New Year Day Activities

I decided to stay low this year as Anita was occupied with her Dad who is still in the hospital. He was just waiting for his tests to come back and hopefully he would be discharged tomorrow.

Not much fire on the works ....By the bed ...Started the day as usual later than usual. I was watching the fireworks last night after watching the two Trainspotting movies. Unfortunately we couldn't see much from the balcony. The looked lower on the horizon compared to before. I could only hear the sound and see a few of the taller ones.

I went for an early lunch in town after the ward round before joining Anita at UMMC to pick her up after she brought lunch for her Dad.

Morning round The afternoon was rather dull ...The rest of the afternoon was pretty slow though with the full weather. I ended up doing some paperworks and sorting out the website for the upcoming MSH meeting before again joining Anita for dinner. A night in tonight watching football. Can't guarantee if I would be awake when United kicks off after midnight later. Have a clinic tomorrow.

Much has Changed

I left Universiti Malaya in 2011. And now that my father-in-law was.warded there, I got to spend some thine there. Much certainly has changed.

The biggest one being the new tower called Menara Selatan. They were still building it when I left. It had certainly changed the landscape of the whole place. With it the outpatients department had changed as well.

There were a few other development going on as well. The building next to the Primary Care Department - affectually known as RUKA - was being demolished. More buildings were being added which could only be a good thing. I remembered that when I first joined UM, the Paediatrics block was out on hold and it was finally opened just before I left.

Traffic flow was still bad but somehow I managed to get a spot on top of the Trauma Centre. Gone were the eatery at the Trauma Centre where I used to go to when I was on call. That place was being renovated as well. A lot was happening.

There was always a part of me which missed the place. I always had affinity to it although lately I haven't been there that much despite only staying 5 minutes away. Maybe in the next few days, I would give my old ward and the Medical Department a visit. Many of my old colleagues were still there. I might join them for lunch ...

Unexpected Turn

After planning to slow down for the end of the year, things took an unexpected turn.

After watching Star Wars with Anita and the boys, we were just about to settle down, my father-in-law started becoming breathless and we called the ambulance in. 15 minutes later, we were on the way to UMMC - a 5 minutes ride - where urgent treatment we're given to him.

He had a bleeding ulcer in parts of the stomach and was losing a lot of blood. Transfusion was given straight away and the next day, an endoscopy was done confirming that the bleeding had responded to medications started the evening before.

The waiting area outside of CCU. At least it was not crowded ...Looked like he would be in hospital for a few more days to be monitored and maybe some more blood transfusion. He was still recovering from sedation when I visited him last night and Anita was at the hospital visiting him at the minute.

It was a close call and we were lucky that he was staying with us where help arrived quite quickly. Everybody were understandably worried and at times when he was first treated, things could've gone out of hand. Alhamdulillah he managed to pull through. Hopefully no more complications after this. He had been in and out of hospital in the past couple of months.

Back to UMMC

In the middle of my busy schedule, I received an invitation to give a talk at UMMC, something which I would not say no to. Sure enough, the day came and the topic given was somewhat tricky and not something I had touched before, although well within my realm.

I cancelled my Saturday morning clinic for this - my talk was about 11.30 - and was there in ample time to have a look around and listen to the other speakers which happened to be my former colleagues.

The irrepressible Mrs DhillonAfter delivering my talk, I had to make a quick exit as I had a referral to attend to at Park City, followed by meeting up with Anita after her reunion. We then had dinner after that for my Mother-in-law's birthday. Not much time to linger around after the talk.

None the less I felt honoured and it was certainly great to meet familiar faces and say hi to some old friends.

Alfatihah

I just learned of a tragic news that a former senior colleague of mine from UMMC who passed away this morning after a battle with cancer. She was suddenly taken ill a few months back and deteriorated sharply. She was the pillar of the MMed program at UM and I was her willing assistance during my time there.

Alfatihah. And my doa is that she would be placed amongst the Muslimin.