Of Mice and Men

Another rare day whereby I left research lab early: 5 p.m.!!

The day started off kinda bad for me as I woke up with mouth ulcer, mild sore throat, and sleepiness. I had quite a long day yesterday, and was expecting a long day ahead (as my dosing partner, sy and I planned to do the 12-h time point mice). My mood was lifted up when sy, on seeing my 'pale face', told me that we would do the short time points instead. I did think of that but felt shy to voice up, but looks like my dosing partner and I are working along really well =)


Today, I was a bit off form in dosing- resulting in 4 mice that required washout. Thank goodness my partner is understanding. Then it was cardiac puncture, both of us got quite little blood for our mice. But we were brightened up again when that small amount of blood gave rise to quite a good volume of plasma, thus we can say that volume of blood doesn't necessarily correlate with volume of plasma obtained from it.


To gave my confidence another boost, I got close to 1mL of blood for the last mouse on cardiac puncture-all at the first puncture! yayness!! The heart was still beating when I did cardiac puncture, so I will try to be quick on my dissection next time to ensure that the heart is still beating when I perform cardiac puncture.


At the risk of sounding like I am writing my logbook, I shall say that I am writing this as the labwork today made me realise something...
That when you make a mistake, you will lose your confidence and as a result, make more mistakes. It is important for me to go pass that 'I made a mistake' stage and not let it affect the next action;and when you get something done well, you will be encouraged to do it over and over again with much success.

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So thankful that my friends are all alright (only minor injuries) after a car accident.

After what happened weeks ago and this, really hope the people around me will:
-drive safely, no speeding
-wear seat belts

It may seem cliche, but those are the simple things that one could do if you care for yourself and your loved ones.

Life is so unpredictable. Smile more to people around you =)