another occupied weekend...

30 - 31st may 2009 - we had quite a bz weekend but im also
not sure is buzy the right word to describe it. we started
our saturday morning by following our shi gu mama to the
allocated wards. i am allocated to the cardio ward and i
have two shi gu mama, i only remember one shi gu's name
who is Chen Mei Yu if im not mistaken. of course i didnt
know how to read, managed to get some help from my hou
ban standing beside me...didnt actually do much in
hospital except to talk to the patients, asking them how
they are doing, how they are coping and let them talk
anything they wish to talk..its more of accompanying and
comforting them. when its time for lunch, we helped the
nurses pack their lunch boxes and then helped to
distribute the food to the patients. after that, we will have
our lunch.. the volunteers do not have to pay for the food
as there are special vouchers. after lunch, its resting
time..we allowed the shi gu to sleep and chatted outside
the room.. after lunch, we went for a round at the ward
before proceeding to the garden for tea break with the
patients..hehe..it was this time that most of us were more
energetic. we were given the slot to perfom the 'shou you'
and we did quite well..hehe..everyone was praising us but
the secret is we already prepared well the night before as
we know we will have great chances of being called
unexpectedly to perform..the patients also had some great
time with us and after a final round at the ward, we headed
to jing si with our shi gu mama as we would be staying a
night at jing si.. upon reaching, we ate dinner. we had some
nice rice, 'wasabi+peanut fried noodle' and a few dishes. we
loved the corn soup the best..its quite stressful eating at
jing si...they ate so fast and everything is moving so fast
than we expected actually...even we needed to que for
some time to take our baths as there are only 4 bathrooms
with attached toilet and were shared by like around 20-30
people...at nite we had sharing session with the 'she fu' but
thank goodness i dont have to fen xiang ady..my scary
moment for this weekend is not that bad..just was pulled
out on the bus to fen xiang by the shi gu while we were on
the way back..aiyo..really so paiseh..
we slept at around 9pm plus and had to wake up around
3am plus..hmm, i really didnt sleep with so many noises
around me. pretty sensitive ears, so basically i was
turning about on the mattress until its time to get
ready...another unforgetable experience, joining in the
morning prayers for about 1 hour plus, 'bowing' up and
down til i felt the blood gushing to my brain each time my
head landed on the ground..i was so worried that i
collapsed half way but thank GOD i didnt...after that, we
had breakfast at around 6am which consisted of rice,
wheat broth, some preserved or salted vege with tau fu..i
sat beside a shi gu who kept filling up my bowl until she
left the table, so i was basically eating as if i havent eaten
for days..really not used to the concept of eating rice
early in the morning...after breakfast, we followed our
shigu mama to help clean up certain areas in the jing si.
after that, we went to take some tea and get ready to go
inside the main hall for shi gong shang ren's morning
talk..its really a memorable event to be able to be part of
the live audience there and to see her with my own eyes for
the past 1 and the half hours..after the talk, we lined up to
get the 'bracelet' from her..i kinda made a blunder as i was
paying attention to her wearing the bracelet on my hand
than to hear her asking me 'where i am from' until the other
she fu told her i was from malaysia..opppsie...only after
that, i replied again, yes im from malaysia...hehe..really
really paiseh leh..but thank goodness i still know how to
say gan en shi gong... after that we went bk to
hospital..went to the ward again and talked to the patients
again..but there were many emotional events there that
really touched me though..my prayers to the families... i
met a new 'fren' hehe..an indonesian worker who was so
happy to talk BM with me..she has been in taiwan for
almost 7years and her mandarin is better than me oo..shy
nia..we were using BM to communicate and everyone
looked at us with one kind and one of the nurses thought i
was from indon..hehe,, after lunch we went back to our
hostel ady..all are tired and tomorrow will be allocated to
new department..i will be in cardio this
week..so..gambateh...2 more weeks to go..

my 3rd day in chinese medicine

27 may 2009 - my third day in chinese medicne.. hmm, today we followed the HoD of the department (dr.kerk) for his clinic..i really respect him for the way he greets, treats, explains and talks to the patients..its really so soft and full of respect. its something u hardly see and he even bows at a 90 degrees level when the patients thanked him.. he uses more of the massaging type as well as acupunture to 'treat' those patients who are in need. we are lucky to see some of the techniques used. they looked gross but the patients felt better after that.. he is also very open to his patients and think most of them felt very comfortable attending the clinic session...
in the afternoon, we went over to the 'pharmacy' area to learn about the medicine used.. there are so many types of medicine, each has different function but of course i cant READ..goodness...many people already know that im really really banana with my blur look...aiyo..so cham ler..but if i dont speak, i wont be able to learn mah...just see how loh...me and xiao pek was bz taking photos also..hehe.. just see wat i learnt at the end of the week...hehe...

