Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Hmmm ... that was I am sure a mouthful. Google the above term, and you'll come to its definition. It is the fear of Friday the 13th. And this year alone, there are 3 Friday the 13ths, today, last month and on the coming November. Why are people friggatriskaidekaphobic? If you count all the months in the last 400 years (that is 4800 months), the majority of 13th of the months actually are Fridays - 688 of them, with Sunday and Wednesdays close second at 687! So Friday the 13th are more common than we think and they should stop making frigging movies out of it!

This Friday the 13th also marked a milestone for me. My first ever day on call as a Consultant. Yes .... after tomorrow 8 am, I can say, been there, done that and worn the T shirt, providing everything runs smoothly till then. When I was a houseman, doing 56 straight hours on duty for the NHS I was complaining of too much work, and that my senior not doing much to help out. Then a year later, being a Senior House Officer (equivalent to Medical Officers in Malaysia), I complained that the Casualty Officers giving me incomplete referrals. Cursing them for not doing this and that!

Promoted to Registrar come with a different job description, and the one I hated most, taking on other specialty referrals! The Surgical Houseman found a lady with low blood sugar, what does he do? Call his SHO, and guess what he says? Call the Medical Registrar. So your job is reduced to taking referrals from other Housemans! Argh! When you turn up at their ward, they did not even bother coming up to you to tell you about the case. They were too busy setting lines etc!

Hey! I am now doing Consultant calls. So what had happened today? 10 am, call from Department. You have a referral, an 83-year-old with a broken hip in the Orthopaedic ward. They were planning to take her to theatre but noticed that her blood pressure a bit high. Had to get a medical consult prior. Presto, that's where I come in. Saw the lady. She was known to have high blood pressure and she was writhing in agony with her hip pain! Imagine how high my blood pressure went when all that needed giving was some painkiller meds ... and may be a slap on the face of who ever decided to call me! Ha!

Time to hit the Casualty floor to see what's cooking then. Wish me luck! And may your Friday the 13th be a lucky one!