MSMD

Monkey see, Monkey do, Monkey never learn.

That's the mantra I've been hearing from one of the Ortho specialist for the past two weeks.
- Yes, that's harsh.
- Yes, it was hard.
- Yes, I have to wake up early in the morning just to be in the pass over room by 7.30am every single day.
- Yes, I have to stand on my feet the whole morning everyday (and afternoon occasionally).
- Yes, I do feel stupid when I don't remember certain parts of human anatomy.
- Yes, Taiping is boring and Tesco (or rather, the food court) was my ONLY source of food. Yang lain ada tikus. Atau kucing.
But...
- I have learn A LOT for the past two weeks.
- There was never a dull moment. Seriously. I have clowns as groupmates.
- For once, none of the doctors are scary and they are actually very nice and friendly.
- I got to scrub in for a major OT.
And..
- I actually exercised. The two orthopaedics surgeon actually made convinced me to climb up Maxwell Hill. Twice. Huhu. Not all the way to the top of the hill, tho'..just up til check-point number 17 but still, it was not too shabby for someone who hasn't been exercising for the past two years, ey?
Sigh..
I miss Orthopaedics Department Taiping Hospital already.
So, Ortho Ipoh Hosp, what do you have in store for me next week?

Berserabut

Serabutnya otak ku ini.
Banyak nya benda kene fikir.

1. Need to decide which hospital I should apply for housemanship since all the hospitals in KL and Selangor are full.
2. Orthopaedics is torturing me.
3. I just realized that I don't have the official Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia SPM certificate with me. And I don't even know if I've misplaced it or that I haven't even claimed it from school.
I need it by MONDAY.
Today's WEDNESDAY.
I won't be back in PJ til FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
4. Growth study project, and case write ups belum buat.
5. Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam's application is yet to be filled.
6. FINAL EXAM.

Serabutnya.

Taiping here I come (again)!

Life's been pretty mundane lately..it's all about classes, clinics, wards everyday.
Bleah~
I'm done with my paediatrics posting..yay for that but nay for the fact that I'm left with one more posting before finals. *palpitations*
End of posting exam was...hmmm...pretty tough I guess. I think I've bungkus-ed that paper (failed la tu). Short case exam was better. Dr. Tharam and Dr. Suhaimi (UKM) were the examiners and they asked me to assess the baby's developmental milestones. The baby is actually a preterm whereby she was born at 6 months. Honestly, I didn't even see that one coming! Normally they will give cases like pneumonia, nephrotic, cardiac cases, malnutrition, etc..but it was ok, Alhamdulillah.
My next and final posting is Orthopaedics. Posting tulang tulang dan otot otot. Huhu...I'll be in Taiping for the next two weeks, starting Monday. The last time I was there was for Obs &Gyn posting in phase 3A about a year ago. Didi said that Taiping has now "grown" and modernization has arrived there. There's Tesco, a mall and even a cinema! Wow.....=p

Where did the fireworks go?

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

Hope this new year will bring all of us many many MANY more joy and happiness...The bar set by 2008 is not that high anyway, thus 2009 will definitely be a better year =) Amin....
I've read so many other bloggers stating and 'announcing' their resolutions, so why not just jump in the wagon, ey? Let's see...
- I would like to go to Europe again and this time, I shall go berjalan2 to London, Amsterdam, and Germany as well..but first I HAVE to pass my finals. Amin..........
- I wanna go visit my little sister in America.
- I want to graduate.
- I want to work in KL after I graduate.
.
.
.
.
.
Hmmm..tu aje lah for now, I guess..Mine looks more of a wish list rather than resolutions, no? =)
Whatever lah.
Surprise me, 2009! (Good surprises only please..)

The Conversation

Situation:
You were out with two of your friends for dinner and while waiting in the the line to be seated, the person in front of you was someone you know through another friend (or from your secondary school). She was just an acquaintance and you guys were never really that close. You were not sure at first as she has changed quite a bit but after a while you figured that it was really her and was quite sure that she saw the three of you standing behind her. She did not make any eye contact/body language/gestures to give you a sign that she knows and remembers you and neither she nor the three of you made the effort to say hi to each other.

