Saturday, April 30, 2005

Checkin' My Vital Signs---Fun!

Right, I forgot to mention something that happened on the last day I volunteered at PAH. The nurse in charge taught me and Lydia how to get a patient's vital signs--that is---> Blood pressure, Pulse and Temperature.. She said that she might needs us to help if a really emergency case comes in.. Like we could help them get the vital signs of the patient..

Ooo.. To measure the first two, a machine kind of like a squarish box on a stand is used. The nurse demonstrated how to use it by putting it on Lydia's arm.. A flap-like thing is wrapped around her arm and you gotta push certain buttons on the box-like machine. Then, the flap tightens up and the second number (on the box) shows you how much pressure is exerted on one's arm..

We tried it out ourselves and it was pretty funny--I think I must have laughed too much so the machine couldn't measure my pulse or blood pressure (BP) properly the first time, causing it to tighten a lot--normally, the machine exerts around 180, that time, it exerts about 299 on my arm.. My arm felt like it was going to break.. The blood even stopped flowing down the lower part of my arm!! When the flap finally loosened, I can even feel a hot rush of blood rushing down my arm!! Seriously!! OMG!!

Anyway, my blood pressure was 114/89 and my pulse was 94.. The first numbers b4 the stroke is my *systolic pressure while the numbers after the stroke is my **diastolic pressure.. My dad says that my BP numbers are okay..but my ***pulse was a bit high--he said it could be due to my crazy laughing that caused it to shoot up.. so I guess it's ok, I hope. :P Well, I could try cutting down on those oily foodstuff I guess.. *Shrugs*

Right, and we used a ear thingy shaped like a green fat pen to measure our body temperature... nothing special abt that, except we didn't know how deep to put it into someone's ear... Gotta be careful.. Hehe.

That's all for now... until the next post, cya!!

* Systolic pressure is the pressure of the blood when the heart is pumping blood into the aorta.

** Diastolic pressure is the pressure of the blood when the heart is resting and the blood is juz flowing thru the blood vessels..

*** Pulse is kind of a measure of the heart rate..heart beat. Same thing, I guess.

Friday, April 29, 2005

Cut! And...It's A Wrap!!

Well, today's the last day (officially la) for my volunteering at PAH... Actually, I was hoping that maybe in the near future that I may come back to volunteer again but I guess I juz dun have the time... Hopefully I will come after my Finals--scary now that I mentioned it...hehe...

OK, anything interesting happened today? Let me see... Hmmm... The head volunteer wanted to give us 3 marketing today but I asked her if it was ok if I go to ER again since I've been there yesterday and it will be easier for them too.. Besides, there's slightly more action at ER anyway...!!

Lydia also asked to be in ER so there were 2 volunteers there today... Yokekei went back to Surgical 2... The others din turned up, wondered where they've gone... Maybe it was too tiring for them--understatement of the year--I got very sore feet--> I think I got to exercise more..! :P

After running around the hosp for three days, I got to know the layout of the hosp pretty well now--see, I know where the Lab, X-Ray, Pharmacy, Wards, Heart & Vascular Center, Counters and of coz the ER are... Pretty good coz the corridors are pretty confusing, and there were so many lifts... As a bonus I din ask anyone where any place was! I juz learnt thru the General Tour given--not bad considering I'm lousy at directions...hehe... :P

Ok, today there was a little girl sent in with a gash below her chin--bleeding slightly... The Doc in charge was pretty nice, she asked me & lydia to help with the pillows and surgical light & stuff, so we got to see it... First, the doc (female) used this cottonball thingy (that we used to dig our ears with) to kind off pat her flesh back into da wound--the little girl was quite brave although she was squirming in pain--then the nurse put dis purple liquid in da wound as a disinfectant (most probably KMnO4) before bandaging it up... The little girl was juz accompanied by her kindergarden teacher, she said parents are to buzy to see minor injuries on their children--a trip to the ER is considered minor! Wow, such relaxed parents!! Juz great! -_-

And as a plus, we got to see how an endoscopy was done too... It's done using this long black tube dat was quite thick, considering dat it is going to be put into da patient's throat so dat the doc can get a view of da internal organs & stuff... Dr.Murli was quite nice, he even intro to us what a endoscope is..of coz it was brief but I think it was nice of him coz I've met sum docs who won't talk at all even when they're free...

