Labour Room Tales 3

This short story was first posted on friendster bulletin board. Initally I wouldn't want to have it on the blog. I try not to say too much on what I do everyday. However the fact remains that these stories are really something to share with. So enjoy.

Not all labour room cases are meant for
laughs. This morning, I wittnessed one
of the toughest battle between a mother
and the birth of her youngest child.

She was 34, pregnant for the eighth
time. She has had 2 miscarriages and 1
still birth. Should this pregnancy
succeed, it will be her fifth child.

She was wheeled in at midnight. Her
cervix was already dilated, but the
baby's head is still quite high up. To
make matters worse, she was progressing
very slowly. After 4 hours, the cervix
only dilated to a further 1 cm. The
baby's head remained where it was.

I thought 'Aiyah, sap sap sui lah. This
case sure hantar operation theatre.
Another Caesarean section prospect.'

How wrong was I. She stayed in the
labour room for another 4 hours, making
it an 8 hour labour process marathon.
Even so, her cervix was only at 6 cm.
Everyone was anxiously waiting for it to
get to 10 cm.

Just when I thought she was done for it
and she should be prepped for surgery,
the doctor was very confident of her
progress and decided to give her another
2 hours.

Boy, did we wait. So 8 hours grew to 10
hours. And it did dilated to 10 cm.

By this time, the mother was already
exhausted beyond words. 10 hours? My
God! Even half ironman cut off time is
lesser than that.

She was barely pushing. Tired.
Exhausted. Almost at loss. Everyone who
was standing around her was beginning to
doubt the decision we've made earlier.
Maybe we should've pushed her to surgery.

At that moment, a nurse looked straight
into the mother's eyes and said "Sis,
this is it. Give it your last go. We
don't want your baby to suffocate. Let
everything be good to you and your baby.
I know you love your baby. Now push!"

With a final continuous, big, long,
painful, tormenting push, a new life in
a form of a cute baby boy was brought to
the face of earth. He cried the most
beautiful cry I've ever heard.

Giving birth is never easy. It is a play
with a woman's life. Yet how often do we
acknowledge this?

Call up your mum, and say you love her.
And never ever be rude to her. Alhtough
it's ok to disagree with her sometimes,
but do it agreeably.

Call up your wife, and say you love her
too. Respect her requests, because there
is no price to put on the sacrifice she
made.

Kalau dia suruh bangun tido pegi beli
barang, jangan bagi alasan mengantuk
pasal tengok bola semalam. Christiano
Ronaldo main bola 90 minit jatuh
tergolek berpuluh-puluh kali, komplen
macam pondan. Bini ngkorang bersalin 6,
7, 8, 9, 10 jam, takde mintak
downpayment pon.

Labour Room Tales 2

This short story was first posted on friendster bulletin board. Initally I wouldn't want to have it on the blog. I try not to say too much on what I do everyday. However the fact remains that these stories are really something to share with. So enjoy.

Waktu itu sudah pukul 2 pagi. Cuma ada 2
orang ibu di Labour Room yang sedang
melahirkan anak. Salah seorangnya di
jaga oleh aku.

Seorang ibu berbangsa Cina, muda sikit
je daripada aku, dan mengandung
kandungan pertamanya. Memang nampak dia
nervous. maklumlah, pertama kali bersalin.

Tapi lambat laun nervousnessnya hilang
ditelan dek sakit yang melampau-lampau.
dia merayu "Tak boleh kasi itu ubat
hilang sakit ke? Kasi saya pengsanlah.
Sakit sangat doktor."

Aku pun kesian sebenarnya. Aku yang
single tersanga-sangat ni tengok orang
lagi muda dari aku nak bersalin, isk,
memang terasa beb kesakitan dia. "Ok,
ok. Saya panggil doktor betul punya ye.
Dia boleh kasi ubat."

Doktor tu pun kasi injek satu tramadol.
Tapi tak jalan gak ubat tu. Bila rahim
ibu tu mengeras, memang meronta-ronta
mak itu dalam kesakitan.

Dan kemudian datanglah Nurse Bermulut
Capoi tu kembali. Mak yang nak bersalin
ni pun merayu lah pada nurse nih dengan
muka yang merah padam menahan sakit dan
air mata yang bercucuran mebasahi
pipinya. "Kak, tolong kak! Saya sangat
sakit. Tak boleh tahan kak! Tolong sama
saya kak."

Dan Nurse Bermulut Capoi ni pun berkata
dengan suaranya yang menusuk gegendang
telinga bak lembing Bugis "Amoi, you
sekarang mau bersalin, Amoi. Memang
sakit dia sangat teruk. Kalau bersalin
ni tak sakit, saya sudah ada 30 anak
woo. You tahan ajelah. berdoa pada Tuhan
banyak-banyak."

Adui. 30 orang anak? Aku kesian la kat
anak-anak dia semua kalau dia ada ramai
macam tu.

