a long day at work..

I am pooped. And over the course of the afternoon, have realised that this uncomfortable-ness I have been suffering with, was a brewing urinary tract infection..shoiiiit...just my luck. As it was, I saw a patient with one and really wanted to say "me too!!" to her symptoms...but alas..I am sure that would have just been weird...right.

my rant for the day is-

The trouble with my job, is that sometimes I see people who I don't like. Some people just rub me off the wrong way, have eccentric personalities that I would not necessarily warm up to in a public setting (ie, you would not be my friend..sorry) some people are just plain rude, arrogant , and ignorant that I find myself squirming in my seat trying to hold back all my fiapotz moral teachings I want to slay this person with....instead , I am restrained to a "so what has brought you in now??"...SOME people are truly enemy-title worthy i.e took my parents to court -type enemy(!lol) who continue to bewilder me with even chosing to come see me...eh. Anyways, thats my trouble, my door is open to all and any. I am here to treat and help you get better and it would just be morally unjust for me to decline someone I did not like (even though I REAALLLLY want to sometimes hehe) , unfortunately I can not treat your manners, or your personality. Too bad for you.

The hubby seems to think I should or I could. Ie when someone really unacceptably rude sees me and I tell him about it- he always said "sa kakau ga e fai sa'o i iai" and goes all hype about them but the fact of the matter is- it would not be very nice for someone outside to overhear a verbal catfight in the office would it? Especially having a catfight with someone who is supposedly ill....now that is just not professional..so for professionalisms sake, I keep my peace and hold my tongue. But I always say, if you could hear me speak my mind (like truly and honeslty what I was thinking in my head) for a day  sometoooiiimes..(not all the time) seriously, it'd be pretty shocking.

You may be interested to know that my number 1) type of client...is..without saying names directly, a profession that would be profuse in Savaii. ie, every village has one, or two, or maybe three. They come in all sizes but mostly XL or XXL. You may be insterested to know that there are actually some size L and medium, but they are hard to find. I won't say exactly WHAT profession for fear of being struck down dead by lightening(!) but I am sure you get my drift.

So some of the rip-my-hair-out comments I have had to deal with in the last week with this certain kind of clientelle  are along these lines
"I went to see the specialist in Apia and they said I was all fine, but I'm sure there's something they are hiding from me, I'm sure I should be going overseas to NZ for treatment".....yea ok, why don't you just say you want a free holiday sponsored by Samoas medical budget
" I have no idea why I should have Hypertension and Diabetes, I know I am big but I feel healthy...I just don't get it and don't want to accept it" ok buddy, when you weigh 200kg, these diseases were invited, its called a disease  of lifestyle...just try to cut down the paelo loads of food...and exercise a little....if you start this trend, you are the key to 100 followers going in the same right direction.....

 Today  someone just barged in while I was just seeing someone out the door demanding to be seen cause he was in a rush...there's a sign on the door (which was the direct result of people like him!!) that says PLEASE DO NOT ENTER UNTIL YOUR NAME IS CALLED. This is because I need 5minutes to enter your name (provided to me a minute ago) into my computer and get myself organized maybe take a breather after back to back consults also I might need to nip out for a wee and don't like strangers in my office (which is an extension of my home sometimes) without me being in there....people just don't get it sometimes...apparently, I should work more like a machine/computer and just slug it until the power goes out....

Another earlier questions everything I did...ie "I'm going to start you on this blood pressure pill because your BP is too high, called XXX"- ARE YOU SURE THATS A BLOOD PRESSURE PILL?
then after my explanations BUT I TOOK A PILL BEFORE FOR CHOLESTEROL AND IT SOUNDED SIMILAR< ARE YOU SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING?- mate, Im not 5, I went to school got a degree worked for almost 10yrs before opening this office, you with your cholesterol laden eyes and tattood arms looks like you were a paugaka before you did what you do now and could use some of my health attention but if you think you know it all, please...don't waste my tired breadth..I don't mind keeping my suggestions for your health, to myself if they are not wanted...sometimes I don't know why people come at all(!)

Other times, some patients have really shocking backgrounds. Most of the time, it is not necessary to delve too much into what someone does, what they did etc we just need to know whats going on now and what other medical interventions they may have had in the past...but one time, I admitted a guy whos social history was a bit dodgey - could'nt really get a resident  village out of him etc...later on I found out he was a child molester in Apia who the village had banished back to his birth village (here in Savaii) even though he left at 2yrs of age  and doesn't have a house or family  here anyway...put him on the boat and he'd been hanging out at the wharf til a cut on his foot got infected....ae poo le a le mea e le o e ave i le ofisa leo leo ae just banish him to another dont-want-him-here poor island...for goodness sake...pe faavelvalea ea kagaka se..

So anyways, I've had a few days of this particular kind of clientelle day after day and what I have figured is that- it is immensly energy draining to put up with people you don't like , especially when you don't have a choice. Some of these people seem to really like seeing me and they come ALOT. Either they like seeing me or they think if they see me more often they will live longer...?? don't know so maybe what I need to be doing is- be less nice...especially about telling people they have an over-eating problem - who knows, ae ke'i lava le writer lea ua fula le maka mai se sensitive patient!!choohoo....