Realisation Part 11: Under the Hands Of Healthcare Professionals and not-so-professionals

Ah! Delicious! Yum yum yum.... It has been so long since I last took fast food. Today is a happy day, I had a feast on hotdogs and burgers; 1901 and Burger King.

Who will suspect such famous and delicious food on a happy day is the beginning of a downturn of a good health. I felt bloated that night. Thinking probably i ate too much during the day, i ignored my abdomen discomfort. The discomfort did not go away the next day.I was thinking of giving it more time to subside but apparently it did not until the following day when things got worse.

Not knowing how way leads on to way, i gave myself a self-diagnosis and prescription of having indigestion. I gave myself carbon tablets. It did help a bit but the discomfort was still lingering. When it did not get better, i thought it was probably due to my underlying gastritis problems, so i took some magnesia milk. Little did i know half an hour after that, i vomited out every single thing i ate that day and the day before in two massive rounds. There starts the almost non-stop diarrhea that lasted for 6 days. Oral rehydration salt and atropine sulphate i took doesn't seem to work. The minimal amount of water i took was poured out and i was begging for water.

Thanks to KN and Nick for driving me to the nearest 24Hour clinic but got lost during our search (sorry for vomiting in your car too :$). Special thanks to Wei Chun who was so nice to purposely came out to bring us back on track. To thank them, i vomited ALL the medicine i took at the 24Hour Clinic after paying an exorbitant RM 70 consultation fee. To make things even more complicated, i felt that i need to be on drip as i was feeling like fainting. I was finally sent to the University Hospital for an emergency case. Again, i vomited for my 6th time and i swear it was my worse vomit ever...the most bitter (due to the medicine) and the most painful one (vomit pun tak de benda mau keluar, sigh).

The doctor on shift that time was professional. I like the way he posed his questions and try to diagnose my sickness. However, very soon, i fell asleep and i did not get to hear clearly what are my blood and urine test results are. I was told to have some infections. After the second pint of 0.9% sodium chloride intraveneous infusion, the doctor i admire was off shift already and i was taken over by another doctor. Since i was still very dry according to the doctor, i was put on drip for the third pint. Pity the three Samaritans who have yet to get any rest and was waiting for me. it was already 7.30am that time. Very soon, i was in dreamland again.

By the time i woke up, it was already 9am. I was left there alone but soon KN came then Nick alternately. We all have class at 10.30am that morning. Thanks to me they cant attend. No doctor attended me until acquired. Soon, they say okay, you can go back. take the medicine prescribed and finish all the antibiotics. Alright. Spending one hour waiting for the medication isnt too bad if the medication can cure me.

After 4 days taking the medication, and after seeing 4 doctors and on drip again in Ipoh (too dry)..........my diarrhea is still there! Aha! I still feel like vomiting...not much difference... I almost have nothing else to eat other than glucose water and extremely soft porridge. Finally the truth came out when i decided to consult the fifth doctor in Pasir Puteh, Dr Lee T. W. I was immediately asked to stop whatever fancy medication i was having and just take the normal medicine. Viola! I can feel myself alive again! No more diarrhea, no more urge to vomit. I was told i was on wrong medication and the medicine itself is causing the diarrhea. Oh my.....

So much so we have been stressing to finish up antibiotics, but finally was told that i was taking the wrong antibiotics...I was thinking whether i should trust the doctors i consult the next time i see one. I learn to appreciate my body more and well, be more careful when consuming anything, be it food or medicine.

I don't think i would want to be on drip ever again. I have 4 holes on my hands now due to poking the wrong vein..(grrrr....pain la). I think i will think twice when i need to rush the food down my throat or when i have abundance of delicious food to eat.

Best thing about the whole ordeal was: I lost 6kg in a week. :)


Note: I am up and kicking again. It was indeed a great excuse for me to rest and stay away from the stress-laden life back in kl. Drawback? i missed one week's class. Hah. And my exam is coming wednesday. Essays? Not done still. Can you see stress seeping in again? I do.

Journey called Life (Activity Management)

taken from office.com

One of my main weakness is my inability to say no to requests for help/assistance. With this kind of inability, I sometimes find myself swamped with work and in the end, find myself unable to cope with everything, and end up doing nothing at all.

Last night I get to meet Uncle Charlie Chia, a very prominent Buddhist speaker in Kuala Lumpur. Those who had joined the Buddhists activities with me during my time in INTEC might have known him as well from his talks organized for us students in INTEC. Brother Jerry (I think it might be more suitable to call him uncle, since he is already older than my mom, but since he invented the Jerry's Rule: People younger than 15 years old can call me uncle, those who are older than 15 years old call me brother, I have no choice but to call him "brother") was also there along with Jen (We were there after our date :P) as well...

Well, it was a very nice meeting where both the elders shared their minds on issues that have been bugging us up till now.

One of the issues were the issue of time management. There are lots of activities lined up in our mind waiting to be done, but we seemed to have no time to finish them all, and in the end, the main priority (currently studies), got neglected.