He did this endoscopy on this man but it was quite difficult to get it into his stomach becoz the patient won't swallow properly!! As you know, we hav 2 openings from our mouth--esophagos and trakea--and the doc needed the patient to swallow for the endoscope to go into the right opening... And I think he did that like abt at least 10 times!!!

Finally, it was in! And they saw an ulcer in da stomach thru da screen... The nurse then put dis silvery longish thingy and pulled a sample of the ulcer out for further examination... The nurse was so damn fast that we din really see the whole procedure!! Wow! Her aiming was pretty good too!! And the part wif the ulcer was kinda bleeding after they pinched the sample out...and when they took the endoscope out, it was bloody coz when it moved to the wrong places, it might puncture the internal parts a bit...eww.. Thankfully, da thing managed to go in after God knows how many times.. Pity da old man too. He was in a lot of pain, I think.

Btw, I juz gotta comment on the kind of music they play in the endoscopy room... Super mainstream, man...! Let me see... They played:- J-LO 'Get Right!', LP "Numb', K.Clarkson 'Since U Been Gone' and even Simple Plan 'Perfect'~!!!! I mean this hosp is cool, man! Juz damn cool!! Of coz they didn't put it on full blast la, juz a tiny hum but you can still hear the songs...

I think that's all for now... Can't really think off what to mention now... Aikz. Will insert anything interesting if I rmb lo... Ok? Bye!

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Take Two at Voluntering!

Today is my 2nd day as a volunteer at the Penang Adventist Hosp (PAH). Let's juz say it was one hell of a trip! Damn interesting and quite educational too!! (Pls excuse my language..hehe.)

Guess which department I was sent to dis time? The Emergency Room a.k.a. ER!!! Cool, isn't it? My frenz were given diff departments---> Yokekei got Pharmacy (morning) & Surgical 2 (afternoon), Lydia got Physiotherapy, Chiahui got Surgical 2 and Chiapei got to follow 1 of da doctors around (Lucky her, coz her mum knew the doc personally..) My dad knew one of da cardiologists but he said I wouldn't be able to help or learn much following him around . And he was right.

Today, I learnt quite a lot of stuff. Mostly the things I had to do was routine--wheeling patients to the X-ray room (whoa, some were quite heavy!), sent samples to their respective places and help around the nurses.

At first, I took a look around da ER and the equipment there was quite fancy and high-tech! Wow! I also took note of how they kept their medicines. Some were juz kept on normal cabinets, while some were kept in da refrigerators and a few were kept in locked drawers coz those are controlled drugs (eg. Morphine, heroin..)

At the ER, I oso got to interact with patients. There was a lady who was an uncontrolled diabetic and oso blind, there were all these wounds on her limbs.. Didya know dat any wounds on a diabetic are very diff to heal? I think it's due to the high blood sugar conc. or sumthing.

But da most interesting case was dis elderly man with high fever. (Ppl with high fever tend to become confused and boy, was he confused!) When the nurse wanted to take his body temp. with dis ear equipment thingy, he was struggling to get free, insisting it was painful when the nurse had assured us that it was a painless procedure. So, I have to help to hold him still. Then, the nurse had to take his blood sample. Fearing that he'd fight us, she had to call in an attendant to help us. So wif 2 ppl (me and the attendant) holding him, she tried her best to take his blood wif his flailing around, struggling to break free--which he can't coz she had tied him to the bed with a piece of cloth that was attached to his bed sheet.

