Potty Training V.2

We restarted potty training Layth yesterday because the other time we tried a few months ago, he wasn't ready yet. Alhamdulillah it is now Day 2 and today he hasn't had an accident at all. All pee (and poo!) in the potty!! The only thing he hasn't learnt how to do is to take off his spentot before sitting on the potty kihkih. He just sits on the potty spentot and all and pees. Hehehe. Well, that's the idea isn't it?? :p

He likes seeing his "business" being flushed down the toilet and insists to press the flush button.

I hope he will improve day by day and possibly off nappies by the time he starts kinder, Ameen.

Hurray!

Alhamdulillah.

Yesterday morning we went out to the nearby shopping complex to do some shopping. A Melayu hijabi passed us by! We smiled and wave. Then hubby told me to say hi. Hmmm. Lots of trepidation because I'm not such a social person. But I did it anyway. Gave her salam and did some small talk.

The end result of that was she invited us over to her house that afternoon!

The rest of the shopping trip was quite enjoyable. And more rizq... I saw two other hijabis!!!!! One was the food handler at Mexicasa (a halal restaurant at the food court).

That afternoon we went to her house. Turns out she cooked a mini feast for us. Bihun goreng, nasi goreng, ayam goreng, kari daging, lasagna, popadums, trifle, buah-buahan, cake! She called her neighbour to come as well. Kak B from Kelantan doing her PhD here. She has 2 little girls who Layth befriended.

Excited2. :D

The 'hood

Our street is a court so it is blind ended. This makes it particularly quiet most of the time. No traffic whatsoever. Despite the street being a junction off a main arterial road, we rarely hear the sound of traffic except for the semi-trailer horn once in a while.

Our neighbour on the right is an elderly couple; never talked to them yet but they smile and raise their hands a lot to us when we pass.

On the left is a young family. The oldest boy is perhaps 12-ish. I saw him in our backyard once picking up their stray balls. It gave me a fright! Well, you don't see a strange blond teenager lurking in your backyard looking suspicious and not feel frightened? In a suburb most people call "dodgy"??? Turns out it was the neighbour's kid. Well, he could've just rang our bell and asked if he could pick up the balls from our backyard. Apparently breaking and entering and trespassing is better than neighbourliness.

The houses here are one house per lot so I'm glad the houses are not that close. It feels more private and we don't hear their noises or vice versa.

So far I have not seen another hijabi around here anywhere. I was first quite scared to go around in public for fear of being stared at and pointed to. Then I noticed no one was looking at me (rather, they were avoiding looking at me). It was not that weird after that. Still, I prefer not to go out. I just don't feel comfortable being an alien. I have been used to living in a Muslim majority neighbourhood these past 5 years. Now, not only am I minority.. perhaps I am the only hijabi living in here!

We are still lost at how to find things. In our old suburb, there was a small section of street (town) that had everything you need; and you could walk to it. Now our new "suburb" is a whole city and it has a huge shopping complex and huge stores scattered about and needs driving and parking. I'm not sure how to find things. It's been 2 weeks and I still don't know where I can duplicate keys.

Our house is close to a childcare centre + kindergarten. So we enrolled Layth in 3 year old kinder. Thankfully and surprisingly there was a spot for him. Usually there is a year's waiting list!!! The centre is really nice. Lots of toys and they understand halal (woo hoo!). Layth will start orientation on the 12th Jan. Then he'll go there for Tuesday and Friday mornings for 5 hours each. It will cost $320 a month!! Ouch. But he really needs to socialise and be more independent. He's becoming really shy with strangers (which on another level is quite safe!).

The beach is a 5 minute drive away. Lovely beach with clear pristine waters and warm soft sand.

We brought Layth to the beach yesterday as a birthday treat.

Tiru Layth yang tak nak tengok camera

Puteri lilin with very good reason... UV 10 (very high) yesterday!And this was at 12-1pm

It was very sunny yesterday but the wind was chilly. How la the mat saleh pakai bikini aje..I was cold wearing my cotton blouse!

Euphoria is over

All the flurry of activities are (almost) over. Major life events have passed so quickly that I haven't had the chance to actually savour them or think them over. Too busy being busy!!!

So I graduated on the 5th of Dec. Felt really proud of myself and my friends. Felt a lot of pride and sense of accomplishment. 6 years (and more) of study finally completed.

Then on the 7th Dec I registered with the Medical Board of Victoria and formally (and legally) became Dr. We were reminded that graduation was the day to be proud, but that registration day was the day to be humble. We read the Declaration of Geneva (modern version of Hippocratic Oath) loudly all together... most of its contents were mainly to just be a good, decent person (and doctor).

As time passes and the congratulations cease and my family goes home, a sense of reality kicks in and I realise that in about a month's time I will be thrown into the deep end of the swimming pool without much floating assistance to be held. I may have a degree (heck, two of them) but I can't say much about how confident I am about my clinical knowledge. Sometimes I look back and wish I had been a better medical student; more hardworking at least.

Whatever it is, yes, the euphoria is over. But I'm still going to enjoy my new house for the time being. I'm also going to enjoy feeling proud of being a Dr. now. I'm sure on January 13th (my first day of work), I'll be brought down a few notches and be reminded that I am at the bottom of the food chain where hospital politics are concerned and I am not special or an individual; just a glorified (but paid!) clerk.

2 days out

Monday
We went to Phillip Island again because we didn't finish visiting it last week. Since Phillip Island is not that far anymore, we could go again without much hassle. We went to A Maze N Things and the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory. Photos!

Some of the weird and mind boggling things at the place. For those who've been here, Ahmad went on the vertical slide!! TWICE.

