Up up and away..

Petrol hike.. 30 sens increase !! My god , i got the news late. Dil called me at about 11 pm to inform me about the news. After that , streams of sms flocked my handphone inbox. Everybody was wondering whether it was just a rumour running wild ? Usually , they will air it on the news at 8pm , but today there was none..

Chaos was the typical scene in all the petrol stations. Credit card kiosk suddenly went offline. Not everybody brought cash to pay fuel. Sparks of anger and tension was obvious. To top it up , few stations decided to close down early , greedy to cash in more money starting midnight , with the 20% rise. The ones still open is so busy unlike their normal business. Nobody was able to confirm the news ..

And at 12am , Tuesday 28 February 2006 , the news was confirmed during the late night news. The government issued the statement quite late but the enforcement was immediate.They promised that there will be no hike this year.. YE KE ?? BULE PERCAYA KE ? That was what they said last July...

Check out our neighbours : the emergency state declared after a failed coup in Phillipines ; Thai's PM under heavy critisism for dissolving the parliament creating havoc and more instability.. Wow .. can Malaysia remain as it is for long ?

The future looks worrying...

P/S Haiiyaa.. minyak kereta sekarang sudah macam air laaa..

Horror genre

ok.. 

My Sunday maternity call yesterday was really NOT busy.In 24 hours , i only had 2 caesareans to do and both was during the day . Its very rare that you get calls like this and i had a good rest yesterday.I even managed to catch the Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian on TV till the end ! I wish we had Astro in our pantry so i could have watch the Liverpool Man City game !!!

The night before the call , I watched the Pontianak part 2 late midnight. Dzaef was asleep so i asked wifey to take a break from studying and watch the movie with me.This was my first movie since Dzaef was born !! haks.. I know its a bit TOO LATE .. but better than never right ! I like Shuhaimi's movies especially the first Pontianak. In a way , I'm a Maya Karin fan now ..heks.. she used to be a close friend of mine's girlfriend during her college days. I suppose Leong ( currently practicing in Seberang Jaya Hospital ) would have never thought that she'd be a megababe in Malaysia right now.

I guess Maya maybe the best person to play the pontianak role since Siput Sarawak for now. Her malay language command is bad so that makes it perfect !! The movie's plot was haphazard.Very-very confusing to figure out when's where and what's happening. You need to be really sharp and into the movie to appreciate it. Wifey as usual was blur about what was happening but i enjoyed the
cinematography . It can be scary at times ..Ok la for a malay movie. Maya's win in the Anugerah Bintang Popular last night must be because of this.

Maya Karin , Malaysia's banshee chick... haks.. ( that was the translation of pontianak on my DVD !!)

p/s Wifey is still more beautiful la..whatever pun.. hehehe.. kena tulis ni..

Nothing new

so blue 

A bit busy this week yeah.. 2 calls in a week and that was the reason why i was not with the gang for our weekly badminton session.My calls were not too bad either.Managed to attain "bed sores" !! MAternity in Selayang is definitely calmer. THis week however satisfied me in terms of improving my anaesthetic skills.

I managed to perform regional blocks succesfully this week. After hearing Shakti's mastery in HKL , i felt like trying the blocks more often. Alhamdulillah , managed to do 3 sets of femoral , 3 in 1 and the axillary. Really kewl seeing it work . The best part is , patient remains painless and comfortable. That is the aim of anaesthesia really !!! Did a case with the hepatobiliary team on friday. Whipples , and it was quite stressful.I was tired because i slept at 4am to prepare for my CME presentation that afternoon. I slept from 8pm to 7am !!! Memang hanyut terus..

On a different note , Baby Dzaeff had a bit of fever and flu on thursday. He looked tired and was not as active as usual. His temperature soared up to 40o!!! haks.. apa laga.. sup voltaren laa... heks.. Well , in the midst of HN51 bird flu thingy , obviously Im worried. Alhamdulillah , he has fully recovered and we went out to One Utama for family dinner today as a treat !! ( as if he's able to eat any of our meal !! ) haks..

