16th ASEAN CONGRESS OF ANAESTHESIA in Sabah

This was my 3rd Anaesthesia conference and participating in ASEAN level discourse was something not to be missed. It was held in Sutera Harbour Resort, Kota Kinabalu 2nd-5th July which was an excellent place to be at. The resort was beautiful and having it here for an international event is spot on!
I was supposed to go with Hady alone but somehow , our wives were keen themselves to be in Kota Kinabalu! Wifey and kids booked the tickets after mine was settled with UiTM. We didn't stay in Sutera Harbour but in Promenade hotel ; about 2 km away. I guess it was luck when we got upgraded to the club suite on the 11th floor ; room with a picturesque view! Taking 3 kids with us without a maid is a challenge to the max ! We had to try this out in the idea of charting our future travels!

I had an active participation because of my poster and Oral presentation. In a way, it was a justification to be present in this conference as well as having it in my CV. Of course , Suana's poster was a real show of her personality!! hahaha

I was chosen to present my study in the Young Investigator's Award. It was a good experience eventhough I did not bag the prize!I was under attack from the word go by judges on Q&A time and defending my study can be tricky! I thank them for the constructive comments and it certainly widened my horizon to do beter the next time around. Watch out for me ahhh.. hehehehe Well , at the end of the day it was about the scientific value of your study rather than the showmanship and i lost to a better study! Well done Alvin! Cayalah !! Hidup UM !! hehehehehe

Conferences such as this is a wonderful reunion to meet old aquantainces. It was a surprise to know that i knew all escept one of the participants in my award. Well , the other 3 was from the ame uni so dduuuhh... one was my junior in IMU and the other ; a fellow Brestari Muda Public Bank receipient whom i last met 18 years ago !!! And now , he is also a doctor and in his final year of post graduate! Unfortunately , due to the hectic schedule as well as me being too paranoid about the oral presentation ; my camwhoring activities were obviously absent in this post!

The ASEAN night was well organized and it was fun seeing the sportingness of the ASEAN consultants to perform on the stage! It showed how they normal like you and me eventhough they have tonnes of study ( and stil ongoing ! ) under their belts! hehehehe.. Tabik spring tuan !!

Overall it was agood experience and intend to participate actively in future conferences. Whcih means , i have to organize my 2nd , 3rd and 4th etc studies !! Hahahaha ada rajin ka ??
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Wifey and kids did not have a proper holiday. If it was not for the hectic schedule and my involvement in the awards ; i could have shown them more of the SABAH that i love. Wifey knew about this fact and organized herself to go around KK . It was dissapointing that Promenade was under construction thatthey had to close down the pool for use. Wifey initially planned to have the kids enjoy the hotel fascilities which was obviously absent this time.

We managed to have seafood dinner at he waterfront. It was nice to see the stalls which offered variety of fresh seafood. The food was relatively cheap and because of its freshness .. tasted good! The night market was active the whole night but of course , with three kids around ; it was impossible to have a small moment with wifey here..


With good planning job with Hady , wifey went to Manukan island with the kids. I was unable to join them because of my oral presentation on the 4th of July. Intially it was supposed to be Suraya, Suana and HAdy with wifey. We managed to charter a boat which was convenient and cheap. To my surprise , Edmund , Tie , Wong Usha and Susheela tagged along and they all had a good time by the beach. I must thank all of them for voluntarily looking after my kids during the trip! My upmost gratitude !!


I am glad that wifey and kids enjoyed the holiday eventhough it was suboptimal without my presence most ofthe time. This trip was a learning experience so that we can gauge how to handle holidays with the 3 kids!
Next ACA in 2011 in Manila ?? hehehehe.. mesti la pergi !!!

FIshes galore - a retrospective entry

Before going to Riau , I made it a point to spend some time with wifeya nd kids. Wifey is less stressed now with her ongoing thesis saga that hopefully will end next month. She needed the break and that was why the whole entourage will follow me to KK afterwards.We wanted to go to the zoo but as the timing was off , we went to Aquaria instead.
We brought Dzaeff here when he was 6 months old but i don't think he remembered or noticed any of that!


I must say , it was Qaisya's trip because she was very uncharacteristic ( the usual difficult child to handle syndrome @!!!) and she enjoyed herself very much. Her eyes were shining all the way and she even sang as she was walking and i know she truly enjoyed hersef. I suspect she felt in love with the fishes and that was the reason when we bought her the discounted fish from the souvenir shop; she did not let it go at all until she went to sleep that night !! :)

Foreign..

