thanks once again for the chalet. its good to feel like an m1 again! :)
and whats a good chalet if its not marked by scandal? yes yes yes? JUNWEN hmm?
okay, im kidding. bah.
Monday, October 02, 2006
The survivors of Junwens cooking!
Time for an overdue check on life.
Its been a pretty shit week for me with 2 tragedies that hover at the very forefront of my mind:
firstly, the loss of the Medsoc elections and secondly, the possible loss of my driving license (which argueably sucks even more.)
regarding the medsoc elections, its a bitter pill to swallow -im not going to reflect my personal sentiments publicly nor am in going to politicize this blog... i will however, for the time being, *take a break* from public service. so bugger off. read ayn rand's magnum opus, "the atlas shrugged" if you're so inclined to figure out precisely why im bummed.
btw, for all the cynics out there, i AM extending my congratulations to Hanboon, i think he'll do a good job too so don't you fret! :)
as for the driving license, well, i can only pray that the police were sleeping on the job. but even then, i doubt it. this is Sing-a-pore leh!
in a nutshell, changi coast road is IMHO too long and straight and traffic light freeish for my taste. methinks that the speed limit should be at least 90 instead of the miserable 70.
There were a few good highlights coming from this week though:
Howen treated me to lunch (which was a momentous occasion in itself), i tried the new KFC cheesy popcorn chicken bits (surprisingly paletable), turned up to cinderella's OG chalet (thanks JW, Glenn and Jos for organising it!), watched army daze (finally!) and also had a fabulous dinner courtesy of Esther.
Quite a hectic social weekend too with dota with the m5s on friday night, good games they were too! lastly, an interesting conversation on saturday afternoon which really made my week. cross my heart and hope to die! heh.
all this social activity is all good and well... except, im so going to fail my g.med end of posting test. heh. the mcqs are just impossible :( still, theres but hope for the hopeless; or so we'd like to believe.
portrait of a young lady...
AKA, Esther the Effervescent!
after 21 years of cosmic radiation.. and egads!!.. shes still got perfect skin :)
Sunday, October 01, 2006
black is the new black!
heh. the obvious effect of overexposure is proof that the 3d matrix system for metering still can't beat the human touch. :)
Happy Birthday Esther!
You have such a close knit family! im impressed.. and your youngest sister is so cute! :)
hope you enjoy rodney's and my gift. we must see you use it hor!
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Its my party and i'll do what'd i'll wanna do!
Happy 21st Birthday my dear Blancheee! *gRINz.*
Its been an absolute pleasure working together and having you as a very very very (note repetition!) good friend in times of need, times of happiness and times of well... times, period.
all the best in the future! stay just the way you are!
*pictured: forfeit - the chicky dance! in front of an amused public!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
*cough! cough!* the lovey dovey couple!
DSC_8817, originally uploaded by oychristlarrybdae.
Alamak. Larry is so lovey dovey with his GF! inciting jealousy and envy in the rest of his male and single collegues! We have *No Choice* but to suan you now right? haha talk to the guys more lah... (even if we're not as chio) hehehe.
but congrats.
Christopher, Larry and Me!
All together on our 21st birthday celebration. :)
the photographer finally has birthday photos. heh.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
COFM Home visit.
pictured: Our patient explaining to colin her diet restrictions for her gout.
I have to admit im now a fervent supporter for COFM! The COFM visit really helped me to see just how much our care matters to the practical lives our patients.
As it turns out, Mdm X (our patient) had gouty arthritis and was on NSAIDs to suppress the pain. Following the classical story of over-ingestion due to excessive pain in her knees, she subsequently developed NSAID induced gastritis. She then presented to CGH complaining of dyspepsia as well as epigastric pain. Over in CGH, the diagnosis of gastritis was quickly made via a OGD and the patient was discharged, with the replacement of her indomethacin with panadol, a less potent NSAID.
This management raised various issues. Firstly, it ignored that fact that the patient was in great pain; panadol was emphatically quoted as "worthless" at relieving the pain by the patient. Without appropriate pain management, the patient would then be no better off - simply trading her knee pains for her gastric ones. Secondly, by just treating the symptomatic pain by pain relief, the management neglected to include softer options like muscular physio therapy to strengthen the quadriceps. Without real treatment to the knee pains, the issue of future NSAID overuse remains in question.
Lastly, Mdm X was also found to be slightly constipated during her visit to the hospital, as she was having poor intake due to the gastric pains, coupled to her new and unfamiliar surroundings, one can't help but to wonder if she was having a psychogenic constipation. As it were, she was discharged with a further prescription of lactulose for her constipation. Now, unsurprisingly so, shes developed abdominal pains and a "bloated gut." after her daily lactulose consumption. An entirely nosocomially induced illness.
