Sharing, Reflecting and Learning

Its confirmed..: I’m posted to General Hospital KL!

The posting letter (together with the news) came about 3 weeks ago, and come this Monday, 17th December, I’ll be reporting for duty at 9 am at the hospital.

Looking back at this past 4 months of holiday, probably the last lengthy one I’m goin to get, its been great..

Just to share some of the things I’ve been up to..

Went to Genting for trips (3 times!), first time was with Woon Fang & Phaik Ngan, then with my family, then once more with my old friend Wengfook for the Genting International Magic Festival

Sat some crazy roller coaster rides during those visits.. great experiences (good & bad.. 1) Pirate ship: nausea+headache inducing = BAD.. 2) SgRejang waterride: Seeing my bro-in-law soaked wet (read: Dr.Lai! :D) and enjoying the ride = GOOD :p kekeke

Visited also

Ipoh

and went to BktMertajam &Penang (Thank you Phaik Ngan!) and tried lots of famous

Penang

food! Great time there makan makan… (burp..)& gaining weight! :p

During the holiday also played alot of Golf with my parents trying to correct my ever elusive golf swing.. Truth: Golf may not be much fun to watch on TV (zzz..:P) but its Great to actually play it! spent A lot of time with my parents, of which I’m grateful and thank God for

And now as it all comes to an end.. one chapter comes to a close, and another, exciting (stressful ? lol) is upon the horizon..

Trying to revise watever I can now before I start working (desperate attempt to resuscitate those idle brain cells.. hoho:p)

In conclusion.. many challenges lie ahead, and all I can say is I continue to trust in God my future, and pray that He will grant all of us starting work, the strength, to always give our best to our patients, the patience, to endure criticism & scolding (constructive or otherwise..) & learn well from all our experiences.. In Jesus name, AMEN!

Ohya, from now on I’ll be loggin onto friendster much less frequent (i’m anticipating a Load of workload) and so only log in now & then to update my blog+my profile. Still I do hope to keep in touch with all of you if not thru friendster then thru other means (SMS, calls etc) and as I’ll be in KL, when I get some short break we could still go for a drink (or u can come visit me, but preferably not out cold and wheeled in on a strecther ;p hehe kidding)

Cheers to y’ all and tkcare

Sincerely,

Alvin

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Hi everyone!

I just had my Final exam last week on the 6^th of August (on my birthday! :-o) It was a tough exam especially with regards to the ‘long-case’ (1 hour to clerk a patient and then discuss/questioned by examiners). Here I would like to share some of my experiences in the exam, and how God has been so real to me thru out it all..

To start with, the ‘long-case’ is an important component in the Final exam and as mentioned it consists of clerking plus examination of a patient within the 1 hour time limit given. The thing was that it was really difficult for most of us to prepare/study thoroughly for it as it was ONE patient out of 6 major disciplines (Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Orthopedics) and each of these disciplines had a Huge range of conditions of their own and any ONE of these could be the one the patient we were going to clerk.

Adding to this fact was that we only had 1 week of break to revise for the exam and so things were pretty stressful to say the least.

On the day of my exam, I had to pick from a small pile of rolled-up papers, each containing the concealed number which would correspond to the patient I was going to clerk. I got no. 5. As I walked pass Room 5 and stood outside waiting for the signal to start, I had a glimpse of the patient inside and saw that it was a pregnant woman. I thought to myself. “Great.. Obstetrics.. I was focusing more on Medicine and Surgery, not Obstetrics..”

I was about to panic when I remembered.. that God was in control. I remembered that He had promised to make my paths straight and grant me His peace in my heart, if I would only ask Him and trust in Him..

And so with that reassurance, I took a deep breath and trusted in Him, and as the signal to start clerking was given and the countdown timer for 1 hour began, I felt a sense of peace in my heart that I had not felt since starting my revision for the exam.. It was a peace that I knew that whether pass or fail, I was not alone.. He was, and would be with me thru everything.. And with this peace, He enabled be to perform to the best that I could throughout the 1 hour, and also thru the discussion part with examiners afterwards..