When the Prof speaks..

the future 

I happen to catch RTM's DEBAT PERDANA on Sunday night regarding REVISITING RUKUNEGARA.( trust me.. nothing else on tv was interesting to watch that night!) Besides my fav. Royal Prof Ungku Aziz , unfortunately all the panels were malays with Mujahid Yusof Rawa being the only "opposition" on the bench. It is a bit ironic as the panel's composition did not relect the spirit of RUKUNEGARA. I wonder whether this week they'll be Part 2 with other Malaysians besides the malays on the forum.if they are brave , they'll get Kit Siang in..and perhaps to pair up with Nazri !! hahaha.. mesti kecoh giller..

I happen to read Prof Khoo Khay Kim's interview on NST on Sunday. Being my favourite intellect ( he adores sports as well esp football !! ) , i do concur with his opinions regarding half-hearted efforts by our own politicians in promoting national unity.

QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW.

The root of the problem, as he sees it, lies in:

* a national school system that has become more communal despite its supposed non-ethnic and non-religious status;
* the participation of political parties in national unity committees; and,
* Malaysians ignoring the fifth tenet of Rukun Negara: good behaviour and morality.

Is there a way out of the ethnic quagmire?
"Teach cultural history," says the man who has been teaching history for a good 40 years.Khoo believes the teaching of history in Malaysia is too political, preventing children from learning more about other cultures.
"Of course I don't like the idea of interfering with history. But if you teach cultural history, you don't have to shape it to what you want. You can expose the children to cultural reality."For example, many Malaysians do not know the difference between a Punjabi and a Bengali. Some have strange ideas about the religions of their friends and neighbours. All this is due to ignorance.

How does he feel that almost 37 years after he helped formulate the Rukun Negara and other basic principles of national unity, Malaysians are still polarised?

"What we have tried to do, unfortunately, never got through to the people. We were fighting against obstacles which were more potent.
"We called for national unity, understanding and tolerance, but at the ground level, we did not promote this idea.We didn't teach the children in such a way that they can begin to know one another's culture."

Is he satisfied with what he has achieved?
"I always feel that I have achieved very little. My conclusion is that when you're a true Malaysian, you're a very lonely person. It is because we're all divided by cliques. And when you're not with one, you're left out."

***********************************************

On a lighter note ,I went to Istana Budaya today on the way to my locum job to get tickets to see Datin Seri. SOLD OUT beb !!! to my frustration all tickets were finished !! Wow.. very encouraging isn't it !! The production decided to extend the show for another two days but it can only be bought after 9am on Tuesday !! Damn.. will miss this year's great show..

National Interest

Tijgerhaai & Zwaardis
 

If you've been to the Lumut Naval base within this 5 years , the sight of these 2 submarines must have caught your attention. The thought of us , Malaysia having our own submarines was really kewl. I've been to the Lumut docks twice , and twice i gazed with amazement on both vessels.. Gila besar & Memang gempaque.According to the naval officers i was with then , a special team was created to be trained in handling the mega submarines.

However , we never bought the submarine. Somehow , the negotiations failed and both the submarines were abandoned.

I read on the news today that both vessels will be dismantled and the cost were to be bared by the Dutch government. Eventhough it was one of their companies who messed up with millions owed ; their government decided to intervene in the name of national interest. Certainly , the main reason why they bailed Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) ( company yg mangkuk tu laa.. ) was because they wanted to avoid the submarines being taken over by our government. Thus , losing their "secret" vessel technology to us for free.

See how they protect themselves ? Having to pay the big debts to protect their national pride..

I wonder , if our government would do the same ? Hmm.. the Proton - Naza - AP story doesn't look encourging.. does it ?

Check your audience..

As UiTM trainees , we have our weekly CME ( Continuous Medical Education ) on Thursdays. We will rotate among ourselves to present journals or interesting topic for critical appraisal. It is suppose to be a training ground for us to be sound and competent lecturers. I presented yesterday ; i was lucky eventhough i was on call as i had no cases to do till about 2pm.

