Around KL

I had some relatives from Sungai Petani who came over to Kl over the weekend. We took them around to some of the iconic landmarks of KL. I too tagged along visiting places I live nearby but never truly put much thought into.

Tugu Negara (National Monument)

It has ben at least a decade since I last went to the National Monument.

Galery Sri Perdana
The former residence of our PM Dr M, it has been converted into a archive. It's like a mini museum of the residence with some pictures and gifts he recieved as a PM. My 1st time there. Didn't even knew it exists. =p

The great view of KL from the residence

Some of his vehicles.

Thean Hou Temple

Door Gods - Protects the house from evil spirits

Zodiac animals. A favourite of young children

Palace

I have never been to the palace. I have countless times drove pass it but never stopped. It's ironic since I have visited the palace at England and China. =)

Changing of Guards

Petaling Street (Chinatown)

Steam Boat June 09

We had a steam boat gathering at my place today. Just a small one with sime close friends and lots of food. Scrumptious aren't they? Enjoy! hehe =)

Phacoemulsification

My dad went for an eye surgery yesterday. He had cataract in his left eye and the doctor performed a Phacoemulsification to remove the cataract as well as replace a new artificial lens. (My dad was tested today morning and now have almost perfect vision, better than mine. Damn)

Me being a harworking and enthusiastic (=p) medical student requested to watch the procedure. My dad's Opthomologist Dr Hardeep Singh agreed to allow me in. IIt was a long wait and a short procedure. There were many other patients waiting and my dad was the 2nd last patient for the day. What I noticed while waiting at the waiting area was the average age of the other patients was 20 years more senior than my dad. haha I guess my dad's considered the junior huh. =p

I changed into scrub suit and as always I stood beside the doctor careful not to touch anything as he went through the procedure. Everything was done under a microscope. I only saw his gross movements and only had a slight idea of what he was doing. The procedure is conducted under topical anaesthesia. The lens is broken into smaller pieces (emulsified) with vibration and then aspirated via suction. An intraocular lens implant is then placed into the remaining lens capsule. This is a modern method of removing cataract. An older method would require a large incision in the sclera or cornea. It is still indicated for patients with hard cataract.

As I was sitting in the waiting area before and after the procedure, I realised that many of the patients were Chinese who speak little English or Bahasa Melayu. One might wonder, how does this doctor communicate with his patient? Why do so many Chinese speaking uncle and aunty choose to see a Singh doctor? I found out that Dr Hardeep speaks Chinese. Well, that sure is an advantage don't you think? Many Chinese cant even speak Chinese and we have here a Singh who can. Remarkable isn't it. In fact this is not the 1st time I met a Chinese speaking non-Chinese doctor. I met a MO during my clinic visit to Jinjang Community Clinic as well as an ENT specialist in Jln Kuching (I can't recall his name) who also speaks Chinese. And by speak I mean fluent, not just being able to scold foul words.

Then it occurred to me. Hey, I need to learn more languages. Our country consists of a multi racial community. We have Malays, Chinese and Indians comprising the top 3 races. I spent 11 years in a Malay school so my BM is quite fluent. English is my 1st language, no problem with that. Chinese. hmmmm... I consider myself fluent in Cantonese, okay in Mandarin and able to communicate sufficiently in Hokkien and Hakka so that's quite okay for now. Still need to work on that though. haha

Quite a linguistic huh? Nope. I don't think so. I'm still missing out 2 major groups. The Indians and the Deaf. Thus, I decided I will expand my spoken language to cater for the major groups in Malaysia. Starting June 13th I will be taking a 10 week course in Sign Language. I have always been fascinated by the ability to communicate with facial expression and hand signs. I hope I will be able to communicate and hold a proper conversation with Sign Language. Perhaps this will work to my benefit in the future as I will be able to communicate with deaf patients as well as help intemperate for the Deaf.

Next, I plan to learn Tamil. If all goes well, I would like to learn Tamil. There are more than 2 million Indians in Malaysia. I believe the main spoken dialect is Tamil (please correct me if I'm wrong). As a future doctor, I will be seeing quite a number of Indian patients and there will be some who would prefer to speak in their mother tongue. Knowing their language would therefore improve communication as well as build patient rapport.

