Monday, April 28, 2008

Can't get it out of my head


I watched Akademi Fantasia 6 by "mistake" after my locum job on Saturday. I don't really follow this reality show especially this season where i find the presence of the "nenek" unnecessary. Hahahaha However , when Riz came on to sing Seribu Tahun i was mesmerized. Not by him per say singing that song but it was the melody and lyrics. Fell in love with the song , maybe a little bit outdated but as long as i did not miss it. Jiwang habis tu... but it got stuck in my head that when i was in front of google i searched and downloaded it into my phone..

And the whole day on call yesterday i was listening to this song..

Relaku menunggumu seribu tahun lama lagi
Tapi benarkah hidup aku akan selama ini
Biar berputar ke arah selatan ku tak putus harapan
Sedia setia
Relaku mengejarmu seribu batu jauh lagi
Tapi benarkah kaki ku-kan tahan sepanjang jalan ini
Biar membisu burung bersiulan terlelah gelombang lautan
Ku masih setia

Adakah engkau tahu… ini cinta
Adakah engkau pasti… ini untuk selama-lamanya
Relaku menunggumu seribu tahun lama lagi
Tapi benarkah hidup aku akan selama ini… yeah…
Biar berputar utara selatan ku tak putus harapan
Sedia setia
Jangan putus harapan… sedia setia……


“Kelip-kelip disangka api,
Kalau api mana puntungnya?,
Hilang ghaib di sangka mati,
Kalau mati mana kuburnya?"

Friday, April 25, 2008

Feel good factor

He was this 21 year old boy who got into a bad accident ; intraabdominal injury with both spleen and liver laceration. He had bilateral haemothorax and for all these he underwent 2 major laparotomies. His Sepsis was bad ; went into ARDS ( Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome ) and looked gloomed. We had to trachy him to wena him off from the ventilator.Imagine , he was about to be engaged to a lovely girl but got into this massive accident 2 days before the proceedings.

That was 40 days ago ; his mother wheeled him into the ICU just now. He himself was saying thank you to us , the ICU staff for our care. His parents were crying when talking to us ; unable to express their gratitude . Seeing your patients still alive after such traumatic stay makes one feel thankful to god almighty.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

UMMC CME : Certificate of Death

I was jittery all over before this morning. I was on call in ICU and luckily it was an uneventful night. All my patients were fairly stable and there were no immediate outside referral to attain to. I was anxious then thinking about how I was going to present on this morning's CME. I saw the poster and maaann.. its my name there. My slides were ready and i was set to go. The only worry was i dunno whether anybody would come to listen ; hahahaha i rarely go to any of these sessions anyway !

I was early , setting up my slides on the hall's laptop. The new clinical auditorium is cool with its fascilities. Then slowly people came into the hall , my heart was beating fast but hey.. whose wouldn't ? Prof YK's introduction of myself was really bombastic and i must say thank you for her kind words which i thought was really over the top !!! ; at the same time it was pressure on me to deliver !! Hahahahaha She claims that i am the expert now in UMMC about death certification !! Hahahaha.. cuak jgn tak cuak !
I eased myself through the 30 minutes presentation. I love to make my slides watchable and interesting. Cracked a few political jokes.. well , i couldn't help it ! I am glad people managed to follow my trail of thoughts and I will be lying if I say i did not enjoy the session ! Its good to be upfront again in front of a large audience and speaking on a topic which maybe vague to a lot .
Thank you Prof for the opportunity and fuuuuhhh.. lega....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA


We celebrated Papa's birthday in Taman Tun last Sunday. It was a low key affair but it was sweet. I guess Papa is very happy as well to have his grandchildren singing the birthday song for him.
HAPPY 58th BIRTHDAY !!! Insya Allah panjang umur , murah rezeki..

