Its a Marathon, Not a Sprint.

I haven't written anything on my blog for more then 2 months now. Its been a super challenging time for me here in India. Frustration, annoyance, disgruntlement. I was at first diagnosed with having renal calculi. I did multiple ultrasounds and a CT scan here in India but the scans showed nothing. So I thought maybe the stone had passed out and the doctors kept on saying that theres nothing to worry about. So I would go home feeling a little bit more relieved.

However, the severe pain kept coming back again and again. Pain is rather subjective. It is so difficult to describe pain to people. There are two types of pain, acute and chronic pain. In which it is further subdivided into more categories. Being a person who is active in sports and suffered so many different types of injuries, pain shouldn't be a problem for me. But this pain is totally different. I've never experienced anything like it. People who have not experienced it will not understand. If I hadn't got it, I probably could not imagine how the pain can prevent one from sleeping,talking and even causing a loss in appetite. This is by far the worst type of pain that I've experienced and I don't think I would wish that my enemies would suffer the same thing. Yeah, Its that bad and I'm not exaggerating one bit. Enough about the pain already.

So basically, this pain has prevented me from attending classes and studying like normal. I naturally became more worried because there wasn't much explanation for the pain. Why on earth is it still there if the doctors say that there is nothing there?? So I decided to go back to Malaysia and have a second opinion. (wait, not second but 4th or 5th opinion) I did all the blood tests, urine microscopy , an ultrasound and finally a MRI. I think by now, I might have had undergone more ultrasound scans compared to a pregnant lady. -.-'' Everything was clear! I didn't know if I should be happy or sad. If everything was fine, what on earth was causing this TERRIBLE pain?

I saw my urologist the next day and he suddenly came up with a diagnosis. Loin Pain Hematuria Syndrome. WTH is that I thought? He said it was an auto immune disease and that there is no cure for it. Wow, Thank You doctor , thats very comforting. He referred me to a nephrologist on the same day. While waiting for the other doctor to come, I googled this unknown syndrome.

Its a SUPER rare disorder( only about 200+ cases worldwide) and 80% of the people affected are women. No cure and only pain management. I didn't want to read further at that time and so I went in to see the nephrologist. He was a much better person as compared to the stupid, uncompassionate urologist. (he should seriously improve on his people skills no matter how good he is) He said that he will not do a biopsy because it is an invasive procedure and I am young so he wouldn't want to damage anything. The most comforting part was that he said the pain will taper off after some time ( how long is 'some time' , well I don't know)

At home I read more about this unheard of disease. I bet that 80% of my lecturers have not even heard of it. It IS NOT AN AUTOIMMUNE disease so the urologist gave a bad description about it.

So I flew back to India, just hoping that the pain will be some how taper off eventually. At that time, I didn't know what was worrying me more. My health, attendance or studies. Obviously its a no brainer, Health always comes first.

I could always blame bad luck but I guess I will not do it. The first 5 months in India, I was plagued with diarrhoea and food poisoning . Just as I thought everything was fine after I got sensitized to the food here, I got this problem. Well, I can only think of it as a challenge by God to make me a better person. Maybe he wants me to understand how a patient feels so that I will study even harder. My parents and other family members have been super supportive during this tough period and I can't thank them enough. I wouldn't want to make them worried but this is not just a regular bout of flu where you will recover quickly so I had to tell them. My friends here have been helpful as well .

Anyway, hope I can sit for my final exam this time around and that they will have some mercy (those tempes think differently) However , no matter what the outcome is , this whole episode will definitely make me a stronger person and a better doctor in the future. I will not give up that easily. Like my cousin used to say ''MBBS is not a sprint, Its a Marathon'' There is still a long way to go and this is just a hurdle in life.

I'll leave you with a video I saw on Maegyvear's blog. Very inspirational.

Our Mysore Family

After knowing our placements here in India, the only guy I knew rather well was Cheng. Mei Yee and Loga were my classmates in KTT but we weren't that close. I knew Wan just a little from football. Asida, always saw her playing badminton in the evenings but hardly ever talked to her. Shafiee, I barely knew he even existed. Aisyah on the other hand was a total new discovery all together during KI. All my really close friends were scattered all over Karnataka and some even in Karad. Obviously I was quite sad with the placement of everyone. I'm pretty sure the rest of my friends here in Mysore felt the same.

However, after more then half a year staying together here in Mysore, I can't help but feel that we're one big(actually its small) happy family.

The numerous meals, functions, birthday parties have made us to somewhat bond with each other. Im really grateful with what I have here in Mysore. We are close with our seniors too which is good. Maybe its because we are just a small community of Malaysians in a foreign land thus making us bond easily.

Recently, Kesha got sick and was admitted to hospital. It was beautiful to see all of us together in that small room with her. We're all in this together. Liverpool's awesome motto, 'You'll Never Walk Alone' often rings in my head at times like this. Anyway, I'll leave you with some photos before I continue nerding :)

The Ugly Side of Things..

Some of us here in India haven't actually seen much of the 'other side' of India. The side not usually highlighted by the media (only occasionally)

Today, me and my housemate were one our way to our college football field when my senior called to tell that football is cancelled. We were like 200m away from our destination when we got to know about it. My friend decided to take a detour (not just turn back and back track all the way home). It was like some kind of adventure. We passed through soooooo many things that will make you just depressed. The state at which some people are living here is just so sad. Houses made from leaves,mud. All in a very crowded area, no proper sanitation, no electricity. These are the things that will just open your eyes and make you appreciate the things you have in life.

