Malaysian Medical Blog Aggregator v 1.1 (Doctors)
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| Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:07:00 +0000 Just got back from Penang |
| Just got back from Penang ... took a slow drive today after a dim sum breakfast with my buddy. Came home .. did all the laundry .... got the things ready for work tomorrow ... play the piano for a short while and it is time to hit the sack. Will post more pictures later. I always love the hawker food in Penang .. definitely a place I dont mind settling in later ... but just cant really stand the drivers though... ok good night .. over and out. |
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| Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:09:05 PDT Seoul International Marathon 2009 |
The Koreans called it DongA Marathon. Dong means North and A means Asia. So,it's a North Asia Marathon to be exact. If u read my previous posting on my escapade, you may notice most of its subway stations or rather its suburbs have either Dong or Nam(also means South). Interesting but true, the Korean language was actually derived from the Chinese during the Taejeon dynasty,hence most Koreans can actually understand hanga(another form of chinese character to them;most Koreans use hangul nonetheless)-unfortunately not the chinese language,just its characters.
Anyway, extracting from the travelling aspect of Seoul before the marathon,i'd really enjoyed my stay to the fullest. I'd a great time socializing with the Seoulites, interacting with its cultures and beautiful sights and not forgetting getting my teeth sunk into its spicy kimchi and bulgogi. What do i need next? Nothing.I don't even want to start the marathon the next day. How i wish i can continue my exciting journey to this country;visit Busan-one of the busiest ports in Asia after S'pore and Yokohama.
Let me tell you why i wanted a DNS in the marathon so badly....................
1. I'm just too exhausted of walking the entire Saturday. I normally have my ritual mandatory rest after 6pm before a marathon the next day. But here, i only went back to my room after 10pm!....and i have not even prep for my first winter marathon wear!
2.I still wanted to explore this country on a more wider basis. If i do run the marathon, i would be too tired to walk for another 24hrs,meaning a huge loss in time and economically not so beneficial,after all i spent a lot to come here...
3.The weather on Sat registered a max temp of 4deg and a min of -4deg. And the weather bureau says race day temp will start from 0 deg to a max of 7 in the afternoon. The wind chill is -3deg! I don't want to get sick!!!! my lips were already cracking pre race and i just thawed my fingers at the fire place before i left the hotel in the morning,hence it's suicidal to get expose to the chill on race day. I don't have the luxury of getting education abroad, hence getting out of M'sia is something very big for me esp out from the tropical climatic zone.
Well....in spite of everything just wrote above,i chickened out in the last minute and decided to jump the gun and gave myself approval to participate after all. As a matter a fact, i came here in the first place was because of the marathon and not because of the holiday perspective despite the fact that i preferred the latter more haha...
Leaving Seoul without a medal and finisher T is not an option!
 So, i prepared for the worse. Decided to wear 2 layers for the first time in all marathons i'd participated. I had my tri top as the outer layer. Beneath was a thin jumper. I had woollen socks(who cares about chafing or blisters anymore),put on my ear muff and my gloves-i just don't want to get hypothermia! And long SKINS,thanks Gane for getting it for me all the way from OZ.
So, on a very very cold Sunday morning,i went down to the reception of the guesthouse,get my coat and prepare to leave to the race site via subway when i got a tap on my shoulder. I saw Mrs Park(the elderly frail looking wife of the owner,Mr Park). She speaks excellent English and asked me am i going for the marathon. I found this weird as she was also wearing running attire. She is taking part as well!!! Gosh.....and she told me she is aiming for 3.20! WTF! She has a 3.30 PB. This is the Parks.
 Mrs Park offered to go to the race site with me which i didn't hesitate of course. On the way, this is what she told me.............................
1. South Korea is a marathon-crazy country. All these while, i only knew baseball and taekwondo were their passions.
2. Every Korean male between the age of 18-25 have to serve the army. It's mandatory for them to complete a marathon in order to pass the military test. Wow!