Labour Room Tales 1

This short story was first posted on friendster bulletin board. Initally I wouldn't want to have it on the blog. I try not to say too much on what I do everyday. However the fact remains that these stories are really something to share with. So enjoy.

Waktu itu sudah pukul 2.30 pagi. Masuk
seorang ibu yang sarat mengandung,
tengah nak beranak. Nurse pun jerit "Ha,
ngko tolak dia masuk DS 3, set IV line.
Kejap lagi aku datang."

Terus bergegas rakan aku pergi bilik IV
line, memenuhkan tray dengan IV line,
jarum, kapas dan 3 keping glove getah.
Aku tengok je dari jauh. Tak sangka pada
malam yang hening itu akan aku saksikan
suatu keadaan yang sangat la ralat.

Selepas satu jam berlalu, kakak yang
masuk nak bersalin tadi pun dah sampai
tahap nak meneran. Nurse pun kelam
kabut, nasib baik keadaan delivery suite
kat hospital tu sangat organized. So tak
la kalut, nampak je sibuk.

"Dik! Jangan teran lagi dik. Tak ready
lagi ni. Nanti ngko yang susah
terkoyak." Kata nurse yang mulut capoi
itu. Aduh, bingitnya suaranya.

Namun sebingit-bingit suara nurse itu,
tak dapat ia melarang kakak itu dari
terus meneran. Kerana tak tahan dek
sakit, dia terus jua meneran.

Tak sampai 10 minit, BUAK!! Terkeluarlah
satu nyawa baru. Aku kagum melihat
mukjizat kehidupan, di mana lahirnya
satu nyawa baru.

Namun nurse capoi itu tetap meneruskan
khutbahnya. "Ngko nih, meh aku check
tengok. Ni mesti banyak terkoyak ni. tu
la ngko tanak dengar cakap aku."

Tapi alangkah terkejutnya nurse itu,
bila diselak-selaknya di situ,
keadaannya amat pristine sekali. Mungkin
cuma sedikit luka, tapi nothing a
37-needle can't handle.

Nurse itu berasa takjub, lalu dia
mengeluarkan kata-kata yang memang aku
tak sangka akan ku dengar selama aku hidup.

"Uiiiiish, kuat ye ngko punya ni"

Dan akak tu menjawab "terima kasih."

Aku pun jam kejap. Mana kerusi? Aku nak
baring.

Sepeda Kuno

I stumbled across something refreshing while searching for pictures on google.

http://sepeda.wordpress.com

It is a blog about sepeda kuno (classic bicycles). I find it very refreshing to see solid-bodied steel bicycles still rule the roads of Indonesia.

This bicycle definitely grabbed my attention.



I understand why this beauty is preserved in the museum. Look further.


Bevel gears instead of chain-driven cogs!

To me, this is innovation at its best. Maybe not so much on technology, but the solutions they came up with reflects a lot on how much thought, creative visualization and to a certain degree, imagination was put in.

Do visit our friends. There's a lot to discover; Lever-operated cable-less brakes, bicycle suspension during its infancy, wheels with painted sidewalls. Enough to go around a month's worth of lunch break during this fasting month.

Photos taken from here.

1! 2! 3! 3 wrinkles! Aah Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Image source: muppet.wikia.com

To date, there have been:

7 people who think I'm a twin brother of a lecturer,

6 people who think I'm a specialist,

3 people who think I'm 28,

1 person who thinks I'm married.

I guess being sedentary makes you age faster. Oh no!

Mana helmet aku? Mana kasut aku? Mana pam beskal aku?!

VO2 Max Explained

Since I'm tied up with ward work and class (and starting with obs & gynae posting isn't the most pleasant thing in the world), I better write something that is more related with what's occupying my conscious mind. Having said that, I foresee no running or cycling for the next month. I have enough reasons.

Anyways, lets discuss about VO2 Max. Something that all athletes are trying to push higher and higher.

Starring in this play are:



To make this discussion simple, I'm using the absolute definition of VO2 Max as it is simpler and easier to understand. You can read about the other definition when you understand more about it. Also I'm omitting a lot of details as I'm trying to make this as simple as possible.

So, what is VO2 Max?

To simply put it, VO2 Max is the amount of oxygen brought to and used by the muscle in a minute. Since oxygen is used in the metabolism of energy, it can be (directly or indirectly) translated to capability of the muscle producing energy. Loosely used, the higher your VO2 Max is, the more power you produce, the longer you last (hihi).



The picture above illustrates VO2 Max in a well-trained person, like Awea. They could reach numbers up to 8L/min!!

In a normally functioning, untrained, triathlete-wannabe person, the usual VO2 Max level is around 3.5L/min. Like this person down here.



Generally, there are 3 ways for the wannabe to improve his VO2 Max.

