Romeo and Juliet – 2

Previously on Romeo and Juliet, a fairy tale romance between 2 lovers of different ethnicity turned sour when Romeo of them was discovered to have HIV and HCV as well as tuberculosis. Juliet was brought to the clinic for screening.

And now the story continues….

Juliet walked into Jimbo’s clinic followed by Romeo. It’s been a week since Jimbo last saw them. Juliet looked as if she hasn’t slept a wink all week. Her eyes were watery and there were bags under them. There was fear in her eyes and anxiety. The dreaded question must have played over and over again in her mind all week: “Do I have HIV?”

She didn’t smile.

In contrast, Romeo almost bounced into the clinic happily. His health has been progressively improving since he was started on anti-TB therapy. He wore a broad smile on his face.

Juliet sat next to Jimbo at the consultation table. On his hands were the print-outs of the results of her screening last week. She looked at Jimbo in dreaded anticipation.

Jimbo asked her how was she, and she just nodded and mumbled something incomprehensible in reply.

In a diabolical kind of way, at that precise moment, Jimbo felt a little like Ryan Seacrest on American Idol, who is about to announce whether a particular contestant made it to the next round!

Jimbo read out the results:

Hepatitis B screen: non-reactive
Hepatitis C screen: non-reactive
Chest Xray: no evidence of tuberculosis
HIV 1/2 screen: NON-REACTIVE!

Jimbo explained to Juliet what those results meant.

And then, in the blink of an eye, Juliet’s face lit up as if a heavy burden has suddenly been lifted from her shoulders. A smile broke forth on her face.

If not for the sake of propriety, Jimbo would have hugged her and swung her around and say “Juliet, you are cleared! You have made it to the next round!!!”.

Romeo was ecstatic as well. Despite the smile, Jimbo was sure he has been worried to death.

The rest of the consultation was done away quickly. Juliet was counseled to get herself screened again in 6 months. Romeo was counseled on starting anti-HIV therapy and then Jimbo bid them adieu.

And as the door closed behind them, a wide smile broke out on Jimbo’s face.

Wed, 300408 @ 1136

My Avatar

I have a personal avatar, long before avatars are known as, well, avatars!

Cute eh?

It’s a caricature of myself, first created when I was in India studying Medicine. It became some sort of a trade mark for me, it being inked on almost everything that I own back then (which wasn’t much); most notably in my notes. On every other page one would find this avatar drawn.

To those who are studying in Manipal reading my blog, if you ever come across such a drawing there, know this:

JIMBO was there!

Wed, 300408 @ 0700

Changes in UMMC

It was a bit of a culture shock for me when I returned to UMMC for my ID attachment last week, after being away for 18 months. So many things have changed. Let me list them:

1. The foyer of the medical faculty is now barricaded. I am told they are building the Centre for Rehabilitation there.

2. Work has restarted on the much-delayed O&G complex (however, the Pediatric Complex is still pretty much abandoned).

3. The foundation work for the proposed multi-storey building housing various departments (the medical department, I am told, will  be given 3 floors!) has begun.

4. The Radiology department is being renovated, with a temporary shelter being built near the medical library to house the people and equipments while renovation work is in progress.

5. The Emina Restaurant has closed down. I am told the kitchen went up in flames one night. Various conspiracy theories include:

a. an act of arson by a disgruntled employee who was not paid his/her wages.

b. some one from the rival restaurant (namely the Tropicana Restaurant ~ which is now known simply as the UMMC Restaurant) set it on fire because Emina was doing better).

c. the cook needed a break.

d. and my personal view: an act of arson from a disgusted customer. Emina started well (as with almost everything else in this country) and went downhill after a few months. It became dirty, smelly and the food quallity deteriorated badly while the price went up! IMHO, it deserves to be burned.

6. In the ward, the most pleasant (and frustrating) surprise was to discover that they have implemented the tele-radiology technology whereby you can pull up any scans, films and reports at the touch of a button on the computer keyboard. Not so in real life. I was there for less than 48 hours and the system hung more than 10 times and it took 2 eternities to download any films.

7. On the other hand, the much hyped and touted ‘e-prescription’ which was supposed to make life a lot easier for doctors and patients has largely been abandoned by most doctors in favour of the traditional way of writing prescriptions on a piece of paper and handing it to the patient. It’s super-tedious to log in and type out the prescriptions on the non-user-friendly system adapted. And yes, the system hangs all the time!

9. The ID ward has finally moved to the SARS ward.

On the other hand, somethings never change.

Like this one, for instance:

One miserable toilet per gender in the MOPD to cater for the hundreds of patients who sit there for hours in near-zero-temperature waiting for their turn to see the doctors. Mind you, many of these patients are on diuretics! And yes, the doctors use the loo too! Sigh! How undignified.

