OOOh yes, the weekend in LONDON was food-filled. :) *surprise surprise?*

The French sure know how to fine dine :)

Well that special afternoon a couple of QMUL-ians, a random Manchesterian and Edinburghian did too :)

We have come a VERY LONG WAY, Ah Ngu.

Reminiscing those days when birthdays are celebrated with tonnes of laughter, and pranks played on each other.

When a birthday 'cake', is a precious mooncake, a simple cookie, or a Dunkin Doughnut as such.



Times have changed, and so have we.

One thing that lasted and never changed, which brought us through all these years.. is our friendship. And I thank God for that. :)

Happy birthday Helen, may all your dreams come true.

Today I witnessed the fastest surgical extraction of a lower wisdom tooth. Thus far.

Mr. Hughes took the buried mesially impacted tooth in under just about 2minutes. Cut a flap, drilled bone, elevated the tooth.

whilst humming a lil tune to himself.


I am still in awe. AMAZING. ^^

I did what I should yesterday, I stood up for myself.

I know that with this person I'm dealing with, old habits die hard. Her 'ITS ALL ABOUT ME' attitude, and willingness to go out of the way to step on my tail, amazes me still.

I guess in the middle of this chaotic situation, I am still blessed.
Blessed with understanding friends who feel for me, and try to cheer me up whenever I feel stressed.

A friend even came up with the most hilarious things to say to her as an excuse for NOT going in to 'nurse' for her..

'Oh sorry I have to go home and feed my fish.'

'Oh I just realised my oven is left on, I need to go home and turn it off.'

etcetc.

HAHAHA which effectively elevated my stress, and made me laugh for quite abit. ^^

Sigh, its going to be ONE HELL OF A YEAR. And its only week 4.

Mr. Legg said to me today when he read thru my notes at the end of the session,

'Pei. I really like your attention to detail.'

TWICE! ^^

Already, I was super pleased.

Yup, every little bit goes a long way.

Especially when things are crap. Focus on the positive, peilian. Focus.

I hate myself for not being able to stand up for myself when really necessary.

Even at times where it is blatantly obvious that the other party is bullying me for her own convenience.

Yes, I know there is no such thing as a friendly and lovely world where EVERYONE is UN-selfish, and everyone is UN-calculative, and everyone is basically NICE without hidden intentions.

I guess I just needed a reminder, and I need some 'practice' in dealing with the sort who doesnt give two hoots about you in general. Not that I want people to give me all the care in the world
( bcoz trust me, as naive as I may seem I know it is not all love and kindness everywhere I go), but I sort of expected the person to be at least abit more responsible when it comes to doing her part, as I have done mine.

The obvious reality is that dentistry requires A LOT of people skills.

If your nurse is NOT HAPPY with you, you would be a 'non-functional' dentist.
If your receptionist is NOT HAPPY with you, your patients might not turn up as and when u want them to.
If your patients are NOT HAPPY with you, basically it wont be awhile till..

..you officially 'tutup kedai'.


Anyway, lesson learnt. Lost for words when someone actually is taking advantage of your 'niceness' and 'bulli-ability' RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE?? without the slightest SHAME whatsoever?

There is no point in feeling the 'burn' afterwards, like I am feeling now.

I NEED to stand up for myself, bcoz if I don't, nobody will.



x x x


On a brighter note, last night was fab. YiPei and I hopped on to the bus spontaneously after clinics to go to the Trafford Centre, had a nice dinner.. and EXTORTED 24 KRISPY KREMEs from a very nice Mr. Krispy Kreme who lives in Rusholme over the phone afterwards!!!
Came back, entertained ourselves with the doughnuts ( OK that sounds abit wrong but anyway)...

and when I was back in my room I SAW A BOOK LYING ON MY TABLE.


OPENED it, feeling abit baffled, thinking hmm why does this book have my name on it..

and STARTED SCREAMING. ( yes my voice is erm 'quite' loud in case people didnt know! ^^)


OMG ITS A POST POST POST birthday PRESENT from YIPEI containing pictures compiled from our memorable many years here in Manchester, all painstakingly cut out and decorated..HAND MADE! every page was filled with wishes from the people I have grown to love, my Manchester family!