Its not everyday that you get to be in an Indonesian newspaper.. hehehe

The Dabo Singkep experience

I am practically rushing to pack for Sabah but I just have to blog this down. I don't want whatever is still fresh in my mind disappear and me missing the best time to write it all out !

24th June
I boarded flight Firefly to JB in the evening. Mutee was waiting for me in Senai as the plan was to stay at his place overnight. Of course, as transformers hardcore it was irresistable not to go and watch it ! Mutee booked the tickets and we straight away went to Tebrau mall after landing ! The movie was really full of action for that 2.5 hours and to those who say tak puas..i will reply ..biar betul !! JB looks cool at night and i guess having singapore as your rival really push you forward.

25th June
We woke up for Subuh and Mutee sent me to the ferry terminal in Stulang Laut. I met the USM OFMS delegation there. Old faces from Palembang like Dr Lah , Dr Noor Hayati , Kak Zah etc were there with their friendly nature! I met Dr Rowi as well , who is my mentor for anaesthesia in this trip. Prof Zainal and gang from UM joined us this time around . we waited for the Melaka enoturage to arrive before departig to Tanjung Pinang on our charted ferry ! Hehehe..best jugak naik boat. It took us 3 hours and the boat ride was plentiful. Sapa yg kecut perut susah jugak tu.. hehehe

Upon arrival , we were greeted with lunch by the local Belia and we went around for a bit. Tanjung Pinang is the main hub for the Riau islands. Imagine having 531 islands in the province .. wuuhhuuu... The people here speaks less indonesian and sounded a lot like Johoreans ! I guess if i look up my roots , most likely the family originates here!

We were celebrated by the Governor of KEPRI at his official residence for dinner. The garden banquet setting was impressive and I guess , we were here on an official mission and i guess they appreciate it a lot

26 June
We were up early to catch our boat to Pelabuhan Jaguh , Dabo Singkep. It took us 4 hours and my..my.. it ws a long journey! And as we were arriving to our destination ; we saw where one Pantun Melayu originated from. Pulau Pandan..was jauh ke tengah.. and Gunung Daik had 3 cabangs !! hehehehe.. It was true after all and the pantun did originate from this area!

Gunung Daik

Pulau Pandan
After the long sea sickening trip , we had to endure another hour of 4 wheel ride to Dabo Singkep.. i went " mabuk" here and not in the ferry !!! ehehehe luckily i did not vomit as that would be very embarrasing!
We were celebrated in a grand fashion by the Dabo Singkep people! Memang betul2 mcm kampung melayu with their dance and silat before the opening ceremony started. It was past noon by this time and eveyone was hungry.We had to wait for another 2 hours for the official thingy before having lunch !! Hahahaha Semua memang muka kebulur !! MY room mate was Prof Zainal from UM OFMS and he is a cool bloke! I wish my Profs were like him and he really inspired me in this trip to be like him.. tabik spring Sir !!!

THe medical team screened the patients later that night. Most were previous patients from their previous trip in 2007 ; making the operating procedure this time more challenging with the limited backup and resources that we have ! Mak ai... We had a look at the OT and i was glad when they brought in their Drager machine from the main hospital in Tanjung Pinang for our use.. hehehe.. Otherwise , I'd be using Halothane which i don't mind using really !!

27 June

8 cases were listed and we started at 9am after everything is ready. It was a bit chaotic in the morning upon starting the first case but everything went into place as we went along. All our patients were below 12 years old making it paediatric posting for me ! Doing mostly palate surgery was challenging considering the limited backup resources. We can't even have blood ready and if we have to transfuse , it will be purely form thier family in situ !! Giller ape !! We were not familiar with the machine earlier and Prof Rowi ordered hand ventilation! It was a good practice after all training the hands to become sensitive and our minds alert.. hehehe We had few cases which bled immediately post extubation where one of them we had to reintubate.. hmmm.. heart stopping but good experience ! We finished at about 2 am.. and we thought that we will only have 3 patients the next day..


28 June

It would be too good to be true to have only 3 patients to do.. More patients turned up as they only arrive in Dabo Singkep the day before. Having the op free is a temptation not to resist by the poor because they can never afford in their lifetime to have this surgery done. At times, i guess as Malaysians we have to be very thankful that our helathcare system is still free and for us to use it wisely.