University time is the time when we get involved in lots activities, within and outside of the curriculum, that may help us develop our soft skills (skills that can't be learned in class), for example, organizing a carnival. If within the committee there will be people who didn't do their jobs properly and thus placing strain on the others who are more committed.

Uncle Charlie had quoted a phrase from someone (i can't remember who exactly said this) which gave us lots of insights into this situation: "I don't manage time, I manage activities." What it means is that we have to learn on how to set our priorities and work with it. If we have lots of work/wishes piling on us, we will need to prioritize them. And start by doing what is the most important activity now. Our mind can only focus on one thing at a time. If we can complement it by focusing on one thing at a time, without worrying about the status of the other activities, we can proceed smoothly down the priority, and faster as well. The mind works best when things are organized, and prioritizing can help a lot of keeping everything oragnized :)

The other thing being discussed was the targets. Uncle Charlie told us that unachieved targets doesn't matter much. It's whether we did put in our best efforts throughout the whole proess that counts the most, because in the end, we can always tell us that, "I have done my best to ensure the success of the project, but circumstances doesn't allow everything to go smoothly as planned." BUT, you will certainly feel guilty if you didn't put in your best effort in getting things done, and more often than not, people are not going to be pleased with you (fired).

More often than not, you will find that you are unable to finish the things that are at the lowest level of your priority list. Not being able to do them doesn't mean that we have failed, it just mean that circumstances doesn't allow us to do everything.

So do your best in whatever that you are doing, prioritize well, and don't dwell in failures. Focus on how to be successful, Life's always rewarding of you think of it as so :)


seehua

Italy/Malaysia

After a very tiring trip to Italy, visiting and gaining insights about more and mor places, I am now finally back in Malaysia, with my beloved Jen :p

As for the photos from Italy, I will be taking my sweet time to upload them to flickr, as the lins here isn't as ideal as the line in Germany to do internet uploading/downloading. Till they are slowly uploaded, happy waiting :D (We should really have some other companies good enough to beat TMnet for their sucky service over here, sigh).

For those who are interested, my old 012 number isn't valid anymore, so if there is anyone who wants to contact me out there, drop me an email for the number (No, i won't publicize my number here in public).

Jen is having a heck of a time here, having to manage her exams along with her duties as a section leader for some sort of project, so don't wonder if I have not contacted you yet to yum cha. I will be helping her with her daily chores to lessen her loads a bit :)

Gonna check out Jen now, till next time, c'ya guys...

seehua
*Let's create a world full of LOVE~

My camera's bag

After cancelling the order with the online shop that sells the official bag for my camera, because the delivery is taking too long, I had decided to look for a new one. This is actually the smallest one i can get that can fit my camera in :p

For more photos of my new gadget, go visit the Flickr page

Laws of Thermodynamics

The Laws of Thermodynamics states that the greatest state of chaos is the state when the temperature of the universe is completely uniform.

Putting that analogy to humans, does it mean, to achieve complete equality amongst us, the humanity would have to descend to complete chaos?

seehua

Charity Mission to Ladakh India 2007

Dear Bros & Sis,



I will be leading a group of 16 Friends of Mahabodhi Ladakh form Malaysia, Singapore & Australia will be visiting Ladakh India from 17th August 2007 till 26th August 2007. The group will be led by Bro Charlie Chia. We have prepared a missionary itinerary for the visit to Ladakh where we intend to carry out missionary and charitable works in the mountain villages of Ladakh.



At the same time we will visit the Mahabodhi International Meditation Campus of Venerable Sanghasena, a notable and compassionate Theravada monk called Devachan where he had set up boarding schools for the girls and boys from the mountains. The school have a student population of 250 students and all education are in English. He had also set a Meditation Centre, Nunnery, Senior Care Homes, 50 bedded Karuna Hospital and lately the Jetavana Monastery. For your information, Ladakh is the only Buddhist majority district in India. The population consists mostly of Ladakhi and Tibetan refugees. It is as high as 11,000 feet above sea level.



In conjunction with the missionary and charity work that we have planned there, here is a list of items that we intend to distribute:-



DVD's of latest shows for children

School Stationeries

UV Resistent Sunglasses (Old and stylish sunglasses are most welcome)

Electronic Watches

Hand Held Musical Intruments (eg Guitars, harmonica, flutes etc)

Computer Thumbdrives

Dynamo Batteryless Torchlights

Backpack bags and Luggage bags



As some of these items are very bulky and incur heavy air freight charges, we suggest that donors and well wishers contribute in the form of cash and we will procure them in India (the bulky items).



We hope each and everyone can approach your friends, colleagues and relatives for contributions and you can bank in to BGF account before 12th August 2007. the Account is as follows:-



Buddhist Gem Fellowship

Public Bank Berhad Account No. 3109670729



We hope to raise RM 50,000 to purchase all the items that have been requested.



May our aspirations and our generosity bring good merits and a safe trip.



Metta & Best regards
Chia Lui Meng, Charlie

Realisation Part 10: The art of transforming anger

Picture speaks louder than words. Our life can be represented by a graph. I experienced the art of transforming anger with mindfulness today. Identify, embrace, understand and transform. Just some sharing of my ups and downs i went through today. Enjoy~



Jen