MDQ5 arrives one week early!

 

3 Syawal 1433 .. 3.30pm 3.3kg baby girl.. Alhamdulillah.. my baby girl was delivered safely back home. I was just finished with my 2nd spine case and Alhamdulillah, Allah has granted me the free time to wait for the news as wifey was in the labour room.
She was supposed to be induced next week, where I've sort of planned my leave for but I guess Allah knows best to have her out today. My sujud syukur was beautiful.. clasically in Perth of where it all began.
We've not finalised the name but definitely my prayers for her to be a solehah.

Syawal in Perth 1433

 Alhamdulillah, my greatest Syukur to the Almighty for his blessings to be able to reach 1433 Syawal. I am delighted to have completed my Ramadhan here in Perth which would be perhaps the last as well.
I certainly am donning lots of hats atthe moment and of course, a whole new chapter of what Carpe Diem should be done :)

My first challenge for Syawal was to be on the console station for Radio Melayu Perth. My DJ colleagues went back to Malaysia & SIngapore for raya and i am the one which was given the  responsibility to run the special 90 minutes programme. Managed to breeze through it with Izhar and Syafiq who did their best to make sure everything went on perfectly! Ustaz Mat Jais Kamus was our guest for the night and i certainly learnt something new.. in celebrating Eid..
"Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum" and that is sunnah :)

 

 

 I followed Adly to Ar-Rukun mosque in Rockingham. One of the mosque where the initial Malay community initiated the project. Rockingham is also where a big number of Malays in Aussie are residing thus the majority bulk of the jemaah. I can confirm that the takbir was the "mendayu-dayu" Malay style.. and the sermon was given on its second half in Malay:) Cool for the effort to maintain the Malay identity with this mosque. Post prayers, the jemaah would stay back for a bit to greet and meet each other; tasting each others potluck food brought for share. It was interesting to see the different generations ; just like back home but of course with a different national identity.

                                               the imam reminded me of Tok Cik Parit Setongkat

                                                   big bro - Top Guy - Adly :)

 I joined Dr Nik & Imran, who are on a special mission from the Humanities Department USM for a raya trip to meet the Malay elders of Perth. We went to Haji Khalid's place who was certainly an enthusiastic chap! He has his tales and his popularity with visitors ( a whole bus actually came.. haha) would pin point us to his significance in the community.
We did made visits to Haji Shamsudin, another figure and also to Mak Limah's place; the gold mine resource for information. One thing i gathered from the visits today,the spirit of Syawal is certainly very lively amongst the Malays here- especially seeing the 2nd and 3rd generation making their effort with their family members to do their rounds; introducing their young to the elders on Syawal. It certainly brought a lot of memories to me on the Raya celebrations when I was younger. The fun of Raya was relived!

Sampaikan Aidilfitri Radio Melayu Perth 2012

I'm producing my own show this weekend.. Dengarkan :)

Ramadhan quest

Its the 19th night of Ramadhan. Tomorrow the quest for the one night which is better than a thousand nights will begin. Vividly i remembered how last year's ramadhan changed me on my own outlook of life. Alhamdulillah, I am glad for what Allah has given me so far. A year has passed since I came to Perth and i am really thankful for all his blessing and rezeki that he has given me.
I've just started my term as the regional anaesthesia fellow. It is interesting times in Royal Perth as the presence of Prof Krishna Boddu is promising with all his plans. He was the Director of Regional Anaesthesia Fellowship in Univ of Houston, Texas and I am thankful I was chosen to be one of the fellows this term. Another 6 months here which was never in my initial plan but I am sure will have its benefit for the future.
As usual, I am not a person who would keep still and do nothing. I will make myself busy - mencari masalah but that is what i do best!

                                            Post iftar & tarawikh in Curtin Univ.. Armadale line..