second day in chinese medicine...9th day in taiwan

26 may 2009 - second day in chinese medicine... quite ok lah..get to have some first on experience doing acupunture on the patient with the dr's help..then, as usual there's some joke for the day...when the dr knew that i didnt know how to write mandarin, he said no wonder my name in english is correct while in mandarin is wrong..hmm hmm... haih..wat to do ler...we also learnt the 'function' of the ears which could actually controlled many systems including appetite and even constipation..kaka..ok..will try it as we already photocopied the points for acupunture...hehe..will learnt about massaging also..just see...

neway, we went for dinner together..i was undecided to see so many types of vege food and end up my total meal costing 80 taiwan dollar as i took so many types of food..they count using weight..so can assumed how much i took...keke..haih..really really fat fat loh...then to add to my tam chiak ness, we stopped by the 'popiah stall' which was the first reason we went for dinner together and i wallap the whole SUPER HUGE popiah..its super super nice and special..like it and it cost 35 taiwan dollar oo...then went bought grapes lagi..forgot to buy my breakfast for tmr..but.eh..stil have my cornflakes milek in the fridge..hehe..so can eat that tmr...goodness..everyday also about food...

first day in chinese medicine

25 may 2009 - it is my first day in the chinese
medicine..really really so blur..we followed the clinic
session this morning after reporting to the head of
department..the dr specialized on acupunture i think as he
did acupunture on so many patients..thank god the
patients were speaking in hokkien, if not im sure super
super lost... after lunch, we had a teaching lesson with the
HOD..so paiseh lah, everyone was bz writing while i just
stare, as if im so keng and no need to write..keke.. but
those i can understand, i will write down loh.. if those i
dont, i just write those in mandarin term and wil ask my
partner or check my dictionary..haih..really hope to learn
more thou its really so so hard...sometimes just want give
up coz its really so tough..haih..
anyway, there are 5 new elective students from IMU who
are doing their electives as well..two of them also joined
the chinese medicine..ok lah..thats a short report for today
:)..bit lazy ady..trying to upload as many photos as
possible in FB...

aiyo..paiseh again

24th may 2009 - we went for the pei xun today which was
meant for the shi bo and shi gu and xue jie..really kebluran
..know a bit but dont know alot..keke..there were a total of
4 speakers..the first was the hospital director who
explained about the hospital stuff to us, i think..seriously i
dont really understand the whole content of the whole
event, just a bit here and there, and try to link up the
whole thing..and the presentation was also fully mandarin
with a bit of alphabet here and there..really gaolat today...
the second speaker talked about things about pathology
or something like post mortem..he also shared his
experience in which he accidentally cut himself while
dissecting a patient and it turned out the patient had
hepatitis c..its good to hear that he is allright after all the
follow up investigations as there's still no vaccine so far
for hep c..
after that, we had a lunch break..the lunch was nice, i reall
like it but it was too serious that we didnt dare take any
photo and we communicate through eye contact..keke..
after lunch, we had sharing session..i was so lucky loh, the
first 2 to fen xiang.. i can go think of using shou yu..lau
eh..so tiew lian..more and more ppl know im super
banana..but thank god with all the help, support and
encouragement from fellow members, im ok..everytime in
tzu chi activity, my worst and fearful moment was during
sharing..oh my god...anyway, the shi bo who accompanied
us was very nice..he kept praising us and didnt believe that
we are 5th year medical student..keke..many other shi bo
and shi gu were actually praising us till we so paiseh..but
the 3 malaysian shi gu(s) which have been accompanying
and arranging activities for us kinda know our 'belang'
ady..we are like super guai students in tzu qing uniform,
but without tzu qing uniform, we are really in different
world..keke..
after that, the pei xun continued with two other speakers..
one was sharing with us on the topic of organ donation
and encouraging us to be organ donors in order to
'save'others and it is also a part of 'recycling' as it is
better than to leave our organs to rot..kinda true the
philosophy but she also emphasized on family issues and
proper discussion should be done..it kinda hit me as that
was also my setback when my parents couldnt take the fact
when i wanted to pledge to be an organ donor.. just see
how things go then...then the last speaker was the
supervisor for the 'volunteers' who shared with us alot of
the minor minor phrases or words that could actually
make a difference if we said it wrongly..he also pinpointed
that we should always do something willingly and
wholeheartedly, not just do for the sake of doing..we ought
to be caring and share our love to those around us
despite of who he/she is..we also must have a smiley face
and never put on a hatred, worried, annoyed or irritated
face to those whom we wanna help..another point he
pointed out was we must not be discouraged by the bad
remarks or tantrums shown by those whom we are helping
but just do watever we intended to do..its really a good
sharing..learnt a bit here and there and hope i will be a
better person with all of this 'pei xun'
then we had dinner at li hua shi gu's home..we so tam chiak
oo..ate so many things and kinda finished all her
food..keke..she fried koay teow for us, plain and tomyam,
vege, egg, and second round was tomyam fried rice, third
was the spagetti and third was lasagna..kaka..not
forgetting the banana, lychee and mango..keke..ate till all
of us so full..and also curi makan her titbits and went bk
to our hostel with some of her titbits and
sweet..goodness..really so paiseh oo..and she's planning
for our dinner nex weekend if she's free..really so gan en
to her and the 2 other shi gu..thanx so much..really made
me not to miss home ady..so warm the hospatility...very sin
fu..

