i was in penang last weekend to visit the in-laws, & as a ritual, i make it a point to hike up (part of) penang hill from the youth park. (the other important ritual i almost religiously adhere to, is to savour the famous chendol of penang road, one bowl from each of the 2 stalls, no less, but i have noticed that the size of red beans is smaller these days. or is it just me?)
there's the gentle slope trail as well as the steep climb (gradient 70 - 80 degrees) & i usually do a combination - creaking joints & stiff muscles aren't pleasant sensationS, you know! there's a rest area each at quarter & half way up, but i've never attempted beyond the 1st rest - panting hard & feeling faint is the body's way of telling you that you're this near to a coronary event. still, it's about 200m above sea-level &, on a clear day, you can catch a pretty good view of the island.
what's interesting here which awaits the tired hikers, is that there's a guy who fries noodles & prepares hot chinese tea (sometimes with ginger). i can't comment on the noodles because i can't imagine eating, & i don't, after a strenous trek but the freshly brewed tea is certainly rejuvenating elixir for tired souls. incidentally, this rest-stop is on private land but the owner has graciously allowed hikers to pass through, and the refreshment is supported solely by private contributions. whoever said the penangites are "stingy" has never hiked up penang hill this way.
one day, i plan to hike up to halfway rest where i was reliably told that dim-sum is served. but 1st, i need a check-up with my cardiologist colleague, just to be safe.
photo : the gentle slope trail
photo : the steep climb
photo : 1st rest stop in sight
photo : view from
200m from
sea level.
top left
shows
construc-
tion in
progress
on
reclaimed
land.
rm700k+
for semi-D
Monday, September 25, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
of orang asli's & missions
Albert schweitzer. german humanitarian, theologian, missionary. and medical doctor. i 1st read of this nobel prize winner (for peace, 1952) in my history lesson in primary 5. i was just too young to understand why one would travel thousands of miles to build hospitals & look after lepers in africa.
David livingstone. scottish explorer. medical doctor. can't recall any of his work in africa except that he named the victoria falls at the mouth of zambesi river after the then queen of england, & the famous words "dr livingstone, i presume!" uttered by newsman henry stanley, sent to look for him in africa & whom he met at lake tanganyika.
me. widely unknown. ordinary joe with adventurous spirit. coincidentally, also medical doctor. & pretender in the schweitzer/livingstone mould.
it's always been my desire to set apart some time to do community work, to go down to the grassroots, so to speak. that's how i found myself volunteering for a medical camp for the orang asli's (OAs) in a recent off-road adventure last weekend. this is a yearly church mission but a 1st for me. 3 other medics & i, plus 4 helpers & medical supplies, after a 3 -hour road trip, met up with the local church members, all OAs, who directed us to the various settlements where the medical team had been carrying out their annual pilgrimages. you see, none of the team members who had made the trips before could remember the way thru the oil palm estates & forest trails (& after making the trip myself, i can understand why the twisting & turning is confusing!). besides, the advantage of having the locals introduce the team is obvious.
in the end, we spent 1 and a half days at 5 different settlements, where we examined the locals & prescribed medication. in my over 2 decades as a medic, i've never encountered people living in abject poverty as theOAs. perhaps it was physical segregation, cultural differences, socio-economic disparity or just lack of political will, that the OAs have been left out of mainstream development. the men worked at oil palm estates, tapped rubber or planted the fields, while the womenfolk cooked & looked after the children, who should be in school, but aren't. they live just too deep in the forests/estates to have access to buses (& medical care). electricity & piped water are non-existent. they seemed a contented lot though, but that doesn't preclude us from doing more for them. i'm not the social activist that can prompt NGOs & government machinery to provide aid for the OAs but i'm coming back
again for the next medical mission to do my little part.
i shall call this national service.
photo : the rough ride into the estate
photo : kids coming for vitamins & deworming syrup.
photo : our little, rural " medical center" prepares for service.
PS. it is encouraging to read in NST on 24th sept, that dpm najib announced, amongst other measures, that financial aid to the OAs will be increased, & places will be reserved for them at institutions of higher learning. the timing couldn't have been more appropriate. let's hope the measures materialise.
David livingstone. scottish explorer. medical doctor. can't recall any of his work in africa except that he named the victoria falls at the mouth of zambesi river after the then queen of england, & the famous words "dr livingstone, i presume!" uttered by newsman henry stanley, sent to look for him in africa & whom he met at lake tanganyika.
me. widely unknown. ordinary joe with adventurous spirit. coincidentally, also medical doctor. & pretender in the schweitzer/livingstone mould.it's always been my desire to set apart some time to do community work, to go down to the grassroots, so to speak. that's how i found myself volunteering for a medical camp for the orang asli's (OAs) in a recent off-road adventure last weekend. this is a yearly church mission but a 1st for me. 3 other medics & i, plus 4 helpers & medical supplies, after a 3 -hour road trip, met up with the local church members, all OAs, who directed us to the various settlements where the medical team had been carrying out their annual pilgrimages. you see, none of the team members who had made the trips before could remember the way thru the oil palm estates & forest trails (& after making the trip myself, i can understand why the twisting & turning is confusing!). besides, the advantage of having the locals introduce the team is obvious.
in the end, we spent 1 and a half days at 5 different settlements, where we examined the locals & prescribed medication. in my over 2 decades as a medic, i've never encountered people living in abject poverty as theOAs. perhaps it was physical segregation, cultural differences, socio-economic disparity or just lack of political will, that the OAs have been left out of mainstream development. the men worked at oil palm estates, tapped rubber or planted the fields, while the womenfolk cooked & looked after the children, who should be in school, but aren't. they live just too deep in the forests/estates to have access to buses (& medical care). electricity & piped water are non-existent. they seemed a contented lot though, but that doesn't preclude us from doing more for them. i'm not the social activist that can prompt NGOs & government machinery to provide aid for the OAs but i'm coming back
again for the next medical mission to do my little part.
i shall call this national service.
photo : the rough ride into the estate
photo : kids coming for vitamins & deworming syrup.
photo : our little, rural " medical center" prepares for service.PS. it is encouraging to read in NST on 24th sept, that dpm najib announced, amongst other measures, that financial aid to the OAs will be increased, & places will be reserved for them at institutions of higher learning. the timing couldn't have been more appropriate. let's hope the measures materialise.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
the one-eyed god
tuesdays will never be the same again.
not since grey's anatomy joined the already packed schedule of tv programs. if you only watched terrestrial tv (in contrast to satellite), then after the early evening fare of drama serials, you have the primetime news followed by grey's anatomy (8.30 - 9.30pm, ntv7), more serials, then desparate housewives (10 - 11pm, 8tv), joey (11 - 11.30pm, 8tv) or 3rd watch (11-12mn, rtm1) in rapid succession.
but, if you have astro in it's full bloom, you need to juggle also with football focus (8 - 9pm, espn), wwe raw (10 - 11.30pm, assp), perfect disaster (10 - 11pm, disc) and crash scene investigation (10 -11pm, natgeo).
for me, grey's is a must-see while the rest are just options to toy with, depending on my whim & fancy, esp the astro programs which will be repeated through the week. why, what is it about the abc's hit medical drama that has malaysians salivating for more? i think we have always held matters concerning healthcare close to our hearts (pun intended), perhaps 2nd only to education, as evidenced by the extreme popularity of shows like ER & chicago hope, esp in their early seasons. when i was younger i was glued to quincy, M.E. and M.A.S.H, although neither inspired me to pursue my present vocation. maybe the dramas did the trick for the young impressionable minds of present school leavers, as indicated by the intense competition for medical seats in local &, to a lesser extent, foreign varsities.
back to grey's, i think it's the interplay of personal relationships amongst the protagonists that defined it's popularity. a medical drama that prominently portrays that doctors are also humans, with their inherent vulnerablilty, is a sure-fire bet for top billing. consider this : intern falls for surgeon, surgeon fails to mention he is still married but currently separated, estranged wife makes appearance, not only as herself but also as stand-in head of department. wow! no wonder intern threatens to run surgeon down with her car when he tries to talk it out at the car park.
i can't wait for episode #2 next tuesday.
not since grey's anatomy joined the already packed schedule of tv programs. if you only watched terrestrial tv (in contrast to satellite), then after the early evening fare of drama serials, you have the primetime news followed by grey's anatomy (8.30 - 9.30pm, ntv7), more serials, then desparate housewives (10 - 11pm, 8tv), joey (11 - 11.30pm, 8tv) or 3rd watch (11-12mn, rtm1) in rapid succession.
but, if you have astro in it's full bloom, you need to juggle also with football focus (8 - 9pm, espn), wwe raw (10 - 11.30pm, assp), perfect disaster (10 - 11pm, disc) and crash scene investigation (10 -11pm, natgeo).
for me, grey's is a must-see while the rest are just options to toy with, depending on my whim & fancy, esp the astro programs which will be repeated through the week. why, what is it about the abc's hit medical drama that has malaysians salivating for more? i think we have always held matters concerning healthcare close to our hearts (pun intended), perhaps 2nd only to education, as evidenced by the extreme popularity of shows like ER & chicago hope, esp in their early seasons. when i was younger i was glued to quincy, M.E. and M.A.S.H, although neither inspired me to pursue my present vocation. maybe the dramas did the trick for the young impressionable minds of present school leavers, as indicated by the intense competition for medical seats in local &, to a lesser extent, foreign varsities.
back to grey's, i think it's the interplay of personal relationships amongst the protagonists that defined it's popularity. a medical drama that prominently portrays that doctors are also humans, with their inherent vulnerablilty, is a sure-fire bet for top billing. consider this : intern falls for surgeon, surgeon fails to mention he is still married but currently separated, estranged wife makes appearance, not only as herself but also as stand-in head of department. wow! no wonder intern threatens to run surgeon down with her car when he tries to talk it out at the car park.
i can't wait for episode #2 next tuesday.
