The Emergency Room

The good ol' days

Location: A&E Department, Government Hospital in Malaysia

The medical officer just started his graveyard shift at 12 midnight. There are two of them on duty at night. He prays for a quiet night. Past few days have been absolutely crazy. The two officers just cannot cope with the amount of motor-vehicle accidents and the number of polytrauma patients that they generate. And it is not just that, it is usually in the middle of the night that family members bring their ill relatives. Relatives who had been ill for many many days, who were so weak that they are at the verge of collapsing. AND it is usually at night that the family cannot stand the patients' constant moaning and grunting because it is depriving them of a good night's sleep.

Today it is his turn to see the cold or minor cases. He sat at his table. Ahhh..... 15 yellow cards. He bets that 8 are those with minor cough and cold who suddenly decide that they cannot live with it another second more; three or four with stomach ache after binging so much during dinner; and an idiotic one or two who cannot sleep and want to find out why is that so.

Slowly he reach out to press the number zero...five..one...

"Ting.... kosong...lima...satu... Bilik Dua". The mechanical female voice rings out loudly across the waiting room.

The door opened. In came a neurotic looking Chinese lady. She walked normally towards him. He gave a sigh and a bored smile. He gestured her to sit.

"Good morning" *yawn* "What is your problem?" *yawn*

"Ah...good morning doctor... I have no problem, I just want to know if there is anything wrong with me?"

"Uh...duh?? I am so sorry, do you have a cough?"

"No..no..no...doctor... I am fine lorrr.... I just want to check if I am ok,. You know to see if I have high sugar or high blood or anything bad"

He feels his sleepiness just went away. If he understands it correctly, this bloody idiot want a full medical check-up at....he glanced over the wall clock,,,what??? 12.05 am???

He said calmly " I am so sorry, I only treat emergencies middle of the night. If you want to check whether you're Ok or not you need to come to the Outpatient Department tomorrow morning, during office hours"

"Aiyoh doctor, I cannot come lorrr during office hours I got business to run. I want you to check me now"

He shook his head in disbelief and reached out for a referral form. He pushed the form into the patient's hand. " You can go see the doctor anytime between 8am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays", then he gave her this 'get out of my sight look'.

The attendant, sensing his irritation, quickly ushered the lady out and told her directions to the outpatient department. The lady, angry that she spent 2 hours waiting for nothing and paying RM 1, protested. But by then, she caught a glimpse of the doctor's frowning face and decided to go quietly.

"ting... kosong...lima...dua....Bilik Dua"

A kid, his mom and thirteen motorcycles

About a year or two ago someone in the Government suggested that parents be held liable if their children are caught illegally driving a vehicle. This was due to a spate of fatal or almost fatal accidents involving minor. But then, after while, the issue died a natural death.

After 7 months in Pahang, I realize this issue needs to be re-addressed. Parents here (especially in the estates and Felda) are purposely being ignorant and stupid.

Today, tops it all.

A 12 year old boy was admitted to the ward following fall from HIS motorcycle and he sustained a huge gash over his knee which brought him to me. After treatment has been instituted I decided to do my ‘preventive medicine’ responsibility and ask the boy bout his ‘joyride’. His ever concerned mom was there and she told me to pull his ears and reprimand him for riding carelessly and hurting himself.

I was curious. Where did the boy get the bike? Whose bike is it? Was he being extra mischievous and stole the key from the parents?

I was not at all prepared to hear the answer. Actually, I was stunned.

Mom nonchalantly told us that there were a total of 13 motorcycles in her house. One for each kid. The youngest, a 7 year old has a ‘motor kapchai’. And she went on, they can ONLY use them (the bikes) on the village road; to the shops, to school and to the surau NOT to the main roads or highway. It is convenient for her and her hubby as they don’t have to ‘worry’ bout the kids.

Hmmm…fascinating! It shows that the standard of living in the FELDA have actually improved. Man, they can afford THIRTEEN motorcycles. Doesn’t matter if it’s 2nd hand, they would at least costs RM2000, minimum. How I wished I had the vision to be a Felda settler, no need to study and work so hard, just collect money at the end of the month. Really! Nowadays, FELDA hires foreign workers to work at the palm-oil estate.

Anyway, back to the THIRTEEN motorcycles and under-aged motorbike riding, I wonder, if the son had died of an intracranial bleed or intra-abdominal injuries would the mother still think the same? I felt a very strong urge to tug the parents ears and give them a lecture on being responsible parents.

There are reasons why there is a minimum age limit get a driving or motorcycle license. Knowing the young, the age limit should be raised. Young people are brash, impatient and their judgment have not yet developed and thus more prone to accidents. And when you are young, you will always think ‘I still have a long life ahead of me’; or ‘it would never happen to me’.

I have been there, felt that but perhaps not done that.

It is all written on the day you were born

Tried this Facebook application called " What Your Birthdate Means" and this is my results.