The chocolate factory was so cool. First there was an interactive museum about how chocolate is made. Then we saw sculptures made of chocolate (Ahmad is pointing to it above), a chocolate village with trains (bottom left), a Dame Edna collage (bottom middle) made entirely out of the chocolates in the photo next to it. We had lots of free samples of chocolate flakes, balls, coins and bars of dark, milk and white chocolate. We made our own chocolate as well (right top and middle). There was a 1 ton chocolate block and a chocolate waterfall of 400kg of melted chocolate (photo middle left). We felt quick sick at the end of the tour hee hee. But a nice kind of sick.

Tuesday

We went around the Mornington Peninsula. First stop was to Ashcombe Maze; the oldest and biggest hedge maze in Australia. It was 3.5m tall. We got lost in it! The massive garden around it was lovely. There were lavender fields and rose gardens as well.

Then after a scenic coastal drive, we arrived at Cape Schanck; the southern most tip of the state of Victoria. 300 steps?? down the cliff. It was freaking tiring. Hahaha.

Before heading home, we stopped by Arthurs Seat (a hill) to ride the chairlifts but they were closed for renovations. Too bad. But the scenery from up there was magnificent. Subhanallah. We could see the entire west coast of the Mornington Peninsula.

And there ends the travels of Mak & Ahmad during their stay in Melbourne. Last few days: shopping!

Moving DayS

Our initial plan was to move on Saturday 12th Dec. But then a few days before that, it turned out the removalists said we didn't make a booking with them even though we did.

So now we had to vacate the house by Sunday 13th Dec but we didn't have a removalist! On Thursday, I called up the ads on the Gumtree website (like a local classifieds) and found a cheap removalist for $65 per hour. We couldn't go more expensive than that because the journey to F itself would take up 1.5 hours (thus $97.50 just for travel!). They confirmed that they could fit all our stuff in their truck but they could only do it on Friday. Yikes! So one day earlier than planned; the day right after hubby's graduation.

On Friday, they arrived with a medium size truck with small, flat tires!! I was quite skeptical that they could fit everything in and bring the truck all the way to F on those wheels and survive. Miraculously they could fit in everything except 3 bicycles, 2 bookshelves, Layth's big box of toys and a swivel chair. It was quite impressive!! (photo: middle left)

Then on Saturday, we went back to the old house to clear the house of the extra "little" things (understatement yaa...) . Hubby went off to find a trailer to hire. When he came back, I was shocked to find a huge trailer (photo above) attached behind our car!! It was the same size as the truck the day before!!!! HAHAHAHA. Since it was big, we decided to keep some things that we had intended to throw out because they couldn't fit the first removalist truck. We intended to clean the house on Saturday but just packing "little" things onto the trailer took nearly the whole day (just shows how much junk stuff we have). So we drove the trailer back to F. It was so heavy, the car couldn't go faster than 80km/hr. The hardest part was to maneuver the massive thing.

On Sunday we went back to the old house with the trailer and scrubbed the house from top to bottom, removed the house of rubbish (which was a lot!!! including a sofa bed). We dumped the rubbish at the waste transfer station ($20 per cubic metre) and returned the trailer. Then we headed off to F (again!!!) but not without stopping by at Sofia Camberwell to eat.

Total cost of moving:

Removalist $350

Trailer hire $100

Toll for 3 days $30

Petrol for 3 days $100

Rent & bond $2600

Dumping fee $20

TOTAL $3200

This of course doesn't include the hidden costs of having to buy snacks, water, meals (because we were too tired to cook or couldn't find the stuff to cook with hee hee).

But the new house is a delight Alhamdulillah. Can't believe we found it and got it as fast as we did. Layth loves the wide open space and I love the layout - much easier to do chores. Unlike the old house where the laundry room is OUTSIDE.

So far things are still in some boxes but Mak has significantly unpacked most of my stuff! Rajin betul Mak. I was planning of postponing unpacking until Mak & Ahmad go home. Hihi. I guess mothers just can't keep idle.

Hubby's Graduation

Today hubby was conferred his MBBS degrees. Mak, Ayah, Ahmad and Layth took the train to Clayton while hubby and me drove to the new house first to pick up Mak's phone that was left behind yesterday (hehe).Then we drove back to Clayton.

Then I dropped hubby to pick up his regalia and I went to pick the geng up from Huntingdale railway station. When we got to Monash Uni again, hubby was in his attire and we jakun-jakunly took photos. Nasib baik ambik gambar awal2 coz it rained heavily after the ceremony.

Anyway, we went around the campus to take photos at interesting spots (lots of time to spare- unlike my grad day the other day!). Then it started to rain so we entered the hall earlier than expected. The hall was really grand! We sat in the furthest back row so we could stand up to take photos/movies without disrupting anyone. Layth then fell asleep (yes!) and slept right through the academic procession and the first speech. He woke up just before his Baba was going to be up on stage. Hubby's name was among the earlier people to receive their degree. So when Layth meragam after that, I could leave the hall without missing the best part.


Hubby is now still in Clayton at his friend's house because early tomorrow morning he will be registering with the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria. I registered last Monday. I was going to write about it but now I can't be bothered Haha. Too much on my mind.

Tonight we're sending Ayah to the airport. I think Layth will be looking for Ayah tomorrow! Hope he doesn't cry too much.

Tomorrow we're going to move house! Tak abis packing lagi! (The prior plan was to move on Saturday but sudden change in plans - kelam kabut laaaa!)

Probably no internet from tomorrow. So I'll keep my stories for later.

Bye you all... take care!

Jalan-jalan

Tuesday

It was raining heavily!! After a week of sun, the day we wanted to go for a trip, Melbourne had a shower.

We hired a Toyota Tarrago because it was the only vehicle that could fit all of us.