Monday, September 11, 2006
oh no, NOT another 9/11 blog!
i was watching tv when my friend called to declare that world war III has begun, & directed me to CNN to witness the carnage unfolding at the WTC. as i switched channel, smoke was seen billowing from north tower. i thought it caught fire until a 2nd plane crashed the adjacent tower. i've read about, & seen on tv, catastrophies caused by natural forces & human negligience, but never before a witness to an inhumane plunder of this magnitude. not since iraqi forces overran kuwait, & the subsequent operative desert storm, a decade earlier. watching "pearl harbour" on vcd isn't quite the same genre.
for many weeks after that, al qaeda permeated our lives & we suddenly become acutely aware that hamas & IRA aren't the terrorist flavours of the month anymore. i was due to fly to goteborg, sweden in 2 weeks & it didn't occur to me the ramifications of 9/11 till the organiser called me 2 days later to enquire if i felt comfortable or secure enough making the trip. i hesitated for less than a second before agreeing to go ahead - hey, it's not often i get invited to test-drive volvos at its motherland. the outward journey, via amsterdam, was uneventful despite the obvious heightened security checks but on the return trip, i came undone at goteborg airport, at the final check before boarding, when i was told in no uncertain terms that i could not keep my swiss army knife in my pocket, as it could pose a threat to passengers & crew alike. yeah, right!
"err, excuse me, miss, give another pack of peanuts or i'll plunge this deadly blade into your heart!!"
it had to be transferred to the baggage compartment but how, when i've already checked in my bag? trust the innovative swedes (read: ikea) to think ahead - i was given, without charge i must stress, a little cardboard box the size of a pencil-case, into which the "offending weapon" was placed, then sealed in front of me, retained by security & a receipt issued. how's that for efficiency??
back at KLIA half a day later, i discovered to my horror that the little box did not arrive with the rest of the luggage. nah, it can't be, not after i've raved about how the swedes seemed to be so-very-on-top-of-things. but it's true, my beloved swiss knife is missing. i made a report at the lost luggage counter. as expected, the clerk said he'll look into it & i thought that's the last i'd hear from him. but true to the malaysia boleh battle cry, i received a pleasant surprise a few days later when someone from the airport actually personally delivered the box to my workplace as he lived in the same town. sorry encik, i can't recall your name now but that doesn't make your act any less kind.
"and when he finds it, he calls his friends & neighbours together & says, rejoice with me, for i have found what i what i had lost" luke 15:5,6 (paraphrased)
may the heroes & the fallen of 9/11 find peace, wherever they are. amen.
for many weeks after that, al qaeda permeated our lives & we suddenly become acutely aware that hamas & IRA aren't the terrorist flavours of the month anymore. i was due to fly to goteborg, sweden in 2 weeks & it didn't occur to me the ramifications of 9/11 till the organiser called me 2 days later to enquire if i felt comfortable or secure enough making the trip. i hesitated for less than a second before agreeing to go ahead - hey, it's not often i get invited to test-drive volvos at its motherland. the outward journey, via amsterdam, was uneventful despite the obvious heightened security checks but on the return trip, i came undone at goteborg airport, at the final check before boarding, when i was told in no uncertain terms that i could not keep my swiss army knife in my pocket, as it could pose a threat to passengers & crew alike. yeah, right!
"err, excuse me, miss, give another pack of peanuts or i'll plunge this deadly blade into your heart!!"
it had to be transferred to the baggage compartment but how, when i've already checked in my bag? trust the innovative swedes (read: ikea) to think ahead - i was given, without charge i must stress, a little cardboard box the size of a pencil-case, into which the "offending weapon" was placed, then sealed in front of me, retained by security & a receipt issued. how's that for efficiency??
back at KLIA half a day later, i discovered to my horror that the little box did not arrive with the rest of the luggage. nah, it can't be, not after i've raved about how the swedes seemed to be so-very-on-top-of-things. but it's true, my beloved swiss knife is missing. i made a report at the lost luggage counter. as expected, the clerk said he'll look into it & i thought that's the last i'd hear from him. but true to the malaysia boleh battle cry, i received a pleasant surprise a few days later when someone from the airport actually personally delivered the box to my workplace as he lived in the same town. sorry encik, i can't recall your name now but that doesn't make your act any less kind.
"and when he finds it, he calls his friends & neighbours together & says, rejoice with me, for i have found what i what i had lost" luke 15:5,6 (paraphrased)
may the heroes & the fallen of 9/11 find peace, wherever they are. amen.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
best buddies
lone ranger & tonto.
batman & robin.
charlie brown & snoopy.
kevin arnold & paul pfeiffer.
kevin & paul? we all need someone we can fall back on, be they masked or 4-legged. someone whom we can ride horses with, fight crime & share secret identities with, or someone who'll just listen. we all need best friends.
kevin & paul were the comsummate bosom buddies in the ex-ABC dramatisation of middle class USA in the tumultous 60s, "the wonder years". narrated by the adult kevin, the series traced the friendship between the 2 boys from junior right thru high school, highlighting the close comradeship fostered through years of bitter-sweet sharing, competing & bonding.
it's tommy's birthday today. he was my best friend when we were in secondary school. we clicked from our common interest in chess. initially we only met on thursday afternoons at the chess club, but our friendship forged closer as we also discovered that we support english football clubs & enjoy pop songs. eventually, we hanged out on tuesdays after school to get our favourite football magazines & also most weekends either playing chess or football, or both. we got extorted one night at a dark alley. we even wrote to girl pen-friends who were classmates, & whom we visited together in penang during one of the long school vacations.
he taught me the guitar & i developed a crush on his sister, both of which were futile exercises as i still can't strum to save my life & i never got beyond to asking his sister out on a date - i'd like to think that he & his parents would have approved of me. ha, ha! (funnily enough, both kevin & his childhood squeeze winnie cooper pursued an on-off, rollercoaster relationship but eventually married another). he did grade 13 at taylor's & subsequently studied & settled in canada while i did varsity in kl.
we have not met since. wherever you are, tommy, happy birthday & i wish you & your family well. thanks for those wonder years , buddy!
photo : chess club 1976
tommy is standing at the extreme left, while that bespectacled geek standing 2nd from extreme right is yours truly. on my left is my classmate jamal, now more famously known as the CEO of maxis. & you thought i didn't have friends in high places, ha!
batman & robin.
charlie brown & snoopy.
kevin arnold & paul pfeiffer.
kevin & paul? we all need someone we can fall back on, be they masked or 4-legged. someone whom we can ride horses with, fight crime & share secret identities with, or someone who'll just listen. we all need best friends.
kevin & paul were the comsummate bosom buddies in the ex-ABC dramatisation of middle class USA in the tumultous 60s, "the wonder years". narrated by the adult kevin, the series traced the friendship between the 2 boys from junior right thru high school, highlighting the close comradeship fostered through years of bitter-sweet sharing, competing & bonding.
it's tommy's birthday today. he was my best friend when we were in secondary school. we clicked from our common interest in chess. initially we only met on thursday afternoons at the chess club, but our friendship forged closer as we also discovered that we support english football clubs & enjoy pop songs. eventually, we hanged out on tuesdays after school to get our favourite football magazines & also most weekends either playing chess or football, or both. we got extorted one night at a dark alley. we even wrote to girl pen-friends who were classmates, & whom we visited together in penang during one of the long school vacations.
