You Got Rupture Before?

A few students who are going to college came for medical check-ups today. Most of the check-up forms are of standard format but one really caught my special attention. It's a session to be filled up by patient, and one of the question is:

"Have you ever sufferred rupture before?"

What kind of weird question is this?? The question itself sounds scary enough, plus never specified rupture of what? I can't figure out what kinda rupture can be happening in a patient's body who's apparently healthy and walking around. Hmm..unless it means rupture of a pimple? You never know.

Then under the physical examination part, look at the questionnaire:
Please tick "yes" or "no":

Cardiovascular - Normal
Respiratory - Normal
Abdomen:
1. Any enlarged liver? No
2. Any enlarged spleen? No
3. Any rupture?

What? Again? Rupture of WHAT??

I'm confused. If anyone has any idea about what rupture we should look for during a routine medical check up, pls kindly enlighten me. =)

Interesting Chest Xray (2)

WTF? This was the first thing I said (silently) when I saw this Xray. I guess you'd say something like that too. Bad Xray. Massive involvement of both lungs. Can't even outline the heart border.

This is an Xray of an 11 year-old boy, who presented with 4-month history of coughing, with intermittent fever and generalized lethargy. He has been in contact with his neighbour, who's an IV drug user with refractory chronic cough.

Ya I guess you should be able to get the diagnosis now. His sputum AFB is >50/L (++++)! Bad pulmonary tuberculosis. Xray showed multiple cavitative lesions bilaterally with patchy consolidation in right middle zone.

Beware of your coughing neighbours!=p


Related post:
Interesting Chest Xray (1)

New Card Collection

Yay. New decks arrived!
Top (from left): Split Spades by David Blaine, blue, black and red Lion series, Bicycle Faded;
Bottom (from left): Bicycle Tragic Royalty, Split Spades, Bicycle Guardians

(Picture from Theory 11)

Split Spades are designed by David Blaine and are recognized as must-haves among card magicians. Lion series are the next generation of it, with even more excellent quality, revolutionary design and perfect finish. If you do notice, the "split spades" logo actually symbolizes david blaine's initials. So cool isnt' it.



Master sleight-of-hand magicians - Dan and Dave doing card flourishes with Split Spades.

Bicycle Guardians is another classic. It's designed and produced by theory 11, based on the classic Bicycle Rider Back's design, now the angels are given new images. With the signature air-cushion finish, the handling is simply..marvelous.



Have a look at another of my magic idol, Daniel Madison flourishing with Bicycle Guardians.

My hands just can't wait to "taste" the cards!


Related post:
My Love with Cards
The Wonder of Magic

Fully Restored

Got my car back from workshop. The work they did is far better than I expected. It's just as good as new one! You can get the comparison here.

No sign of previous dent at all.

Side mirror was replaced.

Scratched marks disappeared, like magically.

Now I look back on the pics I can't even tell which one is "before" and which is "after".

Now I can happily live out from depression.

I think I met a good car's plastic surgeon. Really thanks to him!=)

Favourite Quotes

Just to share some of my favourite quotes:

* We can live with dignity, we can't die with it. --House MD

* I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he would die for, he isn't fit to live. --Martin Luther King, Jr

* Will you stand in shadows, or step forward and become a leader? It's in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. --Anthony Robbins

* Will you look back on life and say, "I wish I had" or "I'm glad I did"? You do have a choice. --Vicki Hitzges

* Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. --Jim Rohn

* For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; For those who do not, none will suffice. --Dunninger

* You don't get into magic, magic gets into you... --David Blaine


The last is the coolest=p
What's your fav quote in life?

Is it Grey's, House or ER?

I guess my hospital director is a magician in disguise. She does mentalism I think. She can induce palpitation or bradycardia to someone just by talking to her. I experienced that myself.

If you can remember, early this month I spoke to her, and she promised me I'm going to join emergency department. I was happy, relieved, and felt thankful that I have such a considerate superior.

Until I got a call from her last week. There her mentalism power began.

She said, "Hi Dr Lee, I think i told you last time that you're joining A&E. Now, what if I tell you that you're going to surgical department?"

I had instant-onset palpitation. Ya I know surgeons are cool, but the most important thing is i'm not a surgical type of person. Honestly i've not even finished a single episode of Grey's anatomy.

I asked her, "What if I say no?"

She said, "Oh the only other choice is O&G. You like O&G?"

There i became bradycardic. Probably a heart block. I think i should show her my blog on how i think of O&G.

