From Metro to Maskulin

When I first laid my eyes on the cover of this magazine, it's definitely something that I would NEVER pick up off the shelves. Probably the only ones reading it are gays..I wouldn't know.

Anyway, I had to tebalkan muka and purchase the January edition of the magazine because of this article...

Yup, another article of Mr Boyfriend's achievements. I just hope that the gays out there won't be chasing after him soon.

My Christmas PresentS

Having to work on a public holiday is something that I never look forward to. The thought of being in the hospital, working like a mad dog, and earning only RM170, while others are relaxing at home, spending valuable time with their family and friends.

I probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day. It started off badly when I got a 'lecture' from dad for the smallest thing ever, and later only reached the hospital at 0820H. I was doing my morning rounds when my collegue, who was on-call the previous day called me up to see a patient before he headed home.

It was 38 year old lady, 30 weeks pregnant, having difficulty in breathing. She was known to have Bronchial Asthma for the past 2 years, and my friend had treated her as having an asthma attack. Despite the medical therapy given, her condition didn't improve much and he has informed the specialist about it. He was asked to observe the patient and inform her again if the patient's condition worsened.

I reassessed the patient soon after that and she deteriorated rapidly. She became drowsy; clearly because she was tired from breathing to fast and the accumulation of CO2 in her body. 3 of my other collegues joined to actively resuscitate the patient-by intubating the patient, performing CPR and all. To cut a long story short, her heart stopped beating at 1015H and I pronounced her dead at 1115H.

There were so many things running in my mind at that time. How could she die so suddenly? Was it even an asthma attack? Could it be another diagnosis which was missed earlier? How I am I going to inform my specialist? the Pengarah? And the worse part-How to do I break the bad news to her husband?

You see, maternal mortality is something really HUGE. It is something UNEXCEPTABLE in the field of medicine. Pregnant ladies are not supposed to die..When something like this occurs, the news will go up to the ministry and the all health personnel involved, right from the time she booked her pregnancy up to the last one that saw her, will be investigated thoroughly. It will be a must for us to attend meetings at hospital , district, state and maybe even national level.

To make matters worse, later that evening, I had to attend to a 4 year old child, known case of complex congenital heart disease, who was gasping in the paediatric ward. After performing massive resuscitation, I could not revive the patient and the child succumbed to death.Cause of death: most likely from severe cyanotic spell.

Conclusion:

Two mortalities in one day. One from O&G, one from Paeds. In a district hospital. With no specialist around. One hell of an experience that I shall never forget. Ever.

New Year, New Beginning

People say that new year is like a new beginning. It gives a chance for you to start over, experience new hopes and new possibilities. To me, everyday is like a new beginning. When something awful happens, deal with it within the same day if possible, and later sleep comfortably that night, and have a fresh start the next day. Of course it is easier said than done. With this in mind, it does help to get on with life as quickly as possible.

I have gone through a lot this past one year. It was like a roller coaster for me; having to work in a new place with new set of collegues, the difficulties that I face with my family and studies, and of course, the troubles that I had with my relationship. Like a friend once told me, all this experiences will make our life more colourful and at least, there'll be plenty of stories for us to tell to our grandchildren. That is, an interesting angle to look from.

Nevertheless, with the Maal Hijrah today and New Year in two days time, everybody would hope and pray for the same thing. To forgive our sins over the past one year, and hoping for a better life in the future.

To-Do List

I'm currently on-leave. Yay! I've never had a long stretch of holiday in ages! Probably the last time I had that was in HTAR. Well, I guess it's because I don't really need it, since I'm hardly at work anyway..busy attending courses and all..U should see my punch card every month. Half empty!

Anyway, I decided to take this long stretch of leave due to peer pressure actually. My fellow collegues have already taken one week of leave per person, and I felt left out. Not like I had anything special planned anyway...

It feel good initially.which lasted for merely 2 days..after a while I felt aimless..I still refuse to believe that I'm a workoholic.

I've got a few things lined-up for me to do throughout this 6 days:

Not This! Read on....

- Meet Paeds HOD at Sg Buloh Hospital- DONE
- Find out about SLAB from UiTM- DONE
- Collect nametag from PKNS- DONE
- Wrap wedding gifts

- Get an organizer for 2009- DONE

- Prepare report for Quality Study

- Get presents for Hosp Banting staff- DONE

- Finish reading Twilight

- Get revision books

- Update CPD online- DONE

- Last but not least: Wedding preparation..catering, dress, photographer etc.- ONGOING

So much to do, so little time. We'll see how many things I get to complete by tomorrow, the end of my holiday...sob. sob.

Yes!

I met up with my ex-classmate today, who is currently working at Ipoh Hospital. The last time we met was over a year back and there were tonnes of stuff for us to catch up on. After having Sushi, we decided to watch a movie.

I was given me a choice between Yes Man, Ip Man and Cicak Man 2...Haha, obviously I went for the first one.

The story is about this guy who became depressed after his wife left him, and his life went downhill from there. He's always hiding in his apartment, not wanting to hangout with his friends anymore, and stuck in the same job for years. It was until one day, on old friend of his urged him to join this seminar which asks its participants to say Yes to every oppurtunity that they had. His life changed after that.

I had fun watching the movie! I wouldn't give 5 stars for it, but the jokes that they had were good enough for me to laugh out loud multiple times! Jim Carrey was perfect for the role.

Moral of the story: Life is short. Live life to the fullest.

My almost abandoned quest

After work today, I had the sudden urge to make Char Kuey Teow for dinner. And so, I took a drive to Econsave, got all the stuff that I needed and headed home. Before preparing the dish, I thought of browsing through mesra.net for interesting Kuey Teow recipes. Haha. Semangat right?

Anyway, while I was doing just that, a friend of mine/collegue called. I picked up the phone, feeling a bit suspicious, coz I'm not that close to her and she wouldn't call me after office hours unless it's something urgent. Then she said, 'Wei, it's your turn to do locum today, right? Everybody's looking for u!' S**t. Then it striked me. Of course! I've to be at the hospital right at moment to do locum and I totally forgot about it!- and I'm one and a half hours late! I was thinking about the patients piling up at the casualty..Owh my.