Well , usually only a handful of senior staffs will turn up . Mostly are my peers from various departments. It is actually compulsory for us to attend the session besides the goodie LUNCH that comes with it !! Banyak duit UiTM ni..

Thinking that in mind , i prepared my slides according to the crowd i thought would be there. ARDS for dummies la.. pictures of darth vader and banyak lagi la.. with few planned jokes about it on my sleeves.

Haks.. but alas..the room was full of senior profs and lecturers.Mak aii.. I was a bit stunned but the show must go on. My colleagues came in later during the presentation so my target group was a bit late to appreciate my work. Haks !! though there were smiles on some of the faces i was a bit nervous to elaborate on my "funny" attempt to make the session enjoyable !!

Haks.. anyway , it turned out ok..tapi berpeluh luuu...

Naik Pangkat

kewl new cabinet line up isn't it.. Questions and speculations will be wild on why glamour friendly minister Sheikh Kadir Fadzil resigned ?? interesting to surf these few days.

I wonder if having beautiful wives qualifies as a criteria to be appointed as Minister ?

p/s will be checkin out Datin Seri in PGL play sometime this month !!

New Cabinet appointments

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced a new Cabinet line-up at 2.45pm Tuesday.
The following are some of the appointments made:

Datuk Mustapha Mohamed (Higher Education)
Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (Home Affairs)
Datuk Zainuddin Maidin (Information)
Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (Natural Resources and Environment)
Datuk Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (Tourism)
Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique (Federal Territories)
Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Effendi Norwawi (Minister in PM's Dept)
Datuk Liow Tiong Lai (Youth and Sports, Deputy)
Datuk Donald Lim (Tourism, Deputy)
Datuk Ong Tee Keat (Higher Education, Deputy)

Ministers dropped from the Cabinet:
Datuk Adnan Satem (Natural Resources and Environment)
Datuk Dr Shafie Salleh (Higher Education)
Datuk Dr Leo Michael Toyad (Tourism)
Datuk Seri Abdul Kadir Shekh Fadzir resigned from his post as Information Minister earlier on Tuesday.

KLIA trip 2

Just downloaded the 2nd trip pics from the camera. Haks.. Dzaeffran somehow likes to pooh all out in KLIA !! twice we went.. twice la jugak dia bom. Haks !!


caught the plane on the background..  

While we were there , there were a group of students with their blazers on ; sponsored i guess by JPA or MARA.Destination ; New Zealand or Australia kot.. not really sure and i did not exactly confront and ask them !! It certainly brought lots of fond memories seeing these young innocent ones about to venture life in a way one could never guess. Being 18 and being sent to live independently. haks.. Good luck fellas..

KLIA pooh centre 


che cun going back... 

KLIA trip

KLIA carpark 

Going to KLIA twice in a week !! Gile test power kereta.. ehehehe..

Baby Dzaeffran had his first trip to KLIA on thursday nite. I;m not sure whether he enjoyed it or not.. But it was obvious that his eyes were wild ; looking at the glittering lights. He was certainly excited to see the lighting in the airport.

We welcomed home mak from his haj trip that nite. She looked good and the frist thing she did when she saw us was kissing dzaeffran. Cucu sulunglah katakan.. heks.. and obviously he had grown so much since the last time mak saw him.
Semoga Haji Mabrur insya Allah..

We'll be going to KLIA again tonight to send off Adik back to New Zealand.

welcoming home nenek 

Malaysians in Danger

cracks in MRR2 

Honestly , it is a disaster waiting to happen. I can just imagine the headlines on ours and international press.. A major urbanization disaster when the flyover collapse ; killing thousands of Malaysians. I mean.. we are lucky that our Ring Road is not in the Volcano Ring region. Otherwise , the structures might have collapsed as soon as we built it.

I pray that there is still hope for repair . It is very worrying reading the reports on our daily newspaper. The number of cracks and defects on the current MRR2 flyovers. I am appauled by the quality of the highways.If it is not safe then dismantle it or forbid the people from using it. It can develop into a big scandal if it collapses despite the government saying it is safe. It was damn bloody expensive project ; took a lot of our patience and time ; and now.. this is the result. How crap can we be ?? This is a major f**k up. A waste of people's money. Mentang mentanglah highway free.. tak payah bayar tol.. macam ni ke ?

