Modifying a previous recipe (although not so pretty, still can eat)

Looks familiar? :p
Recipe get from here.
The idea of adding apples comes from a fellow dear friend's aunt..

2/3 weeks of holidays - I'm bored

1st week
Slogging to help finish compiling the AMC report
Recover from a sleepless night of food poisoning + high fever
Driving from Sungai Petani (Kedah) to Kuantan

2nd week (this week)
No friends back yet, so bored..
EMO-ing
Oversleeping
Euro 2008 fever (annoyed that Holland got knocked out, but at least Russia was fun to watch)
Trying to somehow finish reading:
- Chest X-ray Made Easy
- ECG Made Easy
- Robbins Basic Pathology (whatever that is relevant for sem 1): but due to thickness, probably won't finish..
- 3 Narnia books (will continue into week 3 if can't finish)
Practise driving mum's manual Toyota Corolla (while Kuantan traffic is still manageable)
New car for JB in a few months time? I like the Persona, but I try not to complain as I don't need such a big car now (harder to park + 1.6 = higher fuel consumption right?), so maybe a MyVi. (As a cost cutting measure in conjunction with petrol price increase, manual has less fuel consumption right? But that means I can't multitask while driving as compared to auto.. pfft)
Thinking of what to wear for friend's brother's wedding
Attempting to clear my laptop of tonnes of junk
Photo uploading spree on Facebook
Exercising everyday (forcing myself to jog a few rounds around the park; at least one round non-stop 15 minutes)
Treated a friend for birthday

What I'll probably do in Week 3
Go KL
Buy Surgery at a Glance (and ECG Made Easy if the new 7th edition has arrived, yes I know I'm obsessed with getting latest editions of books)
Go Monash to finish up my print quota from sem 1 (since JB does not have print quota)
Try to catch up with friends from Monash (CF or Year 2's or whoever lar I can grab hold off or who wants to grab hold of me) and Hope PJ..

Theme song to start off semester 2

Random holiday blues

1. I do not recommend taking the express bus from JB to Kuantan via the winding, uneven Mersing coastal road, especially if the driver thinks he is Kimi Raikonnen on a wet day.

2. I hate doing redundant work during holidays. (people I know will know that I mean)

3. I want a new car.

4. It's disheartening to realise that in the midst of my busy-ness, I kind of lost touch with a lot of people from my yesteryears, not to mention missed birthdays and forgotten faces as well..

5. I think I prefer to do work and remain in denial during the semester, than spend my holidays revisiting certain headaches that just won't go away.

6. After 1 semester, I just can't help but have the tendency to ponder whether during our 1st 6 months here, have we truly made a difference..

7. But I left JB last Sunday with a sense of hope that certain things which start small will bear fruit at the end of the year.

Things future doctors do in their mock OSCE

Station:
Mr X is a 53 year old asthmatic who came in to your GP. (followed by other patient details etc)

1. In 2 minutes, take the patient's history and try to elicit the severity of his asthma.
2. Measure the patient's peak flow.
3. Educate the patient on the use of an asthma medication.

Comments from tutors:
1. Use of medical jargon. (eg asking the patient things like, "How's your respiration?", "..inhale, exhale, peak expiratory flow etc"
2. Question: There is a glass of water here. What do you think it's for?
Correct answer: To rinse the mouth after using the inhaler, ie get rid of corticosteroids etc
Some of the answers given by students:
a) "Oh, if the patient feels thirsty ar, after the peak flow test and medication taking, he can drink it lor."
b) "If you don't know whether the inhaler medication is empty, you can put it into the water and see whether it floats or sinks."

The usual end of semester clinical skills log book + assignment rush

Of old people and venepunctures..

The thing with knowing a little bit more Mandarin (now that I'm in JB), is that you know what patients say about you (especially when it comes to criticism).

Went for blood taking today (coz of the mad dash to fill up the log books for physical exam and procedural skills before end of semester.), and did quite ok lar (for someone whose last venepuncture was 4 months ago), success rate of around 60%, (minus thom I pass to the staff nurse because their veins were hard to find).

There were 2 stations in the procedure room, and patients were lining up beside the tables lar.. 2 funny things happened lar:
1. While pricking the finger of a lady for glucometer testing, she jumped up of the chair. That was how sensitive she was to pain.
2. Second lady whom I pricked for glucometer asked me why am I shivering when I held her hand.

Then there was this Chinese lady who brought her mother for blood-taking. As me and a few of my group mates were practising, the lady (cradling a child), was standing at the door, complaining / nagging "Ni kan, chuen pu shi shue de leh.. chuen pu san ge shi shue de leh.." (ie Aiyoh, you see.. all 3 of them are students leh, students learning how to do stuff).. She repeated that same phrase at least 5-6 times that even while taking blood from other patients, that I felt annoyed having to listen to such distractions (we know who we are, so shut up and let us do our work lar). Then her mum's turn came and she sat beside me lar. Her mum asked me, "You doctor ar?" The staff nurse clarified to her that I'm a medical student doing my practical in blood taking. Her 1st reaction was to jump out of her seat and say, "Har??? Pelajar saya tak mau, saya mau missy cucuk" (Huh, I don't want students to poke me? I want the nurse to do it!). The nurse persuaded her that if she doesn't let us learn, how are we going to become competent doctors in the future.

I mean, fine lar.. if she doesn't want me to do, I can proceed with other patients, it is her right to refuse. What did she end up doing instead? On the spot, she went on ranting and grumbling in Mandarin on 101 reasons why she doesn't want students to do procedures on her (eg students don't know how to do procedures lar, painful lar etc etc). Even when I was changing into a new pair of gloves since there was blood on the old one (but I wasn't in a hurry to do so) she remarked that I don't know how to put on a glove properly - in plain sight of everybody lining up. *sweat*

And you have patients who tell you bluntly in the face, "Sorry ya, I want the nurse to take my blood, I don't want to become your guinea pig today."

Anyway, on a lighter note, bumped into a fellow church member from family group, who was visiting her father in Ward D for cancer and TB I think. Found it amusing for her young son to call me 'kor kor'.. (eh, at least he doesn't call me 'Uncle')

Today at the clinic, we saw a female Indian hypertensive patient. She had her whole uterus and ovaries removed, and apparently was rather depressed lar coz her husband divorced her after she could no longer fulfil his sex drive. Found out that she was a towkay (boss), maybe doing business. I was walking back and almost reaching home when she pulled over and offered me a ride, in her Mercedes E320! (quite some time already lar the model, but still..!! I kindly turned it down lar though, since I'm arriving at the front gate of my apartment already :p lolz).