embrassing nia...

23may 2009 - last nite we went to a nice vegetarian
shop..really gan en the shi gu for treating us and i think
our meals cost more that 1500taiwan dollar..13 of us
leh..however, the amount of the food was appropriate for
the price thou. i had the 'pork rib' noodle and most of us
ordered differently..there were 'kong poh' chicken,
spagetti, pan mien, mah poh taufu rice etc etc... we had a
really really contented dinner and then went over to the
fruit stalls to get fruits.. we bit 'sua ku' when saw
durian..keke..paiseh nia, but the durian is actually from
thailand..kakaka...the prunes here are small in size and
very sweet...
today we went over to 'jing si' the place we master
stays..we had the honour to greet her but all of us were
too stunned this morning and frozen when we saw the real
her when we stood in front of her..it was a pretty bad
blunder, something really embarassing.. probably
everyone was shocked...keke...other shi fu just smiled at us
including master as she knew we were shocked
also..keke..just hope we wont make the same blunder as we
will be going there quite often. the shi gu said we might
even have the chance the 'fen siang'/ sharing with her one
of those weekends..keke..of coz i will not do ler, it will
make the whole world laugh or faint with my broken
mandarin..goodness...the shi fu made a nice 'milky tea' for
us and the fragance is wonderful..they used jasmine tea..
we were brought around the 'jing si' and saw the vegetable
garden managed by the 'shi fus'.. there's even rosemary
and lavander..we were introduced to a few of the tzu qing
there and a bit happy when we were praised..keke...we also
had the chance to eat lunch with master (of coz not the
same table but quite near her) and the rest of the people
there...we were quite shock to see the crowd..and learnt
more table manners today..there's always room for
improvement :) after that we had sharing session and again
ler..my stress level shot up, there;s the session i always
fear..i guess i still have so much to improve...
ok..wan eat my maggi for dinner as later we will be
attending a concert..another unexpected activity..keke...till
then...

last day in endocrine...

22 may 2009 - we didnt have much to do for today as our teaching was brought forward on wednesday..we only went to hospital around 8.45am..when we reached the ward we didnt see the interns around, so we just wander around here and there not knowing what to do.. we met the xue jie on the way and gave her the evaluation form..hopefully she will help us in the marking..if not i will be dead disappointed again.... then, we went to find the 'takayasu' patient. he was sent for angiogram and it seems that they are ruling out Takayasu and now investigating him for phaechromocytoma..there's a lot of interesting cases here and patients usually have multiple condtions...

after lunch, we went to the library and goodness, i fall asleep in the nice sofa..we went back after that as our evaluation forms were not ready yet..so..nothing much for today but going to walk around the area we are staying tonite....will see what happen later then...

few days in taiwan...

ok..i lost all the things i typed and im so frust..just a bried for this whole week and from philipines...so..will wait for sometime before i typed all over again..tired tired tired....

