hols and attached

i am a total opposite in both places, M'sia and Ireland. i dunno why, is it adaptation or is it just me with multiple personality disorder :p ok i'm exaggerating.

my holidays don't seemed to be very productive (yet). i'm still considering of doing an attachment at HUKM, actually when my mum was sick the other day i got the chance to follow Mira taking history to a patient when her team was on-call that night. i realized that there are MANY differences to be considered between the way i do it there and people do it over here. it's not really HUGE, but it is important to be taking note off. one, the language. i found it funny to be thinking of translating everything i learn to Malay languange, and it fells very awkward, it really does (rasa baku and skema semacam). Mira and Pah was laughing and also PERLI me of saying those words in malay, and when i asked them how they do it, actually THEY TRANSLATE IT LIKE I WAS THINKING THEY WOULD

i learn about the character of pain: Stabbing, Crushing, Heaviness
"Can you please describe about the pain, was it a crushing pain, or a stabbing pain? Or was it more like the heaviness on the chest?"

they use it in Malay:
"Makcik rasa sakit tu macam mana? Macam mencucuk-cucuk ke? Macam kene tikam ke? Ke rasa macam kena letak batu atas dada?" :p

hehe macam main2 je bunyinya.

then one should consider about the common diseases. western people are more familiar with neoplasms (cancer), GIT related disorders are more common- maybe because of their diet, also some diseases that run in certain races etc. and here we are more to tropical diseases, dengue fever, malaria, also epidemics like TB, cholera. like the patient i saw with Mira, he had dengue fever (DF) so there are a list of spesific syptomps that one should ask upon confronting such case, and in my case, i haven't learn tropical diseases yet so i couldn't provide much, and like Mira, she'd learnt that earlier in clinical years as it is a common disease in M'sia. and when we graduate soon, i supposed she must've met with hundreds of DF patients while poor me had nil (maybe one or two).

i have few other more in mind that i thought about, such as the patients information level (how well does a patient know about his illness) and also patients feedback of his disease; i won't elaborate more on that. also the students hands-on (when can i do the venopuncture i'm not too sure myself, while my friends here have done it few times already). there are pros and cons in both situations, in Ireland and in M'sia.

so basically i'm not doing the attachment until i learn something extras from my friends in HUKM as my preparations, or else i won't be getting the benefits of doing the course, or i could be humiliating myself in front of the doctors, other students, or even the patients.

***

i was thinking why i didn't really have the coffee cravings here, instead i crave for teh tarik more.
and why i didn't really have the appetite to eat things i crave for when i was in Dublin.
and also why i rarely have any urge to watch TV lately, like i always used to back then.
i told u i have multiple personality disorder.

kiss the rain

i'm writing with the very last bits of my laptop's battery (so u guess how long would it be) and i'm not planning to switch on the power supply. it's raining heavily outside with thunders, and i consider myself being so bold using the phoneline in such condition. last time i was on net when it was raining outside, i remember putting out the house's power supplies and sending away the PC for repairing for months. but i simply love it when it rains, what more if it was during the day and i would be looking outside at the raindrops from the windows. cut the crap, i'm running out of power now.

meeting Faha tomorrow at KLCC, we have some jobs to be done. good Lord give us the easiness in performing the tasks.

post-EURO 2004

I stayed up late last night to watch the finale of EURO 2004 between Portugal and Greece. What a sad ending, I knew it Greece will win but there was a part of me that was still hoping for Portugal to claim the title. So sad to see those tears of Ronaldo's and Gomez's----> my two favourites of all. Whateveritwas, it has ended and I have a life to be continued on.

Has it ever happened to you that you want to forget about a thing but you keep on pushing yourself to do things that make you remember of it more? Damn it I do. And it's eating me inside now. All my life I am close to always getting what I want, but this one I'm not, so I try to always avoid it. Instead, it just keep coming back to me whenever I least expected it. I have to admit that I plan my life 30 years ahead, and it goes with it, eventhough I try not to put it in. I always have a strong instinct, and my instinct of this is never so much better, but in reality it goes differently. Maybe I am too greedy for Him to grant me something I think I'm destined to. Or maybe it wasn't really meant to be my destiny at all.