When the exam was over, I had done the best I could given the situation.. Not everything went smoothly I admit; I had some problems with the accuracy of my physical findings, the examiners had to prompt regularly for the answers etc.. in short, it wasn’t perfect.

But still, with His grace, He enabled me to answer as many questions as possible, and with His grace enabled me to express the facts I knew and my thoughts with confidence.

Although I still didn’t know whether I would pass or fail, I praise Him anyway, as He had already helped me to do and give my best in the exam. Of course, I Was praying hard that He would allow me to pass, but then whether pass or fail, I knew in my heart, that He was watching over me, and would be with be either way.. and that was most important to me..

Thursday came and the results were announced.. and by the grace of God, I passed!! J Hallelujah!.. Truly God is merciful and gracious indeed.. I praise and give all the glory to Him.. In Jesus name, Amen! J

And as I went up on the stage in the auditorium together with my batchmates, and as we took our oath before our lecturers in the pews.. I felt a sense in my being come forth.. As we said our oath in unison aloud to be caring and ethical doctors 2 words could best describe what I felt..

Resposibility.. and Humility..

Resposibility because now that I was to become a doctor I realized that it would be up to me care for patients well, with intergrity and compassion, and to remember always the lessons my lecturers had passed on to me, not just about knowledge and skills, but about ethics and empathy.. lessons which I must now apply to my patients..

Humility, because I knew that it was only by the grace of God that I had come this far.. that He enabled me to do my best in this exam and also saw me thru every trial and exam in the past 5 years in medical school.. and only with His grace was I goin to be able to face the challenges of being a doctor..

And so with that, I now await the convocation on the 18^th of August, Saturday. J

I’ll be at home in Shah Alam for the next 1 month plus or minus, here’s hoping to me up with u guys back in USJ and elsewhere J Lets go makan and/or catch a movie ya! Cheers and see u all around! J

Hie everyone! I finished my Semester 9 exams on friday, 15th February, and results were out the next day on the 16th, and by God’s grace, I passed!! YEAAHAHAha!!

Just want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who prayered for me and my batchmates, truly your prayers meant so much..

God has been gracious and merciful indeed, and I honestly testify here, that it was only by His grace, and His grace alone that I was able to pass..

The semester 9 exams was and is an exam that you could study and prepare as much as you could (bearing in mind the tight schedule and short study break) and it still wouldnt be enough.. There was just so much to cover and so little time.. and anything could come out in the exams..

But by his grace and mercy, He gave me the courage and wisdom I needed to do my best as I trusted in Him and leaned not upon my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6)

And in His great mercy, He allowed to me pass.. Praise and all glory be to him forever and ever! In Jesus name, Amen!

Now I’m having a 2 week break, after which I’ll be heading to Batu Pahat for the final 6 months of training (’shadow’ housemanship they call it -training us to start working as a house officer after this period

Tkcare everyone and Here’s wishing everyone a                                               Happy and Blessed Chinese New Year! Cheers!

In about 8 weeks, I’ll be facing my final year exam (Semester 9). This one’s the toughest one yet, incorparating everything in clinical school syllabus..

Looking back, its been a year since Semester 7 (my last major exam) and during the past year (4th year) I’ve had alot of great experiences, one of the most memorable being my elective posting (a.k.a vacation :p) to Taiwan..

Going with 3 other batchmates, it was the first time I set foot off Malaysia further than Singapore, and my first time to a foreign land with a foreign language (i know, i know, Mandarin isnt exactly ‘foreign’ :p) but my mandarin, being so poor, imagine my shock and anxiety when I arrived and saw that every billboard, signboard, direction signs etc were in Mandarin! (even the food menus! *the horror*) 

Thank God for my 3 friends who were all fluent in Mandarin or I wudnt have survived :phehe To sum it up, it was an unforgettable experience of a lifetime.. Cool weather, blue-crystal-clear oceans, great mountains and gorge, the food, the people, the language difficulties, the-level-6-Earthquake-experience (!!), the exhausative but satisfying walk from town to town, the food, the train rides, the food… Did I mention the food?? (lol)

Anyhow, coming back to the present, I’ll be busy studying in the weeks to come as the exams approach (and tension mounts)..