he taught me the guitar & i developed a crush on his sister, both of which were futile exercises as i still can't strum to save my life & i never got beyond to asking his sister out on a date - i'd like to think that he & his parents would have approved of me. ha, ha! (funnily enough, both kevin & his childhood squeeze winnie cooper pursued an on-off, rollercoaster relationship but eventually married another). he did grade 13 at taylor's & subsequently studied & settled in canada while i did varsity in kl.
we have not met since. wherever you are, tommy, happy birthday & i wish you & your family well. thanks for those wonder years , buddy!
photo : chess club 1976
tommy is standing at the extreme left, while that bespectacled geek standing 2nd from extreme right is yours truly. on my left is my classmate jamal, now more famously known as the CEO of maxis. & you thought i didn't have friends in high places, ha!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
exam fever
It was a maths (called arithmatic those days & i can't honestly say i know the difference!) test & i scored 47 out of 50. it was the 1st of hundreds of test/exams/assessments i was to toil for before the final one nearly 29 years later. that's an awfully long time span to be bury oneself in revision books & past-year papers, but yup, there's no other way to decide who deserves the A's & who gets the diploma.
preparing for an exam is a sobering experience, because you think you have so much to cover in so short a time. humiliating as well, because you've come to realise how little you actually know about the subject. suddenly, a feeling of inadequacy overwhelms you & the possiblility of failure becomes real. this does not just apply to school/college exams. i remember i had butterflies in my stomach the morning i was to take the driving test. in those heydays of my youth, i can easily devour 3 roti canais before you can say "teh tarik", but that fluttering in the tummy & the audible pounding of the heart, plus the mind-clouding road signs/hand signals/3-point turning manouvres sure play havoc with the appetite. in the end, half a canai & 2 sips of the tarik is all i can handle. talk about supreme anxiety. & this is just a run-of-the-mill driving test.
so as the year runs it's final stretch, i can relate to the thousands who will begin the exam season with the UPSR tomorrow, to be followed in rapid succession by PMR, SPM & STPM. in this era of endless "kelas tambahan", intense private tuition & unreal, astronomical expectations, it is baffling how much responsibility is being burdened on those young shoulders. i wish them all the best for their undertakings, & hope that, at some stage of their student lives, they remember occasionally to stop & smell the roses.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, & it will be given to him." James 1:5
note : not exactly the top prize, this modest cup was one of several trophies i had won for extra-curricular activities - i represented my form 2 class in debate & we were runners-up to the 3rd formers. it's special because it was the 1st competition in school that i had won anything. it was also made of real metal. today's students are more rounded in the sense that these activities, now termed "co-curricular" to emphasise it's importance, are made compulsory in many schools.
preparing for an exam is a sobering experience, because you think you have so much to cover in so short a time. humiliating as well, because you've come to realise how little you actually know about the subject. suddenly, a feeling of inadequacy overwhelms you & the possiblility of failure becomes real. this does not just apply to school/college exams. i remember i had butterflies in my stomach the morning i was to take the driving test. in those heydays of my youth, i can easily devour 3 roti canais before you can say "teh tarik", but that fluttering in the tummy & the audible pounding of the heart, plus the mind-clouding road signs/hand signals/3-point turning manouvres sure play havoc with the appetite. in the end, half a canai & 2 sips of the tarik is all i can handle. talk about supreme anxiety. & this is just a run-of-the-mill driving test.
so as the year runs it's final stretch, i can relate to the thousands who will begin the exam season with the UPSR tomorrow, to be followed in rapid succession by PMR, SPM & STPM. in this era of endless "kelas tambahan", intense private tuition & unreal, astronomical expectations, it is baffling how much responsibility is being burdened on those young shoulders. i wish them all the best for their undertakings, & hope that, at some stage of their student lives, they remember occasionally to stop & smell the roses.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, & it will be given to him." James 1:5
note : not exactly the top prize, this modest cup was one of several trophies i had won for extra-curricular activities - i represented my form 2 class in debate & we were runners-up to the 3rd formers. it's special because it was the 1st competition in school that i had won anything. it was also made of real metal. today's students are more rounded in the sense that these activities, now termed "co-curricular" to emphasise it's importance, are made compulsory in many schools.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
the mile high club
This is not about raunchy escapades on-board a jet plane, neither is this a book review, although it may eventually appear like one, but i have in my possession 2 books written by ex-stewardesses.
the 1st, "single picky girl" is a collection of personal observations & experiences spinned by janice wong, a stewardess-turned-financial-buff whose unique writing style is as refreshing as she is charming - not that i have met her, but her book probably will sell a few extra copies just from that strategically-placed photo of herself....yeah, right smack on the front cover! i have read a few books by local authors but these are essentially serious stuff eg. mahathir's hard-hitting malay dilemma, lee kuan yew's detailed autobiography & karim raslan's political perspectives. so it was a really pleasant surprise to savour janice's collection of literary gems - not exactly a giant leap of faith, given her stint as a columnist for a now-defunct tabloid - spiced up by a wicked sense of humour. she waxes lyrical about life, love & relationships, & asks,"why settle for less than love?". yes, why indeed!!
not so with debutante yvonne lee's "the sky is crazy", a somewhat even-keeled, down-to-earth (??) account of life in the majestic clouds but no less hilarious. believe it or not, i can actually identify with her - "how can that be?", i hear you query. even though our vocations seemed as diagonally opposite as champagne & enema, i didn't realise that a stewardess's life is governed, very much like mine, by that dreaded piece of paper called "duty roster". so, she's also on standby duty, whereby she could be called, at the drop of a hat, to fill in for a sick or missing colleague. & if she's not there when the call comes thru, all hell will break loose. hmm, i can definitely relate to that!
i'm hardly what you'd called a high-flyer; neither am i a frequent -flyer. so when i take a flight, my ticket is invariably marked "Y", which means my seat is located in a row of 7 or 10 & i eat meals off a plastic tray. not so on a trip to amsterdam in 2001. on that flight, a passenger needed medical attention, & being the dedicated medic that i was (& still am, ahem!) , i felt duty- bound to step forward to offer assistance.
the young chap in business class has had abdominal pain since take-off & was in some distress by the time i saw him. an early inflamed appendix, i thought, so i gave him a pain-killer injection - did you know 747s carried a medical bag as well, complete with medication, syringes & stethoscope? - & he rested well after that. i advised the chief steward that the chap should be able to make it to amsterdam safely but he'll need a re-examination & further tests there.
as a gesture of goodwill, i was moved up to business class & sat just across the aisle from my new patient - i suspect this seating arrangement also served the purpose of providing close surveillance on the chap's progress - & everything thing yvonne detailed in her book was true - the plush, semi-reclinable seat, the neat toiletry bag, & free flow of gourmet food & drinks. ah, this is the life! did i mention i was also given a bottle of bubbly to go for my trouble. nah, no trouble at all, buddy!! we reached schiphol without further incident, & the young chap lived another day to share his ordeal.
on a flight to london the previous year, i had also offered medical assistance to an elderly lady with acute severe exacerbation of back & joint pain. yeah, i know what you're thinking - am i jinxed or what, as people start falling ill when i'm on board? i'm beginning to wonder myself.........will i need to give mouth-to-mouth on my next flight?? i believe everyone, & i mean everyone, should learn basic 1st aid & resuscitation (called "basic life support" in medical circles) because it's a simple yet invaluable skill to possess. the next life you save could be a loved one's.
the point of this post is this - there are actually talented writers amongst our midst, only that i am not aware of them & until such time local publishers give them a chance to express themselves, they remain undiscovered. a real pity since these hidden pearls could be future contenders/winners of the whitbread or booker awards.
oh, did i mention that, on impulse, i purchased tash aw's "harmony silk factory" at the neighbourhood popular bookshop at an unbelieveable price of rm17.95? a hardcover at that, too!
the 1st, "single picky girl" is a collection of personal observations & experiences spinned by janice wong, a stewardess-turned-financial-buff whose unique writing style is as refreshing as she is charming - not that i have met her, but her book probably will sell a few extra copies just from that strategically-placed photo of herself....yeah, right smack on the front cover! i have read a few books by local authors but these are essentially serious stuff eg. mahathir's hard-hitting malay dilemma, lee kuan yew's detailed autobiography & karim raslan's political perspectives. so it was a really pleasant surprise to savour janice's collection of literary gems - not exactly a giant leap of faith, given her stint as a columnist for a now-defunct tabloid - spiced up by a wicked sense of humour. she waxes lyrical about life, love & relationships, & asks,"why settle for less than love?". yes, why indeed!!
