Handphone

Just changed my handphone number last weekend... Have been using the same number since i first own a handphone, and that was way back in 1999 already (7 years already).. That was the second year of my working career..(buy it with my own hard- earned salary).. During that time, the package of digi prepaid costed something like RM269 (I can't remember the exact amount since it's so long ago already..) Nowadays can get the package at the cheap cost of RM18 together with free gift as well..

Kids nowadays are so lucky. Most of them start carrying handphone in secondary school, and some more lucky primary school kids have handphones as well... I still remember during my university time, i have to queue up at the phone booth to wait for my turn if i want to make a phone call.. Sometimes have to wait for more than half an hour leh just to make a call... Those were the days.. Wonder how many actually still use public phones nowadays. I think i stopped using public phones since i own my first handphone in 1999 :)

And those school kids & youngsters nowadays use the more expensive and high tech handphones than me. And they change handphone very frequent as well. I use my handphone mainly for communication purposes - making & receiving phone calls & sms. Other functions i hardly use. I don't fancy handphone with too many functions, cos this will drain the battery power fast ...It's damn irritating when u need to made a phone call & notice your handphone running out of battery :P I have my PalmZire 71 for those purposes like appointments, memo, to do list, games & other applications etc etc..

Well, i keep the same handphone number all the while for ease & convenient purpose. (I changed few handphones already, but not the number :) ) Cos i'm too lazy to inform everyone about the changing of number - friends (including school friends/ university friends/ course mates etc), colleagues, relatives & others... Too many contacts !!

I changed my prepaid account to postpaid account last weekend, planned to keep the original number initially (to save the trouble of informing everyone!) but can't do so. The most I can keep is only the last 4 numbers, but since there's nothing special about the last 4 digits of my old handphone number , so i opt to choose a new handphone number; a nice & easy to remember phone number :D Not those number which i myself also have difficulty to remember :P

Perodua MyVi?

I'm not considering or thinking about changing a new car... Just that everyone is talking about Perodua MyVi nowadays.. (MyVi = My Vehicle? My Vision? Malaysia Vision?) Well, i am still quite happy with my SLK at the moment(my SLK here refers to = Small Little Kancil, not the Mercedes SLK :P). At least, I have been using it without much problems for the past four & half years.. Easy to drive & no hassle in finding parking space as well.. That's the nice part of driving SLK :)

I'm not those people who "sayang" their cars a lot. Well, there's lotsa "scratch marks" and "dents" on my car, but i don't feel "sakit hati" at all. Cars are just vehicles.. No point getting so upset over those things. I know there's people who feel so upset when someone scratch their beloved cars.. And some even treat their cars like "Wife" or "Husband"....

Yesterday evening, when i reach my apartment, i noticed there's a red colour MyVi in my apartment parking lot. I came down from my car to have a closer look. Well, must be the Perodua Salesman in my apartment brought & drove the car back home. The MyVi has no number plate & there's plastic wrapper everywhere inside the car :D I wonder, if someone with itchy hand go & scratch the car with a twenty cent coin, what will be his response? :D hahahah..... Of course i won't do those silly stuffs lah..

Watch?

My watch has been lying peacefully on the shelf for years already.. I think the last time i wear it was something like 2 years ago. Why so? Cos it's so inconvenient to wear watches at work. Especially when there's the need to scrub up & perform procedures under strict aseptic techniques like giving spinal or epidural or setting central venous lines or arterial lines or taking blood cultures. But somehow, i picked up the watch & wear it today before going to church.

Previously, i have to take off my watch a couple of times each time before i wash my hands & scrub up.. So to save the trouble, i finally kick off my habit of wearing watch up to today. No rings and bracelets as well :) One of my colleagues, in fact, lost her diamond ring when she take off the ring before scrubbing up.. :(

There's clocks available in strategic locations inside the operating theatres & ICU if i need to know the time. My nokia handphone besides serving the purpose of communication tool, it acts as my reliable alarm clock & watch as well :)

School Holiday again :)

Went out for dinner together with hubby just now... Noticed increased number of traffics on the road... Then only i realised school holidays actually start already.. Officially is starting from next Monday, but well.. today is already Friday.. Can even see quite a number of KL car plates on the road. We enjoyed our dinner in Weld Quay Seafood Restaurant. Very reasonable price (in fact, it's very cheap...). Food was very nice & delicious as well...

