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What my leg looks like today

Hospital Visit

After sometime, the pain was becoming overbearing and I decided to call the ambulance to get some 1st aid help and pain killers. It took them around 20 minutes after the call to reach me. While waiting for them, the pain killers I took seem to took its effect only to disappear a few minutes after.

Because of the long wait and feeling uncomfortable being only draped in my towel, I decided to wear my pants and go to the toilet. When the paramedic finally came, I was in a bit of a rush to take of my pants and change into my towel that I burst the blister I had.

The paramedic team ask if I minded to go to the hospital for a more detailed checkup and I resisted at first as I didn't want to stay overnight in the hospital. With the persuasion of my friends, I gave in. The paramedic gave me a jab to alleviate the pain and gave me a temporary gauze bandage before giving me a ride to the hospital.

After reaching the hospital, I was first brought to the emergency department. I had to take off my trousers in front of the doctor exposing myself in full glory for the doctor to see. Though, I did not have the awkward feeling I usually have if that action was necessary.

I was transferred to the burn center of the hospital where ointment was applied on me by a nurse (I had to once more take off my pants in front of female nurses).

I'm now back home feeling much better as the pain isn't disturbing me and with the sick leave paper, I'm exempted from classes tomorrow. Hopefully I'll heal fast and will be able to be back to normal soon.

BURNED

The day started out quite well, eating a nice breakfast, and went for basketball games. Although I was late because I wasn't informed on the change of time. I still enjoyed myself.

I had too much time to kill before I needed to go for volleyball games. So I headed to supermarket to cool myself with an ice-cream snack. Games today went pretty smoothly and I kind of enjoyed myself in whole today.

Things turned for the worst after i returned home. I was halfway through baking my first cheesecake (photos of which I will upload later when its done), and getting my dinner ready. I had a pot of chicken soup being heated to prevent it from spoiling. I was trying to transfer the amount I needed to a smaller pot to cook the vegetables in it when the pot slipped and poured its contents to me. I was wearing a thick pants at the moment and it soaked up all the soup which made the pants really hot. Lucky me, I had my knowledge on emergency medicine revised this week and knew how to act. I had to take off my pants to remove heat source but seems like I had to take off my undies as it was also soaked.

I then ran to the bathroom to run ice cold water on the burn sport as taught by our teachers so that the burn surface and severity might be decreased. This also helped by numbing my pain senses.

After running water on the site for about 5 min. I felt well enough and went back to my room to dress myself (yes, I ran from the kitchen to the bathroom naked, lucky for me my house was empty, or so I thought) and to have a look at how badly i hurt myself. The first picture was taken at that moment. I then went back to the kitchen to clean up the mess. But soon found the pain unbearable and went back to the bathroom to run it under water again. I then went back to the kitchen to finish clearing up my stuff before taking my shower (if you remembered, I just came back from sports when all these happened)

The next photo was taken after my bath. Suddenly I heard one of my friends room door open. I thought I was alone at home but seems like I was wrong. I shouted for her help and asked her if I needed to call an ambulance. We decided against it.

Here I am now, still in pain while writing this entry. My fingers were also burned and that was one of the less sever sites as no blister formed. But I can't even type for a minute before I have to press my fingers on a cold pack i prepared for myself to ease the pain.

Hope that I'll get well soon.

Dinner

Chicken Rice Dinner !!

Korean food and Medical checkup

How should I describe my day if I was limited to a word or two? I have no idea. Lucky me, I have a blog and here, I can freely write and describe my day in whatever length I deem fit. So my day started off pretty badly. I woke up as early as the day before (around 6am) but I wasn't able to go out for my morning jog as I had to report to the medical center at 8am to get myself checked. What made the start of my day awful was that I had to collect my feces and to those who have done it, they know how disgusting that can leave you feeling. I do not want to gross anyone out by describing how and what I had to do to get my feces sample into a container.