Late morning, we head off to F to pick up the keys to our new rental house. While hubby and me were at the estate agents, Ahmad and the geng went to F Beach Pier.

Tadaa.. our "new" house. We prayed Zuhr & Asr and ate some lunch. First problem of the house: the pipe was leaking! Non stop and high flow! So we had to shut down the water main. Tadah air dalam bathtub for later use because the water mains was closed.

Then we set off to Phillip Island. Just as we arrived, the rain stopped and it became sunny! Masha Allah. When we got there it was too late to go to A Maze N Things (sedih! tapi takpe, mayble bleh bawak Ahmad & Mak there next week) so we rushed to the Phillip Island Wildlife Park nearby. Nasib baik tak tutup lagi.

Then we went to the Nobbies. Ahmad was snapping photos non-stop. It was freezing cold at the Nobbies because of the wind.

Then we went to the Penguin Parade to see the cute Little Penguins come ashore at twilight and waddle into their nests. We couldn't take any photos because the flash would disturb the penguins. Lama jugak duduk sini...10.30pm baru bertolak balik!

We went back and slept over at the new house. IT WAS FREEZING! I was so cold and shivering during the night. I didn't bring a jumper hehehe.

Now we're back in the current house after returning the Tarrago. Then it was straight on to more packing... aiseh bila nak abis nih. Heheheh

Graduation Day

Finally this day arrives. The morning starts out gloomy and cold I was already feeling disappointed about the weather. I already had low-ish expectations about how the day would pan out and I already knew that the dream of wearing a mortar board would not be achieved.

Alhamdulillah, by midday the sun did shine brightly without it being too hot.

Because of convenience we all rode the tram to my university. But I didn't realise walking all the way to the middle of the campus to the union house was that long a walk. It's been a long time I was on campus! I was sweating by the time I arrived at the place to collect the regalia!! Most of my friends were already in their full regalia and taking photos and I was still walking to get to the building! And the line to get the gown was so looooong.

Our style of regalia follows that of Oxford University. It is only a gown with a hood lined with faculty colours. No hat. Our colour was cardinal red. (Didn't know what this meant until after I watched the movie Angels & Demons and saw all the cardinals wearing a kind of red - it's that colour!)

Finally when I got my full attire on and my tickets to the hall I took a breath of relief. But then I looked at my watch and realised I only had 1 hour to snap photos before having to enter the hall! So photos away! There wasn't much space as 300 odd students and their families were vying for the nice spots on campus with limited time.




I entered The Wilson Hall at 3pm and got seated. We were seated according to our turn on the stage. The stage backdrop was awful though. A painting of a naked man reaching for the sun. Had to look at that butt the whole time haha! The wait wasn't too boring. There was a quartet playing classical music and an organist playing the pipe organ.

Then the academic procession began with the choir singing an old graduation hymn in Latin. Then came all the speeches and formalities.

I was quite nervous to receive my degree. I was afraid I'd trip on my hem or slip down the stairs. Or walk in a very unladylike fashion. Mak took a video and it looked alright hahaha. I already told the officials I wasn't going to shake the Chancellor's hand so that turned out alright. No embarrassing moments.

It was quite enjoyable although extremely exhausting. My friend next to me (Abz) and I enjoyed ourselves laughing when the Dean pronounced other people's names. I was wondering if he had practiced pronouncing the exotic, tongue twisting names of us foreigners before hand. He did have some trouble with Malay & Indian names! I'm so glad he did not mispronounce my name. Even so, he had to pause and drink a glass of water after calling out consecutive Malay names!

I received two degrees on this day.

Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery

Bachelor of Medical Science.

Then after the ceremony finished, we only had one hour before having to return the regalia. 1 hour!!! Tak sempat. I didn't even realise my outfit was skewed. It was hard work rallying all the Banting people together for a photo shoot. We agreed on 5.30pm but some people had their own plans and went away and forgot. Some wanted to go quickly to the Grand Buffet Hall for refreshments. Adoi. In the end, we could only take photos with 13 of us (out of 20).

Alhamdulillah, 20 of us started in January 2004 and 20 of us finished together in Dec 2009. No one was left behind. We finished on time and I can't tell you what an astounding relief that is to all of us.

Congratulations to all of us.

Garage Sale

Not bad. Not bad at all. The weather was awesome Alhamdulillah, despite being forecasted to rain.

I even sold stuff that I didn't even intend to sell! HAHAHA.

Alhamdulillah, the garage sale earnings were $150.10 altogether. The rest of the stuff we sent to the charity shops.

Hari Raya Korban

6.30am Woke up after sleeping after Subuh (Subuh is at 4am). Get ready. Layth in his baju melayu. Then he peed and his nappy leaked. Had to change clothes and bedsheets!


7.20am Departed for the masjid

8.00 Eid prayer and khutbah

8.15 Balik rumah (sekejap je kan solat hee hee)

8.30-10am Mad dash to clean up the house, reheat food that was cooked the day before

10.20am-12.30pm Guests came to our house. Alhamdulillah the food was (almost) enough. I cooked nasi minyak + kurma ayam + ayam masak merah + popadum + acar timun. We even bought some charcoal chicken sebab rasa cam tak cukup lauk :p



12.30-1.30pm Cleaned up the kitchen and washed the piles of dishes

1.30pm Solat Zuhur

Eid Mubarak

Too preoccupied with worldly matters at the moment. Seems inappropriate that this Eid didn't deserve the extra effort befitting of a special occasion so we decided to have a last minute makan-makan at our house tomorrow among other things.

'Eid Mubarak to you & your family. May our pilgrims be safe and return with renewed spiritual vigour.

