Odysseys of George

An elderly gentleman who saw me in the clinic a few days ago mentioned that many doctors don’t listen much to their patients and tend to utilize the many investigative instruments they have too easily that sometimes it is more a knee jerk reflex action. I have to agree as I myself have seen more and more doctors becoming swamped into this peculiar rat race where one listens less, investigates more and treats excessively. Having had teachers and consultants from an era where clinical skills and assessment was priority, I have no one to blame but the education system where teachers and consultants as those I had had been quickly replaced by the younger and green doctors and the syllabus made easier to enable more passes than failures. With this, we become more a businessman than a doctor for we have over time lost that human touch. This article which I read from New York Times written by Professor Abraham Verghese, concurs with my feelings and also the feelings of that elderly gentleman. A particular statement made in that article which I wish to highlight would be,” The consequence of losing both faith and skill in examining the body is that we miss simple things, and we order more tests and subject people to the dangers of …….. unnecessarily.”

Treat the Patient, Not the CT Scan
Abraham Verghese
continue reading…

We, Marlene, Tony and I , made our way to Bali for a dive trip which would be first for Marlene and I. The highlight of the trip was to see Mola Mola. Upon reaching Bali, we were told that the season to catch these rarity was over and they have not had any sighting for the last 3 weeks.

On the 9th October, we headed out to a dive site called Crystal Bay, at Nusa Penida, Bali. We started the dive with surface temperature at 26degrees Celcius. The currents were strong and we were running low on air. I said a silent prayer asking God to let Marlene see the Mola Mola as this was our first honeymoon. After about 25minutes of diving, I was about to call it quits and do my safety stop. Just as I was about to signal my buddy to do the safety stop, she starts pointing out to the blue while banging her tank with her pointer. A sudden rush of adrenaline filled me as I turned to see what was she pointing to. From afar I could see a silhouette of something that I have longed to see. No I was not having narcosis. I could think clearly. I quickly prepared my camera to shoot this silhouette and finned as fast as I could. There it was this huge creature, so mighty yet so shy and graceful. A rush of excitement, happiness and thankfulness filled my heart at the same time my mind telling me to keep a note of my air consumption. The happiness was seen on all our faces. Awesome! I started shooting the giant puffer, Mola Mola with my humble camera. As I captured its images, I realized it was coming close towards me. I could see its eyes and mouth so clearly as it moved its was towards the sun. It was a good 10 minutes of playing with the giant, when I called for the safety stop to be done. I could see the immense joy in both Tony and my wife, Marlene’s face. I was happy and contented. Just the day before, I asked her,”What makes a honeymoon?” At that point, when I saw her face glow, God had answered my silent prayer, I knew the answer to my question, what makes a honeymoon is an unforgettable memory that is shared by both. This was definitely one. The trip was fantastic as we managed to also play with the Harlequin Shrimps and Manta Ray.

The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate. A member of the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes pufferfish, porcupinefish and filefish, the sunfish shares many traits common to members of this order. It was originally classified as Tetraodon mola under the pufferfish genus, but it has since been given its own genus, Mola, with two species under it. The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the type species of the genus.

There are more pictures on facebook. Enjoy.

Posted by a blog friend Vijay!

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Read Carefully!

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I got this from an email that was sent to me – and after watching it, I could not stop laughing. It is so true! So enjoy!

otherwise you can see it here.…

Dedicated to all my orthopaedic friends and anaesthetic friends out there

I found this so hilarious I had to copy it to my blog. I read over at Pagalavan’s Avatar. Enjoy.

“In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia an old priest lay dying in the hospital.

For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation’s capital.

He motioned for his nurse to come near.

“Yes, Father?” said the nurse.

“I would really like to see Najib and the Muyhiddin before I die”, whispered
the priest.

“I’ll see what I can do, Father”, replied the nurse.

The nurse sent the request to Putrajaya (Administration Capital of Malaysia)
and waited for a response.

Soon the word arrived; Prime Minister Najib and his Deputy PM Muhyiddin
would be delighted to visit the priest.

As they went to the hospital, Najib commented to Muyhiddin, “I don’t know
why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images
and might even get me all the Christian votes.

After all, I’m ‘IN IT TO WIN IT”.

Muyhiddin agreed that it was a good thing.

When they arrived at the priest’s room, the priest took Najib’s hand in his
right hand and Muyhiddin’s hand in his left.

There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest’s face.

Finally Najib spoke.. “Reverend, of all the people you could have chosen,
why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?”

The old priest slowly replied, “I have always tried to pattern my life after
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

The old priest continued, “Jesus died between two lying thieves; I would
like to do the same.”