A New Chapter

Tomorrow shall mark the start of a new chapter in life at Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh.

Signing off,
Dr. Cheng

Pure Awesomeness

Quality time with Vanessa, Avengers 3D, and a cup of Starbucks Frappucino at 50% price. Tonight was pure awesomeness. How was Avengers? Too good to describe, a must-watch movie.  

On a lighter note, a group mate of mine, Retna, created the joke of the day when Dr.Gollakota was taking a CNS short case for us.

Dr: "Is there anything higher than the cortex?"

Retna: "Yes sir, the dura mater!"

Its a medical joke, don't feel upset if you don't get it. 

I'm really looking forward to all the live updates on Bersih 3.0 rallies tomorrow. Until then, I got a long date with my books. Take care and God bless!

Social Aspect Of Medicine

It has been 2 years and 8 months since I lost blogged. Recently many things have been running through my head and I think its time for this blog to once again be a place for me to note down my thoughts. 

I've been in medicine posting for almost 4 months now, (6 weeks in sem6 + 1wk exams + 1week holiday + 7 weeks in sem7), postings has been great. Something I wanna talk about is that 'other side' of medicine, the social aspect of it that is often neglected. Dr. George Taye, Geriatrician in MGH once said that the social aspect of medicine is as important as the curative aspect, because it is the part that truly reflects how much we as doctors, or medical students, care for a patient as a whole. 

I've regretted not blogging much earlier, there were so much I've experienced that I would have loved to note down. 

Just today, I was clerking a patient that presented 3 days ago with history of shortness of breath (SOB) for more than a year. In the last 3 months he claims the SOB progressively worsen until he could not take it anymore, hence the admission. 

Cut the long story short, patient is a known case of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) for 15 years. He is non-compliant to treatment. He stops taking the meds when he feels ok. Little did he know that it was the daily usage of meds that is keeping him well. He was also non-compliant to a diabetic diet and healthy lifestyle. 

Despite trying to finish off the clerking in 1hour, I decided to spend some time convincing him to be compliant to his treatment. I explained to him about the purpose of taking the medications daily, the importance of a diabetic diet and healthy lifestyle, but apparently he knows them all, perhaps even better than myself. Despite all the effort, he insisted to be his own doctor, his son beside said that he is stubborn, many doctors and family members tried to advise him but none succeeded.

My question now is, what would you do? To give up is definitely not an option, but we as medical student, our convincing ability is not as great as a consultant. Persuasion and advising failed by even his close family members. 

Thought of the day: What is the point of knowing so much theory about DM and HTN, and newly diagnosed congestive cardiac failure (CCF), but yet not able to treat the patient? Is it our fault for failing to convince him? or do we blame him for not being compliant?  

Genting Trip

Where should I start blogging from? Hmm.. Let's see, Genting Trip was planned mainly by our dear LinYeunYi few weeks before I even came back from India. I must say the trip was simple but really enjoyable.

On 7/8/09, Friday, early in the morning, YeunYi, WooKan, HannJiunn and myself got a taxi and headed for KL Sentral, where we met up with LeeZhien and SuetYee. The 6 of us took a bus and cable car up to Genting. The mist was really really bad, our cable car vision range was not more than 5meters. So, sorry no pictures! You wouldn't want to just see a white box rite? Haha~~

Upon arrival, YeeEng was still busy with her collegemates, so we had lunch in SushiKing! Oh those lovely sushis. Generally every plate was RM1 more expensive than usual, but hack, you can have a fortune yet can't eat those in India. Haha~~

SuetYee, YeunYi, HannJiunn

After lunch, the hotel rooms were ready, so we went up to drop off our stuff, while waiting for YeeEng to finish her lunch. In the mean time, we did some very eat-full-rice-nothing-to-do things in the hotel and around Genting. Such as~~

FXC's very own version of Twilight!!

Yea, LeeZhien has the hands of a Vampire. LOL!!

HannJiunn the Magician wanna-be..

.. Together with his partner-in-crime, YeunYi..

The Fast & The Furious: FXC Unlimited

This picture needs no caption. HAHA!!

Finally, the long awaited Host of Honour, Ms. LeeYeeEng arrived! And we headed straight for First World Indoor Theme Park. 1st we played some laser game. It's actually just a dark room, with laser lines around, and we have to get to the other side without touching the laser. After which, guys and girls split up for sexist shopping time, met back up for dinner and movie, then played Twister in the hotel! Around 1am, we had a drink in Starbucks, and took a walk outside.