But one thing I am glad did not change was this:

The very warm ‘welcome back’ I received from nurses and ex-colleagues (barring a few who has developed the ability to see through people)!!!!

Awww, you guys are so sweet!

It’s good to be back!

Tue, 290408 @ 0700

Scarred

An apology was offered.
Apology was accepted.
Strange that no forgiveness was asked for…
An apology is not the same as asking for forgiveness, you see..

In time all wounds will heal,
Unfortunately…
The scar will, sadly, remain.

It’s time to move on.
I know it sounds cliche,
But can we…
Stop fighting and start loving?

I believe I can live with the scar.
The question is,
Can you?

Mon, 280408 @ 0900

Case #34: Before and After

This 35-year-old man presented with sudden onset of shortness of breath. He subsequently had to be intubated and ventilated due to respiratory collapse.

These are his Xrays:

Before:

And after:

Questions:

1. Comment on the films above; what intervention has been done on him?

2. What is the diagnosis?

Mon, 280408 @ 0700

Food in Shanghai

I’m not done telling you guys about Shanghai yet, so please bear with me!

A word of warning though, this article is 101% non-kosher.

And the topic for today is: FOOD! (or specifically, the kind that I was served with when I was there).

One word: YUCK!!!

Not really surprising considering the stuff they advertise in their restaurants!

Anyway, here are some pics from one particular lunch I took in Shanghai. I was lumped together with everyone else who does not profess the muslim faith and so had no choice but to participate in this feast. Bleh…

Here are the dishes:

Century eggs that really looked like they are a few centuries old! And yes, cooked in lard.

Roasted duck! I swear you can still smell the feathers! (Truth be told, I might be biased since I’m not really a duck-meat-lover).

Looks totally delicious but not so when you taste it. And yes, it’s swimming in lard.

More duck! This one totally grossed me out. I didn’t attempt to take a bite.

My revulsion was briefly tempered with the appearance of this cucumber dish. Alas, it was also cooked in, yes you guessed it, lard.

And then this dish came and I confess I almost threw up. Sigh. I am not even going to tell what it is.

The soup came next and I must tell you that this is the first time I have seen soup made with an entire chicken immersed in it! Did the cook lose his chopper?

Fish was next but it tasted really really bad. In order to hide the ‘muddy’ smell of the fresh-water fish, the cook literally drenched the dish with vinegar! One bite and your entire GI tract is preserved for eternity.

The famous ‘Mui Choy Chue Yoke’ which is actually pork cooked with preserved vegetable. Apparently this dish originated from Hangzhou. The picture is blur because by then I was starving (despite the abundance of ‘food’ in front of me) and could not hold my camera steady.

And so, in the end, I had these 2 benign looking dates, a bit of that awful taufu, a small roasted duck thigh, and lots of cucumber and rice.

Thankfully by the 3rd day of the trip, my tour team was miraculously relegated to eating ‘halal’ food along with muslim colleagues. I tell you, the food was delicious and spicy!!!! I didn’t take any pics mainly because I was so starved, I ate like a pig (oops, pun unintended) and had no time to snap any!

Sun, 270408 @ 0700

 

 

F.O.M.C.A.

That’s FELLOWSHIP OF MOUNTAIN CLIMBING AMATEURS!

Last Sunday, I attended a Hi-Tea gathering somewhere in Seremban 2. The purpose of the gathering was for those who have summited Mount Kinabalu in March this year to share their experiences to us who will be going in July.

 

The first guy who shared his experience began with this statement: “I tell you, the climb is terrible. Really TERRIBLE! IT WAS SO TOUGH!”

Alarm bells rang in my head. I sized him up. He is much younger than me, probably a lot fitter too; and he said it’s terrible! Gosh!!! What have I gotten myself into? I was going to raise my hand, say my solemn regret and give some lame excuse and pull out!

Then someone jumped in and did some damage control. He said: “Actually it’ not so bad la”, and continued to tell us his experience in summiting the mountain. I sized him up too. The 2nd chap was younger than the 1st one and much fitter.

Gosh, I am so dead…. (I wonder if I could get a refund).

And then this chap went up and narrated how he sprained his knee (or was it the ankle? I was too distraught to concentrate) and had to be carried down by 3 porters taking turns on their backs!

Gulp!!!

And I thought the meeting was to encourage us wo?!!!! How?!!

There’s only one thing to do.

Train harder. Work harder. Steel myself.

It’s a commitment and by George, I am going to climb that piece of ROCK!!! So help me God!

Sat, 260408 @ 0700; Jimbo and gang is in FRIM today.

