Last night I went through my work emails. Didn’t realise I had 50+ emails. 

The only access I have to them is through work computer or my phone . I can’t open them on my laptop which makes it hard.

Endless emails asking me to do extra shifts well I didn’t see them til last night as didn’t realise I had to delete the ones I’ve read for new ones to show? 

Just hopeless really. Then there’s been a complaint about me not ordering medications for a patient .

The thing is it’s a private hospital . We can’t always order tablets as the patients have to pay for them. In the public system they don’t have to pay. It’s the tax payers that pay.
Patients who stay in the private are often not well to do. They’ve got health insurance and thus they get to stay in a private hospital.

If the patient or chart is not there ie. they’ve gone for a procedure and not in their room I can’t order.

If the patient is asleep I can’t interview them.

If upon talking to them and I find out their relatives are bringing in their tablets I can’t order. 

If they specify no I don’t want you guys to supply I can’t order.

The complaint was why haven’t I ordered for that particular patient. Why wasn’t she seen on the weekend? Thinking back I didn’t work on that ward that weekend for sure .

I remembered working on that ward on the Thursday and Friday but not on the Saturday as I had to hand over to another pharmacist.

Been racking my brains to think of why that patient was not seen on the days that I worked. 

Only thing I can come up with is with the ward closures in early January she might have been transferred from another ward and thus got missed. 

Then the onus is on the nursing staff why didn’t they order the medications? 

From the email it stated she had her own? Then why did medications needed to be ordered? Only ordered when they run out?

Had a sleepless night last night . Woke up around 4am and didn’t sleep again until way after 5am.

It’s morning again. Another day. Although tired I’m okie. Not 100% my happy self but not bawling my eyes out. Life is too short to be miserable. 

This morning I’m driving my youngest to my parents house to make bánh chưng . Her cousin is over there and she wants to be with her. 

Bánh chưng is our traditional rice cake for us Northerners. They have mung bean and belly pork inside them with a glutinous rice outer. 

Unlike the Southerners that wrap them ( bánh tét) into logs ours are flat and square shaped.

You can eat them as is with cold meats and pickles. 

My favourite way to eat is to pan fry them with a bit of oil so they crisp up and stick to your teeth then sprinkle them with sugar. It’s suppose to be a savoury dish but with the sugar it’s yummo.


This is a pair of bánh tét that’s given to us by one of our staff.
They tend to have the exact same filling as ours or they can be sweet with coconut, black beans and banana inside.


The whole idea to these cakes is no need to cook during New Year. Just go visiting and come back to devour them. 


Typical Southerners New Year feast . We will get these on Saturday at his sister’s house to have with rice . 

Belly pork and egg casserole and stuffed bitter melon.

Bitter melon in Viet is called khổ qua meaning the worse is over. They are fiddly to cook because as soon as you over cook they loses their shape and the filling falls out.