Balik Rumah

At the start of this week, there were four nights to be completed in the Emergency Department prior to flying back to Malaysia.

Sometimes I think of work like jogging - the start is usually not too bad, and then you start to tire somewhere in the middle, and your spirits are flagging and your feet are begging you to stop. But for some of us, there is a resilience stronger than our lactic acids - our minds, which tells us to push on through the pain, to keep those arms and legs swinging despite their tiring. And we are rewarded with the final corner, the end line in sight, and a second wind comes to push us through victoriously past the finish line.

It has been a busy and testing four nights, two of which we operated with three doctors when there were meant to be four on. The department on Thursday night/Friday morning was almost as full in the night as it was in the daytime, which is saying a lot.

But by the grace of God the sun broke on the dawn of Friday morning, and the end line was in sight. It was still a hard final few hours, but the second wind came, and we managed to plow through past the ticker tape, hands raised victoriously, as we came to a stop, stooping over to catch our breaths and rest our weary muscles, our skins glistening with perspiration.

And the ultimate reward tonight of being able to sit in the Tullamarine International Airport, journal in one hand, whiling the time away observing other people leaving and returning, allowing the content sigh of one word to escape my lips.

Home.