3. Most Korean housewives can do a marathon below 4hrs! Double Wow!
4. South Korean TV channel, the KBS will telecast the marathon on race day and expect full turnout of people lining up the streets the entire 42.195km!
5. There is a parade of nations for foreigners. The national flag will be distributed at one point and the foreigner has to carry the flag signifying the country one originates. I was stunned!
Mrs Park is one helluva chatty woman and she kept reminding me to have fun. She said Koreans like to run and running a marathon is like a national duty! As we chat, we finally arrived at Gwanghwamun station,the race site station. As i rushed out from the station, a strong gush of wind blew and immediately rushed back into the station. haha.......it was unbelievably cold. The sea of people wearing double and triple layers show that the Seoulite are not vulnerable to the chill. The atmosphere that morning was electrifying. There were hip hop dancers, violists playing assortment of hyper adrenaline tunes etc. There were also many booth selling sports items like sunscreen and sports apparels. I headed towards the tent where many runners were inside sheltering themselves from the cold outside. Felt so much better inside but i refused to come out!
We were scheduled to start at 8am sharp. By 7.50am, i was still inside the tent. It was warm and cozy. I finally braved myself and ran towards the starting line(to keep myself warm). There were many pushing and jostling around as everyone was trying to keep warm. Mrs Park was nowhere to bee seen by then. Perhaps she would have lined inside the 3.15 pacer. I parked myself behind the 4hr pacer. Announcement were only made in Korean and Japanese. No English. They called this an international event but i only saw a handful of angmohs. Most are either Koreans or Japs.
Race moments The starting line was in Sejong Arts Museum.  I ran hard the first 7km. Very hard. I'd to do that to fight the cold. I reckoned my double layers were not sufficient to keep me warm even after clocking sub4.5min/km for the first 7k-And this is a marathon;not any other 10k or 21k run! Naturally,i won't be able to last that pace for long. True enough, my legs began to wobble after the 15km mark! That's real early. By then, the temp has dropped further to slightly below zero. My numbed toes made it worst to the extent i had to take off my shoes and thawed my legs at a fire pot located at the road side. There were many runners taking a break there as i noticed some were warming their fingers at the pot. As runners reached Cheonggyejeong/Namdaemun intersection, my legs had failed me. Funny thing is, there wasn't any fatigue in me but my both quads were just screaming for a halt. Many ran passed me at this point. What surprised me was most of these who passed me were women runners. And these were old looking petite Korean ladies.
At the halfway mark, my times had slowed considerably. Clocking 2hr for the 21km will not yield me a sub 4. Hence, Plan B came alive. Savor the Korean hospitality!
The 3rd section of the 10km(heading towards 30km mark) brought us to the National Park. We crossed the Yellow Sea( separates the Korean peninsula and mainland China) and runners were treated to magnificent sights of the late winter conifers to early spring blossoms. It was an awesome sight-the only regret was i didn't have a camera on me.
The crowd were cheering loudly in almost every corners, intersections and long winding roads. At one point, i asked them permission to lay my hands on the drums. I chatted with some of the volunteers, mischievously posed for them and merrily danced according to their national tunes. Then, almost 1km after the 30km mark, there were a table laying all the national flags of the participating countries. Foreigners were required to carry their respective nation's flag and wave it to the crowds or carry them along. I chose to carry 2 flags;Korea and the Jalur Gemilang....but i dropped the JG(accidental ok) and lazy to pick it up. My pace also began to pick up as well. I started to run efficiently and seriously too. We passed Lotte Everland(Korean Disneyland) amidst the screams of children rolling down the monstrous roller coaster and greeted by one of a kind hanbok-clad minnimouse! I paused running for a moment gawking at the gigantic castle. I have never been to Disneyland, guessed this is the closest i could get :-)
With remaining 4km to go, we made our way to the business district, Jamsil-the Wall Street of Korea. The Olympic park which also housed the National Baseball Stadium were only 2km away from the finish line. At this point, my breathing was fantastic, i was perspiring a little, the weather gets slightly warmer albeit still in single digits centigrade but my mood was elevating to the max. The crowd swelled into thousands as we approached the stadium entrance. I took my last dash as i finally entered the Stadium with a glance of myself running tirelessly shown at a gigantic screen to the boisterous crowds and full blast music.