I was also upset that I had to abandon my cooking project today..

I quickly dumped all the stuff that I just bought into the fridge and rushed to the hospital. Luckily the influx of patients today wasn't that bad..

I came home at 11.30 pm feeling tired and hungry. I didn't want my determination to go to waste today, and hence, I still made Char Kuey Teow for dinner! And it tasted quite good actually! Haha, or maybe because I was REAlly hungry..

Mission accomplished.

What I do when I'm on-call

Somehow I tend to update my blog when I'm on call...Nope, it does not reflect how free I am everytime I'm on call! You see, I was on my feet the whole day today, till my slipper got ruined (the side of slipper where it holds my foot came off) and I had to change to a new one..Luckily my car is also my 'mini wardrobe' which had an extra shoe for me to wear today..

We're having a farewell party tomorrow..5 of us who are leaving this hospital soon (or supposedly should have left by now, but unable to do so due to shortage of MOs) teamed up to belanja lunch for the whole hospital.

Menu for tomorrow:

- Steamed Rice

- Vege Fried Rice

- Chicken Curry

- Ikan Bawal Sambal

- Egg Taufu with Oyster sauce

- Baby Kailan

- Roti Jala

- Dadih

- Mixed Fruit

- Sunquick Orange Juice

Ok time to rest now..

Mental Hospital Phone Menu

I got this from the Malaysian Paediatrics Association (MPA) Bulletin.

Enjoy~

MENTAL HOSPITAL PHONE MENU

Hello and thank you for calling The State Mental Hospital. Please select from the following options menu:

If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6.

If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can trace your call.

If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be forwarded to the Mother Ship.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press, nothing will make you happy anyway.

If you are dyslexic, press 9696969696969696.

If you are bipolar, please leave a message after the beep or before the beep or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.

If you have low self-esteem, please hang up our operators are too busy to talk with you.

If you are menopausal, put the gun down, hang up, turn on the fan, lie down and cry. You won't be crazy forever.

If you are blonde, don't press any buttons, you'll totally screw up the phone system. Just go away.

Omar's Home!

This picture was taken before he left for UK a few months back. He pretty much still looks the same now, except that his hair has grown a few inches thicker..Owh ya, and he appears much thinner now too! Although he prefers the word 'fitter'..I have to disagree on this one coz I really can't appreciate the six packs that he claims he has!

Even though I won't be seeing my lil brother everyday, am just happy that my family feels more 'complete' now..It's great to have u around, omar!

Hari Raya Aidiladha

It's nice to not be on-call on Hari Raya Haji..I was doing housemanship in O&G posting i think, and somehow they put my on call on that auspicious day..It was sad initially, but I was lucky enough that there were not many admissions on that day..The one thing that I couldn't forget was when a patient of mine handed me some ketupat, lemang and renang for dinner..Really cured my sadness. On top of that, mum had someone to send my some lemang as well. So the nurses and I had quite a feast!

Anyway, the routine for tomorrow would be the usual. Attending prayers in the morning, and then, dad and my brother would go to the surau to watch the cows and goats being slaughtered...Although, I'm not very sure whether they will be going this year, since we're staying in sect 13 now..

Well, whatever it is, I'm happy that I'm not celebrating Hari Raya Haji at the hospital this year!

Another 16 days to go..

My heart is now in Buenos Aires..

From 'Insect' to Ridsect

After coming back from work today, being post-call and all, the first thing that I wanted to do was to just rest my head on the bed to catch up with my sleep. My stomach was growling of hunger, but my priority was still sleep...

Anyway, while I was dozing off, I felt this tingling sensation over my right arm. I turned my head to my right and saw an 'insect' in the inner part of my blouse. Thought it was ant or a bug, so I attempted to catch/crush it with my hand (I was wearing a long sleeved blouse). After grabbing hold of it, it suddenly stopped moving, so I thought the 'insect' was dead. I was just too tired so I didn't bother to change my clothes, and so dozed off after a few seconds.

And then, suddenly I felt it again. A cold, ticklish sensation over my arm. That 'insect' was still moving... I looked at it harder, through my white blouse, and I shrieked when I realize what it was! It was a.........

.................................
..................................

LIZARD! A baby cicak!

UUURrghhhhh......Yucks!! Disgusting!

I jumped out from my bed, shrugged my body and shoulders, and the lizard fell to the floor..and worse part was that a part of its tail got stuck to my inner sleeve and the rest of the lizard...was gasping for air on the floor of my bedroom. Really!


While the lizard was taking its last few breaths, the next thing I did was....

---spray half a can on Ridsect on it! I was scared ok!

Since I was really tired today, being sleep deprived and all, the scary incident did not stop me from sleeping. After disposing the lizard, I slumped on my bed and almost immediately, I was off to dreamland..

Yes! No more headache!

HeadACHE

Headache: Like a needle piercing through my brain..

I've been bothered by this irritating symptom through out the day. Regardless, whether I'm walking or sitting, talking or eating. It can just happen anywhere, anytime.

The funny thing is that I'll have this spontaneous, sharp pain, at the exact same spot each time. Of course, being in the medical profession, it makes me list out 1001 causes of a headache. From a space occupying lesion in the brain, down to a simple tension headache. The more I think about it, the worse my symptom gets.

Today, I've taken Ponstan, hoping that it'll go away. I do feel a bit better I guess, but whenever I press on that particular spot, the pain will come again. I even asked my nurse to check my scalp, in case there's a blister/pimple there, but apparently by scalp appears healthy.

Being on-call today really doesn't make it better. Hope this headache of mine will go away tomorrow.

New look-temporarily..

Nenot, aku dah tukar template. Puas hati? takyah kau nak pening kepala lagi.

aih..so penat nak cari template best. dah le tak reti. Help!

Uban = Aging?

