4 pictures a day keeps the doctor away!

After the rush from ward the ward round, we managed to reach Hospital Ampang just after 10. Habibah was during the driving and I was manning the GPS. Unfortunately I keyed in HUKM rather than Ampang. Luckily the distance between the two was not that far. A bit of adjustment and we were there. But arriving at 10 does mean one thing ... no parking. I got out of the car and politely told the Pak Guard that we were a couple of lecturers from UM, coming over to give a talk .... ditto! A quick squark of the walkie-talkie and we have a spot right in fron tof the main entrance. The 'KHAS' sign does mean something here! VIP time!

Unfortunately, things operate in Malaysian time zone. Which means that we were still early. When we arrived, there were the two of us, Dr Jameela and the visitor, Scott Dunkley. Scott is a Hemostasiologist from Sydney and was in Malaysia for a workshop on the weekend. We were here in Ampang to discuss some cases and sit down for a meeting in the afternoon for a national guideline. Unfortunately as I hitched a ride off Habibah, I have to escape after lunch. The discussion went well, with plenty of interesting cases. But while waiting for the crowd to arrive, Scott was taken on a tour of the wards, so we decided to have some teh tarik instead at the cafeteria.

The organiser of the event was Jay Suriar. Seen hear manning the hotline, appropriately shaped as lips! It was pink as well! We did not prepare any cases from UM however, but the cases presented were very interesting indeed. We finally broke down for lunch just after 12.30. After a quick bite, we drove back to UMMC, and again I was ace with the Google Maps on my E71. We took a couple of turns too many and ended up on the wrong side of the highway. Got back to UM in one piece however, no thanks to my navigational skill. Habibah was rather funny while driving however. She told me the joke of how her Dad described her driving - my daughter drives like lightning, she hits poles and trees!

We caught the back end of Jasmin's talk when we arrived at the talk. She was speaking on Thrombotic Thromcytopenic Purpura. Quite a long discussion. We were also treated with pizza courtesy of Suhaida who just completed her Masters Program.

Lousy end to a productive weekend

Yes, I am going to admit it. I am disappointed by last night's result. It seems that United lacks a certain something after Ronaldo left. It will take some time to get that back. maybe a season or two. One positive point is the effort of Valencia. He clearly showed that he is more than a squad player or a token edition to the team. Berbatov is also finding his feet although his languid style of play may not be a cup of tea to everybody.

The cake cutting at the MaxFamily gathering

The weekend started with sending Idlan off to music school on Friday evening. We then had diner at KLCC. I bought a new bag to replace my old Croc number which now have a loose strap. Then I prepared for my talk at Ampang Hospital on the Saturday morning. The talk was well received I thought, although it was a pity that I did not get the chance to spend more time with the audience during the small group discussion as I was take away for an interview. I also had to escape early as I had to give Idlan a lift.

The sketch ... need a frame nowAccording to Anita, there was a birthday party on Saturday afternoon. Instead she misread the invitation card. The party was on Sunday afternoon instead. We therefore had tea at the shopping mall. A place we only been for the first time, the AEON AU2. A decent place to have food as there were plenty of restaurant there. There is also a huge place to do groceries there. After tea, we walked around the place and came across a street sketch artist. Idlan had his sketch done there.

In the evening, I just had a quick rest while doing post-processing on the pics taken earlier. I went to bed quite early as I needed to do the rounds the next morning. I actually overslept and woke up at around 7.45. Managed to rush through and was in the ward by 8.45. The rounds was not that bad although there was some trouble accessing the blood results. UMMC upgraded their database over the weekend and most of the major systems were taken off line. We are talking about patients admissions, X-rays and lab results. I left the hospital just before midday and went straight to Low Yat.

I needed to buy a new headphones as the current one was already worn out. I decided to plump for the AKG earbuds. Still getting the hang of it since I am not used to earbuds. The trebles on the new phones were great but I think it lag bass punch. I wonder if that is because it did not fit snugly into my ears. I also bought a new 'Bluetooth' headset for my E71 since the batteries on the old one kept on losing its charge. By the time I reach home, it was already time to go out again. This time to attend the birthday party.

Chicky is in the house!The party was held at a branch of KFC there. The got the cakes and entertainment brought in, including the celebrated Chicky. Towards the end, we received a phone call from Anita's Mum that my brother-in-law just arrived from Moscow and has been having diarrhoea for the last five days after taking a meal there. Another couple of his friends were also down with it. He lost around 5 kg and was clearly dehydrated. I think he may need IV hydration and since he is a Petronas employee, he might as well make us of the Prince Court Medical Centre. You can read it from my PhotoBlogs that the place was really freaky. It was more of a hotel than a hospital, with carpeted floors in the rooms, designer toiletries, marbled front entrance, valet parking .... the works. He is spending his second night there for more tests but I imagine they will let him go tomorrow. Anita went to visit him during lunch today and just can't stop talking about the place. There was buffet at the main lobby, but Anita decided to go to the French restaurant instead. Awesome!

After everything settles, I went to pick up my tandoori chicken and donned my celebrated Veron top, getting ready for the big match. The evening went downhill after that ..... Oh the abuse I have to endure the whole day .....

Education session tengah rancak berjalan

Completed my session earlier and now everyone is broken into smaller group. Each group is based on the medium of cmunication. I gave my talk in Malay, while a few of my colleagues took the Mandarin and English group. I didn't manage to stay for too long though. I did my interview and by the time that is done the session was almost over.

At the moment I was treated by a saxophone solo by one of the patients. At the end, one of my patient was asked by MaxFamily to pass me a token, which I thought was a nice touch. Food was nice, but I can't hang on as I needed to give Idlan a lift later in the afternoon.

Posted via email from Stamp up those photos!

Arrived at Hospital Ampang

The main lobby here. Patients are still lingering around the hall waiting for the next session after having tea. Going to start off the education session soon, then I will be off to speak to the media.

Posted via email from Stamp up those photos!

Patients are the best source for advice

From my bedroom, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

Such a bliss able to wake up on a Saturday morning and not having to think about rushing to work, even though I will have to do the rounds tomorrow. I spend the morning surfing the net and putting the final touches to my slides for a talk later this morning.

I have always been a great advocate that the support a patient can have especially when we talk about cancer has to be from a fellow patient. Those that have already gone through the same thing, experienced the emotional roller-coaster first-hand. Their advice won't be pretentious like the once you get from doctors. Unfortunately the concept of patient support group is rather alien to our society. Cancer is still regarded as a taboo subject and I have sent countless number of hours counseling patients that their cancer was not the work of black magic or karma. It is not something they did in their past life, and no .... they are not infectious. Cancer can happen to good people and it can happen to you!

I am not referring not just about counseling patients here. Even close member of my family have this mindset. It is endemic in Malaysian society. Some of my family members even talked down on me when they learn that I am just a Haemato-Oncologist. They even think that GPs are more superior then me because they have a 'clinic'! So, when I have the opportunity to address the public on this matter, I will leap to it. There is even a press conference after. I will try my best to be eloquent.

Anyway, everything is set. Leaving the house soon to Hospital Ampang. I am sure that the patients appreciate my efforts, and that's what matters .... for the time being .... until I take over the world that is ...