Genting Trail Blazer and a boring two weeks

Hi everyone,
Hope you are in the best of health.
I haven't been too well the past 2 weeks with my flu and cough not running away even after 2 weeks.
I don't usually take medications on my own but on this occasion I had to take some anti histamines as my nose was totally blocked! I guess it does not help to have some one very near and dear to to you smoking away and further clogging up your nose....
Ps: sayang, yes I'm talking to you!


Atuk had his prostate biopsied last week. His tumour marker enzymes were elevated and my urologist friend had suggested for the biopsy to be taken even though he is doing better with his medications.
Looking at my dad in pain and in discomfort was not what I had in mind when I followed him to the urologist but alas, I had to put up a brave front and helped him go over it.
We are waiting for the results now.

Hmm..What else was interesting the past 2 weeks.
I ran in the Genting Trail Blazer, though it was more of a hike in the jungle than any actually running.
We had fun. We got wet and dirty.
I must complain that the wet conditions made it impossible for anyone to pass over the trail at times.We ended up in a huge traffic jam in the middle of the jungle.


Hmm What else?
Okay, I had a blazing time at work.
I'm officially the king of abscesses in the hospital.
I get the worse possible cases!
But there were some plus points at work. I managed to do a bronchoscope on a month old baby. Treating these tiny ones aren't easy and they always give my heart a tremendous pounding every time.
This time I managed to doi it cleanly and I thought was my best effort so far.

I also did a lot of ear surgeries (again not my favourite) and managed t learn from Mr Mohamad some new tricks while doing mastoid surgery.


Hmm...what else.
Oh yes, a close friend of mine had a chalazion removed from her eye lid.
I had asked my friend Dr Dharsani to do it and she was kind enough to help out on such a short notice.
Thanks again Dharsani!


Hmm...what else....
I guess that's it.
What a dull (and sickly)2 weeks !


Warm regards.

Doc

I got this huge parotid abscess



















See how huge it was?

















Had to drain it from behind, otherwise there would be a very long and ugly scar..














The next day
















Awah is losing her deciduous teeth and having her permanent ones apprearing

















Nenek Bidah came over and since it was her birthaday, we threw her a little party


















It's a long wait when the happy birthday song is sung in three languages..














When the girls sing in mandarin...most of us just have to keep quiet.
















Happy Birthday to the birthday girl















Awah....















Atiyah taking the smaller one


















Genting Trailblazer.

Everyone was so cheerpy and excited early in the morning
















Well....almost everyone

















It was really misty at the start of the race

















really muddy too



















A little bit of walking and taking in the fresh air
















Alittle bit of sight seeing


















a little bit of walking some more














Sengih sengih je ni...tak kotor pun?




















ha ha..wait until you get to the muddy bit.






























































Traffic jam














We met these two lovely people.
slowly making their progress
















While some lovely people are always slow no matter what!
















Father and daughter team
Encik Ayob is 63 and ina 26.
Almost a combined age of 90. They would have been in the masters category..










Obstacle course at the end
















A lot of getting wet and muddy

















Sweetie, you've always wanted your mud bath therapy right?














Some more climbing.
Hey those people on the right looks familiar...
Alamak! My KOMA friends, already dry and cleaned up...obviously laughing at me in my muddy gear!

















Some more climbing!
I must say that my camera really took the brunt on this trip.
It was covered with mud all over!
But the pictures still turned out well




















Patutlah almost last place...jalan jalan rupanya



















really really hungry in the end

















After all that action, it was back to work.....fishing for fish bone...




















Something as tiny as this can cause so much pain!




















This guy had an abscess with his skin involved
The unhealthy skin had to be removed. I had no choice



















Managed to do bronchoscope on this tiny little one.
















It does help when the anaesthetists are the calm and wise ones...
Thanks Dr Kamarul!

















Puzi came with azrul...as my patients.


















When Nik gets her snorkelling gear, it must mean drilling works at hand.
It imperative that we wear protective eye wear when doing any drilling work.
Some bony splinters may land up in your eyes!














Mastoidectomy: First the cleaning up and local anaesthetic....Pt is asleep off course!
















Then the cleaning up some more

















Then the setting up of equipments.
Note: Nik with her eyes fully protected
















Then we drill.

















Till we reach the mastoid cavity...
Drill too much and you end up in the brain!
I guess whomever is operating on me wouldn't have to worry about drilling too far...you wont reach anything vital...

By the way bean, that is not a fork for eating!















But off course after a hard days drilling, you tend to eat like a monster later on

















So sorry Nik, I have to see it again..















Sweetie had her Chalazion removed
















That's how it looks like


















Clen up with antiseptic

















Give a little local injection...
After you tell the most used lie in the hospital...."This won't hurt a bit pun..."
Sorry Dharsani, i was talking about myself!

















Then you evert the lip with a chalazion / lid clamp

















Then you open up the swelling



















Then you currete (korek) it all out.



















A little bruising is normal















Then you ask the patient to hold on and press and don't complain.





















So sorry sayang, It won't lie to you again..

















One Thursday we had 6 surgeries done in 7 hours
















Hmm...Maybe it's that music that makes him go fast?















No, Its actually telling other people to hurry up while you give the orders..







I'm really hoping that my life will be sorted out soon so that I can resume my daily routine not to mention the write ups.
To some of my family and friends whom I have let down so far, I just hope you can give me (and another person) some time to figure out what is best.


Warm regards!

Trikidz Putrajaya and a bit of Borneo Marathon

Salam everyone,
Hope you are in the best of health.
The past one week has been fun for me, except for the fact that I lost my camera!
Yes, my cheap under utilized semi pro Olympus.

Borneo Marathon:

I was in Sabah over the last weekend where I ran the Borneo Marathon. It was during my last day in KK that I realised that I had lost my camera.
I had probably 200 pictures in them and all of them gone! I can't share my experiences in KK with pictures but let me try to summarize what a great weekend I had there.

I went with my friend. She was attempting her first half marathon. Both of us have been very busy with work lately and neither have managed any serious bit of running in the run up to the event. I ran the half marathon to support her.

Needless to say we made it in "great" time.

3hr 20min for a beginner isn’t too bad at all considering the farthest that she has ever ran before this was just 8km.

The marathon route was the same scenic route as last year's.