Pardon me, I was just playing words. Maybe the football matches poisoned my already-polluted mind

wishlists

i badly need to organize my schedules to maximize my 2 months of holidays. i wanted to put everything on the PDA but it kept running out of batteries as it was constantly being used by others for the games i downloaded there. hmm. Mak is doing fine now, it's just that she kept getting recurrent fever. it's common after a surgery to be getting fever, normal body defense mechanism but they just afraid that the fever could possibly be an outcome of any infection in the body. i pray for everything to be fine, and if it is, she'll possibly be discharged tomorrow. and i can continue doing my REAL things. =p

i wish to go out ..

+ tomorrow: Ola has some treats to be fulfilled for me (muehehe). better be quick as we have to run to HUKM a.s.a.p
+ 10 July: meeting my sohabat9600 mates in KLCC (guys, it's still on, isn't it?)
+ 13 July: this is not a wish, it's the government's call for BTN for UK and Ireland's students. it's gonna be at Meru, Klang. i have to go, even half-heartedly. seb baik MARA bagi refund tiket flight for it..yea..my extra euro..
+ 22 July: the initial plan for Pah, Asie and I to go to Penang for KETAPUs but i have to reconsider the date as..
+ 24 July: sohabat9600's 3rd gathering at _____ (i vote for Janda Baik! boo for PD..haha)

that's about it for the time. i don't have any plan for August yet. i have to put Sabah in the list surely, and any medic camps.

i wish to buy..

+ a new laptop: Pah's considering to buy my iBook, but i'm not too sure bout this. i love this laptop, but i have to get a new PC/Windows laptop for my future ease.
+ a Nokia7200: damn it's such an irresistable temptation. but looking at the price: RM1699 (gulp!). and Pah (again) said she might be interested in my old Nokia6510 for her brother. everyone quoted the same thing " nak buat apa handphone mahal2 ni, awak tu student lagi.." yes i am, but it's a great toy. still they got me, i'm considering it, and considering my money on it.
+ leather cover for my digicam. there's enough scratches on it. no more please.
+ home in Dublin's stuff. this is to save my euro when i go back, also to get some fancy stuff for the new house that's not available there.
+ med books: i have few other more i think, but i'm not too sure to buy it or not. beli aja tak guna membazir jugak.
+ some personal stuff for me before going back, usual stuff, baju kurung, kasut..

before going back, i wish..

+ to spend time with my family wisely
+ to clean and keep the house very well
+ to cook for the house more, nowadays Abah does all the cookings (retired man with a new job, housewife :p)
+ hang out with friends!!

special wish: i wish i can counter my fear of driving a car. i'm still considered lucky now as i have my brother (Adik) who's officially my driver now, and my retired dad who's willing to send me anywhere i want to go. but for my own satisfaction, please God give me the gut to do it. oh, i'm such a pathetic..

fresh from home

Venue: Hospital UKM, Bandar Tun Razak
Date: July 1, 2004
Time: 2059 hours

It’s been a while. And I really longed to write something here. Since the whole house just moved out not months ago, we just got the phone line installed and never the internet. So my job would be to go and reconnect it back, since I am the only one who’s using it. Think of just buying the prepaid card for it or starting with the broadband, but the latter wouldn’t really be an option as I consider it just a waste of money since I’m not using it that much. (I just have the 2 months to do everything, u wouldn’t really expect me to be on the net the whole bunch of them right?)