15th may 2009 - after the few crazy days of preparing to taiwan, finally we were flying there... i slept in fam's place for 2 nights after shifting my things out from the hostel..to the last day i was rearranging my things here and there..dont even know what i bring pun.take out this put in that, end up the bag becoming heavier and not lighter. we went to the airport around 3.30pm and as usual, there will be late comers and since we were travelling in a big group, its hard to control the crowd..many bags were overweight but lucky and thankful that they didnt charge us for that..we we so grateful to shibo and shi gu for preparing chicken rice dinner for our dinner as all of us were hungry. ' wu sien gan en' o..our flight was delayed for 20 minutes, hence we reached philipines late. upon reaching we were greeted by 3 shi gu who must have waited for us for quite some time..we were so grateful that they actually prepared another late dinner for us in the container and the food still warm...again 'wu sien gan en' to them.. we reached the 'jing shi tang' of philipines.. after 'wen shin' we were taken to the respective dormitory..a bit kesian our poor guy fren who has to sleep alone..
16th may 2009 - buddhist tzu chi medical centre with recycling centre - buddhist tzu chi recycling station with 'jumble sale' of recyclable items..manage to meet the conjoined twins who were joint at the heart until they were separated by the surgeons in hualien hospital.. - went to SM mall.. participated at the wesak day celebration in the shopping complex..later we were treated with 'halo-halo', philipines famous ice kacang like dessert..yummy... the traffic is super crazy in philippines.. really scary like anything.. there's no separate line and ppl will cut into ur lane jus like that..we had dinner at 7pm plus..most of us were quite full and today the shigu actually asked us was it the food she prepared wasnt nice as we only ate very little the past 2days..we went to bed early as we needed to wake up early as we would be leaving for our airport at 7.30am...

17th may 2009 - we gathered for breakfast at 6.30am...the vege sandwiches the shi gu prepared for us was UNBELIEVEABLE..its so yummy with so much ingredients. .they also prepared 'meesuah' for us and i love both the dishes so much..oh my god...cannot tahan lah...then they even prepared oour lunch for us to bring to the airport..really really so 'gan en'..no words could describe my gratitude towards the treatment they gave us..really cared for us like their precous children...love them so much..

we reached taoyen airport around 1pm..and stayed for the night at 'jing si'..din do anything much except to participate in the 'grass picking' activity..

18th may 2009 - we reached hualien around noon and checked into the hostel.it was such a terrible thing to squeeze into the sardin pack train with our big luggage and until the train ring the final bell, there were still a few of us who didnt get up the train..goodness... after checking into the hostel, we went for lunch before reporting to our respective departments...terrible when the 'lost in the world of mandarin' hit me real hard....

19 may 2009 - we started our day with morning meeting, something like CME. a snr intern presented a case of metabolic acidosis with respiratory alkalosis but the topic for discussion was on effects of alcoholism as the patient presented with chronic alcohol intake.. it was quite and interesting case and thank god most of the presentation was in english thou the discussion by the specialists were in mandarin. stil able to catch some of the meaning but things are kinda different a bit here especially in formula and unit wise..i managed to see, talk and do some simple examination on the patient allocated by the snr MO thou i had some language barrier..haih...
after that, we went over to the clinic which was conducted by a dr.chen, another specialist in endocrine department. he was very friendly and showed us samples of the 'passport' for diabetic patients, in which they note down the glucose level, BP and other examination and also medication taken by the patient. the doctors here were very efficient that they immediately type down or refill the patient's information. he also told us of the new medication, sitaglipin phospate (Januvia) used for Type 2 diabetic mellitus. he also showed and explained to us the different medications for different patient and some of the diabetic complications. later, he asked us to the diabetic education department in which there were a few staffs and nurses who were involved in counselling the patients on their food intake, the foot care and also guide those patients who are first timers in using the insulin pen.
after lunch, we went over to the ward to look around, the xue chang, or jnr HO was so nice to us by teaching us how to refer the old cases to look at the different types of medication used as well as the history, causes, diagnosis and management of previous admissions of the patients... then we joined him for teaching by another Snr specialist who talked on the topic of thyroid,covering from hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves Dz.. we were lucky to be able to join in the discussion and learnt of lingual thyroid, a condition in which the thyroid didnt descend to the place as it was supposed to be, hence leading to dysfunction of the thyroid. then we discussed a bit on familial hyperlipidemia..in short, kinda embarassing as well as i kinda forgotten so many things and mixed up a few things...learnt quite a lot today as well and ya, its time to hit the books..kekeke

20th may 2009 - finally managed to get online yesterday...and ya, im no longer that lost in taiwan...kinda stil connected to the world..keke..get to see a patient with 'takayasu arteritis' and learnt a few symptoms that i've never heard before...