However, at the end, she accidentally knocked over an empty test tube, which cause her having to ask for a new one. During dat time, the poor old man's blood was still dripping away, non-stop!!! Onto da bed trail, onto the floor!! In splotches of bright red blood! (And I didn't faint! Thk God! That'd have been wayyy embarassing!! I guess I gave myself less credit for how "tough" I am..lol..) I guess I saw RED, not figurately, but more like literally.. lol. Finally, the blood-taking procedure was over and she left a *braunula sticking in his arm.

Then she gave him an antibiotic injection thru the braunula, instructing me dat the injection must be given slowly, to avoid bulging building up in his veins. Ooo, interesting, rite? Pretty educational lo.. (PS: I oso got to darn up surgical gloves--powdered, to avoid them sticking to hands--Isn't it SO COOL? It felt so great! It was stained with blood and dirt after dis case. She instructed to throw all bloody stuff into the red bin and general waste into blue bin.. *Colour coding*)

An earlier encounter in da morning was a man whom was very possibly infected with the HIV virus. Me and my fren weren't allowed in coz they dun wan to expose us unnecessarily to it. If he had open wounds (which he definitely had, I think) and we also had open wounds, then we might get infected too… # Scary #

I guess dat's all for now... This is getting pretty long liao... If I think of sumthing new, I will share it in a new post lo... Ciao!

* Braunula is a device stuck into a patient's vein and kept there so if there are any further injections needed, it can be done thru the braunula without poking more holes into the patient...

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Life's Little Ironies! Aikz...

I alwiz think that sometimes Life is just a tad too ironic for me... You don't what I mean? Well, let's start with examples so you will understand (like in a classroom).

Kids in Malaysia just don't get it... The well-off pampered ones, I mean. I heard from my sister the antics of some of her classmates and I tell you if I meet those children, they'll will be getting 5 dollars from moi a.k.a. a tight slap that they richly deserved. One wanted her grandparents to open the car door for her (I'll understand if it's her driver, but come one, this are your grandparents!!! For heaven's sake!!)

And another one scolded the headmistress--when I say scold, I really mean spit-in-your-face kinda of scold, ok?) And when she was reprimanded (rightly in this case) by the headmistress, she asked her grandparents to come and argue with the headmistress... She even have bodyguards ready-at-hand if anything goes awry... Crazy shit! I know that headmistress isn't the kindest person in the world, but still you could show some respect for an elder and your headmistress, girl!! The little brat! I wonder what the world will come too if families are churning out such kind of brats... They're not the only ones... The stories told to me by by my younger sister are so numerous--that I won't bother you with all if them--don't really wanna rmb too... Some are juz plain riduculous!!

Imagine one day if they become bankrupt.. (Cheerz!) What will become of them? I really dunno wanna know... Most probably they will be thrown onto the streets and stoned for being garbage to society!! Good Riddance and Bad Rubbish!

Right, I think I have veered a little off my original topic... If you compare them with some little poor kids from wherever--those kids who really really want to go to sch but was denied the priviledge--and with these pathetic spoiled brats who dunno wanna go to sch and their parents let them! That's why I said life is ironic... Too bad. I really dunno what's the world coming too sometimes... Shit! Damnit! Maybe that's why they're doing all those Armagoddon shows, to show us---> that if ppl like them dpn't mend their ways, this is what is waiting for planet Earth. Sigh.

I juz hope that parents nowadays will know the right way to nurture their children--even if you're filthy rich doens't mean you should protect your child until you are destroying their conscience... I'll juz say *Peace to all*

Aikz... Ironic isn't it, life?

Monday, April 25, 2005

Ooo..Volunteer Work Ain't Easy..

Well, today was quite an experience... Right, I'm getting ahead of myself. :P

Today was the 1st day I went to volunteer my (apparently valuable, according to Becky, one of the long-time volunteers there) services at the Penang Adventist Hosp a.k.a. PAH. I was given the surgical ward even though that wasn't exactly my choice but altogether, it was the better one in regard to what my frenz were given.. One of my frenz got bakery when her 1st choice was pharmacy... Really! Like learning how to chop bread or package bread will expose her to what a pharmacist's job is really like...lol.

