A Day In The Life (Community Medicine postings)

Woke up, got out of bed,
Brush a wax across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late

Wore my shirt and grabbed my bag
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and put on my shade
Plug in the earphone and I went into a dream

Reach Ullal, signed my name
Sit down there and bore myself
Patients came, tell their complaints
I gave them drugs and off they went

Power went off and the fan stopped
Wet my shirts and flood my brain
Read a book and kill my time
Found myself gain nothing everyday

It's 4.30 and off i left
Reach my house in an hour
Throw my bag and bath myself
Jump on the bed and again went into a dream

Can't read their mind, dun speak their tongue,
Bad facilities, frequent power down
Simply diagnose, prescribe for fun
Suffer and being uncomfortable for Rs1500 per month

P/s: Community service is definitely not my thing. I find this one month of rural community postings utterly useless and time wasting. I don't see myself sacrifice for the illiterate villagers and get nothing back. I would prefer sitting in an A/C room, enjoying my time, take few patients but take my own sweet time, do the job properly and charge a good amount.

(Updated 1/5/10) At last this uncivilized, useless, boring and time wasting posting is over.. No more stupid medical officer, no more power cuts, no more bad food, no more travelling.. The whole posting in juz utterly wrong in all senses. Without protocol, ineffective drugs, illiterate patients, no gloves, no suture material, no spirit, bad MO, bad staffs etc..
At last, i'm now back to civilization. Am now posted in Atavar Hospital Medicine Unit IV, which is a very hectic unit.. So, i am gonna change my attitude towards this new posting and be interested and work hard, at the same time have fun.. (the "Fish" attitude)

Traveling on public bus everyday to and fro, it takes 30 minutes bus ride to reach Ullal from Mangalore, and i have to depart at 7.30am and come back only at 5pm. Indian buses sucks, super crowded and hot and smelly and noisy.

The scenery i see from Mangalore to Ullala

"essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and the country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-determination"

Sitting at the hot and small OPD wasting time. Every of my colleague will be busy studying for the PG entrance exam while i alone will be there reading novels, play PSP or go to the dorm to take a nap. What a life!

Lunch break at the common room with my colleagues. Meals are prepared by a sister who're hired by the college.

A laparoscopic camp at which the duty doc did each sterilization case in just 3 mins, awesome!

Visit to Anganwadi to check the general health of small children in 'schools' around Ullal

Our dorm of which everyone of us are supposed to sleep at every nights.

But i couldn't stand the condition and the lack of A/C and numerous mosquitoes bites and the uncomfortableness of the beds, so i go back home everyday.

Had a party at Vijay's house in Ullala. Thanks for the foods and the hospitality..

Things Ullal is famous for - beaches

On the way home to Mangalore after a tiring day

Slippery When Wet

I had been suffering from hyperhidrosis for the past 20 years or so.

Hyperhidrosis = abnormal excessive perspiration, in excess of that required for regulation of body temperature. Most common sites being palms and sole. My problem is whenever i'm exposed to hot weather, my palm and sole will sweat profusely non stop for the whole day till i sleep at night.

I can still vividly remember how i have to put a tissue paper under my palm whenever i'm in a drawing competition; use a handkerchief when i write my homework and exams; made the keyboard, mouse & gamepad soaking and sticky after i use them; my guitar strings rust 10X faster than my friend's; and more recently, having trouble while examining patients; totally wet the hand glove when i wear them; plus not to mention all the social frustration in having difficulty shaking hands and holding hands.
Hyperhidrosis is a very common problems affecting around 3% of the population, and i myself have few friends suffering from this also.

Recently around 1 year back, i got to know that hyperhidrosis is treatable, and the ultimate cure is by surgery. That discovery is like a light in my life. I can now hope to actually get rid of all these above mentioned trouble once and for all! The surgery is called Endoscopic Thoraco Sympathectomy, which is minimal invasive surgery using laparascope to remove bilaterally the T2 nerve. Also, I stumbled upon an useful website called Wet Hands Club. It is a social website set up by all the hyperhidrosis sufferers in Malaysia and have all the information one needs to know. From there, i got to contact a doctor (Dr. Jasmi) in HUKM. I started emailing him about the possibility of getting the surgery done and he always answered me promptly without fail. After that, I also got to know he transferred to Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital. My plan was to do the surgery in this long vacation of mine.

After i knew i passed my Final year MBBS, i wanted my parents to 'award' me with the surgery. I really need it for my internship. I had a really hard time convincing my parents to do it. . They were very worried bout the complications such as Horner's syndrome, rebound sweating etc. Besides, the cost of the surgery is expected to be around 10k, which is a large amount. After non stop of explanation and insistence by me, on this Sunday, they finally agreed on it.

