Why is my girlfriend mad?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TjfTM90DhAg

Japanese Toilet Training For Kids

This is too funny. For those ppl who are cramming like crazy for end-of-year exams and whatnot... here's something to lighten up your mood. It was featured on the last Friday Night Download (a Aussie TV show). I went hysterical when I saw it. The Japanese really think of everything under the sun! *Wait till you see the next video I'm about to post. Coming soon. :P*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVoLz88hiU

John Thomas Sign

Lessons in radiology:

Registrar 1: Hey Leng, come here. Have a look at this.
Lhui: ???
Reg 1: *Shows a pelvic X-ray of a male patient* Tell me the 2 abnormalities here.
Lhui: Uh... There's a fractured right neck of femur... and... *squints*
Reg 1: Yup... what else? See this loop of bowel hanging down here? That's an inguinal hernia.
Lhui: Ooo....
Reg 2: And there's a 3rd abnormality!! This here's a negative John Doodle sign!!
Reg 1: *Laughs* Yes, very important... the John Doodle sign!
Lhui: Huh?
Reg 2: See... *points at the penis shadow* His doodle is pointing away from the pathology, so that's a negative John Doodle sign. A positive John Doodle is when it's pointing towards the pathology... *grins* 50% of the time, it will be positive and the other 50% will be negative.
Lhui: *WTF???*
Reg 3: They're not going to ask students that in the exams!! And it's John THOMAS, not John Doodle!
Reg 1: Can't say penis 'cos it's 'rude' , so you gotta say doodle instead.....

Lhui: -_-"

For those of you who are scratching your head now, it's just a radiology joke. But the John Thomas sign really does exist. Though it has no medical significance whatsoever and radiologists probably use it to humour themselves when they're bored. Check it out:
http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/3050.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_sign

(From Wikipedia)

The John Thomas sign, also known as the Throckmorton sign, is the position of a penis as it relates to pathology on an x-ray of a pelvis. When the penis (visible on the x-ray as a shadow) points towards the same side as a unilateral medical condition (such as a broken bone), this is considered a "positive John Thomas sign", and if the shadow points to the other side, it is a negative John Thomas sign. This sign is of no medical significance and is employed as a humorous aside.[citation needed]

Heaven in a half shell

Hmm hmm.. it's been a while.

Completed my first MSA, Nuclear Medicine. It's quite amazing actually, the amount of things you can do with nuclear scans these days. Even though there wasn't a lot to do and some days were spent just sitting around in the reporting room with the registrar, it was a satisfying 3 weeks. Teaching was pretty informal and nuclear medicine touches a bit of most systems in medicine, so it was a good bit of revision. And much to my relief, it was a rather slack rotation. :) I'm really glad I got this as one of my MSAs. Kinda gave me a chance to see another side of medicine that you'd normally won't see in regular rotations. Not to mention getting tons of practice in putting in IV cannulae. I think I put in a couple dozen of them during those 3 weeks. :P Would still like more practice though. I get nervous when I know people are watching me, especially if it's a consultant. -_-" Like, there was one time I accidentally *squirted* saline on a patient. Steph was there, and so where 2 radiology technician students. Needless to say they all burst out laughing. Luckily, the patient was laughing along as well. I'd consider myself good at Jelcos (IV cannulae) when I can put them in as cleanly and quickly as the registrar there. 2 seconds flat I tell you! And not a drop of blood spilt!

Am currently into my second week of my last MSA of the year: Medical Imaging. Hehe.. both my MSAs are imaging electives. I'm not complaining, though. :P Exams are less than a month away, so I don't really have much drive to make full use of this rotation. You get to see some really cool prodecures in radiology (it's not just X-rays and ultrasounds down there). Though it IS more fun if you're actually involved with the procedure and not standing around idly watching people till your eyes rot. Though the doctors do try to explain things whenever you ask, they're generally preoccupied with their work. Guess they don't have much time to waste with students like us. Don't feel like going to the hospital much anymore for that matter. There's just so many things to cover before the end of the year exams but barely enough time! And here I am bloging away on a Sunday night....