It all started probably early this year when my hair stylist spotted a grey hair on my scalp. 'Should I pull it?,' he asked. 'Go Ahead.' I said. What's the worse that could happen?

Since then, I've been having premature grey hair..Not that many actually, but enough to cause me a reasonable amount of distress. A cousin of mine spotted a few of my grey hair during hari raya month, which resulted me to frantically ask my maid to pluck them all out the minute I reached home.

Grey hair looks cool on Rogue. Could I pull it off? Haha.. Nahh..

Is the myth true? That when you pull out one grey hair, seven will come out? I'm not sure.

All this stimulated me to do some research on the causes of premature grey hair:

1. Stress: the most common cause.
- Yeah, most likely. Perhaps now not as stressed as before.

2. Hair Colouring
- This is also possible..I've already coloured my hair 4/5 times..

3. Lack of vitamins, specifically B12
- I don't really practice a well balanced diet..I believe that I may lack in some essential vitamins, and hence, I'm TRYING to take daily multivitamins now..


I recently dyed my hair again, to mask the residual grey hair that I might still have. You know, I got offended when my hairstylist offered me a few set of hair colours and said 'These colours are suitable if you have uban, coz it looks very natural' Please! Definitely not for me!

Anyway, whatever the reasons may be, I do hope that it'll all go away..No more uban please!

Sg. Buloh, Here I come!

Next month will mark my one year anniversary. One Year of working in this hospital. I guess that is more than enough experience required in any district hospital.

Not like I hate working here. The staff here are generally very nice and the working environment here is great. When it comes to career advancement, you just can't sit in a district setting too long.

I recently got my letter of transfer to Sg Buloh Hospital. I was ecstatic when I first received the news! I mean who wouldn't, any MO would jump with joy when he/she gets their first choice!

As excited as I am right now, I really have that tiny feeling that I won't be able to cope with the stress there. As of now, I'm in my small comfort zone and any new form of stressor can easily break me. Yes, I am a very fragile girl.

Nevertheless, I do look forward to that upcoming change. It'll be a good challenge for me. I just know it.

Trailers

I was surfing the net today and came across a few interesting trailers..Check them out.

1. Changeling:
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Amy Ryan, John Malkovich

--> I just love the trailer. I'm sure the movie is gonna be great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxikEYkOmo

2. Bride Wars:
Starring: Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway

--> I was attracted by the main casts initially, but I upon watching the trailer, it wasn't as good as what I had expected. They showed a few slapstick jokes here and there. Will only watch the movie I'm in the mood for a chick flick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdHJnPC_Uvo


3. The Pink Panther 2
Starring: Steve Martin, Jean Reno

--> This one is something that I must much. I laughed so hard when I watched the 1st movie! Guess it was because Steve Martin can look so natural when it comes to acting stupid. He was perfect for the role. I'm really hope that the sequel will be just as good or even better!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xNUO0Lg8Es

We have moved!

My moving history:

2003: Sect 2 to Seremban

2005: Seremban to Batu Pahat

2006: Batu Pahat to Sect 2

2008 (early): Sect 2 to Banting

2008 (at present): Sect 2 to Sect 13

You see, dad's organising this massive renovation for our house. After all, the only renovation that we ever did to the house was painting it, painting it, and...painting it again. Since the renovation is gonna be rather huge and will potentially produce lots of dust, dad thought I'd be a good idea if we shift to another house, temporarily.

I spent one whole week packing all the accumulated junk that I've had with me for the past 26 years. Of course, I was being nostalgic during the packing process..reading the old cards that I had, letters, pictures, etc..There were all rubbish really, but just to valuable to be thrown away..

Now, we've finally settled in our new home. There are still lots of unopened boxes, but we plan to keep it as that. After all, in a few months time, we have to shift back to our newly renovated house.

The funny thing about our new home is that it's on the same row as my other half's! So happenned that dad was looking for a nice semi-D house in shah alam, and his friend offered our family to stay at his vacant, newly purchased house for the next few months. I guess it's just karma.

Festival of Lights

Am strongly feel that there are no Indians who read this blog...

Well, it doesn't matter coz as Malaysians, we celebrate all festivals!

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed Deepavali...

M.C. Seeker

Allow me to share this tiny secret with all of you out there..

We secretly label some of our patients in the outpatient clinic as 'MC Seeker'. A small note will be made on top of the patient's card, as a warning sign to the potential doctors who will be seeing that particular patient in the near future.

I was doing locum in Casualty yesterday and was extremely irritated by a number of 'MC Seeker'. These patients gave all sort of absurd excuses, false symptoms, and stories just to gain the doctor's sympathy or for their personal gain.

Throughout my career, I have come across a variety of MC Seekers. Here are some the common approach the 'MC Seeker' may use:

1. Straight forward:

When a patient enters the examination room and say 'Saya mahu MC'. Hello?? Is that even a symptom? U call that a reason to see a doctor? Please, we doctors come to work for a real purpose, ok?- to figure out and solve a patient's problem. Not just randomly give out MC on patient's request. We do the assessment, and WE will decide whether u are fit to go to work. Get it?

2. Beat around the bush:

This type of patients will give a wide variety of symptoms till we can't even figure out which one is head or tail. Eg: Saya sakit kepala, lepas tu sampai demam, lepas tu kebas, tak boleh jalan, pening kepala, sakit perut, bla bla bla. The doctor will ask further questions to try to reach a diagnosis. The patient will give vague answers. This is when the doctor will realise the real purpose for the patient coming to the clinic. Some doctors will get fooled by these kind of patients and will order a whole battery of investigations to help reach a diagnosis. What a waste of the government's money and resources!

4. The Liar

I don't have to elaborate on this one. People lie all the time to get MC.

5. MC Extender: (Haha, is there such a word??)

These are usually the smarter patients-the ones who are already in the 'professional level' in obtaining MCs. These patients will usually have a real complaint, usually muscle ache or joint pain. He will first see his private practitioner and get an MC easily. The following day, he will go to the government clinic to obtain another MC. The reason for this is because most companies only accept one/two days of MC from a private clinic. If a patient wants extra days of sick leave, a doctor from a government clinic has to issue another MC.