After breakfast and some entertainment online while eating, I felt slightly better. But the moment was not long lived. Upon reaching the med center, the series of check up begun. Most of it was pretty standard and non memory scaring. Though the check up which I hate the most and made me feel violated without fail is the probe we had to go through which consist of having your urethra poked to get samples and your anal region sticked with scotch tape and also invaded with some tools. These always left everyone feeling highly violated. I'll spare you guys from the details of the horrible experience but for those who really are interested, you are more than welcomed to ask me about it . I had to go through the usual therapist check up and as I suspected my blood pressure was increased though the level she told me was slightly alarming (150/80). The only positive outcome from this was I was given a 24hours Holter monitor procedure where by a device will be placed on me to record my ECG for a whole day. I am really looking forward to this test and hopefully it will give me an idea what is wrong with me(though I pray that it is nothing serious).

After the test, we still had to take a ride to another center to get an X-ray of our chest done. The only good (or for some other people bad) result from this check up was that our class for the day was cancelled.

Since we were around the place where the restaurant that served Korean food was, we decided to visit it as none of us has ever been there. After asking around and blindly trusting our instincts we got to the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant is a Korean that has been living in Russia his whole life. He was very kind and lead us to a private room/house where we won't be disturbed by Russians. Over here, we found ourselves in a room equipped with a full karaoke set and a personal bar (which we didn't use). It was sort of the private rooms in those Chinese restaurants back in our country.

The owner was a little too friendly and talkative. He was talking all the time before our food came and after we were done eating. He also sang one of the songs in his karaoke set (old Korean song -though what came out of his mouth definitely didn't sound Korean to me).

After having a satisfying meal (I still craved for more food as the portion was pretty small though at the end I felt alright with the amount I ate), we went our separate ways home. I took a small break before heading out to gym for my workout. On the way home, I went to collect my hard disc. Thankfully, all my data was preserved and all that was wrong was that the casing broke down. So what I needed to do was to get a new casing to get my hard disc back online. For that, I had to pay an amount of Rub800 (around Rm 80) for the casing and the diagnostic fee. I was relieved that I didn't have to pay a sky high price to get my data back.

With everything that needs fixing done, hopefully I can now study and live peacefully till I reach back home - Malaysia.

Reanimation Cycle

Today was a fairly eventful day. With some crazy ideas in my mind, I woke up at 6am this morning and went for a jog on the streets before heading to my classes. I had this thought of jogging early in the morning sometime back but decided to only act on it when the sun is partially up at that hour and not a total pitch black. The results of jogging was pretty rewarding, I felt refreshed and energized at the beginning of the day. Though, at class while we were drawing near its closure, tiredness swept over my body and I found myself going in and out of dreamland several times.

This week I am having Reanimation cycle. This is a cycle where we learn how to give emergency aid to patients who are in critical conditions. The classes were once again held in the university which allowed us to have a bit more time to sleep in before heading out. And to our surprises, the classroom was loaded with all kinds of dummies for us to practice our life saving skills.

I was overjoyed to be able to finally try doing a CPR on a dummy and thanks to our new dummies which were sort of electronically equipped, we were told whether or not the actions we were doing were correct.

After class, I went back home to have a bite or two since I was feeling hungry before heading to the gym. This is the 1st time I am returning to the gym since I stopped training on the week of the Intervarsity Games (it has been a little over 2 weeks). Upon returning to the gym, I found myself being unable to pump the metals and work the machines on a level I used to before this. I got tired really easily. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in shape as soon as possible.

After working out, I went to the computer guy to try to get my hard disc fixed and to get the new USB sound card which after looking around was still the cheapest (Rub 950). I guess Kursk doesn't have as many cheap and lousy products as KL has. I am yet to know how much the repair of my hard disc will cost as he said to come back tomorrow for a diagnostic result. Hopefully I won't burn a pocket to get it fixed.