I am now certified by World Radio 6EBA FM to be a fully trained DJ! I can now control the console and produce my own shows. I am glad i did this in my free time as I've never thought I'd have the chance to do this. I have always inclined to have a go at being a DJ on air.. and Alhamdulillah.. ada qualification and training lagi! hahaha

And insya Allah, i should be doing my first marathon 42.2km overseas in the Surf to City run end of this month! I may have not trained to achieve my personal best but I aim to finish my full marathon after 2 years of absence! My fitness training with the bike has at least made me much fitter than i was in KL then. I just need to make sure that i can last the race and eventhough its ramadhan, i do try to fit in my runs before iftar on my off days.
Perrghh... ni la jenis manusia yang memang takde masalah, cari masalah.. but then again, it is so me.. and I can't change who I am :)

ALS Instructorship

 I am fortunate because I've managed to qualify myself into the ALS Instructor's programme while I'm here.Its all because of my stint in Simulation which I've never thought about it ever; but on opportunity that i grasp while I'm here.It was only during the course that they revealed we were chosen based on our standing in the top 10% of our class in the Provider course. I've always wanted to be certified as an Instructor for Life Support  however back home, there is no proper body which could give me that recognition. Being an anaesthetist was a direct ticket to declare oneself to be one or so called expert in resuscitation! haha I suppose its our breed who would lead such scenarios when called upon.
The 2 day course was EXCELLENT! The small pocket guide book that ARC provided as background reading was simply an eye opener! It was the first time im properly introduced to medical teaching, the concept and application of adult learning:) I did not expect to learn as much as i did in the past 2 days! Working memory- set,dialogue,closure was an interesting concept which I am sure that i will use for the rest of my teaching career. I am impressed with the effort and the standard they keep and being certified as a provider as well as an Instructor is definitely an honour for me:) 
Apparently, the Malaysia Resus Council is at its infancy state. There was never a standardized guide on the Malaysian way of life support or training; especially for trainers. It has always been hospital based and never nationwide. I aim to create a super standard in the ALS teaching for Malaysia Insya Allah.. It will be interesting to try to make myself a part of the main core group.. budak hingusan la katakan:)

Ahlan Wasahlan..Ramadhan Al Kareem

Pejam celik..pejam celik, its Ramadhan again. Alhamdulillah. Memang cepat masa berlalu. Selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa dan moga dikurniakan keberkatan bulan yang mempunyai satu malam yang fadhilatnya seperti setribu malam :)

Naluri wanitaku.. haha

 I bought a Saucony GRID PROFILE today - a rare brand to find back home and damn expensive. Of course in harbour town everything was on sale and i thought the price was right for a good running shoes.Just 250g in weight.. cool eih? Initially i wanted to get one of the Adidas or Nike as i thought there offer for Brooks and NB was not as how much I was willing to pay.
I'm planning to run a full marathon Chevron City to Surf in 1 month! Gila sebenarnya considering I've not been training for it at all. However, I've done a bit of fitness with long rides on the bike.I managed to do the HBF and not too bad of its timing too. I hope the cross training would be adequate as I only aim to finish the 42.2km and perhaps just within the qualifying time. Enough la.. Because if i dont do this, then I will regret as this will be my only chance as i will be returning home in February next year.

Haha.. went home..hmm.. arranged all my shoes in front of the room mirror.. Maakk aiii.. Hahaha Banyak gile and all of this bought in Perth! Football boots ada, futsal ada, sandal ada, proper black shoes ada, of course my SPD-SL shoes and 2 trail shoes; NB a bit worn out so i bought the new trail ADIDAS last week.. HAHA
 Macam IMELDA MARCOS!!! hahahahaha
Bahaya... bila ada duit.. and tengok harga runtuh... :)

The Cycling Bug

I was watching News Tonight - and the story they covered was really interesting. Its about the Perth Cycling Bug! Apparently, there is a surge of cycling interest for the past 1 year! Perth has caught the bug with people of all ages increasingly getting serious on two wheels around town.One thing for sure, I've been caught by the bug too! :)

