UiTM Grads Dinner 2013 -Rahman Putra Club

I am interrupting my EBC post with this entry.. haha Not that it is urgent but i had to blog this out before I forget! it was my first time attending a formal students function after quite sometime being a staff in UiTM medical faculty.Malam Aspirasi Graduan this year was certainly organized in a bigger manner. Having it at a prestigious Golf Clubhouse is a progress as compared to having it in Selayang Campus compound in previous years. If it was not for the persistence of the organizing committee, I might have not joined them.
 Honestly, I've not been involved too much with student's activities as I would like to. I guess part of it is because of my limited contact with them, since Anaesthesia is not a real core subject for basic MBBS degree. Besides that, almost immediately after my Masters I was off to Perth. I guess since I am back now for good, i should be more "student-friendly" than what my current role is. It would be ironic for me not to be involved with them based on my student-profile and involvement then.. haha
It was nice to see the whole lot of UiTM medical students assembled for a function. Everybody was in their best dress and certainly something for them to enjoy yearly.The theme was pastel and garden which i did not comply at all with my dressing haha My colleagues were wondering if i was making a statement wearing all Black as per current "trend" post PRU13 haha The truth is I was keen to wear my "IP-MAN" attire which i thought suits the current National Reconciliation aspiration!
And.. to my surprise.. I won the best dressed lecturer award for the night! Hahahaha Something i did not expect at all with my non-themed dress up! Thanks guys for choosing me as I am sure, next year I am pressured to wear my best to win this award again.. (KIASU) hahahaha

                                            boyz 2men.. next year we are performing!

                                                         my table members.. Fam Med

Debouche-Pangboche-Periche-Dukla-Lobuche

From Wikipedia: 

Altitude sickness—also known as acute mountain sickness (AMS), altitude illness , hypobaropathy, "the altitude bends", or soroche—is a pathological effect of high altitude on humans, caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude. It commonly occurs above 2,400 metres (8,000 feet).  It presents as a collection of nonspecific symptoms, acquired at high altitude or in low air pressure, resembling a case of "flu, carbon monoxide poisoning, or a hangover". It is hard to determine who will be affected by altitude sickness, as there are no specific factors that correlate with a susceptibility to altitude sickness. However, most people can ascend to 2,400 metres (8,000 ft) without difficulty.

Acute mountain sickness can progress to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), which are potentially fatal."

For the next two days, the ascent was more pronounced. From 3800m we went up to 4200m and then next to 4900m.AMS or Acute mountain sickness is something to avoid to the best of our body. It is during this few camps that casualties will come. That was our situation starting off from Debouche. Saf who was sick the whole night improved a bit with Diamox. Ninti was not at his best and we were willing to let him have a go. Raj was worried about Saf but based on his experience, it looked like she would be OK but definitely we do have a low treshold for her.
What is AMS? It is an interesting physiological challenge; a popular physiology question as the ability to answer this correctly would relect upon the full understanding of how the body works in terms of pressure and hypoxia.
The weather was perfect for trekking, It rained the night before and the result was a clear morning after. The picturesque view of the Himalayas were getting more prominent. Trekking with a canvas-like scenery in all 360o view was simply exhilarating.

 Arriving in Pangboche, we were delayed for about an hour because the team had to make a decision. Saf was in fact improving but Ninti was getting worse. His fever and shortness of breath is getting more prominent.He looked very sick and at this point, Raj pointed out to me that Ninti cannot go forward but descend. It was something none of us expected, and Jasmin his girlfriend was kind enough to abandon this trip to accompany Ninti down. He was not too keen to do that but he was too breathless to say anything. Raj arranged City ( one of the porters) to follow them down. The group which started with 12 had been reduced to 10. 

It was cold when we arrived in Periche. Being at more than 4000m, would you expect less? The health condition and moral was a bit down. Everybody was worried if they were to be the next victim of AMS. At this juncture, the whole team moral was lifted when Deeno and Pak Am joined us by surprise! The FELDA team was in Dingbouche, as they were just back from climbing Island Peak. Saf was overjoyed to be reunited with his husband! It was a blessing at least Saf was now clear of the steps in admin for Puncak Event. And interesting story to tell about Periche was the water in the toilet became icy at night! I guess the temperature must have dropped to below 0 conditions that it happened! Imagine the surprise when going toilet in the middle of the night! haha
THe trek from Periche to Labuche i reckon is the highlight of this trip. Subhanallah.. I was so amazed by my view and the weather was simply super perfect. It was cold.. temperature ranging from 0-5oC but the sun was out. You could see the himalayan mountains on your whole view and Masya Allah.. I was simply thankful to be able to enjoy this creation of Allah.

