World No Tobacco Day 2009

The theme of World No Tobacco Day 2009 is "Tobacco Health Warnings", with an emphasis on the picture warnings that have been shown to be particularly effective at making people aware of the health risks of tobacco use and convincing them to quit. More and more countries are fighting back against the epidemic of tobacco by requiring that packages of tobacco show the dangers of the product's use, as called for in guidelines to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. (World Health Organization)

rasanya banyak dah usaha-usaha daripada pelbagai pihak untuk kempen tak nak merokok. bukannya para perokok tu tak tahu pun about all the negative sides of smoking, perhaps they are just being soooo ignorance. maybe they are just so addicted to it (bukan nak membela para perokok, but try to put myself into their shoes).

i hate it when people smoke in public. takpe if diorang nak bahayakan kesihatan sendiri, tapi nak heret orang lain sekali hirup asap rokok tu, i think it's pretty cruel. tempat-tempat glamor yang jadi sasaran perokok-perokok: bus station, restaurant, tepi-tepi tangga kat shopping complex, pasar malam, etc. eh? should i say everywhere? hihi

so people out there, please, please and please let our lung inhale only the clean air. stop smoking or at least reduce it and please do not smoke in public area. my dear youngsters, please do not even try to get close to it. at the end of the day, you will realize that smoking will just waste up your money, bring disaster to your health and those around you, and the most pathetic part, it will be one of the reason for people to hate you and curse you so badly. huhu.

special days in May...

i think it's a little bit late for me to make some acknowledgment of some of the special days in May.

10th May : Mothers' Day (a great relief as i was able to be at home, regardless of the workload that was abandoned by me in kuantan. haha)
12th May: Nurses' Day (unable to wish the staffnurses at the hospital. MC ~sigh)
22nd May: My 23rd birthday (shamelessly announcing my age. hihi. certainly don't have any idea why women are so sensitive to expose about their own age. hmmm.)

my roommates' brithdays: Mary (5th May), mona (23rd May). happy belated birthday my dear sisters! ^_^

mona and her story about the measuring tape
i was touched when i read her recent entry. perihal measuring tape. masih ingat lagi kata-kata pak ungku di pulau kapas. our average life span is about 63 years old (same with the length of a measuring tape). if i am about to calculate it, approximately, about 40 years left for me to do good deeds on this earth (itupun kalau tak mati di zaman muda ~just like what had been mentioned by mona). if other people celebrate their birthday with happening parties, i would rather step back, be alone and ponder upon all the wrongdoings that i had done for the past 23 years.

how great a woman is...
though it may a little too late, i still would like to wish:

• Happy Mothers' Day to all moms
• Happy Nurses' Day to all nurses

p/s: hoping that i can be a really good mom n a good nurse as well in the future (say no to grumpy nurses in hospital! yeah!)

'ibrah di sebalik kesakitan...

SOB (shortness of breath) on my first day in A&E...
it was my first day. macam biasa, monday sickness (homesick n tak bersemangat nak kerja. huu) ditambah pulak dengan my early symptoms of fever. start dengan batuk-batuk sejak malam sebelumnya. then, suhu yang terlampau sejuk di A&E worsen my condition. mula rasa sesak dada n terasa lemah seluruh badan. bila pegang dahi, terasa panas. alamak, memang dah demam ni! cuba jugak menggagahkan diri buat kerja-kerja yang simple. ambil vital signs, tolong staffnurse cucuk IM voltaren, n labelling the blood samples. time rehat, mula rasa abdominal pain (gastritis, sebab tak makan apa-apa sejak pagi). malu nak mengerang kesakitan di ward, aku menyorok kat restroom (huhu. memang tragis! nangis sorang-sorang sambil diperhatikan sorang budak perempuan yang nak ambil urine sample. ~kantoi la pulak). sampai kat rumah, makan tablet PCM 2 biji then try to have a rest. malamnya, tidur dengan hajar kat ruang tamu (rasa stuffy sangat dalam bilik n takut ganggu roommates sebab batuk tak berhenti). i failed to have a nice n plesant sleep. every 15 minutes terjaga n rasa sesak dada. sekejap menggigil, n sekejap rasa panas macam dalam oven.