Laser room. Don't be fooled. YeunYi was just posing. =.=

Bye bye WooKan. Lol. The mist was that bad. @.@

Twister

Lamborghini. There were few of them. All Singapore cars.

Second day is when the rest would be coming up to join us! Wooh~~ WeiHan, HanBin, KiatJin, HoongLeong, JiaHui, YeeTheng, JiaMun and Ms Leong. Did I leave anyone out? Hopefully not. We spend the whole afternoon in outdoor theme park, and evening in the indoor theme park. Some of us did rock climbing, after which all of us played bumper car and went into SnowTown. It was really fun throwing snow, or rather placing snow in other people's shirt. Haha~~ Sorry no pictures in SnowTown coz camera wasn't allowed. Oh ya!! HanBin's dad bought us a really really nice dinner. Tks Mr. Yap!

Selero Shot (Not sure of the spelling)

WeiHan, just admit it, you were scared. Haha~~

Rock Climbing

Night walk, again, with different people.

On the 3rd day, a day where no one wish it would come so soon, was the day we had to say byebye. After lunch in PizzaHut, we went back the same way we got up, just with the totally opposite feelings inside us.

View from within the cable car

The front glass felt as though it was gonna crack. Haha~~

Overall, the Genting Trip was awesome. Tks to the organisers, whoever they are, and also to YeeEng's and HanBin's dad for accomodation and dinner. I'll miss those times, I'll miss the people, yet I'll keep the memories. =D

Bangalore City Trip

I've been so busy catching up with old friends and attending trips that I have no time for blogging. Hence I plan to do a mass update of various events. Update process may take some time, and posts will be in order of date of event k?

Starting we have my trip back from Bangalore, on the 31st July. Upon landing in Bangalore, we had a 14hours transit. Yes, F-O-U-R-T-E-E-N. Madness isn't it? The worst part was they broke my luguage handle, but only compensated RS200 (~RM15). Wth??

While waiting for our next flight, we went on a Bangalore City trip. Took a taxi down to Forum Mall. There, we saw, MCDONALDS!! OMG I tell you, we acted as if we just came out from a 5months stay in a jungle. "MCDONALDS!! EAT MCD!! MCD!!!!!!" But sadly, their McD wasn't that fantastic. Nevertheless, it was still a great meal, considering we were deprived of the all-time-favourite fast food chain. As for the mall itself, there were many people, but nothing much to do nor shop.

2 story McDonald's!!

Chicken Maharaja Mac and Pizza McPuff. They both suck.

Inside Forum Mall

Next, we went to UB City, in which the cheapest thing I saw was Apple Earphones for Rs1.4k+ (~RM100). Other branded stuff? LV, Burberry, TAG Heuer and anything along that range. @.@.. The interior of the building is really nice, ancient-British look with perfect lightings. Too bad photography wasn't allowed inside.

UB City

Next stop was Garuda Mall, where we spent most of our time in the arcade. No, the arcade sucks, but after being deprived of entertainment for 5 months, anything will seem fun. We had dinner here, and headed back to Bangalore Airport.

Night view of Bangalore City

That's about it for our Bangalore City trip. While waiting at the boarding gate, we saw this guy who looked really like Benny from a distance. Alot of us got a shocked. "OMG BENNY!!! No..."

Benny V2

That's all folks, for the continuation, read the previous post.

1st Day Back HOME

NOTE: Long wordy boring post ahead. Read only if interested.

I'M BACK!! Actually I've been back since 1st August 8.30am. I know, I know.. I'm supposed to blog on the 1st day itself. Sorry lar, had so much fun, so much to eat, so much to miss, so much to do, until I was dead tired by night. xD

The story about my trip back from Manipal shall wait, the next post perhaps. This post will be about my 1st day back HOME!! As the plane was about to land, we were all counting down. 5! 4! 3! 2.... Then the plane ascended a little, and we were like.. ONEEEEEEEEEEE.. Half a second later, BROOM!!! The plane landed, and loud cheer from within blasted off. The joy on our face was indescribable. Everyone grabbed their personal belongings, and practically rushed out the plane. Everything went on smooth, until waiting for our luggages. I swear if it took any longer, I'd grow spider webs. Anyway, after getting my luggage, I rushed out, knowing that both my parents were already waiting outside KLIA. =D

