Land Below the Wind

Dear everybody,

This is Michael here. Remember Michael... who is now far far away?

Finally got my hands on an internet connection. Whew ! Feels so odd being offline for so long.

Am now safely in KK, The Land Below The Wind. Actually have been here for 1.5 weeks now.

Started working already. Am now attached with the Orthopedic Department , Queen Elizabeth Hospital (don't ask me why they name the hospital this way). Not a big hospital. But not too small too.

Have moved in quite OK. They gave us a double-storey terrace house, supposed to stay 6 people inside. But now only 5 people, still got one vacancy in my room. Nice room: carpeted, aircon, attached bathroom... don't be jealous. You can always come to KK and stay with me. House even have a sofa set, kitchen (with gas and stove, cabinet), refrigerator and washing machine. However, got kitchen also no use, coz no kuali, periuk, minyak, garam, kicap ... plus no girlfriend to cook soup. The house is just beside the hospital, which is just 2 minutes walk away.

Anyway, most of the time is spent outside the house.

The first two weeks of work here is called tagging, where new doctors (a.k.a slaves) are made to stay in the ward from 7.30 am to 9.30 pm, and learn about everything there. Later, we will start proper work. This means checking your own ward patients beginning 6.30 am, then present new cases to other wards' doctors at 7.30 am. Then at about 8.00 am to 9.30 am will be ward round with the specialists, who will decide who to operate when, what investigations to order, plans of management. After that we will carry out the work in our own wards: taking blood (and filling up lots of forms), discharging patients (and filling up forms again), preparing patients for operation (making sure that they are OK and won't die in operation). Lots of paperwork, urgghh! Work is until about 5 pm, and we sit around receiving new patients. Need to get the story from the new patients, plan investigations, do plaster casts, fill up forms... Sometimes need to help out in the clinic, or Operation Theatre. From time to time we rotate to do on-calls. There are two kinds of on-call. First call means being in the ward 24 hours, receiving any patient who get admitted after office hour, at night, midnight, early morning, till office hour starts the next morning. Second call will be running the Operation Theatre till 9.00 pm. This includes wound debridement, minor operations, amputations, fixing up fractures...

Life is pretty busy, because I am still doing the tagging thing. Hope things will get better in future. People here are really nice. The nurses are always cheerful and helpful, and that really brightens up things for me. When life gets stressful, can always ask them for help coz they have lots of experience and skills. Their kaypoh stories can always bring cheer to a gloomy day. Oh, the MA (Medical Assistants) here are really great too. Really skillful in doing plaster casts, dressings and minor operations. I've got lots to learn from them.

Patients here are pretty nice too. Friendly lot. Very thankful for the service rendered to them. Those from the village even address doctors as "Tuan Doktor". Really pai-say. Even the MAs call us "boss", even more pai-say. Pai-say coz I have so much to learn from them yet they call me boss.

Food here is more costly than West Malaysia. A usual meal will cost at least RM3.50, not including drinks. Haven't manage to find REAL good food yet. Will need to explore more, once my motorbike arrive. Am now driving around in my keluarga angkat's Volkswagen. My Honda wife is still on the way.

Went to Kinabalu National Park before starting work. Really fantastic place. You must come here to see for yourself. Mount Kinabalu just stood towering nearby among the clouds.

Drove up the Signal Hill a while ago. From the top of the hill, one could see the sea and the islands on the right, the hill on the left, and the whole KK town in between. Plus the wonderful breeze. I think this is a good place for KK people to pak-thor. Come here and and I will bring you there. Did some shopping too just now. Actually was supposed to be tagging in the ward, but... err... curi-curi come out one.

SUKMA (Sukan Malaysia) was here when I started work. Used to get lots of athlete patients, with fractures and sprains. Usually karate, taekwondo, and other contact sport athletes. Glad that it's all over.

That's a bit for now. Will update you all later. Internet here is very cheap, only RM 2 per hour.

Using this Yahoo account to email coz can't get onto the Excite server today. Hope will be able to get in later.

Oh, my phone number have changed. It's now 012-6825685. KL/Seremban line. That means if you call in, it will be as if you are calling to KL/Seremban. So don't be stingy if you miss me and want to talk to me. You know lah, life is quite lonely here...

Will try to attend church tonight. Haven't been able to do so last week. Need some Christian fellowship in this unfamiliar city.

Cheers,

Michael
Count your blessings!
22 Sept 2002