not so with debutante yvonne lee's "the sky is crazy", a somewhat even-keeled, down-to-earth (??) account of life in the majestic clouds but no less hilarious. believe it or not, i can actually identify with her - "how can that be?", i hear you query. even though our vocations seemed as diagonally opposite as champagne & enema, i didn't realise that a stewardess's life is governed, very much like mine, by that dreaded piece of paper called "duty roster". so, she's also on standby duty, whereby she could be called, at the drop of a hat, to fill in for a sick or missing colleague. & if she's not there when the call comes thru, all hell will break loose. hmm, i can definitely relate to that!
i'm hardly what you'd called a high-flyer; neither am i a frequent -flyer. so when i take a flight, my ticket is invariably marked "Y", which means my seat is located in a row of 7 or 10 & i eat meals off a plastic tray. not so on a trip to amsterdam in 2001. on that flight, a passenger needed medical attention, & being the dedicated medic that i was (& still am, ahem!) , i felt duty- bound to step forward to offer assistance.
the young chap in business class has had abdominal pain since take-off & was in some distress by the time i saw him. an early inflamed appendix, i thought, so i gave him a pain-killer injection - did you know 747s carried a medical bag as well, complete with medication, syringes & stethoscope? - & he rested well after that. i advised the chief steward that the chap should be able to make it to amsterdam safely but he'll need a re-examination & further tests there.
as a gesture of goodwill, i was moved up to business class & sat just across the aisle from my new patient - i suspect this seating arrangement also served the purpose of providing close surveillance on the chap's progress - & everything thing yvonne detailed in her book was true - the plush, semi-reclinable seat, the neat toiletry bag, & free flow of gourmet food & drinks. ah, this is the life! did i mention i was also given a bottle of bubbly to go for my trouble. nah, no trouble at all, buddy!! we reached schiphol without further incident, & the young chap lived another day to share his ordeal.
on a flight to london the previous year, i had also offered medical assistance to an elderly lady with acute severe exacerbation of back & joint pain. yeah, i know what you're thinking - am i jinxed or what, as people start falling ill when i'm on board? i'm beginning to wonder myself.........will i need to give mouth-to-mouth on my next flight?? i believe everyone, & i mean everyone, should learn basic 1st aid & resuscitation (called "basic life support" in medical circles) because it's a simple yet invaluable skill to possess. the next life you save could be a loved one's.
the point of this post is this - there are actually talented writers amongst our midst, only that i am not aware of them & until such time local publishers give them a chance to express themselves, they remain undiscovered. a real pity since these hidden pearls could be future contenders/winners of the whitbread or booker awards.
oh, did i mention that, on impulse, i purchased tash aw's "harmony silk factory" at the neighbourhood popular bookshop at an unbelieveable price of rm17.95? a hardcover at that, too!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
the laptop's back (i think!)
It's true what they say - that you don't know or appreciate what you have till you lose it. i lost the use of my laptop for a week recently but thank goodness, we have an IT dept for advice & dino ( i kid you not, that's his real name) had a look at it when i couldn't get it started. at 1st, he had it re-formatted but when that didn't work, he said it was a hard disc problem & promptly sent it to his friend's shop to have it changed. i now have a spanking new hitachi 40HDD installed which set me back RM380, including labour - & i thought only garages charged for labour! let me know if i have been shortchanged. i'm not sure if things are back to normal because this is the 3rd time i'm trying to post this entry & it came up with texts missing on my previous attempts.
i like doing stuff on the laptop while watching tv on the massage chair & munching crisps - hey, who said guys can't multitask?? so for the past week, i had to work with the desk-top & that's in the study room away from the tv & cookie jar. bah, no wonder i've missed out on "the apprentice" & missing some weight as well. ah, we're back to the subject of "lost" again - the state of missing something, not the tv program or body mass.
what i miss most now is a weekend away from work - away from the untimely phone-calls that invariably came through when you want to be left alone & away from the long list of patients who unforgivingly demand attention. don't get me wrong - i love my job but i lose a bit of myself when i'm attending to the needs of others & when i feel i'm missing too much of myself - when i need to re-discover myself, that's when i yearn for some time-off away with the family. & guess what - i've got a church retreat coming up this weekend where the post of asst camp co-ordinator ( the actual designation is asst camp commandant but i'm just too indisciplined & embarassed to be accorded a military decoration - ha!) was unexpectedly dropped unto my lap. ah, never mind, i shall look forward to some peace, solace & soulful rejuvenation & at the same time hope i don't make a hash of things. but i hear the invited speaker, a formidable canadian pastor, has been known to set church camps on fire - spiritually, that is. hallelujah!
i also have a medical meeting coming up end-august in KL, where i will catch up with some old pals. these are invariably social get-togethers 1st & foremost, & the educational objectives sometimes take a back-seat.
in the meantime, i'm putting my legs up, getting a massage on the mechanical gintell & watching donald trump fire yet another apprentice-wannabe as i blog.
man, i just love my laptop!
i like doing stuff on the laptop while watching tv on the massage chair & munching crisps - hey, who said guys can't multitask?? so for the past week, i had to work with the desk-top & that's in the study room away from the tv & cookie jar. bah, no wonder i've missed out on "the apprentice" & missing some weight as well. ah, we're back to the subject of "lost" again - the state of missing something, not the tv program or body mass.
what i miss most now is a weekend away from work - away from the untimely phone-calls that invariably came through when you want to be left alone & away from the long list of patients who unforgivingly demand attention. don't get me wrong - i love my job but i lose a bit of myself when i'm attending to the needs of others & when i feel i'm missing too much of myself - when i need to re-discover myself, that's when i yearn for some time-off away with the family. & guess what - i've got a church retreat coming up this weekend where the post of asst camp co-ordinator ( the actual designation is asst camp commandant but i'm just too indisciplined & embarassed to be accorded a military decoration - ha!) was unexpectedly dropped unto my lap. ah, never mind, i shall look forward to some peace, solace & soulful rejuvenation & at the same time hope i don't make a hash of things. but i hear the invited speaker, a formidable canadian pastor, has been known to set church camps on fire - spiritually, that is. hallelujah!
i also have a medical meeting coming up end-august in KL, where i will catch up with some old pals. these are invariably social get-togethers 1st & foremost, & the educational objectives sometimes take a back-seat.
in the meantime, i'm putting my legs up, getting a massage on the mechanical gintell & watching donald trump fire yet another apprentice-wannabe as i blog.
man, i just love my laptop!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
taxes & death
Whoever said that the only certainties in life are taxes & death deserved the nobel prize for philosophy. how much more candid & poignant can life be defined as a 3-word phrase!?!? let me share my personal experiences.
taxes, i can reasonably deal with - as long as i submit the monthly PCB cheques, fill in & send off the tax returns by march (just to be on the safe side, knowing our postmen sometimes hoard mail) & pray the taxman has a good curry lunch before auditing my file, i can get on with life without the scary image of smiling rotund tan sri zainol dwelling too much on my mind. btw, i just received a refund...yay!!
death is a different ballgame altogether. believe me when i say i'm not averse to dying, partly because i meet with Death ever so often, i might just as well call him "buddy". you see, i know who he likes to include into his close circle of permanent friends - the premature, the critically infirmed, the cancer-stricken, the careless/accident-prone & the suicidal, just to name a few. of course, he has on several visits tried to count me as his own but my Saviour has steadfastly vouched for me, insistent that my time has not come. but sooner or later, we will all come to the end of life's journey, whatever our religious inclination. ad finito, there're no 2 ways about it. Some will defiantly stare Death in the face & taunt,"where, O death, is your victory? where, O death, is your sting?", some will buckle in fear & trepidation at the prospect of burning in eternal flames & others will accept their destiny with quiet submission.
much like an event as commonplace as meeting the postman, i had 2 encounters with the Wily One just last week - very appropriate for the current ghost month, as the chinese would have you believe. this 4yr-old boy who broke his arm weighed in at a massive 42kg. he should only be about 20kg - or 25kg tops - but thanks to lack of dietary temperance, he is as heavy a 12yr old. some might consider puffy cheeks & a protuberant tummy a picture of prosperity, but any medic will tell you he is a walking (lumbering?) time-bomb. true to form, within 15mins into the operation to fix his arm, he developed breathing difficulty akin to an asthmatic attack. in fact, it got so critical at one stage i thought i was going to lose him.