Upon walking out from the arrival gate, I saw mum, smiling and waving at me. I felt, warm. I was really happy to see her. And after a short walk, there was my dad, driving that familiar looking family car. I was so excited to hop in to the back seat of our car. On the way back, we had so much to talk about, until my dad missed the turning into MEX Highway. We ended up taking the Puchong way back instead. Nvm, longer journey = more time to talk. Haha~~

The 1st place we went was, of coz, HOME!! I was warmly welcomed by my 2 "didi-s", Denny and Mango. Mango was licking my legs non-stop, while Denny was practically climbing on me. Haha~~ I unpacked my stuff, and we went for breakfast, where I had the chance to meet up with my 6th uncle!

Denny and Mango

Entrepreneurs Park Dim Sum is the best ever. Huge SiuMais, solid packed with juicy meat, and a big piece of prawn within, for a very reasonable price. Not only the SiuMai, even the HaGao, YuMai and every other thing. No, I'm not paid to advertise. The moment the 1st tray of DimSum arrived, I started eating like never before. My mum was like "Oh dear you look like you just came out from the jungle!" Haha~~ I love my mum. Knowing that my eating capacity has greatly reduced, I still took ALOT of DimSum. Pity my dad and uncle. They had to help me finish the rest. Haha~~

After breakfast, we visited my grandmother in OUG. From a medical point of view, my grandmother's condition is really bad. But according to my dad, it has improved abit. She has been on bed since few months back, and now she's too weak to even eat. She has a tube which enters through her nose, all the way to her stomach, where liquids can be delivered. She is practically blind, due to side effects of Morphine (a drug to suppress her cardiac problems). My heart broke when I saw her condition. Being a medical student myself, yet I can't do anything to help. If only I was born 5 years earlier.. I have been my grandmother's favourite grandson. And when she heard my voice, I saw her tears 'leaking' out. That instant, I was trying really really hard hold mine back. As weak as she already is, she was trying to call my name. I felt helpless, all I could do was hold her hands and tell her about the happy things that happened in Manipal. To all readers out there, pls pls pls pray for my grandmother. Only a miracle can save her now. Nevertheless, my prayer is that God's will be done in her life.

Later in the afternoon, I slept, for the first time in 5 months, on MY OWN BED!! Oh gosh, the feeling of my smooth and comfortable bed, now that's what I call HOME!! I was already tired like dog by now. In the past 4 days, (3 days of exams and 1 day of post-exam madness+packing), I only slept a total of 11 hours. 11/96 hours. Not bad heh? Haha~

At night, there was cell group dinner with Pastor Philips Koh in my house. Ate dinner, chat-ed abit with cell group members, then went back to my room to MSN. Haha~~ As usual, I can't live without the Internet. xD.. After talking to a few people, it was TIME!!! Time for supper with my closest ever friends. Since some of them will be coming back from work in PC Fair by LRT, I decided to pick them up from LRT station and go straight for supper. Mind you I have not driven a car in 5months! And the feeling of sitting behind a wheel, in my own comfortable car, that familiar feeling was just pwnage!! Met up with TerngSheng, Robin, HannJiunn, WeiHoong and YeunYi and went for Hokkien Mee!! OMG!! HOKKIEN MEE!! and CANTONESE YINYEONG!! WALAO!! Wa ka lu gong hor, 5months, for 5 long months my chorda tympani, glossopharyngeal and external laryngeal nerve (nerves that supplies taste sensation to the tongue.. LOL) have been craving for those. Si Beh Syok ar!!

After sending them back, I reached home at 12am sharp! Haha, Amartya Sen's curfew has made me a good boy. Aww.. xD.. Anyway, that's about all for my 1st day. Stay tuned for my visit to PC Fair, and also my trip back from Manipal + visit to Bangalore city. T a t a ~ ~

Happy Birthday Mum!!

Its yet again another day where I wished I could be by your side, celebrating this special with you in person..

Once again, the home-sickness is rushing through my whole body. There's nothing much I can do now, except to do well in my exams and take good care of myself..

I promise I won't disappoint nor make you worry about me anymore..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM !!

Sorry for the really short post. I'll make up for it when I get back home k? 8 more days till I get to see you face to face. Just 8 more days..

Hectic Schedule

*Some edits to the schedule*

Schedule for this week and next 2 weeks..