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Nature high


I was itching for an outdoor trip.Missing Gunung Lebah last weekend was the trigger upon seeing their pictures and reading their adventures. Therefore , when ACong ( One of OGKL stalwarts) suggested a day trip to Nuang ; I immediately succumbed to the idea. Azad was also thinking ( great minds think alike !! ) and of course two heads made it a reality ! Shakti then sms'ed me for a Chilling trip ; i immediately suggested him to follow us and he said OK. However I have locum at 5pm , after a lengthy discussion I decided to just go halfway which is up to Lolo camp. I wished I had gone further up and reach the summit but there was no way for me to be back by 5pm. Takpe la.. janji LEPAS GIAN BRO... hahahaha

We met up with ACong and his Maybank team at the Cheras Petrol Station opposite Maktab Latihan Polis. We were fairly early and by 730am we met Muzammil n gang in Batu 18 for an early breakfast. Azad asked Muzammil why that particular stall , he answered ..Ade kaler oren... hahahaha.. ( private joke )

We started our trek at 9am . I must say that the balak trek was punishing but the morning was kind to us. It rained earlier and there was still fog all over. It was cooling and we did not feel the strain so much. Besides that , the training and running I did for the past one month really helped that I was not really taxed walking uphill.

Entrance

Take 5
We arrived at Lolo camp after 2 hours of trekking and we straight away jumped into the river. The water was very cold but it was very refreshing. Putting your neck and shoulder against the small waterfall was a delight and released whatever stress there was prior to the trip. I sat down quitely in the river ; listening to the stream rippling against the rocks and waaahhh... it was nature at its best. The trip was really worth it upon reaching here. I felt so good and relaxed. Its that rush which I guess only outdoor enthusiast can justify. Logically , why should one sacrifice one's Saturday or Sunday tiring out and being in an uncomfortable state ? I dunno but I love it !

Half of the group trekked up towards Nuang and I know they will enjoy their success reaching the beirut. Me , Shakti and Azad headed home after 40 minutes in the river. I wished that I was able to continue to conquer Nuang but i guess today was not the day. Well ,takpelah.. I was happy and delighted with the trip. I enjoyed it very much with the presence of good company ! Thank you brothers for organizing and enjoying the trek with me !!
" I am not gay... " hahahahah

Friday, April 18, 2008

One corner

I am holding tha CRASH pager today till 12 am, so far it looks Ok but never say never right ? hahaha ICU looks cool and there are no havoc scenes as yet ; therefore the reason for me to fly off to cyber space to fill in my time. I still have my Wednesday CME presentation to finalise ; but that can wait .. :)

I received a strong comment for my previous post . Wahh.. there are serious people out there reading my blog , interesting !! hahahaha Well , i suppose in this new era of Malaysian society , we should be free to express ourselves. It is good to have people commenting intellectually about what we think , and only with that we will grow.

Agree tak agree lain cerita... hahahaha

Its getting hotter

Read this article in Malaysia-today regarding one specialist overseas undermining the locally trained clinical ( medical and surgical ) specialists.

I really don't understand why we view foreign exams as the nirvana ; we should work to get our local training recognized and it is more relevant to our setting. In the UK , it is no more the exams but CSST ( Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training ) which will confirm one as a trained Specialist . In the near future , passing the royal college exams will not be the requirement to qualify for CSST.

He made few accusations :

"Anyone who has been an examiner at these 'Masters Program' examinations will attest to the fact that the standard of English of these 'Masters Specialist graduates' not only borders on the atrocious, but the aptitude of the candidates is equally petrifying. Examiners however are instructed in no uncertain terms that the passing numbers must be closer to 100% rather then the 20 to 30% practiced by the Royal Colleges. If any of these 'Masters' candidates 'fail', lo and behold , the concerned examiner will be called up for an explanation and if he is a foreign examiner, well, it may be his last paid holiday to Malaysia."

Well , standard of English depends on where the doctor came from ; I suppose he was aiming to the Malays more than the non malays. But it is about the knowledge and practice that the doctor can deliver ; and it crosses language barrier. Any examiner would understand that concept.

" Some universities such as USM and UKM are popular because 'passing' is assured by the same techniques made available during SPM/PMR exams where examination questions are made available to candidates prior to actual examinations through various 'tutorials'

Interesting.. I would love to see his evidence.


