Remain hopeful

Case: An elderly with liver cirrhosis and occasional coughing was admitted to manage hepatic encephalopathy. She had an episode of vomiting & choking which led to aspiration pneumonia. Hypotension and desaturation ensued. While she is in DNR status, we tried our best to resuscitate her with fluids, performed sputum suction, provided oxygen therapy and started her on antibiotics. Her vitals recovered gradually and stabilized. However, she’s not out of the woods yet.

Just when life is about to come to an end, our path crossed, where I tried a little bit to help, and you tried a little more to live.

May you go though this challenge and live to see another day.

I wish you all the best.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the people around me, who gave me emotional support when I needed it the most.

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Giving just enough

No matter how knowledgeable a person may be, there is a need to gauge how well the message is received by the other party.

Stuff too much, and the recipient suffers from information overload.

Stuff too little, and the recipient enters into boredom.

It comes to a point, the communicator needs constantly check on how well the other person is receiving the message.

When the person seemed clueless, or having a hard time digesting the information, providing more information may not be effective in solving the problem. Instead, try to gauge how much the person has understood, and which part of the key information is still missing that hinders his/her understanding.

The student may be a slow learner, but the teacher/mentor plays an even greater role in getting the information across and helping the slow learner grow.

Well, in short...

I am just another slow learner who is trying hard to keep up the learning pace on this fast-paced society. So please bear with me while I’m still understanding how things work.

If you can’t wait, I don’t mind you leaving me alone and let me learn on my own.

Don’t worry, I’ll find my own way.

When it comes to a day where I am the one sharing the knowledge, I will make sure the other slow learners grow well, because I understand how it feels to be a slow learner.

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Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

I certainly love the idea of having hands-on experience in the hospital. Yup, this is my second week in the hospital as a clerk, and I certainly have gained much by being foolish.

Just like what Steve Jobs’ famous quote, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish,” I may have asked some foolish questions, made myself look like a dumb some of the times, but I guess I gained a lot more for asking those questions. I know what I know, and I am truthful for what I don’t know.

May the “How-s” and “Why-s” dominate my day… And let knowledge by the path forward.

All is well. =D

 

Story behind this shot: This shot was possible because of the curiosity towards an ad. That evening I saw a poster at the bus station at Taitung, and I asked the ticket conductor about it. That lead me to this stunningly beautiful architecture made of bamboo. It’s the “Tree of Life”. The person standing below kindly accepted my invitation to be part of the shot, further emphasizing the significance of the tree.

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Place of Living

 

Where we stay or live plays an important role in our daily lives. From how we interact with the people surrounding us to how the environment affects our wellbeing, a place we stay meant so much to us. A grown person can head back to a place called 'home' even if it is a rundown suburb with much poverty and hardship. It is where we used to belong, poured our emotions into it, and grow up in.   

A place can affect us dearly. Spatial segmentation may give us more personal space, but too much of privacy could lead to some potential issues. When we have more personal space, we leave out 'connectedness' from our daily lives, and this lead to losing sight of community as a whole. Individual tolerance of the others may be threatened. In addition, people finding privacy difficult to obtain, such as children, may spend more time out of their homes, away from the surveillance of responsible adults. All these affect the everyday life and health of the people in this place.

A place may also be affected by global capitalism, where the rich will remain rich, and the poor will become poorer. Be it legal or illegal dumping of toxic wastes, the people who suffered from this exposure to hazard are the people of low income or defenceless ethnicity. As the voices of these people are often neglected, they are defenceless against the party causing harm, and even help from government comes slow.

The local community grows differently too, according to the people occupying the space. In places with great access to resources such as high income and education, the extensive ties formed in the local community may be shallow and short term. However, places with much needs may have less extensive ties, but the bonds may be deeper, involving frequent contacts and greater intensity.

As we study how human interacts with each other in a local vicinity, we may observe a trend of the place, and this actually affects how we should provide support to the community. I believe that when a medical professional is involved in the wellbeing of the society, he would better understand how to provide the services to them, as he understands better the cause of sufferings.

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Working with people

The most interesting part of life is where you have to work with people. While it’s quite true that some people may find it hard to work with others, when you team up, you’ll be able to work faster and achieve more.

Somehow, you need to be at the same pace with your other team members, or at least get to know what everyone is working on. If you missed out any of the discussion, follow up.

The most important virtue I realized is Patience and Tolerance. Everyone has a say in their decision and you may not agree with it. But you can always try to achieve a consensus with the other party. Working in group means working together to achieve something, not fighting or backstabbing each other to show who is a better leader. If you’re doing that, you’re not a good leader and you’re being plain annoying. A great leader would lead with much willingness to listen to other’s opinions and to guide whenever necessary only. They are the ones who motivate you to do better and achieve more.

You can still see some dictators in this modern society where everything he says is right. Well, I guess we’ll just have to find a way to work with them.

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Next Level Photography

Moving forward into the future, we shall be able to see how high-speed photography can act as life-saving tools. In addition, further research could lead to advancement in medical imaging and search-and-rescue tools. Take a look at this promising research.

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The Day After Tomorrow

I still recall the first time I watched this movie, when it was about 8 years back. The movie seemed like a made-up story, somehow unreal and fictional. However, was it really that far fetched?

These past few years of extreme weather and unpredicted change of seasons prompted me to review this movie again. Perhaps it may not be another ice age, nor would it be like the crazy havoc in the movie “2012”, but one certain thing we should really reflect is, how much have we done to help our Earth?

I’m sorry to say that we are just parasites to this planet. This is very true. We consume without thinking about the consequences, and we use Earth resources to our liking. With global recession right now, who is going to pay for the debt? Believe it or not, our mother Earth has to pay for it. And who gets the money out of these resources? Think about it.

Balance of life is extremely crucial to the survival of mankind. We have gone slack, lazy, selfish and wasteful. Our greed for convenience has lead us to some unnecessary exploitations and waste, which include the waste of energy and natural resources. Just because you decided not to switch off the lights because of your convenience, you are just using up what we ought to leave for our children. And just because you decided to use a plastic or paper bag to put in your groceries when you forgot your shopping bag, unnecessary garbage is produced.

This is not the responsibility for one person. Stop pointing fingers at other people, start doing it yourself, influence others to do it. Everyone is responsible for it. You can make a difference.

 

P/S: Please watch “The Inconvenience Truth" for a complete understanding of our climate system.

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Beginning of a Journey

Time flies and people change. For the better I hope. As life is full of knowledge and wisdom, I could not help but awe the magnificent journey of self-discovery.

As the journey towards becoming a medical doctor begins, I do not believe that I need to give up the opportunity of learning others. After all, life is all about learning from each other.

The art of healing may not necessarily be just technical skills, but how one’s attitude towards life matters more than anything else. Here, I present you ARTISTIC MEDICINE, where some experiences of mine may perhaps help you along the way, to discover that a balanced growth is just like a tree – the trunk as your core, branches and roots as your support.

Thank you for your visit, and I hope that in the future, we could discuss ways to help each other improve and learn in life.

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