Sunday, October 30, 2005

Hugging Buddha's Leg

5 more weeks to the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

I'm so screwed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I realise I look awful when running.

Wei Qiang converses @ 06:30 0 buzzes

Friday, October 28, 2005

Quote

"Physical examination must be carried out with a watchful eye, a sensitive touch, discerning ears, and an alert sense of smell. Above all, what is needed is an alert mind, free of dogma and routine. Each clinical problem, no matter how routine it may appear to be on the surface, calls for an unprejudiced approach. Each possible clue must be pursued; nothing can be taken for granted."

Maxwell M. Wintrobe

Wei Qiang converses @ 23:17 0 buzzes

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

The thinking student

Been much too busy reading to have a life. Somehow I just feel that a load of information is dumped on me and I'm processing it too slowly.

Found an article in the student BMJ on "Better ways of learning".

It shows the thinking medical student clerking and making a diagnosis. I think that's the way to go. Unfortunately, I still have to work on it.

Wei Qiang converses @ 21:17 0 buzzes

Friday, October 21, 2005

Moment of silence

You will always be remembered and loved.
By family whom you least expect.

Wei Qiang converses @ 21:27

Bad leg days

Running has been bad this week.

Low on both speed and stamina.

Wei Qiang converses @ 06:57 0 buzzes

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Monsoon

Looks like the monsoon is here.


Been stuck at home by the rain.

It's depressing.


Can't get any exercise / work done. Partly due to my telly addiction.

It's depressing.

Wei Qiang converses @ 17:05 0 buzzes

vast, colossal, huge, immense, giganormous

I wish I was a 80GB hard disk with a high speed USB ver2.0 connection so that I can download all the knowledge into myself.

I wish I had a google search engine, so that I can bring out the relevant information when needed.

I wish I didn't have to study so hard.
Why can't I study at my own comfortable pace?
(because if i do, i might fail)

Wei Qiang converses @ 11:20 0 buzzes

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Holding your hand, we walk this journey

With every passing day, I am more sure about you.
Your presence warms my heart.
Your love makes me committed.

Without you, my life would be a mess.
With no focus and absolutely no reason.
For you are the one that rounds my life up.

I know I've made you wait.
I wish I didn't have to, but I can't.
But for everyday that has passed, my live for you just grows stronger.

Soon, the time will come.
To walk the aisle and wear the lee hwa.
I promise you, I never lie.

In any case, in the depths of my heart.
I already know, you are my one and only.
Always so, always will be.

Always yours.

Wei Qiang converses @ 00:00

Monday, October 17, 2005

Nought

Sometimes, nothing happens.

Wei Qiang converses @ 15:22 1 buzzes

Friday, October 14, 2005

Equilibrum

I did speedwork today:

2 x 400m
3 x 200m
4 x 100m
2 x 400m

God, my quads hurt. And I think I've strained my left achilles.

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Ranson's Indices (predicts severity of pancreatitis)
(1) Age >55
(2) WBC > 16,000
(3) HCT >10%

(4) ­­Glucose (increased)
(5) LDH (increased)
(6) AST (increased)
(6) BUN (increased)

(7) serum Ca2+ (decreased)
(8) PaO2 (decreased)

Child's classification (severity of liver failure)

An easy way to memorise is to note the 2 serum indices: albumin and bilirubin.

A: both serum bil and alb are normal.
C: both serum bil (>3mg/dl) and alb(<30g/l) are abnormal
B: somewhere in between the 2 extremes

Last index for Child's is ascites / encephalopathy. Presence of them increases Child's grade.

Wei Qiang converses @ 14:11 1 buzzes

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Thoughts

How to we find a balance between studies and sports?

One is bound to surpass the other.
It is hard to excel in both.

One must sacrifice.

Wei Qiang converses @ 20:42 2 buzzes

Monday, October 10, 2005

Soft Spot


Now I realise I have a soft spot for ladies who cry.

I'm not talking about girls who brawl and howl like a real cry baby. Those turn me off.

I'm talking about those, whose eyes well up with water and turn red. Looking deeply into the eyes, you can sense the sadness within.

How can one stay angry at someone like that?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was born to love you
With every single beat of my heart
Yes, I was born to take care of you
Every single day of my life

Wei Qiang converses @ 20:36 0 buzzes

Wise Quote Quiz

Kind person
Your wise quote is: "Be kind to unkind people,
they probably need it the most" by Ashleigh Brilliant.

You try to look beyond appearance, try to give people second chances and are probably very kind.

Understanding is your biggest personality trait, and those you can see through should be grateful. If they aren't already.

You detest narrow minded people, because they can't see what's really there. Facades is not your thing and you strive to always be who you really are.