MC jugak akhirnya...
this is the last thing that i plan to have. (tak mau ambil MC sebab malas nak ganti balik. hu~). pergi ke hospital as usual. siap pakai unifrom. haha. tak tau nape rajin sangat pakai uniform. then, pergi ke triage, waiting for the MA (Medical Assistant) to arrive. dah melepek dah kat triage tu. dengan sabarnya menanti with another patient that develop asthma. when the MA arrived...

MA: "dah berapa hari demam dik?"
me: "2. batuk, selsema, demam, diarrhea, headache (list out everything utk mudahkan MA tu buat clerking)
then, MA tu check my vital signs.
BP: 98/59
SPO2: 98%
PR: 54
Temperature: 39.3!!!!!!

MA: "tinggi ni dik. abang ambil darah ye?"
me: "taknakla"
MA: "masukkan air, nak?" (means kena masuk jarum branulla yang besar n kena stay lama kat ward sampai habis satu pine Normal Saline)
me: "tak maula"
MA: "la, habis tu?"
me: "saya nak jumpa doctor je. mintak MC. nak rehat kat rumah." (paksa diri untuk senyum)
MA: "ok. tapi makan PCM ni dulu, tau"

hihi. customer's right. dapat MC sehari. rehat dengan bahagianya di rumah (walaupun tak bahagia sangat sebab tak dapat balik rumah sebenar. hu~).

'ibrah di sebalik kesakitan yang dialami...
terngiang-ngiang kata-kata ust hasbullah (my fav ungs lecturer!). "kalau kita ditimpa musibah, dosa-dosa kecil kita akan dihapuskan. kalau kita tambah dengan kesabaran, boleh dapat extra, iaitu pahala." aku cuba untuk tidak mengeluh. terasa kerdil n lemah yang teramat bilamana Allah tarik semula nikmat sihat yang dikurniakan, yang mungkin telah lama aku kufuri. astaghfirullah.

terasa serba salah juga kat adik-adik jr serumah yang susah-payah menjaga aku, tapi aku pulak lebih banyak mendiamkan diri. rasa dosa pada Tuhan membungkam perasaan sehingga hilang minat untuk beramah mesra (maaf ye adik2!). syukur di atas musibah ini, tanda aku masih dalam pemerhatianNya. alhamdulillah ^_^

Mentally ill clients...

baru one week, since we left the psychiatric ward in HTAA but i had already missed all the sweet memories that we had after two weeks 'mingling' with the mentally ill clients. an unforgettable excitement that i don't think i can find it anywhere else on this earth (again...exaggerate! huhu)

how much do i know about methadone?
to be frank not much. all i ever know that it is an opiate group of drug used to replace the drug addicts 'addiction' towards other dangerous drugs (commonly, the heroin). i was actually a bit confused, why this methadone unit is placed in the psychiatric department anyway. my assumption (tak tau betul ke tak. hihi): most of the drug abusers will later develop mental problem (e.g: psychosis, schizophrenia). hmm, out of 59 methadone users, only 5 are non-Muslims. the rest, our young Malay Muslims. *sigh*

a testimony from a client that i met there, "dia (refers to methadone) punya 'kick' dik, memang sama macam heroin. laklok sekejap, lepas tu ok. boleh buat kerja macam biasa. hidup abang pun dah lebih terurus sekarang ni. dulu masa ambil heroin, satu kerja pun tak jalan. dalam seminggu, boleh kira berapa kali abang mandi."

i miss them...
hmm, i felt like words cannot express how grateful i am to meet those patients. these are among my favourite patients (jahat sungguh! i shouldn't be biased. heeee)

1. Mr HH
25 years old, diagnosed with schizophrenia. he was admitted due to EPS. what i like about him the most is he is such a nice guy. tak jemu-jemu bagi salam whenever he met us (the IIUM students). siap tunduk-tunduk lagi bila lalu depan kitorang. aduhai, sungguh sopan! not to forget his tarian 'mintak hujan' (ni kitorang gelar sendiri, sebab memang penuh aksi n ada unsur-unsur silat sikit. hihi).