Again I met the same old ‘kaki’ like Azhar and Mohan from Singapore and also Soo my pilot friend who happens to be my neighbour but we have never met at home yet. It’s always at the races with me and Soo.

I was pleasantly surprised to meet an old friend Dr Andre who is an anaesthetist working in Miri. We used to work together when I was in Klang. He was attempting his first half marathon and I took a few pictures of him and promised to put it in the blog but alas….so sorry bro.

The only thing from Kk that I can show off

In short the race was fun filled (though very slow) and was well organized.

I’m definitely coming every year for this one.

During my time in KK, we managed to visit my uncle and aunt in Menggatal. I think they were happy to see me.

I managed to have dinner with my cousin Julie who by the way is engaged to a Filipino.

We were secretly making fun of the guy, mimicking his accent and all.

“Let’s go Bak after dinnerr and mek Luvv”

Something like that.

But honestly I thought Faizal was a nice guy.

I wish them all the best.

Me and my friend?

Well we managed to hit the clubs the night BEFORE the race…

Not a very good idea at all.

We also stayed overnight in Kundasang at the foothills of Kinabalu.

Overall it was a pleasant weekend.

BaK Homme:

After a pleasant but short weekend, it was back to work!

Work was overwhelming but I must say I enjoyed the week.

It did feel a bit funny though walking in the hospital corridors without my camera.

I finally bought a new camera just a day before Awah and Atiyah entered their first triathlon.

Dad came for his follow up with regards to his enlarged prostate.

After the initial trauma of putting in the urinary catheter and keeping it in for 2 weeks, I removed the tube just before Raya and what a relief for everyone that he can pass urine without the tube!

His medication seems to be working.

He also underwent an ultrasound which showed an enlarged prostate without evidence of malignancy.

The only worrying thing was that his PSA or Prostatic Specific Antigen which is the tumour marker for prostatic cancer was raised.

The only way we can be sure that it was not a malignant growth was to take a biopsy.

I conveyed the bad news to Atuk and he took it in his stride.

Were going to take a biopsy this Thursday. I’m really hoping that it will be nothing at all.

Trikidz Putrajaya:

It started as a request from Major Kalam for me to volunteer for the Trikidz in Putrajaya.

Trikidz is a 2 day event for children where on day one they have a coaching clinic for kids on triathlon and on the second day they have a ‘mini’ tri proper.

As part of my new year's resolution with regards to racing this year, volunteering in a race was part of it.

I have been in so many races and yet have never ever volunteered myself in any of them.

In organizing a race you need volunteers. Who do you expect will hand you water at the drinks station?

Who will guide you at the transition zone?

Not to mention the policeman manning the roads diverting traffic so that you can run in the middle of town wearing your ultra short shorts on a Sunday morning!

Anyway I volunteered to be the race doctor. I wasn’t worried about anyone getting hurt or injured as I knew that it was all fun and games for the kids.

I bought Awah and Atiyah along for the race clinic on day one and I managed to persuade them to join in the fun. Even though the sun was blazing hot by the end of the clinic both Awah and Atiyah enjoyed themselves.

They were taught the basics of Triathlon racing. A little bit about the swim, the bike and the run.

Some rules and some do's and don't s and what was needed to be done at the transition area.

They also showed the kids how to stretch and warm up etc..

The girls basically had fun at the clinic.

It was only an impromptu decision that I asked Atiyah if she wanted to do the race proper the next day that she replied without hesitation….YES!

It was Awah who was a bit shy to begin with.

Both of them can’t swim yet and I asked Major Kalam if they can do the biking and running bits only.

He being my team mate and fellow fighter for the last place in so man yraces together gladly said yes.

Yeah!

That was the easy part.

The more difficult part was to get the kids ready early the next day.

It rained overnight and getting the kids out of bed (getting myself out too!- I had some problems with my friend the night before and I could not sleep well) was a real nightmare.

When we reached Putrajaya, almost everyone was there.

Everyone was early

The race briefing followed the customary body marking which I think the kids enjoyed.

Ady, why cant we write on our bodies everyday like this?

I thought Major kalam and crew did a good job considering they had to handle 100 plus screaming and running kids.

The race was divided into three age groups A, B and C.

C being the bigger kids, I think age 13 to 15 and A the smallest kids, below 8.

Actually the organizers did not want to allow atiyah as she was too young for it.

They apparently put down the minimum age limit as 6.

Luckily Badrul one of Major Kalam’s boys intervened and they apparently ‘closed’ one eye and allowed Atiyah in.

At 4 years old, she was the youngest participant.

They flagged of the bigger kids first and right from the start you can see that there were plenty of talents on board.

The swim was in the pool and the bike and run was held around the area.

There was plenty of parents shouting and giving encouragement. There were also some hard core kiasu triathlete parents there too, shouting and pushing their kids to the maximum.

Hell, I just hope I wasn’t one of them.

Finally it was time for the girls to be flagged off. They waited patiently at the transition / bike area for the swim to be over. When the last swimmer arrived, they were off!

All my worries about Atiyah not being able to compete or finish the race was dumbfounded.

They both had fun!

Atiyah even managed to overtake some of the bigger kids ahead of them. I ran along her for some bit of the race but I finally realized that it’s their race and in order for her to be independent and confident, she should give it a ‘TRI”.

I let her bike and run on her own and watched proudly at my two girls having fun.

When they crossed the line, me and kakak were there to greet them and hug them.

They were so proud of themselves.

Well done girls!

I'm looking forward to the day when you girls will beat Ady in a race!

Warm regards.

Getting the bikes on the bike rack
Kakak: Betul ke Atiyah nak race ni??
















Atiyah did not need any bike rack...
Her bike had training wheels still!

















Awah always the unsure and timid one among the two
















Not timid at all

















Atiyah, when your overtaking someone, make sure you give them a horn okay
















Okay...
















Race briefing


















Major Kalam
















This bike can carry three people!

















Swim start

















I saw this girl running

















With an Ironman T shirt!

















Atiyah waiting to be let off

















Ahh...finally!

















Pedal pedal..


















Awah leaving Atiyah
















Go sweetie go!

















Jasmi helping out with Atiyah to put her bike back in place before the run

















And off she goes!
Go sweetie Go!

















At the drink station, on the run phase


















Finishing line
















Awah coming over...

