What wise quote fits you? [pics]
brought to you by Painfulbliss

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sounds like sympathy kindness to me. Blah.

Wei Qiang converses @ 11:05 0 buzzes

Sunday, October 09, 2005

SAVA sprints

My first dragonboat competition! And I still don't know what SAVA stands for. Apparently it's some company devoted to sports, arts and community work.It's held at the bedok reservoir. Just look at the crowd! The atmosphere was carnival. I've never dragonboated (new term invented!) in a reservoir before. Closest was when I went canoeing with kwanghow at macritchie. So I was definitely looking forward to hitting the water. Our event was the Northeast CDC community club, which pitted us against other constituencies in the northeast. That's me with my training mate, Azhar. We were the pacers during the team trainings. That's the dragonboats racing against each other. There were a total of 40+ races. Ours was race 39. That's my team. Lots of guys except for one gutsy girl, Yiling.

The idea of the community club was to get residents from the constituencies to take part and have a good friendly race. It was a spoiler to find out that the other constituencies had taken the easier route by adopting dragonboat teams from schools in their constituency. In the end, we were racing against republic polytechic, ngee ann school, seahawk team etc.

But we held our grit and finished the race. We were last (we took a detour) but we gained experience. The very old saying goes, "failure is the stepping stone to success." We will heed that and strive on.

Singapore Regatta. Here we come!


Wei Qiang converses @ 20:00 1 buzzes

Friday, October 07, 2005

Ups and Downs

I really do believe life is just full of ups and downs.

You can't have too much of a good thing.
Eventually something bad will happen.

When you are down in the dumps, you know things will look up soon.
Afterall, things can't get any worse.

Wei Qiang converses @ 19:29 0 buzzes

The irony of beauty

I was on the hospital-bound train this morning during peak hours. As usual, I was relegated to standing by the metal pole due to the high human traffic.

At the Serangoon stop, a elderly lady hobbled into the carriage. She looked left and right for any empty seats but found none and was also relegated to standing by the pole with me.

I was flabbergasted that no one offered to give up their seats. But then I realised that I was in Singapore and suddenly it seem normal. (note the sarcasm) I was even more hyper-flabbergasted when I saw that the 2 seats nearest to the elderly lady was occupied by 2 young to middle-aged ladies applying make-up.

As they furiously applied powder and eye shadows to their faces, they seem oblivious to their surroundings.

It's ironic that as they tried (in vain) to look as beautiful as they can on the outside, their inner ugliness was made all the more obvious.

Finally it took a lady sitting almost 1 door away to give up her seat. A heart of gold she had. Too bad we don't see much of them around Singapore.

Wei Qiang converses @ 18:23 0 buzzes

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Treasure Trove

Just a glimpse of the cases I saw in my 1 week stint at nuh paeds:

Asthma
Pneumonia
Bronchitis
Urinary tract infection
Gastroenteritis

Cerebral palsy
Spina bifida
Nephrotic syndrome
Type I diabetes mellitus
Biliary atresia
Down syndrome
VSD

Noonan's syndrome
Arthrogryphosis
Cyanotic congenital heart disease
Craniopharyngioma
Adrenoleucodystrophy

What a week...

Wei Qiang converses @ 18:00 2 buzzes

Sunday, October 02, 2005

A breather, even just for a while, is most welcomed

Having just survived a terrifying week with 2 end-of-posting tests, I can finally breath again.

Sure one of the tests was infectious diseases (which is not 'siong' compared to derm), but I always study hard for any test. And paeds osces was a real worrier, with everybody studying like it was for the final mbbs, you could feel the stress setting in.


I don't have a break. I'll be doing another week of paeds at nuh before settling into a (hopefully) relaxing 2 week study break. But even then, I feel quite relieved this weekend.

Recharge myself this weekend and hopefully I'll be able to do some intensive wardwork next week. It's already October. Time is running short.

Ran the FMS (faculty medical shield) road race this year. First time participating. The route was around the school ranging about 6 slopes. I think the route was about 3+km. I clocked about 15.30mins and I was bushed when I finished. Felt a bit light-headed. Think the hot afternoon weather didn't help at all. Thanks to my teammates who paced me near the end and encouraged me to sprint the last metres.

Today's dragonboat training was tough. My weary and aching body was not taking the strain well. Managed to survive through the session though. Competition next week. Hopefully we'll win something. It'll be really nice.

Haven't been updating much recently. Quite tired and everytime I feel like blogging, I should be studying. I suspect this will be the norm for the next few months.

Going to enjoy the weekend! It's been much too short. No time to waste.

Wei Qiang converses @ 15:06 0 buzzes