Oh yeah I should tell you about my interesting first day at Radiology. There was this guy who came in for a CT-guided lung biopsy of a mass. Pretty routine procedure, only that this guy has really severe emphysema. His lungs were practically just AIR. Doing a lung biopsy on him is like asking for a pneumothorax. The respiratory registrar decided to hang around for the meantime as he was expecting something to happpen. Yep, a few seconds after the biopsy, the patient started getting tachypnoeic and really crook (that's "ill" in Aussie slang) on the CT table. Oxygen saturation droped to 60% within minutes. Another 10 minutes or so, he'd be going into respiratory arrest. Everyone was rushing around trying to stabilise the patient while yours truly could only stand there and witness the ensuing pandemonium. Basically they gave him oxygen, quickly wheeled him to the recovery bay and inserted a chest drain. He made a rapid recovery after that, thank goodness. I really respect those doctors lor. They were so calm through it all (they were kinda expecting this to happen also la, both the consultant and registrar AND the respiratory registrar were there). Felt really useless for not doing anything, though there really wasn't anything I could do at that point. A medical student would only be in the way when you already have so many staff attending to the patient. But it was a memorable experience nonethelss. I'll never forget how tension pneumothorax looks like now.

Update 15/10/2007 - One week after that incident, the poor guy is back again for another biopsy. Good grief. Dunno whether the chest drain was still left in. Didn't stick around to see what happened this time. -_-"

With the upcoming exams and impending stress, I decided to treat myself yesterday. Bought half a dozen raw oysters from the market and had them for lunch. A few dashes of tabasco sauce and some lemon juice did the trick. And they tasted just orgasmic.... I know Darling would bet to differ. :P:P It's a good thing I didn't get ill after eating it, though I did wash them just in case. I've never eaten anything raw from the market before, but the shopkeeper reassured me they're safe to eat...

Raw oysters + tabasco sause + lemon juice = a taste of heaven indeed... ^_^

Another day closer to the exams. Another day closer to home. I fear to long for November to come, as I fear I am far from prepared. Nights ppl... It's midnight already.

Disappointed? Enraged? Saddened? Amused? You tell me...

Really, really *SIGH*.... From Ken's blog.

BBC HardTalk: Sarah Montague with Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

Malaysia Boleh....

To a dear friend....

In case you didn't get my SMS....

HAPPY BIRHTDAY SENG KIAT!!!! May you have a wonderful and exciting year ahead... Looking forward to seeing you in November yea! =)

Baking Spree!!!

Yay!!! It's a long weekend again!! Monday is a holiday 'cos it's Labour Day... And I finally passed up my research proposal! So no more mucking around looking through journals and fretting over statistics and methodology...

To commemorate this fine occasion, I've decided to go on a baking spree. Got this wonderful book of cookie recipes. There's like 500+ recipes so I probably never finish baking them all ever. Both erm.. cookies came out alright, the only thing was one didn't look too appetizing.... Heck, I've only started baking a couple of months back. It's a far improvement from back in Malaysia when I couldn't even bake to save my life. So I guess I'm allowed to stuff up half the time. :P


Part 1: Dog Shit meringues

Yes, as its name denotes, they're brown, spirally globs of cream-like stuff. Would have turned out more normally had I not been so kiam siap. Hehehh.. didn't want to waste money on buying a piping tube for the meringues, so I used a 60ml syringe instead....

Behold! The BD Plastipak 60 ml syringe. :P

The syringe only sucked up a small bit of the meringue at a time, so I had to keep refilling and squirting. And when the stuff came out, it was like little diarrhoea-like curls, so I decided to make the best of it and make tiny little shit mounds on the baking tray...

Had to throw away the first batch 'cos they were burnt. But overall, they tasted like meringues, only wish I could make them 100% crispy, not cripsy on the outside and gooey on the inside.-_-"

Part 2: Vanilla, Honey & Milk Cookies!

Ok la, this is the not so gross part. :P Woke up the next morning itching to bake something proper. There was a recipe for Vanilla and honey cookies in the book, but I decided to modify it a little by adding in milk. Personally, I felt that it turned out pretty okay. Though Ken (dubbed 'The Household Food Critic' by Xian-Nian, of as I prefer to call him, 'The Guinea Pig') thought it was alright, but a little bland. So I sprinkled some caster sugar on the second batch before baking. I prefer my cookies to be not too sweet. :P

Ahh... the aroma of honey.... itadakimasu! :)

OMGWTF how could anyone do this

Even animals don't do this.