"Lop sided churning out of 100% passes at USM and UKM were getting so obvious that 'Conjoint Boards' between the three universities had to be set-up to reduce bias. However this has not gone down well with certain universities who claim, 'Chinese examiner fails Malay candidate. Therefore Malay candidate must be examined only by Malay examiner with 'friendly' external examiner from India. Otherwise, Malay examiner will start failing Chinese candidate'. This nonsense has gotten so bad that candidates who wise up usually will spend a little more and sit for the postgraduate examinations held by the Royal Colleges simultaneously
"

Rumours or written reports ? He should get testimonials before putting this down for public viewing. 10 lies make it true !

Though he may have few points to his side with regards to the Government policy , it is not something new. It is not breaking ground news. But to question the universities , I do urge that the UM/UKM/USM Deans to come out and answer these allegations. It is the integrity of our institution at stake and for somebody to come and bullet out such ammunition is atrocious.

P/S I wanted to write my comments on the article feed ; but i am not registered as Malaysia-today member ! Hahaha.. Just registered and i hope to be able to contribute in the intellectual discourse.



Sunday, April 13, 2008

Who's talking orange ?

When you are crazy , you do stupid things.. all in the name of glory !! Hahahaha . I will not repeat what i did today in the future.. but it was fun !
I registered for Orange Run quite some time back through Wan Edrin. I totally forgot about it when we were doing my roster and it is not a good idea to be on call the day before a RUN..
I only slept like 2 - 3 hours , interruptedly and rushed to the Curve with my fingers crossed that my patients would not collapse by the time I'm gone from ICU at 7.
I broke rule no 1 before a race : REST ADEQUATELY
Then , as i was rushing i broke rule no 2 : HAVE A GOOD BREAKFAST BEFOREHAND and i only drank plain mineral water which I will tell you later when it became significant !

I broke rule no 3 : Get your numbers ready before race day. Edrin was holding my number and I was a bit late and IT BECAME REALLY KELAM KABUT. I invited Kamal to join us because i thought Edrin registered for Azad. but hehehe.. he did not !! Somehow , neither of us had Ruslan and Halim's number ; so their numbers were with me and the announcer was telling all participants to be ready. There was a bit of panic. I decided to give my number to Kamal ( self sacrifice tu.. hahaha ) and since Ruslan was nowhere to be found ; I took his number. Therefore I am the officially ; PELARI HANTU !!! hahahaha.. A is for veterans above 45 , and i dunno whether i fit into that look... hahahaha.
Suddenly the gun was fired and gile kelam kabut as Edrin was pinning my number and we all just ran without warming up which was rule no 4 !!! Well , the show has to go on right ? So we continued the run , i was feeling fatigued already because of my lack of sleep ; it was more of the mind rather than the body because initially i did not pant and ran at my own pace.
2 km and suddenly i had the urge to micturate. DAMN ! Macam KL marathon hari tu.. hahaha luckily it was not my tummy this time. I was looking if i could just go to the side but it was open space all the way! It was so bad because my bladder was really full and i had to just let it go ! It was the 500ml of mineral water i drank in the car. Then there was this mamak shop.. and i ran towards it very fast ! I had to go !! hahahaha When the crowd saw me heading towards mamak they clapped and cheered !! hahaha the workers were very nice to me and showed me the way to salvation.. and Aaaahhhhh... nikmat... hahahaha

I continued my run and it was good. It was drizzling and the weather was just permitting. I was pacing myself , not too fast because i don't want to hurt my legs as it did not have enough rest during the call. I ran passed this fella who looked familiar , but he had his number on ! As i passed him.. hahhahaha it was Ruslan and isaid hi to him.H and Halim e came early and they had plan B ; that is to reregister ! Nad i was the living proof of our HANTU culture !! hahahaha
I met Stupe too near the first water station. Waahh.. bodynya ampuh pak.. hahaha He was certainly having fun doing this run and taking pictures of his friends :) Wafi has also became a permanent member in races that I've joined this year. I saw Ezad and his cool runnings team too ; as enthusiastic as ever !
I was not up to go all out in this run because of I was tired to begin with. However , it was a good run and i was not that fatigue with muscle cramps free at the end . It was fun and I know Kamal ,Ruslan and Halim are keen to continue this new "age" activity! HOLA ORANGE RUN !!!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Registry