1. Optimize muscle condition to utilize oxygen better (train the muscle).
Like people, muscle behaves in various ways. There are lazy muscles, there are hardworking muscles. Lazy muscles need a lot of whipping to get the work done, kinda like me during school days. So they require a lot more oxygen to produce enough energy. Hardworking muscle is different. Because these kind of muscles are used to hard work, they require less oxygen to produce the same amount of energy, thus increasing efficiency.

2. Improve blood circulation (have a good heart i.e. training).
The heart is a natural pump in the body. A weak heart response poorly to exercise. That is why if you try to run 5 km after a month of Manjalara-marathon in front of the TV, you feel your heart is pumping too fast. A well-worked heart adapts better with exercise, thus maintaining adequate circulation of blood throughout the body during physical activity.

3. Improve the capacity of blood to carry oxygen (more training, specifically high-altitude training).
About 42% of blood is made up of red blood cells. Red blood cells contain haemoglobin, a substance that is responsible in making your blood red and carrying oxygen. If you increase the amount of red blood cells in blood, you will also increase the capacity of blood to carry oxygen. However, this is difficult to achieve naturally.

Now, when comparing these 2 types of muscle in terms of VO2 Max, it will look something like this:



The limit for trained muscle is the oxygen carrying capacity. This happen because the muscle is now optimized a.k.a. turned to a lean, mean oxygen-burning machine. On its own, it can burn virtually limitless amount of oxygen. The only limit from it doing so is the supply of oxygen itself.

The limit for untrained muscle is the muscle itself. Since weak muscle can't utilize oxygen optimally, there is a lot of 'oxygen waste'. Even if you're able to supply the muscle with maximum amount of oxygen, the muscle simply can't use them, because it's too weak.

Since we're in the topic of improvement, lets further our discussion to doping (illegal improvement). Haha. I like this topic.

Since we've identified the 2 limits in increasing VO2 Max as muscle condition and oxygen transport, intervention in these 2 areas has caused a boom in the doping world.



Small muscle can be made bigger by using anabolic steroids. This rapidly 'matures' the muscle, turning it from Peewee Herman to Rocky Balboa. But this method is losing its popularity because achieving optimal muscle condition is relatively easier. Read: RELATIVELY EASIER. Not easy.



A more popular way of doping now is blood doping. Blood doping (be it EPO, straight blood doping) significantly increases your capability of blood to carry oxygen. Because now you have more red blood cells, you have more power, you last longer (hihi).

The reason why these methods are banned is simply because it's cheating. More than that, you're playing tag with the Grim Reaper. Anabolic steroids can screw up your hormones harmonics (wow, did I just coin the term?). Which is why body builders who take anabolic steroids have small 'prunes'. So Triple H can brag about his big nose and biceps, but I satisfy a woman better than he can.

Same goes to blood doping. Put in too many red blood cells, and you have a condition that is called polycythemia. This multiplies the risk of getting clogged blood vessels. Think stroke, heart attack and pulmonary embolism.

Doping is not as simple as getting caught and get thrown out of Tour de France. It affects a person even deeper. Fans become disappointed. Then they forget you. You become depressed. Alcohol and cocaine quickly become your best buddy. One day, you invite too many of your new 'friends' and then die in their laughter.

So remember. Don't do drugs. Just train harder.

(Those who know who am I talking about in the last paragraph, tell me about him in the comment box.)

Batu Pahat

Two words: Cyclists-unfriendly. Wait a minute. That's one word.

When driving or cycling, there are 3 things that translate into safety.

1. Good roads
2. Good drivers
3. Good luck

Yes. Good luck indeed finding those three in Batu Pahat.

The roads surfaces in Batu Pahat are in good condition, except the part when it comes to road lines and markings. Almost all lines and markings have faded over the years of torture from Batu Pahat scorching hot sun. This made possible for 2-lane roads to be converted to 4-lane roads, easliy. People get to escape the blame. Take:

Driver 1: Woi!! Ngko ingat ni jalan BAPAK ngko punya?! Tengok lane la!!
Driver 2: Apa lane?! Ngko la buta!! Mangkok hayun!!! (Finger)

See. You'll never get caught. Both of you will be right.

And drivers. Batu Pahat drivers, their balls are made of steel, man. I'm telling you, if Batu Pahat drivers play chicken with a lori hantu, the only kind of turn they'll be taking is a turn-on. Somehow they have this affinity towards the front end of cars. They get a hard on when they see the front bumper. Which is why you only see drivers here drive with only one hand on the steering wheel. The other hand is busy beating themselves down there.

And for more than too many times, you'll always find the car in front of you is driven by a 67-year-old Haji Leman Winonoto, 58-year-old Madam Chong or 74-year-old Mr. Velukarupaiyah whom all believe that speed limit signs are mockery to their age, so they tend to drive slower. Pffftt. Denial.

Here's a typical day on a Batu Pahat road.



Guess what happens next.



Welcome to Batu Pahat.

My bike is now nothing more than a very expensive towel rack.