Yeah!



















Atiyah not too far behind.
















Yeah....that was lovely...can we do it again Ady?

















Cheese!


















What Ady? All the effort for a small piece of metal?
















Kak Noorina helping out

Puasa and raya

Hi everyone,
I hope you are in the best of health. The fasting month have come and went and after a short but sweet Raya its business as usual.
So many things happened in my life during the past month but unfortunately a lot of it I am yet able to share with you. Perhaps one day when all the dust has settled and everyone has calmed down I will tell my WHOLE story.
It's a twisted but lovely love story.....I think..

This blog entry will be filled with pictures only. No long winded stories here..

I attended a three day seminar in Genting highlands...

No it was not related to the automobile industry















It was a national symposium on head and Neck Surgery.
They had distinguished guest speakers from Hong Kong and elsewhere.














Met Vincent and Victor there.

Victor not exactly all eyes and ears..

Vincent sibuk je nak tengok
















With the H1N1 outbreak, Awah and atiyah have been trained to be more careful and emphasis on hygiene.

Err Doc, if your worried about hygiene, why did you bring the girls to the hospital then??















No reason actually.
they just want to spend time with ady














It's been gloomy and wet most afternoons.
Even my flip flap refuses to flap its wings
















My on call with Nik was a nightmarish 2 weeks















Another chicken bone stuck!















Sometimes its a big one...

















sometimes its tiny...fish bone















This guy (yes...she's a he!) had an abscess that big..















see how big it was?















I managed to bugger a big vessel and the patient bled badly.
Panik jugak masa tu...
She...I mean he is okay now. Turned out to be TB















My dad the ever so fit old man came in unable to pass urine.
I had to put in a tube for him.
It turns out he has an enlarged prostate gland which is common with elderly male













he he he...taking it lightly.















Buka puasa with friends















All sour and grim faces..















Listening to my sad and pathetic story















Rin: Totally not impressed la Ala
















These two boys arent related. They both got their tonsils removed the day before and have become good friends in the ward.















sometimes someone comes along to see what your doing
















Nik, how come whenever were on call together people always get stuff stuck in their throat?

Sigh...entah lah

By the way Nik, you ask the 'new' doctor behind you to sit down will you.











Arvin came to town and we had buka puasa















With the ever so charming Bean















The effects of smoking.
Laryngeal cancer.
Laryngectomy in progress
















That's your voice box taken out














Repairing the severed food gullet (esophagus)
Sigh...it was getting late.
Last man left standing















sigh.....bila la Mr H ni nak habis?

psst, kau dengar tak hari tu...Mr H kan...kan..















Closing slowly.
I did one side, Raudha the other.















The end!
















Next day.















Group photo
The whole department.
No, were not from the Lions club!
















Buka puasa true 1Malaysia spirit.
There is a malay chap, a tudung clad malay lady, a Sabahan of unknown origin and the buka puasa was hosted by my dear friend Gegek















Classmates OP Jeyaganesh (Gegek) and OP Kam















It used to be one of my favourite past time....Visiting the bike shop and not buying anything....
















I ended up buying this new toy for raya!
Bugger!















Mummy gave me all this cooking utensils for Raya.
The only thing I can cook myself is Magee mee!
It's time I look for a wife.....or at least maybe a cook?



















Atiyah and Kay
















Family group photo first Raya
















They came late














That's our own 'little' family photo






























Visited Ina'a place in Rembau. Nice rumah kampung














It was a lucky shot with the angry clouds looming in the background
















Pose...
















Look into my eyes....you'll see....what you mean to me....















Warrghh!














Smile...















All the kids had their own AGM under uncle Rahman's tree
















Nana, awah and atiyah















second raya at Malacca














Third raya went biking....

















Beautiful FRIM!















That's a big one!















FRIM













I had a flat tyre in the middle of the night.
Managed to change it with the help of stupes who cme with a big torch light!
I drive a lorry and the spre tyre is underneath the cargo area. Malam tak nampak!
Some of the Bangladeshi workers passing by were impressed that I could take out the tyre myself











Thank you Stupes for helping out!
















Awah and atiyah likes to follow me to the hospital where they end up getting bored in my clinic














Playground time!
















This is much better than your boring clinic Ady!













Met Farah and family at the park.
i worked with Farah when she was just beginning her career in ENT.


















Atiyah trying to hatch an egg















No fear
















Ady, kenapa senang sangat ni?















with auntie















Atiyah can play and play till you get yourself exhausted by watching them















Over here!
















play till it gets dark...














Till it gets really really dark..















Till even auntie gets tired

















I bought Awah and atiyah new bikes as their raya present.
Mr seow and son of USJ cycles















Who wants to eat half boiled egg?

















After two weeks the uncle we did Laryngectomy on was doing well.
Scar healing well.
A barium swallow done showed that my anastomosis site for the new esophagus leaked!
Bugger!
I felt so depressed, after 6 hours of surgery, it was a major screw up on my part.
Luckily it healed itself on its own after we bypassed the leak for 2 more weeks












This guy had an abscess which almost killed him!
We managed to secure his airway via the tracheostomy tube just in the nick of time.
A few hours more and it would have been curtains!














Uncle rahman and auntie Bidah from malacca came to the hospital for some check up








Warm regards!

The climb

Hi everyone,
I hope you are in good health.
The chronicle continues here.

A lot of my friends have been complaining to me that I haven't been blogging as much as I used to .Sometimes it is via the blog that my friends know of events related to me and fellow friends. But I know some of my old RMC friends read my blog so that they can have something to "kutuk me" about when they hang out for teh tarik and such. After all, they are used to making fun of me since 1987....sigh



FAMILY:

Chips and family are in France at the moment as he is doing his masters in aeronautical engineering (I think) in Toulouse.They sold their house and when they return will move into my parents house in USJ 9 after atuk and nenek along with Bibee and family move into their new place in USJ 2.


Mai's uncle, Haji Aziz became my patient last week after he developed massive bleeding from his nose. I had to admit him and by packing his nose he was better.Im hoping that it does not recur.





Bibee visiting














Mai who could not take the sight of blood









In fact a lot of Mai's family members have become my patients now.
Speaking of patients, one day as I was running in the hospital compound early one morning, I saw my dad at the car park. He and nenek were here for their follow up with the physician.