I was browsing through the net , looking for materials for my research when i discovered this in the MMC web page. ( Malaysia Medical Council ).
We have our Malaysian doctors registry online !! Fuiiyoo.. kira dah advance tu ! I don't know when they started this but it was not publicised and i never knew about it. Its really cool. Therefore , any tom , dick and harry can check on their doctors whether they are registered with the MMC or not ! Its very easy , just search the name and if it is there ; it means that they are certified doctors and not bogus ones !
Its a good tool for us doctors to look for our old acquantaince ; they publish the APC ( practice licence ) and we know where they are working in Malaysia now. Kudos KKM !!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Top of the hill


It was good to be able to play badminton again. I had to miss it for the past 2 weeks because of my call. It was minimal attendance but the workout was good. Kamal is back for good from UK and he of course enjoyed the company. Me and Azad went jogging in between the games played ; i suppose the euphoria of running is still high !
Unfortunately I had to miss the Gunung Lebah trip tomorrow which Azad will be joining due to personal reasons. I wished that i had registered for it and it must be really soothing to be on top of the mountain. Such solace and beauty .. hmm.. i can;t go last minute as well because I will be on call again on Saturday ; and the working conditions in UMMC will be tougher in this second half of the month. Mainly due to the shortage of staff who'll be on leve because of exams.
I still have the Orange Run on Sunday morning at the Curve ! It'll be just 9km ; and like last year i know this run will be fun ! I dunno how i will be fully energized to do the run after the 24 hours on call ? hahahaha.. bila dah gila.. memang makin gile !!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

sCHizoPHrenIC


"Do you really think that you will enter Paradise without such trials as came to those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty and ailments and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed along with him said, 'When will come the Help of Allah?' Yes, certainly the Help of Allah is near!" [Quran 2:214]

::janganlah kamu bersedih atau berduka cita, sesungguhnya kamu lebih tinggi jika kamu beriman:: (Alimran:139)

Wahai orang-orang yang beriman! Bersabarlah kamu (menghadapi segala kesukaran dalam mengerjakan perkara-perkara yang berkebajikan), dan kuatkanlah kesabaran kamu lebih daripada kesabaran musuh, di medan perjuangan), dan bersedialah (dengan kekuatan pertahanan di daerah- daerah sempadan) serta bertaqwalah kamu kepada Allah supaya, kamu berjaya (mencapai kemenangan)." (Surah Al-Imran ayat 200)

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Stuffin it out

I wish I can tell the world why I am not in the right kind of mood to blog my usual blog ramblings. I don't usually tell my problems to people and so far I've managed to seal it well in me. This has always been my way but maybe it is too much for me to handle this time around. It is very complicated and dealing with someone who is stubborn and deaf can be really annoying. How do you penetrate the unshakable belief which is totally outrageous and nonsense ? How true can truth be when it is ?

Subhanallah...

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Survived the night

I can;t sleep now because of the coffee i drank after the dinner.I survived the event ; a bit kelam kabut , but i survived our Anaes annual dinner !I wished i had taken more pictures but i suppose i was running around here and there..I;ll try to look for my "banghra" pics from somebody else !! hahahaha Certainly a surprise even for me !! I don't know what got into me..

before everything started..
p/s I am not a Man U fan but i can't wear my team's jersey because i don't advertise liquor !!! i'm wearing something CHEAP.. hehehehe

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Post euphoria

It was back to reality today ; not the April Fool but I am back in ICU. I had no choice but to be here this month. The department is collapsing because a big number of MOs will be on study leave and the last 2 weeks of April will be hell ! Ni yang tak seronok ni.. Well, ICU is not that bad though , no premeds and you know what time you will go back everyday..

On another note , I'm having a headache as well organizing the dinner. Its this tiny weeny stuffs which is bugging me. I've yet to have an MC , the door gifts and Lucky draw prizes !! On top of that , the surprise performance I'm planning with my colleagues , the video show.. and those are the reasons why i am not asleep yet !