Sounds all too familiar? I am sure all of us had faced the same situation or something similar and just because you were not that close or you've only met the person once or twice and haven't seen each other for years, you pretended that you don't know that person or just simply didn't see that him/her.
Most of the time the conversation would be like this:

You: Hie
That Other Person (TOP): Hie! How are you? You buat ape sekarang?
You: Still studying
TOP: Study ape?
You: (insert here)..you dah kerja or still studying?
TOP: Owh..i dah kerja/still studying.
You: Owh...ok..
TOP: Well, I have to go, keep in touch k?
You: Yeah me too. Yes, we have to keep in touch.
**and you have to plaster a big smile on your face throughout this conversation.

Oh, the familiar scene isn't it?
However, the irony is, how ever much we hate those conversation, after those few dreaded lines, it is nice to know that they actually still remember you even though both of you have only said a few lines to each other and that was 5 years ago!
Well, yes, it is not wrong to just say HI and it is polite to say HI to the person you know. But what I'm trying to stress on here is, when I see someone whom I haven't seen for ages, it is nice to have a conversation with a little bit of substance in it and not just something that is forced.

But still, even if you don't have anything to say to me, whenever you see me next, just say hi. Or at least, smile. And I promise, I will smile back. =)

Warholed Me

Ok....
That actually sounded obscene isnt it? I didn't mean it to be that way tho'. At least not on purpose. Haha.
I've always loved this multi-coloured Marilyn Monroe art by Andy Warhol. Been trying to get my hands on those canvas poster of the art to hang in my room(something like the picture below) but to no avail. Anyone know where I can find those that won't cost me a bomb?
Owh well, since I can't find those, prolly I should just blow up this picture of myself and hang it on the wall instead. Haha.
**Adan made it for me as he knows how much I wanted to have Warhol's Marilyn posters. Sweet kann!! =)

Bitter Spinster

I am currently in my 3rd week of paediatric posting. I've never liked paeds before and I still don't like it now. It's not that I don't like kids..I do..that maternal side of me is still intact, I believe (well, with me wanting quite a number of kids once I get married, proves that I do loves kids, no?). It is just that pediatric is so different from the typical adult medicine. With kids, all they do is cry. Or vomit. Or cry. Or, they turn blue. That as a presenting symptom makes your life harder. And if it's not vague enough, there's the whole management for them. Mind you, in paediatrics, the management is quite different and it's more ma fan. Tedious. Different measurements, different doses, all different lah. And to top it off, there are a few "categories" of children - neonate, infant, toddler, preschool, adolescent. They all have different numbers and range values that we, the medical students, are required to memorize. Sigh. As if we don't have enough things to memorize.
Ok. Enough whining.
I've attended a few weddings this month, and the most recent one was today, my classmates' wedding in Slim River. The aposthrope came after the 's' because I know both bride and groom. Both of them are in the same batch as I am. It is actually not uncommon for medical students to marry their own batchmates. One of the doctors even said that it's either the girls have to have boyfriends now, and get married right before/soon after they graduate or they'll become a spinster all their lives. And the boys have to help the girls with this as well (I am not sure if she was joking about this or not). It is because of the work demand as a doctor later that'll prevent us from meeting people and have an actual social life. In a way, it is kind of true...there are a few female doctors who became head of departments and even hospital directors are not married. And oh boy, are they bitter. They are bitter about life, and somewhat became socially retarded. Sigh. Hope I won't end up like that. I don't want to be a bitter spinster doctor.

*this is my personal opinion and I'm not going to stereotype or generalize this to every single unmarried female doctor.

Owh, btw, what do u think of my new layout? You loike?? =) I have no freaking idea where to get a nice-r layout (and no time too!) so I settle with the one blogger is providing. Easy, breezy, beautiful...hehe..


