DAY 936-948

Mar 26 - Apr 7

1) And yet in another blink of an eye (for me, at least - I've lost all concept of time) another two weeks have flashed by. Our medicine rotation is finally over (for Group B), and the upcoming public health rotation promises to be more "relaxed". I am delighted to have survived both surgery and medicine rotations, and to have public health as the last rotation before our end-of-semester exams in May.

2) As it is, I cannot believe that four months have passed by so fast! I still remember coming to Penang in January, and moving in to Sri York with my housemate, and saying goodbye to my family once again :'( Heck, it was just yesterday that I touched down in KLIA, after spending my last days in rainy Dublin. Everything seems to have whizzed by so fast - a little too fast if I'm honest. I sometimes like to take a breather and to think back about all the adventures and memories that I've made - it's so easy to forget in the midst of everyday life!

3) Back to reality then. The other day, as part of our portfolio review for medicine (consisting of 10 case write-ups and some other stuff), we had to print out the feedback of those write-ups. Uproar ensued as the library printers (and if I'm honest, all printers in the college) stopped functioning in accordance to Murphy's Law - whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. It was at the last opportune moment that the librarian managed to fix the printer, and I was first in line to print the remaining feedback (for those wondering, I couldn't print it out any earlier as I needed to get the feedback from the examiners first). What a RELIEF!

4) The medicine portfolio was a cinch compared to the surgery one. Just 10 case write-ups, as opposed to 23 cases, and we could type it out as well! The only downside is there was no added time after our medicine end-of-rotation assessment (EORA) to compete the portfolio (in surgery we had around 5 or 6 days to finish our surgical portfolio after EORA). For public health, continuous assessment (similar to EORA) is via a 10% report regarding a health-related topic (mine is entitled "Effect of Monsoons on Health in Nepal"). At the end of the semester, we have our end-of-semester exams, consisting of an MCQ (multiple-choice questions) paper for Medicine, and an MCQ paper and OSPA (Objective Structured Practical Assessment) paper for Public Health. There is, thankfully, no MCQ paper for surgery, yet. (Please don't get any ideas)

5) For public health, we are split up to three groups - one for each District Health Office (DHO) location, namely Seberang Perai, Barat Daya, and Timur Laut. I've been assigned (without much choice actually) to Seberang Perai - the furthest location. The upside is my entire Seberang Jaya Hospital "crew" (namely Ray, Mahitha, and Ruth) have been posted here too, which is great! We only travel to the DHO thrice a week; the other two days are spent in the lecture theatre at RUMC.

6) That is basically our rotations in a nutshell, hopefully it provided some insight/ was at least mildly entertaining to read haha. Thanks very much for tuning in, and have a nice week ahead. Cheers!

On the road back home (just the first left and voila - Sri York!)

Spotted this during MPU (General Studies) Presentation (our "Ethnic Relations" module is in 

Malay Language)

Close-up of the white text from above - showcasing the diversity of our language (or serving to confuse just about everyone else)

So the other day Denise introduced me to this cafe called Harvest Times Cafe - a 10 minute drive away from accommodation...

Their soup of the day - creamy mushroom soup with bread basket

Garlic butter chicken kiev - served on a bed of mashed potatoes and salad

Grilled tilapia in basic white sauce

Our set menu came with dessert - cake and ice cream! :)

So another one of Denise's recommendations - chicken shawarma @ Gurney Paragon!

Thumbs up and all smiles XD

Gula melaka (brown sugar) ice cream - as you can see I am a desserts kinda guy XD

Finally got round to trying this - a huge bowl of tom yam (sour and spicy) seafood noodles

- at Sri York Cafeteria! 

Absolutely wonderful and spicy too haha

DAY 915-920

Mar 5-10

1) In the blink of an eye, we have finished our first rotation in surgery/orthopaedics, and have begun our first week of medicine. We are still based in Seberang Jaya Hospital, but this time we clerk patients in the medical ward. So far, medicine has been by and large the same as surgery, with the only difference being its breadth and scope. While surgery is quite organ-specific, medicine is really quite broad, and literally anything under the Sun is examinable. The plus side is we've gained a lot of exposure even in our first week of rotation alone.

2) After seeing a fair share of patients in the ward, I have begun to reflect a little on the things we take for granted. The other day, I was clerking a gentleman who had been hospitalised for bacterial meningoencephalitis. That basically means he had a bacterial infection of a part of his brain, probably caused by an accident he had two weeks earlier. The more I talked to him, the more I realised how lucky he was to be alive.

3) So apparently he was involved in a motorcycle accident recently (I'm being selectively vague on details), in which he had intracranial bleeds and fractures. He was hospitalised for a week, then discharged back home without complications. He returned to hospital after two weeks, complaining of headache, neck stiffness and photosensitivity. Some of you will immediately be thinking of meningitis, and in this case - you would be right to suspect it.

4) After one day onset of symptoms, his condition rapidly deteriorated, and on day 2 in hospital, he became increasingly agitated. His GCS later on was 3/15 (3 is the lowest score possible, and indicates no eye response, no verbal response, and no motor response). He had to be intubated (to ensure oxygen levels were maintained), and as culture and sensitivity of his lumbar puncture CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) was positive for resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae (ie ESBL), he was placed on IV meropenem.

