Archive for March, 2007

In Real Life…..

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

This was sent to me by my good friend, Paga.

1. A man comes into the ER and yells, “My wife’s going to have her baby in the cab!” I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady’s dress, and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs - and I was in the wrong one.

Submitted by Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Antonio, TX.

2. At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient’s anterior chest wall. “Big breaths,” I instructed. “Yes, they used to be,” replied the patient.

Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle, WA

3. One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a “massive internal fart.”

Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg, Manitoba, Canada

4. During a patient’s two week follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, he informed me, his doctor, that he was having trouble with one of his medications.
“Which one?” I asked. “The patch. The nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours and now I’m running out of places to put it!” I had him quickly undress and discovered what I hoped I wouldn’t see. Yes, the man had over fifty patches on his body!

Now the instructions include removal of the old patch before applying a new one.

Submitted by Dr. Rebecca St. Clair, Norfolk, VA

5. While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked, “How long have you been bedridden?” After a look of complete confusion she answered…”Why, not for about twenty years - when my husband was alive.”

Submitted by Dr. Steven Swanson, Corvallis, OR

6. I was caring for a woman and asked, “So how’s your breakfast this morning?” “It’s very good, except for the Kentucky Jelly. I can’t seem to get used to the taste” the patient replied. I then asked to see the jelly and the woman produced a foil packet labeled “KY Jelly.”

Submitted by Dr. Leonard Kransdorf, Detroit, MI

7. A nurse was on duty in the Emergency Room, when a young woman with purple hair styled into a punk rocker Mohawk, sporting a variety of tattoos, and wearing strange clothing, entered. It was quickly determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was scheduled for immediate surgery. When she was completely disrobed on the operating table, the staff noticed that her pubic hair had been dyed green, and above it there was a tattoo that read, “Keep off the grass.”

Once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a short note on the patient’s dressing, which said, “Sorry, had to mow the lawn.”

Submitted by RN, no name

AND FINALLY!!!…………….

8. As a new, young MD doing his residency in OB, I was quite embarrassed when performing female pelvic exams. To cover my embarrassment I had unconsciously formed a habit of whistling softly.
The middle-aged lady upon whom I was performing this exam suddenly burst out laughing and further embarrassing me. I looked up from my work and sheepishly said, “I’m sorry. Was I tickling you?”
She replied, “No doctor, but the song you were whistling was, “I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener”.

Dr. wouldn’t submit his name

Enjoy!

Jakarta, Jakarta

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

(From Jakarta Part 1) &
(Ritz Carlton and I)

Nothing is complete without having have visited at least some part of the city. During the day, there is an estimate 12million people on the streets of Jakarta heading for work and at night, there is about 8 to 10 million people.

The city is divided to 5 areas namely the north, south, west, east and central Jakarta. We were staying in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta. There are various transportation modes but the safest I suppose would be by taxi. There are many taxi services, the best is managed by the BlueBird company and insist on a metered fare. There is also Silver Bird under the management of Blue Bird but the cars are bigger and “limousine-like” and the starting fare is higher.

The famous university where the modern revolution started.

On the first day, we planned to go for a spa and thereafter a bazaar called Tanah Abang, if not mistaken. The spa, Taman Sari, Royal Heritage Spa was our destination of choice.

The lovely ladies of the group.

That is me already very excited!

Well, we all had the same package of Royal Balinese Spa, a two hour massage with body wrap and treatment to relax and destress and rejuvinate! Ahem!Ahem!
By the time the spa was over, we realised that the bazaar was closed! The bazaar closes at about 4pm. So, for shopping we headed to a another famous but a little expensive, shopping centre named after Sukarno’s maid, Sarinah, the following day. They had good quality bateks, a cloth material locally designed and a traditional wear in Indonesia.

We were also taken to a high end street called Jalan Kemang. This is where all the famous branded shops and boutique and even pubs are. We went for dinner here at a place called De La Rosa. It was a well and beautifully set up restaurant and as usual food was marvelous. The welcome drinks were as exotic and lovely as the ladies welcoming us at the entrance.

They entertained us with some great Balinese dance.

The course ended well, and so did the fun when we heard that MAS cancelled our flight at 3.15pm to a later flight at 6.30pm. We ended up boarding the just awarded Best Airlines, at 8pm, tired and drained! The ladies in the group were excellent as they managed to squeeze the arms of the officer in charge to convert the lunch ticket to a lounge entry. Then again after being pampered in a 5 star hotel, nothing anywhere could match the comfort and food served.

Thanks to the organisers and to my friends.
Below is a painting I saw in the hotel. Enjoy.

Ritz Carlton and I

Monday, March 19th, 2007

(From Jakarta)

There wasn’t much time to go around Jakarta. Okay!Okay! I was serious about attending the course as nutrition is something very close to my heart.Nutrition for my patients not myself — though I felt like I was being on bolus diet throughout the course. Well, how could anybody stay away from such superbly delicious desserts. They at Airlangga within the Hotel also served Peking duck and fresh raw octopus. Both did not suit my taste bud as the Peking duck was yucks and octopus was to chewwy, rubbery! The variety was excellent and tell me really could anybody resist this especially the strawberry coated with chocolate from a chocolate fountain, fuyoh!

During the, the lunch and dinner, Airlangga restaurant was introducing the captivating culture and cuisine of Sri Lanka, sponsored by the tea experts,Dilmah. We were just not feasted with Sri Lankan dishes but also entertained to a special traditional performance of the Kandayan dance accompanied by the Kandayan drums.

Exiting at the 5th floor, brought my curious feet to a beautiful path.

The path that leads to the activity I love the most, swimming. But, before that there was the fountain and its surrounding deco.

The pool.

Jakarta Trip Part 1

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Hi I am back for a few days before leaving again for a dive trip! Weepeeee!

Well as a start and as I await the inconsistencies of Streamyx to download all the photos, let me say how comforting this trip was. This was not a holiday but an international course on advanced nutrition seeing people in the medical field from India, Hong Kong, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia and other Asian countries coming together discusssing ways to improve nutrition in patients. Hmmm… how come I get a feeling like you guys think I am joking!

Well as a start we stayed in this Five Star hotel in the middle of the commercial city of south Jakarta, called Mega Kuningan.

Can you guess which hotel is this?

Yep it is the………………….

Grand Rounds 3.25

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

This week’s Grand Rounds, hosted by Hungarian medical student Bertalan Meskó. This is an admirably clear and well-organized edition; 1 The Monty Python theme makes it an interesting read. Great job, Bertalan, and thanks for including me!

2

Ode to a good neighbour

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

This is a an ode to a neighbour who has been a great help and good friend to my parents in Alor Setar, Kedah. Mohd Mumtaz Abdul Ahmad, 31 married with two small children had a dangerous hobby - riding Superbikes. His was a black 1000cc superbike and was member of the Kedah Bikers’ Club.

On Sunday, his tragic and lethal accident was highlighted in almost all of the local dailies. His bike was on flames and died on the spot. He was riding along with a fellow biker to a wedding when this tragic event took place. His friend suffered the same fate.

In My Mind
by Jenn Farrell

Somewhere in my dreams tonight
I’ll see you standing there
You look at me with a smile
“Life isn’t always fair”

You say you were chosen for his garden
His preciously hand picked bouquet
“God really needed me,
That’s why I couldn’t stay”

It’s said to be that angels
Are sent from above
I’ve always had my angel
My brother - whose heart was filled with love

Wherever the ocean meets the sky
There will be memories of you and I
When I look up at that sky so blue
All I see are visions of you

“While there’s a heart in me, you’ll be a part of me.”

My condolences to his wife and kids.