"How come you never tell me that your coming over today?" I asked atuk.

"Never mind,we know your always busy. Did not want to disturb you" was what atuk replied.





Atuk and nenek waiting for their appointment









There it was. I was busy seeing other people everyday. Treating them, caring and fussing about them and there I was....couldn't even remember my own parent's follow up!
I felt so ashamed of myself.

Atuk joined me for a litle run around as they had arrived very early for their appointment. He, just like me is always ready for any form of action. His running shoes was in the car!




PLAY:

I must admit I haven't been doing anything much this past 2 weeks. I did not enter any races at all even though there were plenty happening around KL. My busy 2 weeks call finally took its toll on me.
I did however manage to go rock climbing twice since the last blog entry. I even brought Awah, Atiyah and their cousin Nana along last weekend.
They had a good time there.






Awah trying not to look scared













Lee, annalise and hayden









Now Awah and Atiyah I'm sure you realise by now are two fun loving active girls.When they are tired of climbing they continued with cycling and roller blading around the park.







Atiyah can't wait to grow up and give it a try












Noreen giving a hand












Auntie Noreen catch me if I fall ke?













No sweetie pie, your not going to fall










I promised Bibee that I would send Nana back by 4 PM.In the end we went home late!
I was half expecting to be scolded later on that night when Bibee realised that Nana was full of scratches, small cuts and bruises from the climb today.
Luckily it did not happen.






Nana quite a brave girl













Oops...lost her footing. hanging loose








Last Sunday's climb was a blast. Puzi, who's house incidentally got burglarised and he was assaulted as he tried to fight off the burglars earlier in the morning came over and he set up the ropes for our most 'favoured' route known as 'monsoon'.






puzi with his black eye














The gang











Monsoon . The rope just to the left of the mouth cave







Now Monsoon is a 6A+ route at the Damai rocks and it is considered a bench mark for everyone.Its either you can do monsoon (meaning your up to the mark) or your still trying to conquer it.






The kid's auntie at monsoon








The kid's 'auntie' came along and on her second attempt at rock climbing managed to do Monsoon. I was totally impressed.







That's how high it is.
Your life is in your belayer's hands...literally















You actually trust me sweetie?







We met old friends there like Yan the old faithful ever the willing person to cheer people on. By the way, if there are routes that we can't figure out, he is always more than willing to help us out.





Yan









Noreen came along with Inci and Noreen is doing quite well belaying now. Good enough that perhaps next time I would let her belay me.
"Apple pie, you can handle my 50kg weight kan?"....
(I call her apple pie)






noreen and Julia tying in












Inci












Noreen...you need to look up








It was a pleasant surprise when someone spoke to me there. I met her before but I just could not put a date and place for it. She said she remembered me from previous races.
Don't you feel it embarrassing when this happens?






Syuhaida and Dee.
Hmm...doc ni tak ingat la ni...








It turned out I met Syuhaida at a race.
"We met at Perak Ironbound la Doc!"
He he... i must be getting old.
There is even a picture of her in my blog entry! I will give you 10 Ringgit if you can spot it.






Dee cannot take it ...Zzz Zzz








Anyway we all had a lot of fun there.

After the kid's auntie managed to climb Monsoon, everyone pestered me to do the same. I knew I was in for a hard time. If I fail, it was going to be a long week ahead listening to all the 'kutukan kutukan sinis' from auntie.
The last time I tried monsoon must have been a long long time back.
Now the route is quite long. The initial part is easy enough but you don't want to tire yourself before you get to the real challenge of monsoon which is the ledge nearing the top.
It's a 6 inches wide ledge where you have to traverse it sideways facing to the left with only a small finger hold on the right at your chest level. The finger hold is quite small and only allows 2 fingers snugly.
After you manage to traverse it slowly without tipping over, you need to reach up for the only hand hold there.
Basically its a nightmare route if your scared of heights because you have to turn your body outwards and face the ground while attempting the traverse.

Auntie, the kids and everyone else was eagerly waiting for my 'fall'

Very very relieved that it did not happen.
Otherwise auntie would have a fun time..




WORK: Teaching week

Hmm.. what can I say. Work was busy as usual.Let me think of what interesting things happened during the last 2 weeks.
I know there is this H1N1 thingy that's scaring the hell out of people.
So far we have had two of our patients being tested positive for it.I just hope that the virus will die out soon just like SARS that we had a few years back.






All covered up












Nik: Ala Mr H bukan pakai mask all the time pun!











Intan. Just back from maternity..













I saw this kid with burns.Now that Puasa and Raya is coming, kids will be playing with firewoks. We will see a lot more of this unfortunately








Two weeks back I had this foreigner who was working in the factory when three pieces of metal that he was handling broke off and got embedded in his neck.He was not in much of a bother but the foreign objects were situated very close to his voice box and wind pipe and we had to go in and search for it.
Raudha and I had a great time searching for the small pieces of metal and the CT scan really made our lives easier.
I let Raudha explore the neck and she found the foreign bodies. Well done girl!






Three small entry wounds















Only one long.. long exit wound!












Its tiny!








My department had organized a tracheostomy care workshop / course and I was in charge of organizing it. I must thank Nik for her hard work and effort in organizing the course. In fact the whole team had worked hard to make the course a success.
We had lectures and hands on demos for the participants. I had to give a lecture myself and as usual, I don't think I did a good job of it.






We had a good response














Practical hands on work with dummies











We had a lot of questions asked.
I think it means the participants are interested













Mazlan getting cheeky surrounded by all these girls










Group photo:
Hei..apasal keras sangat ni?













aha...that's better.
You were spoiling the picture la Mr H!










When I was on call with Kay, we had a lot of foreign bodies in the throat. It's amazing the stuff that can get stuck in the throat of people.
This time we had to do an esophagoscopy on a guy with a chicken bone stuck in his esophagus (food gullet).



I have removed a lot of stuff from the esophagus before, most popularly would be coins in children or bones or pieces of meat in adults. However two instances always brings a smile when i recall their stories.

Once I removed a piece of meat from an old auntie's esophagus. When i finally removed it and wanted to pass the piece of meat to the assisting nurse, she asked me what meat it was and I told her that it was pork meat. Perhaps out of disgust or unwillingness to handle the meat she freaked out and let go of the piece of meat! I tried to catch it and in the clumsiness and sleepiness of the mid night hour managed to land the pork meat smack on my lap.
For a few seconds nobody wanted to help me and I had the pleasure of removing the meat off me. By the way it did look quite tasty and I was hungry then
I had to 'samak' myself later on that day.