Death was panting so close to me, i could feel his warm acerbic breaths on my neck. a silent prayer & a calm mind plus timely divine intervention eventually got us out of trouble. i mentioned "us" because had he succumbed to respiratory failure, i would have died a little inside myself. but it was THAT close!
this other young girl from indonesia had a humongous thyroid swelling for 10 years but didn't do anything about it until another swelling grew adjacent to it in the neck that caused some discomfort. initial scans revealed the thyroid swelling to be operable but the other nodule has encircled some vital arteries and nerves & may be unresectable without damaging those structures. my 2 surgical colleagues decided, horror of horrors, to take it upon themselves to attempt the unenviable (& certainly cavalier) task of removing both swellings. surgery had to be elaborately planned to cover all possiblities, so we won't get caught with our pants downs, for want of a better phrase. & because we were armed to the tooth in anticipation of likely complications, we avoided the land mines & surgery proceeded without as much fuss as the boy's. Death had been kept at arm's length, but only just. the thyroid was removed after 4 hrs but the other lump proved seemingly impossible to be prised off its adjacent artery & nerves. after a further 5 hrs of deft manoeuvring & careful disentangling, the task was abandoned - seemingly impossible had become impossible. this unfortunate girl is now back in indonesia awaiting further test results on the 2nd lump.
Just as we have evolved methods of avoiding taxes....er....i mean, paying less taxes & claiming more reliefs, we also have improvised ways of warding off evil spirits, vampires & beings from the nether world, eg. religious chants, brandishing the crucifix, robed with garlic etc. perhaps those who have something or someone to fall back on, like firm cultural grounding, staunch religious beliefs, a divine deity or God, will weather the fear of death rationally & logically:
"Even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
i fear no evil,
for you are with me."
i remember an episode from x-files where a photojournalist had the knack of being right where a murder was to be committed or where an accident was to occur, & the police wondered how he always got the 1st shots at the victims. turned out that he had been accursed with immortality & was fed-up of living for over a century, although he looked barely a day over 50 - goes to show it's not that great to have too much of a good thing! so he'd there everytime Death came to stake his claim & he tried to enforced a face-to-face encounter with the grim reaper - the only way to end the curse & rest in peace forever.
no such problems for me. in my line of work, Death is never more than a breath away. i may sound nonchalant & cavalier when i say i'm used to that, immuned even, but i must thread carefully lest i step on his toes. my name might be on his list next. in the mean time, i wonder how i shall treat myself with the tax refund? maybe all 6 episodes of star wars on dvd.....& a light sabre.
may the force be with you!
taxes, i can reasonably deal with - as long as i submit the monthly PCB cheques, fill in & send off the tax returns by march (just to be on the safe side, knowing our postmen sometimes hoard mail) & pray the taxman has a good curry lunch before auditing my file, i can get on with life without the scary image of smiling rotund tan sri zainol dwelling too much on my mind. btw, i just received a refund...yay!!
death is a different ballgame altogether. believe me when i say i'm not averse to dying, partly because i meet with Death ever so often, i might just as well call him "buddy". you see, i know who he likes to include into his close circle of permanent friends - the premature, the critically infirmed, the cancer-stricken, the careless/accident-prone & the suicidal, just to name a few. of course, he has on several visits tried to count me as his own but my Saviour has steadfastly vouched for me, insistent that my time has not come. but sooner or later, we will all come to the end of life's journey, whatever our religious inclination. ad finito, there're no 2 ways about it. Some will defiantly stare Death in the face & taunt,"where, O death, is your victory? where, O death, is your sting?", some will buckle in fear & trepidation at the prospect of burning in eternal flames & others will accept their destiny with quiet submission.
much like an event as commonplace as meeting the postman, i had 2 encounters with the Wily One just last week - very appropriate for the current ghost month, as the chinese would have you believe. this 4yr-old boy who broke his arm weighed in at a massive 42kg. he should only be about 20kg - or 25kg tops - but thanks to lack of dietary temperance, he is as heavy a 12yr old. some might consider puffy cheeks & a protuberant tummy a picture of prosperity, but any medic will tell you he is a walking (lumbering?) time-bomb. true to form, within 15mins into the operation to fix his arm, he developed breathing difficulty akin to an asthmatic attack. in fact, it got so critical at one stage i thought i was going to lose him.
Death was panting so close to me, i could feel his warm acerbic breaths on my neck. a silent prayer & a calm mind plus timely divine intervention eventually got us out of trouble. i mentioned "us" because had he succumbed to respiratory failure, i would have died a little inside myself. but it was THAT close!
this other young girl from indonesia had a humongous thyroid swelling for 10 years but didn't do anything about it until another swelling grew adjacent to it in the neck that caused some discomfort. initial scans revealed the thyroid swelling to be operable but the other nodule has encircled some vital arteries and nerves & may be unresectable without damaging those structures. my 2 surgical colleagues decided, horror of horrors, to take it upon themselves to attempt the unenviable (& certainly cavalier) task of removing both swellings. surgery had to be elaborately planned to cover all possiblities, so we won't get caught with our pants downs, for want of a better phrase. & because we were armed to the tooth in anticipation of likely complications, we avoided the land mines & surgery proceeded without as much fuss as the boy's. Death had been kept at arm's length, but only just. the thyroid was removed after 4 hrs but the other lump proved seemingly impossible to be prised off its adjacent artery & nerves. after a further 5 hrs of deft manoeuvring & careful disentangling, the task was abandoned - seemingly impossible had become impossible. this unfortunate girl is now back in indonesia awaiting further test results on the 2nd lump.
Just as we have evolved methods of avoiding taxes....er....i mean, paying less taxes & claiming more reliefs, we also have improvised ways of warding off evil spirits, vampires & beings from the nether world, eg. religious chants, brandishing the crucifix, robed with garlic etc. perhaps those who have something or someone to fall back on, like firm cultural grounding, staunch religious beliefs, a divine deity or God, will weather the fear of death rationally & logically:
"Even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
i fear no evil,
for you are with me."
i remember an episode from x-files where a photojournalist had the knack of being right where a murder was to be committed or where an accident was to occur, & the police wondered how he always got the 1st shots at the victims. turned out that he had been accursed with immortality & was fed-up of living for over a century, although he looked barely a day over 50 - goes to show it's not that great to have too much of a good thing! so he'd there everytime Death came to stake his claim & he tried to enforced a face-to-face encounter with the grim reaper - the only way to end the curse & rest in peace forever.
no such problems for me. in my line of work, Death is never more than a breath away. i may sound nonchalant & cavalier when i say i'm used to that, immuned even, but i must thread carefully lest i step on his toes. my name might be on his list next. in the mean time, i wonder how i shall treat myself with the tax refund? maybe all 6 episodes of star wars on dvd.....& a light sabre.
may the force be with you!
Sunday, July 16, 2006
22 years on....& still no regrets!
16 July 1984.
that's a loooong time ago unless you're an astronomy buff. but for most people, a whole generation could reproduce itself in that time span. a child born on that date would today be in the final year of varsity, or even a malaysian idol!
anyway, that was my very 1st day at work. imagine if you will, a bespectacled, starry-eyed houseman in a white coat, brimming with lofty ideals but totally unprepared to face an unforgiving world, & about to be let loose on those ....er...poor unsuspecting patients. then you know why you should be grateful that you did not seek treatment at penang general hospital on that day. ha ha, i jest. yes, i looked "blur" & yes, i had lofty ideals (yay, to save the world but i've mellowed a lot since discovering my own mortality) but we, my freshly-graduated colleagues & i, were closely supervised on our clinical rounds by the seniors & the head of department, aka "the boss". so began a journey to live out my imagination & fantasies, my dream & ambition. come forth, you vicious bacteria & vile afflictions, for a new hero has emerged to battle you to the bitter end.......ha ha, it sounds so surreal!
to be a doctor was one of my career options when i was still in shorts & playing one-leg in school. but then, i also wanted to be a mechanic (because a family outing was once cancelled because my father couldn't start the car), a bus conductor (i thought the slingbags for coins & the ticket-clipper were cool - i still have some of the used bus tickets i've kept all this while at my parent's place) as well as a ma+hema+1c1an (because i once achieved 100marks for maths in primary school). but as the years rolled on, as i became more comfortable with additional maths, physics & chemistry, & as i mixed with like-minded classmates in the 6th form, it became increasing obvious that pursuing an engineering degree was a natural decision. a no-brainer, so to speak. before long, we were debating the merits of doing the course at the various local/regional varsities. my classmate the top student was eventually awarded a scholarship from esso to pursue his degree at london's imperial college. francis, wherever you are..... you the MAN!!
for me, i back-peddled & unashamedly reneged on our earlier consensus. call it a betrayal, an epiphany or simply seeing light at the end of a tunnel. oh yes, maybe i should add "career suicide" to that list - how else can i explain taking up medicine when i can't stand the sight of blood & biology is my archilles heel? & don't get me started on needle-phobia!!
well, the 1st 2 years, traditionally called the pre-clinical years (where teaching was done via lectures/tutorials, lab work & the dreaded dissection room - i still can't decide which is worse : cutting up the ghastly-looking cadavers or the pungent sting of formalin on the nostrils) were, simply put, tough years. how else can it be described when there's just loads of facts & names to commit to memory, & more than half of these would cease to be useful & then be vanquished to the back-burner years later??
the subsequent 3 clinical years were more relevant to the actual practice of medicine - we dealt with real people (the patients) in the clinics & wards. oh yes, i mustn't forget to mention it was here that we 1st had our encounters with those "angels of mercy", the nightingale apprentices, or in layman's terms, the student nurses. they sure helped us get by some difficult times. ha ha.
before long, what was perceived to be 5 long years of hard work & sacrifice finally came to pass, & there we were, standing tall at the threshold of the real world, promising to put into practice the noble art of healing, & above all, to do no harm. i still vividly remember the 1st day as a houseman. despite the initial doubt & delibration over the decision to embark upon, for most part, an unplanned choice of career, i am convinced now that i did not commit an error of judgment. i'd like to think that in the course of my job through the years, i've managed to uncover & nurture inner traits like compassion & empathy, which i never knew existed within. my dear ex-classmate PK was uncannily clairvoyant when she quoted william blake in my autograph book at the end of 6th form :
God bless you, PK!!