Take care everyone.. and God Bless y’all

P.S Pls keep both the Semester 9 and Semester 7 batch in your prayers yea as we prepare for our exams (the Sem7s will have their exam same time as ours) Thanks.. and cheers!

Hi everyone! Great news! I passed the Semester 7 exams!! YaaYY!! hehe

Truly God has been good to me.. Great and most worthy of praise is He indeed, in Jesus name, Amen. I couldn’t have done it without Him.. It was a trying and difficult time.. but God provided a way.. giving me strength and peace within.. and support from my family and friends.. yea.. He is truly GREAT!

"Nothing is impossible with God" -Luke 1:37 These words rang true for me as I prepared for the exam and they ring true now..

Thanks for all your prayers, I really appreciate it

Peace,and God bless you all

The end-of-semester 7 major exam dawns in exactly 3 weeks over here in Seremban.. And with the approaching challenge, revision classes and clinical skills practice sessions have begun..

The tension rises.. and with it, our hopes and fears..

During this challenging time of preparation, I humbly ask for your prayers for God to bless us with courage and strength, to endure and persevere in our preparations.. and for blessings during the exam itself..

Not only for us but also for the Semester 9 students, who will also be having their major exam the week immediately after ours.. that He may bless and provide for them too…

Let us all unite in prayer.. for it is written, that if we present our prayers and petition to Him, with thanksgiving, He will grant us His peace.. And we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.. In Jesus name, Amen.

Cheers and God Bless you all always, in all you do today, and everyday peace!

Hi, 2005 comes to an end, and what better way to end it than to celebrate it with the PPOV awards! (more on that later..:-) Ohya, looked through my previous posts and realised that most of them are rilly loong.. and far in between (my apologies on that). So from now on I’ll try to update more often with shorter posts (more posts, less lengthy) unless on certain occasions/topics that I’d like to share my thoughts on a little more

And now.. for the PPOV awards! (yay!) [PPOV awards= Personal-Point-Of-View awards] (LoL, its lame i know.. but soo lame, its actually funny! :-p (hehe, not!)

So in short, what are the Top 5 Movies this year (according to my limited PPOV)? Well, first off, I didnt watch that many movies this year (lack of time usually) but from those I did watch, there were a few that stood out.. and here they are!

-Batman Begins! (this is THE Batman movie we’ve been waiting for:Good story, top-notch acting and cool gadgets [not to mention the killer batmobile :-)]

-Cinderella Man!(the one movie this year that will move you, enough said)

-Episode III: Revenge of the Sith! (Two words: Lightsaber Duels! This is the episode that concludes the Star Wars saga, and while it isnt the best, I’m happy to say that it is still, a satisfying end to the 6-episode saga

-Charlie & The Chocolate Factory! (Witty, fun, and downright entertaining :)  Johnny Depp & Tim Burton did a great job here. And the sets! They could make another DIsneyland with the amount of color and imagination here:-)

-Just Like Heaven! (It should be made compulsory for every medical student to watch this movie :-Dhehe A romantic comedy with lots of laughs (including some medically related ones :-p) and a nice ending too

And finally… King Kong! :-)-the T-rex battle with King Kong is worth the price of admission in itself! Divided into 3 parts (King Kong trying to save Miss Darrow from the jaws of T-rex, Battle on the Vines, and finally the showdown..) Given, the story was very simple and the ending expected, but it was the way the story was told and seeing Kong come to life with a human side to him, and thats why I give this movie, the title "Top Movie of 2005 from my PPOV"

Whoops, the post took much longer than i expected. :-O will cut down the following posts rest assured that’s all for now..

PS: Your most welcome to give your own PPOV on what should have been the best movie(s) of 2005. Infact, pls do! I’d love to hear your views. TIll then, Cheers!

