Its been an incredibly busy week, but again I've left myself very little time to fill you in, as my stay in Kota Kinablu is rapidly nearing an end :-s





I'll have to try to catch up properly when I'm back in the UK...!

So, in summary:

* Most rewarding experience: Visiting burnt-down Iban village with caring Charlie Chan - helping to provide much needed water supplies, housing materials and basic medical care to the locals.



* Best scenery: Beaches, cliffs and jungle at beautiful Bako National park.

* Best wildlife: Wild, timid proboscis monkeys at Bako and amazing, astounding, agile Orangutans at Semengoh rehabilitation sanctuary.

* Biggest "wow" moment: The overwhelmingly magnificent Deer cave, at Mulu National park, one of the largest caves in the world, and the stunning, refreshing water for swimming at Clearwater cave.

* Most terrifying moment: Being chased by the "beast of Borneo"/an angry wild boar, through the pitch-black overgrown jungle during an exciting night hike with Dan.

* Most interesting/heart-breaking hospital cases: A poor man who had been the victim of a 'Hit and Run' - horrific wounds and multiple unstable, open fractures :( and another man suffering with a horrific, blistering and infected skin condition 'Pemphigus vulgaris', who had been rejected by his family due to his condition and disfigurement.

* Most disappointing moment: Losing all of my pictures from my 8GB SD card... really hope I'll be able to recover them once I'm back in the UK. Unfortunately attempts here have been terribly time-consuming and frustratingly futile.

* Most fun experience: Getting totally drenched while racing through a torrential tropical downpour in the middle of the dense Borneo jungle, leaping through puddles and over giant tree roots.

* Most "urgh" moment: Horrible body aches, exhaustion, diarrhea, nausea and fever :( Still feeling a tad fragile, but hopefully I'm on the road to recovery now....

* Best dinner and dancing: At the Kinabalu yacht club, after sea-kayaking and swimming with my wonderful "Malaysian mum", Kartini.

There are many more special memories and even more special people who have touched my life over the past week (from the hospital, from church, from Lavender lodge, from Sarawak and from the Hash harriers), but time does not allow me to elaborate now.

Hopefully, I will have some time once I'm back in the UK (wishful thinking perhaps - we arrive back into Heathrow at 6.30am and need to be in Addenbrookes hospital at 9am, agh!)

Until next time then, I'll love you and leave you. With love, Em xx

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelo

Alive :)

Hello,

I really don't have much time right now, in fact I literally just have 5 mins, but I just wanted to write a little note to let you know that I'm still alive :)

Its been a bit of a crazy week to be honest.

I've narrowly avoided being inadvertently cast in a German porn film and/or human trafficked, I've run away from a man demanding my money, been picked up in a van at night by 3 men who actually rescued me from the man who wanted to mug me and survived a tropical storm :)

Have also encountered lots of interesting cases in the hospital - pancreatitis, assault, construction workers falling from 2nd floor of building....have taken bloods, performed ECGs, been on a few ambulance calls adn examined a few very distended abdomens...and met lots of lovely people.

I've been swimming with turtles and hiking with monkeys.

Off to rural clinic in a few hours, must dash, much love, miss you all xxxx 

Highs and lows

Hello,

So, I've survived my 2nd week in Borneo :) It has rained a LOT - and I'm talking torrential monsoon, wet-through-to-your-underwear-rain. Its been a busy week, with some real highs and lows...

* Lows:

I've had a few challenging experiences in the hospital this week, especially involving the unexpected deaths of young people. One particular case was a 24 year old girl, who presented to the Emergency Department following a collapse, with her very loving and anxious mother. An ECG revealed that she had heart block and ventricular fibrillation. Consequently, she was cardioverted (shocked) and then externally paced (a temporary measure to regulate her heart beat).

Later however, I discovered that she needed a pacemaker (surgery), but was not entitled to one because she was not Malaysian. I was informed that it would cost "thousands" for her to have a pacemaker and  her family simply could not afford it. End of story. I was deeply troubled by this. How is it that money should buy us life? Buy us time?

I resolved that I would try to find out exactly how much it would cost and then see whether I could somehow try to raise the funds myself... it just didn't seem right to me that someone so young, with so much ahead of them should miss out on the experiences and opportunities that we take for granted. However, by the very next day, when I returned to see her, I was already too late... she had died just a few hours earlier :(


* Low to high to low:

A man presented with shortness of breath and atrial fibrillation. Then, he suddenly went into asystole (flatline/ no cardiac activity).

The staff immediately started CPR. After a while, the doctor giving chest compressions was tiring, so I took over. It was pretty hard work, but hope and adrenaline somehow kept me going. Time passed, I've no idea how long, it was all a bit of a blur... but I was surprised and elated to be finally told to stop compressions, as we had a pulse! :) We'd got him back :) :)

Sadly, I was informed the next day, that he'd gone into asystole again later that night, but this time they'd not been able to get him back... His family were distraught.

