Christmas Day

As usual, we went to church for Christmas Eve Mass on saturday night. The church was filled with people and all the seats were mostly taken up. Christmas songs were awesome.

Nothing really special that I did on Christmas Day. KL, PJ and Sunway were all so jammed up with cars. We ended up window shopping in Alarmanda Putrajaya. Happened to see Dina(2nd Runner up for Malaysian Idol 2004) was singing on the stage. She has got really cool and sweet vocal.

Anyway, I had christmas dinner with a bunch of cool ppl(my sister, my housemates and Audrey Bong). We cooked pasta and shepherd pie and made salad as well as some desserts. It was great and we had ice wine after that.

It's 12:15 in the morning. I was woken up by the assistant boy at about 1140pm telling me that there's emergency case waiting for me in the clinic. It's a dog that hit by car according to the assistant boy. Quickily changed my sleeping clothes and rushed to the clinic.About 10 minutes drive, the phone rang again thought that the assistant boy hastened me to speed up as the owner probably asking the boy why the vet hasn't turn up yet. When I answered the phone, guess what the boy told me,
" Doctor, sorry ah, itu owner tak mahu tengok doctor lagi sebab emergency charge terlalu mahal,cakap dia datang besok pagi, sorry ah." hahahah..what a joke man!Anyway, drove and arrived home after that.And again got emergency called half an hour later. And again I rushed back to the clinic. Just got back from the clinic after seeing the emergency case. Dog with left forelimb fracture. I am very sleepy and tired now. Time to go to bed. To pray that no more emergency case.

Today is my dad's birthday. I took a few days off from work not only celebrating my dad's birthday but to spend some quality time with my family. I flew from KL to Sibu this morning . So did my elder brother and his family. Glad to meet up with my 1 year old plus nephew and 6 months old niece.They are Jayden and Ashley.

We invited quite a few friends and relatives to the birthday dinner tonight in one of the restaurant in Sibu town.I feel excited to be back home after 10 months of not going home. Miss my dad homecook food as well as the famous"kampua mee" and laksa.Anyway, it's just a very short trip back this time. Will have to go back KL on Monday night and start working on Tuesday. FYI, I will be working on emergency/oncall starting 2 weeks from now. Good that I can learn more exciting cases when I am under pressure and panic. Bad is not sure whether my health will allow to keep me going or not.


My dad's birthday-that are all of us in one family. 


That's my niece-Ashley 


My nephew-Jayden 

Outdoor Live Concert

It was 2 weeks ago, Audrey, Mini, Tai Lou and I went to watch an outdoor live concert held somewhere near Bukit Bintang. It's Z Chen Happiness Tour Concert in Malaysia. He is pretty talented Malaysian young singer and composed/arrange most of the songs in his album. Overall the concert was really good. Beside that watching those of his fans screaming and yelling was actually quite fun and entertaining.

Z Chen-talented Malaysian young singer.



Audrey, Mini and I after the concert. Behind us was the stage.


Eating lok lok after the concert...yummy!

SiCK aGAin

I was really sick on last saturday night after the last consultation. Coughed badly at night and didnt get enough sleep. I was pretty dizzy the next morning and decided to take MC and rested at home for 2 days as Monday is my usual off. I went to Hope's clinic(like what Mini said go to Hope's clinic and ask the doc give you some hopes). As usual the doc gave me cough syrup, flu tablets, vitamin C, antibotic and not to forget medical certificate as well.

I feel better after the medication but still cough badly at night.Anyway, I have to go and work later at 1 pm. Worrying about my patient (cat with pelvic fracture) has got pin instability. Pray that she doesnt need anymore surgery to reestablish the pin.

Cosmetic Surgery, Tortoise and the Penis

Look at this chow chow, it was just after the cosmetic surgery of the eyelid. He hardly can see the world initially due to severe entropion(inverted eyelid). Now, I am sure he can see the world clearly without any difficulty.


This is the first time I met a tortoise with broken shells. I heard that it was ran over by a car or probably soft shell syndrome due to faulty in management. I am really not sure how to fix the shell together.By using superglue?? oh dear, it's gonna be a tough one I suppose. 


This is definitely not a porno photo. It's a penis of a dog that has transmissble venereal tumor(TVT). It usually happen in intact male dog and easily transmitted to other female dogs when they have intercourse. 

Poor cat!