6. Habiskan Annual MC:

This kind of patient will usually have an underlying chronic disorder like gout. He will happily binge on seafood and come to the clinic the next day with joint pain. After prescribing analgesia, the patient will ask for MC. When asked why, he'll say ' Allaaa....MC saya banyak lagi yang tinggal tahun ni yang belum habis pakai. Boleh la kasi satu, doc'? Ishhh...memang geram. U ingat ni macam cuti ke, nak habis2 kan hujung tahun??

7. The Leech:

This group includes close/distant family members of the hospital staff. MC is usually for balik kampung or family emergency. It's very difficult to approach this kind of people, as the staff is usually your friend and you wouldn't want to jeopardize your friendship.

Asking one day of MC is bad enough, but there was one occasion when a relative of my staff asked for 2 days to balik kampung. I just told the fella off. 'Melampau la sampai mintak 2 hari!'

8. The Bully:

This is the most irritating group of patients. They will come with the tiniest problem like simple cough and cold, joint pain of the finger, rash- and yet they still ask for MC- even though they seemed as fit as a horse. And when the doctor refuses to issue the MC, he will threaten/scold/demand/using foul language etc. till you give in. Damn annoying, especially when you have another 50 patients lining up outside the room to see you.

9. The Timeslip Refuser

It's difficult to determine whether this group of patient is lying. A timeslip is issued as the patient seems fit to go to work. However, patient will refuse the timeslip and demand for an MC instead. Reason being:

- 'Company saya tak accept timeslip!'

-' Kalau guna timeslip, tak dapat gaji untuk satu hari!'

-' Sekarang sudah petang la, apa guna bagi timeslip, baik bagi MC saja!'

-' Ofis saya jauh, bile sampai ofis, sudah habis waktu kerja!'

So you see, MC seekers are just down right irritating and can just spoil a doctor's day. So please. Have some respect and do come to the clinic for real reasons. Thank you.

Post-Merisik Fever, literally

I've been contemplating to make this entry, but I guess it's about time that I share my joy with the people that I care and love..The people who are close to me would know that I'm not the type who like to talk about my relationship. I have my own reasons, but as of today, I feel that it's time for me to turn over a new leaf.

You see, I couldn't really concentrate during the kursus, knowing the Mr Boyfriend's parent will be coming over to my house to discuss about our future...It was on a Sunday, and since the schedule was so packed, I decided to stay on in Bagan Lalang, and not go home to join in the ceremony..

Apparently, it all turned out quite well...

I urged my brother to send pictures to me via email, which he did..thanks Japa! Thank god that kampung Bagan Lalang had wireless!

From his side to mine..

After the kursus ended, I dropped by at my other half's place, to see the gifts that was given from my side to his..I was quite impressed....Nice and classy! Thank you dear aunties!

I had to ask the maid to take this picture for me..It turned out pretty good, right?

Turns out Mr boyfriend was still asleep in the room when I came over, and hence, I gave him a surprise visit at the same time. Cool!

Mr Sleepy face, and his gift..Specially bought by my dad...

Even though I'm down with a flu now, it doesn't matter coz I'm now happier than ever...

Kursus Induksi Kumpulan 1 Siri 4/2008

Being stuck in Bagan Lalang-a place with no attractions whatsoever-for 9 days in total was something that I never would have expected. My reason for attending the kursus was just to get my pengesahan jawatan settled. That's it.

Bagan Lalang Beach
one of my staff told me that the beach stinks, but he was wrong! the beach seemed alright to me..the girl on the right hand side is 'Ismat-my roommate.

The hotel was nothing to shout about. The only good thing about the kursus was the food that they served! Far better that what we had at the Kursus Kenegaraan (BTN). 6 course meal on a daily basis...occasionally I would skip tea and supper, just didn't want to spoil myself!

The shocking thing that happened on the second day was when I was elected to be the Penghuluwati. Some joker shouted out my name during the nomination, and a few seconds after that, an even bigger joker yelled out' Saya cadangkan cadangan ditutup!' Then, everybody clapped and said 'Sokong! Sokong!' And I was like...' What the...? Did that just happenned?'

Anyway...it was just lectures and lectures everyday..The topics couldn't be more boring! Tatertertib, Dasar-dasar, etika, etc. My normal routine would be yawning for the first half and hour, sleep for the next half hour, and later frantically copy notes from the super efficient girl beside me. I'm really terrible when it comes to lectures,..I just can't help it! Taking sweets didn't help to keep myself awake..

The best part of the kursus was the Persembahan Kumpulan, whereby each group could perform whatever the want, be it, singing, dancing, acting whatever. Our group did a sketch called 'Pink Prashant' -coz the main actor's name is Prashant and our theme song was from Pink Panther. Lame right? Haha. I know. It's about this espionage and his attempt to bribe a government officer, and was later caught by the police in the end..

Kumpulan 7- Pulau Sipadan
From left: Idza the judge, Kiran the policewoman, Anim the stage manager, me, Roopa the receptionist, Felix the policeman, Nasir the govt officer, Prashant the espionage and Monica the narrator.

We didn't win, but we had loads of fun preparing the script and rehearsing the play. U know what was my role? Being the slutty secretary for the government officer...Heh. not my choice ok!

Today, I'm just glad that I'm finally home, able to sleep on my ever-so-comfortable bed and shower with clean water - (the water in Bagan Lalang was terrible! Karat wei...)

Here are some other pictures..

With Vijay- waiting for our turns to receive our certs..Note: we were on the last row!

Peek-A-Boo!

Feeling Proud

This is a long overdue post...

I was on-call last Saturday when my other half asked my to buy Harian Metro the next day. He told me that someone did a write up on him and it might be in the papers. I thought he was pulling my leg, but at the same time, feeling a little bit excited, just in case there's this slightest chance that it might be true. He specifically asked me to get up early in morning, go to the nearest shop and be the first one to read the article.

