back fr durham... did some shopping there =) durham cathedral is magnificent.. ate ice cream as we walked in the botanical garden... the last time i had ice cream was wen i was in spain...

oh. england just introduced a new law - no smoking in an enclosed public area.. bombing attempts in heathrow.. car bomb in glasgow airport.. 1st time i know so much current affairs

ytd had dinner in an italian restaurant.. pizza there damn cun... lunch in a pub..

now am back to edinburgh... dunno wat's the plan for tmrw though... will update later wen i'm free... now wanna watch the concert in remembrance of princess diana...

ok, it's durham... tat's where i'm going tmrw...

had traditional Scottish food for lunch today... starter : some fried tofu and stuff (had been so long since i last ate tofu!!!) could have chosen haggis, but after trying it yesterday, i decided that tofu is a better option... main dish : venison (yummy - but too filling) dessert : tiramisu... bro promised every lunch we'll eat in restaurant... ytd was a french restaurant.. today scottish... then got american and later italian... plus got sea food... i hope i wont put on too much weight!!

morning did some sight seeing... arthur's seat, craggs, botanical garden... even get to see fettes college... gosh, how i envy those rich and famous who had the opportunity to study there... too bad, the palace is closed...

afternoon- hah shopping!!! mum, dad and bro went shopping together... me... i went wif kai lin, my bro's girlfren... H&M, Topshop, Clarks, etc... too much walking!!! so dead tired...

BLISS (",)

i havent seen my bro for almost a yr... and now i'm in Edinburgh, staying in a hotel bout 5mins walk fr his hostel... life is good... missed him loads...

i think i'm getting senile... at check in, i just realised tat i forgot to bring along my wallet... it's not the money i'm worried about, but my garda card, student id, etc... crap, i cant make it bac to tikah's house to get the wallet.. willl definitely miss the flight... so i just board the plane, and pray hard that there might be a glimmer of hope tat i ummm might 'accidentally' left it in my check in luggage... of course kena fire teruk-teruk by my dad... reached edinburgh... 1st thing i did as soon as i checked into the hotel was to open my check in luggage... thank god the wallet is inside... ok, now at least i'm sure i wont be detained in edinburgh or something like that because they suspect that i'm an illegal immigrant fr china...

hah, come here i worked my poor brother like a farm animal ;) i want water, go and fetch me a cup of water... i'm hungry, i want yoghurt... yucks, wat kind of yoghurt is this, i want muller brand one... no more st bernard's stuff... no more tesco value stuff... wen i went shopping wif him, i dun even have to look at the price, just throw the things i feel like eating into the shopping basket... he's the banker wat... besides, my 3 week visit to UK is all sponsored by him... ah, bliss...

today's his graduation.. followed him out to his uni to collect his graduation gown... suddenly i also felt like graduating... 4 yrs seemed like forever... too bad cant attend his graduation... they only allow 2... fair enough... but at least get to put on the gown and imagine that i've graduated...

ohhh... had lunch in a cun restaurant... complete wif starters, main dishes and desserts... had been so long since i had a complete meal in a proper restaurant... plus, i dun have to come out the money =)

tmrw he promised to bring us around... ahh.. SHOPPING... eee... cant wait...

then saturday we'll stay overnight at durram or whatever (dun really know how to spell that place's name... dun even know if i get the name right) nevermind, will ask ko later... i'm now alone in the room, waiting for them to return from the reception =(

this morning was looking thru some of his photos... and there was this flower - digitalis... and he asked this flower is used to make wat drug... think think... ummm, digoxin? ok, good, wat is digoxin used for... forgot d... remembered tat it was in the heart failure notes... ummm, heart failure? actually atrial arrythmias... wat the... heart failure la tu... ah, lucky thing can answer, or not, buat malu je =)

23 students graduated wif honours, slightly less than 10% of his cohort... and 4 of them are malaysians.. my bro being 1 of them (ah, proud of him, and proud of the malaysians) =)

still remembered his panic attack... he needed white bow tie, but there's none in edinburgh... well, shops dun exactly store white bow tie.. and medical faculty's graduation is on the last 2 day... many other graduands fr other faculties had bought the limited supply of white bow tie... went looking for it around dublin... got 1 fr brown thomas IMAGINE!!! anyways, his girlfren got it fr london (she was just bac fr malaysia and went round searching for it as well)... so he wore the one that his gf got for him and sold the one i got to justin, his coursemate, who desperately needs a white bow tie as well...

