Bones and Babies

Other than starting with the same letter its seems O&G and Orthopaedics have more in common than we realize. Having to share the same OT in Kuching Hospital have often brought this two department head on. For better or worse....
After many frustrating delays for an ortho Op due to the large number of caesers due to fetal distress, an ortho MO is heard to comment that he is about to have an abscess in distress.

Lost in Translation

Whats this? The very first joke from the houseman years? Who has the honors?
Sit back kids, and enjoy the ride

Place: Orthopaedic ward, Kuching hospital
Incident: Dr Chua is conducting a PR exam
As thought by our illustrious alma mater, Dr Chua is conducting a PR exam on a spine trauma patient. All is going according to plan until he wanted to test for anal tone.while having his finger up where the sun dont shine he request the patient to contract the sphincter by saying "Gengam tangan saya". the patient obediently did so by reaching around and grabbing his hand.
Now thats Ber-khidmat untuk your negara.

Truth is stranger than fiction

Have you ever noticed how many tv shows there are about medical life? We were raised on Chicago hope and ER and have since moved on to Grey's anatomy and House. And does art really reflect life or is tv, well, tv?
Take a look at the following and see if any matches your current situation.

1) House- High flying technology, complicated diagnosis and people in lab coats. Not in malaysia. Have to admit this is my favourite show though.

2) Grey's anatomy- Drama and hot doctors pontificating the morality of medicine. If this is your life, i'm in the wrong hospital.

3) Scrubs- Crazy situations, lots of blue outfits and bad hair. The hallucination parts ought to be true for most of us post-call.

4) ER- err... a bit before our time but still entertaining. Lots of blood, screaming and running doctors. A typical sunday night.

Anywhere but here

Recently i was asked why this blog seemed to have died out. The abysmal lack of Wi-fi have seen to that. Oh the horrors, you say, what kind of backwater dirt town have you relocated to. One withour streamyx, obviously. At any rate i shall still do my upmost to keep this site alive. Looking back there are just too many jokes here to let the salamander die a natural death. We shall not go quietly in to the night, Elvis have not left the building, viva forever and all that shit!
So now my fellow doctors, let us speak of long nights, crazy days and more steamy scenes than Grey's anatomy.
Welcome to the real life of an intern. Cue laugh track

Khidmat untuk Kerajaaan

Dear Fellow doctors,
Time flies doesn't it? It seems like only yesterday that we were freshies graduating and anxious to start work. Right around now is when most of us have finished our first posting. Looking back to the four months of suffering, what do u remember? I can honestly say i remember nothing. Its like there is black hole where that four months should be. Because it was the same shit, different days.
But that is fair, because they will not remember you.

Posting Blues

I am putting together a list of who goes where for their posting. I think it'll be a good way for people to keep track of their friends and also because you all are just plain nosy. So below is a list f the ones i know. Please let me know where you will be going so i can list your names.
The lost will be updated until i get everyone. If u dont want ppl to know where u are going, feel free to sms me and yell at me. I'll remove ur name.

1) The Kuching Gang
Bong, Wei Siong, Chai Soon, Andrew, Yeh Ying, Han hua, Sannie, Cindy, Sia Ung

2) The Ipoh People
Dorcus, Shirli, Khai Yung, Karen, Jack, Rama

3) Malacca
Shabnam

4) Klang Klan
Wong Hui Chin, Kheng soo, David, Jessica, Steve

5) Batu Pahat
Chay, Geong Tat

6) Tawau, Sabah
Shim, Hoi Ling, Jasmin

An Ode to a Friend

Over our time in IMU, there has been something that has been an integral part of our lives. Because they always there, through good time and bad, we may sometimes take them for granted. I am talking about the ever present housemate. Most of you have them and they are the closest companion you have. So take a moment to remember them and give them a call!

P/S this is a special farwell to the other half of my 'syndrome'. To someone who is always on my side, who held me when i couldn't stand (literally!), who listened to my crazy theories at 2 a.m and done more crazy things than a barrel of monkeys. Though we may now be incomplete, may your 'curi tulang' skills remain intact. *mua*

The end of the yellow brick road

Greetings fellow C1/04. It has been two months since our graduation and i could finally bring myself to write the final blog for our batch. I feel it was necessary to have the distance and time to really look back at our times in medical school. And i can safely say, i miss it. A lot.
Medical school has been one of the finest times in my life. It was a time of friendship, learning and ambition. It was a time of hope. And what made it extra special were the people. I think all of us will never again experience this unique type of closeness that we had in these five years together.
So as we moved forward and further from each other, i bid all of you good luck and farwell.
It has been an honour serving with you.

Convo Dinner

Share your pictures, folks!

WTF?

Err..before anybody gets the idea that the case below is a real one..(acute Potfoliolitis? could happen!)...it is actually inspired by an incident that occurred on the day of porfolio hand-in. As truth is stranger than fiction, especially in IMU, the event was rather more dramatic than as recorded here. For the true and unabridged account of how Shim called Red alert for Jack's portfolio, please consult him yourself. I can do no justice to the story.

CEMD

Case Report
Mdm J, a 25-year-old Primigravida, presented with secondary arrest of labour after a first stage of 24 hours. She has a 1 week history of game-playing, over-sleeping and denial. There was no antenatal check-up and she had planned for a home delivery. Contractions has started and continued until 5 hours post-expected time of delivery. She then presented to the A&E with signs of acute shock. The portfolio was in distress as evidenced by lack of summary, no critical appraisal and incomplete corrections.
Red alert was called by Dr JY Shim and was responded by doctors from all the departments. Emergency intervention was carried out. Corrections were conducted under supervision. Artificial appraisal and summary was inserted by Dr KH Chuah. Log book was resuscitated by an emergency stand-in team.
The portfolio was delivered at 6pm, 6 hours after expected time of delivery. It was healthy and shows no sign of tampering. The mother was discharged well.
The diagnosis was Severe Acute Portfoliolitis caused by chronic neglect.

Discussion
Acute Portfoliolitis is a rare condition suffered by an average of 70 men and women each year. It is an acute exacerbation of the relatively benign condition of chronic Portfoliolitis. Chronic Portfoliolitis lasts only six months and resolves after delivery. Acute Portfoliolitis occurs near delivery, probably as a response to the physiological changes of delivery. It is characterized by lack of sleep, appetite and acute panic. Although life-threatening Acute Portfoliolitis does not generally affect the delivery outcome and most portfolios were delivered on time. In this rare case of severe acute portfoliolitis, there has been a history of neglect. Studies have shown the risk factors for developing severe portfoliolits included game-playing, over-sleeping, denial, goin-home syndrome and patient-notes-missing syndrome1. Prevention and proper monitoring of patient with chronic Portfoliolitis is crucial in avoiding complications. Frequent Porfolio discussion and supervision by lecturers have been shown to reduce chronic portfoliolitis by as much as half2. The acute management of severe portfoliolitis is a multi-disciplinary approach.

Reference:
1) I.M Kiasu. Chronic Portfoliolitis: a multi-centered, prospective study. J IMU 2006,3: 42
2) Lectures Against Porfoliolitis (LAP) Group. Portfliolitis Vs Lectureritis: which is worse? J IMU 2005, 4: 57-75