I just got back from work. It's a long day for me as I worked for 12 hours today in the clinic. I had my last case with a cat that hit by car 2 hours ago. The cat was found by a good samaritan. He brought the cat to the clinic right after the accident. The cat is basically in recumbent state, with bleeding from the oral cavity and dehydrated as well. I suggested to the samaritan to put the cat on drip first then only take x-ray tomorrow morning if it is stablized. He doesnt want to hospitalise the cat or do any x-ray but want to treat as outpatient first simply due to financial constraint. Poor cat! Not sure whether the cat will survive or not until tomorrow. I am really concern about the internal bleeding. Anyway, I tried my best to support the cat by giving long acting penicillin, Vit K and terbutaline.
I have met many owners that willing to help their animals(sometimes stray dogs or their own pets) but money always a matter to stop them from treating the animals.

Haze, haze, haze!

Thank God that the hazy days has finally ended today after the heavy pours this evening. The haze was really bad 3 days ago. You can't even breath properly even if you're in the air conditioned room. The respitory rates were definitely increased. Worst was all my clothes has got this smoke smell. Now, the haze is "travelling" up to North of Penisula Malaysia. Penang Island and Langkawi Island are terribly hazy now. Anyway, everything will be back to normal in KL starting from tomorrow. Whatever that happens, life goes on.

My First Surgery Case

A dog was presented to the clinic with a broken tail this morning. According to the owner, the dog bite its own tail until about 3cm of the tail being bite off. It's called self mutilating of tail. Luckily it was not a maggot wound yet and I didnt see any protruded coccygeal bone. However after checking at the wound and condition of the dog, the underlying cause of the self mutilating of the tail is most probably due to the generalised and chronic malassezia(a kind of skin disease).The itchiness cause the dog kept on licking and eventually biting off the tail. Anyway, tail amputation was indicated for this case as the wound would not be able to heal if there's no skin closure at the wound. I have got the chance to do tail amputation on the dog's tail this evening around 4pm. I was pretty nervous initially although it seems easy when I read through the surgical protocol. A bit awkward too when I performed the surgery. My helpful senior vet was there to help me throughout the surgery. I am so fortunate to have her all this while. The tail was amputated about 4cm long and closed up with simple interrupted suture pattern. I am crossing finger now that hopefully the suture wound will heal properly and will not have any post op complication :P The dog is going home tomorrow and to come back for suture removal in 10 days time. That is my first surgery case.

Graduation day

Convocation has just passed. Everything went smoothly. It was reallly tiring although it was just an ordinary cert giving ceremony. Frankly speaking I was not excited about it at all. But I know most of my classmates were really excited about it. hehe..not sure why I am not excited about it. Almost all my coursemates turned up only left few didnt turn up. Audrey, we missed you! Everyone was kinda busy on graduation day. I didnt even have the chance to take photos with some of my close coursemates. Family and friends were all turned up. It's a joyful day indeed. Anyway, we are finally being called as registered veterinarian in Malaysia and of course practising legally now. To all my coursemates, glad to see you all during the convo and all the best in your future undertakings.


Siew Ching, Jolene, Me and Sophia at the faculty's foyer before the Majlis Ikrar.


Me and my others coursemates. They are great friends of mine


Class photo but didnt manage to take all of them.


Me and Heok Yit.


My family- Dad, Aloysius, Me and Jenny


Dr Wan and Me


Say Chin, Hock Hee, Francis and Me


Wan Lin and Me.

Peeky, rest in peace!

Peeky passed away yesterday evening. The owner brought Peeky to the clinic after found out that Peeky was not breathing normally. According to the owner Peeky was not eating for almost 3 days already. Her health condition got worsened. Upon arrival, Peeky was found dead with no heart beat and respiration after I auscultated the heart. It was too late for us to save Peeky. At least Peeky is not in pain or suffering anymore from her sickness. Peeky's owner was really devastated after she found out that Peeky has passed away. I am sure she can take it after all. It's happy when you see your pet is healthy and active but it's not easy when you lost your beloved pets. Anyway, rest in peace Peeky. I will always remember you.

Photos

Here are just some of the photos that I have taken during these 3 weeks of working in the clinic.


This is Peeky. She was in sternal recumbency most of the time during hospitalization. X-ray was taken on the pelvic region. She was diagnosed to have degenerative joint disease as well as tick fever and early chronic renal failure. She was discharged yesterday.


This is Moon. She was presented with multiple bite wound. According to the owner, she was injured after fighting with bull mastiff(which is Moon's housemate).Poor little creature! She was discharged after 3 weeks of hospitalization.


This is cute pomeranian named Baby. She was very lethargic and pale during presentation. According to the peripheral blood film and complete blood count, she was diagnosed with having tick fever. She was really anaemic initially. After putting her with antibiotic, she had improved tremendously.


En-bloc OHE for dystocia case. 2 kittens are survived!!


