Odysseys of George

Strange? No, it actually looks like a butterfly from the front. The wings being the two right and left lobes, the body – the isthmus and the antenna – the pyramidal lobe, all of which are parts of an important structure in the body called the thyroid gland. It secretes a hormone for daily bodily functions called thyroxine. So?? Such a beautiful organ can go wrong in 3 ways:
1. Function — too active or too passive ( hyperthyroid / hypothyroid )
2. Size — it can just swell up and press onto the trachea or esophagus causing difficulty in breathing or swallowing
3. Combination of both
Medications can be used to control the function but surgery is usually the option for size or when medical treatment fails to control the dysfunction.Problem? — Surgery has a risk of injuring the nerve that supplies the vocal cords and in a case of one sided damage it causes hoarseness of voice and if both sides are damaged then it can cause loss of voice and difficulty and noisy breathing. thus the worry for both patients and surgeons though the risk is actually very small.

Well, there was this lovely 60 year old lady who came to see me for an swelling over the neck which had increased in size significantly over the last 6 months. A fine needle biopsy, an ultrasound and a CT scan all pointed to a non cancerous origin and made me more worried because clinically this looked and felt malignant.

So, after explaining in depth and a trip to redang, I came back to wiggle my scaple along the lady’s neck. So off I went chop!chop! swish! .. oops! maybe not! continue…… as the hours passed a huge 10cm by 8cm by 6cm left lobe mass was removed together with the nodular right lobe and isthmus. Total thyroidectomy done. At the end, it was a lesson in anatomy as all the structures were very visible.

Well, surgery went well. Though exhausted I was happy that her voice was salvaged.The butterfly gland was sent to pathology for reporting.

Probably will have a part 2 for the later outcome. Interested??

From Part 1 - Redang Island Trip

The trip has appeared to leave fond memories in all of our minds. Maybe it was because this would be the last dive for the year in East Coast due to monsoon season and rough seas. The next few months till March next year would usually be our hibernating months unless finances permit then dive trips to Thailand, Sipadan, Manado, Mataking or even Raja Ampat becomes favourite dive
sites. One day maybe!.

The Redang September Dive Group

The Last Nite

Circle the Coral

Against the Current

Enjoy

ENGLISH OF TOMORROW EU ANNOUNCEMENT

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard “c” will be dropped in favour of “k”. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the s ekond year when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent “e” in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou” and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

These are pictures of my guru Mr AB Lee. Just to demonstrate the beauty of the seas. He has more amazing pictures.

Colours of Redang

Mermaid on a Horse

Enjoy.

Just got this from a friend. Well just to alert all my friends and visitors.

Cancer update
Johns Hopkins
Cancer News from Johns Hopkins:

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army MedicalCenter as well.

Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.

Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

NOOR V. GILLANI, D.Sc
Principal Research Scientist
Adjunct Professor
Nat’l Space Science & Technol Ctr.
Atmospheric Science Department
(NSSTC, NASA-AL)
U. of AL in Huntsville(UAH)
Tel. 256 961-7942
email:gillani@nsstc.uah.edu
Fax. 256 961-7755

Checked in the medical literature :

Diry, M. Tomkiewicz, C. Koehle, C. Coumoul, X. Bock, K Walter. Barouki, R. Transy, C.
UMR-S 490 INSERM, UFR Biomedicale des Saints Peres, Paris, Cedex, France.
Activation of the dioxin/aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) modulates cell plasticity through a JNK-dependent mechanism
Oncogene. 25(40):5570-4, 2006 Sep 7.

Abstract:
Environmental chemicals such as dioxin adversely affect immune, neurological and reproductive functions and have been implicated in cancer development. However, the mechanisms responsible for dioxin toxicity are still poorly understood……Dioxin-induced effects occur 48 h post-treatment initiation, a time scale, which argues for a genomic effect of the AhR, linked to induction of target genes. This novel Ahr action on cell plasticity points to a role in cancer progression.

During one of my clinic sessions, I came across this bubbly elderly lady who throughout the session was able to put on a cheerful smile. Yet deep inside, I know she was sad about the latest news that was broken to her. I could see her tears welling beneath her eyes but she maintained her smile and she maintained he poise. Just before her was another lady in her mid 30′s, who upon knowing her diagnosis broke down into tears and anger and was in denial. I asked this elderly lady, after having given my 2cents advice to somebody way beyond my age, how could she be so cheerful inside; despite her knowing her life expectancy has been shorten with her present diagnosis.
She asked me whether I knew Khalil Gibran and adviced me to read a portion of it!

This is what he wrote

” Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

……..

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

………

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

…………., they are inseparable

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”

I have a story but I have yet to tell.