Graduation 10.10.10

A perfect memory carved on a historical triple-ten day.

Graduation from Liyana Zainal on Vimeo.

The End of Undergraduate Era

Friday, 21st May 2010.

[moment of silence]

Dean : Liyana....

[I raised my hand up high, high enough that it is impossible for him to miss me from the big crowd]

Dean : .......pass

I've been waiting for that very moment for 5 years. Tears of joy streamed down my face, and I wiped it with a sigh of relief. Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. GOD is great.

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It all started when I got a phone call from my mother. She told me right before I had the chance to check the result from the UPU database myself. I got accepted to study medicine in UPM medical school, which was my first choice out of 7 other medical schools in Malaysia. Yes, UPM was my first choice. Why? I felt insecure. All I can think of was probably I have a higher chance of getting accepted to med school if I put UPM first rather than UM or UKM.

But I was wrong.

UPM has thousands of great things to offer other than being the country's leading university in tropical agriculture (ceewah macam nak promote pulak!)

My mother works as a Librarian in UPM since 1970s up till now. When I was little, I always refer UPM as the place where my mom work or where I go for my swimming classes (Yes, I took swimming classes in UPM when I was in primary school. LOL.) and Fardhu Ain classes. I never thought that I will end up in UPM as a student. To make things worst, I never knew that UPM offers a medical degree up until I was 18 years old! Hahaha!

Now, UPM, or FPSK to be exact, has been the reason for the person that I've become now. The wiser, sensible and Insyaallah, competent version of Liyana.

Yes, every person who uses PLUS KL-Seremban highway knows that UPM breeds big fat juicy cows, but what they don't know is UPM also produces hundreds of brilliant and capable doctors every single year since 2001! Okay, I know it is irrelevant to compare cows with doctors, but you have to agree with me on this, both doctors and cows are equally important for the survival of mankind. LOL.

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I'm glad that I've met a lot of wonderful people during my 5 years in UPM. To my best friends for life: Fiz, Fieza, Ju and Eti. Thank you for always be there for me for five amazing years. We've been through thick and thin. I might not be the perfect friend, but I'm grateful that all of you accepted me for who I am, and I'm truly blessed. We might go our separate ways after this, but I will always remember each and every one of you as my sisters, dunia akhirat. =)

To all my classmates, thank you for helping me throughout these 5 years. I will keep those amazing memories with you guys deep in my heart. Good luck in your future undertakings! Hope all of us will be a safe and humble doctors, InsyaAllah. Do keep in touch!

To all dedicated UPM lecturers during both theory and clinical years, thank you for your time and effort. We won't be here today without your help!

To Mama, Ayah, Kak Long, Eman and Bean, thank you for being there for me 24/7. Thank you for cheering me up when I was down and keeping my spirits up!

Not to forget my grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins...thank you for supporting me all these years. I am truly honored to be the first doctor in the family. Hope there will be more doctors to come!

Oh yes, Apis, the soulmate, twin-brotha (LOL) , boyfriend & best friend. We've been through a lot throughout these 5 years. You've been a great teacher, an awesome critique and a great listener. Thank you for keeping up with me for all these years. I'll wait for you in 2 years time!

Last but not least, to all the people who have helped me throughout these 5 years; patients, hospital staffs, UPM staffs, etc. , thank you. :)

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Dr Liyana Bt Zainal Abidin, MD(UPM).
Pergh, macam tak percaya! :p

This is only the beginning of great years to come.

After five bloody years of hardship and suffering, now the real game has just begun.


.............but before that, MARI BUANG MASA SECARA BESAR-BESARAN!


LOL.

Who knows, maybe I'll be the next Nobel Prize winner.

I've decided which hospital I want to serve in Insyaallah a few months time, provided I pass my Professional III exam (Aminnnnnnnnnn). After endless discussions with my mother and siblings, and after exchanging a few emails with my dad, I realized that it does not matter which hospital I end up working with, it's the experience that truly matters.

"Choosing the place to do whatever ship should be the least of your problems...it's how you handle these people and most importantly how you handle youself is the key..".