now only found out tat my bro is also working as a care assistant like me... i tot he worked as a male nurse... ceh... system's bout the same la, nurses need qualifications... well, at least my uniform looks much better than his =) snoop round his room, i'm alone here wat do u expect me to do... half his things are female stuff... pink towels wif floral pattern, definitely not his... hair bands, hair clips... even got serum, used for hair treatment!!! and since wen he started using cologne... was spraying on himself this morning and asked me if he smelt nice, gosh!!!

now want to continue watch poseidon online =)

as i loiter along grafton street, i walked past this boy who's barely 5... and he was SMOKING... and he held the cigarette wif such practised ease... wat's our world turning into???

going to work fr 8am-8pm on tues, wed and thurs... casualty ward as well as surgical ward... should b exciting... better sleep now... yawn...

FINALLY….

I tot the day wen I start working would never come… guess I was wrong…

Today is
my 1st day at work…
the day wen I earn my own money…
the day when I 1st step foot in 1 of the hospitals in ireland…..
the day wen I put my skill to good use
the most exciting and eventful day in my life
sadly, the day I realise my mandarin memang tak boleh pakai =(
the day I realise chai zhen is just too difficult for people to remember… they’ve no prob wif just chai though….

honestly, I doubt I’ll ever forget 15/6/2007

was at tikah’s place wen I received a call fr NOC informing me that there’s a care assistant needed in Our Lady’s Hospice. She asked if I’m interested to work there… duh… obviously… I know I was ‘on call’… tat’s y, I even bought along my uniform wen I went to tikah’s place… ah, chaizhen pandai right =) wen heard it’s a hospice, I straight away expected a palliative care unit… 2nd sem HBS came to mind…

was so excited (and probable anxious as well) tat I actually woke up at 5am… left tikah’s place at bout 6.45am… have to change the bus at augier st… thank God there were 5 other permanent staffs of OLH on the same bus as me and coincidently, there’s a lady there that works in palliative care ward which is in the same buiding as my ward… she brought me to the ward so tak sesat … it’s actually a rehab centre for RA… dun think I could make it on time without her… let’s just put it this way.. blur is an understatement when it comes to describing me… besides it’s not exactly easy to find the ward tat I’m supposed to work in…

nothing much really… I think I do more talking and listening than actually doing ‘stuff’…

was asked to ummm…to quote the words used… ‘escort’ 2 patients to 2 different hospitals… tot this would be the hardest task for me… end up it’s so simple… just call a cab… and wait wif the patients… drop 1 off at the 1st hosp and she can manage on her own… and stay on with the 2nd… she has been there a couple of times.. she just tell me where to go and I wheel here.. nah, not tat tough after all… must admit at 1st I did panic… wat if something happen to 1 of them… I really dunno much.. took the staff nurse quite some time to convince me to go wif them…

everything went on smoothly, thank god… job isn’t too demanding, I can manage.. there bro, I prove u wrong again =)

oooh, and I talked bout the drugs wif the person in charge there.. aparently infliximab is subsidized by the government and that u r eligible to have it as long as the consultant prescribe it 2 u… was thinking there might be some application procedure to go thru since it’s so expensive… a patient had SOB, so asked the person in charge again whether he asked the precipitating factor etc etc… CC stuff =) patient had SOB at rest according to him.. so I asked respiratory prob… he said no, he thinks it’s cardiovascular prob.. got ankle oedema… ooo… then asked about other drugs prescribed for people wif RA… at the same time explain I am a 1st yr medic student at RCSI… even get to ask bout the funding in the hospice and how the system works… ask bout private vs public care… very educational huh…