House hunting

We started house hunting on Monday. Hubby had already shortlisted some houses based on vicinity to the hospital. The inspection times were all in the afternoon between 3pm-5.30pm for only 15 minutes each!

The first day we went to F (took about 1 hour 40 minutes drive from home) a bit earlier to orientate ourselves. Man, the roads there are

Busy busy

Throwing away 5/6 years of study notes and scrap paper is a herculean task. Not to mention having to pick and choose those that need to be shredded like patients' bradmas and handover notes.

That yellow recycle bin is full already and there are heaps more papers to throw away.

I had a look at my notes from the earlier years. Rajinnya!! Detailed anatomy notes... adoi. Can't remember most of it by now.

Can't believe how many Islamic books that hubby has!! It all gone into 5 cube boxes already!! BANYAK GILERRRRR

Also have to transfer all those boxes in the corridor to the back room so we can have some space to breathe!

It's a good thing most of Layth's baby stuff is with Ayu (and later will be borrowed by Marlina) - otherwise we'd have boxes of those too.

I really hope people will come to our garage sale this weekend because there's tons of things I need to get rid off.

Penat!

Farewell Party

Today we had a farewell party for the girls in my batch from KMB and their families. We had planned this party since 2 months ago! But we didn't know until a few days ago that it was forecasted to rain today! Panicked but then decided to just tawakkal and go on with the plan. Hujan pun hujan la... qadar Allah.

The original venue was supposed to be the Werribee Mansion gardens. But when we got there...

Layth's expressions

My 6 year old camera's flash has died so I can't really use that camera to capture many photos (unless it's outdoors in nice weather huhu). So, layan je la gambar outdated ek. :p

Updates:

1. He is now very bossy assertive. He can give orders on how to play a certain game, make us sing the song that he wants and certainly very demanding that we buy him coke/pepsi or smarties/maltesers at the supermarket.

Ummi ambulan! Sini! Boom boom fire truck! (Ummi jadi ambulance.. like this... make it crash with my fire truck)

Kalau salah buat, nanti dia cakap! Sini Ummi! in a very nagging tone (I wonder where he got it from keh keh =p). Then he will sigh with frustration tsk tsk.

Ummi up! Amik miwk. Jom amik miwk. (Ummi, stand up, ambik milk..jom ambik milk)

Akmo Sam ni. Nak Sam kayt (Takmo tengok DVD Fireman Sam yang ni. Nak DVD Sam yang ada episode pasal kite)

Ummi, landan blij landan blij!! (Ummi, sing london bridge!)

Pas tu takmo beli cola home brand (generic brand) tu.. nak brand Coca Cola or Pepsi jugak! Ish ish the power of branding.

2. Very "informative" now.

Dawah nose Layth ... tishoo (Layth darah hidung, nak tisu)

Baba/Ummi hmmph busok kentot. Gi basuh belak. (Baba/Ummi kentut busuk, gi basuh berak!)

Makcik cat balik! (Makcik amatullah balik)

Shams panas.. nak boook (In the car, silau so he wants a book to cover his face)

3. Goes into singing mode. When he sees a number, say number 6. Then he'll say six but then he'll start singing "6, 7, 8, 9, 10; counting is so much fun..."

Same with letters of the alphabet and alif ba ta. When he sees the Quran, he will start singing alif ba ta until ya. Kelaka!

4. Loves pretend play and acting out scenes from the Fireman Sam episodes. Kena layan je la..nasib baik dah tengok cerita tu banyak kali sampai Ummi pun hafal skrip nya. So boleh la main pretend2 dengan Layth. Comel giler tengok dia berlakon!

He likes to quote from the episode:

Norman Pwice you litter menesh (Norman Price, you little menace!)
Gwet fayars lalandan (Great fires of London!)
Teevees on fayar teevees on fayar (Tv's on fire! Tv's on fire!)
Fayar dilis shop (Fire at Dilys's shop!)
Hos on watar on Sam (Hose on, water on, Sam!)

Finished!

I have finished my last exam. Finally!!!

Last night I couldn't fall asleep because I was too anxious. I was having visions of failing and having to repeat the course - what a nightmare.

Then in the middle of the night, Layth woke up and had a horrible nose bleed - flowing and dripping blood from both nostrils onto his body, me, the towel and the bed! He was crying because he was so scared and kept saying "dawah dawah!". Crying obviously made the blood keep on flowing. It took a long (well, it seemed long) time to clot up partly because he was crying and partly because he didn't let me pinch his nose. What more it was both nostrils so it meant pinching the nose shut. I felt like we needed to go to the hospital or something. But then it settled down and we cleaned him up and he went back to sleep. The air was extremely dry last night (and this morning).. maybe we should get a humidifier plak!

In the morning, I slept in a little because I was too sleepy during Fajr prayer. Ya Allah. Then I got ready and hubby made me the "last unhealthy breakfast" of chips, fried egg and baked beans. (I told him lepas exam baru nak start eating healthy stuff).

The train ride and walk to the hospital was scorching! I was sweating my armpits off by the time I got there. Phew.

Alhamdulillah I got a very simple case of non healing ulcer query osteomyelitis. The man was so healthy.. no diabetes, no hypertension, not even high cholesterol. Not much to talk about there!

Furthermore the examiners were extremely nice and they even both said "good" at the end of my presentation. I felt soooooo relieved!!!!! InshaAllah hopefully I'll pass - I can't go through this ordeal any longer... I am so relieved it is over Allahu akbar!

When I got home I was extremely exhausted: physically (walking in the heat and not enough sleep!) and mentally (being anxious for the past 5 days!! argh).

I have made it to the end. Praise be to Allah for allowing me to finish this 8 year long marathon.