Those were exactly what ayah said that made me realized that I should not think too much about where I want to be posted. Thank you ayah for your advice. I miss having you around :(

I was told on Friday that all of us have to submit our form for our housemanship application the latest on Tuesday. So, today, I've spent my evening searching for my SPM certificate as well as other important things to be compiled with the form. When I was busy searching, I came across this....


Funny tak! Hahahaha! I was laughing my heart out when I saw this! But hey, I dreamt of being a doctor since I was 10 years old kot! When I was little, I always dream of becoming a scientist. Back then, I had a weird fascination over people working in the labs, with the test tubes filled with weird looking liquids, people wearing lab coats with their electrified hairdo (imagine: Albert Einstien), I was determined that one day, I will work in the lab, create something new, and win the Noble Prize (too much for a 10 year old eh?pfffttt). Dah masuk high school baru realized that there was no chemistry between me and Chemistry (the subject). Time tu baru lah fikir nak pursue a degree in Genetics (gila ambition punya highly specialized :P). But I always put Doctor as a career of choice at the back of my mind, as I think that I will be needing a miracle to get into medical school. Pejam celik tak sangka sekarang ni dah masuk my final year of medical school. It is funny how time flies when you least expect it.

Alhamdullillah, for now, I think I've acheived more that what I've dream for. But I still have a looooooooooooooonnnnnnggggggggg journey to go. Now, all I have to do is fuel up my tank with endless information and shift to gear 5.

Ya Allah, permudahkan lah jalan untuk hamba mu ini...Aminnnnn.

I heart you Don Juan DeMarco.

Yesterday, 17 Sya'aban 1470 Hijrah, was my birthday according to Hijrah Calendar. Go and get me a present already :P.

Unexpectedly, yesterday I received the greatest news of the week year. Alhamdulillah. Honestly, I was astounded by the news. Somehow, it changed my perspective on finishing the last bits of my school life. Not entirely, for sure. Seriously, I really need things like this in order to build up my spirit, rather than being passive most of the times. *sigh*. It was, beyond comparison, the best birthday present one can have.

Yet, the week has not ended.

The Noir et Blanc dinner took place yesterday. Pardon me for my ignorance for it was just recently I understand the meaning of the theme. Thank you Yahoo!Babel Fish.

Noir et Blanc means Black and White. I'm pathetic. Somebody told me that we were supposed to wear black and white, but I have to clue that it have something to do with the theme. No wonder lah they didn't put the dressing code in the banners and posters :P.

By the way, the dinner was supposed to be on the 31st of July. Since UPM was on a "piggy" holiday at that time, it was postponed to the 7th of August. I was furious devastated when I got the news, since my Don Juan DeMarco aka the boyfriend will be having some sort of Community program in Kedah at that particular time. The thing is, we have been planning to attend my final year dinner years back, since he won't be around during the annual medical dinner, he promised to accompany me to this particular dinner.

Being an awesome boyfriend, he told me that he will "escape" the event for a while in order to attend the dinner, since there was no program being held until the next morning :)) *Edwin McCain's I'll Be on the blackground*. Eventhough he had to take the 1230pm bus on that day and literally run to the LRT station to catch the 730pm train, and we had to bolt out right after the melaram session in order to catch the 1200am bus, it was all worthwhile.

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I would like to take this opportunity to thank:

*vain gle aku*

Mama: For sponsoring my heels, being the best fashion critique (kalah Miss J!), altering my dress and last but not least, being a great sport :)

KakLong : For being such a great fashion critique (the 2nd liner, tak boleh lawan mama:P) as well as make-up artist! Mak pandai mekap nok!

1/3 of The Class of 2010

I will truly miss all of you guys!
Sayang korang. :)

and Don Juan DeMarco,
the greatest company of all time,
dibawa khas dari Indonesia ya Pak..
You are stuck with me for life.

:)

p/s: I know, the tittle is a tad corny, but I will only write nothing but the truth...:P

Sleepless

I took a nap in the middle of reading a topic about Labour.

And in the middle of the one hour or so nap, I dreamt I was in the Labour room,

and my patient was struggling to expel her baby.

and the only thing that I heard in that dream was this:


" Dr Liyana nak tidur, tolong jangan bersalin dulu..."

and this dialogue was told to the patient by the on-call ObGyn specialist.

when I woke up, I can't resist to wonder,

is this a dejavu?

An opinion from an observant.