In any case, that still hasn't lessened my fascination for the bus conductor's job....
(note : these bus tickets were saved from the good old days when 5 & 10sen fares were the norm. the monopoly board is the same one mum bought me when i was 12 & in my dreams, i still own mayfair & park lane!!)
that's a loooong time ago unless you're an astronomy buff. but for most people, a whole generation could reproduce itself in that time span. a child born on that date would today be in the final year of varsity, or even a malaysian idol!
anyway, that was my very 1st day at work. imagine if you will, a bespectacled, starry-eyed houseman in a white coat, brimming with lofty ideals but totally unprepared to face an unforgiving world, & about to be let loose on those ....er...poor unsuspecting patients. then you know why you should be grateful that you did not seek treatment at penang general hospital on that day. ha ha, i jest. yes, i looked "blur" & yes, i had lofty ideals (yay, to save the world but i've mellowed a lot since discovering my own mortality) but we, my freshly-graduated colleagues & i, were closely supervised on our clinical rounds by the seniors & the head of department, aka "the boss". so began a journey to live out my imagination & fantasies, my dream & ambition. come forth, you vicious bacteria & vile afflictions, for a new hero has emerged to battle you to the bitter end.......ha ha, it sounds so surreal!
to be a doctor was one of my career options when i was still in shorts & playing one-leg in school. but then, i also wanted to be a mechanic (because a family outing was once cancelled because my father couldn't start the car), a bus conductor (i thought the slingbags for coins & the ticket-clipper were cool - i still have some of the used bus tickets i've kept all this while at my parent's place) as well as a ma+hema+1c1an (because i once achieved 100marks for maths in primary school). but as the years rolled on, as i became more comfortable with additional maths, physics & chemistry, & as i mixed with like-minded classmates in the 6th form, it became increasing obvious that pursuing an engineering degree was a natural decision. a no-brainer, so to speak. before long, we were debating the merits of doing the course at the various local/regional varsities. my classmate the top student was eventually awarded a scholarship from esso to pursue his degree at london's imperial college. francis, wherever you are..... you the MAN!!
for me, i back-peddled & unashamedly reneged on our earlier consensus. call it a betrayal, an epiphany or simply seeing light at the end of a tunnel. oh yes, maybe i should add "career suicide" to that list - how else can i explain taking up medicine when i can't stand the sight of blood & biology is my archilles heel? & don't get me started on needle-phobia!!
well, the 1st 2 years, traditionally called the pre-clinical years (where teaching was done via lectures/tutorials, lab work & the dreaded dissection room - i still can't decide which is worse : cutting up the ghastly-looking cadavers or the pungent sting of formalin on the nostrils) were, simply put, tough years. how else can it be described when there's just loads of facts & names to commit to memory, & more than half of these would cease to be useful & then be vanquished to the back-burner years later??
the subsequent 3 clinical years were more relevant to the actual practice of medicine - we dealt with real people (the patients) in the clinics & wards. oh yes, i mustn't forget to mention it was here that we 1st had our encounters with those "angels of mercy", the nightingale apprentices, or in layman's terms, the student nurses. they sure helped us get by some difficult times. ha ha.
before long, what was perceived to be 5 long years of hard work & sacrifice finally came to pass, & there we were, standing tall at the threshold of the real world, promising to put into practice the noble art of healing, & above all, to do no harm. i still vividly remember the 1st day as a houseman. despite the initial doubt & delibration over the decision to embark upon, for most part, an unplanned choice of career, i am convinced now that i did not commit an error of judgment. i'd like to think that in the course of my job through the years, i've managed to uncover & nurture inner traits like compassion & empathy, which i never knew existed within. my dear ex-classmate PK was uncannily clairvoyant when she quoted william blake in my autograph book at the end of 6th form :
God bless you, PK!!
In any case, that still hasn't lessened my fascination for the bus conductor's job....
(note : these bus tickets were saved from the good old days when 5 & 10sen fares were the norm. the monopoly board is the same one mum bought me when i was 12 & in my dreams, i still own mayfair & park lane!!)
Monday, July 03, 2006
angels on earth
last week i saw with my own eyes what i've always believed & possibly what generations of parents have vehemently acknowledged. children are a blessing & you get double dose if you have daughters. 2 touching instances of filial piety prompted me to write this blog.
the 1st is a 89year old great-grand mother who has a tumour of the bowel which required urgent surgical removal. she has not been in good health for a few years & the surgery would be deemed life-threatening but necessary. after much delibration & discussion with the family members, it was unanimously agreed upon to proceed. all possible scenarios were elaborated, the best-scene being a complete recovery & eventual discharge from hospital to live happily ever after, to the worst which is a death on the operating table. as in most things in life, this event took the middle path - a successful & complete removal of the tumour but the dear old lady got bogged down with her pre-existing heart problem.
3 of her grand-daughters flew back from the US, Canada & UK respectively . they fed & cleaned her, talked to her during her lucid spells & each took turns at keeping virgil by her bedside at other times. they were the ones who spoke with the doctors, & enquired of her condition & prognosis. even though she didn't get better, the grand-daughters showered her with love & compassion right till the very end, endorsing a very special relationship that can only be borne out of years of unwavering loyalty, consuming kindness, constant pampering & pandering to whims & fancies - the stuff of sugar n spice & everything nice. a definite one-up for the sisters!
another tale of maternal dedication emerged the same week. a middle-aged woman was admitted to hospital for surgical treatment of a complication of her poorly-controlled diabetes. she also had a stroke recently which left her weak on 1 side & unable to speak. it was her daughter who took leave from work in another state to help nurse her through this difficult period. again, it was her daughter who helped feed & clean her, & stayed by her bed side. again, no sign of any male offspring.
so, my question is : where are the guys? maybe these older women never had sons or grandsons & maybe if they had, i sure dread to think that they were caught up at work or somewhere else in this world cup season, not when the matriach need them most. could it be true to tradition that boys are made of snips & snails & puppy dogs' tails??
there must be a song about women or daughters in the archives somewhere. was it john meyer who wrote about daughters? does he know something we don't when he sang...
"So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too."words that ring true for all of us. i pray & hope that when i am on death's bed, my angels will shower compassion as they watch over me.
the 1st is a 89year old great-grand mother who has a tumour of the bowel which required urgent surgical removal. she has not been in good health for a few years & the surgery would be deemed life-threatening but necessary. after much delibration & discussion with the family members, it was unanimously agreed upon to proceed. all possible scenarios were elaborated, the best-scene being a complete recovery & eventual discharge from hospital to live happily ever after, to the worst which is a death on the operating table. as in most things in life, this event took the middle path - a successful & complete removal of the tumour but the dear old lady got bogged down with her pre-existing heart problem.
3 of her grand-daughters flew back from the US, Canada & UK respectively . they fed & cleaned her, talked to her during her lucid spells & each took turns at keeping virgil by her bedside at other times. they were the ones who spoke with the doctors, & enquired of her condition & prognosis. even though she didn't get better, the grand-daughters showered her with love & compassion right till the very end, endorsing a very special relationship that can only be borne out of years of unwavering loyalty, consuming kindness, constant pampering & pandering to whims & fancies - the stuff of sugar n spice & everything nice. a definite one-up for the sisters!
another tale of maternal dedication emerged the same week. a middle-aged woman was admitted to hospital for surgical treatment of a complication of her poorly-controlled diabetes. she also had a stroke recently which left her weak on 1 side & unable to speak. it was her daughter who took leave from work in another state to help nurse her through this difficult period. again, it was her daughter who helped feed & clean her, & stayed by her bed side. again, no sign of any male offspring.
so, my question is : where are the guys? maybe these older women never had sons or grandsons & maybe if they had, i sure dread to think that they were caught up at work or somewhere else in this world cup season, not when the matriach need them most. could it be true to tradition that boys are made of snips & snails & puppy dogs' tails??
there must be a song about women or daughters in the archives somewhere. was it john meyer who wrote about daughters? does he know something we don't when he sang...