was asked by a patient in SVPH (the hosp I went to wif 1 of the patients) to help him fill up form… he cant read English… crap, the 1st question he asked was am I fr china… I said no, I’m a Malaysian… and he replied, I’m fr Malaysia too… basket!!! If u’r a Malaysian chinese… u ask another person if he/she is also Malaysian Chinese 1st right… anyway, communicating wif him was difficult… the form is like a brief history b4 u go in for MRI scanning… I know how to say surgery in mandarin… and he said yes… crap, so have to ask where… he said some funny term in mandarin which I’ve no idea what it meant… he pointed at his right iliac fossa… ok, must be appendix, so tikam only la… dunno how to say magnet in mandarin… lagi dunno how to say have you ever gone for MRI scanning b4 in mandarin… dunno how to say heart pacemaker and defibrillator in mandarin… conclusion, my mandarin vocab is grievely inadequate…

all the staff were really nice and frenly… must really thank my bro for asking me to try nursing/caring… good for ‘character building’ all right… love how the system here works… u know, the person in charge at night would actually record details of each patient sort of like the latest update of each patient… the next moning all the staff would b seated in the room and listen to the recording wif a sheet of paper containing the names of the patient and their disease (eg RA or ankolysing spondylitis ect) then they ad extra notes at the side, whatever they think is necessary as they listen to the recording… tot this is really a great way…

guess I’m a bit over eager an umm probably slightly too enthusiastic… the staff even commented on how excited I am…

all in all, a great experience indeed…

As usual, my blog had hibernated for weeks… now that it’s summer I’ll try to update it as frequently as I can, can’t promise though…

Don’t really know what to write…maybe I should start off wif my job application… after what seemed like a million trips to nurse on call, the agency that I work for as a care assistant, my application is finally approved.. now I’ll just have to sit and wait for them to inform me that they need my service…despite the leceh-ness, I’m really looking forward to working..

Then there was the final sem exam before the holidays.. gosh, thank god it’s over now… honestly, I’ve never worked this hard in my entire life, and mind you, I was never a slacker… prior to the exam, I was almost 100% sure that I’ll fail my clinical competency… I know the theory all right, it’s just that putting it into practise isn’t that easy for me… I still remember vividly, last sem, in 1 of the CC tutorial, I was asked to take the ‘patient’s’ history… what I should ask (and I knew it in theory) was are your parents well? Instead, I blurted out, “are your parents dead”… you know, when I’m nervous, my brain and the rest of my body seemed to be disconnected in some ways… during my last CC tutorial this sem, I got this really strict facilitator.. and she asked me to percuss the ‘patient’s’ lungs… I did as I was told, and since I did not know the right technique of percussion, there was obviously no sound – it was supposed to be resonant.. but anyway, the facilitator stopped me and asked me what I was doing… I replied, I’m percussing his lungs like what you told me to do.. and she replied, but I did not hear anything, did you? At this point, my brain and the rest of my body seemed to be miles apart AGAIN!! And I actually said yeah, neither did i… can’t believe I was this berani… you should see the facilitator’s face… gosh, the pH is even lower than concentrated sulphuric acid… thank god the actor laughed, thinking that I was trying to be funny, and the facilitator laughed along… crap, I had better be more careful or I might never see sunrise again!!! Ah during CC exam, I was asked what I would tell a patient who had never taken an ECG about the procedure (and in my panic-attack state, I missed the part where the patient was supposed to be the tester’s mother) and so I talked about the procedure… and added, if the chest is sweaty, wipe it dry… if the chest is hairy, shave it… and suddenly the tester said it’s ok, my mum’s chest is not hairy…can’t admit I was wrong can i? so I said, “I mean, if the patient is a guy with hairy chest, I’ll shave it…” like I said, I’ve problem with nerve…

Finally get to watch pride and prejudice… such a good movie..

My parents are coming on the 22/6…9 more days… can’t wait =)

my 21st bday =)

i noe my blog is kinda dormant for a really long time now... so here's a new post... I wonder how many of you guys will eventually read this, but those of u who do… thank u so much for everything…

Honestly, I never really expected a celebration for my birthday… exam’s so near, the mugging, last minute cramming etc… really appreciated what u guys did for me (thanks janna) seriously… I’m not bluffing wen I said that people dun normally celebrate my bday… not tat I’m complaining… even I myself dun really bother… it’s always so near the mid yr exam (if not in the middle of it)…and then there was AS and A-lev… the only time I remembered celebrating my bay wif frens ws wen I was in s’pore… and tat also my frens had to literally drag me out fr the study room… =(

