Slow Learner is NOT Stupid

Today when i was in the paediatric clinic, suddenly there were 5 children brought in, referred for "learning difficulty", and to see whether there's need to send them to special schools. Kids were brought by their headmaster, and according to him, these are the "problematic learners" in class.

One of the kids was seen by me, a 11 year-old boy, who's picked by his headmaster because he always ranked the last in class. I spent long time chatting with him, and really surprisingly, I found that there's absolutely nothing wrong with him. He speaks at acceptable speed, a little bit shy, but with good eye contacts. I tested him on maths, vocab and comprehension, with increasing level of difficulty, he did fairly well, and in fact he seems so motivated with my encouragement. He admitted to me that he's merely lack of interest in studying, but instead, he loves sports and he's got gold medal in school sport games.

But apparently his headmaster failed to appreciate it.
After the long conversation, i wonder how sad it is if this, a perfectly mentally well child, is to be labelled "problematic kid" and what's worse, need to be sent for medical assessment?

They're just slow learners, does not mean they're stupid in anyway. A good result in school does NOT guarantee a successful future, but parents/teachers just always fail to appreciate this fact. A child that ain't like to study, might have great potential in other fields!
Let me share some true stories, few years after graduated from high school, i saw my friend's name on the paper. He used to be the top student in class, but that news was about "10,000 uni graduates are currently jobless in the country". On the other hand, i heard from my friend that, two of the students (the so-called problematic ones who're always deemed hopeless by all teachers), one is now a financial consultant in US Wall Streets; one is a well-known artiste who's featured in TIME magazine sometimes ago.

And these are just some of the many, many examples.
Remember, people can look at you in anyway they like, but how you look at yourself always matters the most!

Magic for Romance

Ever thought of making your dating magical?
Imagine: You take a piece of tissue paper and make it into rose shape..you let go your hand and it FLOATS in the air..you elegantly take out a lighter and burn it..it turns into a real rose! Tell me, will the girl not fall for you immediately?=)
David Copperfield did the trick many years ago..and it still seems so magical and romantic.


Perfect. I'll fall for him..i mean if I were the girl la.

Then recently Cyril also did some Valentine's magic..


Soo sWEET isnt' it?=)

Doctor & Patient

Case 1
A doc is seeing one patient in clinic who seems upset.
Dr: "How can I help you?"
Pt: "Sigh..i accidentally drank a whole bottle of petroleum this morning..am i going to die?"
Dr: "Not really..well you just have to avoid smoking for these few days.."

Case 2
A patient in psychiatric ward is singing on his bed.
At first, he sings lying down with his back on the bed. And sings and sings and sings........ Then later, he changes his position with his face down.
The doc finally asks him why he turns and sings with his face down.
He says:"Side A finished already mah, now playing Side B lor."

New Syndrome?

I remember during my med student time, my friend Steve and I was talking about can "no money" be considered an "illness". We went on elaborating it and found it kinda interesting. Imagine in the future medical textbook you see someting like this:

Chap XX: Hypo-money-ism

Defined as deficiency of money, a highly essential element in life.

Prevalance is believed to be high and the course of disease is fairly unpredictable.

Etiology and Pathophysiology
The etiology is numerous and could be multifactorial, but reduced input or increased output is usually the cause.

Signs and Symptoms
Increased level of anxiety, intermittent restlessness, transient drop in self-esteem, disturbances in sleep/appetite. The more severe one can be anhedonia (loss of interest), impaired psychosocial functioning and bouts of major depressive episodes.

Subtypes
1. Acute exacerbation of the illness
- Commonly seen in patients already with chronic underlying hypo-money-ism. Usually a sudden social event is the precipitating factor.

2. A-money-mic Crisis
- The most dangerous form of the illness, when the level of money drops to nil or even negative. Urgent treatment is necessary to prevent long-term complications.

Management
Rx is straightforward. Intra-wallet replacement of the element will result in rapid resolution of the symptoms and prompt recovery is expected. The outcome is generally well with usually no residual symptoms, and even the severe depression can be reversed with adequate treatment. No cases of overdose being reported. Studies have shown that some patients even will have certain degrees of amnesia of the previous suffering.

Prognosis
Recurrence is likely, and some patients will go into "frequent relapse", which can be difficult to treat. No effective preventive method reported. Patient education can play a role but its efficacy remains controversial.

The Wonder of Magic

I've met a lot of people asking me, "Why did you want to learn magic?" "Is it for fame, money, or just feel like performing?" Till now i'd still take some times to think about the answer. When I first learnt magic, it was purely out of sheer interest. Since I was small, magic has always been a fanciful art to me, an art that is so unique and enthralling, and piques my interest and curiosity to search for its deeper meaning, and the secrets behind its mystical façade. The further i go, the more i understand that magic undeniably comprises broad, profound and wonderful knowledge.

Magic has definitely changed my life, and to a person that i never thought i could be. And nothing can be better than seeing people so entertained..magic brings happiness, and that's something i always believe.