 Well, I've always been a keen cyclist but not till I was in secondary school. My parents bought me a bicycle when i was very young , mayb e a bit too keen! Haha If i am not mistaken when I was about 2 ( i however did the same thing with Dzaeffran! haha) Of course, I was never able to ride it until i was very much older. When I was perhaps 7, i remembered trying to do a stunt ( you know, braking and moving your bicycle to your side - BMX style) and i fell into the drain! haha I still have the scar for the cut which required few stitches in the clinic on my chin.
After that, mama bought me a BMX which was not the high end but adequate enough to reckon it was one. Perhaps at that time ET certainly brought BMX craze into light. I was in fact in a pseudo-BMX group with a fella called Abdul Rahman who was our leader. We were not really misfits but we rode together in a group. But bila dah maghrib semua pun cabut balik rumah! haha
Being in secondary school made me more serious with using bicycle as a mode of transportation. All of my friends rode on two wheels, Mafiz, Azad and so did I. Mama bought Pak Pits racing bike and I was off again everyday on my bike! It was certainly the main transport I had to go wherever whenever.It was the in thing for my group till Form 5! But of course, after that we were off on our seperate ways and me to not really ride on a bike anymore.

Azad rekindled our cycling interest during the renaissance ( haha if you've been following my blog, you'd notice when there was a surge of running activities after 2007). There was a massive clearance offer for the PROTON mountain bike and I said yes to him! Haha.. but of course, it never really kicked off because I only used it for duathlon. It was a mountain bike and there was no way i could go and do a trail during weekends. I never had the urge to use it and thus, probably once in a blue moon i will be riding it.

 Perth certainly made me fall in love with this sport again. Perhaps the cycling event when DS Najib was in Perth became the catalyst for me. Of course, the department and most of the changing room members were cyclists. And walah.. I bought Meriam (my Schwinn) as my first road bike. It was a revelation because I fell in love with cycling again! Santos 53km ride was a first in a big crowd event. RAC 70km bikehike was another cool event which i will cherish all my live! I did my century with a Rockingham return and indeed doing more mileage nowadays.And as the infection became more serious, I had Mizz Pina to add to the collection!

 Perth has a vast cycling network paths and to get around is easy , almost effortless! I'm slowly upgrading my bike as I slowly understand the mechanics and the urge of having a much better and lighter machine! I've now known more lingua and an eBay fan to look for good bargains for my biking gear.

And i have to admit, I too was bitten by this bug.. pure adrenaline rush!

The unknown history of malays in Western Australia

In the past few weeks, I had the opportunity to mingle around with the malay community in Perth. Most of them had been here for more than 20 years; and their 2nd and 3rd generation calls Australia home. It was interesting to understand their achievement; surviving in a foreign land in the quest of changing their fortune.

And in my discussions of what made them came to Australia, i found out about one part of the malay history I never knew. This topic came up on our conversation in Radio Melayu last week when we discussed about this. Interestingly, there was a big population which resided North of Western Australia- Broome to be the main movers of pearl industry in the early 20th century. Imagine, at one time there was more than 1800 of them! Cool eih.. we were the famous pearl divers in an industry which made Broome boomed then.

 

I did my Net search and cool enough there was this page which described the early days - and the malays who were well known for this skill. Malay Pearl Divers

 And interestingly, the Malays were in a centre of controversy in the change of policy - White Man Policy then in Australia. It is an interesting read and i am still looking for bits and pieces which i reckon would make a good documentary facts! (If any parties interested to highlight this part of history!)

"In the postwar years, Malays were at the centre of controversies that highlighted difficulties in both the White Australia Policy and the indentured labour system. In 1947, the Chifley government attempted to deport a group of Malay seamen who had been admitted during the war as refugees. The plight of these men, many of whom had married Australian women, won considerable public sympathy."

 
 
I was lucky to have met a senior chap- who came as a diver in 1963 - but since the 80s had moved and lived in Perth. He still speaks Malay and he is old, Pak Atan.
Insya-Allah, I will try to dig up more about them and their lives, their stories and experience for me to share with all of you.

Weekend masked avenger..

