Av Influenza Surveillance

Last Thu I received a call from Unc Ash, " Ei, Pamela. Come to DSV (main faculty hall) at 1.45pm. Emergency. Must come." It was 1.40pm.

So I quickly returned all the patient files to the front office (clinic registrar) and headed to DSV. Thr, my class was told to join the Avian Influenza Surveillance Team, and we were to stay at Institut Pengurusan veterinar at Cheras, probably for a duration of 1 week. It was not a good news, (at least to me) for I had already lined up the list of "things to do when I go back KB". But it's ok.

"Berkhidmat untuk negara!" "Mari kita berjuang!" I heard my classmates cheering. A-hem.

So there we went on the very same day, ate and slept in the same place. There were more than 60 DVM5 (my class) who went there, and about 40++ staffs from all around Malaysia, which summed up to be more than 100 people helping the nation to fight. We were divided into 30++ groups (at least 4 ppl/group), and on the next day, each group gathered the stuffs and headed to different directions. We carried the swabs (ear cotton), transport media, masks, gloves, disinfectants, water, food, nets, and other stuffs in 4-wheels.

We were supposed to visit the area, watch for any bird or chicken, and take at least 1 cloacal (anus) swab from one bird from a population. The swabs carry the mucus or epithelia that will tell us whether it's positive or negative for HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza strain virus). So we'll send the swabs to the labs later lo.

On the first day (Fri) my group surveyed Sentul, where we covered La Salle, Convent Sentul n other nearby areas within my assigned 1km surveillance area. The next day, miraculously, my group was assigned to Kepong area, good enough, it covered my home n neighbourhood, including my 2ndary school (SMKB). I took some time off to visit my family, and the feeling was undescribable. How i missed home. It's been 4weeks since i last went home. Watching Toffee crying terribly for me, and I can't even hug him (for I consider myself "contaminated", coz i had direct contact with chickens) was the worst feeling.

Thank God, the survey is now over, and I'm back to faculty. Hopefully all the results for the swabs will be negative. God willing.

wisdom..

thousand apologies for not updating my blog for almost 3 weeks, (or more? cant recall). was too busy medicating, nursing dogs n cats, then attending surgeries.. then retrieving long-lost notes, searching for endless calls for information n stuffs. my project thesis is not fully done yet, and havn start a bit on my conference. Thank God, i finally got a case, a good one i think, on the last day of my rotation in the small animal ward. :) Praise the Lord.. ;)

today i'll be talking about wisdom tooth, hehe.. too bad for those tricked by my hanging title. :P *sengaja*

I believe tat many of us (esp young adults) are having the same prob - wisdom teeth derived pain, crooked teeth, stress..etc. for more info on the physiology of wisdom teeth, u may click here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_tooth. not sure whether the info is reliable, though.

basically wisdom teeth are the 3rd molars which started growing when we reach adulthood. some ppl got it earlier, some later. for ppl who have enough spaces on their jaw for the teeth to grow, then there's no prob for them. for ppl who unfortunately didn't have enough spaces, this spelt trouble to them (includin me) - they'll get the wisdom teeth syndrome, which included pain in the jaw, teeth, headache, mild fever for a week or so, some infection like sorethroat, and sadly, they'll start noticing their once beautifully alligned teeth (which they're proud of) started to get crooked.

the syndrome comes and goes, until the wisdom teeth grows out entirely. For people whom the syndrome never seem to go off, it keeps comin back despite the 3 (or more) years that went by.. it simply means tat there just aint enuf space for the smart teeth to grow. they have to opt for..

Remove tat teeth. surgically. which is an awfully painful procedure, despite all the analgesics n anti-inflammatory supplements, it's painful.

otherwise...

the teeth will grow onto your cheek bone - which could cause other complications, infection being one of them. Hmm... wonder is facial deformity one of it too?