Romeo and Juliet

That’s a Shakespear tragedy, by the way.

It was a fairy tale romance. A story that Yasmin Ahmad would quite likely direct.

Boy meets girl at the place where they both work. They are of different races which makes it more, well, controversial. To summarize:

Boy meets girl.
Girl meets boy.
They fell in love.
They had sex.
They were happy.

Girl fell sick.
Girl got admitted.
Girl got well, told it was dengue fever.

Then, as with all tragic romance story, things take an unexpected turn…

Boy got sick.
Boy got admitted.
Boy got better.
Told he has HIV, Hepatitis C and Tuberculosis!
Seems that boy had a dark past.

Boy told girl.
Girl still loves boy.
Boy loves girl even more.
Boy brings girl to clinic for screening.

Jimbo drew girl’s blood.
jimbo sent blood for screening tests.
Jimbo talked with them.

Jimbo, and the rest of the team wonder when the girl first fell sick,

Was it in reality an ACUTE HIV SEROCONVERSION ILLNESS??!!!!! (instead of dengue)

Sigh…

Now, Boy waits…

Girl waits….

Jimbo waits….

For the HIV, HBV and HCV screening results…

Fri, 250408 @ 0700

Anti-leech measures

Leeches!

Mention that word and the usual reaction would be one of gross revulsion! We had out fair share of it while climbing Gunung Angsi last week. Two students were bitten by leeches.

I must say in all my years of camping, trekking and mountain climbing, I’ve not, knowingly, been bitten by a leech yet. That may soon change when I climb Gunung Nuang next week! Anyway, in preparation, I googled about ‘how to prevent/avoid leech bites’ and came out with this website:

Anti-leech measures

Apparently they are selling some kind of anti-leech socks which look a bit like glorified gunny sacks.

I think I am going to buy myself a pair of thick soccer socks for the next climb. I hope that would be good enough to repel any blood thirsty leeches!

Thurs, 240408 @ 1600

Nuang Alert

This is a message from the leader of the team, Messner, who will be taking us up Gunung Nuang on the 1st May 2008:

Hi Guys,

The climb is on!

The climbers confirmed so far would be Jimbo & 6 others from IMU, TS ( and maybe some friends of his), PL, BM & myself.

We will depart Seremban at 4.30 am.

Meeting place before departure :-

Kemayan Square at 4.20 am (situated in front of KPJ hospital) at the front 7-11 convenience store .

Please have your breakfast prior to that. You can have your breakfast at the mamak shop Al-WAZER at Kemayan Square which opens 24 hours. Any last minute purchase can be made at the 7-11 store. Any additional cars may be parked there for the whole day. No parking tickets since it is a public holiday.

It takes 1hr 30 mins to get to Nuang from Seremban (non-stop driving).

The actual climb starts latest by 6.00 am.

Things to note and bring:

1. At least 3.5 liters of water. Not advisable to drink from the water along the way unless you have water purifying tablets.

2. Food for lunch & some additional food along the way as this will be a long trek and food to eat to keep warm should there be a lot of rain and delays at river crossing.

3. Energy bars and the like.

4. Rain is expected. So bring your raincoat which is a must.

5. There are a number of river crossing (water level depend on amount of rain). So bring some change of socks, and clothing for change if you get wet during crossing. We have to watch out for hypothermia!

6. Shoes in good condition.Please check to make sure the grip is good and the sole is well glued as wet condition is expected. The last thing we want is losing the sole.

7. Walking stick, helps with the descend.

8. Torch, is a must. Make sure the batteries will last . By the time we come out it may be already dark. It is also for emergency in case of delay due to injuries. Many groups have been stranded up at Nuang and had to be rescued for various reasons.On our last trip to Nuang, we started climbing about 7.37 am and the last climber to come out was 9pm at night. Without a torch the climber would have been in total darkness. The descend was slow due to the rain and conditions became slippery. Bring some spare batteries.

9. Expect leeches!!! The middle camp is named ‘Pacat Camp’. From the base we will proceed to Lolo campsite about 1.5 to 2 hours. Then another 2 hours to Pacat Camp. From Pacat another 2 hours to summit.

10. Bring your handset and charge up the batteries. Will be useful in emergencies, though certain areas have no coverage.

Nuang is known to be not an easy trail for most. So be prepared.

TS will be leading the first group. Those who have very good fitness level can follow his group. If u cannot keep up with the pace, then slow down and wait for the 2nd group. Do not go on your own. There is a probability of getting lost.

PL will lead the 2nd group. Myself and Jimbo will be in this group.

Please let me know if I have missed out anything or if anyone has anything to add.

I have attached directions to get to Nuang.

Cheers,

Messner