Brings laughter to everyone,

no border of ages,

no border of languages,

brings an intangible feeling of amazement,

And get to know many friends and performers.

This is truly the magic of, magic.

New Blood in Work

As I always say, time flies. Seeing the new batches of housemen coming in, I realized i'm getting more senior in the service. Some changes in roles that now it's my turn to guide them, like how i was guided in the very beginning. I still can remember how lost i was when first started working, somemore in medical the busiest place. But fortunately i met a lot of nice seniors who're willing to guide me, really appreciate that.
The system goes very simple, every case that you see, must be shown to a senior. But these are what i saw sometimes when i check:

Case 1:
Case of NSAIDs-induced acute renal failure, also with history of lumbar spondylosis. Currently complain of back pain.
Plan: IM Voltaren 75mg TDS (do they know what's NSAIDs?)

Case 2:
Case of Thalassemia major, requires regular blood transfusion. Currently anemic.
Plan: Double hematinics (do they know hematinics include ferrous? Wanna double the iron overload isit?)

Case 3 (best one):
Case of congestive heart failure on frusemide. Noted hypoK of 2.5 mmol/L.
Plan: To advise the patient to eat more bananas. (TRUE STORY)

.....i was speechless when i saw the last one. Really dunno whether to cry or laugh.
But certainly, everyone grows from mistakes..which is a very normal learning process!=)

And don't get worried, as all the plans were checked before carried out, so it didn't happen to the patients of corz=)

The Funniest Lyrics I've Ever Seen

If you can read chinese, pls enjoy the following MTV.
Warning: It's really, really funny. Beware of abdominal muscle cramps caused by excessive laughing. Hehe.

How Beijing Olympic Logo Created

Came across this on net..what a hilarious comic pictures..really wonder who thought of this!..=)

6th Malaysian Colorectal Conference

It was my great pleasure of being invited by Dr Paul, head of surgical department Hosp Seremban, to perform in the 6th Malaysian Colorectal Conference, taken place in Shangri-La Hotel KL on 7th-8th March 08. This conference is organized by MSCRS, and it was really a very successful one, and very informative with symposia, plenary and video sessions given by renowned international and local speakers, and the posters presentation prepared by multinational participants.

This is the hall where the talks take place. Something to point out is, as this conference was held on the same day with the election, the chairman of the organising committee gave an amusing opening ceremony speech, "When we planned for this conference, we did not anticipate the election will be on 8th Mar. But don't worry, M'sia is a democratic country, no one will be shot for not voting, as least so far no one yet. So on tmr, all the doors including backdoors of this hall will be locked from 8am to 5pm, and no one is allowed to leave until the conference ends. So, pls enjoy the conference!" =)

The "How I do it" video sessions of the symposia is particularly interesting. Renowned surgeons will share their techniques of operating, the above is Dr Paul showing his way of doing laparoscopic right hemicolectomy.

The ballroom for the annual dinner, where the guests will also be presented the culture dance and my magic performance. I like the way Dr Mano, emcee of the dinner introduced me, "Dr Darren Lee is a medical officer from Hosp Taiping surgical dept, but at the same time he's a magician!..I hope he'll like colorectal surgery, and join us in the future and teach us how to use magic to manage complex surgical wounds!" =)

The first VIP table that I started of with. A big thanks to Leung, a researcher from Hong Kong that i met there, who helped me so much in taking the pictures.

Performing to Prof Graeme Duthie, from Castle Hill hospital England. The gentleman (first right) is Dr Mohamed A.Qureshi, the current president of M'sian Society of Colorectal Surgeons.

Performing to Prof Yunus Gul (committee chairman) and Dr Paul. Glad that they were much entertained!

Had great pleasure to meet Prof Ronan O'Connell, a consultant colorectal surgeon from Ireland, as well as one of the editors of British Journal of Surgery (BJS).

With Dr Paul, head of surgial dept Hosp Seremban, on the 2nd day of conference. Really appreciate him for inviting me for the performance.

This is definitely an enriching and rewarding experience, academically as well as socially as it was such a wonderful opportunity to get to know many new friends/colleagues in this field. Hope i'll see them again in the next year conference!=)

FEEL 100%

(The above pic is copyrighted by culturecom)

Finally, one of my biggest wishes came true. I'm not really a comic-fans but FEEL 100% is a HK comic series that i've been collecting for many many years.

Believe it or not, the first vol of the series was published in year 1992, when i was only standard 4. The subsequent volumes were published at the speed of 1 vol/year without fail, and hence these 16 vols have taken a period of, 16 years. I have been following until the last vol, which i had so much difficulty in finding it (the comic shop that i used to go was closed down, and so many others that i went told me that they are no longer ordering this series), i once thought that i was never gonna complete my collection. Till i came to one comic shop in Taiping and the shop lady promised to help me, after a long waiting of about 6 months, i finally got the last vol, the vol 16.

The two posters that I collected. The story is mainly revolved around a few characters, Hui Lok, Jerry, Cherie and Jackie.

This is it, my 16 years of collection came to a completion. I'm just feeling soo lucky to have made it!=)