Little kids were just loitering around with sticks in their hands, some playing with stones without a care in the world. Its just sad to see that they don't really have much of a future. Something must be done to help these people. The gulf between the rich and the poor here is just too great~! Something must be done to help these people. I didn't take any pictures of the places that I passed simply because it was too depressing. How can the rich people live comfortably in their HUGE houses when these people are suffering every night? Makes you start to ponder. When has the world ever been fair?

I think the things that I've witnessed today will spur me on to work harder and be a doctor. Helping these kind of people would certainly bring me joy. God willing, I hope it'll come true in the future:)

Friday Nights ..

Friday nights used to be something that I look forward to every week when I was schooling. Not now though, we have classes on Saturdays too. My current mood : bored and lazy. Its been quite some time since i've written anything here. My 3rd internals were over last week. I think I have a tendency to be overconfident with my ability to memorize and understand stuff. Thus I leave certain topics to last minute reading leading to disaster. In medicine, you'll only get confused if you do that. Causing massive confusion when you're answering the exam questions. Note to self. Never leave studies to the 11th hour .

Oh ya. I've got an interesting story about something that happened during my Physiology exam last week. Halfway into the exam, some guy from the forensic department came into the examination hall saying that some people are cheating using bluetooth devices. 2 people were caught hiding something in their ears . They used the bluetooth device to connect to someone outside the hall and read the questions to the senior helping them . Damn crazy right? So brave of them to even do that. The cool thing about it was that the Forensic professor was smarter then them because he discovered them cheating(the forensic dept was carrying out a test too, so he used his mobile phone to check if anyone was using bluetooth in the exam hall to connect with people outside).

Other then that, it finally rained yesterday. After 2.5 long and dry months! IT RAINED~! I was so excited seeing the rain. Its nothing like the rain in Malaysia but I was thankful nevertheless for the showers of blessing from God.

Anyway, I gotta go now. Should start studying. Practicals in 10 days time. Sorry for such a disjointed blog post..

~you'll never walk alone~

Dancing In the Rain

Malaysia has been experiencing really bad weather the past week. I've been reading about reports of floods occurring in the Southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and also some parts of Pahang. Such great contrast to the weather over here. Its SUPER dry here. I'm not one that fancies putting lotion before sleeping but I have no choice but to apply it here. Alot of trees seem to be drying up and the grass is turning brown. (If got green patches means someone probably 'fertilized' it la *wink*) It isn't even summer yet! It still is kindda cold at night and hot in the afternoons.

I can't remember the last time it rained here. Early December perhaps? Haha..I'm complaining about it not raining now but come July/August, I'll probably be complaining about the rain. Hope to see some rain clouds sometime soon as its getting really dusty !

I miss this! Football in the rain and mud, always the best. Loved the sliding tackles:)

This is more like it. Exactly what this place looks like during the monsoon season

The Humble Umbrella...A must during that period. Though Mangalore/Manipal students use it all year round :)

Why ewwww?

You need to love a place in order to live comfortably and achieve your goals. I no longer despise India but I have started to be more positive about things here. It ain't a bad place to live and study. If I was in UK or Russia, I would be practically dying there because of the cold and the food. I for one can't live without rice. Here, the food is nice (just that you tend to get bored after a while) .

I've made a few friends in college and also around the area where I live. The guy at Lemon Tree, Pascucci, our caretaker, Mr Ranganatha . I believe that getting to know the people around you makes you feel more at home. Cheng, Wan and I try to talk to them in the little Kannada that we know. We're nice to our caretaker and guess what? Today he paid for my auto because I didn't have change. I went upstairs to go grab some change and the auto driver was already leaving. See! If you do good to others, most of the time good things happen to you.

Anyway, I bought these 2 jerseys recently. I like the blue one. India's cricket jersey! I know people will say EWWW...dah macam tempe etc etc...but who cares:) I'm gonna be here for 5 years man! I will make the most of my stay here:)

Next step : try to understand how the whole cricket game is played .

~You'll Never Walk Alone~

Transfer Frenzy~!

Last night was just absolutely crazy! Frantic stuff going on all over Europe especially in England. What am I talking about? The transfer deadline of cause. It was all really exciting mainly due to the fact that Liverpool were playing a big part in the whole thing. Fernando Torres's departure sparked a massive domino effect on a few clubs. Liverpool got Andy Carroll for 35 million Pounds which I still think is a ridiculous fee for someone with just so little experience at a top level. Just hopes he is a fantastic buy for the club.

I was following ESPN Soccernet throughout the night and I must say, it very much reminded me of the stock markets. All the hustle of bustle of players going here and there.Those crazy rumours. Rejected bids. One thing is for sure, there was so much drama the whole night. Liverpool fans are really bitter by the manner at which Torres has left the club. They're saying he didn't even say 'thanks' for the immense support he got from the fans all the while he was here. Some idiots went as far as burning the shirt of their former icon. I just feel that he should have at least thanked them. Moving to Chelsea as he described was a 'BIG STEP FORWARD' in his career. It remains to be seen. One of my favourite quotes about Chelsea that I came across last night was that 'they're a plastic club with a load of plastic players'. Quite true actually.

Anyway, I can't wait to see Suarez and Carroll pair up front for this club. Its a mouth-watering prospect :) It cant only get better from here as we've hit rock bottom already this season. God Bless Liverpool!

It was something like this following last night's action:)


I bet some people's reaction was the same as this when they heard Liverpool's bid for Carrol cost 35mil!

Club's most expensive player. Crazy in my opinion because he was simply unknown just 7 months ago. Hope its a masterstroke by King Kenny.

Fish Auction in Japan. Can't help feel the same way about the way football players are these days. The highest bidder gets the player.

Hope he scores loads of goals for Liverpool too. Torres wasn't a prolific goalscorer in Athletico Madrid either. Sometimes, its all about the service a striker gets.

He looks good in a LFC kit doesn't he? ;)