That would be my plan. Hopefully I would have the time in Clinical School to fulfil my plans. =)

Movie Mania

With EOS done and over with, it seems like I have caught myself a nasty condition. I call it Post EOS Syndrome. Cardinal signs of this syndrome is the feeling of boredom, nothing better to do, watching tonnes of movie and occasionally appearing in university despite being on holidays. Anyone else suffering from these symptoms? haha

In the past few weeks I have watched the following movies:

Angels & Demons

ICAC - I Corrupt All Cops

Monster vs Aliens

Terminator Salvation - watched it on the 1st day. =)

Star Trek

Only 5? hmmm.. It felt like alot more. haha Looks like I need to watch more movies then. haha


Im still waiting for the release of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. I predict and know that it will be an awesome movie. =)

Tranformers - Revenge of The Fallen

I need to watch X-Men Origins as well. It released near my exams and I have yet to watch it. Is there anyone out there who have not watched it or wanna watch it again? Anyone? Call me if interested. ;)

I'm officially a 50% doctor

Well, I have been late on alot of update. The most important thing that happened to me the past week was that I experienced my wort moment in IMU- collecting my EOS 5 results. (2nd worse is collecting EOS 3 results and 3rd worse is collecting EOS 2 results. hehe =p)


The good news is I PASSED!!! =D

My passport to Clinical School Seremban

The even better news is I did better than I expected. I actually got a B for EOS 5. That would my best ever result in IMU and to get it for EOS 5 is a big bonus for me.

It was rather surprising for me as the exam did not go as well as I would have hoped it to. OBA was extremely tough and tricky. I had to interpret every question as though it was written in french, understand what it meant and read between the lines for hidden message. Next I had to repeat the same process with the answers. As usual IMU examination standards means that at least 2 answers are very close with only ONE being the BEST answer. Thankfully OSPE and MEQ was better. Evidently I did (slightly) better in these 2 paper. OSPE still remains my favourite theory paper in IMU. Probably because I always get a B+ for OSPE. hahaha

OSCE was good and bad. The 1st day was a total disaster. I felt like crying after the exam. I fumbled in almost all my station, made mistake in stations that I have done a million times before, mixed up left and right (stroke question), stared at the patient for 2 minutes without a clue what to ask (irregular period HT), had no clue how to read an ECG in the SS station and didn't finish one CE station (pleural effusion). Day 2 went smoothly. Thank God! I managed to gain back my momentum and keep myself calm and collected through out the entire 12 stations. My final result - B-. Perhaps if I did well on both days I would have gotten a B+. Hmmm.. Shouldn't be greedy. B- is good enough. hehe

My result slip also told me something. As one might notice, it consists of As and Bs only. That means no more C. I'm no longer a C student!! haha I guess all the mugging I have done in the library is worth it. It pays off to study hard and be consistent with my work. I amaze myself how much I did in the past 1 year and even more how much I managed to revise in a short 16 days between CNS/MSK ICA and EOS5. Even more amazing is how relaxed I was through out the study break. I guess that's another benefit of being consistent. I can afford to be relaxed and take time off for breaks and thus avoid burnouts.

I have learnt my lesson. Be consistent, study hard, prioritize and all shall be well. If only I realised this in semester 1. hmmmm ;)

Oh well. It looks like my days in IMU Bkt Jalil has come to an end. I have foreseen this day coming. Its the end of the old and the beginning of the new. September 1st. A new campus, a new phase of medical school, a new environment and a totally new experience. Come what may, I'm ready.

ps. For the millionth time. Im OFFICIALLY a 50% doctor!! hahahahahahahahahahaha =D

The past is gone, there's nothing to we can do about it. The future is not here yet, we have no idea what's coming. All we have is the present. Make full use of it. Have no regrets.

Random Pictures

Den keeps saying this blog is too bare and too empty and it needs more pictures. Alrite. I agree. Here's some pcitures. (Im still missing alot of pictures. Could I have my pictures pls... =>)

Evidence of the coldness in IMU Library

Peripheral Cyanosis

All covered up. Notice the exam induced puffy eyes?

Christy

Ek Guan