The moment of truth- I completed Seoul Marathon in 4hr 12min. Mrs Park did 3hr 34. Amazing lady she is! I love every moment of my 42.195km journey here. I may not be Kwon Cho-yoon,an autistic kid who did a 2hr 57min in the Chunchon Marathon(see below) but i'm truly glad i came here and enjoyed the Korean experience. To finish the marathon is secondary to me but learning and educating myself on the Koreans' fighting spirit, nationalism and never-give-up attitude was the best gift ever.
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| Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:36:57 PDT HELPING AND NOT HELPING WITH MORE DATA -DES /BMS |
| Very often, clinical studies are done so that we can have more data to help medical practice. Lately, we have had some clinical trials where more data seemed to have confused us. I remember September 2006 when the Berne and Rotterdam researchers gave us data that seemed to show that DES are bad. That shook the lay media and clinical interventionist worldwide, alleging that DES was a death trap. |
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| Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:46:59 +0000 Going home |
Thank you to those who are still visitng this blog occasionally even though it has been left in desolate for weeks. Thank you for the Chinese New year wishes and hey, 2 months have since passed and this is hardly the time to say: ‘Happy Chinese New Year to you too’.
That is how busy life [...] |
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| Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:00:09 +0000 Learning German 3 |
Austrians generally have a good sense of humour, as evidenced by the fridge magnets they produce:
And open minded too, as evidenced by the full frontal shot of a naked lady in their newspaper’s front page:
And sometimes, a bit bizarre, like this pig in front of a store:
Or urinals designed to collect renal stones:
They even prepare [...] Austrians generally have a good sense of humour, as evidenced by the fridge magnets they produce:
And open minded too, as evidenced by the full frontal shot of a naked lady in their newspaper’s front page:
And sometimes, a bit bizarre, like this pig in front of a store:
Or urinals designed to collect renal stones:
They even prepare places to rest or dispose of your (dead) animals:
Meaning: Rest your drunk mule here.
Meaning: Place your (dead) donkey here.
German is fun! 
Related links:
Learning German
Learning German 2
Tues, 070409 @ 0700
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| Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:13:21 +0000 Of Fishy Turn-offs And Decaffeinated Ecstasy |
| If this is getting repetitive, it’s because food is central to my existence, now more than ever.
My appetite has never been healthier, now that I’m happily in my second trimester. The cravings are surprisingly manageable (bet hubby’s really relieved) - apart from hunting for char siew pao in town one late rainy night, mother and [...] If this is getting repetitive, it’s because food is central to my existence, now more than ever.
My appetite has never been healthier, now that I’m happily in my second trimester. The cravings are surprisingly manageable (bet hubby’s really relieved) - apart from hunting for char siew pao in town one late rainy night, mother and daughter have been very very reasonable. There’s still a not-so-minor concern though. That I’m not ingesting enough fish to build a fetal brain that would one day discover a scientific breakthrough, design an award-winning building, compose a musical masterpiece or modestly, make it through med school without embarrassing her parents.
I don’t hate fish. I just can’t stand the sight, smell and taste of it since pregnancy happened. The only marine life-forms I find palatable are canned tuna and raw salmon. And raw is out. Yes, I paid attention during my parasitology lectures. I still can name the species of fluke forms.
Not wanting to deprive my daughter of a HEAD start (literally) in life, I’ve forced 2 fish meals upon myself this week. If the donburi with deep fried salmon 2 days ago was uninspiring, the fish-and-chips I had tonight was a torture. Midway through the meal I was close to throwing up. My dear girl, anything for you.
To wash down the revolting fishy after-taste, hubby took me to Starbucks. For a surreal moment I held on to my decaf low-fat no-cream Cafe Mocha (healthy enough?), inhaling the once-familiar aroma. I can’t believe I’m having my first cup of coffee since January! Well, it’s still an estimated 5mg of caffeine, so I won’t be having another cup soon, but oh, what rapture!