among all the male patients, apparently i would rather say that he is the most 'islamic' one (just because he mentioned that his hobbies are: dengar ceramah-ceramah agama, baca al-Quran dan berpuasa. ^_^). plus, he is so obsessed with wudhu' (siap bertekak dengan sorang student - as he claimed Allah suruh ambil wudhu' setiap waktu)

me: "kenapa HH suka ambil wudhu'?" (i asked sebab tengah2 bersenam dia boleh berhenti, n pergi paip berdekatan untuk ambil wudhu'. pelik??hmmm??)
HH: "sebab bila ambil wudhu' saya akan rasa tenang. kalau saya rasa runsing, saya akan ambil wudhu' dan hati saya akan rasa tenang" (he does have a point!)
me: "apa yang selalu membuatkan HH runsing?"
HH: "keluarga saya susah, adik-beradik ramai. saya risau pasal keluarga saya...bla.. bla.."

so sweet. masih lagi risaukan keluarga walaupun dalam keadaan yang sebegitu. part paling menarik about this guy, was when i joined them in 'terapi lukisan', one of the ways for the patients to express themselves.

trainer: "HH, masa awak kat johor dulu awak ada masuk mana-mana pondok ke?"
HH: "tak pernah, saya hanya suka dengar ceramah-ceramah agama"
trainer: "ceramah-ceramah tu siapa yang bagi?"
HH: "orang-orang PAS"
trainer: "HH, habis tu, awak ni orang PAS la ye?"
HH: " ya, saya orang PAS. Allahuakbar!" (sambil angkat tangan kanan dengan penuh semangat. ^_^)

2. Pakcik Manja
His name memang manja, bukan gelaran. memang baik n selalu jadi patient yang paling happening bile time rehab. (i almost cry bila pakcik manja discharged, sebab tak sempat nak buat sukaneka dengan dia sekali).

3. Pakcik B
cool. one word that describe him the best. memang cool. ala-ala leader among the patients. tapi tak tahan nak ketawa bila dia start bukak cerita pasal kontrak puluhan juta yang dia handle (grandiose delusion). siap tuduh polis tersilap bawak dia masuk ward. huhu.

adik comel??
K.A. 29 years old, diagnosed with bipolar mood disorder. suka panggil aku adik comel (as he claimed dia teringat kat adik dia bila tengok aku.. haha). paling tak larat bila dia menyanyi lagu2 jiwang dengan penuh ekspresi depan aku (nasib baik diselamatkan oleh chee kiong- my saviour of the day). i presented his case depan sr shikin. memang menarik pun dia punya history. pernah jadi polis, n pernah involved with ganja. hmm...

a lesson with Dr Ramli...
Dr Ramli: "apa yang awak dapat daripada saya punya interview dengan patient td?"
me: "he got hallucination? sebab dia ade mention dengar suara binatang, suara lelaki n perempuan.."
Dr Ramli: "ok, how did i start the conversation?"
me: "erm....dr tanya dia 'ada rasa apa-apa gangguan tak'?"
Dr Ramli: "good. (nasib baik tak berangan time die interview patient td. fuh.) but, why?"
me: " open ended question. sebab gangguan (hallucination) banyak jenis. nak biar patient describe dulu gangguan macam mana yang dia rasa"
Dr Ramli: "exactly. bila patient tak boleh nak jawab, baru saya akan narrow kan question tu. 'ade dengar suara?'. like you mentioned hallucination banyak jenis, auditory, tactile, visual, etc. dalam lecture dah belajar kan?"
me: nodded...
Dr Ramli: "lagi...symptom lain? the way he talked?"
me: "urm...macam slurring speech sikit. early sign of EPS??" (menembak dengan tanpa segan silu di hadapan students kolej lain. huhu)
Dr Ramli: "betul. that's why u kena check patient ambil ubat apa."

dispersed. thanks to him that he taught us a lot. kalaulah semua doktor pun macam dia (takkanku berhenti berharap..huhu)

banyak lagi kisah-kisah menarik sepanjang kat ward psychiatric ni. setiap saat bersama patient ada je benda-benda pelik yang aku tak pernah encounter pun sebelum ni. sampaikan lenguh rahang mulut sebab tak tahan nak ketawa tengok gelagat-gelagat patients. a very meaningful fortnights in HTAA... my next destination... A&E (cuak!)