I know the minister commented that our unpredictable hot and humid weather played a part in creating cracks on the flyovers but.. c'mon !! Didn't the engineers consider that when building the bridges ? Honestly , if they did not consider.. then i question their integrity and qualification . Gila MANGKUK.. BOWL... I'm not a master builder but i reckon the objective in building a structure is to ensure that it last as long as it can !!! MESTI KUKUH MAUT .. ( well.. learnt that during my scouts gadget / menara builds hehehe..)

Unfortunately , i am directly affected by this mess. I have to use that route to get to Selayang Hospital. I tried going to work at about 6.30am yesterday but the road was jammed and packed !! Damn.. the side alternative route provided was just crap as it made 4 lanes bottleneck into 2. How crap can it be ? hmmmm... Should i go earlier then ? 6 am perhaps... but then for the next 4 months ? Or maybe.. more..

p/s Alamak... ni yang nak gi UM cepat2 nih..

A food for thought..

This was in today's Utusan Malaysia I didn't know either. Sad isn't it.

"Melayu harus risau tulisan jawi berkubur
PULAU PINANG 8 Feb. - Masyarakat Melayu di negara ini haruslah mengambil sesuatu langkah bagi menghidupkan semula tulisan Jawi ekoran tulisan itu telah `berkubur' apabila akhbar Utusan Melayu Mingguan - satu-satunya akhbar dalam tulisan jawi - kini telah dihentikan penerbitannya.

Menteri Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Warisan, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim berkata, penutupan penerbitan akhbar Utusan Melayu Mingguan seharusnya dipandang sebagai satu kematian kepada warisan bangsa kerana tulisan jawi adalah satu pusaka warisan bangsa yang telah menjadi skrip rasmi dan lidah Melayu selama lebih 600 tahun. "

Check it out..

Sesapa yang nak beli kereta baru tu.. you may consider this kot..


new model 


new rave 

A painful nite..

miracle rub 

I went straight away to our weekly fukuls session in Sri Petaling after work. My OT finished at about 8.30pm and it was just nice to join the kamcheng boys for badminton. The usual suspects were there ; Dil , Azad , Fiqar and Zaini. Ruslan with kids , Nurleena and Not came later. We had a good session ; having played the new TRIPLETS badminton. It was pure power play and fun !! haks.. We looked stupid looking from outside but inside the court , we were smashing our way to a complicated way of playing badminton.

After our routine kuew teoy session , I went back home feeling a bit tired. When i was at my front gate , i felt something i haven't felt for quite sometime. The twitch started on my left thigh , then it was my right thigh. Suddenly , my legs were very shaky.OH NO...IT WAS MY CRAMPS !!! I can just imagine how the lactate accumulation due to anaerobic activities stimulating all the bradykinins to show up and make me suffer !!! I struggled at 1 am to get into the house. It was full of pain and agony. Tuhan je yang tahu.. When i got inside , i lied down on the floor .. and tried to fight the cramps off.

I was down there for about 1 hour. I just cannot move as it was too painful. Felt as if my legs were giving away. haks.. Everybody was asleep so there i was alone.. in pain..

I managed to crawl upstairs ; straight to my study room. Looking for deep heat rub. Found it and massaged myself. It did not actually work but it gave me a bit of comfort. I dunno whether it was the lack of warming up or warming down. My god !! sakit woo..

This episode brought back the memories of my infamous cramps !! Somehow , i had this tendency to have such bad cramps especially after a vigorous physical activity. I'm not sure whether the kamcheng boys remember those episodes. In Shrewsbury , i had few episodes during our weekly league footie in the winter. I really have to investigate this.. Is it my electrolytes or my muscles are all red-type which is prone to anaerobic respiration.. hmmmm..

Hot and cold

burn 

I was on call on Sunday. I didn't know the MRR2 kepong flyover was officially closed on Saturday. I only knew about it after reading the sunday paper ! Haks.. Alamak.. going tomorrow to work will be hell. 3 months man.. 3 months.. and before this i was boasting how comfortable my journey to the hospital was..