Namchee-Tengboche-Debouche

 We stayed in Namchee for one day. It was for acclimitazation purposes.I did feel a slight headache but i was able to get it off after panadol and a lot of water.Abie was very exhausted when he arrived and My Arcoxia helped him to fix the problem.Saf had to make the biggest joke for this trip when she flooded the toilet floor causing a massive waterfall effect in the lounge lobby! hahaha

                                             Everest view behind us

                                          Geng seluar tinggi

 My appetite was still optimal at this time. I've not taken rice as much as I have been doing so far in the trip! memang habis and indeed i was able to finish off others as well. We were given the choice to trek to Khumjun or stay around in Namchee. I decided to do the latter as I know, in endurance sport its about how long you can go on rather than push it and suffer. Me, Saf, Abie, Amir and Razi stayed in Namchee that day and we enjoyed a short trek to seek the Everest view. Min (our guide) brought us to the wrong place though.. hahaha
This was the killer trek. The profile seeked us to climb up to 3800m above sea level. Challenging the nature should be with knowledge. Its logical that why cant we do it fast? The hypoxia effect is real and the body needs time to adapt itself. It is easy to forget how we have to bow to god's greatness and the challenge did make me realize just that. Slow and steady is the key, good hydration and not overdoing it.
Abie found his step as we were climbing and that brought him a long way during this trip. Saf had a bad day as she was exhausted, and at the same time AMS due to hypoxia bit her a lot. I was walking with Abie and he was good today! The temperature and weather changed after 2 pm, and it was cold to stop thus we had to continue to walk as slow as possible but not stopping too much! At one point, we had a worry as Razi was nowhere to be seen. Min had to be deployed to track back in case Razi had went astray. However, he was in fact too much in front and arrived in Debouche really early!
It was such a relief to arrivei n Pangboche, wehre it was just a fraction away from Debouche. I went into the monastery and it was my first time seeing it live! The Buddhist monks and the setup inside their temple. It was exactly like you wsee it in the movies.!
We arived in Debouche safely as a team and had our dinner there. Majority of the team mebers were exhausted and i guess had mild AMS as well. Most of tehem had no appetite therefore not eating as much as they should. Saf was really suffering and looked really bad. Nitihin had a bit of fever, which symptoms startedthe day before after they returned from Khumjun. We had to nurse Saf and Raj(the guide) was really concerned but optimistic that it would be possible for her to continue. It was in Debouche that i frist prescribed Diamox.. the magic drug. We were crossing our fingers that Saf would be Ok the next day. At the same time, the looming financial crisis struck.. and we had to do a contingency plan.. BRIM cameabout hahaha

Lukla-PakDhing-Namchee Bazaar

The whole team regrouped in Lukla by that evening. The initial plan was upon arrival, we were to start trekking to PakDhing and spend the night there. As the usual laws of trekking forbidding us from walking when dawn approaches, we were to on ly start the next morning. But in keeping to the schedule; we were to trek for at least 10 hours to reach Namchee Bazaar!
Having reach 2800m, we were to ascent up to 3200m. The trek profile was not promising as there were up climbing treks and i did not know how the group will react to it. Everybody looked fit and i guess doing an OT "overtime" the usual OGKL style lives even without Deeno! haha

                                                new vandalism

                                          Sherpa guides City, Babu and I forgot his name.. haha

                                          the entrance to trek

The next morning, everybody was excited. Everybody woke up early! The 2 hours difference was another factor i guess. By 5 am everybody was set to go! It was cold though at night but the blankets were enough to repel me from shivering. I was lazy to open up my sleeping bag hahaha We were initially scheduled to have breakfast at 7am! Semangat tak semangat tu... hahaha

Lukla to Pakdhing was more descending, to 2600m and the trek was along the hillsides ; through the typical Sherpa villages. It was not too difficult and i guess the reason why Raj reckon it was not too taxing to do this. We were to rest for acclimitazation in Namchee for a day anyway. As we started, the view was already magnificient. I could not imagine how beautiful it would be as we ascend higher.There were a number of bridges and the team was totally excited taking panorama pics. Then the second bridge came.. and then the third.. dah malas dah.. haha

 Arriving in PakDhing was a relief after 2 hours of trekking. I was in front at this point but i was trailing the wrong guide! hahaha PakDhing was really nice and it was a shame that we could not stay here for a night. It was serene and its valley positioning was just perfect. We had our lunch there and i must say their fried rice was superly much better than the one we had in Lukla! haha the chilli was as tasty.. few of the team members were starting to feel a bit off and being hungry, i was being the old mentekedarah again.. hahah

2 hours trek from PakDhing, we arrived at the Sagarmatha National Park entrance.. and Yes.. the difficult part had just started. The weather made a sudden change from being warm to a bit chilly as the sun was blocked by the clouds. Some of the team members wer starting to feel ill.. a common mild AMS sign. I was very cautious to hydrate myself that i was literally peeing while trekking countless of time! 

It was all down for a bit (one hour) and then Up up and away for the next 2-4 hours! Perrgghh... crossing the bridge was the start of the suffering and it was all uphill till the Bazaar.

I reached Namchee at about 5pm and Rathi was with me. As we were not sure where we were suppose to report, both of us hanged out at a coffee joint there; surfing the wifi which was available. Luckily we met the guide i followed earlier, and he showed us to the lodge that we were supposed to be at.. My.. what a tiring day.