Exam Part II

Station 1: Fever in returned traveller. It has been drilled into us that this would be malaria until proven otherwise so it was quite alright. Probably the only station where I still could ask the patient questions until the time ran out.

Other stations I ran out of things to ask and always had 1 minute extra to twiddle my thumbs.
I thought I gave correct differentials in this station (meningitis, dengue) but the examiner looked skeptic.

Station 2: Heart murmur of all things! Uwaaaaaaaaaa
I'm so bad at heart examination. Valvular heart disease is my least favourite subject. I even prefer renal disease over valves. Read the ECG but it didn't tell me anything useful. Turns out there were signs of ventricular hypertrophy.
This is why I hate doing examination aje without any history taking whatsoever. I'm not even sure what to look for.

Station 3: Basic life support! Yeay!!!!
Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation- D, R, A, B, C ...besh!
The examiner was so cool. We had extra time at the end and he even said "You did excellent" and then he gave some basic life support tips and said "...it's for next year". Wah bersemangat keluar from this station.

Station 4: Epigastric pain
Urgh. Hated this one. Patient was not helpful (berlakon terlampau sakit la konon) and the examiner didn't even pay attention to what I was saying. How could he mark me then!!?!?!? And then he was really rude and insulting to me. Treated me like I were stupid and then asking me which clinical school I was from as if that explained the stupidity.

One of the questions was: Considering she has had some pain before, what would be your differential diagnosis? He didn't even let me answer this question because he said my history was "limited" and apparently I didn't ask the patient specifically about this. I did ask "have you had any kind of pain there before" but the patient said no during the interview!!

So he didn't let me answer that question and put a BIG zero (as if a small zero wasn't enough) in the marking sheet next to that question. Unfair! I felt extremely dejected after this station; rasa cam tak nak bother dah buat exam.

Station 5: Osteoarthritis of the hip. Hip examination. Easy peasy lemon squeasy.

It's a good thing I didn't end with the horrible examiner, otherwise I'd be feeling awful right now!

Alhamdulillah dah selesai! Harap-harap pass!
One more exam to go, next Thursday

Exam Part I

Like the words of Kevin McAllister in the movie Home Alone:

This is it.
Don't get scared now.

(Addendum at 3.11PM)

Well, first practical exam now over and done with. Felt quite alright after it. Pretty sure I didn't do too well in one station but the others were ok. The examiner plays a big role in how you feel at the end of each station. Horrible examiners make me feel like I have failed it. Nice examiners make me feel like I have aced it.

Today's stations:
1. Patient with asthma, worsening symptoms. Discuss why. Evaluate his inhaler technique and make comments. Teach him how to use a spacer. Short term management plan for his worsening asthma.

2. Station with no examiner..yehooo!! Just 1 Xray, 1 brain CT and urine test. Answer questions based on the tests. Not enough time though.

3. Female patient whose driver's license was suspended because she had an epileptic fit while having a breathlyser test. Really not sure what the instruction was.. take an epilepsy history? driving history? history of presenting complaint i.e. suspended license???? And how la would I know how long a driver's license would be suspended..tanya la polis trafik.

4. Patient comes in with dizziness. Benign Positional Vertigo. I think I nailed this one..first time ever in my exams I answered all the questions correctly. FIRST TIME! I think seeing 4 patients with vertigo during GP placement was helpful.

5. Pregnant patient with vomiting. Certainly it was pregnancy related but I had to ask everything to exclude food poisoning (unlikely), meds, neurological disease..adoi.. even after 6 minutes blur tak tau nak tanya apa dah. Diagnosed it correctly as hyperemesis gravidarum but when asked to explain how to treat it...erm erm.. anti nausea medication? I don't really know how coz I myself never had morning sickness when I was pregnant hehehe.

Next, tomorrow!

Relief

Alhamdulillah the 1st AlKauthar course in Malaysia went well according to Syeikh Tawfique.
That was a relief!

I hope a Students Guild will be organised in Malaysia soon!

Summer prep

Adoi panasnya la sekarang nih. Time for summer preparations, methinks.

Clothing - Layth grows so fast
1. New wide brim hat for Layth - done
2. New sandals for Layth - done
3. Long sleeved light t-shirts and pants for Layth - erk kat mana nak cari
Sunglasses- where are my sunglasses!?!?!?!?
Sunscreen- check
Air cond out - still in laundry room, have to find the parts!
Aluminium foil for the windows - habis, kene gi beli lagi
Constant supply of ice cubes in freezer and cold water in the fridge
Change habits - sidai baju at night, grocery shopping either early morning 7am or nighttime 8pm
Despite multiple ink spots from Layth's felt pens, my cotton 400 thread count sheets are still lovely and cool

Summary

At nearly the end of 5 weeks I'm not sure if GP is the specialty for me anymore. What I can summarise is:

GP work: help lots of people but with mundane problems, a lot of variety
Specialist: help not that many people but those that are seen have significant problems, very limited scope
Radiologist: sees Xrays, CT scans and MRI and Ultrasound all day long
Pathologist: sees dead bodies, bodily organ specimens and fluids all day long

I'm starting to think maybe I want to try radiology! I am not patient with people. I might seem polite and interested in front of them but sometimes they bore me to death or irritate me with their attitudes. I got fed up with people only after 5 weeks! Imagine being a GP for 35 years.

