iPhone 4

Thank you Supernova for the distraction! Just got to know iPhone 4 will be in town soon.. very soon! Instead of updating my other blog... my eyes are stuck at the Maxis homepage and reviewing the iValue and iData plan etc.. oh, so can't wait! but again.. decision, decision.. which plan should I take? Any suggestions??

I love my job!

OK, despite the busy and mad clinic day today.. I am happy! I met all kinds of patients today.. good ones, ok ones, and stubborn ones...

My first patient was patient who has HIV after being very naugthy when he was young. He was lucky his wife didn't leave him. But of course no more intimacy between them.. Asked if he minds.. "Saya juga buat salah, saya kena tanggung la." 

My second patient made my day! Case of obesity with its complications - diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, hypertension and fatty liver. BMI of 37. Obesity.. I have special interest in this! Too bad previously, issue of weight reduction wasn't very highlighted.. too many people concentrated on treating the complications rather than principal problem. We tend to tell patients you need to cut down on your food without telling them how.. you need to exercise without telling them how. He initially was trying to give 101 excuses for not exercising until I told him "We can create 1001 excuses for not doing things we should do. At the end of the day.. we suffer from consequences of our very own excuses.." He paused and agreed. I spent almost 1 hour with him.. and usual manner he thanked me and appreciated my consultation. I think I touched a life there.. but I told him to prove his appreciation by giving me results in the next 1 month.. I hope he will.

I am glad that the patients I saw today in the morning clinic were rather pleasant...

Monday afternoon.. my special interest clinic.. Obesity. Was disappointed initially as some of the patients didn't lose weight... the good thing is, they have actually changed their eating habit.. that's good start isn't it? But again.. they created excuses for not being active.... too busy, no time, too expensive to buy an exercise machine etc..

However, I am proud of 1 patient of mine... He actually gave excuses when I asked him to walk from the hospital quarters to the "Kitchen" (he's a chef in our hospital) during his last consultation. Surprise.. surprise.. he actually took my word and started walking form his quarters to work. :) Within this 2 weeks, he has lost 2kg!

THE THING IS..  not about a patient listening to what a doctor has to say.. but it's about working together towards the goal and making them understand why things are done the way there are... I am happy when they understand and work hard to achieve the goal.. like today... and I realised I love my job!

   

Hari Raya break is over!

Last week was... pleasant. Traffic .. in and outside the hospital.. crystal clear. The office was empty, the clinic was empty... was taking my own sweet time reviewing each and every patient. Nobody too ill to handle... oh, how I wish it'd be like this all the time. Good for the patients - do not have to face the "market-like" chaos and of course good for the staff too.. give us time to stop and think...

So, back to reality! Traffic to work is back to normal, especially as both international schools MIGS and ISKL) started their session.. oh, I hope it's summer all year!

Too bad good things do not last forever! Today, back to madness! The clinic was crowded as ever and morning patients overlapped with the afternoon clinic patients! Sorry to all the patients - we've tried our very best. Hope you had a satisfactory treatment today..

Selamat Hari Raya

Pheww.... I think everything is almost done now... what a day! Luckily I took enough leaves. About to retire to bed now...

THE THING IS... before I go to bed, would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin. May all of us have a blessed day tomorrow and days to come..

Reminder to myself: please maintain whatever good practices I have done during this Holy month.. especially the eating habit part.. can't bear the thought that I might regain some weight after this!

Eid Mubarak! Take care.. drive safely!

Ultimate Happiness

"Sepanjang 27 tahun aku disogokkan dengan idea bahawa kebahagiaan hanya boleh dicapai dengan menurut perintah dan untuk tidak menjadi anak yang derhaka," said one of the cast in a local soap opera last night.. (yeah... I am a big fan of dramas.. whatever language..) he said it with full of anger and as if it was all lies...

So what's the message behind this? Being an insolent child will make you happy because you are following what you want and you are in control of your own life? Being an obedient child will make you unhappy?

Well, i beg to defer! "Syurga di bawah telapak kaki ibu." That's what we've been told for ages. So it's pretty clear that if we want happiness, obey our mothers we must. So long it is not contradictory to the teachings of Islam.