On the way back, we "tapao" few paos, including one char siew pao for my beloved little miniature pinscher doggy... He really enjoys eating the char siew pao, finish eating it within minutes.. although the char siew pao looks much bigger than his actual stomach.. hahha...

I like school holidays cos there's less traffic jam in the morning. And there's no annoying school buses or cars stopping at the side of the roads - as these normally causes havoc & traffic jam.. Furthermore, during school holidays, i can reach my work place or other destinations earlier than normal time ... :D

Yipee!!!

Clinical Epidemiology & Research Methods in 21th Century

Just received a letter today regarding the above course which will be held in early July 2005 for one week in HUKM auditorium .. Attendance is compulsory & have to pay RM250 for the course fees :(

Total spinal/high spinal

Just to share a scenario that i experienced not long ago.. Well, i have been working in the anaes department for five & half years already and have given or did thousands of cases of spinal anaesthesia, but so far i never encountered any cases of high spinal or total spinal yet till that day... which really give me a shock !!!

My patient was was 29 year old lady, G2P1 with Hx of LSCS done under SAB in Hosp Kota Bahru now came in post date in active labour. She refused trial of scar and was posted for emergency LSCS.

I preloaded her with 500 ml Ringer's Lactate prior to performing SAB.. given 2.0 ml heavy marcain at left lateral position at the level L3L4. I didn't check the height of block/ upper spinal level not tested pre-op after SAB.

The surgeon started skin incision and after a while, while i was preparing the oxytocin 40 units in the IV Drip, i noticed the pulse oxymeter alarming.. I turned my head to the monitor and noticed patient desaturating.. and SpO2 dropped very fast to 50% within seconds.... Patient actually became unconscious, unarousable to call, stopped breathing and cyanosed.. blue in colour.. I really have a high surge of adrenaline level at that moment...

I quickly manual ambu bagging the patient with 100% oxygen and intubated her fast with ETT 7.0 without any drugs. The lowest BP noted is around 85/40 and she didn't have any episodes of bradycardia. HR maintained around 80 to 95 bpm. The hypotension responded to iv ephedrine (total 24 mg ephedrine given) & fluid challenge with crystalloids. No fits/facial twitching noted.

Post intubation & after manual bagging with 100%, SpO2 picked up very fast. Pt regained consciousness in a short while & obey commands (no muscle relaxants given to her earlier on) She able to breath spontaneously and generating good tidal breath. Able to move left upper limbs but not the right side. The she became restless & wanted to pull out ETT. She was put on O2/N2O with flow 3:3 with inhalational agent & muscle relaxant tracium given. Baby delivered in a short while with apgar score 6 on delivery; attended immediately by paeds. Baby was alright after a while and send for observation in PBU.

Subsequently, her hemodynamic was fairly stable. Her BP was stable & didn’t require any inotropic support & no episodes of severe bradycardia. Blood loss minimal intra op. Total 1.5 L crystalloid given + 500 ml RL with 40 unit oxytocin in progress.

Pt was sent to ICU post op for observation & extubation. She was sedated (given iv midazolam 2 mg & iv morphine 4 mg) prior to sending to ICU. She arrived ICU one and half hours after the SAB. In GICU, the pt open eyes to call & obey simple commands, able to take deep breath., able to move both upper limbs.. The sensory level was around T10 when tested (1.5 hours post SAB). Pt able to move both her lower limbs within 2 hours. Pt was extubated well & observed in ICU for a while and transferred back to maternity HDA 3 hours later. She recovered well with no neurological sequelae.

Leptospirosis

I have seen and treated many cases of leptospirosis for the past few months... In fact, my few on calls in the last few weeks, i receive few referral cases of leptospirosis either from the ward, other private hospitals or other peripheral hospitals within the northern region ... Once there's even up to three or four cases of leptospirosis in my ICU.