We’re a contented pair tonight (brain food for junior, brain juice for me)!
 RE-discovering great coffee... |
| Yenjai.net |
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| last updated: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:27:48 GMT |
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| Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:56:59 +0000 I am so outdated |
| As I had never upload any photo to my Facebook album (other than my tiny profile photo), I have never really learn about the function of it.
Thus I was so surprised when I discovered that when you hovered your mouse over anyone who appear in a Facebook photo, a name or a tag will appear! [...] As I had never upload any photo to my Facebook album (other than my tiny profile photo), I have never really learn about the function of it.
Thus I was so surprised when I discovered that when you hovered your mouse over anyone who appear in a Facebook photo, a name or a tag will appear! (provided if the owner bother to label it)
Cool! Guess I should spend more time exploring such functions. So out of touch with these thingy 
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| Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:04:26 PDT Hey, I'm not dead! Seriously!! |
I suppose I kinda feel like I owe you guys an update today. Which was probably the reason I took a break. Cause I was feeling like I owe you an update, and that sucks the fun and spontaneity out of blogging. And I think you also don't like me blogging just because I feel like I owe you an update.
I want my posts to be special, to be meaningful, to be entertaining without trying too hard, to keep things real and to show the funny side of life, to exaggerate and be extravagant at times, to connect and to amaze. Yes, seriously.
So, I am going through this phase of life where I am really enjoying being alone. I don't know if that is pathological or an early sign of ageing, but yes, I am really enjoying the solitude. The quietness of the night, and the going to bed at 10pm. I am preparing for old age, you may say. And I think I like it. The calmness, the no-rush, no-hurry, no stress way of life.
Hey, I didn't tell you this, but there was a snake in my house the other day. It was perched nicely on top of the thing where you adjust your fan speed. I was shocked out of my skin. At 6 am I woke up, came out from the room, and with my myopic vision say this yellow and dark green stripe long thingy in front of me. I ran and took my spectacles(like an old lady) and confirmed Ackk!!IT IS A SNAKE!! I initially thought of just letting it go, i.e just ignore and pretend I didn't see it; but of course that would be a really stupid thing to do,eh? Then I'd have to go to bed each night wondering if Mr Long will slither up to me at night and swallow me whole. So no, ignoring it wouldn't be a wise option.
I thought of asking my neighbour for help, but FOR GOODNESS SAKE ADELINE, IT'S JUST A DAMN SNAKE! BE A MAN AND GET RID OF IT!! ANYWAY IT'S 615AM AND YOUR NEIGHBOURS ARE ASLEEP!
And so I grabbed the golf club given by my uncle for things like this and whacked the life out of the snake. That was after giving it a short chase around the house.
So that was my adventure with a snake.
I haev no idea whether it was poisonous or not. It was the diameter of my pinky and about a metre long. Maybe it was a krait (POISONOUS!!) or a tree snake.
I shot a message to my dad about the incident, and he replies "So brave and steady of you"
And I replied " Not brave. Have to out of necessity."
And with this I am proud to say "Aiyah, no big deal lah. When you live in the country, you've got to know how to deal with little nuisance like snakes."
I think I'm going to cry when my parents leave home for Penang next week.
I mean, besides buying 100tonnes of sulphur to scatter all around the house. Including on the roof. |
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| Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:06:00 +0000 The definition of 'jonah'.... |
...is after admitting two nonagenarians, one of whom is now on double inotropes, at 4 am is still admitting patients with low blood pressure, and with an Acute Pulmonary Oedema case waiting at the casualty because now there are no more beds in the acute cubicle in the ward.
but I suppose, that doesn't beat escorting cases to HRPZ II five (yes, 5) times on a 24 hour shift.
I've been back to KL during the extended weekend. Sometimes, returning to the west coast is like going on holiday in a another country. Cars are faster, the people are more wound up, houses and shopping areas bigger. I ended up coming back home a day earlier than planned, much to the chagrin of Ma, because I involved my cats in it.