* Highs

A 17 year old girl being pushed in a wheelchair burst through the A&E doors and the person with her shouted "In labour!" Given my enthusiasm for all things O&G, I was very excited by this declaration! I hurried over to see if I could help. Fortunately for me, I was able to stand alongside from the start. The young, worried mother-to-be squeezed my hand and I smiled back reassuringly. Even though we couldn't speak the same language, I really feel that simply being a hand to hold and the exchange of smiles made a small difference. Later on, I donned the sterile gloves and was able to assist with the delivery. It was such an special experience to witness the arrival of a small, slightly blue, but otherwise health, beautiful baby into the world. Amazing! :)

Life outside of the hospital has also been eventful this week. Katie, Nadiah and I went for a full body massage and reflexology session one evening after work at the Borneo spa. Sooooo good (although I did slightly regret asking the muscly masseuse to be as strong as she could - she was very strong!) We also went to karaoke with some of the lovely Malaysian medical students. I've been hiking again through the wild forest with the friendly and fun Hash Harriers. Some Australian guys staying at our hostel attempted to bring 3 transvestites back to their room... when the manager refused to let them bring their "women" in, one semi-naked Aussie attempted to try his luck with us - unsuccessfully! ;)

At the weekend, we climbed Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia at 4095m. We hiked up to 'base camp' on the first day, which was steep in places, but overall pleasant and manageable. The lush, rainforest scenery along the way was wonderful. That evening, the accommodation we stayed in was basic, with no heating and an outside cold shower and toilet, but the food more than made up for it (a huge, delicious buffet spread, mmm!) The next morning, we were up at 2am, ready to hike to the summit by head-torch-light to watch the sunrise.

This part of the hike was tougher and much more exciting. Clinging to climbing ropes and scrambling along uneven rocks in the middle of the night. It also became a lot colder and more exposed as we neared the summit. When the sun rose, the views were breath-taking. Majestic mountain peaks rising out of the morning mist. It felt like a little bit of heaven. Just spectacular! :)

That's all for now. My bed calls... until next time, keep smiling and sweet dreams xx

Borneo :)

Oooh, I'm new to this whole blogging malarkey, but thought I'd better give it a go...

I've now been in Malaysian Borneo for just over a week. I'm currently typing this in a sweaty little room at midnight, so apologies if I sound slightly delirious, sleep-deprived and dehydrated :)

Things are going well so far. On the way here, Nadiah and I had 2  stop-overs - one in Dubai (in the palm-treed airport) and another in Brunei, where our enthusiastic tour guide informed us that if we converted to Islam, we'd get media coverage for a day (fame at last!), a free house and an all-expenses paid trip to Mecca!

Our hostel in Kota Kinabalu is fantastic - the staff are delightful, the other guests are lovely, the water is warm (though I've been taking cold showers as its so hot here) and we have a friendly gecko 'Gregg' sharing our room. I guess the only small downside is that we're in the epicenter of the 'transvestite red light district'...

Things in A&E are busy and bloody - it can be a tad demoralising at times, as the language barrier makes communication difficult and hands-on experience is limited, but the Malaysian students are a great help and I've met patients with a variety of interesting cases - TB, Pneumonia, Malaria, Dengue, HIV, many motorbike accidents, bowel obstruction, strokes, tumours, wounds, falls, vertigo, heart attacks... I've also taken bloods, sutured a knife wound, inserted a line, performed countless ECGs, done an ultrasound to check on a 12 week old fetus and assisted as a comatose severely hypoglycaemic patient was apparently  'brought back to life' following a simple glucose infusion and fluid resuscitation! Amazing!

I've had the opportunity to ride at high speeds along windy, wild and busy roads with the ambulances a few times too. The first patient we were called out to see was unfortunately already dead on arrival. It was a really sad situation that profoundly affected me. Just months before, this man had had a good job and a home for his family. But then he'd become ill, had surgery, lost his job, lost his home, and ended up with a horrendously infected wound, lying dead among rubble and swarming flies, leaving behind a wife and 2 small children... so sad. I wish I could have done more, but the ambulance staff assured me that the police would handle the situation... I'm still worried about his poor wife and children... Hmm, I really do take my home, security, sanitation, health, freedom, family, friends, education, opportunities and innumerable other blessings for granted... I am so unbelievably fortunate. It can be easy to lose sight of this sometimes...

I'm getting quite sleepy now, so time to wrap this up. Aside from the hospital, I've had plenty of other wonderful experiences, with many more on the horizon.  I've met lovely people at church here, who kindly translated for me and following the service, eagerly introduced me to their tasty local cuisine and 'most eligible bachelor'! ;) I've also been 'running' (aka scrambling through dense jungle) with the amazing Hash Harriers, including Kartini,  'Pretty Woman', 'Stripper', 'German Sausage' and 'Big Fart'. I've seen leaves as big as me, trees as tall as towers, beautiful butterflies, pineapple plants and stunning sunsets. I've also swum among star fish, felt the wind in my hair on a bumpy speedboat ride, eaten lots of rice, been bitten by hungry mosquitoes, sampled the special 'Fish head curry', sprinted across motorways, wandered through markets, attended a regional emergency medicine symposium, and sung my heart out to Abba's 'Mamma Mia' at karaoke.

Tomorrow is a new day and I'm not sure what it will bring... but I'm sure happiness and new adventures await. Until next time, lots of sweaty hugs and kisses from Borneo, sweet dreams xxxx