Maybe it depends on the demographics of the society that you live in?
But I have seen a lot of:
1. Vain patients - wanting to get rid of a small spot on her knee so that she can wear short skirts

2. People wanting to be cured immediately for a shallow purpose - wanting me to cure her eczema quickly so that she can wear a bikini in summer and not have to cover her legs, wanting me to assure her she is not pregnant after she had unprotected sex with a stranger and now doesn't want her boyfriend to know

3. Useless people- people claiming pain and disability so they can live of the pension given by the government and remain unemployed

4. People who want to be cured instantaneously and are disappointed with you when you tell them it takes time to heal - especially so for musculoskeletal conditions

5. Know-it- all patients - people who come into the clinic with a diagnosis from the internet and then are disappointed at you when they are proven wrong by your history taking, examination or investigations! Bersyukurlah takde penyakit2 tuuuuuu

6. The medical certificate and antibiotic seeker - requires patient, lengthy explanation... *sigh*

7. The depressed patients... they go on and on forever about why their life is so crap, the world is against them, everything goes wrong in their life bla bla bla

Last but not least,
8. Patients who do not shower, wash their hair or feet...uwaaaaaa bushukkkkkkkk. I probably need to sterilise my stethoscope at some point. It's been through a lot of sticky, sweaty backs and chests.

There were a lot of lovely patients too by the way. I dunno, maybe things will change when one earns money. You overlook these things. I dunno. We'll see. :)

Reminiscing Final Part

Year 5 2008

This year I was at the Western hospital for the whole semester 9. I started to enjoy my studies more because the hospital and staff were REALLY nice. Only I had to drive there every day which was a pain.

Semester 9 was the most important semester for marks. The marks counted towards internship marks. Unfortunately for me, I didn't do too well in this semester. Lowest grade (3rd class) in my exams for the whole course. Lots of factors caused this.

Then my sister came to stay with me and babysit Layth.

With Amirah here, we went all sorts of places; even Canberra (because I had to renew my passport so sambil2 tu gi jalan lerr apa lagi).

The second part of the year was my Paeds and O&G semester. I enjoyed it a lot. Because I did my research year in O&G I banyak ponteng jugak O&G time tuh. At the time, we didn't have a babysitter so hubby and I took turns to look after Layth at home. Once I even brought Layth to a PBL.. he was very disruptive! Hehehe. Alhamdulillah I did not catch rotavirus (diarrhoea) during my Paeds term which they said everyone would get.

My friend Wahyuna moved into our house around this time. She rented our front room. We needed the money so we rented out the room.

This year Layth was sick during Raya. He had mild croup (which I probably brought home from the hospital!). He was very lethargic at the time. He looks miserable in his raya photos. Hehehe.

The last part of the year I spent doing my elective placement. I did my elective in a community health centre (essentially a GP la jugak except it was for underprivileged people). 2.5 days a week for 4 weeks haha. Ngelat. Well, sape suh Melbourne Uni curi vacation time orang???

My mother, nenek, Aimi and Aida came to visit. We went to Philip Island, Ballarat, Geelong, Dandenong and more! Unfortunately I've lost all the photos of the time period! Sedih!! :((

Year 6 2009
Final year of medicine!
My rotation was the most boring ever: Psychiatry, Geriatrics and rural. I didn't enjoy it that much. I had a fall and hurt my back in the beginning of the year so I spent most of Psychiatry on strong pain medications. Not very nice.

I only went 1 day a week for Geriatrics and had so much time off that I started a small business making and selling children's hijabs and abayas.

I spent nearly $700 for my rural placement because:
- I brought Layth and my sis-in-law to Dookie so I had to pay for different accommodation.
- Travelling to & fro Dookie
- My car broke down before going to Ballarat so I rented a car to go to Ballarat
- I went home every 2-3 days by train from Ballarat because it was the first time I had ever left Layth overnight. Rindu ma.

I hated this semester and was so glad when it was over.
Because Wahyuna had moved out, we had to find other people to rent out the room. We had two converts living with us (now only one). Interesting experience.



We went back to Malaysia in the winter holidays..enjoy giler! Hubby had to do his electives so he didn't have a holiday.

Layth's firsts:
- ate rambutan and durian
- mandi air tempayan!
- naik KTM train
- kena gigit nyamuk
- naik speedboat (we went to Pulau Perhentian)
- main electronic train set
- tidur hotel
- makan ABC
- watch Disney channel on Astro hehehe

Final story to be concluded...

Ta'aruf BBQ

As mentioned before, the Students Guild is an online community so the Melbourne ameer organised a BBQ for us members and their families to get to know one another.

But it turns out, most people already know each other in real life anyway (from playgroup, halaqahs, course etc).

It was the most organised BBQ I've ever been to! Hahahah. Sampai-sampai... makanan semua dah siap.. tinggal nak makan aje. Anyway, made some new friends even though I've forgotten their names by now.

All in all, a great afternoon. Layth enjoyed himself with 2 cans of coke, a hot dog and playing at the nearby playground.





Menyesal plak tak makan lamb chop banyak-banyak tadi. Tapi mengenangkan my fatty liver....

Arabic

If you can recall, for Aqidah studies this semester we are studying 3 books:

Qawaidul Arba'ah
Usul ath-Thalaathah; both by Sheikh Muhammad Sulayman At-Tamimi
and Mujmal Usool Ahl Sunnah wal Jamaah fil Aqeedah by Dr Nasir Abdul Kareem Al-'Aql

These are spread over 10 lessons..only 1 of which I have listened to because, may Allah forgive me, I find the teacher boring. So I decided to read the books first and then listen to the shaykh's explanation so that I have a rough idea about what he's going on about. It took me 3 nights to copy the Arabic text of the first book and another 3 nights to copy the entire text of the second book! Penat! And now my hubby and friends say the shaykh is already well into the 3rd book!!

I am so behind. I regret procrastinating now. What a lot to read and to memorise too. It's recommended to memorise the first two books word for word in Arabic because it will lay the foundation for any form of removing doubt, handling arguments and refutations in the future. There are also lots of Quran dalil in the books that we have to memorise.

