* Tidak apa: A Malay word which denotes an apathetic attitude.
Warning: Jimbo’s about to rant.
Here are some advise to the medical personnel who decided to use the ‘Sharps Bin’ as a normal thrash can and stuffed some disposable mouth pieces for the peak flow meter into it!
Photo taken with Nokia E71.
1. Get a dictionary. The word ‘sharp’ and ‘blunt’ objects have different meaning altogether. The Sharps Bin is meant for sharp items like used needles, scalpel blades, etc. Objects that are not considered ‘sharps’ should be disposed in an ordinary thrash bin.
2. You endanger yourself when you stuff those disposable mouth pieces through the small opening of the Sharps Bin because you might accidentally injure yourself with one of those used needles inside the bin (incidentally, EVERY SINGLE ONE of the needles have been through the skin and veins of a HIV+ patient)
3. You waste tax payers money because with your blunt thrash in the bin, it gets filled up faster and has to be replaced faster.
4. You leave a bigger carbon footprint and contribute to global warming because these bins are destroyed by incineration and because of your actions, more bins will have to be incinerated.
5. By your action, it shows you are apathetic and pathetic.
6. Next time, just get your sorry-educated-behind off the chair and walk across the room to throw these mouth pieces into the correct bin. Or, do like what Jimbo did, when he was a Respiratory Medicine MO; he placed all the bins just next to the consultation table, on the inner side so as not to be an interfere with seeing patients. That way, he could throw all the discards in the appropriate places without getting up.
And please, for goodness sake, get rid of your ‘tidak apa’ attitude!
“Bro, now that they have found a vaccine for HIV, do you think ID physicians (read Jimbo and company) will be out of job soon?”
To which Jimbo replied, in jest:
“Unlikely because people will then be humping like sex starved rabbits (hence the title) which may spread HIV even more; and if not, there is always SYPHILIS!!! “
Jimbo’s sentiments were echoed by 3 people, namely psychia, dranony and Vagus.
We cannot deny the possibility of a ‘rebound’ effect, in which people are lured into a false sense of security and let down their guard, like in the early days of HIV/AIDS where gay men returned to unsafe sex when AZT, the first anti-HIV medicine produced and marketed, was made available. They thought a cure for HIV has been found!
In fact, Jimbo would think that it would be foolhardy to think that such a rebound effect would not occur. Au contraire, it is a very real possibility.
After all, sex, like food, is a human need.
Bear in mind that the vaccine is only effective in reducing HIV transmission by merely 31%.
Still, in a good-news-starved-plus-bad-news-in-abundance world of HIV medicine, even a not-so-effective vaccine is a real cause of celebration and rejoicing. Hopefully, this vaccine may pave the way for better and more effective vaccines to be produced in the near future.
HIV days may be numbered, but like Jimbo said, there is always syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, herpes….
So, this piece of news is pretty credible. I think; since it is carried by Bloomberg, the Time Magazine and CNN.
For the first time, a combination vaccine has been developed which could reduce HIV transmission by about 30%; according to researchers working in Thailand using the HIV strain of virus prevalent there.
Some of us may balk at the dismal efficacy of this new vaccine but imagine if we could cut infection rate by 30%, what a significant impact it would make!
A little more than 3 years ago, a young man in his mid-30s passed away suddenly while at work. The cause of death was a heart attack. He left behind his wife who was carrying their first child. They have been married for less than a year.
His death was just the beginning of a nightmare his widow would have to endure.
Time soon blunted the grief of the widow and she moved on, steeling herself to carry the baby within her till term; unsure of how to go on. She moved back to be with her parents.
The time came for her to get her first antenatal check up and it was a short after that that she was dealt the second blow in her life.
She was told she had tested HIV positive!
She was shocked beyond words. Her husband was the only man she has ever loved and been intimate with.
The ensuing months went by in a blur. She had her blood taken for this or that tests. Eventually, she gave birth to a baby boy by Caesarean Section; but not before she was administered the appropriate cocktail of medicine that would minimize the risk of HIV transmission to her new born child.
The child was placed under the pediatric clinic followup while the mother was referred to the infectious diseases (ID) clinic for followup.
Fast forward 1 year 7 months.
Jimbo saw her in his clinic one day. She had come for her appointment which she had faithfully kept since she was referred to the ID clinic. Jimbo noted that her CD4 count (a marker of a person’s immunity, the higher the better, normal health people would have a count of > 400-500) has been consistently > 800 and she was not on medications.
When she walked in, she was a picture of despair and sadness.
Jimbo: How are you feeling?
Patient: Same, nothing new. Same..
Jimbo: How is your child?
Patient: (a spark of light in her eyes) He is ok. The doctor just told me that he no need to follow up anymore. He is clear from HIV.
Jimbo: That is good news indeed! I am happy for you.
Patient: Yes, thank God for that. I am relieved.
And then the spark in her eyes dimmed again.
Patient: How are my blood tests results?
Jimbo: They are ok. Your immunity is still very good.
Patient: But it won’t be long right, doctor?
Jimbo: Huh? What do you mean?
Patient: I have another 8 years to live I think. (tears began to well up in her eyes). Eight years, doctor, my son will not even be 10. Who will take care of him after that? (tears began to run down her cheeks)
Jimbo: Huh? Who said you have 8 years to live?
Patient: Another doctor. Last time when I came for check up; after I was found to be positive. He told me I have only 9 years to live. Now one year has passed.
Jimbo: (stunned!) Nonsense! The doctor has misinformed you. I am sorry for that. Let me tell you that you have a long long time to live. And when it is time for you to start medications, with proper care, you will live as long as anyone else.
