Strong Love

Here’s a sms conversation I had with a leader of a support group for people living with HIV recently:

Him:Client did CD4, VL & other FBC, LFT, cholesterol, etc tests. Pls check his results. Anything 2 b concerned about? TQ (client’s details follow)

Me: Are you authorized by client to know his results?

Him: Yes, he gave me his RN and IC number to check for him. He said Dr said d CD4 went up. Now he’s thinking he heard wrongly as it increased by a lot. He wants 2 know. TQ.

Me: (after checking). His CD4 has gone up from 300+ (38%) to 600+ (38%) in 6 months. His cholesterol is slightly high, pls encourage exercise and dieting.

Him: Thanks. Told him that probably bcoz he’s so in love. Finally met a non-Pos who accepts and loves him 4 who he is. D guy was devastated when he found out but d rest of d support group came together 2 counsel and educate him. I think he was afraid 2 fall in love bcoz he felt like damaged goods, not d 1st choice.

Me: Ah good. Perhaps we should encourage our clients to fall in love!

Him: Now if we could only bottle it – many may now need to start meds. Let’s do some research ok? On love and not sex huh? Sometimes confused with one another.

It’s very gratifying to hear of a HIV+ patient’s immunity rise simply because he feels good (being in love and accepted) while NOT on medication. Like my friend said, if only we could bottle love! I would prescribe it for every single patient I see, regardless whether they are HIV + or not.

As for doing research on effects of love, I think that would be quite difficult. Starting a match-making agency might be easier.

Wed, 310310 @ 0756

Color Blind

Ryan, my 7-year-old son did badly in the recent exam, particular in subjects using the Malay language. It’s not because he doesn’t know about the subject matter, it was because he could not understand the language.

Take this page for instance:

He got almost all of them wrong.

But, frankly, if I were his teacher, I would give him full marks for being ‘color blind’.

Tues, 300310 @ 0700

Case #98: The woman with the breast lump

This 57-year-old woman presented with a right breast lump.

Below are her mammograms:

Question:

1. Based on the mammograms, which part of the right breast is involved?

2. Describe the findings.

3. What is the final diagnosis?

Mon, 290310 @ 0700

I’m Positive

Just a bit of advertisement here on behalf of my friends and patients. If you are in Kuala Lumpur this weekend, consider going for the play entitled “I’m Positive”, in which a group of performers, whether HIV+ or otherwise, will share their story on stage.

Here is the poster below (click to enlarge):

LIFE SDN BHD is back again! Headlined I’m Positive, this year’s LIFE will shed light on another important issue…

Nine individuals will be stepping on stage for the very first time. They come from all walks of life but they share two things in common – they have been affected by HIV and AIDS and they want to share their stories. Some have been tested positive while others have partners, family or friends who have tested positive. Some are married with children while others are still in search of that special someone.

Their stories on love, life and most important of all, on living, are honest and heart-warming…

I’m Positive will also feature Ariff Akhir’s brand-new Take Me Home and Ian Chow’s moving What If. The multi-talented Peter Ong will be doing a rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours and last but not least, R&B artist Dayang Nurfaizah will also be making an appearance on 24 & 26 March.

These people all have something very special to share. All you have to do is to show up and listen. It will be well worth your time we guarantee you!

BOX OFFICE

call or walk in | klpac box office @ Sentul Park (03 4047 9000)

call or walk in | The Actors Studio @ Lot 10 (03 2142 2009 / 2143 2009)

walk in only| Axcess @ main office (Jln. Semangat), 1-Utama & Alamanda Putrajaya

How to make your own lazy chair

Forget IKEA, Lorenzo or any high-end furniture shop.

Ryan has a novel way of making your own incredibly comfortable lazy chair. All you need are:

1. Two large pillows
2. One pouf
3. Two small circular pillows

And viola!!! You have a lazy chair*!!!

*terms and conditions apply: maximum weight < 15 kg.

Fri, 260310 @ 0700

Jimbo made headlines

Just wanna share with you about the talk on HIV that Jimbo presented at the 5th Primary Care Symposium of the Malaysian Medical Association Wilayah Branch in January has been featured in the Feb 15 Issue of the Medical Tribune.