I've been waiting to write about this for a while. Since the purpose of having this blog is for me to share things which has been bugging me, so might as well I blurt it out rather that let it stick in my mind for GOD knows how long.

Since, InsyaAllah, in plus minus a year, I will become a certified Doctor, and will be working for the government for TEN years. Nope, that isn't a typo. *please pray for me*

After 4 years and one month of being a humble medical student of UPM, I have received a number of opinions regarding Doctors, particularly those working in the government. Most of the so-called opinions, were in the form of criticism. And out of all the criticism, most of them were being expressed in such anger that me myself cannot restrain from being angry to that particular doctors (talk about defending my own clan :P). But in between all that anger and hatred , I know there are a number of people who doesn't feel that way towards them, and these people includes the doctors' immediate family members, the doctors' with good looks and humor, doctors' who give free MCs, patients who are patience, patient who has a crush on doctors and I think thats all about it. Sadly, that list of people is quite restricted.

Back in the old days, Doctor is considered as the most noble proffession. Nowadays, doctors is being treated more or less like a kopitiam shop. Once you taste a sip of white coffee in Doctor X's kopitiam and feel like it doesn't give you the uumph, you will tend to go to Doctor Y's kopitiam the next morning. Doctor shopping is currently a new trend in our society, particularly in the urban areas. Since the society is more 'educated' (or should I change it to 'richer') nowadays, they tend to seek for various opinions regarding their sickness. I'm not saying that this kind of practice is wrong, it is just the matter of trust. Or is it the quality of doctors nowadays is not on par as before? For me, being a good doctor is just a matter of experience. The textbook that they were using back then doesn't change much today pun. The experiences which adds up after several years practicing makes people wiser than they were before.

The other thing that has been bugging me since I started my clinical years in medical school is why do the patients always think that once they step in a doctor's office, they will assume that the doctor knew about their sickness already?.

Come on, we are mere humans for God's sake. It's not like we have some kind of power where we can read the mind of our patient. From my experience, A LOT of people asked me why do doctors have to ask a lot of questions during consultations. They expect us to just talk a little, and touch a lot! No people, it doesn't work that way. Doctors are not molesters. If we are, might as well we drop everything and be a Masseuse.

"Your medical history will be some of the most important information your doctor needs in reaching a diagnosis...", those are the words (not exactly-lah) which I will be telling the patients or those angry people if they start to question me on the purpose of doctors asking a lot of questions during consultations. And yes, I received a lot of "ohhhhh..." and "yeke...", after explaining to them. I'm expressing all this opinions not for the sake of condemning a particular person. Generally, all of us have our own opinion about everthing. But there are always a reason for an action. Everthing in life has a purpose.

Oh, last but not least, I'm not having my PMS.

Humor me, please.

This week has been a very suprising week for me, really. Yet, I have another four more days to go! I conducted 2 deliveries this week! It was memorable, since the first one was an IUD baby (the baby died in utero) and the second one was a baby girl, and there were some technical difficulties I experienced during conducting. Should be more careful next time! Glad the doctors and Midwives were very helpful. Learnt some lesson out of it :)

Yesterday, I received another unexpected news. All UPM students, particularly in Serdang campus, were expected to evacuate our respective collages and return to our hometown until the 4th of August, as there were four UPM students were found positive of H1N1 virus. We were expected to quarantine ourselves. When I first got the news, I was in the labour room, waiting for another pregnant lady cervical os to be fully dilated. The feeling of disbelief mixed with upset, anger and a pinch of happiness surrounded me. The first thing that I can ever think of was tipu lahhhh, disusuli dengan..raya ni cuti panjang tak? dinner on lagi ke? ape aku nak buat esok lusa tulat dan hari seterusnya? On second thought, WTH, org dah bagi cuti. Terima je lah.

Later that evening, I went to Alamanda Putrajaya to have my late lunch. Guess whom bumped into? Pak Lah and his wife, strolling down Alamanda in their casual shirt, with no bodyguards whatsoever. My reaction was " macam penah nampak pakcik ni..tapi kat mana eh?...."Haha. Guess Alamanda is the new hanging spot for ex-PM.

Yesterday was my unofficial last day in ObGyn department as a medical student. ObGyn has always been fun and exciting. Lets just hope it will stay the same during my housemanship years too.