 This will be my first entry which is directly related to my work here.I thought the days of terror and excitement is a long gone memory; having many of those in my journey towards qualifying for my specialty. Last weekend was definitely one of the highlights of my career! A definite tale to my students later on in my life :)

  Reza mentioned to me on Friday evening, that blood bank is having problems issuing blood due to their computer system malfunction.Jokingly i told him, its a sign for a torrid weekend as both of us will be on duty. Masin tak masin mulut.. hahaha
Saturday was a busy day as we had a cadaveric donor; thus the theatres were activated for cardiac and lung transplant; followed by renal transplant. Somehow, blood was not an issue on that day as they managed to make it work again.We had a sick laparotomy.. and boy, was she sick. She was compensating well as per induction when our first ABG later showed how severely acidotic she was! She was managed well resuscitated and of course destination ICU. She needed quite a high dose of Noradrenaline.. as she was severely septic.. however it was never as bad as the laparotomies back home!
Sunday was the ultimate killer.. upon my arrival I was summoned ; a heavy duty case of a person who arrested in theatre the week before.A young Liver cirrhosis suferer with all the typical features.We had everything ready;Andreas was the Consultant and Stefan was there as well. the Level 1 infusion pump.He he came to OT with Hb of 5.He bled in the ward and was resuscitated but needed an urgent scope which we decide to do it in OT.
The scope looked not too bad, except there was a big clot just sitting in the oesophagus. No active bleeding was seen and i thought, ok not as bad as i thought. However, as soon as the clot was sucked out.. there was a sudden gush of blood.. RED HOT FRESH BLOOD.. flowing like a broken pipe from the mouth.
As soon as i saw that i shouted to Stefan.. RED BUTTON NOW!! He is not going to do well!!
Blood poured out like hell and the BP which was 90-100 earlier, was coming down rapidly... 70..60..50.. and we pushed in fluids as fast as we can to maintain the volume. Noradrenaline was pushed up sky high..
The Gastro fellas tried to inflate the Sengstaken-Blackmore tube.. but the hole must have been damn big to be sealed by it.He had to be maintained in the almost prone scope position in order to somehow halt the bleeding.We needed a central access and Andreas initially scanned his neck to see the possible vessel. He asked.. you want to have a go? Haha I've never ever done one in this position.. totally unconventional but we needed that access.
I must say this is why ultrasound is so useful as you can visualise it and have a go! Haha.. Alhamdulillah, despite the technical difficulty in the positioning, i managed to insert the swans and yes.. the Level 1 infuser was redirected.
At this point there was nothing that the gastro can do, intervention radiologist was called in to offer their expertise. This was then our next challenge.. His BP was 40-50 systolic and still losing massive blood.. we had to continue this all the way down to the Intervention suite. Haha with my special Adrenaline boluses.. we managed to transport the patient down, along with the Level 1 infusor.. on going as we move!

Thank god for Prothrombinex as well, we managed to somehow maintain his coagulation though at this point, it was definitely not his anymore as he was transfused like mad! We had more than 30 units of packed cells given to him and most of it came out anyway! The Senior Radiologist managed to embolize the vessels feeding it out and he slowly had less blood coming out from his mouth.. His inotropic requirement which was over the roof ( imagine.. 80ml/h of Quad strength??) came down dramatically and.. after struglling for 5 hours.. he was ready to be transported to ICU! haha Even the ICU COnsultant was impressed how we managed to maintain him with all that had happened!
It was good team work and I certainly will cherish this unique experience. I guess, the first that did survive the acute ordeal.. back home, Usually we are not able to maintain the circulation that fast for that long because of our resources. Patient would go really anaemic and thus the heart compromised. We somehow managed to transport minimal oxygen required while maintaining the circulating volume.
Peerrghh.. and I was tired.. so tired that today, it was not until noon that i decide to get out of bed :)

Legend of the Falls.. The Lesmurdie Dip!

 We were on our back from Mt Dale when I realized a familiar road we were passing. It was near a bushwalk I've done last year; near the Lesmurdie falls.Quickly, I asked Syafiq to reconfigure the GPS to see where we are and is the falls nearby.. and Walah.. it was just 3km away from where we were! Alhamdulillah.. it was a perfect spot for us to perform Zuhr. However, the GPS brought us to another starting site which i never knew about. It was near to the foot of the falls when last year , I walked from the top of the falls. Upon looking at the signage.. waahh.. less than a km away from our parking spot.