Suddenly COFM and all its emphasis on "total patient care"seems so acutely presented. Its definitely a worthwhile and important component of our course becausing nothing in Kumar and Clark really prepares you for the gross reality of the situation when faced with the issues of patient disability and social handicap whilst on the "job."
i hate the way its being taught in NUS with its over-reliance on lectures and formal notes. It was refreshing to actually meet a patient on her own terms in her own residence too. We got to see first hand how her life was directly affected by our intervention.
as a subnote, it was pretty to cool to have a tutorial conducted by the patient and our prof, in cantonese(!), on a HDB living room floor whilst squatting/sitting like primary school kids. hehe.
medicine - new expriences everyday.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
CG Lunch Buffet!
A Semi Full CG outing to Eastpoint for lunch! We decided to try this new buffet place which looked pretty cheap...
the meal started innoculously enough as we were seated promptly and orders were taken. The food was served quickly enough and we were all about to tuck in-
*surprise surprise!* the meal was spoilt by a LIVING snail being found crawling in Liyings food. *urk* It immediately caused the girls to all lose their appetites so liying and siying returned their food. due to the snail scare, we decided to inspect the place a little more closely and lo and behold, hygiene wasn't exactly the *best* (duh) but then again, it was a cheap place, with prices almost comparable to market food.
on the flipside, it didn't hinder me or howen from tucking into a huge buffet of "about to be" stale meat.... :), proving once again that guys are thoroughly and utterly disgusting. hehe.
i guess, cheapos can't be choosers.
you could practically see the microbes edging to rushing in to cause GE...
as an epilogue:
3 days later, neither of the guys have come down with GE. thus, the sterilizing powers of HCl remain tried and proven! hah.
food (taste) was ok.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
toodles brenda!
and there goes your last day in singapore for another year! take care of that throat!
:)
Austin Powers and Retro Guy!
and to recount a small exchange on the subject:
nat: " ouyang, is it every guys fantasy to wear a shiny suit... and have an afro haircut?
me: "um... no?"
nat: "oh!"
maybe, on hindsight. yeah. haha the afro hair does grow on you, a la, jx. hahah
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
All your base are belong to us...
July of 2006, Livejournal.com changed its 404 error page to an AYB reference
Narrator: In A.D. 2006, Web was beginning.
Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the journal.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main browser turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
CATS: How are you users !!
CATS: All your base are belong to Frank.
CATS: You are on the way to 404.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to reach your page. Make your spelling correct.
CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....Oh man. priceless.
for the uninitiated (every teen has to watch this. trust me!):
all your base are belong to us
and the history of AYB!
DnD 2006 coming up!
Just finished the End of Surgery posting test.
The test itself was horrible. totally wasn't prepared for the examiner's personal style - and as a result shot myself in the foot quite a bit. (should have followed him like a remora)
Things like a directed history or a directed physical examination were totally beyond me. wasn't sure of what to present or what not to... worse still was the physical examination.
given the relevant history, the prof asked me to examine the patient for the relevant physical signs. so, i disrobed the patient, stood to the edge of the bed and begun to describe his general demeanor. after about a minute, my examiner asked me in pointed tones, "why (are you) so hung up over the abdomen?" he also asked why i didn't check for a hernia, something i would have done moments later. all in all a very negative first impression.
then came the basic signs quizz: he started asking me about signs for anemia and dehydration. Because he kept jumping from place to place, i missed out things which would have otherwise been examined - whats worse, i never got the chance to as he immediately screwed me for my lack of completeness. terrible second impressions.
lastly, to go for the gold, he started quizzing me about a systolic bruit ascultated over the abdomen. in my already frustrated and panicked state, i said it was a systolic murmur... of which he gave me a puzzled look and said: "murmurs are found in the heart, does this look like the heart? what is it called?"
after an eternalty of about 10 seconds came my all too overdue answer: " sir, i have asuculated a systolic bruit over the umbilical region of mr x". a horrible third impression no less.
hai. and i studied so darn hard for the test too. thankfully the prof said i passed. so all is not lost.
the end of posting celebration was good though. my sincere thanks go out to wayne! happy birthday dude... best wishes! got royally owned at dota at all 3 games i played. talk about feeding!
3 - 8, 3 3 -7, 4 - 8. (all lost in the end.) *sigh* no killing spree fix there.
In other happier news, DnD 2006 is coming up! something to truly look forward to; despite the lack of seating which is really proving to be trying for our batch, i think its going to be a blast.
also, mr j and miss j have finally gotten attached. best wishes! haha may it last even longer than the chase.
heres to another 2 months in CGH general med. life goes on.