Well... we normally treat those leptospirosis cases based on history & clinical examinations & some baseline investigations cos if wait for the full confirmation results (the leptospiral serology can only be done IMR in KL), the patient is either fully recovered already or already RIP (cos the result will only be ready 2 weeks later on).. eg. Those patients high high clinical index of suspicions for Leptospirosis are those with history of jungle trekking or swimming in river or Hx of contact with mouse like MPPP workers etc... or those with history of fever with jaundice or liver impairment & renal impairment or Acute renal failure, bleeding tendencies & highly raised serum Creatine Kinase level(CK).

In fact, one of my husband friend's son (i know the son as well) get infected with leptospirosis (after swimming in the contaminated river) with life threatening condition. Severe septic shock requiring 4 inotropic support with multiorgan failure - oliguric acute renal failure(ARF) , acute liver failure, severe Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIVC) with severe thrombocytopaenia, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) on high ventilatory support (FiO2 1.0) with high PEEP and poor gas exchange ... He stayed in ICU for several weeks, and thank God he survived and recovered well...

Dissertation projects

aiyk... Now pening thinking of what projects to do for my dissertation... Got to submit the written dissertation proposal soon, prior to the scheduled date of presentation... Headache, headache :(

Sunday

Went to church this morning..Church service starts at 10:30 am. As we arrived a bit late (reached there around 10:40 am), almost all the seats are fully occupied already, except the front row, hahha.. haven't sit in the most "honourable" front row for so long already... Normally most people try to get seats in the back rows... I think the last time i sit in front rows are during my university time, but even so, most of the time, I don't sit exactly in the first row, but the second or third row. First row is the very "priviledged" seatings ;)

Today is Wesak Day. So tomorrow is public holiday as well, long weekend... However, the traffic is not heavy in Penang, except few places, like places near the temples.

After church service, went out for lunch with my hubby's friend, Kenny. They were friends since childhood time. We are celebrating Kenny's daughter's birthday(The birthday girl is one years old already :D ) as well as his mum's birthday.. (two in one celebration).. After lunch, we went to Kenny's place and singing birthday song for the birthday girl.. The birthday girl likes the Minnie Mouse's chocolate birthday cake a lot.. Didn't bring my digital camera. So I snap few photos with my PDA. The quality of the picture is so-so only ;)

zzzz....

Yesterday night really have a good night sleep.. Wake up so late this morning. Haven't sleep for so long for the past couple of months already.. Slept around 3 am yesterday night and wake up late at 12 pm today.. mmm.. 9 hours sleep. Not that long for some people, but it's indeed very long for me, cos i normally sleep for around 4 to 5 hours only..

Just came back home not long ago. After lunch, i went out to change all my four car tyres as well as doing the wheel alignment and balancing. Spend quite a lot of money on my car recently.. Changed the absorber and rear door lock and servicing the car as well last month ..

Weird Happenings (Part 2)

This event occured several years back (if not mistaken, it occured somewhere in 1995).. I went with some of my juniors to Malacca. That was an old fashioned house and the house looks quite old as well. There were few girls in the group and we share to sleep in two rooms at night time, in one of my friend's house. Some of us slept on the bed and some slept on the floor. I slept on the bed together with another girl.

It was raining at that moment and quite dark that night. Then suddenly in the middle of the night .... (i don't know what time was that at the moment), i can feel a gush of wind blowing and then suddenly, feel like somebody climb my bed at the other end (near my legs) and lie down on the narrow space, pulling my blanket down .. I was quite afraid at that time, cos i don't know what's happening and whether that is actually a human or ghost ???What i know is, I can feel "something" sleeping at the other end near my foot and i even try to touch it with my foot. I pulled my blanket up but then "the object" pulled it lower down again to cover itself.. I touched it again with my foot but "the object" didn't made any sound or noise loh...

I was quite afraid at that time actually & I remained puzzled & "static" for quite some time on the bed, thinking what the heck is that.... I tempted to kick the object to see what's the response, but didn't.. If i had a torchlight nearby me at that time, i think i will shine the torchlight to the "object". Well, i don't & i don't know where's the room light switch is located...

