After the shifting and all, we were given 2 weeks of study break before our 3rd MBBS exam. A little more than 1 week has passed and there’s only about 6 days left!

Medicine
Surgery
Paediatrics
Obstretric
Gynaecology
Primary Care Medicine
Forensic Medicine
Medical Statistics
Epidemiology
Social Preventive Medicine
PPD (I can’t even remember what it stands for)
OSCEs
Long case

Must not panic. Must not panic.

Panic. Panic. Panic. PANIC!

Argh. Argh. ARGH!

Time to ‘add more oil’ and benkyo benkyo benkyo…

Note: benkyo = study

I wrote this on my last night in Klang…

Back in November 2004, 5 of us inquisitive soul embarked on our journey to Klang one fine afternoon. Our mission: to scout out the new territory where we will be imprisoned for the next 10 months. We went with a mixture of apprehension, yet with a tinge of excitement, not knowing what was in store for us. We were chatting non-stop all the way there, everyone talking across each other; God knows who was listening to who.

Sigh…this is my last night in Klang’s hostel and I miss Klang already.

It’s been raining for the past few days; even the clouds are mourning our departure from this place

4.00 am, 21 Oct 2005
26.0 degrees Celcius

Moving house or in our case, moving room is a really big task. You see, once I’ve settled down nicely in one place, I will naturally tend to accumulate stuff. It’s only when I empty out my drawers and cupboards do I really see the total amount of junk I accumulated during my stay at a certain place. Since entering medical school, I’ve moved in and out of different rooms about 8 times. However, I’ve never learnt my lesson and will end up half crazy trying to pack all my stuff.

This time round, until I have a permanent room, I hereby decide to live with my stuff mainly in the boxes, to save me the trouble of repacking when I move out again in about a months time…

Well, CN- read her birthday post and scolded me for making her sound like cleanliness freak or Bree-ish. I obviously didn’t mean it that way at all. I guess I should revise my 10 things about her. One statement about her neat-ness is probably more than enough…

1. She’s also my only friend who can reply text messages via SMS at lightning speed (apart from my sister).

2. She’s extremely neat and tidy. She puts her books away after she reads them, and she reads only one book at a time. Every book has their designated place on the shelf. Kumar and Clark goes here, ECG Made Easy goes there…everything parallel to the edge of the table.

3. She loves to listen to Hitz.fm and to call in to enter the competitions. She has won us a couple of freebies, including free tickets to watch Herbie. (Yup, she was one of those who honked a song on the radio)

5. She is a real consultant when it comes to packing. She really has the art of compressing tons of stuff into a small enclosed container/box. Something like how Merlin packs everything into one small bag…

6. She likes to listen to the lyrics of songs and interprete their meaning as well as the composer’s feelings.

7. She loves kids and can handle babies very well. She just taught me how to carry babies recently without squashing them.

8. She loves to eat, anything and everything (when she’s happy and in the mood, that is). Except papayas. She ain’t like papayas.

9. She loves sushi and ramen too. Speaking of which, she was the one who so kindly lent me her pot and hotplate so that I could make ‘delicious’ room-made ramen which she hasn’t tasted yet.

10. She’s one of those who will patiently listen to me ramble on about my shitty life and actually miss my ramblings when I’m not around.

A moment of silence for the passing of our Prime Minister’s beloved wife, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood early this morning. Our deepest condolences to him and his family…

Y pensé que usted los individuos era mis amigos. Mira como incurrí en una equivocación. Se parece que usted los individuos no tiene nada mejor hacer que especula sobre la vida de la gente y la fabricación de una hospitalidad fuera de él. Oh, usted almas pathetic pobres. ¡Consiga una vida!

Ahora usted individuos que intentan actuar lamentable como si fuera incorrecto ser enojado. Como si soy el monstruo y usted es las víctimas. Cuál el hombre del infierno, él era usted los individuos que comenzaron toda esta mierda en el primer lugar. ¿Dónde están sus bolas?

Today.

13 of October 2005.

23 years ago, someone was born.

Who?

Yes, Cyanide aKa CN-.

Muahaha…now is my turn to write stuff about her.

Let’s see…

1. She’s also my only friend who can reply text messages via SMS at lightning speed (apart from my sister).

2. She’s extremely neat and tidy. She puts her books away after she reads them, and she reads only one book at a time. Every book has their designated place on the shelf. Kumar and Clark goes here, ECG Made Easy goes there…everything parallel to the edge of the table.

3. She makes her bed every time she gets out of it.

4. She’s so neat and tidy that her notebook’s “desktop” has only three icons.

5. She eats one “component” of her food at a time. For example, she’ll finish eating the chicken first, then the vege, then the egg. No mixture is allowed. She’ll eat the burger first, then only the fries.

6. She likes to listen to the lyrics of songs and interprete their meaning as well as the composer’s feelings.

7. She loves kids and can handle babies very well. She just taught me how to carry babies recently without squashing them.

8. She loves to eat, anything and everything (when she’s happy and in the mood, that is). Except papayas. She ain’t like papayas.

9. She loves sushi and ramen too. Speaking of which, she was the one who so kindly lent me her pot and hotplate so that I could make ‘delicious’ room-made ramen which she hasn’t tasted yet.

10. She’s one of those who will patiently listen to me ramble on about my shitty life and actually miss my ramblings when I’m not around.

In summary, she’s a GREAT friend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAL!!

May you have many happy days ahead and God’s richest blessings be upon your life always!

After living a sedentary life for about 4 months, I decided to start playing badminton once again. Since Klang has 2 badminton courts right smack in the middle of our hostel, it has been a popular sport among us, students there. However, the initial fad wore off and only the real enthusiasts continued to play weekly.

One day, during our ward rounds, one of my group mate’s patient was transfered from the surgical ward (3rd floor) to the medical ward (8th floor). Since my male fellow group mates were being such “gentlemen”, 3 of us girls ended up not being able to board the elevator and had to take the stairs. When we finally reached the 8th floor, one of us had claudication (pain in the calf), another was breathless and I was having severe palpitations. I suddenly realised that my effort tolerance was probably as bad as some of the patients in the ward with heart failure or severe asthma.

That was it. It was time to start exercising again. After many foiled attempts due to bad weather and poor timing, I finally had the chance to play on Thursday and Friday night. Why two nights in a row? I guess I was over-enthusiastic. However, when I awoke this morning, I felt as if a truck ran over me. My right hand was also limp and had tremors when I held anything that had some weight to it. It sure seems that sudden exertion after being dormant for so long isn’t quite the smartest thing to do.

The moral of the story is:

Always do things in moderation.

One morning, some time last week, I awoke to see copies of this notice pasted all over our hostel…

Words fail me. Do people like this still exist? So much for all the Social Preventive Medicine (SPM) lectures given on the different types of toilets and on sewage treatment etc. I guess there are still some people who just can’t differentiate the drainage ‘hole’ in the shower stall from the toilet bowl ‘hole’…

I never knew that the purest of pain is emotional pain. No painkillers in this world can offer a remedy. No words or actions from friends that meant well can offer comfort. And sometimes, you cannot even confidently say that you’ll ever be the same again. There is a desperate desire to heal because the pain is… just too much to bear. Worse than a lost limb or death itself.

Like a newborn gasping for the breath of life, I’m struggling to breathe hoping that one day, this pain will not be part of me.

For those of you who’ve helped and prayed for me… thank you so much. I’ll take my time to heal.

For the meantime, excuse me for a while. I’ll be back smiling, and blogging - once it hurts no more. See ya…

PS: I’m sorry, Jel. Keep our blog running till I return… thanx!