 The falls was certainly amazing! I saw it late Spring towards summer therefore the flow of water was much less. Now in mid winter, it was flowing to its strength and with Perth having one of their rare really wet winters.. it certainly made the waterfalls to function at its maximum! Subhanallah..
And.. since we had a go at the previous falls, WHY NOT again? hahaha Why not..why not... such a powerful motivational term theme I've been influenced by in the past few months!

 It was cold I must say.. (haha.. abistu dah winter..takkan panas kot?) but maybe not as cold as EMES falls. We were blessed with the clear skies that we suddenly had and it became one of my best moment in Perth outdoors so far! I am glad i did not chicken out and just did it! Alhamdulillah.. it was such an amazing feeling being one with nature :)

We may be a bit crazy but not that crazy to spend that much time in the cold freezing water. It was just good enough to enjoy it for a while, had a feel and suddenly it was not cold anymore! We are invincible! hahaha Alhamdulillah, the trek trip we had was certainly good and god work in mysterious ways.. There maybe reason why we did not reach Beraking and to finish the day with another waterfall dip.. was PRICELESS :)

Wet Mount Dale trek

 I'm not sure whether it was a rush, but there was this sudden urge to do bush walks more in the winter. When Syafiq texted me saying he has transport for the week, the thought of Mount Dale came into mind. Mt Dale is the 2nd highest peak around Perth and by doing this walk I would be completing my aim to conquer the peaks around Perth; eventhough its not that high relatively. I had a long look at the WalkGPS website and put my mind to it, it is somewhere we just had to go to!
According to the notes, 70% of the walk is off track and little that we know how off track it can really be! It was perhaps the toughest trail we had so far; i reckon because the trail was almost non existent as compared to the tracks we have followed in our earlier hikes.The weather forecast was not promising and again, it became a big factor for us!

 Syafiq picked me up at Cannington train station ( well.. i walked a bit to a nearby Superstore) and little did I know we had 2 new members. Both were Syafiq's friends and relatively new to bushwalking. Haha Of all my trips, they just had to start off by following a potentially difficult trek! haha The route to Mount Dale parking area was on ungraveled road; making only SUVs to be appropriate for the 16km to the starting point!
The aim of our walk was to reach Beraking Brook which is about 6km away. Of course again, the rain greeted us on its heaviest when we were about to start the walk.It was really really heavy! Basah kuyup tu.. hahaha

 Despite the GPS coordinates that we had, we tried as much as possible to look for possible tracks as from our previous treks, there is a clear track somewhere. It did not happen on this one, We diverted and diverted.. and honestly the map that showed up on Syafiq's GPS showed a spider web configuration! Of course the weather was permitting with the thick fog and as wet as you can be in the bush! Dahlah sejuk! hahahaa It was certainly different being in the bush while raining. When the cloud cleared up with the sudden sun ray coming true, the landscape changed and it was just breath taking to be up there. However, it was temporary and the aura changed dramatically.

 We managed to reach a nearby point; and that was only when we decided maybe we should just go into vector line trek. Which means that nothing can stop your way! Macam steam roll!! We cant use parangs like we do in Malaysia to cler the track because of the regulations of Aussie forest.I really tested my gear today for waterproof and durability! Haha kalau pakai kain cokia confirm dah lama koyak but somehow the rainjacket maintained its integrity despite my violent nature going through the thick sharp bushes. I'm sure the new trekkers had few bumps, scratches here and there but I guess thats their introduction to bushwalking the hard way in WA!

 We reached the Rocks at noon and if we were to follow the map and coordinates, the ETA to the brooks would be 3pm and the walk back to the starting point would be in the dark. Of course, we were not prepared to hike in the dark therefore it was decided for us to turn back due to safety issues. It would not be nice if the 4 of us to appear in the Perth news for Search and Rescue effort! hahahaha

 We reached the starting point quite swiftly.. due to the "vector" nature of the hike back and meeting up with the Mount Dale track. At the parking point, when the clouds were clear.. Subhanallah, the beauty of Allah's creation was obvious and we did enjoy the sight which was visible to us. After a quick lunch, we were back on the SUV on our way back home. I did enjoy the trek, it was a definite first on one of the difficult ones and I would like very much to take the challenge again..but of course, on a day where the weather was better!