The list expanded and we went on till 3am ! We had a 7 year old who is obese , 40kg and we started this elective case after midnight ! Hahahaha.. Unfortunately there was a bit of complication as he bled a lot post op. I was called in to be ready for OT if needed at 5am.. but my boat off the island was at 7am! We were going of early because of our commitments. Otherwise , the plan was to return on the 1st of July! After assessing the patient with Dr Rowi , the boy is not too bad and Dr Rowi said he can handle the case himself.


29 June
AND i was rushing ! PAcked my bag and off to the port !
1 hour - 4 wheel ride to Pelabuhan Jaguh
4 hours - Ferry to Tanjung Pinang
3 hours - ferry to Stulang Laut
3 hours - JB to KL via Prof Zainal's CRV
And with all that... I still enjoyed the trip and hoping that more will come ! An eye opener and of course , more stories for me to tell my grandchildren !!
Perrgggh..and i was so tired with the travelling !! Luckily we went home early ahead of schedule

Father's day blog

I would like to wish all fathers , a very father's day !
Fathers are traditionally not celebrated as mothers do ; something which is changing with the shift of role and responsibility nowadays. I am a dad myself and honestly, I was never ready to hold such big responsibility. One learns as one moves on with life; one of the realizations of conscience.

With wifey's bad obstetric history, I never imagined being in my position right now. Three kids who are 2 years apart in between! All growing up so fast within a flash. Seeing them develop and acquire new skills is a pleasure and not to be missed. You can see how much of you and wifey's trait in them be it directly or not!I never fail to laugh and smile seeing them with their antiques!
At the same time , it is a bit scary to think that they will become teenagers and adults soon; getting into trouble and dealing with their decisions. My experience tells me that their life will be colourful and plentiful as well !! Hahahaha bahaya ni.
Will i be a supportive and responsible dad? Huhuhu... Insya Allah...

Looking for inspiration

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where --' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Mark Twain

Preparing for busy days ahead..

I'm currently in the midst of preparing my oral presentation for our biannual ASEAN Anaesthesia Congress in KK this July. Completing the study was a relief and preparing a presentation to defend my findings is no joke ! I am lucky that my supervisor , Prof Lucy is very supportive and I've been seeing her very often these days !She is very thorough and in a way it was fun going through my data and facts with her !! Hahahaha There are countless versions of my presentations as I need to make major changes after seeing her every week! However I don't mind at all because I know that we are doing this so that my presentation would be perfect..( heheh as much as how I want it to be). It is of great honour to be chosen and in contention for the Young Investigator's Award. It has been quite some time since my last involvement in an academic challenge. I have this knack to present and enjoy doing it at the same time !!

I am in a bit of rush because I will be going to Lingga Island, Riau Indonesia with the USM oralmaxillofacial team end of this month. I felt honoured to be invited by the faculty to be ap art of the team who will be doing cleft lip and palate repair surgeries for the under priviliged in Riau. It will be an eye opener and interesting trip as how I enjoyed my Palembang visit last year! The trip will be cooler this year as the bulk of the trip would be on ferry to the Riau archiplego! I can't wait for the trip really.. of course a lot of stories and tales to share !
The only drawback is I will not be completing my first ever 42km marathon ! Although I've registered ; I reckon that the Indonesia trip is something I should not miss. The current event will only encourage me to do the Singapore marathon in December.. hehehe ada berani ??

Getting nearer to the bridge

Which bridge ? Nope ..not the crooked one I assure you!
Judgement day is getting nearer you see.. my finals which is in May next year. Time flew really fast and not knowing it, I'm in my final year now. Only 1 more year of training to go. The past 3 years passed me without halt. I can't imagine myself being the senior most trainee in my current institution ; i guess i am now the person i looked up to during my early years in the programme. I am a bit anxious but at the same time thankful as the journey I embarked is not something that I regret at all. I've been enjoying it in a way ; taking one step at a time.
Its every medical students priority to straight jump into specialty once the housemanship training was over.Its not as easy or idealistic as how we imagine it .. or perhaps plan it to be! For instance nyself , I was inclined into Paediatrics that i had my try in the Part 1 MRCPCH! My initial plan in joining anaesthesia was to develop the acute care skills which i thought important as a budding paediatrician then.. Allah was great and somehow i got hooked and Anaesthesia is my life now.
A lot of collateral things happened as well. I've 3 kids now which was a total wonder compared to 4 years ago! That itself changed my perception about responsibilities and I am stil learning to be a good parent if not as how my parents were. At the ame time , I had a quantum leap in terms of healthy living where I am back to who I was once upon a time! That wold explain my blog coverage which when i browsed back seemed to beconquered with my physical activities instead of my anaesthesia !
I can only thank Allah for al his blessings so far and I live as how I want it to be , Insya Allah.. :)

Faces of Xterra Malaysia..