I guess if we can remember why we are in this world.. as caliph.. and that this world is a temporary place, a pit stop .. determining where and how we will be in the thereafter, we won't feel being obedient is a burden. Of course, love for our parents is unconditional, loving them for our Creator but must not be above the love for Him

So coming back to the statement, well.. duh! Happiness is to be achieved by being an obedient child.. that should be THE ultimate happiness. You may think you will be happy to just follow your dreams, follow what your heart says to the expense of being an insolent child.. but is our mind so tiny that we think about ONLY today and not tommorrow? THE THING IS.. broaden our mind and think again why we are here is this today and without our parents and their upbringing, we won't be where we are now.. I am so blessed to have wonderful parents and family.. and I know we all are... 

Ending of Ramadhan 1431H

Pejam.. celik.. pejam.. celik.. bulan puasa dah nak habis... That's how my mama will describe how fast time flies.. and I totally agree with her!

It feels as if.. only yesterday was the 1st of Ramadhan 1431H. But hey.. wake up! 29th Ramadhan is the date today! I am not sure about you all.. but I am not confident that I've filled this month the way we should.. in a way.. I felt something is lacking and missing... and don't quite know what.. maybe I didn't do enough prayers, sedekah or read the Quran this year. Hopefully whatever good deeds we have done will be accepted by Allah.

So they say Ramadhan is not just a month.. but it is a "madrasah". Training us.. The "syaitan" and "iblis" all tied up.. So this is the month to see our true colours.. Without the persuasion etc.. So can this one month help us to be good for the remaining 11 months?

Not sure if I have graduated with first class degree from this "madrasah" but I hope we can continue first class "akhlak" in years to come..

Goodbye Ramadhan and Welcome Syawal.. Will we meet again next year? I hope so because I am missing you already..

Rotund...

Weight management has become my passion. For some reason I don't quite know. Maybe because I, myself have been trying to lose some weight..?

My friend and I are very excited about this clinic that we set up not too long ago.. Alhamdulillah things are moving pretty well and smooth. Of course with the support of our dear boss. 

Past few months running the clinic, I can see why people can be at the weight they are at... simply because:

1. comfort eating.. trying to console themselves with eating.. at the end, they are sad again because they have become so big, and eat again to console themselves again.. this cycle goes on and on
2. extremely good appetite.. everything is just too delicious until instead of eat to live, they live to eat
3. peer pressure... this is true as some of "friends" give wrong advise! Met a patient yesterday whom his friend told him... "Tight control of diet in 1 day and indulge on the other day!" THE THING IS... it does not work that way...! Remember istiqamah (consistent)? Oh, yes! Even in eating we need to be istiqamah! 
4. do not exercise and find 1001 excuses not to exercise
5. opportunistic eating... this is very true in people who work in the kitchen.. they will eat anything and everything in the kitchen
6. sedentary lifestyle.. how many of us spend our free time by playing sports? Most of us would either watch TV and mind you.. there are so many channels and VCDs/DVDs to watch! And the other half would spend their time on-line.. ie. Facebook etc....

Not that I am prejudice towards those who are overweight and obese, but THE THING IS... we have to do something to change it. Not for the beauty. Not to say APPLE or PEAR not in trend and Monalisa is.. but it's for the HEALTH. Waiting for diseases related to weight problems ie. diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart disease, obstructive sleep apnoea... will all be too late. So, come on and let's make some change! And I know this is possible! "Nak seribu daya, Tak nak seribu dalih".

2 weeks ago, I was very inspired when I met a chef who weighed 156kg in January.. and now she is 129kg and very keen to lose further. How did she do it? DETERMINATION and CONSISTENCY, plus a little bit of help with medication (that's why they come to us... ). She's changed her menu.. stick to it everyday without fail. Dessert doesn't seem appetizing anymore. She never exercised before and now has started brisk walking 30 minutes daily. Trust me, it wasn't easy! She got critics and nasty comments from her brother and sister.. and yet she is very determined to fight them! I hope she is successful in maintaining the weight loss and very enthusiastic to help her achieve her goals.

Blogging again...

I first started blogging in early part of the year.. was blogging for something more academic. After a while I stopped. Busy with work and bad internet connection in work place.. THE THING IS... these were my excuses. That's life! We tend to create excuses.. to explain why we do what we do...

I always talk to myself (mind you.. I am not delusional or having any kind of hallucinations).. just this small voice in my heart. Dissecting decisions that I have made.. whether it's right or wrong.. How I came to that decision etc. And I always thought that someday, I may want to write a book.. To share my thoughts and ideas.. sharing how I've lived this beautiful world with so much blessings. THE THING IS.. I tend to delay  certain things and doing it at a very last minute.. A dear friend of mine is a regular blogger. Looking at her blog today made me divert my "ambition" from writing a book to blogging. So, here it goes.. Blogging again...