The spark came back. The rivulets of tears began to dry up. A smile began to spread over her face.
Patient: Really? Is it true? You are not lying to me right?
Jimbo: Yes, it is true. I am not lying. You are ok. Don’t think too much about this thing. Take care of yourself and your child.
Patient: Thank you doctor. It’s the best news I have heard in 2 years! You have given me hope! Thank you, thank you!
“Life is short – Enjoy it”, we have heard this cliche often.
For some, life is short, and they endure it, out of pain, hopelessness or just merely holding on for the welfare of another. But for this lady her life was unfortunately made a lot shorter by a misinformed doctor!
Knowledge is power but incorrect knowledge passed on brings despair and hopelessness. Correct knowledge passed on brings hope and life. Lets do more of the latter and less of the former.
Jimbo received an email from the Facebook Team informing him that his hacked FB account has been restored to him (along with a litany of parental advise on how to keep the FB account more secure).
Jimbo has decided to revert back to using his old account and has deactivated the new account (but kept in reserve, in case some good-for-nothing-stinking-lump-of-protoplasmic-low-life hack his FB account again). Sorry guys for the trouble.
Ah…harmony is restored and there is peace on earth.
To Audrina and the Facebook Team, thank you so much!
The other day, Jimbo went to the Seremban market in town for the famous beef noodle. The food finally came after a long wait (it was after all, the Raya break).
While gulping down the delicious noodle, Jimbo’s happened to catch a sight that made him lose his appetite almost instantaneously!
He saw this:
Granted, the guy has a muscle-bound bod and wears a black figure hugging muscle-T but the bunch of axillary hair peeping out from the sleeve was a bit appetite killing.
After 5 days of silence from the FB people and Jimbo has decided to open a new FB account instead of hoping to get back his old one.
So, here’s a request, those of his friends/stalkers/haters/mortal enemies/students/fellow climbers/”to all the girls I’ve loved before” (kidding about the last category), please add Jimbo on FB.
It’s been 72 hours since Jimbo’s FB account was hacked!
Jimbo feels like he was made to quit Facebook cold turkey style. He exhibited all the typical signs of addiction withdrawal: Annoyance, irritability, tremors, poor concentration, excessive salivation, a maddening incessant need to check his FB account, secretly hoping that it has been returned to him by the stupid hacker; profuse sweating, palpitations, insomnia, loss of weight and appetite, low libido (whoa! too much info…)
Jimbo cursed (he just finished reading the final book of the Harry Porter series and he has learned quite a number of curses). He cursed the hacker with the choicest curse, an ominous concoction of curses taken from the book of Exodus in the Bible.
Expect to see a toad-like ex-FB hacker with skin filled with boils, hemorrhaging ulcers, shitting fire and brim stones in London.
Anyway, Jimbo tried to get back his account by lodging a report with the FB people. The FB people were quick to respond, at least initially anyway. They replied with this:
“In order for us to confirm that it was truly your account which was hacked, we would like to ask you a security question:
What time were you born?”
Jimbo was like, “Huh?, What time was he born?”.
What kind of a security question is that?
Jimbo fired back and email: “I was born at xxxx hours” (almost adding: just as Jupiter crossed the path of Saturn and Uranus was in tangential to Pluto; but decided against being sarcastic)
Since then, it’s been silence.
Not a word from the FB people.
Hope is fading rapidly that he will ever get back his old FB account, the account with lots of photos, almost 400 contacts (friends), important emails, etc etc.
It’s been 72 hours and in that time, Jimbo could not:
1. Tell the world that he was sick on his birthday
2. That he woke up with a swollen left tonsil, high fever and a swollen tender lymph node
3. That he did not feel much like celebrating
4. That he hated the weather
5. That he hated the fact that the swimming pool would be closed till the next millenium (it felt that way, anyway)
6. That he hoped he could get well soon enough to join the Gunung Datuk climb (this morning) with his students.
7. That he changed his antibiotics from Augmentin to Cefuroxime because the former didn’t seem to be working.
8. That he gargled enough salt water to turn himself into sea food in brine.
9. That he received a brand new extremely nice supercool piece of swimming goggles from his wifey! (THANKS!!!)
10. That he also received one of those sunglasses that encases the spectacles, and makes Jimbo looks like a male version of Paris Hilton (THAT’S HOT! THAT’S HOT!)
11. That his kids made him real cutesy birthday cards
12. That he didn’t have appetite for the birthday dinner
13. That he did not get well the next day
14. That he still hated the weather
15. That on the 3rd day, he was feeling better but was banned from climbing the mountain by wifey
16. That he ended up merely pointing the direction to the base of the mountain and watching almost 40 people ascend the mountain, WITHOUT HIM!
17. That he did not have the thrill of reaching the peak once again or helping others reach it
18. That he still hated the weather (why is it raining EVERYDAY?!!!!)
19. That he was afebrile the entire 3rd day and the throat is not so sore anymore
20. Oh ya, and that he could not wish all his Malay/Muslim friends Eid-Mubarak on FB!
BUT
When Jimbo thought about it, does anyone even have to know all these stuff about Jimbo? He’s not even a celebrity (even if he owns a Paris Hilton-oid pair of sunglasses!). In fact, some people might even consider his rapid fire FB updates as spam!
Which got him thinking, “Does Jimbo really need a FB account?”
In the 72 hours of forced FB-abstinence, Jimbo found he had more time to read, did not have to look for FB updates all the time and he did not need to charge his hand phone so frequently, etc etc.
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