My housemate called me while I was on the way home and asked me to get some stuff from the pharmacy for the medical checkup tomorrow (boxes for collecting feces). I had a hunch that the pharmacy near my house will not have what I was looking for but I ignored my feelings. Alas, I had to travel out again so I could get the stuff and by that I took another 5-10 min stroll. (Guess I am doing a lot of cardio workout today).

I took a catnap after returning home and bathing but for unknown reasons I didn't really sleep well. I then decided to start setting up the USB soundcard i got while having my dinner. I was surprised that I had to install the soundcard as the previous few I had only needed to be connected to the laptop and everything was up for running. Guess that's what you get for paying more ? A better quality.

Hectic Saturday

Alas the weekend is here but to my dismay i had loads of work to do. First of all, yesterday my USB sound card jack spoilt and I had to go get a new one. Also my external hard disc has been sitting idly on the side of my table which means its needs repair to retrieve my pictures of me since I came to Russia. Because of that I left earlier for class in order to take a trip to the computer guy. Though since its a weekend, the computer guy wasn’t there and the USB jack was so expensive (around Rm100). During class, I was supposed to present my project which was on Tuberculosis, and weirdly I forgot to place in to my pendrive. Hence I had to present the topic without the documents. Thankfully the teacher didn’t give me any trouble. After class, I had to rush home to cook for the party I was having later. Now I’m having a breather while in cell group. Hopefully I will have a good time in the party later.

Router !!

Today, I went to do some router searching after class. Because the device is being shared between me and my friend. Hence I had to consult her opinion. But lucky for us. We manage to come into an agreement pretty quick and got a router after comparing prices in a few shops. While doing some market survey, we bumped across one of the rarer stalls in Kursk that sells punkish and anime stuff. And it was here I got the bracelet in the photo above. Guess the price? It was only for an amount of roughly Rm 8. Can't believe right ? The price for these back in Malaysia is around 4-5 times of what I paid for over here.

After getting the router, we walked down further to a stall to get some lunch and on the way back to the bus stop, we decided to take a stroll back home instead of a quick ride with the public transports, as we had quite a heavy lunch and thought it would be a good idea to do some exercise.

I am very happy to say that I manage to fix up the router without too much trouble and that everything is now back to normal. Can't be more grateful.

Games

Here is the link to some clips of me and my teammates playing during the 2012 Nizhny Intervarsity Games. Enjoy ! By the way, try guessing which one I am ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqdNMNYkqqQ&feature=youtu.be

Frustration

After having my whole afternoon ruined, I'm now sitting in front of my computer to retell the story of how my day turned bad with some minor events.

The day started out like a normal study day, going to class and coming back after being done with it. Upon returning home for a rest, I found out that the internet was down (not that it was the first time), so I fiddled with the router to see if I could get it back on track working. Frustration one came in knocking my door when even after an hour of switching off and on the router the connection still doesn't work.

With that, I decided to try my luck at the router settings to improve its function only to realize later that I may have made an irreversible damage. This is because after that certain handling, the router started to have a total meltdown in its function. I couldn't even go into the main page to configure the router. And to fuel the fire on, I couldn't even reset the router.

I was lucky that I could get a friend of mine who lives nearby to come and take a look at the router and set up a direct line to my computer (if not for that, I wouldn't even be able to write and post this blog). But my friend was also at the mercy of the router's evil plans to stop me from going online.

Knowing that there wasn't much I could do, I decided to bring the router to the nearest computer technician to have it diagnosed and tested for its problems. I was then told that all ASUS product were handled in a center further away, which I also went.

Reaching the center, I was told that just for a simple diagnosis and test I would have to pay 300rub and since my warranty has run out if there is anything wrong with it I would have to pay for the service myself. Moreover, just for the testing, I had to leave my router for a stunning 7 days ! Which after hearing I said no thank you.