Monday, August 14, 2006
new links
Some people complained that they couldn't find the links to the float photo pages.
They are actually at the bottom right hand corner under the title of "photo pages" as with all future sets. enjoy!
also... heres a *big* link to the fmr1gene - as the writers have requested. haha.
http://fmr1gene.blogspot.com
Sunday, August 13, 2006
And We Win!
Oh Man! this is the first time in like 8 years we've won float perfomance again!
Congratulations and thanks must go out to all the float I/C's, the new M1s and all the xiao on M2s who put aside holidays and slack time to practise their dance moves or work on the float to a almost *psychotic* level of discipline. :)
my salutations go out to kenrick, ronnie, quan yao, alvin, amanda, david, yinghao, blanche-melvin (they're like one entity), serene, maha(boobs) ,the dancers (sorry we haven't been introduced) and the rest who had to slog too - you know who you are. heh.
we have something to show the world.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Happy 21st Birthday!
My special gift! a Flaming name!!!
thanks must go to sunder as well - who tried *unsuccessfully* to use sparklers to do the writing and who got burnt in the process. bleah. the things we get up to eh?
Friday, August 04, 2006
Time Check.
i haven't blogged in a bit. at least not the writing type of blog.
lifes been pretty decent with its ups and downs. still having roller coaster mood swings but then again its something ive gotten rather accustomed to. To all the people i consulted on the *issue*, thanks for the advice (really!).
Advice that, sadly, i'll promptly ignore. but still hey, its MY funeral and theres nothing sexier than a guy digging his own grave. haha. moving firmly on.
Clinics have become rather disjointed of late. mainly because either im not around or im slacking. I need some order in my life.
HPB posting practically never happened to me and i'll be trying to play catch-up in the next week or so. End of posting tests are looming ahead and ive barely gone through half of my surgery text. while, i'd happily admit that its probably about half as xiong as for our medical collegues (who are all mugging kumar and clark/ davinson in the library), its still xiong nevertheless. Have been organising and consolidating some of the information as part of my discussions with dawn but still i think i lack enough factual knowledge.
for example, i still haven't figured out the finer details to indications for performing X proceedures and its worrying me... try appendicitis for size: according to the textbooks, most appendicitis cases resolve spontaneously: medical management is to watch and wait whilst surgical management is take out the appendix.
indications for surgical management are peritonism which indicates perforation. Yet, i see perfectly classical, UN-perforated appendix cases being taken under the knife, where then does the forementioned medical management take place? i had a long discussion with my tutor who did give me a nice answer.
its an answer which to date, ive never seen in a textbook standard algorithm, mainly because of our own local practices which are a lot more aggressive given our good surgical success rates. subtle but important details which our tutors don't really point out unless you specifically ask.
Im very thankful in this respect for having dr jimmy so as my first tutor. He really pushed the point of making sure i knew the exact guidelines and indications for surgical intervention.
enough about clinics...
some general thoughts:
The M1 results have come back. Some really close people i tried to help didn't make it. and yes, its a depressive thought of having to endure another year in M1. Especially since, i thought they were more than qualified to make it to the next round. Still, please don't give up hope!
to A, Academics are NO indication for future medical performance. and, on another note, no one has the right to make you quit medicine. Oddly enough this even applies to the Dean. All you need is a wish to study and you'll make it though. i promise. anyway, Congratulations for Emily are in order. i was so worried that you viva-ed but hey. look whos laughing out the other side now? :)
Med float is underway and im really impressed by this years expertise in the hands of ronnie and quan yao! the construction is simply fabulous :) also, the huge number of M1 working on the float paints a really good picture for the future. There was a time when i was worried that the m2 batch would turn out like the current m4 batch, but then again, they've also pulled together after this years float. more things to be excited about. :)
Pirates of the carribean, which i finally watched on wednesday, was pretty cool. *plenty* of johnny depp, brilliant acting and special effects. the plot however took just a little too many leaps of faith and suspensions of belief that was all in all too surreal for my taste. The ending was rather anticlimatic too. Still, a better showing than Superman returns - which was only salvaged by a wonderful performance by rex luther. And to top it all off, I finally got my dinner at the Esplanade. Thanks to the great company even the lack of oyster omelette couldn't spoil my evening. heh. The guitar band was lovely. (think besame mucho!)
And to a very very special old old friend from medicine, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIYING! My CG mate, talk cock buddy, emotional foil, tutorial arranger and above all DAMN GOOD friend, here me wishing you all the very best ahead.
and as a small treat, a photo of us looking like idiots in the supply room! hah.
*grin*
pp.s we will go look for them again.
ppp.s or maybe i'll just go myself. lol.
ciao.
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