First thing’s first, THE JOURNEY BACK

Alhamdulillah I safely arrived in KLIA on Monday, June 28, minutes earlier than the expected. The journey back was OK, from Heathrow Airport Yani and I sat separately in MAS airline as we didn’t really realized it earlier to change the seatings before the boarding passes being handed till it was already late. I got the window seat beside this lovely British couple from Portsmouth, Pamela and David (I never got their last name). I sat beside David, a typical British man with long legs that his knees almost touching the front seat. He was making jokes about it saying that he knew that would happened then but the money’s not there for the business class seat J

And to make the condition worse, a chinese lady who was seating in front of him lowered her seat till David could barely move his whole legs. He politely asked the lady to at least raise the seat a bit but that damn ignorance lady just rolled up her eyes and told him (rudely!) that she needed some sleep and she couldn’t really sleep with the seat upright. Bodos tak sekolah. I was damned ashamed at that time being a Malaysian and CULTURE-SHOCKED! Too long I’ve been with the friendly and polite Irish people, my first experience with people of my own country after a while was that. I asked David whether he’d like to exchange his seat with me (for compensation of the shame) but he refused to. Poor man.

The rest of the journey went fine. David and Pam were like grannies, they gave me sweets for swallowing purpose (balancing pressure in both ears, med stuff, duh!) and they kept food and drinks given by the crews for me when I was asleep. I was in good hands basically, except for the fact that I couldn’t go to the toilet for the fact that I might get them both to stand up and make way for me if I do, so I didn’t (smpi sakit perut menahan tau). To cut the story short, yes I arrived and they both had another 7 hours to Adelaide for they’re visiting their son’s family who migrated there.

Now u make your way out fast to your family, Wan! It’s been nice meeting u and I’m sure we’ll meet again soon. I’m the type who remember face u know! –Pam :p

The whole family was there, and I happily hugged them. Arriving home I was treated with my longed-to-eat nasi lemak with sambal udang and sayur kangkung, additional lauk was rendang kerang, telur, ayam goreng and there was also kuih koci pulut hitam. Haha as if they knew that! They’re all look more or less the same the last time I saw them, except for K.Rina’s rounded belly that’s due next month, Angah whom they said ‘competing perut’ with his wife (memangla dasar org baru kawin), Along who lost more kgs and my God my nephew Naqib Ikram who’s a GIANT now (like Giant in Doraemon I tell ya)

On Tuesday I woke up at 3am and couldn’t go to sleep after that. In the morning I rearranged the furniture in house a bit, yeah my new old house (new for us, old building). They were OK but some places needed a bit of ladies touch I think as they were arranged by my retired dad I presumed. In the evening we went to pasar malam and I paid the revenge eating the murtabak, roti john, keropok lekor, air tebu, aiseh byklah (and yes putu bambu, how can I forget)

On Wednesday I woke up late as I spent the early morning watching Gothika over the VCD and I had to watch something else later after that to make me forget of the film (seriously scary) and there were AF2 repeat on TV. I heard it’s started already but I never had the feel to watch it for now. I’m still in the blues I think, so I don’t really bother for any show on TV yet. At half-eleven I took Naqib from his pre-school. I had to wait outside for a while as I arrived a bit early than the time and I could hear the teacher was shouting something for the kids to spell and after that they had to sing ‘burung kakak tua’ and also say some prayers before going back. How cute! Not long after that I saw Naqib out, man he was as big as the others, or even bigger, eventhough he’s a year younger. It runs in the family I supposed. Tall and big. Haha

On the same day Mak was admitted to HUKM (now it is all making sense right) for her kidney stones (med term: ureteric calculi). She was on the list for Left URS on Thursday so she went in one day earlier for the preparations. I also met Pah and Mira who’s place just behind the main hospital building, they came to see me with their white coats on, and I actually spent the night at their place. Haha I knew that would happen, and Mak had to bear with me.

It’s a long entry, I want to write more but I’m afraid I can’t. Cut the story shorter, the whole surgical procedure was safely done on Mak (it wasn’t an invasive procedure), and here she is sleeping soundly beside me. I have to get my sleep too and I can’t produce anymore noise or the nurses would get me for that.