On Monday morning, my awesome dad drove me all the way to KL to Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital to see Dr. Jasmi. Dr. Jasmi is an energetic, cheerful, middle aged professor. He quickly explained to me the procedure and all the necessary things to me as i'd knew most of the things by that time already. He also promised he would help me reduce the cost as much as possible as i'm not covered by any insurance. He said he'll not use the disposable trocar for laparoscopy as that itself cost RM2k. He'll also ask the assistants to use as least disposable item as possible to reduce the fee. He told me instead of access through the axilla, he prefer to access through the back around the scapula as it is easier to perform and with less complication to the lung, just that the scar is more apparent. That day, I was immediately admitted. On that whole day, i had nothing to do after a simple blood test, and my dad and I walked around at Ampang Point and had the famous Ampang yongtoufu nearby.


The next morning, i was the first case to be operated. I changed into OT gown, was shifted into the OT at 10.30am, and then the anesthesiologist put me under GA, and off i went into a dream. When i woke up at 11.45, i found myself having dyspnoea due to the GA side effect. My back has some vague pain and i couldn't move at all. After 1 hour in the post op, I was then shifted back to my ward. As time goes by, the pain at the back became more apparent as the analgesic worn off. I continued to be in drowsy mooed and slept till around 4pm, then only i felt my breathing was better and the pain at the back became less. I could walked around a bit, woke up to pass my first urine after the surgery, and after a while, Dr, Jasmi came to see me. He also gave me the specimen of both my T2 ganglion (sending the specimens for confirmation is another amount of money, which he think is not required as he's 100% sure that are the nerve tissue). He also gave me a DVD of the recorded laparoscopic procedure for me to watch.


The next day, on Wednesday morning, Dr. Jasmi came again saying that i can be discharged. He removed the bandaged on my back to reveal 6 bullets-like holes. Then he sprayed some glue so that i could take bath, and asked me to go to any hospital in Kuantan to remove the suture a week later. By 11am, all the payment and discharge procedure has been settled by my dad and off we depart back to Kuantan. (I was really glad that in the end, the fee of the surgery is even less than what we expected.) Throughout the 3 hour journey, i dare not rest on my back at the car seat because of the surgery wound. That whole day, even at home, though the weather is blazingly hot, my arms and soles do not sweat a bit. I was so so glad and relieved. Now on, i do not have to worry about all those frustration of my clammy hands anymore. I can sweat normally like other ppl at the back. I do not need to worry about sweaty hands whenever i'm exposed to sunlight.


Thank God the surgery went on successfully.
Thank you Dr. Jasmi for his specialty in endoscopic surgeries and also his understanding on our financial restrain.
Thanks my papa for his sacrifice in terms of energy, time, business, & money to accompany me for 3 days at the hospital.
Also thanks my mummy, Caryn, Caryn's mum for their constant concern.

Grace

It twas a long long time since i last blogged, firstly i do not have a computer with me for 2 months, secondly i am back in Malaysia and was busy with many things, traveled a bit during Chinese New Year and played lots of games at home on my new PC.

My results were out last week, and i miraculously passed. After i finished my exam, i thought i did my medicine paper 2 and the practicals very badly, and i know i do not deserve to pass. I even told the whole world i'm failing that subject and had started planning what to do with the extra 4 months of detainment in India. However, deep in my heart, i've got a feeling that God will bring me through somehow, but i dare not take for granted. Last week, while i was in 1 Utama shopping and was about to watch a movie (72 家租客) with my family, suddenly Caryn called me and told me i passed!!! I was super relieved hearing that, but i dunno how to celebrate, just continue with my shopping. Then when i met up with my parents, i even lied to them that i failed 2 subjects, their mood were totally spoil and my younger bro also started nagging at me. They even thought of not watching the movie. It was quite fun playing a fool at them.

We do not have any special particular celebration. Just went to Klang eat Bak Kut Teh the next morning; i bought a automatic Tissot watch for meself that's all. I wanted my parents to support me for an ETS surgery but till now they still had not agreed on it.

Anyway, i really thank God that i passed my Final Year exam. It was another personal experience of God's unfailing grace towards me. Many ppl told me i'm always super blessed and lucky in many things i do. It's like even though i worked less than ppl or had got into more troubles and caused many scenes, i still managed to get over it easily. This time, seeing so many of my friends failed, i feel really lucky. I love you Jesus. Thank you so much for watching over me and bring me through deep valleys

Now on, i'm officially out of my study life. I'll be going back India in March to start my internship and after 1 year, i'll be leaving India for good, and then only start the real nightmare of housemanship in Malaysia. So, i plan to enjoy to the max in this 1 year time and do as many extra curricular activities as possible. Ciao!!