On another occasion, a guy came to us complaining of something stuck in his throat. He was in great distress but refused to tell us what it was. He said he wasn't sure what got stuck. The thing about him was that he was dressed smartly and was well groomed even at what must have been a distressing moment for him.His face was clean and hair was all kept smartly. Definitely a guy who puts moisturiser on his face.
His brother who came along was another good looking chap smartly dressed in tight fitting, body hugging clothes.
Boy, these two brothers must be fit fellas.

It was only later that I realised that they weren't brothers.
What I removed was not a piece of meat or chicken or fish bone.
It was made of rubber and very slimy.
It even had some whitish fluid in it!

Well, at least the 'brothers' were ......practicing 'safely' !


Warm Regards!

Doc.





The kid's auntie bought two sets of dinnerware for me.Martha Stewart's set. Cheap jugak

















This is a retention cyst.

















Injured his ear from sleeping!















We had this tumour on the ace near the salivary gland
First mark where you want to cut
















Then you cut..















Hmm...then you try not to nake a mess of it


















Then you hope you did a good job















These window cleaners outside my clinic reminds me to go climbing!














Kam

































Hmm...

A busy week. Bali

Hi everyone,
I hope you had a great week.
Mine was great. I took a break and went to Bali. The chronicle continues here.


Sunday, the 12th July was Port Dickson International Triathlon day and I had registered myself to do the olympic distance race. Unfortunately due to work late the night before the race,I was too tired to even contemplate driving to PD and do a race. As it was, I had a plane to catch later that day.


It was quite a last minute thing the Bali trip as it was my friends invitation to me to follow her there. I guess if you are following this blog that you would know by now that I can't write too much (in fact anything!) about her. My parents are fuming mad at me and so are the kid's mum. The only thing that I can confidently write is that my world now is filled with a lot of emotions right now. A lot of it I can't share in fearing that I would offend someone especially my mum. I can't even share the thousands of pictures of the person involved. It's a shame actually because my life at the moment is full of that person. The one individual making my life less gloomy than it was for the last one year.


Anyway in Bali, we went up Gunung Batur, one of the many volcanic mountains littering the Interior Bali landscape. Batur is not the highest mountain in Bali, that would be Gunung Agung but it is one of the more climb friendly mountain when compared to the others.
The last time Batur erupted was in 1963 but the mountain is still very much active.
We woke up at 2am and started the climb at 4am. Any reasonably fit individual could do it provided they are motivated. My climbing buddies were more than motivated for the climb.
Speaking of climb, the song The Climb by Mylie Cyrus is currently my favourite song at the moment.
He he...a little bit soft now I would think.


Anyway the whole idea of the climb was to catch the beautiful sunrise at the peak.
The view in short was breathtakingly stunning.










Viewing the sunrise



















Err..doc, tepi sikit can? Your spoiling the view

















My attempt at experimental photography



































Sunrise...0615hrs..
































Inside the crater


















Batur is still an active volcano
















Air was clean and it was cloudless that you can see the moon clearly.
















Our guide. Quite a quiet fella


















We went exploring the mountain after a short breakfast at the summit
















Hmm...I was just adding on to the fertility of the land


















Narrow ridges connects you to another valley and gulleys next to the mountain















The black bit is dried lava from 1963
















My favourite past time now....tersengih sengih






























After descending down we went to Ubud for lunch. Ubud is famous for its craft works and the town is nestled among terraced paddy fields.
We then went to Sukawati where the girls did their shopping.
You can go crazy there looking at all the cheap stuff there.
My friend bought me a lot of pictures for my house.









Near Ubud















Paintings galore..

















All that for 20000 rupiah. RM7











After a long day we finally arrived at our Villa in Seminyak. We chose Seminyak as it was a little bit more quiet than the busy Kuta area.
Our villa was lovely. The first night, the girls stayed in a one roomed villa which opened was connected to the pool.
Me and my partner stayed in another place where we had our own yard and jacuzzi. Quite nice.
On the second day, the girls got upgraded to a 2 bed room villa complete with its own swimming pool. You could imagine now that me and my partner would be spending most of our time in their villa rather than ours.










Really really novel idea. You could jump straight in

































Our villa had a jackfruit tree in the compund











On our second night there we went to Uluwatu to see the beautiful sunset there and also the famous Kecak and fire dance. I've seen it before but I am always amazed whenever I return to Uluwatu.








Pura Uluwatu is a temple complex and you have to cover your knees to enter.






















Stairs leading to the temple
















Right atop the cliff















Me, Noreen and Zatur


















Beautiful aint it?















The Kecak dance being solemnised by the temple priest.

































While the Kecak was in progress, I kept my eye on the setting sun
















After the show with the dancers and actresses














We all then had dinner at Jimbaran beach. The food is off course sea food but I can't really say that it can beat our sea food back home here in Malaysia








On the beach, there was this group of very talented musicians walking the beach singing to diners.
I was impressed with the percussion and joined them for our song request.
Mimpi yang sempurna by Peter Pan and another song by Samsons












alamak doc....menyibuk je kau ni!





























After a beautiful fun filled three days there, it was time to go home. Sigh.



The flight back home was delayed and I reached home at 2am. After tossing about in bed missing someone, I went to work early the next day and did my early morning run a little bit longer than usual. I tried to take my mind away from someone that I really missed by now.






Before I went to Bali I had put some old furniture in my clinic / office. Trying to make it less clinical and more comfy..


Err....doc, could you lose the pink curtain man?







I came back to work with a bang. Literally. A patient i operated last week came back for review and while I was cleaning his nose he bled profusely until I had to stop the bleed with a nasal pack and admitted him. The uncle was from Terengganu and came all the way to be operated by me and I had told him that it wont be a big surgery at all and he could go back home to Terengganu after today's planned visit.
In the end, I had to admit him and he had to stay longer in the hospital.








You are humbled everyday at work.










We also had many sick cases during my two days at work this week (Thursday and Friday)
There was off course the uncle whom I had thought would be a simple case but he bled and made me look...well, humbly humbled.