(pics courtesy of Azad)

Xterra Malaysia.. TEAM VOLTRON !!

We went to Kuantan.. did something together.. and we finished it ! We are definitely happy to be part of history ; finishing the Xterra Malaysia which was the first ever edition organized in South East Asia !! Alhamdulillah !!

It all started when Kamal ( who seldom call me on the phone ) gave me a ring and enthusiasticly asking whether we can join this race. He is an MTB enthusiast therefore taking part in a rare MTB race in Malaysia is an opportunity he could not afford to miss ! Otherwise , his MTB hobby he developed when he was in UK would go into shambles and the potential will not realized. The only way we could all join this race was being in a group and we were lucky there was a RELAY event !! ( Me n Kamal not much of a swimmer..and swimming 1.5 km ???? )
Getting Azad to join was not difficult as any exciting adrenaline pumping activities is a must for him. He used to be a certified lifeguard and he did the sprint PD triathlon last year ; thus a SWIMMER guranteed !! Kamal obviously was the MTB man and of course me..the runner. None of us are pros but i guess these are our strengths !


(post briefing with fellow blogger !)
We stayed in Hyatt as we thought that it would be the most convenient place to stay for the race ( besides Azad getting the discounted rate). Driving a bike on top of Kamal's BMW was a real eyesight and grins were everywhere when we passed people on the highway !! hehehehe
When we arrived on a hot Saturday afternoon , everything was in place in Teluk Cempedak and the atmosphere was there! The set up was good and after registration in Vistana we proceeded to check in Kamal's bike at the beach. Wow... memang cool giller..

Kamal was so nervous that he could not sleep the whole night ! Azad was snoring away and I was so and so.. Kamal was puking like he was about to be married the whole morning !! hahahaha ( Jgn marah aaa ) We were ready!! GOOO VOLTRON FORCE !!!

Azad started the race as our swimmer in this swim 1.5km , MTB 30km and train run 10km event. I was initially afraid of his safety and that was why i stayed on the beach to monitor him. I don't want anything bad happen to him however confident I am on his experience. It was scary looking at the whole group swimming across the deep sea. There were few drop outs as they swim and I was stil worried. Azad was cool however.. calmly doing his bit and I was glad when he finished his course !! GO AZAD !! We were not in the driving seat but to survive the 1.5km swim is not an easy fit !! Cayalah bro !!


Kamal was next on the bike and he flew off as soon as the baton was passed to him. He was so determined on going on that he did not smile for my camera. hehehehe I waited for another 2 hours plus before it was my turn to run. During this time , the winner from the pro section arrived and wow... that was Xterra winner ! I dunno how this guys do it..but they are damn fit aah... cayalah...
Kamal came back enthusiasticly; he was speeding along the plank and to the transition area.It had started to rain and Kamal was all mud when he got to me. I was glad to see him and was ready to go for my turn! I was a bit cooled down though because it was only at 1130am that my run began ! The trail was fair with its two loops. The climb was ok the first round but I could only manage to walk up on the second ! I was glad that i took my trusty trail shoes ( Axel..rm60!!) which was a bit heavy compared to my running shoes but reliable for climb up and down! This shoe survived genting trailblazer , G. Hitam and Mulu/Pinnacles ; which in every trip I expected it to rip off for me to throw it away! The shoe remained steady all the way and this shoe allowed me to run down the trail confidently to compensate my walk on the way up! Made in Malaysia !!!

And we survived.. finished it..and happy !! It was worthwhile eventhough it is just a relay event.COngratulations to my fellow Voltrons ; Kamal and Azad who made the trip and experience worthwhile! Kudos to the organizers for a fun event ; you guys rock organizing something international ! Definitely a sign of more good things in the future.. Insya Allah !!