Year End

And it’s time to bid adieu to the year and sing auld lang syne (I’d probably be in dreamland at the stroke of midnight, some how staying up for the new year bash has been lost over the years). Didn’t even have time to pause, take stock of the year passed and make new resolutions.

The wife asked me yesterday “are you looking forward to 2007?”

Didn’t take me all that long to reply “not really, what is there to look forward to?”

I know it sounds morbid but it’s true. It’s just going to be same old, same old when 1st Jan comes around. I’ve been doing some thinking, even as I went about the household chores of cleaning this, washing that, rearranging this or that. I’ll probaby not pen down most of my thoughts. It’s private.

Church was good today. The message in the sermon was expected and cliched. “Get the ghosts of your past behind you and move on”. But what if the demons refuse to leave? Is there a safe place to take refuge?

Church was good because a man came out to the front during sharing time and did a Job. You know, the “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, Blessed be the name of the Lord” part (Job 1:21). I was touched by his sincerity. Here was a man clearly in trouble (though he didn’t specify what kind of trouble) but he chose to go out, thanked the people who are holding him up, physically or in prayer and blessed the Lord. It was a testimony born out of true tribulations, which stood out like a sore thumb from the rest of the testimonies which centred (rightfully) on the bountiful blessings from God.

I averted his eyes during his testimony. I could see many shifted uncomfortably in their seats. At communion, I gave him a stronger than normal handshake, he looked at me, I looked at him, hoping to convey the message “hang on there brother” to him. Still, I fear I have been derelict in my duty as a fellow believer. I did not find out what is the problem and how I could help!

I did, however,  pray for him.

As I did pray for my kids, my wife, and myself last night when everyone was asleep.

2007 will be here in less than 6 hours. True, there isn’t anything that I look forward to. There will be the same demons to fight, the same struggles day after day, month after month. I would win some and I would lose maybe even more than some.

But that brother’s testimony somehow has given me hope. I am glad he did a Job. It has restored my faith somewhat.

So, Happy New Year everyone! 2007 can’t be that bad right.

Sun, 311206 @ 1826

The Curse of the Golden Flowers

 

Watched this movie yesterday thinking I could get a ‘buy one free one’ ticket from an ASTRO voucher sent to me but it turned out that the offer was only for a local show called ‘Cicakman’ for which neither me nor my wife was in the least inclined to watch (we have enough gecko problems at home, let alone spending a Friday afternoon watching a man behaving like one).

And so it cost us RM 16 to see this movie starring Chow Yuen Fatt, Gong Li and Jay Chou. And my verdict?

Thumbs up for:

1. Breathtaking panaromic shots!

2. Totally awesome costumes. I didn’t know ancient chinese royalties bare so much! The upper torso of ladies were jiggling every where every few minutes. Talk about eye candy! Sorry I got distracted. Now where was I?

3. Solid acting by Chow Yuen Fatt and Gong Li (did she put on some weight after Memoirs of a Geisha?)

4. The climatic battle scene was awesome (but where did those huge steel shields appear from???)

5. Very good ninja style assassins throwing deadly sickles every where (kinda reminded me of the flying surgical tool my ortho surgeon threw in disgust when I was a medical student in India!)

6. Did I mention the jiggling breasts female upper torsos?

Thumbs down for:

1. Jay Chou! I think he is a tad too un-masculine to be playing the part of a warrior son. His skin is too fine with no calluses on his hands after 3 years in the battlefield? Huh? Totally unconvincing.

2. The actor who played the youngest son of the Emperor (see how insignificant he is? I don’t even know his name!) might just as well be part of the elaborate props in the show.

3. The plot was not ‘thick’ enough. I was expecting at least more than 8 twists and turns in shows like these but we had to be contended with the emperor poisoning his empress who was having an affair with the Crown Prince who left the empress for a more nubile (and more endowed!) model who happened to be his half-sister (unbeknowest to him) from the first wife of the emperor (before he became the emperor) who married the chief pharmacist who administers the poison in the empress’ 2 hourly potion concocted by the emperor to cure her ‘anemia’. The emperor’s 2nd son (played by Jay Chou) is the warrior whom the emperor planned to hand over the kingdom at the stroke of midnight on the Celebration of the Festival of the Golden Flowers but he led a rebellion to overthrow the emperor (and before midnight too! Sheesh, what bad timing!) after finding out that the latter was poisoning his mother (the empress) which ended in a massive blood bath in the end. And the 3rd son? Like I said, he is just part of the props. Wait… did I give too much away???!!!!

4. Did I mention the heaving bosoms upper torsos of the female casts? They were VERY distracting indeed. No wonder some coined the show as The Curse of The Golden Corsets. Some of them jiggle so much we could just about see the … Oops, sorry I was distracted again! I rest my case.

Final verdict? 6/10. It’s been a while since I last saw a ‘period’ piece. My favourite is still the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, at least the ‘standing on the bamboo trees’ scene was poetry in motion there. But then again, those jiggling pairs of torsos…..