I’m really tired and sleepy, so if there’s any typo, pardon me… cant blame me, slept at 1.30am yesterday… trust me, I dun often sleep tat late…

Am really touched by what u guys did.. even to naren and chiang wen, despite preventing me fr getting my much needed sleep yesterday… thank god both of u din carry out plan A (locking me up in a cold, dark, stinky kitchenette-to quote naren’s-there’s a cadaver there… yeah, the smell is tat bad…) chiang wen, nice “sausage” by the way… too bad, I have to eat it up, right…

And the surprise celebration this afternoon… thank u janna, joo ken, tikah, syahril, amira, rashida, fazliana, fergal, geetha and alex (I hope I din leave anyone out) the cake was fantastic… and the pasta… and potato waffles, and sandwiches and ice cream.. and muffins… they’r incredible… promise I won forget today for a long long time.. what wif syahril dangling me upside down and swinging me around, bcoz I ‘forgot’ that I had read his note… and wen he realised tat it wasn’t my fault… he decided to carry me, this time in an upright position and give me a few more swings… but syahril (if u read tis) for wat’s worth, I think ur message is really funny… and for tat, I shall forgive u for nearly giving me a cardiogenic shock…

Also thank u for all the smses and messages on facebook… yes jansen, if u read my blog again this time, u’ll now see tat I’ve mentioned ur name here..

And thank u so much for the messages in the bottle (trust me janna I know how difficult it is to collect bac the notes)

RCSI : janna, joo ken, amir, pushpak, alex, wan jean, jun may, peter, yiu ti [although u signed off as someone else =)], Diana, lorraine thong, tikah, asrih, farah (hee hee I love ur hugssss, without u, who else can I go to wen I wan to bermanja), mark liew, Shirley, hong, nathrah, kingsley, weilyn, Sheila, lorraine, aneela, safwan, mandy, amira, kak firdausi, syafiq, fariz, mark tan, adwait (oh, ur message makes me blush), hidayah, jannah (sorry it took me so long to realise tat it was u who called… u’ve no idea how fast my brain activity dips to a trough at night…), robo (nak autograph), karl, Sylvia, fazliana, anwar, fai, dhari (I automatically assume tat since today’s my bday, u’ll allow me to throw anything at u… was looking forward to doing tat today, but din c u in class, wat a waste..) sangeetha (my dearest neighbour), jack, ahmed, eid, inaz, xin yun, syamil, maryam (miss sitting nex to u in tutorials), fairuz, salam, jenny, sheena, aimie, ima, jamilah, dami, jollivet, rawand, rashida, hafsah, alex cheng, kak sakinah (oh my fiancée), zifu, afiq, png, kaz, adeola, syahir, yeni, sze ryn, syee ree, sanjeev, tee kiat, fergal, aileen, hoong keen, naren, alex soh, kean sheen, su chen, chiang wen, jansen…

Intec : siew yin (I doubt u’ll read this), syaza, renly, asma, faridah (I’m not tat chubby!!!), hariz, wan ching (yeah, I miss u too), esmond, priya, Janice (here, got no one tat I can call chicken la…), fadhil, jee jian, jonathan chong (of course I still remembr u…), Elaine, kajal, ezra, ning xin, senk chung (yeah, will take care of everyone here), hisham, zhong shiun, melinder, yani, liyana, yew mai, ching yik, you zhuan, dayah, sara, ain, diniem ummy, chin yeong…

The ucd gang : my dearest becca (u’ll alwiz b my babe), aminah (yes, I know, tikah’s handwriting but ur brain), farhan (that was really funny!!!), ilyas (since wen I’ve diabetes insipidus???), ryan, amin, Yolanda, jien han, sam, chong ling (get well soon), aida…

STSD : sue jan (miss u lots…) khai lip, chern lin, yong hsin…

Lecturers : miss eti (guess no one can beat me wen it comes 2 bermanja-ing wif u), pn zuraida (still cant find any student who makes more noise than me?), miss asiah (remember, miss asiah, u’r so pretty today –stop for a while,let the message sinks in 1st- can we bring forward the class today to 10.30 – give the cutest smile I can pull off- pleasssseeee-then try to look adorable)

Others : Nicholas pang..

Oh, and not forgetting aunty asha, thanks for the email…

thank u so much fr everything…