Sandakan oh Borneo!

taken from karrantza's photostream

Current location : Sandakan, Sabah.

Yeah, for the first time in 22 years and 8 days of my life, I'm outside my comfort zone. For 6 solid weeks. I hope airasia is not planning giving off free tickets or I'll be the first one to book the flight and break my vow to stay here for 6 weeks without fail. *sigh*

And to make it more uninteresting, its it not purely for the reason of taking a break from my usual routine. It is supposed to be:

1. 60% as a prerequisite before stepping to our final year of medical school
   
2. 20% for an early exposure before becoming the so called 'House Officer'
3. 15% be independant!
   
4. 5% enjoy ourselves before our the finals.

But for me, it is a little bit different:

1. 70% GO JOLI! and take pictures!
   
2. 10% to meet the orangutans in Sepilok, Sandakan
3. 9% to hit the beaches!
   
4. 6% to go shopping
   
5. 4% jalan-jalan, cari makan-makan.
   
6. 1% to go to Hospital Duchess of Kent, Sandakan for the sake of filling up the attendance.
   

I'm not going to lie to you, but I'm not looking forward on seeing sick people in the next 6 weeks.
But a med student got to do what a med student got to do.

Along the way, its not a sin to go play play right? Hehe.

But I'm SURELY gonna miss my family tho'....

:(

Lots of love,
All the way from Borneo.

Checked!

Current checklist:

Pediatrics
Accident & Emergency
Psychiatry
Family Medicine
Community Medicine
Obstetric and Gynecology
Elective

Yeahhh! Four more to go! And hopefully, if I pass all of the end posting exams, I will be able to fly to Sandakan for my elective, which will be the first time in history I will be away from my family for more than a week! SIX WEEKS to be exact. For the first time, I will be out of my tempurung. InsyaAllah, if the hospital in Sandakan is willing to take us-lah. Currently the girls and I are putting our thoughts together in order to write an essay on why we have chosen Sabah for our electives. We have no idea on what to write, but I the only thing that I have in mind right now is to jalan-jalan, and the reason we chosen Sabah is because we got will have a chance to go to lots of exciting places! Okay I know I'm not taking this thing seriously. Neeeeeed tooo fooocuuussss. Naah~ Not right now. Still in the holiday mood. :P

I've finished my end posting Psychiatry exam just now. *Relieved*. Sekarang perlu tawakkal je, I did my VERY best, and hope all the craps that I've blurted out this morning was enough in order for me to pass. After four years living as a medical student, getting a pass is more than enough for me. If I'm aiming for distinction, I think I will be wearing a one inch thick glasses and walking like a dead corpse by now.

Psychiatric posting was FUN! At first, I can't deny lah, I was scared like shite, and I don't think I can go to the ward and deal with the mentally disabled. Stigma punya pasal lah. But as time goes by, the idea of going to the ward and clinic was very far from nerve-wracking. I'm very proud of myself because I managed to stay in the ward until evening! Kalau time medicine posting, pukul 12 dah nak balik bilik. Ngehehe.

For the medical students yang belum lagi psychiatric posting, I can assure you, it will be an unforgettable train ride of your life. For others, I know, the things that will come to your mind if you think about the mentally disabled is "they does not belong to the society, desert them..bla..bla". Remember this! They have feelings too, just like all of us. Only that their brain-hormones are not really in balance. Just think it this way, if your estrogen or testosterone are imbalance, your behavior will be slightly or very far from normal-kan? Just like them-lah. I'm not saying that if you see them in public you can pat them at the back and talk about the weather. Just for once, put the stigma aside, and treat them like human beings. They have too much stressors in their lives to begin with. *emo kejap :P*

Quoted from a mural in Hospital Bahagia Tg Rambutan:

"Bahagia kami, kami bahagia...."

Actually I have no idea what it means, but I want to add something to it:

"Bahagia kami, kami bahagia, semua bahagia, mari berbahagia"

Perfect! Now all I have to do is call Hospital Bahagia and ask them to repaint the mural. At least the inmates have something to do other than working in the kebun or running around naked in the 544 hectars of land.:P

Footnote : Currently on holiday mode! Yay! 26 days in counting before he comes back home! :)