Was reading my sister's blog when I found out that last Monday, a sports bag containing a dead child was discovered in PJS1/48 Petaling Utama. This poor girl, Nurin Jazlin was only eight years old. She was raped, tortured and disposed of in such an inhumane way. She was found with a brinjal and cucumber stuffed up her private parts. Yes, there are countless rape cases going on in my beloved home country, but this has been one of the most disturbing yet.

According to my mom, there was a case a couple of decades ago where a girl was found with a wooden pole shoved right through from her privates and up out of her mouth. There is a Malay term for that, and it's called sula. Something useful I learnt from Form 5 Malay literature.

There are people who believe that it is the woman's fault that she is raped. Especially women who wear so-called 'revealing' clothing. Men cannot help but lust after women, so raping a sexy woman is only giving into their 'natural urges'. There are some who think that "pretty women shouldn't work, they should stay at home and be good wives". This is because their 'beauty' is an unholy lure and it causes men to fall into sin. Some have gone as far as to establish gender segregation in public areas, lest a male and female commit some heinous act of indecency. Come on, think about it. Who gets raped? Women (mostly). Are all of them 'pretty'? Are all of them wearing 'sexy clothes'? Infants, old ladies, even defenseless, innoncent little girls like Nurin were raped! In what way do you think these victims deserved their fate? There is no way one can blame them for this. If men truly are the 'stronger sex', how then can they put fault on the weak?

I know no one has voiced this in regards to the Nurin Jazlin case. I'm just ranting based on past events, since we're on the topic of rape and brutality against females.

Nurin Jazlin's family have finally accepted her death. Though we all share their grief, most of us will never truly comprehend the depth of their anguish and pain. May this inhuman killer be be brought to justice, and may he receive the consequences of his brutality.

Rape is a crime of violence, NOT lust. I hope that Nurin, along with the countless victims of the past have found peace on the other side.


Articles: Child found sexually assaulted and killed
Dad accepts DNA results

Do birds go to heaven?

Psych viva is over!!! Yay!! Was pretty lucky to have gotten the clinical vignette on suicide. Thank goodness... if I got some of the other questions I would have just froze there. Like Steph got asked exactly which antipsychotics to give and their DOSAGE. Which 4th year student memorises the dosage? The second part of the viva was a little unexpected: CBT. Had to dig deep into the sparse recesses of my tiny brain to find something back from my IMU days to answer that. What's done is done, didn't get a callback yesterday, so I assume I've passed. :P

Went to Sheng Kai a.k.a. Sean's 23rd birthday party at his gf Quinnie's house yesterday night. Suffice to say, Quinnie did a fantastic job with the food and organising. Not much photos, but yeah, it was a much-needed break from psych.

Anyway....

The morning before the psych viva, something weird happened. Woke up and had breakfast as usual... was just starting on some notes in my room when *BANG!!!* what sounded like something crashed/broke a window pane on my balcony. Peered out and saw this cute little pigeon sitting demurely on the balcony.

No broken window pane, no fallen objects. So I assumed that this bird must have flew smack into my window. It didn't fly away when I touched it, so it must have been injured pretty badly (but of course, since a bird smashing into a window pane is like a guy getting hit by a brick wall). Picked him (or her?) up. Looked ok. Eyes open, but not very responsive. Heart was beating etc.

Then 30 seconds later, his eyes rolled over. And the neck went limp. His heart beat was getting faint. I was like: "OK... shit. what to do. Erm... is he going into shock? Uh... chest compressions!!!"

Which I did for a few cycles. No, I didn't do mouth to mouth. How to do that on a bird? He did jerk a little after every few compressions, but then he eventually passed away...

Felt bad for taking photos of him like that, and didn't want to just throw him in the dustbin. So I dug a little grave for him in the backyard. Went back after the psych viva and decorated his 'gravestone'.

Rest in peace, little bird. May you be happy in pigeon heaven. Sorry I could not prevent your passing.