Yesterday's call was not bad. 2 major cases was cancelled as the surgeons did not see the urgency of pushing it on a weekend. Therefore i was left with minor cases to do.. appendicectomy , plating. and i may have created history in Selayang by doing the burn case at night !In the mean time missing the event of the year.. JUARA LAGU !!! But after seeing her , i guess she had to be done as she had to wait for 3 days as more urgent cases needed to be done ; sidelining her.

It was bad. The19 year old had a total of 37% of her body burnt. Apparently she she accidentally poured petrol while burning rubbish. The wind blew and the fire caught her.. reaLLY BAD. The right side of her trunk had significantly deep burn . Luckily her face was spared , making it me easy to intubate and low risk of difficult intubation. They were debriding her and my god , what was left of the skin was.. hmmm.. macamana nak cakap eks.. the whitish skin looks like the cow after the skin is peeled off.

Managed to extubate her well. She was in a lot of pain. I pitied her , Dunno whether the morphine i gave her intra operatively was adequate. We gave her PCAM ( Patient controlled Analgesia ; Morphine ) but i don't think it will be adequate . You can know that she is in deep pain as she refused to talk but just quitely ..crying..and crying..

Nauzubillah.. very scary sight ooh..

Maal Hijrah 1427 in TTDI

the smirk again 


with grandma 


with grand pa.. 


awek baru.. 

Overdose

I was flat out yesterday. The whole day i felt sick , feverish , nauseous.. ooh.. slept most of the day. I'm not sure whether i overworked or overdosed by the anaesthetic gases during my on call on Tuesday.

Memories of HKL's call came back to me . It was bad , In Selayang most of the time you are alone and making your own decisions. The specialist is busy covering ICu and maternity thus making you to be on your own most of the time.I started at 9am and the cases went on and on for 24 hours. Called my last case at 7am and kudos to Marcia for replacing me sharply at 8 am.

I had 3 laparotomies - All 3 in bad condition. The first one was a relaparotomy - the had to go in as his abdomen is very distended and he was going into sepsis |( well , thats according to them , the truth is he is already in !! haks.. )They contemplated surgery for days and this was the result. It was really bad as the surgeons could not get into the bowel , they were just exploring the peritoneum and it had 3 L of blood and fluid collection.We had to transfuse a lot of blood and its product ; clinically he became white !! It went on for 5 hour ! I pity the man.. He had to be admitted to ICU and his prognosis is poor despite being only 27 years old.

The next case was a 30 year old gentlemen day 2 post MVA with intra abdominal injury. He was treated conservatively but he had to worsen during my call !Obviously, having spenic injury and uncontrolled oozy bleeding , they had to proceed with spleenectomy. He lost about 2 L of blood but being young lad , he covered it well. We supplemented his blood , and all in all we managed to extubate and send him to the ward.

This simple appendicectomy turned into a limited right hemicolectomy. It was unfortunate for this 47 year old man with no known medical problems , came in with an acute onset of right ilian fossa pain.. and when they went in his appendix was absolutely normal. However it was noted that he had caecal perforation with pus collection. The surgeon decided to give him the BIG CUT as there was no reason for that part to be perforated unless it was malignancy or TB. I was quite frustrated as i thought this was my last case for the night but it was not !! and finished it at abot 3.30 am.

Had one eye emergency of all days.. and we proceeded at about 4am. I was so tired. By then , i felt so dizzy and nauseous. I felt sick and tired..but i had to go on.
And then Gynae called telling me there is one possible ruptured ectopic. I was so knackered that i told my nurses to call the case at 7am sharp for me to catch a short nap. After Subuh , i managed to sleep for about 40 minutes when the counter called me. I felt so tired , and just sick ... so sick.. i have never felt like this during my calls.

By the time i was at home.. i was so tired and sick. No appetite.. and had to sleep the whole day. Luckily i'm on PM shift today.. so i can still continue my rest this morning before going off to work..