Sunrise

This is what I saw this morning while waiting for the bus. I wish you could have been there when the sun rose, filling the sky with crimson and gold and blue.

Funny, there was a lot I wanted to say, but can't think of the words right now.

7 weeks. Feels much longer than that.

The moments we shared, the times we spent together doing nothing at all... Little things that seemed insignificant in the past are now painfully absent. Guess the saying is true. You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone.

You smiled when I left. Be happy there, you said. It's a wonderful new phase in your life and no, it's not the end.

I miss you more every day. It's true though, what you said. You're not really gone. Life here is busy and my mind is occupied most of the time. Sometimes, it feels like I'm chasing after the wind. It hurts and hurts and hurts. But deep in my heart, you're still there. You come to me when it's quiet and peaceful. I can almost feel your arms around me, reassuring me that it's ok.

Got your package in the mail that day. Simple things are the sweetest things, really.

I guess all I want to say is thank you for being the loving, understanding person that you are, and for supporting me down the path I've chosen. I wouldn't have been able to go through this without your unwavering faith in me and in us. Not once were you bitter about it, not once did you complain. Thank you for seeing the silver lining beyond the gray sky.

This is just the beginning. It will get more difficult in times to come. We have faith, and that is all that matters. No one can tell the future, but at least we can say that we're trying our best. Let the experience here make me a better person, for both our sakes. And let this distance bring us closer in more ways than one.

I am happy here, because of you.

Tagged

Okie Iona, 6 'weird' things. :P

"Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog."

1. I have this love-hate relationship with turtles (not really hate, more like jelak). I love collecting turtles, and find turtles really cute. I have turtle toys, keychains, necklaces, earrings, fridge magnets, collar pins, purses, car stickers, postcards, books, pyjamas, stone statues, aquarium decorations, wood carvings, thermometer etc etc etc... I guess with so many turtles around, one does get rather sick of them.. so... every now and then, there're so many turtles that the sight of turtles just makes me puke. So.. yeah. I like turtles, but I'm not crazy about them.

2. I've had various accidents in IMU, most of them in Sem 1 and 2: getting hit by a car while crossing the road and developing a 10+cm diameter hematoma from falling down the stairs. Seeing my little 'string of accidents', my parents consulted a Chinese fortuneteller. In then end, they burned some talisman and made me drink the ashes.

3. If I wasn't studying medicine, I would have been doing something like fashion deisign or illustration or maybe manga.

4. I have minor congenital foot deformities, most of them corrected by wearing special shoes when I very little. My big toes are still quite deviated, though. Hallux valgus. I also have occasional bout of temporomandibular joint pain with limited range of movement. It's apparently aggravated by stress.

5. When I was in primary school, I had a pet caterpillar called Baby (took it out for walks around the rim of its plastic box). Also had a pet cockroach, locust and a pair of snails. Later on in secondary school, my parents bought me turtles.

6. I have something like a dual personality. Sometimes, especially in school, I'm pretty quiet without anything to say and prefer to keep a low profile when I'm in big groups. When I'm with my close friends, I'm a totally different person. I don't do this on purpose, perhaps at times I'm naturally.... inhibited.

Hmm.. can think of some extra stuff.. so here goes:

7. Every now and then, I do and say dumb things. Like recently. Seriously, the things I say ah... I feel like giving myself a great big kick in the ass.

8. I can be too honest for my own good.

9. I actually bought a huge Backstreet Boys T-shirt from the pasar malam when I was much younger. Only wore it a couple of times. The last time I saw it, it grossed me out so much that I wouldn't have even used it as a kitchen rag.

Okie... here's my tag list! Hehe.. if you're reading this, and you've got time to kill....

1. Christine

2. Karen

3. Kah Men

4. Calvin

5. Cindy

6. Jane

Medical students are like flies

Yes, we are like flies in an Australian summer. Hanging around registrars and interns, bugging the hell out them, or just standing around and staring at whatever they do. Most doctors are more then happy to teach you. Some just ignore you until you make yourself heard.

It's already been more than a month since I came to Adelaide. Time passes really fast when you're busy and sleep-deprived. More or less gotten used to life as a clinical student, though it is rather tiring. Saw some interesting stuff on the wards, and the people in the hospital are generally friendly. Had a number of tutorials with consultants so far, along with case presentations, ward rounds and other miscellaneous stuff like attending surgeries, writing in case notes and assisting (more like botching) minor medical procedures.

During one tutorial on examintation of the abdomen:

Consultant: Tell me what you see on this abdomen.

Jebb: Erm... the abdomen rises with respiration.. there is a scar here.. on the subcostal margin...

Consultant: Only one scar?

Jebb: I think there's another scar here...

Consultant: Let me see.. There's definitely more than one scar here.. There's one here.. and here... 1..2..3..4...5..6..7 scars altogether.

Everyone: O_o !!!

7 scars? We all saw only like 2! Apparently there were really faint 3 laproscopy hidden somewhere in the umbilicus. And other scars scattered around. All of these were surgical scars. Amazing.

Also had a tutorial on how to put in sutures. We got to practice on PIG'S TROTTERS. It was weird but quite fun, sitting there stitching up pork. No way I'd get to do that back in Malaysia, so tak halal...