Sat, 301206 @ 1235, spent the morning cutting the grass on the lawn, and rearranging the kid’s room’s furnitures. Order reigns for now but I know chaos will ensue soon. Sigh.

My Christmas gift

Was in KL yesterday to pick up some documents from my previous work place and I decided to finally take a look at the store there and perhaps buy myself a stethoscope, a cardiology steths was on my mind (my rapidly dwindling bank account was also on my mind!).

My old steths was stolen recently and up till now I have been making do with a cheap japanese made steths as an alternative. It works fine if the patient is thin but unfortunately the patients in Seremban, to my chagrin, tend to be rather well endowed! Trying to hear their breath sounds or heart sounds through the lipid laden layers require supersonic ears.

And since Santa ‘forgot’ to bring me a Cardio steths this year (some other doctors must need it more than me), I decided to play Santa to myself! However, fate was not on my side as the shop in UMMC was closed for ‘stock checking’. I knew the cardio steths there was selling for RM550 or so the last time I checked. So, I hopped over to the shop opposite the hospital which sells medical stuff and nearly had a heart attack when I found the price to be a whopping RM690! (No festive discount even!).

Weighing the fact that I may have to starve my entire family for the next 6 months, I decided not to get it. I was about to walk away dejected when I stumbled upon this gem. The new Lightweight Littman IISE with it’s rather obscene looking chest piece selling for a mere RM190!

Initially I was hesitant to get this steths with it’s revolutionary ‘new design’ but after placing it on my own precordium and I could hear my own ‘systolic click’ (you medical guys, go guess what heart condition I have), I decided it was worth buying.

And so I bought it, along with a name tag that cost RM8.00. I purposely bought a maroon coloured one to make it ‘stand out’. I think people will think twice before stealing a maroon coloured steths with a bizzare shaped chest piece! That’s my Christmas present for myself!

But I am still dreaming of that cardio steths. Perhaps next Christmas….

Fri, 291206 @ 0941, still on leave and the kids are driving me nuts!

A Memorable Patient – The Pethidine Addict

The following incident happened when I was a Medical MO at the Seremban Hospital many years ago.

 

He chased me, clutching half a brick in his right hand, his left hand pedaling furiously on the wheelchair that he was on; all the while shouting profanities at me, in Chinese, cursing me in the foulest possible Chinese sentences; something about my ancestors and the female genitalia. I wasn’t paying attention as I was too busy trying to walk quickly (not run, that would be too undignified for a doctor, even when chased by a half crazed pethidine starved lunatic) away from him.

I lunged into the lift, which fortunately opened as soon as I pressed the button, taking me to the floor above. I thought I was safe until the other lift opened and out came this raving lunatic! And the chase began again. This time I ran (yes I did, not giving a damn about dignity) into the doctor’s mess. He followed closely behind me. I could almost feel him breathing behind my back. He was menacing.

I softly told the matron in charge of the food (for doctors) there to call security. She was sitting in the kitchen, looking bored and almost in mid-day slumber.  I then proceeded to scoop up some rice and whatever there was on the table into a plate, hoping that I was not showing any fear or that my hands were trembling like a Java quake. The loon was sitting there staring at me with his half crazed eyes. I sat down and proceeded to eat.

He sat (in his wheelchair) opposite me. He has cooled down somewhat by now. Perhaps my ‘fearlessness’ had him on his guard as well. Perhaps reflecting that his name may be splashed across the media the next day for stoning a young doctor to death was having some control over his temper. Or maybe I was the only way he could get his fix that night.

He spoke: “Why are you not giving me my pethidine?” I looked up at him, taking a deliberately long time to swallow whatever it was that I was eating. It was difficult to swallow when fear was constricting even my airway! Finally, I spoke, sounding what I hope to be a little authoritative. “Because you don’t need it, that’s why.”

He was a pethidine addict. When I first saw him, he was about 35 years old. He drank some weed killer when he was 25 years old in an attempt to end his life after his then girlfriend left him. Miraculously he survived but suffered from constant chest pain which, according to him, can only be alleviated by pethidine injections.

His family was a dysfunctional one. In fact, his entire family was well known in the village where they were staying, for being quarrelsome, some members were drug addicts, gangsters or have some kind of psychiatric illness.

Since he could not get a constant supply of pethidine from one hospital, he went from one hospital to another, even as far as hospitals in KL. He came so many times to my hospital that we knew him well.

Our confrontation didn’t end violently. The security personnel finally turned up and politely asked him to leave, which he did. I was transferred to my present work place soon after. I am not sure what became of him but last I heard, he simply didn’t come anymore to that hospital. Some said he tried to take his life the second time; and this time he may have succeeded.

 

Thurs, 281206 @ 0810; fully recovered from the viral AGE.