Medical Specialty Aptitude Test

Did 130 questions in like half an hour. Hehe... I've always found reconstructive surgery cool. :P But I don't know if I have to stamina for it.


Rank - Specialty - Score

1 plastic surgery 41
2 dermatology 41
3 anesthesiology 40
4 occupational med 40
5 ophthalmology 40
6 otolaryngology 39
7 physical med & rehabilitation 38
8 pediatrics 38
9 radiology 38
10 psychiatry 38
11 rheumatology 38
12 med oncology 38
13 hematology 38
14 gastroenterology 38
15 endocrinology 38
16 radiation oncology 38
17 pulmonology 37
18 allergy & immunology 37
19 colon & rectal surgery 37
20 general internal med 37
21 general surgery 37
22 emergency med 37
23 orthopaedic surgery 37
24 nuclear med 36
25 neurology 36
26 neurosurgery 36
27 preventive med 36
28 cardiology 36
29 infectious disease 35
30 urology 35
31 obstetrics/gynecology 35
32 pathology 34
33 nephrology 34
34 thoracic surgery 33
35 aerospace med 33
36 family practice 32

http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/Home.cfm?CFID=2768254&CFTOKEN=2a25a6e986e70fa6-72CE10E6-BCDF-D829-784E85BC2D229599&jsessionid=5430c4caec732f192911

Perhaps Love

"You know what?"
"What..."
"Why do you love me?"
"Huh? Why suddenly ask that kind of question wan."
"I mean, I try to find the reason to why we love each other, but I don't really know. We hardly have anything in common. But I love you la. Why ah?"
"Well... let's put it this way. If let's say we get married in the future and we're driving in the car, our children in the back seat... Then you'll ask: "Why do we love each other?" I think even then also we won't know the answer."



PERHAPS LOVE by John Denver

Perhaps love is like a resting place, a shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort, it is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble when you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home

Perhaps love is like a window, perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer, it wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself and don't know what to do
The memory of love will see you through

Love to some is like a cloud, to some as strong as steel
For some a way of living, for some a way to feel
And some say love is holding on and some say letting go
And some say love is everything, and some say they don't know

Perhaps love is like the ocean, full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it's cold outside, thunder when it rains
If I should live forever, and all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you

Some say love is holding on and some say letting go
Some say love is everything and some say they don't know

Perhaps love is like the mountains, full of conflict, full of change
Like a fire when it's cold outside, thunder when it rains
If I should live forever, and all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you

Dinner with Jane

Round 3 of blogging in the library during my lunch break.

It's been an interesting week, the Villagers organised a fantastic BBQ for Rahul's 22nd birthday last Saturday. Photos on Steph's blog. Had our exam briefing already, starting to feel the fear and stress creeping up now. Apparently we have to pass all 3 papers (MEQ, MCQ and OSCE) to pass 4th year. There's no way I'm repeating 4th year again!!! I'll start studying after psych is over...

My family got a new camera: A Sony Cybershot W-80! *Drools in envy* My sister is probably going nuts taking pictures of everything now. I'm gonna go home in November and leech of you! :P

Some photos from our dinner with Jane, whom came over to Adelaide for a 3-week elective. She's currently studying in St. George's Medical School in London and will be enjoying her summer holidays in KL for the next week or so (correct me if I'm wrong, Jane). :) Had lunch at this Indian Restaurant on O'Connell Street called Indian Harvest. Though some people argued that the food tasted horrible, I found it quite good. Maybe it's because I've been so deprived here. Ooo and if you're reading this Jane, I'll send you the original-sized photos once my internet is up (my most commonly used phrase now is "after my internet is up").

This is O'Connell Street, North Adelaide. Lots of cafes and restaurants. A good place to hang out or to enjoy the company of friends over a nice meal.

Self-explanatory photos. All you Malaysians and Indians out there should know what these are. :)

Another day, another tute... Signing off. :)

Wish I was a manga artist + fashion designer...

First off, it's my mom's birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA! *Though I highly doubt you'll even read this* Love you lots, and miss you more every day! :) Lots of birthdays going on this month, my youngest sister's just passed on the 15th too.