You can download the document here: Medical Tribune

Thurs, 250310 @ 1205

Blardy Parker

This morning I was having my breakfast at a restaurant which I frequently go to when the driver of a black car pulled over by the road side and promptly parked his vehicle there…right beside a NO PARKING SIGN!

The passengers (an elderly couple) alighted from the car and after a few minutes, the driver did the same. He looked momentarily at me because I was staring at him, his offending car and the very obvious NO PARKING sign.

He gave me the look that said, “Yeah, I parked where I am not supposed to, so what?!!”

Blardy parkers like this one makes my blood boil. Either he was illiterate (but then again, how did he passed his driver’s license test?) or he was just being another Ugly Malaysian.

I know, I know, some of you will say, “what’s the big deal?” and “in the grand scheme of things, we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff”.

All true, I concede.

But wouldn’t it be a better world, if our very next action or words can be preceded by a small pause and you think, “Is what I am about to do or say going to hurt or inconvenience some one else?”

The New Straits Times has this tag line: You are what you read.

I got a new one: How you drive/park reflects who you are.

And this one is plain ugly.

Wed, 240310 @ 2151

Bullies and thieves

It’s only the 3rd month since my son, Ryan, started school and the kind of horror stories I heard from my son, his classmates and other parents makes one wonder what has happened to the education system!

Consider these:

1. Ryan had his pencil case stolen – TWICE! The first time, he knew who was the thief, a Malay boy sitting in front of him but he could not get it back from him because Ryan could not speak Malay at all (this happened on the 2nd week of school). Consequently he broke into tears and the Malay girl sitting next to him helped Ryan retrieved the pencil case from the little Ali Baba.Thereafter it went missing again and was never seen again. Same thing happened to the 2nd pencil case. We have decided to just let him have a plastic bag with zip-lock as a pencil case.

2. A classmate of Ryan had his water bottle flung on top of the school building! It happened to Ryan too but thankfully the class teacher managed to retrieve the bottle. Not so lucky for the other student. Ryan’s first water bottle didn’t last long. It broke and he could not tell us who did it or how it broke.

3. Stationery goes missing all the time from his bag and Ryan does not know who took them. So far we have bought him 3 rulers, uncountable erasers, many pencils and 3 pairs of scissors.

4. An Indian boy had to pay 50 sen per day to the Malay boy sitting next to him as payment for his ‘friendship’!!! The mother got suspicious when her son kept asking for money and finally got the story out of the kid. When reported to the class teacher, she allegedly just shrugged and said, “they are just kids”. (IMHO, they are prepubertal Mafias!)

5. Once Ryan came back wearing a multicolored white because some one in his class thought it was fun to paint other people’s shirts instead of the paper during art class. Another time he came back with ink stains on his shirt (which could not be washed off) because some one in his class thought it was nice to fling a leaky ball pen all over the place.

6. Another boy had his white shirt stomped on repeatedly. Ryan once came back with a shoe mark on the back of his shirt. He could not tell who left the offending print on him!

7. The school bag (containing books and pencil case and water bottle) of another boy was repeatedly stomped on by others in the class until the stuff inside it broke.

So, do you think this is a school or Gitmo Bay?

Unwanted blast from the past

Having people upload ancient photos of you and then tag you on Facebook is quite humiliating. I mean, there are things in the past that we do not want to revisit. Heh heh.

Now, add to that, is my very own ‘past reminder’ in the form of a 7-year-old kid (Ryan, my son) who, having nothing better to do, dug up some old photo albums and stumbled upon this: (!!!)

A photo of yours truly taken 28 years ago at Sentosa Island, Singapore.

And to rub salt into the wound, he added the following comments:
1. You were so skinny when you were young, daddy…
2. Those glasses are really ugly…they are so big…and ugly…really really ugly…
3. The glasses made your face ugly….

Sigh…

Only strong love and paternal instinct prevented me from snuffing the light out of him.

Fri, 190310 @ 1115

Ladybird playground

Ryan discovered, much to his delight, that the chili plants we planted in the garden has become the playground of at least 5-6 ladybirds! He spent the better part of the afternoon trying to capture them on camera! Here are some of his handiwork (taken with Canon IXUS 40 Macro Mode):

Trust my son to spot a pair of copulating bugs!

And here are some that I took (with Canon IXUS 80 IS Macro Mode):

Like father like son ya.

I think my son is the better photographer.