...And there's a poll at the sidebar. If you're free, just answer those three questions. I'm not the one asking. Nuffnang is. =)

M to the E to the L I double S A

HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY,
MELISSA ESME ANUWAR!!!!!
Love u bebeh! Will see you this weekend!! =))

Depressed, my dear colleague?

I found this article in The Star Online.

Monday December 1, 2008

Many medical students suffer from depression

By M. KRISHNAMOORTHY

KUALA LUMPUR: Many Malaysian medical students overseas who take examinations in a foreign language suffer from depression when they return.

Physicians for Peace and Social Responsibility (PPSR) vice-president Datuk Dr Abdul Hamid Abdul Kadir said that large numbers of young Malaysians were being trained in foreign medical schools in Indonesia, Russia, India, Poland, Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

At a forum on Saturday organised by the PPSR, it was highlighted that at least five such houseman are found to suffer from mental illnesses every month.

“These countries have varied systems of medical training and different types of patient care, based on the emphasis of the country. As a result, many of the students who go there undergo a culture shock,” said Dr Abdul Ha­­mid.

“Coming from different universities, backgrounds and experiences, they have difficulty relating and working, especially the weaker students,” he said, adding that there had been a sudden sprouting of many public and private medical schools.

While the schools have increased, however, the number of teaching hospitals have not.

Dr Abdul Hamid said that although there was an increasing demand for doctors, the standards and quality of patient care should not be compromised.

“These are the major concerns which the country’s healthcare and medical educational planners have to constantly bear in mind so that the value systems governing the training of our doctors are never lost sight of in the short term and the long term.”

Sigh, even though I'm training locally and I'm not one of the students studying in the mentioned countries above, mental illness is not something that is uncommon among medical students here in Malaysia too. But here, the precipitating factors are not as mentioned above. Our major precipitating factor that can actually lead some to the wackadoodledoo world is the amount of stress for examinations. Seriously. Tak caya tanye semua medical students kat Malaysia.

Tu la...buat lagi soalan susah susah... =p

This friend of mine.

Tengku Mardiah binti Tengku Marzuki.
She was one of my closest friends when I was 10. Biasalah...budak budak mesti la ade 100 bestfriends kan..hari hari pun tukar bestfriend...hehe..we have tons and tons of fond memories back in our school days in SKKT. We used to hang during recess everyday until one fine afternoon, she told all of us that she'll be transferring to another school. Sri Bestari. We swore to each other that we'll stay friends forever, signed each others' autograph book (haha..remember THOSE? kodi kottttt...), promise that we won't drift apart and keep in touch.

Us, before puberty. Hahaha..
L-R: Sakinah (cute gila pls!), Mardiah, Lynda, and I (don't laugh..tau la bughok gile..)

Little did we know, life was about to take place.

Through out those secondary school years, I admit that never once did we contacted each other, and never once I bumped into her anywhere. Until one day, she came to my school's prom night. That was the night that reunited both of us. We chatted for a while and since I was one of the organizing comittee, I was quite busy running here and there that night, I didn't have the chance to sit and have a real catching up session with her.

We did not see each other again after our those polite hellos and this single photo of us were snapped.

Us, after puberty, before makeup and fashion sense.
L-R: Didi Harun, Nadiah Alwi, Eunice, Me, Mardiah

Until, again, we were reunited. This time it was in ASASI. We may not be as close as we were in primary school, but it was enough for me to know that we have a history and we've had our fair share of joy, laughter, and tears together when we were kids. Mesti lah ada soft spot for childhood friend, kan?
Mardiah is the epitome of a lady. Beautiful, intelligent, sopan (bak kata Zaza, tak macam kita yg tak senonoh ni! haha), soft spoken, and sadly for every single single guy in this world, just recently unavailable.
It was her wedding last Saturday night. And just like her, the wedding was beautiful. I only managed to congratulate her and did not get to say a proper wish to her as the que was really really really long.
So, Mardiah, if you're reading this, I wish you a wonderful and amazing life ahead, together with your dearest other half. May Allah bless both of you and your family. Bring more cute babies into this world, k? Hehe..Take care, dear. =)

See? Told you she's beautiful.