15th - Histology Revision
17th - Physiology Practical Exam
18th - Physiology SDL Test & 2nd Histology Revision
- - - -
20th - Histology Spotters
21st - Anatomy 3rd Class Test (Viva)
22nd - Physiology Viva Voce
23rd - Rest Day Physiology SDL Presentation
24th - Anatomy Block Spotters
25th - Physiology SDL Test (cancelled!! REST DAY!!)
- - - -
28th - Anatomy Block Exams
29th - Physiology Block Exams
30th - Biochemistry Block Exams


And on the happier note..
31st - Leave Manipal
1st August - Leave India, and HOME SWEET HOME!!!

Benny's Supremo Dance

Ok as promised, here's the video of the dance we did during Supremo Ball. It'll only be funny if you know those faces, which are all famous MMMC lecturer's faces and Sharukan's. Please don't tell me you don't know who is Sharukan. Anyway, enjoy the video, and hear the cheers from the crowd. =D

Benny's Supremo Dance

Ok I got to make a confession, we copied the idea from Britain Got Talent's "Faces Of Disco". But we changed the faces and some steps, so its not a photocopy of it. Anyway, here's the original..

Faces Of Disco

Sorry about the alignment. That's the smallest I could find on YouTube. Similar videos disabled their embedding code. That's all folks !!

Supremo Ball

Supremo Ball is basically some graduation ceremony for even-numbered batches. Every year end there will be an Annual Night, but that's more for the odd-numbered batches. The whole system is sort of messed up because MMMC has 2 intakes a year. Get the whole idea of Supremo Ball? Now to the event..

TWILIGHT: When The Night Comes To Life

Overall, the Ball was o-k-a-y. It didn't give that lovey-dovey prom feeling, it felt more like a stress relieve point for mad med students. The performances were excellent of coz, but the food was ........ Haha! Just take it as there is no such thing as nice food here, just edible or inedible.

The main reason I went was to help Benny with his Mr.Supremo Talent Show. We did a group dance, of which I think was mind blasting. We got the whole hall bursting out in laughter. Too bad we didn't win. Will upload next time. Anyway, as usual, the events of prom aren't important, its the pictures that counts!

Note: I'm in all the pictures, so I won't be labeling myself again and again k, just the 1st one, so you know who I am. LOL!!

From right: Myself, Variant, Denise, Ming, Vidya, Vishnu

Vanessa the pretty~~

Antony the bug~~

Shawn the cool~~

Jesse the smart~~

DeZhi the emo~~

Edmond the gay~~

Benny the funny~~

YunLih the cute~~

EngHan the Winner for Male Best Attire (He changed his attire afew times)

Garnet a.k.a XiaoWen JieJie.. Dont we look like siblings in this photo? Haha~~

That's about it for Supremo Ball. Reached back tired like dog. Now got to hit the books again, Biochem PBL on Tuesday zzZ..

A Night To Remember

Yesterday was indeed a very happy and enjoyable day for me. Firstly was because, by God's Grace, I won the Supremo Interbatch Pool Competition. The finals was against my own batchmate, Skantha, who is a really good player. I barely won, and he wasn't on form. So I would say I won with the contribution of a little luck.

The major reason to why yesterday deserves a post in this blog shall not be mentioned here. A night where the Black CBZ + Blue LEDs ruled the road..

LEDs

Some time last week, I was influenced by Chaw to add LEDs to my bike. Haha~~

In case you're wondering, LEDs are the much cheaper version of Neons. One Neon tube would cost around Rs700, and you'll need one on each side, hence Rs1400+. On the other hand, a string of LEDs comes in 4 pieces, which means I can put 2 on the right, and 2 on the left, producing a somewhat similar effect as Neons. So I added 2 LEDs, 1 string below the rear body kits, and 1 string above the engine, for only Rs380 (~RM30)

Initially I wanted to add red LEDs, but it was out of stock, and the fella doesn't know when new stock will come. So, I decided to add blue instead.

Ta~Da~~

Sorry for the poor picture quality. It looks alot nicer in real =P.. Ok back to the books. Bye bye!

DURIANS~~!!!

Imagine this:
You're in a land of total lost-ness, everything is so different, and you miss home more than anything. Suddenly someone came to tell you DURIANS are in town!!!