By the way, Verver is now missing for a week. I was on call and Abg had let them out for the evening and she never returned. I'm convinced she has been hit by a car or motorbike and has gone to die somewhere else. The lack of closure is making me uneasy. Sad as it is, I'd rather see the body and know rather than left wondering.
Anyway, I'm up attending to the case of the nonagenarian with cardiogenic shock and also sepsis. Man, of all the things to end up with at 92. It has been sort of a "Hari Warga Emas Sedunia" today. I had gone to HRPZ earlier today escorting a case of peritonitis. She was 81 and had just returned from a family holiday in Penang. Her blood pressure wasn't great when I left her in the care of the Surgical MO.
I'm not sure whether it's a good idea staying up, hoping that the three hour-sleep I got from midnight is going to be enough, but it is Thursday today and I'm always hopeful on a Thursday. |
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| Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:48:00 +0000 A day out which almost turn out to be total day out !! |
Kirana managed to get seats for her family and mine to this wonderful "clown's intro to orchestra" with the MPO in KLCC today. I was excited for the kids because this will be the first time the kids will be exposed to live orchestra music !Wifey was on call and this was a perfect way to spend time with my kids. I didn't know what to expect in the beginning.
However , it nearly became a non reality as we were stuck in NKVE for about a hour ! It was a massive traffic jam and I was getting pissed off when we surpassed the 30 minute mark ! We were late and i didn't know if we could be there in time. We were late to arrive but luckily still able to catch the show and it was fun !! Dzaeff was making his own vocal comments while Qaisya seemed a bit reserved ; scared at times with the loud drum thumping.
Of course Dzaeff and Qaisya was happy to roam around in KLCC afterwards ; with Alana joining them in hand ! ( Dzaeff was very sporting to walk her around ! )  |
| Lostsheep |
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| last updated: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:27:03 GMT |
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| Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:56:19 +0000 Giving A level tuition |
For half a year now I have been giving free A level chemistry tuition to church friend’s son. They have very modest earning income; so I was happy to obliged. I thought surely a level chemistry can’t be too hard, since I got an A without any sweat those many years ago.
But then it was [...] For half a year now I have been giving free A level chemistry tuition to church friend’s son. They have very modest earning income; so I was happy to obliged. I thought surely a level chemistry can’t be too hard, since I got an A without any sweat those many years ago.
But then it was more than 20 years ago! My goodness, how have I underestimated the challenge. So many things that used to click instantly seem so difficult to work out. My knowledge of chemistry have narrowed over the years into medical molecular biochemistry that simple organic and inorganic chemistry seem to be french to me.
I am also too busy with work and my kids to have proper time reading it up properly. But I don’t want to let this kid down. So I try my best, helping him through his past year papers, frantically reading his chemistry text books and revision notes as I do. It was a humbling experience: I learnt that I may be able to do a lot of things, but I am not necessarily as intelligent as I think! There are many times I just have to say I don’t know, looking things up from the books and the internet (which I don’t have easy assess to in his house).
Surprisingly, I got lots of feedback through the parents how happy he was with the tuition I give. Well, it wasn’t just because it was free. He got better grades during his class assessment, his teacher was surprised, and he was so much more confident. However he didn’t get as good a grade as he wished in the real A level exam, though he got an average of B in Chemistry.
Has has more assessment coming up: I’ve got much more work to do…
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| Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:04:00 +0000 Bertarikh |
A new term which directly translated to Bahasa Melayu means dating. It's the trend now! Use it wisely! Because I said so... -_-" Alright alright... here's how the term came about. Was in the recent Biro Tatanegara (BTN) course where a bulk of the attendees were friends and colleagues of mine, most of them who were Malays. I was trying to relate one of the incidents that occurred to a couple during the 2 kilometer jog that was apparently taking them too long. The fact that I couldn't translate dating into Bahasa Melayu properly led me into this spontaneity where I exclaimed the usage of the term 'bertarikh'. Soon after, everyone started using it, even one of the facilitators. Heh heh... looks like I endorsed one new word after another without a stop!
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