My old patient who had advanced Laryngeal cancer was admitted while I was away in Bali and his condition was bad. The tumour has gone to the neck vessels and at anytime the vessels could just give way and he won't be around anymore. Or he could get a stroke and become paralysed from it.
I've been looking after him for almost half a year now and at this point of time have met all his doting and caring family members.
It was hard telling them the poor outlook and the impending doom.









Smoking caused this











We also got a patient refered to us from a peripheral hospital. The lady was very sick. She had a large parotid tumour being investigated at her original hospital. She rapidly deteriorated after the tumour liquified and became an abscess into the deep part of the neck (parapharyngeal). She became sick and all the complications of sepsis came about. Things like blood pressure crashing, heart failing, kidneys malfuntioning, bleeding tendencies all over and much more.It was a losing battle. After a while what kept her alive was purely the ventilator.
Again I had the grim task of explaining to the family member on the gloomy outcome.
Twice in a day.
This was getting a little bit too much.


Later on in the day we had to drain out a very extensive neck abscess from a jovial and polite elderly man whom I immediately liked. He wasn't that sick to begin with but the impending airway compromise made it a little bit more urgent than usual.











A very different kind of abssces. On CT, there was a lot of gas.
















Raudha checking if the abscess has tracked forward from deep inside.

I gave the most commonly used lie used at work....."Tahan ye...sakit sikit je..."
















Hmm...we have to go in la Raudha











And went in we did. I was very grateful that the accompanying anaesthetists were all senior fellas like my good friend Rapi, Dr Yus and Dr Sri.
It was a nightmare for them to secure an adequate airway and I almost had to do an emergency tracheostomy there and then, which would probably be really messy and bloody indeed.

When we went in, it was just that: messy and bloody. After a long struggle to drain the extensive abscess and great difficulty in doing a tracheostomy we finally managed to secure everything in its place.
Raudha said that it was her hardest case so far.
Yes, it was a nightmare.








Rapi watching closely..
Man, that episode cut short a complete hour from my life!


















Dr Beh, always the cheerful and polite guy around.












Later that night I met up with my partner and friends and partied hard till the wee hours of the morning. I danced and drowned my sorrows away.











Rock climbing at Kampung Wira Damai Batu Caves














The next day was spent at Kampung Wira Damai Batu Caves to do another of my favourite pastime, rock climbing. We are so blessed to have many rock climbing sites with various grades of difficulty around us here in Malaysia all withing reach to be able for it to be done as a weekend activity.
Unlike in the French Pyraness or the Flinders range of Australia where you have to travel far to reach the rock, here in Damai you can literally drive up to the rock face.
Perhaps I will talk about rock climbing another time.


Warm regards!

Doc
























While I was getting ready, three BASE jumpers jumped off the cliff high above us!
Wow!
Parachuting is definitely next on my list of to do's

































We set up a tent there for Annalise.

It took her dad Lee, an automotive engineer and an ENT surgeon an hour to figure out how to set it up....















Lee and Annalise hanging around.
Kam came along too




















tickle tickle...

ha ha ha..

Lee brought his cousin Liam and friend Carlos along.




















Liam wanted to give lead climbing a try.





















After a few practices on ground level. off he went!


















I took my camera up and here is the view from the top


















































Just like triathlon, Rock climbing is a gadget filled sport.















Guess who can climb well?

Auntie, thanks for buying this lovely dress from Bali.
As usual, I forgot to buy the kids anything.













View at the top of BAtur



Kecak and fire dance





View that I got at a top pitch



Going down is slightly faster

Kl Marathon 09

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was spent at the KL Marathon 2009.

The chronicle continues here

On Saturday 27^th June, a day before the marathon, I received an SMS from Steve telling me that there was an extra running number with Azmar for the next day's marathon. I had just ran the Phuket Marathon 2 weeks earlier and had no intention of doing another marathon 2 weeks apart. I had planned earlier to run 10k with a friend of mine but as usual I was a little sloppy in getting things registered on time and we missed the date line for registration. We had planned to run it as pirates .

It didn’t take me more than a minute to make up my mind. Called up Azmar for lunch and the rest is history.

Azmar riding and escorting all our friends. Thanks bro!

Now people train for the marathon weeks or months in advance. I strongly discourage anyone to follow the Doc hisyam’s method of “making up your mind to run the marathon the day before the race and doing it kamikaze without any training way”running the marathon.

It was a truly impromptu decision on my part to run my 20^th marathon.(I think..I lost count)

I asked my friend if it was okay for me to run the marathon instead of doing the pirate 10k run and she said that its was ok. She decided to accompany me on the bike instead.

Sunday: Marathon day

Woke up at the obscenely early hour of the morning at 0300hrs. It was like being called to the hospital for an emergency. Met up with my friend at 4am and we reached Dataran Merdeka at 445am. It was drizzling a little but it did not hamper our spirits.

Laif:Sejuknya...shuldnt we be in bed doc?

Straight away posing with Azhar

Met up with a few of my friends there and before you know it , it was time to run. We were flagged off at 0500hrs. Immediately I was at last place. There must have been at least 2 to 3 thousand marathon runners there. It took me a full 2 minutes to actually cross the start line after the official gun went off. We were all tagged with our own timing chip embedded in the race number so my actual race time (chip time) was actually 2 minutes or more behind the race time (start gun time). I was told that in the New York marathon,it takes up to 20 minutes to get everyone crossing the start line.That is something that I want to experience.

Why can't everyone stay still?

Before I even reached the 1km marker, I met up with my old friend Azhar with his camera flashing away, his signature grin never leaving his face. In fact the face looks exactly how I last saw it during our last race together! I think it was Penang or could it be the KK marathon. Azhar is 47 and like me shares the fun approach to running the marathon. Just like me, his race was a 'touch and go' matter. It was also a very last minute thing with another friend Mohan arranging his transport and race number at the last minute.

Mohan 49yrs. 67th marathon

Hmm..I think I'l take the short guy..

We ran slowly (as if we could do otherwise) and we soon met up with familiar faces. There was Cikgu adnan who is 67, my hero, my idol, my running god. The Sahara desert marathoner who's running vest proclaiming that he had the guts and courage to run the race drew envious glances and awe among us runners.