Time seems passed very slow that night.. I was afraid initially, but finally, i fell asleep later on as well ,... i think cos i was too tired & sleepy by then, ( cos travelling for few hours from KL to Malacca, plus touring around Malacca town in the evening and night time).. By the time i wake up, it's morning already, and "the object" at the end of the bed has gone.... I'm thinking, whether to ask my juniors whether anyone of them run up to my bed the night before, but finally i didn't ask, cos i'm afraid to find out if no one actually do that, and that object is a ghost!!!! hahahhaa......

So until now & today, i still don't know what actually it is..... remains mystery ..

Weird Happenings ... or Ghost ?? (Part 1)

This event occur few years back in 2001...

One night, while I was driving in Penang..i saw a huge crowd of people, all in white coloured clothing walking in the street around 3 am in the early morning .. on the way towards botanical garden..

later on, further down the road, i see a damn huge flower stall ... & i saw one middle aged lady sitting in the stall which i presumed is the 'owner' of the stall..There's a huge varieties of colourful flowers being sold. The interesting thing is that the stall was there at 3 am in the early morning... The flower stall was not there earlier on in the evening cos i drove passed that road as well earlier on..... &... it was not there as well the next morning when i drove past that same road..

i felt weird at that moment (but since i was in a rush at that moment , so i didn't stop down to "investigate" further) , but come to think about it later, it become more and more 'weird'. And definitely, i'm definitely fully alert & awake at that time.. (and not under any alcohol influence.. hahah...) And there's no special occasion at that time and who on earth will put on such a huge flower stall in the middle of the night for no reason??

this happened on the same night leh... within seconds niah.. and the location for both events are like less than 1 km apart ...

Weird, weird....

Old junk car?!

Few days ago, while driving back home from work, i overtake few cars and stopped when i reach the traffic light. Somehow, one damn old car which stopped in the other land nearby my car caught my attention. (red traffic light at that time).. i was looking at the car from behind and start thinking what an old junk car :P (number plate is WG xxxx), well , u can imagine, car with number plate starting with WG, how old is that car, right? The car has a unique & funny shape as well, not like the modern car..

Then i slowly look upwards and see who's the driver.. Surprisingly the driver looks familiar to me... Oopss... then i turn my head looking at the passenger seat.. My goodness... hahhahaha..... These people looks so familiar... -----> the driver is my mother in law leh.. I know they have an old car, but never notice what's the car plate number, and further more they are staying in mainland, and i seldom visit them as well... So i never expect seeing them appearing in Penang island. I didn't honk at them but quietly drive behind them. I don't think they notice i'm driving behind them as well, hahahhaah..... I won't tell them about this incidence as well :P

KSL(Part 2)

This morning, another heavy downpour again.. what a day... but thank God the rain stopped around 10 am in the morning.. So, still not so bad... or else really dunno where to bring Kenneth already..

Went to Kek Lok Si Temple in Ayer Itam.. Build in 1890 on a hill slope, and it's one of the largest Buddhist temple in South East Asia. Took few shots at the pagoda and take the inclining lift up to the Kwan Yin Statue as well. I think the last time i went to Kek Lok Si is few years back, in 2002.. during my friend's visit as well (Eddie, from my hometown, now residing in US). Didn't go up to Penang Hill cos lack of time & some more the weather is not very promising...

Later on of the day, went to Wat Chayamangkalaram (Thai Buddhist Temple, housing the large reclining Buddha measuring 33 metres) and Dharmikarama Burmese Temple, in Lorong Burma. This is the second time i visit this place. I went there once in 1999.

Kai Sai Lou :)

Today my "kai sai lou" Kenneth comes to Penang.. I asked him to drive to KOMTAR since that's the easiest landmark to find in Penang :D He reached Penang around 1 pm. (Well, i'm working today, but half day only since it's Saturday). I went to meet him after work. Well, dunno whether he brings the "water" together with him or not to Penang, and there's heavy downpour today. It hadn't been raining so heavily for long time already. Can't do much visitations cos of the heavy rain. So we went to Penang Museum & Art Gallery for a short while, before heading to Fort Cornwalis & Esplanade, Clock Tower, City Hall etc.. It stopped raining for a short while, but then it started raining cats and dogs again ... What a day. Really hope it won't rain tomorrow..