True enough, I went to the small sundry shop within the hospital compound, and there it was...a full page article (2 pages actually-coz it was at center part of the newspaper, two pages joined together) telling about him and his achievements. His name was even the title of the news! and it was in Red!

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't find the words to describe how much I was proud of him.

And now...when I google his name, the first thing that comes out is that article.
How cool is that?

Well, I'll let u read the article yourself. It actually looks better in the hardcopy version, rather that the one posted in the Harian Metro website.

Kejutan Wan Mohd Azim

Ampang Medikal

Ampang Medikal....Aduh. Where do I begin!?

Please don't judge me just yet. I was just randomly going through the TV channels after watching the news, when I came across this show. I read an article about in the local papers, but never actually had the chance to watch it..till now. And hence, I watched the show out of curiousity. Could a local production company pull off a Malaysian version of 'Grey's Anatomy'?

Owh man..I think I could list out more than 100 ridiculous things that they had in the show. For starters, who wears scrubs with a labcoat? Walking around the hospital compound, eating at the hospital canteen in scrubs? Mau kena marah dgn pengarah? Hello, this is not Seattle Grace Hospital.

And please don't get me started on the clinical symptoms, examinations and management...gile merepek. Not worth mentioning.

Performing CPR in front of relatives? Nak kena saman?

It's not that I don't support local dramas or movies.. it's just that I wish they would be more original and at least do their homework before writing the script. Even the acting has a lot of improvement to do...

I could only stomach 1/2 hour of the show.

Ampang Medikal: strictly not for doctors, future doctors or any medical personnel....

Baby!

Congratulations Tino on your newborn baby!

Mesti cute mcm mummy dia kan..

Insya-Allah Ee dtg jumpe end of this week...

Susceptibility to Mosquito Bites

We had a family gathering today and the topic of mosquitos came up. One of my cousins got bitten recently and developed a more severe reaction than expected. She and her niece were the only ones who got bitten by mosquitos at her house and the other family members were spared.

I have always wondered why mosquitos bite some people more than others...

This was what I found out from multiple websites over the net..I managed to get most of my questions answered.

1. Has any research being done?
Yes. Scientists are still investigating the complexities involved. Many of the mosquito's physiological demands are poorly understood and many of the processes they use to evaluate potential blood meal hosts remain a mystery.

Recent research has been undertaken to narrow down the smells that are attractive and repellent to mosquitoes. The research was at first described as similar to looking for a needle in a haystack, but scientists have since managed to track down and identify around 30 chemical compounds out of 300 that can protect people.---> The basis of mosquito repellents.

This is what they use to do study the body odours of people who repel mosquitos...Cool eh? It's called a foil sleeping bag.



2. What/Who are they attracted to?
Female mosquitoes use the CO2 we exhale as their primary cue to our location.

3. Are they attracted to any smells?
Mosquitoes are attracted to the smells of certain people. If a person is rarely bitten, then his or her body gives off a smell that masks the scent that attracts mosquitoes.

Fragrances from hair sprays, perfumes, deodorants, and soap can cover these chemical cues.

4. What about the colour of clothing that we wear?
Dark colors capture heat and make most people more attractive to mosquitoes. Light colors refract heat and are generally less attractive. Detergents, fabric softeners, perfumes, and body odor can counteract the effects of color.

5. Since they are blood-suckers, are menstruating women at risk?
Women around the time of thier menstrual period are said to get bitten by mosquitos more than other women.


6. Any particular food that we should avoid in order to prevent ourselves from getting bitten?
People say that mosquitos are attracted to bananas. I couldn't find any literature to support this..Some believe that we should prevent from making our blood 'sweet', so we need to take something that smells terrible like garlic....i don't think this is true!

5. Other interesting facts?
They are drawn to lactic acid in sweat. So mandi!

They are also attracted to people with Group O positive blood. (Based on a research published in the Journal of Medical Entomology)

Mosquitoes prefer warm body parts to cold ones.



Hope u all find this useful!

Reference:
1. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080716222338AA6MKys
2. Mosquitoes' Tricks Still Exceed Remedies, The New York Times

3. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=32414 (This one's very informative)

Day 1 of Raya

D1 of Raya: Kota Bharu.

I was woken up that morning at about 0630H, by my dad who urged me to perform the Subuh prayers. I then went to the kitchen to help out my aunties to prepare breakfast for everybody. Everything had to be self-service, as this time there were no maids around to help to set the table, preparing drinks and washing up the dishes. Well, nothing new for our family as we've been surviving at our home in Shah Alam without a maid for the past one week.

After breakfast, I realised that I forgot to bring an extra baju kurung for the Raya prayers! And so I asked one of my aunties whether I'd be ok if I wear a caftan for prayers. She gave a me a look as though I proposed something really stupid, and she suggested that I just wear the telekung on top of the caftan from home. Then it hit me, I didn't bring an extra telekung too! (U see, I've been using my sister's telekung throughout my stay in KB)

Bad shape..I then called my cousin Iz whether I could borrow his mum's telekung, and whether he could send it over to our house which was just 3 minutes away. Iz was still asleep when I called...(Ape ni, Iz? dah pukul 730 pon blom bangun lagi?) To proof that he was still in a daze, he asked me back in his sleepy voice, ' Nak pinjam telekung? Untuk ape? ' Ler...nak buat semayang la, takkan nak buat tido kot. Ape la.

To cut a long story short, I performed the raya prayers and visited my grandma's grave in a caftan..No choice, what to do.

Moral of the story: Even if you want to travel light, please bring all the necessities. Siapa jugak yang malu nanti.

Today..

Today, I...

1. Came to work not knowing what to expect.

2. Suffered from dysmenorrhea, till I had to take Ponstan to relieve the pain.

3. Dad, my brother and sister made a surprise visit to Banting. They brought along a dining table and a new shelf for my tv. Luckily I managed to spare some time today to show around my apartment to them.

