Chapter 1 features Doctor Colt Ma,
a veterinary surgeon in Hong Kong.

Please briefly describe your work.
As a veterinary surgeon, basically I diagnose animals and do surgery for them.
My everyday work includes vaccine injection, removing sutures (after surgery) and various types of surgery.
I work on animals including dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, chinchillas and turtles.

Why did you choose to be a veterinary surgeon?
I have loved animals since I was small. I started to have a dog as my pet when I was in secondary school and this made me love animals even more.
Being a veterinary surgeon, I am able to deal with different types of animals.
Actually, the work of a veterinary surgeon is a combination of a physician, a surgeon and also a pharmacist. It is a comprehensive job and I like it this way.

Describe your work with 3 adjectives.
Unpredictable and Challenging
When facing unknown cases, I need to perform some checking procedure in order to find out the exact problem of an animal.

Interesting
I am glad that my work is not the same every day. It is not a boring routine job.

Do you love / hate your work in any sense?
LOVE
I love animals, especially animals with hair.
Basically I love animals sized ranging from a great dane (dog) to a little hamster.
I also love animals without hair, for example the sucata tortoise, which is becoming more popular in Hong Kong now. Their place of origin is desert.

HATE
There is one thing that I really feel bad about.
Before we put an animal into surgery, it is necessary to give them anesthesia injections.
In some of my previous cases, the animals were doing well during the whole surgery. Until the end of the surgery, their heart and lung stopped all in a sudden and the animals dies under anesthesia.
Although I tried my best to prevent incidents like this, this is what I do not want it to happen and I feel really bad about it.

How did you feel when you used these tools for the first time?
The first time I got access to these tools was in the fourth year of my study of veterinary science. I had no knowledge of these tools then while I saw my seniors and mentors handling these tools skillfully.

In those days, I was not able to recognise the sounds from the stethoscope and I was not able to hold the needle holders and forceps in the right position.
But after some time of practice, I was able to use all the tools better.

I am a surgery lover. During my study, I practiced almost every day suturing with plush animals dolls and sponge. After half to a year, I had got myself familiar with the tools already.

Now, I can use just one hand to draw medicine from a syringe while my other hand can be free to hold the animal in a good position ready for injection. Actually, at the very beginning, I was only able to do this using both hands.

How do you get practical knowledge of using the tools?
Basic knowledge of the tools was mentioned in lessons and on books. However, when things come to a practical stage, it relies very much on my own feelings and experience. For example, for a sterilisation surgery of a dog, one of the procedures is to ligate the blood vessel with a suture. But when it comes to choosing the right size of suture for a certain size of blood vessel, no one could be able to tell except myself.

Describe the importance of the tools in your job.
Every tool has its own function and finishes a specific task. They are essential to diagnoses, surgery and medication. My work cannot be done smoothly without any of these tools. There are simply no substitutes.

Are the tools single-functional or multi-functional?
Usually each tool can only perform a single function. That’s why there are many surgical tools.

Does every veterinary surgeon have a personal habit of using surgery tools?
If we are to perform the same task in a surgery, basically the choice of tools is the same.
However, the hand position of holding the same tool may differ slightly. Different doctors may also have different choices on suture sizes.
Indeed, medical science is not a black and white science. There are grey areas.
Variations exist due to the doctors’ personal preferences, experience and academic backgrounds.

Describe any limitations of the tools.
As there is no comparison to other existing surgical tools, I cannot speak on the limitations of the set of tools I am using at this moment.

PART II - PICK AN IMPORTANT PERSONAL OBJECT

What is the object?
My watch

How did you get it?
I suddenly fell in love with watches when I was studying in high school. I requested for a watch from my parents. They brought me to a watch store and bought me this watch.

Tell me about its story.
Starting from the time of high school in Hong Kong, to my study in Australia (including practical training and farm visiting), to the time of starting to work, I have worn this watch every day.
It has been with me for at least 10 years.

The watch is a good companion in my work for it doesn’t only tell time, but also counts pulse rate and respiratory rate.

The watch stopped once when I was in Australia. I was sad and worried about it.
It was not until I had come back to Hong Kong after the study that I took the watch to repair. Luckily the watch had just run out of battery.

Describe the relationship of you and your watch.
My watch is like an old friend to me, a good old friend who has been with me for a long time. From the time I was in Hong Kong, to the time I was alone overseas, until the time I came back to Hong Kong again. It has been always with me.
My watch is an object without “life”. Yet, in most of the time, I realise that only objects without “life” will never leave me. They “follow” me wherever I go. They “appear” when I need them. They will never run away. If one day we need to be apart for some reason, I will surely miss them.

How do you feel when you forget to wear the watch for a day?
I feel very uncomfortable and restrained. I need to look at the wall clock instead.

Do you have any other watches?
Yes. I have another watch. But there was a day when I was wearing that watch and something unhappy happened. From that moment on, I seldom wear that watch.

At the moment, do you plan to buy a new watch?
No.
Some time ago I had considered having a new one. But finally I felt it to be not necessary because I can only wear one watch at a time. And I am not a person who loves expensive things. The value of my watch actually comes from the emotions of me to the watch, but not its physical value (price). This emotional value is only valid to me but not to anyone else.