It really is the BEST book I've ever received. =)

My secret personal wish of getting something of this sort for my birthday as a final year remembrance CAME TRUE.

*and its all thanks to you, YiPei!*


My faith in the existence of good unselfish people in this world is restored, once again. ^^

I love this picture ^^

When Melissa gave me a beautifully written 'birthday card' with this phrase on it,
I didn't quite understand the significance of it.

It is a daily devotion thingy which she found, and she copied down the devotion on the 29th September for me.

And it says..

' Keep on singing though there's none to hear.
Keep on smiling though there's none to cheer.
Keep on ploughing though you've reaped no crops.
Keep on marching if the drummer stops.'

Now I understand. It speaks straight to my heart. Thank you God, for the encouragement to be strong.

And thank you, Melissa for bringing this to me.

Its amazing, the way God speaks.

The hardest card to write was the one I tried writing today, to be sent to my deceased patient's wife.

I hope I will never have to write too many cards of this kind in the future.

However I do realise that death is an inevitable part of living. We all will go and meet our Heavenly Father one day, whether we are ready or not, or whether our loved ones are prepared to loose us or not.

Was in too much of a shock the other day to describe what happened, but it is the first time in my life that I receive news of death from a grieving loved one.

I was in the Dental Hospital, thinking that I should call my patient in for a review appointment for the dentures I've made for him over the past year, also to review the fillings I've done, becoz he was to be one of my final year case presentation.

So I called him,and his wife answered.

'Hello may I speak to Mr Taylor please? This is Pei calling from the Dental Hospital.'

'silence on the other end of the line.. followed by a loud wail, with heavy sobs.'

(I was shocked beyond words, and I had this sense of foreboding doom.)

'Erm, is this Mrs. Taylor? Are you ok?'

.. more wailing..


at this point I was already freaking out. My peripheries turned cold, and my heart started beating very fast.

'He *sob* died *sob* 3 months ago *sob*'

followed by louder and louder wailing.


I was speechless. Literally STUCK for words.

My mind went blank.


'erm.. Mrs Taylor... u ok?' I managed to squeak. ( what on earth was I thinking, of course she is NOT ok! )

..more sobbing..


I mustered whatever was left in me to say.. 'oh. I'm so sorry. Please look after yourself.'

..and put down the receiver.


I'm such an idiot!


After that, I was in a daze. Went back to clinics, sat on a chair, and stared into space.

Then suddenly it hit me. Mr Taylor is dead. Mr Taylor whom I was seeing for the past year, is not alive anymore. Tears fell down uncontrollably after that.

I have been in the vicious cycle of denial, acceptance, sorrow and everything all over again for the whole day after that. I keep seeing Mr Taylor's face in my head, waiting in the waiting room for me an hour before his appointment ( I swear he is the earliest patient EVERY time to be in the waiting room!).

I keep hearing Mr Taylor complimenting me, and the work I've done for him in constructing him his new dentures. Regardless of the countless times I screwed up, he never once lost patience in me. Neither did he lose faith in me.

I remember feeling very grateful and happy for being appreciated the way he appreciated me, by bringing a little Christmas cheer to me in the form of chocolates and a greeting card.

I remember our countless conversations during appointments, and he used to tell me about how he has to rush home to cook and look after his wife who is immobile. I remember thinking, his wife is one lucky person.



I realise I should not dwell on what has happened and move on with life. I realise I should not let my emotions take over.

But I also realise that this is my first patient, whom I have been treating for an entire year and built a relationship with, that passed away. So it is normal that I feel the way I do?


I managed to squeeze some words out to be written in the card I would send his wife.. never took this long to write something in my life before.




Dear Mrs. Taylor,

I am so sorry to hear about your loss.

Mr. Taylor was a wonderful patient, always very punctual and encouraging.

My prayers are with you and your family to give you strength through these difficult times.

Do look after yourself, take care. God bless.



Yours sincerely,
Pei Lian Ee
5th year dental student
University of Manchester Dental Hospital



Yes there is nothing much you can say to make a grieving person feel better.


Life can be cruel, but life goes on.

I have this long and hard battle in front of me,and fight it I MUST.

my patient died and I'm damn upset.

long story short, I've been providing dental treatment to him the whole of last year.

I am shocked, and traumatised.

I don't know how to deal with news of death. Not at all.