Have you ever seen this kind of iguana before? This iguana has got a swollen lower jaw as well as both hind limbs. She was suspected to be having Calcium deficiency. X-ray results shown that the bone density was very low.

My first case

An 11 year old intact female pekingnese named Peeky was presented to the clinic this evening. I took the chance to consult this case. Peeky is pretty dehyrated, dull and depressed during the presentation.She has got really bad ulcer on her tongue as well as halithosis. She is losing weight for the pass 2 weeks. The first thing came into my mind was the dog might be having chronic renal failure. Complete blood test and serum biochemistry were done. However, the biochemistry results are not really supportive with my diagnosis at the point of presentation. BUN was high but creatinine was within the normal range. The blood total protein was high with albumin and globulin both increased. I have to reevaluate this case again tomorrow and ask for second opinion.Peeky is on drip now.
That's my first case after working for 2 weeks in that clinic. I was pretty nervous at first and kinda blur of what I should do and so on. So much more to learn man! confidence, knowledge, clients relationship and so on....

Something to share

I have been working in Segar Pets Centre and Veterinary Services for almost a week from 9am till 9pm everyday and get a day off on Monday. Though the working hour is pretty long I really enjoy working in that clinic. Heaps of stuffs to learn and practice. I am very fortunate to have so many seniors vets which are very helpful and willing to teach me. The assistant vets are nice as well and have so much fun with them. I have seen quite a few surgeries that I have never seen before such as digits amputation and contructing broken hard palate. That was all very interesting.

I was asked to euthanize a poor stray dog last week. She was being adopted by two kind hearted old couples after they found the dog lying at the road side. She was suspected to be hit by a car few days ago and presented to us with two huge open fracture necrotized wound on right front limb and right hind limb. She was unable to use those both limbs to walk. The two old couples were in dilemma whether want to save the legs or put the dog to sleep. That was a pretty hard decision to make for those who love animals. Finally, they decided to put the dog to sleep after considering the long term management and financial constraint. The wife was pretty upset and and grieved for the lost. Frankly speaking, I was sad also at that time and nearly weep as well. I walked away and tried to control my feelings. Anyway, there are heaps to learn on how to deal with client's grief and their lost.

Good day Mate!

Brisbane

-spend a night in Brisbane by staying in Brisbane YHA Backpacker
-walked around Brisbane city the next day before I headed to Gold Coast

Brisbane River


One of the fancy juicebar at Queen St Mall


A new Grand Arbour in Brisbane's Southbank


This is Pauls Breaka Beach, an artificial swimming beach located at South Bank Parklands


Another view of Pauls Breaka Beach

Gold Coast(Surfer Paradise)

I headed to Surfer Paradise right after Brisbane city tour.
Surfer Paradise is hard to ignore or not to go if you're in Gold Coast. It is an awesome beach with beautiful white and clean sand. There are lots of shops and building along the beach and huge number of cafes along the street. The lifestyle is just so relaxing in Surfer Paradise.
I was questioned by my friends whether I went to the popular theme parks or not in Gold Coast. I didnt go to all the theme parks. Partly because it's pretty boring too me and doesnt attract me at all. So I chose not to go.

This is Surfer Paradise Beach with the buildings along the beach. Took it during evening time around 5ish


Another photo of the beach. The weather was quite warm at that time.


These 2 hot chicks with gold colour bikinis are so called meter maids that feed the parking meters on the main strip. They are employed by local entreprenuer named Bernie Elsey. Cool huh?

Lismore, Ballina and Byron Bay

From Surfer Paradise I took a night bus to Lismore to meet up with my friend. It took me 3 hours to get to Lismore. I havent seen this good friend of mine for 3 years and putting up in his place for a few days. He took a day off and drove me to Ballina and Byron Bay. Ballina is just another resort town for vacation. Byron Bay is the most popular surfing spots on the east coast of Australia. Every traveller claimed that it is a must go beach. Anyway, for me it's just another beach which we can find in Malaysia. I dont find it fascinating.


This is one of the housing area in Lismore. I was standing on a very steep road when I took this photo.


Byron Bay


Sun bathing at Byron Bay


This man was playing didgeridoos in the Sunday Market of Lismore. Didgeridoos is one of the musical instrument of Australian Aborigines.

Sydney

After spending a few days in Lismore, I took a midnight bus leaving Lismore for Sydney. Guess what, I was the only passenger from Lismore in the bus that night. The bus stopped in few towns to pick up other passengers. Basically, there were only total of 5 passengers(including me) in the bus to Sydney. It took 12 hours to reach Sydney from Lismore. hah... that is why not many people want to travel by land.