I also met up with Haza, the running mom who's petite frame, small and steady no nonsense running demeanour is unique to her alone. I can spot her miles away.

Said hi and could sense that she was having fun blissfully doing what she loves. I can't be sure if she could remember me though.

breakfast tasted really bad

I met up with Budin my batch mate running his first marathon! And not far ahead was Bandit, also running his first marathon. Another of my classmate was also there, Kam. He was way ahead by this time.

Another of my classmate running the race was Nazril Idrus with his wife, but I think they were only doing the half marathon. Psst...did I say 'only'...?

With Dr Shah

I also met OP Fadzil 57 years old, Dr Shah, Laif completing his first marathon and many more people there.

Hmm...

Oh Hi doc!

The route this year was different from the years before. I think it was more flat this time around. After the start at Dataran Merdeka, we ran down passing Kl Sentral down to the train station and from there onwards to Loke Yew. From there it was off to Cheras near the badminton stadium before turning back to KL on to Jalan Tun Razak, KLCC and passing the Bukit Bintang area.

Really sweetie?

The race then winds back to Jalan Tun Razak passing the hospital, Kampung Baru rounding KLCC and the KL Tower again before heading to the Pudu raya area and Petaling street.

Jln Tun H S Lee.

My favourite pub on the left

Reggae bar...not open yet

In here, Bob Marley lives on..

Early morning business

The sight of Laif that I'm getting used to by now. He was quite fast for a first timer

Flea market nearby Petaling street. I was told its mostly stolen stuff

Some of the roads were just too busy

From there it was up towards Jalan Syed Putra passing the palace and running on to Jalan Duta before the monster climb up Persiaran Sultan Salahudin nearing lake gardens.

In front of the palace

Downhill boleh la lari doc

From there, even though the race finish line looked near, we actually had to turn away from it and ran up along Jalan TAR and actually ran aside Lorong Haji TAib! Talk about seeing the sights and sounds of KL! The 41km mark was actually there near the girls...er ladies...er guys..who's occupation is claimed to be the oldest in the world.

Near Pertama complex

Lorong HAji TAib

Business starts very early...

Azhar...psst..It's not over yet la

Another 1km? Huh..Piece of cake

As in any race, you see all types of people. There are the serious runners who will be doing their race in sub 4 hour mark. Some of these guys are quite unassuming type not showing any kind of boasting or being proud of their running capabilities just like my friend Soo who actually lives quite near my house in Subang! Even though our houses are only 2 kms apart, I have yet to meet him at home. The only place that I meet him would be at the races at far flung places like Penang or KK!

With Soo, my neighbour

As I mentioned, he is one of those unassuming fellas who can just leave you way back there.

Hey..nice vest

Alex. Nicer vest

Off course, you also meet the kiasu running type. Those who wear the tight fitting spandex with their logo and slogan filled t shirts. Some are genuinely fast, but most are just average joe's like me.

Doc, you sure you did 20 marathons with those skinny legs?

Yes Im sure...

But my deepest sense of respect would definitely go to the numerous uncles and aunties out there running in their god knows how many marathon, just simply smiling away and cheering us slow youngsters on.No fuss. No drama. Just run and complete the marathon.

This uncle's left leg is stronger!

This sweet lady ran almost alongside me and Azhar all along the race.

I was on my way home in the car. These chaps were still running. 6 km to go for them.

Uphill at Sultan Salahudin.

It was already 6 hours by now

Me, well lets just say that along with Azhar, Mohan and a few of the other crazy kaki's, we took it easy and had a blast!

Azhar forgot to shower in the morning

Pose habis

Azhar and Mohan at the finish line

Very patriotic.

Very pathetic

Here we have the world famous KL jam!

Almost there...cant stop and walk now!...pant pant..pant

Malu la kalau jalan !

Tears of joy...

Warm Regards

Doc

PS: Phuket 2 weeks ago was one of my fastest time. KL last Sunday was among my slowest...he he..must have been the weather.

PPS: Azhar and Mohan are off to the Gold Coast Marathon this weekend. Crazy buggers!

Alamak....now you know my secret..

All for this piece of metal?

BBQ later that night at Zabil's house

Puzi. 330 runner in his prime. Still beats the hell out of us younger guys

Phuket marathon

Hi everyone,

I hope you are in the best of health. Also hoping that your weekend was fun filled.

Mine definitely was. I spent last weekend in Phuket and yesterday went white water rafting.

The chronicle continues here.

It was the end of the 2 weeks long school holidays and I definitely needed some time off with the kids. I had planned this Phuket trip a long time back and the kids were all looking forward to it.

Off course the trip did not start off well enough as my wife had scolded me on the phone earlier once she realized that a group of my friends including my lady friend whom the kids by now were calling auntie was also coming along. The auntie also nearly missed out on her flight after leaving her passport at home!

The weather in Phuket was hot and sunny and the moment we reached there we went straight to the beach.

We stopped by at the famous Pathong bay beach and the kids immediately hit the beach.

After the Tsunami and the political unrest in the country, Phuket surely seemed a little bit deserted.

We drove on to Karon Bay Beach where we stayed. It was a lovely resort and the kids thoroughly enjoyed the place.

On the second day we went around some parts of the island and I went to Laguna beach where the Phuket Marathon will be held on the week Sunday. I got my race number and timing chip and wandered around the expo area.

The race area was well organized and you could feel that the organizers there were made up of running enthusiasts. I met a lot of Singaporean running friends, apparently there were 150 plus of them there. Not many Malaysian faces though.

We also visited the famous Phuket Fantasea at Kamala.

As you would probably know, the Fantasea is world famous for its show. It has a cultural village surrounding it where w went roaming about before and after the show. Inside, after our cameras, handphones and other recording devices were left outside we were feasted to a magical show, a cultural show, an amazing show with animals like elephants, tigers, bufalloes, birds etc. There were even high trapeze act there as well. The kids were mesmerized and so was I. Definitely worth another visit next time. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Phuket.

Another famous or rather infamous thing about Phuket is the night life. Pathong turns very lively after dark especially the notorious Bang La street where all the night clubs and bars are located.

We went out clubbing one night at Bang La street.

After 3am the pole dancers were all a little tired and I had to 'take over' on the poles for them.

Basically in this trip we did a lot of beach hopping and touring. We skipped the island hopping bit this time as Awah and atiyah seemed contended with the beaches and pools on offer.