My friends and I have a study group for this. Last week we tasmi' the English translation of the FIRST paragraph of Qawaidul Arba'ah.. itu pun terkedek2 aku. Tak cukup sinaps!

Anyhow, some point of benefits that I want to share from my study is that:

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE ARABIC LANGUAGE.

When I read the Arabic text, there were many differences and mistakes and omissions in the English translation. It means, some information has been lost in translation or worse, what if the translator was deceitful and an enemy of Islam. Also, some Arabic words just can't be translated word for word. There is a treasure trove of knowledge in the Quran and classical Islamic texts that just can't be replicated through translation. And the key to that treasure is Arabic language.

So I urge you all, to find time and the opportunity to learn and study the Arabic language..and those, who like me, had studied it once upon a time to revise it and further your learning. If you can study extra things like other languages, dancing, playing an instrument; then you can study Arabic. Find a teacher, join a class, read books.

Like my husband who is fluent in Arabic; he has probably read hundreds more books and listened to a hundred more lectures in Arabic than me. Just comes to show the value of the KEY.

SWot

Okay, I need to do a ?SWOT analysis on exercise so I can address the lack of motivation.

What's good about exercise for me:
1. Reduce amount of body fat
2. Reduce weight to normal range
3. Reduce blood cholesterol levels
4. Reverse my fatty liver
5. Prevent osteoporosis (I have vit D deficiency)
6. Reduce my back pain and joint pains
7. Increase my energy levels and stamina
8. Reduce laziness

What's bad about exercise for me:
1. It gives me a headache and I feel sick afterwards
2. Makes me feel tired and can't be bothered to do anything else
3. I hate sweating
4. After a while it gets boring
5. I have to spend money to do it: e.g. swimming pool admission fee, buy a treadmill/bike, join a gym, buy proper sneakers (I have $10 ones and they're rubbish), get a Wii fit, buy an exercise DVD
6. I have to allocate a special time to do it 3 times a week..argh.

Opportunities
1. I already have an exercise DVD
2. The swimming pool is close to my house
3. I already know I need to exercise
4. Daylights savings - sunrise at 6am. Ideally can wake up early to run/jog safely.

Threats
1. Money money money, not enough of it; I need new running shoes
2. Exam fever - everything else seems to be on hold until these are over..frustrating!~
3. Too many other things that have to be done but aren't done yet
4. Extreme laziness; already spent the whole day tiring myself...exercise will just tire me more

Suggestion (from hubby):
BUY Wii FIT!

Pros: Lots of variety and games, fun, can be done indoors and barefoot, can involve everyone so less boring

Cons: EXPENSIVE!, would need to buy another tv coz our tv is the smallest ever on the market

Alaaa

Went to the doctor today to follow up on my abnormal liver test and liver ultrasound.

I have...

a FATTY LIVER!

Some people smoke and drink alcohol..me, I eat fried chicken skin and the fat on the side of a lamb chop.

Exercise and good diet...... when oh when...

Reminiscing Part III

Year 4 2007

This year was challenging indeed. I had a few problems with breastfeeding at the beginning but things turned out OK. I had 2 months off before I had to go into the hospital lab to finish my project. Even then, I went on the weekends so that hubby could accompany me and look after Layth at my office while I was in the lab. Very difficult coz I had to stop every 2 hours during the experiment to breastfeed Layth.

My dear Datuk died this year because of COPD. I couldn't go back to Malaysia at the time, was still in pantang. But I managed to see his last moments because my aunt switched on the webcam in his room at the time. I still miss him a lot.

I was very fortunate to be able to stay at home most of the time for Layth's first 6 months. It was easy to exclusively breastfeed him. It was lovely to watch him grow and smile and develop that bond too. I never left him with anyone for more than a few hours. I'd be anxious and teary and miss him a lot even for two hours! Hehehe

Fortunately for us, our monthly allowance had increased and we received a backdated cheque of a lot of money. That meant we could afford to go back to Malaysia for winter! Alhamdulillah. So Layth had his passport done in Canberra and in June we went back to Malaysia to meet the family. Mak & Ayah even installed air-cond just for him! First cucu la katakan.

When we got back to Melbourne after that, things got a bit more difficult. I was starting my clinical years at the hospital and that required me to go to hospital all day long. During the first few days we left him with some sisters (Kak Ulfah, who now happens to be related to me coz she married hubby's cousin). He didn't drink the expressed milk so he was really hungry when I picked him up again.

The next 3 weeks we got a spot at family daycare where a mother looks after kids in her own house. She was Muslim and she did a good job. Layth was low-maintenance at the time anyway. But it cost us nearly $900 for 3 weeks. Habis duit mara bagi tuh. Then hubby's cousin came and stayed with us and that made things much easier for us. There was more flexibility for me.. I could go late or come back early or come back later than usual (depending on my timetable).

I didn't attend the hospital that much coz I wanted to be at home with Layth. Didn't like hubby's cousin that much even though she helped me a lot. Felt annoyed at someone taking over the house.

Hospital life was quite demanding. I expressed milk in between classes in the toilet. Being hormonal, I was extremely sensitive to mean people and there are a lot of mean staff at my hospital.

The sem 8 exam was formative (no assessment) so I didn't study that much hee hee. No motivation anyway. I didn't want to leave the house in the morning. Didn't have good sleep because Layth feeds 3-4 times during the night. Was seriously thinking of quitting medicine at this point of time. Felt a bit depressed too.

Staying at home was more exciting. Layan Layth main, crawling, standing then walking!

We enrolled in playgroup by the end of this year and made new friends. Layth was healthy, growing up well and happy.


Layth turned one at the end of this year commemorating the start of extremely hot summers in Melbourne!