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Hi all! Sori yea, been awhile since I last updated the blog. Sometimes its because i’m looking for something interesting to type and lately i have not had anything interesting to share..(sad..Hm.. but actually i guess it depends on how we want to look at things :-p hehe)

Anyhow, I just finished my Psychiatric posting. All in all it was a rather interesting experience.. We got to see lots of schizophrenic patients (watch ‘A Beautiful Mind’ or ‘Gothika’ and you get the idea - Note: i havent watched either but i heard they both portray characters who have schizophrenia) and some patients with mania and drug dependent patients too.

Also saw a number of children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Here I’d like to give a short intro to ADHD: The name itself basically explains what the children have and once you see a child with prominent ADHD signs & symptoms you’ll never forget how such a child would present. Here’s a pneumonic to remember the features easily:

Hyperactivity, Inattention and Impulsiveness. (’HII’)

Impulsiveness can present with the child always reaching out for objects around him impulsively (such as a duster on a nearby blackboard, the doctor’s pen in his/her shirt pocket, etc).

The child is usually unable to sit still and always running about. I went to a child psychiatric clinic in HKL during the posting and there was a child would repeated run around and behind the doctor’s chair looking for something on the shelf (a toy, piece of paper, anything). Also, children with ADHD also find it hard to concentrate on tasks that require sustained mental effort (Homework, etc) and find it difficult to bring a given task to completion. Other features include: Talking excessively/non-stop, interrupting other’s conversations, inability to wait his/her turn when lining up etc. Basically, the child feels supercharged all the time.

Hope you find the above intro to ADHD useful/interesting

My next posting is Orthopedics (Of bone and muscle ailments :-p) I guess I better brush up my anatomy of the system (was never my favourite system, but then who knows what the future holds; maybe this posting would change my mind hehe

And lastly, Smallville returns to TV3!! (at last!) The first episode of season 4 starts tommorow (Sunday, October 9, 10pm) As a die-hard fan of the series i cant wait! hehe here’s looking forward to the action, mystery and drama of the legend of the man who would one day become one the greatest superheroes ever created

That’s all for now, Keep in touch y’all ! Your feedback to my previous posts were and are much appreciated thanks, and Cheers!

Recently I learned a new magic trick called ‘The Closer’.. Here’s how it goes..:

The magician borrows a coin from a spectator (a 20 sen coin) he then takes out a marker pen and hands it to the spectator. The coin surface is shown and the spectator signs/marks the coin. When that’s done, the magician then takes the coin and starts rubbing its edge.. and believe it or not, the coin starts to BEND.. the coin is inches from the spectator’s face when this happens.. The coin is then immediately handed out for inspection!

Its a nice trick I bought from Penguin Magic, an online website. Hehe, it does take some preparation but the trick can be perform in a moment’s notice

That’s all for now. Ask me for a demo of the trick if you see me around, I would be more than happy to entertain hehe Cheers!

Date of Admission: 2nd August 2005        Date Clerked: Same as admission

c/o : White smoke causing blurring of vision, pharyngitis (sore throat.) and conjunctivitis.

History of c/o

:  Started today in the evening

: Preceeded by uncomfortable feeling of heatiness

: Associated with throat dryness and sweatines

: Several bulidings, from a far, appeared to have been ’swallowed’ mysteriously by the thick smoke

: Character:- Whitish fume with ash-like scent

:- Causes nasal and pharyngeal irritation when inhaled in large amounts or small amounts over a period of time.

: Associated features: Includes increased water consumption &

: Eye irritation (Increased risk of acquiring conjunctivitis)

Past History   

: Several appearances of this mysterious white fume has been noted in the past several years

Social History

: Unavailable (due to limitation of outdoor activity?)

Provisional Diagnosis : Haze secondary to forest fire?/ open burning?

Differential Diagnosis

: Excessive mosquito fogging, occurring simultaneously in different areas

: Top secret government experiment (with haze particles)gone wrong

: Alien Invasion (using the white smoke to conceal their landing and infiltration of our world) [Highly unlikely but then again..]

Investigations: (refer local newspapers for results/more info)

Plan

: Encourage fluid intake

: KIV to start Strepsils if sore throat develops

: KIV eye drops if eye irritation develops

*End of Case Notes*