21st may 2009 - today is yet another bz day but clinic was pretty fun when the specialist, dr.tsai actually took the initiative to explain and teach us so many new things..really really so thankful to have him to guide us and share his knowledge..even today's cases are very rare with neutrophilic arthritis, sweet syndrome etc etc... we came back late today as well..and goodness, its raining...

what a day...

alrite..ystrday was the official day for my batch as the last day of our 4th year..there were mix feelings for us ystrday..most are not concentrating on the exa ady..and ya as usual, me was blammering all the way, all the thought block and stuff even though there were only 3 active stations..sigh..why lah..???just have to screw up the last exam for the year..huhuhu..dun wan bother ady lah..then we(stil missing one person) went for makan at fish and co for the final group outing with me distributing bk the money we spent for community..keke..just like fairy godmother..keke...then 7 of us went for movie..star trek..oh man its been like 2 months since my last time watching movie..it was an enjoyable movie with some destressing effect as i was bothered with the hostel issue just as i stepped into my room from papar...ok, have been in the dilemma of shifting my things out as i have applied for single room..they cant provide me a confirmed place..that already annoyed me as there are only 5 super seniors nex year including me and 5 single rooms available..so..wat else lah??? haih...irritating.. then the fact that we are coming the latest among the rest and even after the uni orientation make me worry that my things will be disturbed or i will just lose my single room place if i continue leaving my things in my current room..i really cant take it if im not given the single room nex yeat..im have had enough of all the unnecessary stress these 2 years..my life will change nex year and i really cant afford any single tiny irritation which have affected me so bad...

so i started packing my books and notes today as tmr will be pretty pretty bz day...cant really pack much with my rmate around..sigh..maybe i wil just have to wait til mon...stil not sure whether to shift everything out and stay with my fren,fam or still keep some things in the hostel and stay till the day before i fly...haih..still so many things havent do..really really wan faint ady..and dont think wil service my car til when im back lah..service ady pun 2 months im not around..another prob is havent find the person to take care of my dear baby joel..arhhhhhhhhhhhhh..stress like maddddddddddddddddddddd

scoliosis after 24 years???

well, today i decided to see the dr as the pain from my neck down wards isnt improving..its annoying and disturbing in every aspects..i cant even sleep properly..and so i decided to see the dr from our pusat rawatan warga..she examined me and guess wat was the first diagnosis she shouted ' i saw scoliosis'..oh my god..of my almost 25 years of life, no one told me there's curvature of my bone..maybe no one noticed it..i cant say her diagnosis is wrong..maybe she is right coz i was having breathing difficulty quite often and i havent had a proper x-ray of my spine before...sigh..then she said i may have cervical spondylosis...but at this age, its really not right ler... my dad was diagnosed with that just 4 months ago..but again i cant deny she is wrong coz i was having numbness on my right hand 5 days ago but i didnt think it would be that serious...sigh..ok she referred me to the specialist's clinic but sigh i needed to wait for the earliest 2 weeks before i can get an appointment..sigh sigh sigh...i would be in taiwan by then..nvm ler.. i will just take the pain killers for the main time and ask my ortho specialists after exam this fri..i just hope the pain wont affect me that much though the analgesia isnt working at the moment...sigh sigh sigh...i didnt wan bother bro as he's in singapore now but probably i just need to let him know and he immediately replied to go to the private hospital ASAP... GOD, please help me go through this miserable pain...ouchieeeeeeee

HELP

this is the first time im having such terribe pain from my neck down to my back..i cant even properly flex or extend my neck...so so so so terrible and its restricting my nevk movement especially when im driving..arh...what is going on.?? i hope nothing serious though as i wud be flying to philiphines and taiwan nex week..haih..praying everything will go on smoothly and it looks like i will have to shift my things out from my room..sigh..probably i will just act duno and leave my things there till i get back... sigh..the risk is some juniors may take over my much awaited single room..sigh sigh sigh...