5) For one week, he was in a coma. He was informed by the doctor that he was basically touch-and-go at any point during that period. And despite all that, barely two weeks after the incident, he's walking about with his cup of Milo greeting the nurses and talking to me with no apparent speech deficit. He still has minor headaches especially at night, and a recurrent 6th CN (cranial nerve) palsy - which means he has diploplia (double vision) over the left lateral gaze. That was due to the trauma from the motor vehicle accident. But otherwise, you would be hard pressed to distinguish him from anybody down the street.

6) Somehow, talking to him made me hyperaware of how indispensable modern science and technology is. The medication and treatment he had been given, managed to revive someone from the brink of death back to relatively normal. It made me realise how indispensable the medical team is - everyone from the specialists to the medical officers, the nurses, the staff, and caretakers - all had a role to play in his wellbeing (and indeed, survival). It also made me realise how important it was for us medical students not to study to pass exams or get good grades, but to become safe and competent doctors. Finally, this experience also made me realise how lucky I am to be fit and able, and how foolish I was to complain about a variety of things (a habit I feel most of us are guilty of).

7) For medicine, the requirement is to clerk a list of 10 symptoms, and to practice at least 10 different systems examinations on the patients in the wards. We have a portfolio requirement as well, but the notes can be typed (a huge relief I'm sure). I have been really lucky these past few days because I've gotten really cooperative patients, who were not just cooperative but also extremely friendly. I can only hope to soldier on with my studies and hopefully one day contribute in any small significant manner to the wellbeing of our patients.

8) That has been it for today's blog, thank you very much as always for tuning in, and have a great week ahead. Cheers!

Just a close up of our school as I don't think I've ever taken a photo of the front :)

That is the Malaysian Campus of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University College Dublin, or RUMC for short

That heaping plate of food costs only RM6.00 - or around €1.20 - beat that XD

DAY 912-914

Mar 2-4

1) Back at it again with the blogs - it's the weekend and I'm desperately trying to finish my portfolio for surgery. In between all that hullabaloo, there's of course time for some enjoyment.

2) Saturday night - our surgical end-of-rotation assessment done, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched into space to dock at the space station, and my friends and I went to Gurney Plaza to have dinner. I had just finished dance practice with my other batch mates for the final dry run before our dance performance on Sunday morning. Anyway, we went to GO Noodle House for dinner, and I tried their house specialty triple dark sauce "pan mee" - very fancy name, but very delicious indeed.

3) It has become somewhat of a routine for me to go out with Denise, Aden, and Aly at least once a week (especially the weekends). I've never found the time to do anything else during the weekdays but collapse onto my bed after coming home from college. That being said, we've definitely come a long way in our clinical experience, even if it has been nary a month or so since we started back here in Malaysia.

4) Sunday morning - all dance groups met at the stage for our final practice. Self praise is no praise, but today I finally felt our group (the Dikir Barat dance) click together - we memorised our moveset AND lyrics, and it all seemed to work out perfectly. Of course, this was during final rehearsal, and we still had the actual performance to worry about. The order of dances was as follows:
Malay Dance --> Sabah/Sarawak dance --> Chinese Dance --> Silat --> Dikir Barat --> Bollywood Dance. There was a 10-minute break in between each performance, which meant we only started at 10.40am. That gave us plenty of time to explore the carnivals.

5) In the end, it was showtime. Time to dance for our marks (as opposed to singing for our supper XD). I honestly think we put up the best version of our dance ever, as all the moves, the timing, the lyrics, and the cohesiveness of the team as a whole --> everything worked out perfectly! (perhaps the thought that we were being filmed, and therefore probably assessed for marks later on contributed to the exponential increase in dance quality).

6) With our part over, we stayed on for the last dance to cheer our friends on. I then waltzed over to get a RM20 coupon book - to be used for the many stalls at the carnival. I saw a stall offering haircuts for RM10 - a steal anywhere in Malaysia. As my last haircut was almost 2 months ago, now would be the perfect time to go get one. And luckily I went early - when I was done, there was a whole line of people waiting to get their haircut. I was thoroughly impressed with my new look - to be honest I didn't expect as much for RM10 at a charity carnival.

7) With my remaining coupons, I bought some snacks and lunch (pomme aligot - cheesy whipped potatoes with German sausage, strawberry and plum popsicle, and homemade chicken pie) in order to finish off all the coupons. It was blisteringly hot by this time (noon), but I felt like a million bucks (probably a lot cooler without the extra layer of insulation over my head XD). The rest of my day has been spent at home, preparing for our next rotation (Medicine) that begins tomorrow. That's it for this edition of my blog, thanks for tuning in, and as always, have a great week ahead. Cheers! :D

The Dikir Barat ensemble - phenomenal job guys!

(sorry I couldn't record as my phone data is as near as dammit full)

All smiles for my new look - I honestly had NO idea how I looked at this point - as there were no mirrors around! XD

Saturday night dinner with friends @ Gurney Plaza

Triple dark sauce "pan mee" with onsen egg - very authentic, very filling :)

GO Noodle House

Sunday morning- last minute practice before the event began!

Each white tent is a separate stall offering various services/food items/snacks

Everyone crowded over to watch our performances

RUMC Student Services set up shop at the entrance - providing advice and counselling to future prospective medical students

The Sarawak/Sabahan dance - really sorry I missed the first dance!

Dance #3 - Chinese fan dance

Dance #4 - Silat exhibition!

Dance #5 - Dikir Barat - our starting pose

I'm in the middle row second from left (obscured completely in this pic haha)

Pommes aligot (cheesy whipped potatoes) with German sausage (LHS)

Strawberry and plum popsicle (RHS)

That's me AFTER the haircut - I honestly think it's really good haha