I think mine was ok (but I think you can safely say it was Boring.) That's why I felt sleepy during the afternoon coz not that busy during dat time... Ever heard of ppl volunteering until they almost fall asleep? HA!

Still, I got really aching legs to show for my work...!! What do you think? I was made to run up and down god knows how many times to search for medication, sent files/X-Rays and even people's urine and blood samples... Hmmm.. How's that for a job, huh? Non-paid one too..

But I ain't complaining coz I think it was ok---> Hey, I mean, I did learnt some stuff! Err.. Like how do the nurses work, their system (juz the gist of it, coz when you sit at da counter for hours end, you kinda learn something abt their system..lol.)

And I was like the only one given the whole real tour of all the wards (the others were juz given a simplfied tour by Becky) coz da nurses in my assigned ward were rather nice... Linda, the Head of Surgical Ward to ask one of the younger nurses to take me around. Her name was Evelynn and she was also from my sch---my senior---and she said that I looked familiar. I was even taken to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit for those not in the know) where I saw these really fancy equipment...

Wow! And I was also taken to the Obestrics where the mothers-to-be are taken to become mothers (haha...you get what I mean!) And didya know that babies are placed in a room filled with UV light that is supposed to help them fend off a disease (sorry, can't rmb the name of yjr disease)?? Actually, you can avoid the disease by exposing the little babies to sunlight but you can't hang those little fragile ones out to dry on clothes line, rite? lol. The poor little ones will get so dehydrated!! haha...

Well, all things said, I think that that my voluntering there wasn't a complete waste of time (although there are definitely better ways of killing time) as it was quite educational--> I kinda know how a hospital functions now!

And hey! It IS for a good cause, you know! Guess what? I'm thinking of doing more voluntering there, maybe on weekends I guess--I assure you that I will be totally exhausted coz I have to manage my studies too! But what can I say? I'm an angel without wings.. Juz kidding.. Haha.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Story of A Lazy Bum..Me!

OK, OK, I admit it!! I'm kinda lazy sometimes. That's why I've been posting stupid stuff here -- e.g: lyrics of songs, poems (hey, I wrote those!), jokes and dunno what else. Hehe. Heck, I sometimes juz can't find the energy to write about anything that is happening in my life (not much happening currently. It's semester break...) or any insightful insights (what sort of phrase is that?!) that I sometimes get (rather rare though..)

Well, so what should I write abput? I really dunno. Brain drain--writer's block...blablabla.

Maybe about friendships? I admit I'm someone who takes friendships very seriously.. I personally think that if I'm without friends for one day, I will die---I don't mean that I must alwiz be surrounded by frenz--what I mean is that if I wake up someday without any real frenz, I will really die of friendlessness... (Is there such a disease? Hope not..)

So I think that one should alwiz choose one's frenz carefully... That's why I alwiz have to assess a new person to see whether that someone harbours any evil intentions towards me or whoever--Well, once bitten, twice shy and all that, get it?? But I dun wanna go into that.. Best for it to be forgotten and all... Bury the past and the hatchet, Yeah!!

Today's kinda boring day... Didn't do much except for surfing the net, watching movies, get scolded by mum about doing too much of those things and blah blah blah... Hey, cut me some slack! I juz finished my mid-years, ok?? I missed out on those fun things for some time, and I'm juz trying to fill it up... Non-stop fun for a week! Here I go!

School's out! Let the monkeys out! Well, I'm don't really wanna be refered to a monkey even though I do believe that humans a.k.a. homo sapiens, evolved from them... LOL!

Well, let's see... I, err...went to Popular last week... Man, it was scary! They're having this discount book sales and there were so many ppl there buying books like that is no tomorrow. Actually, I think I shld be glad that Malaysians are reading more... I actually don't believe it that someone can read only like TWO pages a YEAR??!! *Incredulous tone*

Now, that's what I call scary!! I mean I'm an avid reader--plead guilty--but I can read like a tiny simple book in two hours straight... No kidding... Avid readers like me will certainly agree...