"You're full of charisma and dynamicity and you are possibly headed to being famous. You have a charming persona and you are at ease even with strangers. You usually find your way with most people and situations. You are a good speaker and tend to persuade people with your speaking and writing. You are loving and affectionate, but you might be afraid of commitment.

Your greatest strength is: Your charm

Your greatest weakness is: Your extreme manipulation tactics

Your lucky color is: Indigo"

Whoa, I am charismatic, dynamic and charming. And I am going to be famous. Lets hope it it not because I am a extra in some illicit videos *wink*.

I guess it must be my charms then that bowled over a woman. And I can blame it all on my birthday. It was already written in my future and since I am SO CHARMING that male and female alike find me irresistible.

Ah, 2008 sure has a lot more in store for me then. :)

TAGGED

I've been tagged by Ardy.

The Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of this post and list their names.
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

List eight (8) random facts about myself:
1. I was born at 1320 hours in Queen's Mother Hospital in Glasgow


2. When I was four I used to sing "waa wee waaa...pukul sebelas" whenever I hear the clock chimes

3. When I was 15, I wore my jeans 24/7 except when I go to school

4. Being a klutz since small, I have worn two left shoes to school. This happened as I do not wear them when getting into the car but just grab any shoes and wear them later (and being scared of mom I just wear them pretending it was the right shoe)

5. I had my first kiss at the age of 16, it was so sloppy and wet

6. I don't get angry, I get even : In Form 6 I was told by my class monitor that only the girls are in-charge of cleaning and beautifying the class. I did exactly that; A class of 24 boys and 4 girls had pink curtains, pink table cloths, pink flowers , pink notice boards.... :)

7. I hate to iron my clothes, I send all my work clothes to the laundry for ironing

8. The only cake I crave for is cheesecake

Now, I would like to tag the followings:
Flowerskies
NajiBEST
Lily
Guile
Hazyr
ahhh cannot get 8 people laaaaaa

Confused sexuality

I am not homophobic. I have known people who are gay and are great friends with them. I respect their choices and I do not hold it against them.

However, it does not mean I am liberal in my sexual orientation. I am straight, very straight. I like men, I love men, I enjoy being in the company of men and no amount of seducing by a hot sexy babe can change that.

So when a woman approaches me in a manner I felt was sexual, I cringe. I feel disgusted, I feel nauseated. I used to think I would feel honored if I managed to attract women but then, now it has happened it doesn’t feel that way.

A woman at work has been calling and sending me text messages wanting to get to know me. Initially she was anoynomous, she first approached me via text messages a few months back and I wrongly assumed that it was a man bothering me. I did my ‘ignore-and-do not answer’ method of brushing aside such unwanted advanced and it was quiet till past two weeks.

However, I guess her being exasperated at my silence she became bold. The woman. asked one of my medical officers to formally introduce us and thus my current situation. It is too embarrassing to put in detail. Suffice to say, if I didn’t know it was a woman I would think that a man was trying to woo me. Perhaps I misunderstood and the woman genuinely wants to be my friend. However, being a ‘relationship expert’ makes me certain that the language used in the communication is not based on pure unconditional friendship.

It crossed my mind to ask which part of me attracted a lesbian? Is it because of my tomboyish nature, thus being a 50% male? Or is it because I have big boobs? I reckon if I was a real lesbian I would go for those hot curvaceous bootylicious and ‘boobylicious’ South American women instead of a butch or ‘penkid’. Thus brings me to another question: if I was in such a relationship, an I the male or the female of the relationship?

Now, the reality is the woman asked me out for dinner tonight.

And facts are, ONE: she has mentioned twice she likes me and TWO: twice mentioned she misses me. Ah crap, it is really disgusting!

My close friends find this absolutely funny, a few of them were rolling on the ground when I told them of my predicament. Some were curious which part of me attracted a lesbian, others volunteered to buy me an artificial penis in order for me to satisfy my ‘partner’… euwwww. And ALL the guys wanted me to get the woman naked and take photos of her, perverts!!!!

Well, if it happened to one of you guys I too would have joined in and roll on the ground, so I have to admit this is one hilarious scenario. But for now, my brain is on over-time thinking of how to get myself out of this mess. Any ideas?

Start of the Diving Year

Tomorrow at 1400 hours I will be boarding Airasia flight to Sandakan. It will be my first diving trip this year. I have decided to start early as I have not many commitments compared to 2007. Last year, I managed to squeeze in just over fifty dives, not bad considering the season started only in May for me.

The plan is to stay overnight in Sandakan and then head over to Lankayan Island the next morning. Then it will be diving, diving and diving for the next four days. My aim for this trip is to practice underwater photography as I have just purchased my new camera. Sadly this setup not yet has a strobe, but we will see how it turns out.

So friends, forgive me if I don't update in the next few days. I will be busy indulging in my first love.