"So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too."words that ring true for all of us. i pray & hope that when i am on death's bed, my angels will shower compassion as they watch over me.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
girls in unison
choral speaking.
what in God's green earth is that? when i was in primary school, which incidentally was roughly when brazil took permanent possession of the jules rimet cup, the group activities (now called the politically- correct term "co-curricular activities") i was exposed to games like badminton & rounders, or the more sedate stamp-collecting & gardening. is it any wonder that i have no lasting memory 0f what i did outside of reciting the alphabets & baa baa black sheep, & playing one-leg during recess?? oh wait, i did remember that i was teacher's pet but i digress.
but the kids have it good now. just these few days, i read of cheer-leading competitions amongst schools at state & national levels. i think having young girls prancing around in mini-skirts & tights, & flexing their nubile bodies to the sound of rock-and-roll would have given dear matronly Mrs Thumboo an apoplexy. but i am glad we have moved with the times & the powers-that-be have accepted & encouraged such healthy sports as much as tug-of-war or rock-climbing.
when i 1st heard my then 10yr old daughter in practice for the state-level choral speaking competition some years back, i was pleasantly amazed that pre-teens could be coaxed & coached to speak articulately in unison, & still maintain a musical ring to it. ah, the wonders of young, intelligent & impressionable minds!! her school went on to represent the state at national level & it was indeed a proud & memorable experience for her & her friends to do honour for the school. perhaps, as 1st timers, expectations ran high as they had anticipated a top 3 finish but their naive aspirations came to grieve (literally!!) in the face of fierce competition. they cried & were momentarily inconsolable when the results were announced.
this year is the 3rd one running that they have gone on to the national finals. the team came in 5th out of 15 schools. the girls must have matured (or did they just got used to not being in the top 3??) because they had a blast of a time despite the disappointment. no tears, no wailings, just good fun! i'm personally relieved that they realised winning would be nice but is not everything. i hope they remember that when the UPSR results are released.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
wolf in sheep's clothing
my mother-in-law has coronary artery disease (CAD). one of the 3 main blood vessels supplying oxygen to the heart muscle is 80% blocked but she has never complained of chest pain, a cardinal feature of the disease. instead, she has had a nagging tummy ache for some months which her family doctor attributed to consuming traditional chinese medicine for her persistent joint pains. a course of anti-ulcer pills provided symptomatic relief.
my heart specialist friend, whom i shall call B8, checked her up & put her on a exercise treadmill test. the results suggested that CAD was likely. a subsequent coronary angiogram, where dye is injected into each of the main arteries & real-time images are caught on xray films, revealed the offending blocked vessel. next up was a balloon angioplasty, where a fine catheter whose tip has an inflatable balloon was inserted to break up the obstructing plaque & subsequently to dilate the narrowed vessel. it was only after several nerve-wrecking attempts lasting over 2 agonising hours (&, may i add, 3 costly catheters later) that a sweaty B8 finally emerged to proclaimed that the procedure was a venerable success. and for good measure, he even inserted a stent, an expandable metallic wire-mesh, at the site of the previous blockage to maintain patency to the vessel, giving it a new lease of life, so to speak.
as any cardiologist will tell you, CAD can mimic anything from a tummy ache, to a backache, shoulder tip pain & numbness of the arm, just to name a few. a chameleon of sorts, it often baffles & deceives the clinician as to its true, potential deadly nature. who knows how many people have succumbed to this a vicious wolf in sheep's clothing, thinking it's just a minor ailment.
it is my personal observation that we are getting CAD at a progressively younger age. how often have i seen patients in their early 40s going under the surgeons' knife for coronary artery bypass surgery, often a last resort when angioplasty has failed to relieve the blocked vessels?? too many for close comfort!! blame it on the constant brainwashing from fast food comercials, or stress from 21st century living, or that we just don't care about the abuses we subject our bodies to.
still, my mother-in-law is one fortunate woman. she has been innocently living with a ticking time-bomb & she goes on with life thinking all she has is a vague abdominal colic. i'm glad & she's glad that i have a colleague who shows conscience & compassion, & has the skill & temperament to match. whoever said doctors are mercenaries hasn't met B8. i like to think that i'm doing my part for healthy living & avoiding a coronary- eat with temperance, exercise frequently, yadda yadda yadda. but just to be on the safe side, i have B8 on my speed-dial.
my heart specialist friend, whom i shall call B8, checked her up & put her on a exercise treadmill test. the results suggested that CAD was likely. a subsequent coronary angiogram, where dye is injected into each of the main arteries & real-time images are caught on xray films, revealed the offending blocked vessel. next up was a balloon angioplasty, where a fine catheter whose tip has an inflatable balloon was inserted to break up the obstructing plaque & subsequently to dilate the narrowed vessel. it was only after several nerve-wrecking attempts lasting over 2 agonising hours (&, may i add, 3 costly catheters later) that a sweaty B8 finally emerged to proclaimed that the procedure was a venerable success. and for good measure, he even inserted a stent, an expandable metallic wire-mesh, at the site of the previous blockage to maintain patency to the vessel, giving it a new lease of life, so to speak.
as any cardiologist will tell you, CAD can mimic anything from a tummy ache, to a backache, shoulder tip pain & numbness of the arm, just to name a few. a chameleon of sorts, it often baffles & deceives the clinician as to its true, potential deadly nature. who knows how many people have succumbed to this a vicious wolf in sheep's clothing, thinking it's just a minor ailment.
it is my personal observation that we are getting CAD at a progressively younger age. how often have i seen patients in their early 40s going under the surgeons' knife for coronary artery bypass surgery, often a last resort when angioplasty has failed to relieve the blocked vessels?? too many for close comfort!! blame it on the constant brainwashing from fast food comercials, or stress from 21st century living, or that we just don't care about the abuses we subject our bodies to.
still, my mother-in-law is one fortunate woman. she has been innocently living with a ticking time-bomb & she goes on with life thinking all she has is a vague abdominal colic. i'm glad & she's glad that i have a colleague who shows conscience & compassion, & has the skill & temperament to match. whoever said doctors are mercenaries hasn't met B8. i like to think that i'm doing my part for healthy living & avoiding a coronary- eat with temperance, exercise frequently, yadda yadda yadda. but just to be on the safe side, i have B8 on my speed-dial.
Monday, June 19, 2006
a father's day blog
fathers' day came & went.
i was never particularly close to my father & still am not. i can't really figure out why. my father is a quiet, unassuming person & seldom shares his thoughts. my earliest recollection of our relationship is one of a stern & strict discipline. he used the rotan as & when it was needed to impose some form of control over my inherent delinquent nature, or so i thought. hard as i tried to recall, i don't think i had terribly bad behaviour.
but he was definitely a family man. as often as he could, he would take mum, my kid brother & i out on evening drives by the sea....actually, the straits of johore but to my young mind, anything that was not on land was sea. we would sit by the grass verge & try to count the number of stars in the sky. i only learnt much later that there are as many stars as there are grains of sand on the beach - infinite. again, how naive & gullible our young minds were!
two things my father impressed upon me, was the importance of doing well in studies and to have a masterly command of the english language, both of which i'm not sure if i have fulfilled but which, i hope to impressed upon my kids. ironic, isn't it - i couldn't do it but hope someone else could!!?? it was mum who taught that it was important to be a good person as well. was that why i was closer to mum? one reason could be that she played the roles of father, mother & companion when my father had to work in another state for 6 of my formative years & the other was that it was mum who supported me thru varsity. but i knew my father was, & still is, very proud of me when i graduated. i still remember he was close to tears when i left for UK to do post-grad, appealing that i came back soon. "soon" was 4 years long.
just before i came home, he had to undergo major surgery & i extended my deep, heart-felt appreciation to a fellow colleague who took care of him while i was away. he pulled thru after a few near-death escapes, only to develope parkinson's disease (a neurological disorder resulting from a lack of a brain chemical, causing tremors & slurred speech) years later. his symptoms are now controlled with medication but, by & large, there is no definitive cure currently.
fathers' day has never been celebrated in my family with the same significance as birthdays or chinese new year. so, a phone call home did the trick but he knows, come rain or shine, my brother and i will be home for his birthday, feting him to lunch at his favourite restaurant. perhaps it was the sight & aroma of the black-pepper crabs & deep-fried prawns with oats that litted up his face with glee but i suspect it has as much to do with the timely gathering of his family - his clan - on his special day. perhaps, that's all that matters as he enters life's twilight.