Trip To Penang

My two "evil" friends, John & Will planned to come to Penang quite a while ago on 11/5/05 (Wednesday) but due to some unforeseen circumstances (John's wife is sick), the trip was postponed to 13/5/05 (what a date, Friday the 13th, hahaha). But the trip was cancelled last minute cos John need to go to San Jose for bz trip on Sunday (15/5/05) ....

However, my another friend, also my "kai sai lou" is coming to Penang as well on 14/5/05.

A.I.D.S.??

Received an SMS from John almost near midnight yesterday, telling me that he has AIDS !!!!!!!!! Well, this AIDS he has is not the "Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome" but instead, it's something new, something that i never heard of ----> "Acute Increased Draft Syndrome" :) Give me a "shock" only... Well this coming weekend, he needs to fly to San Jose. Someone has been "flying" a lot loh lately, to Australia, Japan, Dubai & US for the past few weeks...

So tired..

Feeling so tired & exhausted lately, mainly due to "overworked". There's not enough manpower in the department and I have been doing EOD on calls or "Every Other Day" on calls for the last 5 weeks. Really tiring and exhausting. Some more, my on calls are most of the time very busy one, and hardly can get time to rest. Well, before i fully recovered, i need to do on call again the next day. I haven't even fully recovered from my previous Upper Respiratory Tract Infection or URTI and yet, seems like i'm going to get another URTI again.. Feeling feverish today with throat discomfort :( I need more rest but .... too bad, I can't, (so sad...) :(

Saturday...

Yesterday night went to bed very late ... (Something sad happened yesterday night..)and this morning, i didnt even notice this Dr Evil sms me around 9 am with the message "wake up! wake up!"... even though i place my phone next to my bed only. Guess must be too tired already to realise what's going on.. Wake up quite late this morning, around 11:30 am.. So fast today is Saturday already.. And tomorrow is Sunday, Mother's Day as well. Well, i'm working tomorrow :(

URTI?

This morning, Dr Evil sent me an sms at 9:20 am with the content "Wake Up!".. Hahaha... actually I wake up long time ago already, but i was doing something else.. uploading photos into the computer as well as installing some programmes, so i didn't log online earlier on :). The weather today is still very hot. I have the prodroma symptoms of pharyngitis already... Have the dry feeling on the throat & discomfort with swallowing (impending sorethroat.. ) & i really have to drink more water now.. :(

Just came back home not long ago. Went out to meet a forummer, Foong in Prangin Mall & have lunch together later on. Reach there around 11:50 am. Since it's still "early" there's still ample parking space in the multi storey car park. And normally by 1:30 pm or 2 pm, the shopping mall will be congested with people & the car park will be damn full already.

Labour Day

Today is 1st May, Labour Day... Since Labour Day falls on Sunday, so, tomorrow is public holiday as well. It's good that i don't have to work these two days.. Can see lotsa outstation cars in Penang in town. Didnt do much actually. Went to church in the morning and after church service, have lunch together with hubby in Sumida Japanese Restaurant. I'm taking Otsukuri/Tempura Bento while he takes Sushi/Chasoba Bento with Japanese Tea. After lunch we came back home & have a short afternoon nap. The weather is very hot (as usual).

Just came back from dinner, went out for dinner together with my father in law. Heavy traffic jam.. Planned initially for Thai tomyam in Su Ail Kenari, next to Chowrasta Market. The tomyam there is the best in Penang and I like the tomyam there cos it's really very hot & spicy, and the other Thai dishes there is quite nice as well, like their chicken cashew nut & kerabu mango etc etc.. and the price is quite affordable. However, the place is closed, cos of the long holidays,till 3/5/05. So we went for to eat in hawker stall instead. Heavy traffic on the way back as well :(

yeah.. today is my "kai mui"'s birthday as well.. Happy birthday, girl :)