I ONLY like Internal Medicine. I never missed any House MD episode so far. Surgery and medicine is a forever different thing. And getting into any surgical-based department means, they're gonna train you up, and with the time & effort they invest on you, it basically means that you have no way out.

So I went to see her again today but she's not in. Her secretary said, the hosp director verbally told her that if I really insist not to go to surgical-based posting, I can remain in emergency department.

Another promise from her. So in the end is it Grey's, House or ER? Let's just pray hard she's not doing mentalism trick again. My heart isn't that strong nowadays.

My New Vios was HIT!

WTF. OMFG. Tell me this is not true. I must be hallucinating.

Ouch.

Ouuuch.

(NB: The side mirror fell down and shattered)

Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch.

...

Drive carefully.

Berhati-hati di jalan raya.

These are the advices that I wanna give to the eye-less fella who hit me!!

Ohya one more, @#$%^&*X#@!

...

I'm still in the post-traumatic status. I'm on high dose anti-psychotic with anti-depressant plus anti-convulsant PRN.

...

I remember seeing a story in paper sometimes ago:

Mr A lost badly in a stock investment.

Mr B asks, "So how are you feeling now?"

Mr A: "Oh, everyday i'm sleeping like a baby."

Mr B was surprised, "So comfortable?"

Mr A: "I woke up every hourly and cried!"

...

I think I'm also like that, suffering from the "sleeping like a baby" kind of PAIN.

Arrrgghhhhh.

Will You Study Medicine?

A new batch of fresh graduates flooded Hosp Taiping.

Some came to work at 7.30am (instead of 6.30). A classic one would be, came late plus caught in the pantry relaxingly drinking his coffee, before he even started the round and blood taking. Probably he thought he's the consultant. Ya the next thing was he got the warning letter.

Then early morning passover-round we'd hear some weird presentations:
"XX, a 6 year-old girl, known case of Noon's syndrome (Noon or Noonan?), admitted for acute gastroenteritis secondary to tonsilitis."

Specialists frowned. The others scratched their heads until almost bled. AGE and tonsilitis..wow. God knows how tonsilitis can cause the former. Wondering what's happening to our new generation?

One of the HOs told me, during their induksi, when asked about how many of them chose medicine out of genuine interest, only 20 plus put up their hands, out of a total of 70 ppl.

I agree that one will not fully understand what medical field/ career is like until he/she really starts working. If it doesn't come with real interest, or passion to help or serve patients, the chance of getting regret is extremely high.

You can get a very good read from Graduation Banquet by Vagus, then you'll get some ideas how the medical pathway is like.

It's gonna be a very long journey.
Heavy responsibilities.
A huge sacrifice.

Graduation, (to quote Sir Winston Churchill), is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

The real learning and challenge has only just started.


Related posts:
Types of Houseman
New Blood in Work

Feedback from Hyphens

Received a mail from Hyphens regarding our show in O&G Congress in Genting, it's our group picture with some feedback:

"Thanks for the entertaining show which made a lot of doctors and nurses happy! If there are any future collaborations in regards to magic performances, both of you will be at the top of our lists!.." - Hyphens Pharmaceuticals

Thank you!=)

Simply the Best

I've just watched a vid by one of my good friends, Jeff Teo. I was speechless for a moment. The feeling that i've got is kinda complex. It's a feeling that i've not had for very long time..having been spending times in card magic, I thought I'm not gonna be easily amazed by a card magic anymore, until i see this again. The elegance, the beautiful music, the delicate skill, it's simply one of the finest routines that i've seen. And THIS IS EXACTLY THE WAY CARD MAGIC SHOULD BE.





Thanks for the inspiring vids, Jeff.
I still remember those days that we had our jamming sessions..and I really do hope that the day will come again. Enjoy and take good care in HK!

Instructions on Handling Baby

I'm in my last few weeks of paediatric department now..then came across these pictures somewhere in flickr. Gosh these are sooo funny! Wonder what would happen if I put them in the ward ha. No experience in handling baby? You gotta know the do's and dont's!=)

You can see the full collection in Isegoria's photostream. And I found out that the pics are actually from a book "Safe Baby Handling Tips" by David Sopp and Kelly Sopp.

So, got some ideas on baby handling now?=)

18th Malaysian Congress of Obstetrics & Gynecology

Was invited to perform in the 18th M'sian Congress of Obs & Gyne, which took place in the Genting International Convention Centre in early June. This was my 2nd time performing in medical conference, after the Colorectal conference in Mar. I have a feeling that there will be more coming, and i hope the next one will be cardiology one! Ha. This time i partnered with my very good friend, Robin Lim, one of the top mentalists in town. And we found this combination of closeup card magic with walk-around mentalism superb!=)

I'm really really glad that I met so many of my former lecturers there..i was so excited to see Dato Siva! One of the super senior O&G consultants in the country, he's also my professor in IMU clinical school. Really miss his inspiring teaching so much!=)

And this is another surprise of the day. I saw Dr Ng over there, my O&G MO in Taiping. He and Dr Sudha attended the conference.