Perhaps next time I will bring them to Phi Phi island or even Krabi.

Anyway, it was a wonderful trip all around.

The only problem was when we were headed home. That's later in the story.

On arrival,we passed trough a thermal scanner at the airport

















Everyone was H1N1 ready

















Awah doing her best to smile at the camera. I told her that her smile at the immigration should look exactly like her smile on her pasport, otherwise they won't allow her in the country...
















We immediately hit the beach at Pathong bay
















Pathong beach















We rented a car. Driving is quite safe in Phuket, except for the steep windy road coing into the Pathong bay area. Quite scary.
















View from our hotel. Karon bay beach



















Good old advertisement method.
Tuesday fight night. This guy fighting.
















Cheeeeze















My two models


















What greeted me every morning














At Promtep Cape. The souhtern most tip of the island















Awah
















Pose

















More pose














And more pose!















That's the actual tip of the cape













Group hug















Tickle tickle
















He he


















Ha ha















Kakak don't tickle me
















Pose lagi















Quite windy up there



































































Phew...glad to be back at the hotel















Atiyah...amile ady
















More smile!










Oh yes, I also ran the Marathon there. The Phuket marathon was held on the 14th June. Might as well run it when your on holiday there right?
The kid's 'auntie' followed me on a mountain bike and I was quite impressed with her for being able to cycle all the 42km. Very impressive considering that she has never biked that far before.











We passed trough some scenic beaches during the marathon














Baru 16k dah nak mati?


















Dude! Its a Marathon! Not a walkathon
















What a beautful sign!














Nearing he finishing line















Plenty of water now
















I must say one of the most scenic marathon routes that I have ever ran in
















On the dark desert highway..cool breeze in my hair...

Eagles 1975
















When the sun came up, it came out really good































Passed some nice forest
















The loneliness of the long distance runner

Iron maiden 1985


































Passed some beautiful temples on the way

















At the finishing line



















Yeah......
My fastest time for quite some time now
















Medal looks lovely too
































With the girls we decided to have a look at the sun set atop Karon viewing point at Kata beach











We arrived just in time before sun set
















Sun setting















Kakak got the best shot as always
















Kids












We also went to the Dino park at Kata where there was a miniature golf set at a dinosaur park. In the end, we were more keen to keep our golf balls from going missing rather than enjoying the dinosaurs there.







Kakak not scared at all















Group hug
















Ady, that's the biggest poo I have ever seen!
















Atiyah not scared ady











Here are some pictures outside of the Phuket Fantasea. Cameras weren't allowed in, so I can't show you how magnificent the show was.Sigh

























Reception area

















The village outside
































Outside the main hall















Munch munch










More views of the beaches

























My friend came along. The kids loved her and so did she with them.


































From the kid's balcony














Ordering food can be tricky, not all are halal food here.


















On Kamala bay overlooking Pathong bay















After 3am, the pole dancers and strippers needed a little help.....



















































swim till you turn blue

















































































Pathong beach

































Kids never missing the beach

















Fantasea Phuket
















Outside the palace










As of any holiday, the end always comes too soon. After 5 days of fun filled activities, it was time to go back.
The only problem was that our flight was canceled for no apparent reason and I had to ask my ex wife who was kind enough to buy us all another set of flight tickets later that night.
The incoming flight was also delayed by an hour due to bad weather
In the end we had to spend 7 hours at the airport.
Our 5 day holiday was stretched to the 6th day.




Met my junior in RMC. This is OP 'Ayun' C compny 89 -93 with his mrs.
Ayun and 3 of his buddies were there in Phuket for a holiday with their partners.
Others were OP Mantat(razman C company),
OP Jabir (Meor F company) and Ikang (Ramzul G company)
Apparently last year they all went up Mt Kinabalu together.
I was quite impressed with their batch's activities.














Met a Polish guy en route home. Alas, I misplaced his name somewhere. We had a long chat. Nice dude actually















The girls gave their balloons to this middle eastern girl.
















How to waste 7 hours at the airport..You run around...


















and you run some more















and you run some more















So that you can enjoy the flight back home.












Our adventure did not end there.
After arriving back in KL at 2am of the next day instead of at 6pm the day before we were stopped at the H1N1 screening counter. Atiyah who prior to Phuket had just recovered from a flu was having a high temperature of 39 degrees. She was having another of her bout of viral infection. Such a lovely girl she is that she never complains when she is unwell.







Thermal screening at KLIA



















Atiyah's scan turned 'hot'















Luckily the nurse there recognized me! They were from my hospital! Firdaus from my ward and Aini from AE dept
















Atiyah's throat was examined by the attending doctor
















All scrubbed up like biological warfare.














Say 'ahh' again sweetie
















Throat swab ready















Ahh...
Atiyah remained calm and relaxed all along...

















Till the very end.....!


















Awah happy that she wasn't the one being checked upon














While we were being held back, the kid's mum were anxiously waiting outside.
Scolded me for not giving Atiyah's paracetamol on time.


































After wiggling my way out and promising to isolate Atiyah pending her throat swab test, we managed to go home at 4am!
Atiyah missed school the whole week.
At least we did not have another holiday in the isolation ward of Sungai Buloh hospital!

















The following morning, after reaching home at 5am, I went to work groggy at 8am and it was back to business as usual. Assisted Ms Subha and Muhamad for surgery today.








This kid had a bad complication from his sinusitis
Raudha wondering what to do.















Another abscess!
















Hmm...Mr H, you look groggy today...A long night?











The following weekend, I went white water rafting at Kampar river. Woke up early to reach the start point. The journey in was beautiful by it self.
Met some of my friend's classmates there. Also met 3 Singaporean families consisting of Kak Kamaliah from Bedok and kak Sadiah , a Singaporean working as a intesive care nurse in Maryland USA.
I'm afraid I don't have the action pictures as my camera was not water resistent. I will load them up if I can get them.

Warm Regards!

Doc











Plenty of Durian trees

















Kampar Perak
















Some of our raft buddies, Zatur, Shima, Noreen and Inci















Lunch was deliciuous














Kak kamaliah and co














Pose after the rafting














I tried my hands on close up shots
















Tak jadi kan?














Inci and Noreen

















Nice huts they have there













The whole gang