The most interesting (and scary) incident so far was when one of my ward partners inserted a nasogastric tube for this patient. He was supposed to go back to surgery because his laparotomy sutures were not healing well. Instead of going down the nostril and into his stomach, the tube went down about 20 cm or more, and came out from the other nostril! Wah damn scared that time la.. Even the intern supervising us was shocked. Fortunately for us, the patient was very forgiving... Unfortunately for the patient, his sutures ruptured prematurely and part of his bowel herniated out of his stomach... Poor patient was in pain, lying there with his gut hanging out. Of course, he was rushed in for emergency surgery and is currently healing well.

*Yawn* it's past 1a.m. now. Better catch up on my sleep. We're gonna have a CNY gathering/countdown at one of the Malaysian student's house later at night. *Sigh* I miss home already! Happy Chinese New Year everyone! May the year of the fire pig bring you great happiness and prosperity! :)

Symphony Under the Stars

Malas wanna post this already. Please refer to Ken's blog for this event. :)

Glenelg Again

Since we've went to Glenelg when it was hot, now we've experienced it when it was freakin' blistering cold! This was a few weeks back, before our classes started. It was Austrlia day, so got lots of ang mohs going about with Australian flags and singing some patriotic songs. Wah but it was sooo unbelivingly cold!!! It was the wind, really. When it blows you just shrink... We were supposed to see a comet when the sun sets, but there were too many clouds. So after dark, we spent our time trying to find a warm place to hide and walking on the pier. The winds were so strong, it was like we were gonna get blown off the pier. And there were a bunch of people fishing for crabs. Crabbing, they call it.

The beach was too windy and the sand was flying all over the place. So we sat on the grass facing the beach. Bad idea 'cos we still got sand all over and into our food anyway. Not to mention that it was so cold. Somemore there were ang moh guys going about shirtless in board shorts singing some Aussie patriotic songs. Not to be outdone, Jebbrine and I started singing "Negaraku".... I think the cold must have gotten to us...

Don't be decieved. Despite the sun, it was very very cold...

The wind was so strong, even the seagulls flew senget.

View from the pier at night.

This here is a blue crab ('cos it's blue??). The guy in this pic is a 10th year student whose family was originally from Malaysia. Lots of Malaysian Chinese here, and most of the younger generation are born in Australia. Apparently these crabs come out at night, when the sea is all cold and rough. So if you want some decent crab meat, come crabbing at night. Provided you don't freeze to death and get blown off the pier la.

The best hot chocolate I've ever tasted!

On the balcony of the hot chocolate cafe.

Tea

Ohhh God.. yet another hot day. Went grocery shopping at central market and Chinatown. Bought meat, vegetables, fruits, pots, bowls, chopsticks, wireless modem, etc etc and lugged them around the city in the horrible heat. Worse still, the wind was hot too. As we stood at the bus stop, the ham and chicken were cooking, the vegetables were wilting and the modem was melting. -_-" Then later had a little picnic with some IMU seniors in the botanical gardens. Ken and I have moved into our new house already. What work that was... all my luggage + stuff I bought here + miscellaneous food items + 40kg of DHL stuff. Thank goodness for the hostel owner, who offered to drive me there. Haven't unpacked my belongings yet, just too lazy and too tired.

Anyway... I'm currently doing my surgery posting in The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Colorectal unit. There's a number of units or surgery, each dealing with specific body systems (e.g. vascular, upper GI, breast and endocrine and colorectal). The first week hasn't been that productive for me, but at the same time it was stressful la. Like, I still haven't gotten a suitable patient to present for consultation ward rounds, and I'm yet to observe a surgery. So... this week I wanna work harder on those things. *Sigh* 6 months of not studying has left me...stoned. My mind is blank. I can't find time to study leh.... Wake up at 5-something every morning, catch a bus to the city, then walk to another bus stop and catch a different bus to the hospital, go for ward rounds, clerk patients, etc etc, come back in the evening feeling dead on my feet, cook dinner, rest a bit, and it's already 11pm. How to study? Hope I get used to this real soon... The local students are quite friendly, and they seem to be really good at what they do. Kind of sets the bar for what you're expected to achieve. It's a bit to early to make any conclusions, so I'll just take things as they come and hope for the best...

My house. It's an apartment in the suburbs, just 5 minutes bus ride from the city. Fully furnished (which is a very big plus point) and pretty small and cosy. The landlord left us with a fridge full of stuff and a cupboard of spices, most of them we can't even identify. Last night we wanted to make some tea (brain going flatline but had to finish our online case studies!), but forgot to bring the sugar from the old accomodation. Since the landlord left his cupboard full of spices, and food, there had to be sugar somewhere right? Looked through it... and found this bottle of what looked like sugar. So we put some into our cups....

Ken: *Sips tea in the kitchen* DON'T DRINK THE TEA.

Lhui: Hah? Why?

Ken: Because that wasn't sugar!!

...it wasn't salt either, if that's what you're thinking. It tasted a lot worse than salt. Turned out that the bottle of 'sugar' was some weird ajinomoto... nearly choked when I tried it. How on earth can one not have sugar at home? You have like a million and one spices in your cupboard, but no sugar? Weird...

It's 1.18a.m. now, gotta sleep. Have to go back to hospital tomorrow and hunt down patients for Monday's case presentation. Wanted to post up pictures of our second trip to Glenelg Beach, but that will have to wait. Nights...