Got an interesting schizophrenic patient on the ward who told me that in our first meeting that aliens have brain-washed me to think that I'm a girl when biologically, I'm actually a man. -_-". Now he thinks that I am an alien. And I'm out to poison him. He's getting better this week. But I doubt he'll ever stop believing in aliens.

It's quite depressing, really seeing the psych patients here. Some of them are so tormented and miserable due to their condition, most of the times there's little you can do for them. And it's not really their fault. In fact, any of us could have ended up like that. Only better fortune and upbringing decided otherwise. Makes me appreciate my family and social circumstances more.

When studying (insert subject/rotation here) you get:

Cardiovascular System : Palpitations

Respiratory : Dyspnoea

Gastrointestinal: Abdominal Pain + diarrhoea

Renal: Nocturia

Orthopedics/Rheumatology : Arthralgia + worsening hallux valgus

So now... 3rd week into Psychiatry, I think I'm getting OCD. Or maybe developing some psychosis. I keep hearing things outside my balcony at night (screamed in one incident 'cos I thought someone was trying to break in). And last night I got out of bed 3-4 times just to check whether the tap was not dripping, the lights downstairs were turned off, whether I set my alarm clock, lock the balcony door, lock the kitchen door etc etc etc...

And I'm having my near-nightly weird dreams again. Which is good 'cos I usually enjoy my weird dreams 'cos it's like watching a movie in your head but only you're part of the movie and it isn't really a movie 'cos you subconsciously determine how the story goes and it's all in your head anyway....

2 nights ago I dreamt I could turn into this scary kick-ass blue dragon and the world was in utter chaos and my dragon blood had some super-healing properties so basically everyone was out to shoot me and drain every drop of my blood. Could still remember flying over some God-knows where city. Quite cool actually. Didn't want to wake up. :P

So there. Do you think I'm going mad?

More updates and photos as soon as my home internet is up. And those are (in chronological order):

1. Halfway Dinner (that was ages ago)

2. Dinner with Jane

3. Ken's 'surprise' birthday dinner (which he kinda spoilt it for himself)

4. Christine's birthday celebration at Chocolate Bean

Okie better stop wasting time and go prepare for a tutorial...

Photo explosion: Victor Harbour

I really should be studying or at least appear to be doing something useful in the wards now. It's my second day in psychiatry. But the lure of the library computer is too much! Been deprived of internet for the past week, and probably will be for the week to come. Ken and I just shifted to our new place. *Breathes a sigh of relief* Thank goodness the worst is over. God there was so much luggage! And the new place is unfurnished, so we had to get everything (furniture, electrical appliances, down to the lowly toilet brush) ourselves. To make matters worse, all the furniture is to be self-assembled. I guess it's a good learning experience. Glad that most of the things are done and all's left are some loose ends and miscellaneous errands to run. I like my new place. It's a townhouse in the eastern suburbs, pretty near to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. My room has a nice balcony and a lovely view of the trees outside and during the day, the air is filled with the sounds of birds. That day I just sat there staring at the huge tree outside for ages. Seeing it's multitude of leaves swaying gently in the wind and listening to the orchestra of birds was so therapeutic. :)

Last Friday the IMU students attended a Med school social event for the very first time. :P The Halfway Dinner was absolutely great. Will put up pics of that as soon as I get the rest of the photos.

Ok la. I'd better keep this short as I've got a lecture in 20 minutes. So much for being a hardworking and enthusiastic med student.

Here are the long-delayed photos of the trip to Victor Harbour with Ming Lei, Craig and Ken. Enjoy!

L-R: Ming Lei, Craig, Ken and me

One huge ass horse. :P

And the biggest seagull I've ever seen.

The bridge to Granite Island.

Another weird Aussie delicacy: dried banana. Tastes good, though. It's a lot stronger than the fresh ones.

Can you see the seal? :P

After dinner, Craig took us to this place in his hometown, Horseshoe Bay.

The fruits of Ming Lei's quest! These are frog cakes, superbly sweet, compact but utterly delicious pastries we found in a bakery on the way to Victor Harbour. Ming Lei was hell bent of finding one of these things.:P