4. Performed a vacuum delivery successfully.

5. Looking forward to 1pm tomorrow..to go home and Zzzz...

Ramadhan

It's almost towards the end of Ramadhan and I haven't blogged about it yet..

In Banting, my usual routine would be going to work and later would drop by at the Bazaar Ramadhan in Kanchong to buy some food for buka puasa. As I walk along to choose what food to buy, one person will always bound to smile and point at me. Or, someone among the food vendors would say, 'Doktor, mari la beli'. That would be my cue to smile. It had to be one of my patients. Just to have play along ...:)

It's sad to break fast alone in my apartment everynight. After dinner, I would quickly take a shower and drive to the Banting Mosque near Jugra. Just figured out the way to get there without going through the main road. Only takes me about 3 minutes everytime..

Meanwhile when I'm on-call, it's very inpredictable when and where I would break fast. One night I had to transfer a patient to HTAR at 6.30pm, and later had to buy a drink from the Hospimart to break fast in the ambulance on the way back to Banting. One another night, a patient had a difficult vaginal delivery at 7pm, which cause a very bad vaginal tear, which the nurses refused to repair. Hence, I quickly had a snack before straining my eyes to repair the tear, which took me about an hour..Haih, what a night.

And now at home, my maid just went back to Indonesia on Thursday as her daughter got involved in an accident. This means, washing our own clothes and preparing our own sahur and dinner..

10 more days to Hari Raya and hardly any preparations yet..Will be working the day before raya, flying to K.B. the night before raya, and flying back to Shah Alam on Hari Raya day itself..

Happy Ramadhan, everybody!

Singapore

Selamat Berpuasa to all..

I haven't been around this past few days coz i was down in Singapore!

Took a flight down alone and stayed at a hotel on Orchard road. It was lonely initially got used to it the next day. Met up with a good of friend of mine, Sim, who did housemanship together with me at HTAR . Thanks for spending time with me, dear..

There was something that I saw, which I just can't it out from my head till now..

I was walking towards Ngee Ann City at about 9pm when I spotted this group of teens, with multiple body piercings here and there, wearing punk-like clothes, sitting on the floor by entrance of the shopping mall. I was silently saying to myself, 'Rosaknya budak2 Melayu di Singapore ni...' As I was walking back towards my hotel, that was about 9.30pm, the same group was still there. Worse still, they were laughing with each other with beer bottles on their hands. A lot of empty beer bottles strewn beside them as well. What a thing to see on Ramadhan.

Besides that horrible scene that I saw, I thoroughly enjoyed myself in Singapore. So did I shop much? Nah. Not really. Just bought the usual, like clothes, accessories, shoes and a bottle of perfume. As for tomorrow, am off to work..

Selamat Berbuka!

Happy 51st Birthday, Malaysia!

I have been driving around Shah Alam quite often this past one week, and much to my disappointment, people did not seem to be so patriotic for the upcoming merdeka this year. I only spotted one kancil with a flag on its front mirror. It's sad, but I can't say much coz even I didn't put any flag on my car..I don't want to spoil my dad's car ok! :)

I was on the road during the countdown to merdeka today and managed to watch the fireworks which was set from the Dataran Shah Alam from far. It was a very short one. Probably lasted for 3 minutes. Sad la.

I guess people are not really in the mood this year coz the Merdeka holiday coincides with the first day of fasting month. People are rushing to go back to their hometowns to spend their first day of Ramadhan with their love ones. Well, it's just a theory.

Anyway, Happy Merdeka to all!

Happy or ?manic baby

Alia's Wedding

This is rather overdue...

I was invited to Alia's wedding reception-which was on the 020808, but was on-call on that day..Hence, I took the extra effort to drive down from Banting that Friday night,the day before the reception, i.e.010808 to attend her akad nikah at her new home..You see, it was important for me to attend her wedding as we were close when we were in Form 2..




Anyway, the solemnization ceremony was lovely..Alia appeared so calm and cool, while I was having butterflies in my stomach..Funny...

It was nice seeing her happily married to her first and only boyfriend..How lucky can one get?

The one and only photo of me and the bride..
After this photo was snapped, my camera was automatically switched off. No batteries!

I wish the both of them the best of happiness..

Kursus Kenegaraan

KemAH, Batu 13, Muar On the right: Girls hostel. Left: Guys hostel

I've been meaning to write about this for the past one week..

BTN-Biro Tatanegara- was not as bad as I had expected..

I heard lots of horror stories about BTN, in which I have mentally prepared myself to expect the worse from the kursus...The mental image that I had was a group of us, dressed in pure black and white, lined up in military style, just listening to what the commander has to say, without having the chance to utter a word..

Turns out, it wasn't that bad after all..

Yes, we did have to wear a white, long sleeved baju kurung with black sarung EVERYDAY..day and night..luckily I brought enough clothes to last me for 5 days..even though they clearly stated in the BTN website @ www.btn.gov.my that we have to wear a white BAJU KURUNG top. Most of us wore blouses anyway...I mean, how many people has a plain white baju kurung top anyway? I'm not going to wear a school uniform..Please...

We also had riadah everyday...Which I initially thought would be the participants running around the field and hurdle through the obstacle course. Turns out it was just some light exercises, like stretching and jog on the spot. Thank God! There was a day when we had to run for 2 km..interesting coz we had to run on tanah gambut the track was in the middle of a ladang nenas..

The lectures and group of activities were very...government orientated, if you know what I mean. Perkara 153 was emphasised on many occasions..I don't have to say more.

Whatever said and done, I'm proud to say that I survived BTN!

LDK 2: With our ultra-nice facilitator- En Husin

P/S: We were not allowed to use any recording devices throughout the course..After the closing ceremony I decided to snap a few photos...no more rules to follow, right?

My dorm-mates: Marina, Mel and Monica- A very fun bunch!

Gerhana Bulan on 170808 at 0640H- on Nisfu Syaaban
This was the best view I could get. I blame the camera.