Streamyx sucks

Never thought I would say this but it’s true. I have used the Streamyx like maybe 5 times since I got it installed and it sucked, every time! I can’t even get into yahoo or hotmail today! I checked the speed. What was supposed to be 1Mbps was down to 512 kBps last week and now it’s at an agonising 384 kBps.

Memo to self: go over to TMnet tomorrow and complain.

Sick of it. Really sick of it.

271206 @ 1501

Not so Merry Christmas

Christmas was a washout. The playdough bug that initially struck Ryan struck again, and again; first affecting Darlene on Christmas eve and then me on Christmas Day! The symptoms were the same: low grade fever, recurrent vomiting and explosive watery diarrhoea and the worst was the severe abdominal cramps!

So, Christmas dinners were cancelled with apologies and even the planned family reunion dinner on Christmas Day had to be skipped. We spent Christmas day recovering (as in the case of Darlene) or getting worst (as in my case). Ryan was already well by then but still passing loose stool on and off. The only one not affected (thankfully) was the wifey!

Boxing day was spent mostly in the horizontal position except for my wife who stoically went about the house hold chores and caring for 2 recovering kids and 1 very sick man. Sigh!

What a way to spend Christmas. Today I feel a little better, the spasms are gone, and so has the vomiting. The diarrhoe is still there but it’s less now and I have a throbbing headache, probably from sleeping too much.

Sigh sigh sigh….

Wed, 271206 @ 0800

Happy Holidays!

Work’s done! I am off till 2007!

Happy Holidays everyone! Salary will be out tomorrow, so Christmas shopping will be done tomorrow.

The best news of all? That I will be doing specialist call next month! YES!!!!

Fri, 221206 @ 1726

Christmas

It’s that special time of the year again. I loved Christmas as a kid, mainly because the company which my dad worked for would hold it’s annual Christmas luncheon and good ol’ Santa would give out presents to all the kids! Typically, every year I would end up with a model airplane which I have to assemble with glue and paint. It was also at one of these annual gatherings that I had my first taste of beer. They ran out of soft drink and so my dad got me a glass of beer! Had a few sips and nearly landed in the large monsoon drain as I swayed back to the car!

As I grew older, Christmas took on a different meaning. I found the Lord (or rather He found me) at the age of 12. Being the only believer then in the family, I remember celebrating Christmas by staying up late at night on Christmas eve, with my little torch light and my Bible on my lap, I sang Christmas carols alone and welcomed the birthday of the Lord when the clock struck midnight. It was a time of quiet happiness and communion.

As a teen, Christmas was mostly about partying and dances with gift exchanges. We attended Christmas services of course and visited houses of church members that were deemed ‘cool’ (ie loads of junk food and nice decor!).

Christmas was also when I got invited for dinner at the house of the girl whom I eventually married. It was at one such dinner that I was a little tipsy with red wine and spilled all the beans about my good (and bad) habits to the inquisitive mother of my girl! Eternal shame is the best word to describe my feelings the next day…

And now as a parent, I see the same joy in the faces of my kids as they wait eagerly for Christmas day just so they can rip open all the presents that are under the Christmas tree! Darlene doesn’t believe in Santa and Ryan only believes in Buzz Lightyear (of Toy Story fame). Santa is so passe in my family.

My prayer is that they will experience what Christmas is all about. I pray that they too will experience the ‘quiet and happy communion’ that I had as a child as I thanked the Lord for the His Gift that brought heaven to earth and radically changed my life.

Have a blessed Christmas everyone! May the Lord fill us with the joy and peace that came on the First Christmas as the angels sang and the shepherds marvelled.

Fri, 221206 @ 1432, feeling all Christmas-sy (would be better if the salary is out!). Cheers!

One Dishonest Student

I invigilated the Sem 6 Internal Medicine End of Posting MCQ (multiple choice questions) exam yesterday. Being a newbie and not given a “How to invigilate a Sem 6 MCQ exam” booklet beforehand and not having any assistance at all (the one who was supposed to help me didn’t turn up); it ended rather disastrously.

There were 43 students who sat for the exam. At the end of it, I received back 43 answer sheets, 43 ID papers bearing their numbers and 42 question papers!!!!

One dishonest student made off with one question paper!

I am very displeased with what happened. We are grooming in our midst, one very dishonest future medical doctor!!!!

I am also displeased with myself. It was careless of me. It won’t happen again.

Fri, 221206 @ 0758; salary still not in (Santa is late!) and Ryan didn’t vomit this morning though he said he doesn’t feel good.

Playdough Ingestion

 

I googled ‘playdough’ ingestion in the hope of finding a rapid cure for my son who is dehydrated and zonked out from recurrent vomiting and what I got were these:

1. It causes hypernatreimia in dogs which may result in seizures. Read it here.

2. It causes funny colored stool, according to Trench Doc.

And that’s about it! Sigh!

No more playdough for Ryan until he is at least 18.

PS: He is totally exhausted, has been sleeping for the past 3 hours. Prayed over him just now. I know he is in good Hands.

211206 @ 2122