Right?? Echo: RIGHT!

Ok, I think this post is a lousy one coz my thoughts are running around without a fixed direction... Well, hey, I'm juz taking the brain guy's advice--he gave us a talk abt how to use your brain--our minds are like this spider web thingy that do a 360 degrees spin whenever we're thinking... Whatever... It was kinda boring, that talk actually.

Well, not much web spinning/thinking to do liao... Gotta go! Ciao~

Thursday, April 07, 2005

The "Curse" Of The Music Room ~ Scary..

It's official!! I'm addicted to drumming!! I just started learning it from a fren this monday and I've been going to da music room everyday during every of my free periods...which considering, there are many free periods dis week (due to no eng class)... I'm in a dilemma here coz the exams are coming up and I haven't started studying--Shit!--and I shouldn't be "wasting" my time jamming it up in the music room... OMG!

But drumming is so fun!! I totally LOVE it! It's my fav music instrument even though I can play the piano--rather lousy at it--Haha--You can feel the rhythm in your veins when you start drumming...which is juz plain wonderful! This has caused me to be late for my bio class today, so I had to go to a later one--which is bad coz my frenz weren't in it and i wasn't really clear about what the teacher was teaching--RNA or DNA?? Whatever...

I'm not very good at drumming at first...but managed to catch up after constant practice...which means no time spent studying-- Damn. I really dunno what to do... I really don't think I should neglect my studies like this but... I HAVE been feelling a lot more cheery and happy this whole week due to dis drumming addiction I seem to have here... I think it really lightens up my mood--which wasn't all dat good last few weeks... *Happy smile* :P

Anyway, it is also kinda like my crossover from a boring nerd (that's wat my fren say we are but I absolutely refused to believe it!! It's not true!!) to a 'cool' drummer... I'm also sad to say that I've been neglecting my frenz this whole week--except Lydia who has also gotten the "Curse" of the music room--her instrument of choice is diff every week--currently the electrical guitar, which i think is rather hard.. Will get stiff fingers after playing...

What I don't understand is that my fren doesn't seem to enjoy drumming and has absolutely refused to even try it! Well, to each of her own, I guess... But Drumming IS fun! Total Fun!

And this really cool girl who is a gifted musician--dunno her name--says that me and my frenz have been 'cursed' with da "Curse" of the music room when we were enjoying ourselves too much to leave for class--making us to late for it--Therefore, having to go for the later one. Arggh! I think what she said have some truth in it but it's not a curse la.

It's kinda like I'm rediscovering another part of my life again... I used to shun the piano but now I'm playing it everyday at home-- Miracles of Miracles! I think that music will alwiz remain a big part of my life--It alwiz has been but only in songs from other ppl--but now I'm making my own music--which is a lot more fun!

No Music~~No Life! Yay!! This is the only way to go!!

Friday, April 01, 2005

Poem ---> Ice Queen?

People say I'm proud
cold and haughty.
They even call me their resident Ice Queen!
But they don't really know me.
The real me ain't what it seems
on the hard shiny surface.

I live for the warm sun
in bright colourful summer.
I love laughing, smiling
and telling jokes off my head.
But I can't do that
every single moment of the day.

They would no sonner
send me to the local asylum
and put me into a straitjacket.
Even so, I feel cooped up.
Unfree.
Unable to unleash my true self.
Please don't punish me
for not wearing my heart on my sleeve.

People once mocked me by saying,
If looks could kill,
I would be serving time in jail.
Yeah, as a first degree murderess.
Now, that's what I call harsh.

Give me the benefit of doubt.
Give me a chance to free myself.
Maybe it's time
to stop hiding
and really start living.
We only got one life
to make it worth our while.

So, start smiling.
Be positive and stop worrying.
Dark winter would be chased away
by mighty warm summer.
Even for an Ice Queen,
Hope springs eternal.


"Deep in thought"
That's me. The Ice Queen.
Yeah, right! Gimme a break...
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