With the other Mel: who took the trouble to email me the map to the Kem (she took a photo of the map using her digital camera and emailed the file to me from KL.) Thanks dear!

Day of Prosperity

I'm sure today is very special day for many people out there:

- Babies born today will have the number 080808 at the beginning of their IC number
- Many weddings/engagements have taken place today.
- Olympics!

Congrats to my primary schoolmate, Zaheera. Her akad nikah was held a few hours ago and the reception will be tomorrow. Sorry, can't make it for your big day-will be on call tomorrow.

Congrats to my secondary schoolmate, Faiz. Hope u didn't lie to me about your engagement-since u're always talking nonsense.

As for me..today is just like any other day..

Watch your mouth please!

You know there are occasions when VIPs will come to hospital to greet and show support to the patients, and present them with some gifts? Then there will photographers tailing them everywhere they go?

Well, today a few representatives from a lady's association (I won't mention the name here) came to the hospital to pass some gifts to patients in the paediatrics and geriatrics ward.

Apparently, from what I heard from hospital staff, the vice president of the association, Datin something or rather gave quite a shocking speech at the hospital hall today.

One of her statements was something like this, 'Kalau anak saya nak dimasukkan ke hospital, saya takkan ke hospital kerajaan, disebabkan layanan staff yang tidak memuaskan. Nasib baik la saya ada medical insurance.' Then she added ' Sorry la, mulut saya ni laser sikit.'

I was like, What the ****?

I mean, come on, kalau masuk rumah orang tu tolong la hormat sikit. Even though u're like some VIP, please know the proper things to say when making a speech. Why would you want to offend the rest of the listeners out there? Little that she realise that her words offended not only the hospital staff here, but also the hospital staff of the whole of Malaysia.

If you don't support the government medical service, why do you even bother to provide gifts to the patients here? owh ya, for the obvious reason-to add on to the list of activities done by the organisation.

You know what ticked me off the most?

The whole group came to the ward to pass the gifts to each patient. I was examining a patient when she came up to me and shook my hand. As she was about to leave the ward she told the hospital matron 'Kita bagi satu hamper kat doktor tadi la. Dia tu kecik-macam patient-patient kat ward ni'

Too much!

Some day, when I'm awfully low..

I feels awkward to start blogging again. I have been under a dark cloud for the past one month. While avoiding a major problem, I've created numerous minor problems, probably just to get my mind away from it.

What am I talking about..

I was at my lowest last weekend. On Saturday, I had a fight with someone who really mattered to me in the morning, felt betrayed by two of my friends in a span of an hour in the afternoon, and top it up, I had a very bad call at the hospital. It was just too much for me to handle.

Then came Sunday when I slept for 3 hours after coming back from the hospital, and then went to a wedding, which was just behind my apartment.

Was driving back to Shah Alam when I became all emotional again. I didn't feel like going home and yet i didn't know where to go. I suddenly decided to go to hair salon to get a haircut-the last time I had hair treatment done was in April.

I felt like doing something drastic. Hence I asked the guy to cut my hair shoulder length-i normally just go for a trim, just to get rid of the unhealthy ends of my hair.

The guy just looked at me and said ' U sure ah? I think I better cut a bit longer coz I think u'll regret later.' I gave in.

With my new haircut, I walked around to mall, hoping for retail therapy to kick in. It was sad as I was walking in and out of the shops, and yet I couldn't even decide which stuff looked nice and which did not. I felt lost.

Nothing helped to cheer me up. Not hair treatment. Not retail therapy. Nothing.

Night was worse-to bad to even be mentioned here.


I felt a bit better today-trying to put all the bad thoughts in a box, hoping it'll stay there forever.

I really hope that something will help to cheer me up soon.

Taugeh- to eat or not to eat?

I was having lunch at Hartini on Saturday when suddenly the topic of 'taugeh' came up.

My other half: U tau taugeh ni sebenarnye takde khasiat pon?


Me: Ye ke? Habis tu baik takyah makan camtu.


My other half: Betul..kalau tak caya gi la tanya pakar diet kat hospital u. Cuba tanya dia skarang.


Me: U ingat semua phone number staff hospital banting dlm phone I ke?


My other half: *laughs*


Me: Oklah. Hari Isnin I tanya dia.


I was rather free today, hence I surfed the net for nutritional benefits of taugeh or also known bean sprouts.

What I found out-- Benefits of taugeh:

1. no cholesterol
2. low in calories
3. contain vitamins A, B, C, E- antioxidants
4. contain enzymes which aid in digestion
5. high amount of fiber
6. contain minerals (iron, potassium)

And so..looks like I won this battle. Sorry dear, looks like u have to try harder next time.

Get Smart

Saw this movie at GSC The Gardens, Mid Valley last night. RM 20 for a seat? Was it worth it? The seat was really comfortable, no doubt about that. Extra space, reclining seat, and able to lift up the arm rest..a lil bit too comfortable I would say..ALMOST felt like I was sitting on my couch back home.

The movie was great! I never watched the old tv series, so I can't compare Steve Carrell with the the dude who was in original Get Smart, i.e. Don Adams. Watch this movie if you feel like having a good laugh.

Weekly Couch Potato

Mum stayed at my apartment for the night and it's nice to have someone around once in a while, especially on a Tuesday night..

What is so special about Tuesday nights? This..

2030-2130H: C.S.I.

2130-2230H: Pushing Daisies

2230-2330H: Desperate Housewives

12MDN-0100H: Charm School

It's the time when I'll slump on my couch and eyes glued to the TV. What sort of life am I having here..Heh. Pecah rahsia.

Words of wisdom

I have been in a mess this past one week. Not because of the recent petrol price hike, or the rise in the global food price, but more on a personal level.

I feel suffocated.

I have been fasting since Tuesday- Yes, to puasa ganti, and at the same time, wishing that it'll help to clear up my mind a bit. To help me reflect the decisions that I've made in the past, and hoping that I'll make the right major, life decisions in the future.