The first place that I headed to when I reached Sydney was Kingcross. Kingcross is one of the Sydney inner-city suburb. It is known as prostitution area and flooded with criminal cases. Due to my curiosity, I decided to stay in Kingcross. Once I reached Kingcross, there were many complicated and weird people hanging around the street. Anyway, something happened to me that day. After I have checked in into a backpacker, I went to McD to have my lunch. As I started to eat my meal, 2 ladies walked into the restaurant. One of the lady walking towards me then she sat down facing me. Without hesistation and permission from me, she took all my chips and put into her mouth then started to cry. Gosh, I was really scared by her and thought that she might take out a knife and hurt me. Without delay, I quickily took my backpack and walked off from McD as fast as I could. As a result of that, I decided to stay in City Central Backpackers(located in city centre) the next day for 2 nights.

I spend one and the half day to walk around Sydney City Centre. I visited quite a number of places which include St Mary Cathedral, Hyde Park, Sydney Tower, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Brigde, Circular Quay, The Rocks Market, Darling Habour, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney Oplimpic Park and Paddy Market as well as China Town.

On day 3 , I joined a tour to the west of the city - Blue Mountains. It has got the Three Sister. spectacular 300 metre cliffs and the world's steepest railway ride(this was fun and exciting).

On day 4, I spend a night at Bondi Beach by staying in Bondi YHA. Bondi is really really fascinating and fabulous. Heaps of travellers went there just for surfing and sun basking. Tell you what, I didnt do surfing but I kayak in the sea for almost 2 hours. I was extremely exhausted after kayaking. Afterall I enjoyed it so much.

St Mary's Cathedral


Hyde Park


Sydney Tower


Chifley Square, Sydney. Took it when I was on my way to Sydney Opera House


Sydney Opera House


Sydney Harbour Bridge


The Rocks Market is Sydney's premier weekend market.


Darling Harbour


China Town


Sydney Olimpic Stadium


Taken this photo in Sydney Olimpic Park as well.Standing among the interactive poles.


Queen Victoria Building


Blue Mountain


The 3 rocks beside me are so called "Three Sister"


Bondi Beach - I love it man!


Another view of Bondi Beach

Melbourne

After 5 days in Sydney, I took a night flight off to Melbourne. I stayed at my friend's(Irene) apartment which located at the city(Flinders Street). Melbourne is really a beautiful city and it is the second lasrgest city in Australia. I was fascinated by the arrangement and location of the streets in the city itself. It's so easy and convinient to go around in Melbourne city. The tram services are available in every corner or middle of the streets. Initially, I was quite blur on which tram to take to the street that I wanted to go. I got onto the wrong tram many times and always pretended nothing happen in front of other passengers and then went off from the tram as soon as possible. As if I am familiar with the traim's route. hehehe...I dont want to let people know that I took the wrong tram. That was pretty fun actually to hop in and hop off from the wrong tram. I took 2 days to walk around Melbourne city. Federation square is just opposite to Irene's appartment. Flinders street station is the main station for suburban train. Under the clock of the station is the famous meeting place. Beside these 2 popular places, I went to Melbourne's Parliement house, Queen Victoria Market(which has been running for more than 100 years), Yarra River, Crown Entertainment Complex as well as the awesome Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens during autuum time.
I was fortunate to watch the famous musical sketch Mamma Mia that was showing in Melbourne. I went with Irene. Anyway, I like Melbourne city compare to other cities that I went in Australia.


Federation Square


St Paul's Cathedral


The outside view of St Paul's Cathedral


The popular Flinders Street Station


Melbourne Parliament House


Queen Victoria Market


Yarra River- took it around 6pm, on our way to Crown.


Me and Irene, behind is Yarra River.


Advertising Mamma Mia's cd and booklet. hahaha..One must go and watch if it is in Malaysia.


Fitzroy Garden

Great Ocean Road

Great Ocean Road is known to be one of the world's most spectacular coastal drives. The tour guide drove us from Melbourne to Geelong, Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay, 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Colac, Winchelsea then back to Melbourne. The journey was pretty long. Unfortunately the weather was bad that day. It started to rain around 4'o clock in the evening. Though I was all wet and freezing cold, I didnt miss to see all the beautiful scene along the Great Ocean Road especially the Loch Ard Gorge, London Brigde and the 12 Apostles. The trip was fun and met some new friends from Canada, Singapore and Korea.

Loch Ard Gorge


London Brigde


Look at the beautiful rainbow


This is the other half of the rainbow


Me and the 12 Apostles at sunset