WOOH~~~!! When I first heard about durians here, I gave the same expression everyone would give, "Ya right la!". After a long argument with Benny and Edmond, last Thursday, after class, we dashed straight to the fruit stall to get a smell of those miraculous durians. But as expected, sold out. Apparently they only had 2 bijis. But that wasn't the end, more stock coming on Saturday!!

So today, after our Biochem test, we, namely Edmond, Benny, YangZet, DeZhi, Vanessa and myself, dashed to the fruit stall once again, and HOLA!! DURIANS!!! 3 biji some more!! So we excitedly took all of it. Mana tau they don't know how to open durians zzZ.. So Edmond and I tried to open it, but their knife was the flabby type, so we couldn't use the all time effective twist-knife-"crack"-durian method. We had to artificially "crack" it. Ok never mind the opening process, the excitement in us was already exploding. The moment the 1st scent of smell came out, we got a glimpse of India-ly heaven. Ahhh~~~

Durian No.1

Considering that we're in India ~The Land Where Durians Are More Precious Than Gold~, the durians tasted O-K-A-Y... Back home, such durians would be used to throw at dogs. The 1st one was dry and a little hard, nevertheless it was sweet. The 2nd one was creamy yellowish-orange, BUT! It was sour. What the heck? SOUR DURIAN?! My 1st time coming across a sour durian. After 2 bijis, we had enough. We left the 3rd biji for another lucky soul. Aww, how kind of us. xD

Durian No.2

Wow, what a long post just on 2 bijis of durians. Lol. Okay gonna nap, and then study!!! Anatomy test on Monday. Can't they give us a break?!! zzZ..

To A Dad Who Is Always At The Top

..
Dear Dad,

....... I remember promising you a poem this Father's Day, as I did not have time to write one for your birthday last year due to I-can't-remember-the-reason xD. However, I was really busy with Supremo Interbatch Pool Competition and Physio tests last week (But hey! At least I made it in to the finals, and still got a borderline D for Physio test.. xD), so I just did a short one, may not be as good coz I couldn't rhyme alot of the sentances. Anyway here goes..

To A Dad Who Is Always At The Top

To a dad who loves me so dearly,

Who taught me everything so patiently,

Who wants me to just be myself only,

And be the best whom I can be..

To a dad who takes his dinner at home,

Who keeps the family ever so close,

Who hardly drinks and never smokes,
Is no doubt the perfect example for me to follow..

To a dad who loves God more than anything,

Who gave me Christian education since the beginning,

Who always encourage me to pray without doubting,

What is, to God, a perfect Ending..

And on this very special Father's day,

I pray that God will guide you with his shining rays,

Provide you strength to overcome life's waves,

And prosper you in every possible way..

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

To A Dad Who Is Always At The Top

I LOVE YOU DAD!!

~Your Son, KokMun~

Blog Revived!!

Walao 不知不觉 FirelessFlame has not been updated for 20days!!! that's 3 weeks (minus 1 day)!! Am I losing readers? Haha.. Alot has been happening recently, which has been wearying me out both physically and mentally. I'll try to update more frequently if time permits.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be up 3weeks ago. I actually uploaded the pictures last week, but had to save it as a draft, due to some unforeseen circumstances. And here I am now, completing the remaining of it.

As most of you would know by now, my parents came to visit exactly 1 month ago, and brought ALOT of REAL Malaysian food over. I had the happiest time ever in Manipal. My first meal with them was..

SaladPrawn, SiuMai, HaGao, SingaporeFriedMeehoon...

... and Chinese Pancake!!! Wooh~~~!!!

Besides those, there were more storable foods. Don't get jealous k? I'm just super duper blessed to have such great parents. =P

LongYoke, LohHonGo, CharSiewPau, etc..

Apart from spending time with me, my parents also cooked some simple hotel home-cooked food for my friends and I. Thanks alot mum and dad!! And ma, all of them said your BatKuTeh was the best. Start a Chinese restaurant here la!! Confirm everyday full house. Lolz..

BatKuTeh, Omelet and LuncheonMeat

Us, cramping into the hotel room..

Us again, eating..

Besides food, we also went to a few places around here. The furthest we went was TurtleBay, and others like Udupi, EndPoint and MalpeBeach. Seriously there isn't much to do around here.

TurtleBay

The few of us who went along..

The machos..

EndPoint

MalpeBeach

Gobi Manchurian. Apparently mum loved it.

Before sunset..

Sunset

Yet another Indian-classic, sari = swim suit??

That's about it for my parents' visit. Can't wait for August to come...