Reminiscing Part II

Year 3 2006
This year was a massive year for me. Lots of new experiences.

First of all, hubby and I moved into our first rental house together. It took a month or so to finally find a house. It was a one bedroom unit that was like a cave even in summer. It was freezing to go to the toilet. Lots of mishaps happened; like our unit was flooded when the washing machine's outlet pipe overflowed. The water seeped until next door! Our hot water boiler rosak and it took a month or so for the estate agent to finally send someone to fix it so we had to wash dishes and takes showers with cold water. Sejuk giler! Funny to think of it now.

We lived in semi-poverty and had to calculate every dollar spent. 80% of our money went to the rent. We only used chicken wings for lauk because that was the cheapest meat. Hehehehe.

We didn't have any proper honeymoon really. But we did go on our first holiday together at Mount Buller in the middle of the year. Hehe. Yeah, it took us that long to save up $200 for the day trip. It was great fun. Lots of excuses for hugs when it's cold!


Semester 5 was the last semester of pre-clinical years i.e last semester at the Uni campus. It was the best semester out of all the pre-clinical ones. Simply because it was well-organised and because my PBL group was amazing! Everyone in the group was awesome and nice including the tutor. We loved our tutor!
We learnt Microbiology in this sem; loved memorising the bugs and antibiotics names (not that I remember much of them anymore!)

I was pregnant with Layth this year. Alhamdulillah I did not have any of the morning sickness. I just had worse back pain and sciatica, reflux, cravings for McD fries and aversion to rice. I put on 20kg but my tummy did not look that big (see photo left). Even when I was 8 months' pregnant some of my colleagues didn't notice that I was pregnant.

Ultrasound in the third trimester showed a low amniotic fluid index so they thought Layth-foetus was growth-restricted. Had to see the specialist who said it was probably just a statistical thing, us being Asians using a Western reference range, of course we would be 'smaller'. My mom said we siblings didn't weigh that much at birth either. Mak said "Baik berat kat luar, daripada berat kat dalam".

I did the first part of my research year this year too..oddly enough in Perinatal Medicine at the Women's (where I delivered Layth too!). It was cool. Learnt the O&G lingo, history and examination (which helped me a lot late on when we had our O&G rotation) and did some fancy laboratory work like RNA extraction, DNA extraction, electrophoresis and Western blot. That made me realise what a farce the CSI shows were :p

Oh yes, because we were in semi-poverty, I had to look for a part time job because my research year was kind of part time too. I got a job as a medical transcriber. It was great fun to earn my own money and it did help us a lot because we had enough money to move out of the small unit into a 2 bedroom house in preparation for Layth's arrival. However I had to stop working because I was extremely tired (3rd trimester + increasing demands to get my lab work done before delivering).

I had a fall in the lab and then had some contractions so I was admitted to the hospital for 4 days. Boring macam apa. Luckily hubby kept me company and brought movies to watch and my friend Sue came to visit me and brought magazines. All my other friends were back in Malaysia at the time for summer hols.

My mother and little sister came that summer to help with the pantang period. They were here two weeks before Layth was born.

Layth was born 21 Dec at 5.30pm, NVD + episiotomy. He didn't weigh that much hee hee. He was a bit drowsy for the first two days because I had been given Pethidine during the labour.

We named him Layth on the 3rd day, after the prominent scholar al-Layth ibn Sa'ad.

I stayed in hospital for 3 days and then we went home!
Then I never had a good night's sleep until the next 2 years =p

Reminiscing

Nak buat cam Mun jugak and write a "memoir" of all the years I've been in Melbourne. I will write the things about those years that I remember the most. :)

Year 1 2004

The first year was quite a bore. After spending 2 years in Banting, I did not want to learn about the Krebs cycle again. First time ever in Anatomy lab though, poking preserved cadavers. I can never forget the smell of formalin and cadaver 'juice'. I had never seen a dead body prior to that. I won't forget Pathology lab either; the lecturer with the voice tic droning on about pink stuff and blue dots on unfathomable tissue slides under the microscope.

In the spring break, my friends and I went on our very first road trip to Philip Island, Mornington Peninsula and the Silvan Tulip Festival. It was a blast. I wonder why we rarely did stuff like that after that. Pokai kot. Hehe.

First ever Raya overseas. This was the pic we took to send to Utusan!


This year was a year of a lot of tears. Fallout, social boycott and wasn't allowed to go for hajj.

But this year was also the year I first got to know hubby.

Year 2 2005

My friends and I lived in a rental house. We were proud of ourselves for being "independent". hehe. Happy in the beginning but later conflicts began to surface over minor things such as doors slamming, invasion of privacy, grass cutting, insomnia and unwashed dishes and ultra-spicy, diarrhoea inducing meals. It seems funny to think of it now but it was dramatic at the time.

In the winter break, our friends from UK & Ireland came to visit. I had organised a huge trip to Sovereign Hill for everyone. In the end, because I didn't count heads properly, there wasn't enough car space for one person. So because I couldn't tell anyone else they couldn't go, I ended up not going to the trip that I organised. Sedih!

I also got engaged to hubby (by proxy in Malaysia hehe) during the winter break.

In spring break, my friends and I went on a trip to Mornington Peninsula again. On the way back, our 4WD's engine died in the middle of nowhere. Mun & Aya walked into the bush and they found a house and asked the people in the house to help us. They helped transport us to the nearest train station and helped find a tow truck to tow the 4WD back to our house!

This was the year I had the disc prolapse. Spent more than a month at home and the physiotherapist. Spent about $800 for the physio treatment. Did my Sem 4 exam under alternative exam arrangements at the library.

I also got married at the end of this year!


To be continued...