On the way back, I stopped by an electronic shop to check out the prices for a normal router, it ranges from 1500rub til 2500rub. Hate the fact I might have to use that amount of money after the trip I took to Nizhny for the Intervarsity Games. Sorry Mum and Dad beforehand for the extra cash that I might be using.

Intervaristy Games 2012

It has been a very tiring.four day journey away from home, away for the yearly Malaysian Intervarsity Games. It took a rough estimate of 15 hours bus ride to reach the venue. The game I was to play in was scheduled to be on the second day while the first day, the female volleyball team were to compete first. Since I had nothing better to do, I sat down and cheered for the female team while spotting for any pretty gals to approach. Me and my mates were practically making a fool of ourselves by randomly shouting stupid cheer remarks. At the meantime, I bullied my male juniors by making them give me a shoulder and neck massage from time to time. 1st day passed pretty uneventfully and the second day came, the day we have been training hard for all year round. We did fairly well, playing at our best performance. We manage to beat the team we feared the most - the one we knew that we would have to fight against to bag the gols medal. The male tournament started at 8 in the morning and since the female semifinals and finals were to occur before the male could have theirs, our male semifinals were postponed to a very late time. We only started our.semifinals at around 8pm. We were afraid that the finals might be postponed to next morning which will be a hassle for us as we have players that will have other games to attend the next morning. So during the semifinals, despite going against a fairly weak team, we went on full force and did a massacre which in my POV was a pretty bad show of sportsmanship. By the time 3-4th placing started it was close to 10.30pm and there was no other competition going on elsewhere. Hence, most of our university players came to cheer on our finals. Though we were all slightly annoyed by the long match the 3-4th placing match had to use. When we finally got to play, it was fairly late and our predictions turned out accurate, we were going against the university we thought that is going to be in the finals with us. During the earlier clash we had with them, we manage to emerge as victors with 2 clean sets and I think that gave us some sort of advantage. We manage to produce a very nice and entertaining match for our supporters who gave up their rest time to cheer for us and deliver the gold medal.

Feelings

As you guys may know, I have been hitting the gym on a regular schedule lately, and this has caused my groupmates to question, “Why are you so uptight on keeping that tight training of yours?” One of the reason is because I constantly complain about having to go to the gym after classes have end during which most of my classmates just head home and enjoy lunch while I slave away in the fitness club. I never really gave them my real answer other than one particular person that is my confidante here in Russia. The reason is fairly simple but to make things exciting, I would keep it to myself. Or not?

Back to my other feeling. I just finished viewing a movie named “Real Steel”. In this story the father who bailed out on his child was reunited and as usual the jerk of a father did all kinds of stupid stuff to the kid. The kid however, being a kid loved his dad and just wanted to do his best for him. The action in the movie where the robots fight one another was nice but what I concentrated my thoughts and emotions on was the bond that was slowing growing between the father and son. This movie showed me the love that will always be found in a relationship that can never be broken, one that was forged through blood (or so to say through a mixture of DNA from a male sperm and a female ovum - sorry for breaking the moment with some information that was just way to scientific).

Watching this reminded of my family back in Malaysia, the ones that I have never been too closed with. During my secondary school life, I was attached to my friends in high school and had the wrong idea of placing my priorities for my friends first and family second. Being in that rebellious age, I disliked all the ideas and nags my parents throw my way and only enjoyed being in the company of my friend or more correctly- my best friend.

It was until I came over to Russia and lost my best friend due to the strain from the long distance and scarce contact that I realized that “FAMILY” is the one and only shelter that will welcome your presence with open hands, a place that will always place you as their upmost important agenda.

I’m sorry Mum, Dad for never opening up to you guys, to never let you in my circle and allow you to share my happiness and sorrow. I’m sorry to my sister as well for always being a pain in your ass and constantly being a trouble to you.

I just want to end this post with an old statement :

F - Father

A - and

M - Mother

I - I

L - Love

Y - You

(Ps : to my dearest sister, I also love you dearly too !!)