TQ Mr. gentleman

Oh great (?!) the CNY holiday is finally over. This week I'm stationed in the small animal ward, where i have to treat and tend to sick cats/dogs, beginning from 7am, all the way till 9.30pm at night. how many hours is tat? 8,9,10...14.30hours. as i stay in a rather remote hostel, i need transportation (coz at 6.45am and 9.45pm the sky is pitch dark alrite, a rationale girl won't go home alone during these hours) back n fro my hostel to the faculty, where the veterinary hospital is.

So i've got this fren, Kamha (bukan nama sebenar) who stays in the same hostel as well as working in the ward with me. It was really kind n nice of him to send my frens n I (all gals) back n fro everyday.

However, yesternite was indeed a surprise. He had to stay back to help his group mates settle some prob. It was 9.45pm. 3 of us gals were already complaining of tired.. sighing.. etc. waiting to go home n SLEEP. instead of asking us wait for him, he offered to send us home first, and then drive back to faculty to again to help his groupmate. When he offered this, I was dumb-struck. "hey.. is he kidding?" When he elaborated more, my mind was running haphazardly, "He's not joking, is he?" "Is he consciously conscious?" "Maybe i forgot to clean my ears this morning?"

I was still dazed, when everyone started packing n moving towards the car. "oh boy.. he was a real gentleman."

I don't understand, do you?

it's the holiday week. good. ironically, sad for ppl who's on ward duty next week. why? coz we're forced to be back in the ward on friday?

"Why?"
"cek the file, see the patient that you're going to look after next week. just see, don't have to touch."
"alright.. then?"
"then go home. Come back agiain tomoro (Sat), do a simple physical examination on ur patients?"
"do i get to treat the animals, walk them...?"
"no. just cek them up, then leave. come back and start workin only tomoro."

at first when my group mate told me this "good" news, i took it very lightly, "oh yah.. come back early, i can study earlier." but now it seems tat all my CNY programs are stuck on fri n sat, and these are the days when i have to drop by the ward for less than 1 hour to occupy the entire 2 days!

CAN ANYONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME THE RATIONALE BEHIND THIS???

why can't we just cek the file on sat? or sunday? wat's the point in making it fri, and then again sat doing almost nothing??

a fun-filled day

yesterday was a fun-filled day, n i mean, whole-day. well, maybe not tat fun when my facial muscles started cramping due to excessive smiling, laughin n talkin...

In the mornig, tx to NChiann, the superb-in-keepin-in-touch gal.. i first met my long lost fren, gaius, we last met 14 years ago! coincidentally, i came across his name while reading the bible last week. he couldn't recog me, bt thank goodness, he remembered that "Pamela Ong" once existed. then off we went to look for my primary school teacher, a very dedicated, caring, lovely lady, Ms Pearly Yap whom i havent seen for the past 10 years (i think)! meeting them forced me to dig n recall all the buried memories within, little by littl they came to light.. but all were stil in pieces. it was really challenging.. most of us looking blur sometimes recalling flashes of scenes which once were our life. as we sent gaius home, we met another primary school teacher - Pn Jason Ng.. ooo.. really, 14 yrs never seeen her.. well, she stil looked the same. ;)

Later we continued the day at my secondary teacher, Pn LenaGan's hse.. makan talk as usual.. this time not so much of recalling things, much to my relief! then i played a little with her 5 n 3-yr-ol sons, unfortunately, due to hyperactivity, the 3-yr old hurt his abdomen after jumpin off the sofa. *ouch!

then was dinner to send an ol buddy, winnie off to aus.. we (pLee,Su, Ma,NC) went to the curve's (which some of us ulu ulu ppl never been to, hehe) viva pizza. mm.. i stil prefer pizza hut lots lots much. then off to u-chen's hse.. there i became a hair-stylist for children. honestly, it was a lousy touch, but just as long as the children liked it, I'm glad to do it. FOC. ;) it was reali fun keepin in touch with one another, understandin wat each other is bz with currently, learnin abt other fren's updates.. it was fun. plus all the jokes n laughter n nonsenses tat came along it, it was simply happily fun. after so much time not seeing/hearing from each other..

then at night, my family had yee-sang.. n we shared a lot of thoughts together.. it's really been a long time since we last sat together, sharing such thoughts.. Bless the Lord for all His blessings.