymore.
ReplyDeleteLoctor ma si lang, dun like dat lah....
ReplyDeletegive chance can?
You forgot to mention pharmacists. I know of pharmacists who end up marrying doctors..
ReplyDeleteDear C,
ReplyDeleteJust to confirm, are you a woman? If you are, it is sad that you hate yourself because you are a woman.
I suppose our gender and life is not something that we "choose". As much as the "BIOLOGICAL FACTS" of menses, PMS, breast cancer risks etc which you say are inevitable with being a woman, being a woman itself is something that you cannot change, as much as me being a man is something I cannot change.
Some people may contest this statement due to the fact we have sex change operations etc. Well if that is the case, then the solution should be very simple isn't it? Then why the debates?
I think it is better to look at things positively and decide how one can live their life to the fullest as a man or a woman.
We all have to die eventually, if it isn't cancer, it might be heart disease. While breast cancer is the number one cancer in women, men also die from cancers too. And by no means is the overall mortality rate lower in men compared to women.
You have presented many problems with being a woman. Is there nothing positive at all? Are there any solutions?
Personally I acknowledge that my wife has got her fair share of duties as you said with all the burdens a woman has Biologically. Eg breast feeding, giving birth, carrying babies to term, mothering (there are differences from fathering, the children will tell you).
As such I do not pressure her to take home any bacon. Some women contrarily would consider this being discrimnatory and say that I am sexist and that I should expect her to take home some bacon etc.
We spilt the housework equally. Whatever I can do (not biologically limited) for the family and the relationship I will do.
We should come to terms with who we are and accept it, and move foward to seeing the positive in life.
Another about equality/inequality between men and women.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as equality between the sexes.
Men and women are just different.
It is like saying green apples and pears should be equal. They taste similar, they have the same colour, but different shapes. They are different.
Just like men and women.
家有喜事 ah?
ReplyDeleteso long no blog?
c, you so upset you posted your comments twice?
ReplyDeleteI tend to disagree with seeing mensuration as NS. Though both are bloody long affairs. (we still got reservist ok!)
I am sure being a woman has many disadvantages and can be painful once a month. I assure you I share the pain everytime my wife goes boncus.
Dear C,
ReplyDeleteOh dear. Looks like I touched a raw nerve there.
Well I would agree with you about having more hassle being a woman. But sometimes I wonder why?
As you said regarding shaving your legs so as not to receive snide remarks from men AND WOMEN....
Well women are guilty of chiding their own gender isn't it?
When I read women's magazines, I realise that a lot of weird stuff goes on out there. Girls are taught from a young age about all these "hassles"
Menstruation is a definite hassle that I would rather not have.
Personally I have to shave facial hair daily which I find a hassle. My wife does not need to. She also does not need to shave her legs. In fact she does not shave at all!
Let's just love each other shall we :)
PS. Don't be so sure I do not live in Singapore. Have you thought of migrating?
no lar, dr oz bloke lives in singapore i think. c, why are you so unhappy with being a woman? you get used to it after so many years.
ReplyDeleteshaving legs is not that much of a hassle. if you think it is too much trouble, try waxing your legs. waxing needs to be done only about once a month. about your PMS woes, try taking panadol, it helps.
And i realised that women can be very hard on themselves. for example, women always think that they are fat and do all kinds of things to keep their weight down. the truth is, men like us just the way we are.
I used to think that men will notice little flaws like unshaven legs, tiny pimples or forgetting to use perfume. The truth is, men don't even bother about these details. They go for the whole package-your character, sense of humour and overall look.
If your boyfriend only likes you for your looks, dump him. He is too childish and shallow.
Hmmm do several penile erections in a day constitute an irritating hassle?
ReplyDeleteWhat about the problem with being too visual that when we see a sexy skimpily dressed woman we salivate excessively?
All these make me want to be a woman.
Just kidding.
Well C, I think you've made it very clear. You would prefer to have been a man.
I'm glad I am a man. :)