I was in the labour room today, and had a chat with the most senior midwife there. She's a person that I highly respect and I take her judgement in managing patients seriously.

As we were talking, I asked her a random question, " What is your opinion when a doctor doesn't marry another doctor?" She gave a long pause before answering the question. And so she said..

"It's difficult to judge someone based on his/her profession. you will only discover more about the person once you're married to him/her."

And then she added..

"Lets say if you recently graduated from medical school and started working. You are not seeing anybody. Then you will tend to look for people in the same profession as you or in the same field as you. Same goes to your parents. They would want you to go out with someone who has the same career as you. If you have been going out with the person while u were still a student, then it's a different matter."

"You have been together with the person through thick and thin. You are very comfortable with the person and you share everything with him. The problems that you faced, the challenges that you go through and even very personal issues that you do not share with others. Then when you graduate, you don't really care where the other person graduated from or work as, because you have been happily together all this while."

"The bond that you both have will never be understood by others, and can only be appreciated by the both of you. When other people look at the couple they will think to themselves, how could the both of them end up together?"

My eyes were tearing upon listening to her words. I didn't even tell her about the problems that I was facing and yet she gave me the answer that I was looking for.

Thanks S/N Choo.

KABO

I am still struggling to widen my vocabulary. Nope, not for the Malay language, not for English, but for Kelantanese. Heh.

I was in the ward yesterday when my nurse was explaining to me about the new patient that just admitted. The child came in with high grade fever and the nurse managed to get some extra information about the patient. Apparently the child might be having 'fits' at home. She was explaining to me..

Nurse: Saya rasa patient tu ade fit la kat rumah. Mak dia kata anak dia selalu macam ade jerking sebelum atau masa tido.

Me: Maybe budak tu terkejut kot? mengigau ke?

Nurse: Owwhh...mungkin jugak ye, doktor. kalau org kelantan ckp KABO la.

Me: Huh? KABO tu ape?

Nurse: Allaaa..mcm terkejut masa tido la.

Haih...Despite being half Kelantanese, I have so much to learn...how i wish there's a Kelantanese dictionary. Won't that be great? Hey, that's a great idea actually, come to think of it.

For the record, I can understand the languange but can't speak fluently..Without practice, how could one master the language, right?

Well, as for the patient, she didn't have any episode of fits or KABO in the ward up to today...

Nurse's Day

It was Nurse's Day recently- on 6th of May. I didn't do anything special for them, as I only realise it till they reminded me about it on the day itself. Sorry!

Anyway, one of the midwives from the labour room received a hamper-probably worthed RM100 bought from Econsave. It was from a patient, who she helped to deliver her baby 2 years ago. This was the card that she received which came together with the hamper.


Thought the card was interesting as the bearer of the gift wanted to be anonymous, and yet she spelt PASSION instead of PATIENT. But still, even though her language was not very good, she had a very good intention and at least she remembered when Nurses's Day was!

Marie Digby Live in Malaysia

I took leave last week i.e. Thursday and Friday, plus i was not on-call that weekend and on Wesak Day, so I had a long stretch of 5 days to rest. Nice.

The Wednesday before the day I was on leave, Marie Digby was scheduled to performed at One Utama. Perfect. After I finished work that day, I freshened up and drove down to One Utama with my sister.

Marie Digby was just....gorgeous. I was admiring her looks most of time the rather than listening to her music. Heh. She looked so pure and innocent. It seemed like she was unaware that her audience were captivated by her beauty, while she was strumming that guitar of hers..

The place was packed with people. I wonder why it was held at One Utama in the first place..my sister and I were on the ground floor, probably about 15 meters from stage. In front of us were rows and rows of tall and lanky guys, blocking our view. So you can just imagine how I- a 5 footer, struggled to get a glimpse of Marie. I had to tip toe most of the time, or watch her through someone else's camera. I was desperate ok!

Marie's voice was great. It was just that she didn't know how to work the crowd. She kept looking in front or at her guitar-forgetting her fans who were on her left and right side, anxiously waiting for her to at least smile and wave at them. In between her songs, she was just..mumbling. I guess she was explaining what inspired her to write the songs, but she should have spoken clearly and with more confidence.

Owh ya, actually before Marie came out on the stage, the organisers were throwing rolled up posters to the audience. When it came to the last one, the poster was thrown towards us and Walla! my sister caught it! Good netball skills, sis! Even though the poster would have cost less than a ringgit, the satisfaction from winning from a show like that was great!


Love you, Marie!

This was the best view that I could get of her.

3rd entry for the month

It has been ages since I last updated my blog.

At this point, I've a mixture of emotions..but most of the time feeling..blessed.

..
..
..

Thought block. Probably coz it's pass my bedtime.

Will update soon.

Lesson in Life

Being post-call, I slept for a good 6 hours after coming back from work today. And that is why I'm still awake at this hour.

After waking up from sleep, I decided to buy dinner and drop by at the hospital to check on a few patients of mine. One of them is an Orang Asli lady, pregnant for the 6th time, was in labour since yesterday and still undelivered up to now.

I walked into the antenatal ward and spotted her resting on her chair. Beside her was this plastic laundry basket with full of crumpled clothes. I approached her and asked how she's managing her contraction pain. You see, indiginous people like herself have very high pain threshold and that was why she seemed to be so comfortable despite having contractions every 5 minutes.

Well, that's besides the point.

Anyway, as I was saying, I asked her what the basket is for, as I was surprised to see a pregnant lady, in labour, doing laundry at 10 pm at night. She then casually answered that the clothes in her basket were all hers, which she will wear during her stay at this hospital.

My heart was touched. I felt blessed for being able to afford such a comfortable life. People like her can't even afford a simple bag to keep all her clothes in and here we are grumbling about how little we earn every month.

We tend to compare ourselves to other people who are living lavishly, and yet we fail to realise that there are a whole lot of other people out there who can't even afford to buy necessities such as food and clothing.

Wake up and look around you. There much more to life that we realise.