children are truly a blessing, & i have been richly bestowed twice over. my elder girl is 12 this year & she made me a card from the printshop software. the boy is 4 & he conjured up, with some help from his kindergarten teachers, these cards in which he drew what he perceived to be me - big head, small tuft of hair & small eyes with glasses. how we see each other reflects our mental maturity, socio-cultural influences & personal experiences. perhaps the sweetest, most beautiful images are seen thru the innocent eyes of a child.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
defer the trip home
i'm happy but not to the extent of being ecstatic. i was watching the england-trinidad & tobago match last nite and exchanging text messages with a football-mad colleague. we were both criticising the way the english forwards (who?? what forwards??) were misfiring and the midfield, though having most of the play, were not dictating the game. the back 4 were the saving grace & without their rock-solid display of grit, the game might not have been scoreless at that stage. my friend even suggested that sven start booking their flights home. however, crouch & gerrard's late double strike probably postponed the inevitable - consignment to the heap of underperforming discards. hold on to those tickets, sven.
i'm not a true-blue england fan. but after having spent some of the my best years living amongst the queen's subjects, surviving on a diet of shepherd's pie, fish & chips, low-cal coke & scandal-exposing tabloids, i have to admit to feeling some affinity to the football team. after all, i was brought up on a staple of star soccer (that's what the highlight program of the old division 1 was called in the days of black & white tv) & shoot! magazine, & at one stage of my juvenile life, posters of alan ball & charlie george were paid homage with religious fervour. yeah, i was an arsenal fan even before thierry henry was born.
i commiserate with the english team, in that they do not have in their current rank a (fit) marksman that will strike fear in their opponents. someone in the mould of alan shearer, ian wright or gary lineker would lend invaluable support to rooney, set the field alight & get the bookies all excited again. is it time for theo walcott to get a game? ah well, if they do get thru to the last 8 or 4, good for them but that's as far as they deserved to progress. otherwise, it's back to the drawing board for steve mcclaren.
like i said, i'm happy but not ecstatic.
i'm not a true-blue england fan. but after having spent some of the my best years living amongst the queen's subjects, surviving on a diet of shepherd's pie, fish & chips, low-cal coke & scandal-exposing tabloids, i have to admit to feeling some affinity to the football team. after all, i was brought up on a staple of star soccer (that's what the highlight program of the old division 1 was called in the days of black & white tv) & shoot! magazine, & at one stage of my juvenile life, posters of alan ball & charlie george were paid homage with religious fervour. yeah, i was an arsenal fan even before thierry henry was born.
i commiserate with the english team, in that they do not have in their current rank a (fit) marksman that will strike fear in their opponents. someone in the mould of alan shearer, ian wright or gary lineker would lend invaluable support to rooney, set the field alight & get the bookies all excited again. is it time for theo walcott to get a game? ah well, if they do get thru to the last 8 or 4, good for them but that's as far as they deserved to progress. otherwise, it's back to the drawing board for steve mcclaren.
like i said, i'm happy but not ecstatic.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
4 pizzas & a pepsi
i saw the movie 4 weddings & a funeral over 10years ago when i was studying in the uk. it was funny in the british sort of way, what with hugh grant & rowan atkinson mumbling & fumbling their way thru. i guess i could associate with grant's character ( as i also did in notting hill & bridget jone's diary) esp the way he beat around the bush & got his words all tangled up when trying to get a date with andie mcdowell's character. anyway, despite a sombre moment at a funeral, there was a happy ending - the 4th wedding.
i just had 4 slices of 3 varieties of large-sized pizza from pizza hut. that's equivalent to half a large pizza. of course it's not to the pizza chain's advantage to reveal the calorie content on the packaging, but i can guess those 4 slices would send a calorie-meter way past the red zone, screaming "heart attack! heart attack!". i could have sworn 2 of the varieties had extra cheese cleverly disguised as toppings. downed that with a 12oz non-diet pepsi, & you have my cardiologist colleague shaking his head in disapproval & probably secretly pencilling a date for me in his appointment book. as if in an act of defiance, i decided i'd TRY to work off the extra pounds later in the evening, doing 30 mins of rigourous aerobics. (yeah, you heard me right - me, a guy doing aerobics but please don't tell my mum). but in reality, this is a futile attempt to postpone the inevitable (read: heart attack! heart attack!) bcos the maths just don't add up. the pizzas & pepsi easily add up to 1200 calories while even a breathless, heart-pounding & muscle-aching session at aerobics would hardly subtract 600 calories. so to express this mathematically :
4 pizzas + 1 pepsi - 30mins aerobics = 1 coronary stent
if i keep up with this diet, i should not take out a mortgage beyond 5yrs & should put my cardiologist number on speed dial, but thank goodness this is a one-off; an aberration to my normal routine. like the movie, this is a happy ending. and i lived to eat another day.
i just had 4 slices of 3 varieties of large-sized pizza from pizza hut. that's equivalent to half a large pizza. of course it's not to the pizza chain's advantage to reveal the calorie content on the packaging, but i can guess those 4 slices would send a calorie-meter way past the red zone, screaming "heart attack! heart attack!". i could have sworn 2 of the varieties had extra cheese cleverly disguised as toppings. downed that with a 12oz non-diet pepsi, & you have my cardiologist colleague shaking his head in disapproval & probably secretly pencilling a date for me in his appointment book. as if in an act of defiance, i decided i'd TRY to work off the extra pounds later in the evening, doing 30 mins of rigourous aerobics. (yeah, you heard me right - me, a guy doing aerobics but please don't tell my mum). but in reality, this is a futile attempt to postpone the inevitable (read: heart attack! heart attack!) bcos the maths just don't add up. the pizzas & pepsi easily add up to 1200 calories while even a breathless, heart-pounding & muscle-aching session at aerobics would hardly subtract 600 calories. so to express this mathematically :
4 pizzas + 1 pepsi - 30mins aerobics = 1 coronary stent
if i keep up with this diet, i should not take out a mortgage beyond 5yrs & should put my cardiologist number on speed dial, but thank goodness this is a one-off; an aberration to my normal routine. like the movie, this is a happy ending. and i lived to eat another day.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
funny thing. i set up this blog yesterday mostly on impulse. i mean, i had toyed with this idea for sometime, but when prompted by blogger that it was a simple task (can any internet-inspired computer-driven task be simple for a novice like me?) i took on the challenge, like i said, on impulse & now that it is up & running, i'm thrilled to bits. however, when asked for a title for the blog, i mulled & hesitated before deciding on "1st, do no harm". then when i tried to search for my own blog online, i discovered, to my horror, that there are 100s of listings under that title. so embarassed that i may be derided a copy-cat or one lacking in originality, i decided on a modification & hence, "1st & last, do no harm" was re-born.
scrounging around for some photos to post & lining up some stories to regale, so hang on there.
scrounging around for some photos to post & lining up some stories to regale, so hang on there.
1st blog
this is my 1st ever blog.
the hippocrate's oath, which by & large governs the practice of medical doctors, provides several guiding principles for which the latter are admonished to adhere. For example, to revere his (refers just as much to her) Teacher (not in the same context as in da vinci code) as much as his parents, to give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, and not divulge all that he sees or hears in the life of men, just to name 3.
really, i can't remember, for the life of me, all that hippocrate had wanted me to be. but what i do know, deep in my heart, is that above anything & everything else, i must do no harm to those who seek my expertise in the art of healing.
but while we are frequently inspired by great & mighty acts of heroism and ingenuity in medicine, which may have contributed to the high esteem accorded to doctors & which may also have resulted in the scrambling for medical places in the varsities, i hope to share with you instances, circumstances & experiences that reveal doctors are as human as the next person. we laugh & cry, revel & suffer. & we have made errors of judgement with unfortunate outcomes.
join me, won't you?
the hippocrate's oath, which by & large governs the practice of medical doctors, provides several guiding principles for which the latter are admonished to adhere. For example, to revere his (refers just as much to her) Teacher (not in the same context as in da vinci code) as much as his parents, to give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, and not divulge all that he sees or hears in the life of men, just to name 3.
really, i can't remember, for the life of me, all that hippocrate had wanted me to be. but what i do know, deep in my heart, is that above anything & everything else, i must do no harm to those who seek my expertise in the art of healing.
but while we are frequently inspired by great & mighty acts of heroism and ingenuity in medicine, which may have contributed to the high esteem accorded to doctors & which may also have resulted in the scrambling for medical places in the varsities, i hope to share with you instances, circumstances & experiences that reveal doctors are as human as the next person. we laugh & cry, revel & suffer. & we have made errors of judgement with unfortunate outcomes.
join me, won't you?
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