Was doing my favourite transportation card routine and the reactions were just marvelous!=)

Mentalist in action. Robin showing his astonishing prediction effect.

Had great fun entertaining the crowd! The last pic was taken with Dr Magendra, O&G consultant from Hosp Klang.

I'm much in love with performing magic in medical conference now. Getting to meet many seniors/colleagues and attending the conference at the same time while performing magic..the feeling is just so great. Look forward to performing again in the next conference!=)

The Festival of Magic 2008

Went to the Festival of Magic 08 in Subang Parade. Magicians from Canada, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Indonesia & Malaysia joined together and mesmerizing audience with spectacular illusions. Gosh I feel so lucky that it's held when i'm back to KL and i didn't have to miss it!

Performance by Korean magician couple: Lee Jei Min & Han Na. Using the theme of Snow White fairy tales, the show was packed with illusions and very captivating. The pic was of him levitating the Snow White on stage.

With J Over First, a rising-star from Thailand. I love to see his dove magic act!

With Korean magician Shin Hyun Jae.

The peak performance of the night would be by Richard Forget, a world-class magician from Canada, performed his award-winning signature act, "An Urban Phantasy". His fire illusion was perfect. I was like back to a small kid, clapping my hands non-stop while watching it!

I think the magic festival was successfully held. Hopefully next year even more international magicians will come!

Emergency Medicine

Finally. I met my hospital director. I expressed my concern to her, and I got my answer. I'm going to join emergency department, while waiting for the vacancy in Internal medicine dept. This is EXACTLY what i want! As i seem to be the first on the waiting list, so i guess i won't have to wait too long, and meanwhile it's a good opportunity to learn emergency medicine, and prepare myself better to join medical.

For all my dear batchmates, this is the update of our friends' status:

Shawn - Posted to Hospital Slim River (by own request)
Fu Yuan - Orthopedic MO
Kheng Hui - Paediatric MO (my MO now! haha)
Jo An - Anaesthetic MO
+ Steven - O&G MO (opposite to own request)

Happy. Big one.
Gotta get some ER new series to start watching dy. Ha.

China Girl Cursing Si Chuan Victims

I know this is not something new but when i saw this, i was profoundly shocked. Came to a state that i can't believe/ understand why there would be this kinda person, having such apathetic mind, giving such indifferent, cold-blooded remarks over grief-stricken Si Chuan victims, and got it recorded and posted to internet. What's in her mind? I'm totally clueless.

Take a look at this clip (Simplified chinese subtitle):


Or this with english subtitles:


Her irresponsible acts triggered overwhelming furious responses from China and oversea. The last thing i heard is she's already been arrested. She finally apologized..but will it still help?
The damage is already done.

I feel so unpleasant after watching it. It hurts just as much as the disaster.

Testimonials from Induksi

After the magic performances in the Induksi, i've received some testimonials from the participants, which are very encouraging:

"Fantastic and amazing! Very impressive skill and successful performance. Your performance has uplifted the audience..and i'm very suprised that it comes from a medical doctor! Impressive!"
- Dr. Norzi, Hosp Selama

"Your magic is truly remarkable. The close-up magic with cards was really unbelievable..very skillful. I hope to see more in the future!"
- Dr. Vindhu, Hosp Tapah

"Magic's in the air! I'm truly impressed by Darren's magic that he performed to all the participants in the Induction course. The deftness of his fingers amazes me..the his magic just seems so real. I consider myself fortunate to have watched it live!"
- Ling SH, Pharmacist

"Darren's the doctor magician, his performance was indeed enjoyable and full of suspense, to the extent that I would not even blink my eyes to miss out any interesting parts.."
- Fong YY, Pharmacist

"Darren the 'witch doctor', his magic with cards are fascinating and cannot be explained!.."
- Dr. Tan, Hosp P Buntar

"Your magic is very interesting and fantastic, it really brings a lot of surprises. Thanks for showing me how to make impossible things become possible.."
- Dr. Kho, Dentist


Thanks alot for all, I really appreciate it. It's certainly my pleasure to have the opportunity to entertain you all, and i'm glad you enjoyed it. We shall meet again, and i still have a lot more magic to share!=)