21st edition of SurgeXperiences

The one and only SURGICAL blog carnival, SurgeXperiences is now up at The Sterile Eye.

What is SurgeXperiences?

It’s a blog carnival (registered with Blog Carnival) that collects blog entries every 2 weeks* on various surgical experiences. But we also accept articles on the news of surgical advances, etc. It is THE blog carnival for everything surgical and more! All are welcome to contribute.

Many thanks to Øystein Horgmo for hosting this edition with the theme of “Tools of the trade”. Link on to find out more the tools of the surgical trade. Very interesting read.

Next edition

The 22nd edition will be hosted by an Australia surgeon who calls himself Sheepish. His blog is over at The Paper Mask. His call for submissions is here.

Hosting

If you are interested in hosting future editions, kindly contact me. I have written some tips to host to made the process easier. We need hosts to keep this carnival going. If you enjoyed it, maybe you could do a part in helping it go on. Your efforts will not go unappreciated. You can submit your articles via the official submission form.

Here are all the issues of SurgeXperiences thus far:

Season 1

1. Surgexperiences 101: monash medical student
2. Surgexperiences 102:monash medical student
3. Surgexperiences 103: Unbounded Medicine
4. Surgexperiences 104: Other Things Amanzin
5. Surgexperiences 105: Suture for a Living
6. Surgexperiences 106: IntraopOrate
7. Surgexperiences 107: Vitum Medicinus
8. SurgeXperiences 108: Aggravated DocSurg
9. SurgeXperiences 109: monash medical student
10. SurgeXperiencs 110: Cut on the dotted line
11. SurgeXperiences 111: Buckeye Surgeon
12. SurgeXperiences 112: The Sterile Eye
13. SurgeXperiences 113: Counting Sheep
14. SurgeXperiences 114: Notes of an Anesthesioboist
15. SurgeXperiences 115: Made A Difference
16. SurgeXperiences 116: Other Things Amanzi
17. SurgeXperiences 117: Suture for a Living
18. SurgeXperiences 118: OpNotes
19. SurgeXperiences 119: Marianas Eye
20. SurgeXperiences 120: Surgeonsblog

*subject to change to 1 week upon popular request

GR up at Suture for a Living

one of my favourite bloggers had the honour of hosting Grand Rounds this week. check it out here.

her loose theme of introducing her state makes me wanna visit some day. maybe in year 5 when i do an elective in the States.

a rare cause of SBO

i was reading up on small bowel obstruction (SBO) again as i went through all the upper and lower GI surgical diseases (glad i’m finally done with them). then i was flipping through Bailey and Love’s Short Practice of Surgery when i caught sight of this picture that gave me the creeps.

pparently, one of the rare causes of SBO are worms… (disturbing picture ahead…)

Ascaris lumbricoides is the largest of the common nematode (roundworm) infections of man.

ANZAC weekend camping trip!

“Lest we forget.”

All over the world, these 3 words are engraved in many memorial stones or monuments set up to remember the brave soldiers of ANZAC. Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. The pride they took in that name endures to this day, and Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand. Thanks to the importance of these folks, we have a public holiday and as students, we gladly welcomed it. 3 of us decided to drive out to the country and do a little camping and hiking.

We conquered Cathedral Range National Park and Lake Eildon National Park in rural Victoria. It was scenic and refreshing…

20th edition of SurgeXperiences up!

The one and only SURGICAL blog carnival, SurgeXperiences is now up at Surgeonsblog.

What is SurgeXperiences?

It’s a blog carnival (registered with Blog Carnival) that collects blog entries every 2 weeks* on various surgical experiences. But we also accept articles on the news of surgical advances, etc. It is THE blog carnival for everything surgical and more! All are welcome to contribute.

Many thanks to Dr Sidney Schwab, for hosting this edition with a poetic twist.

Next edition

The 21sth edition will be hosted by Norwegian medical videographer Øystein Horgmo at his blog The Sterile Eye.

Hosting

If you are interested in hosting future editions, kindly contact me. I have written some tips to host to made the process easier. We need hosts to keep this carnival going. If you enjoyed it, maybe you could do a part in helping it go on. Your efforts will not go unappreciated. You can submit your articles via the official submission form.

Here are all the issues of SurgeXperiences thus far:

Season 1

1. Surgexperiences 101: monash medical student
2. Surgexperiences 102:monash medical student
3. Surgexperiences 103: Unbounded Medicine
4. Surgexperiences 104: Other Things Amanzin
5. Surgexperiences 105: Suture for a Living
6. Surgexperiences 106: IntraopOrate
7. Surgexperiences 107: Vitum Medicinus
8. SurgeXperiences 108: Aggravated DocSurg
9. SurgeXperiences 109: monash medical student
10. SurgeXperiencs 110: Cut on the dotted line
11. SurgeXperiences 111: Buckeye Surgeon
12. SurgeXperiences 112: The Sterile Eye
13. SurgeXperiences 113: Counting Sheep
14. SurgeXperiences 114: Notes of an Anesthesioboist
15. SurgeXperiences 115: Made A Difference
16. SurgeXperiences 116: Other Things Amanzi
17. SurgeXperiences 117: Suture for a Living
18. SurgeXperiences 118: OpNotes
19. SurgeXperiences 119: Marianas Eye

*subject to change to 1 week upon popular request

Learning curves

Lots have been happening since i last updated my blog. Recently i have been trying to look for an additional source of income other than the gracious allowances my parents give me. I landed myself with a part-time job as a newspaper delivery man…

Entertainment

Ok, so i haven’t entirely been the most hardworking medical student of late…
Well, its not as if i’m neglecting my studies totally. I just haven’t been putting those extra hours of diligent study like a responsible student might do. I do the basics of attending rounds, going for the Problem-based Learning (PBL) tutorials i have each week, the lectures, and extra tutorials we get from arranged slots with consultants or registrars in various fields. I haven’t been roaming the wards looking for patients to interview or examine, or I have been busying myself with a newly discovered TV series called Friday Night Lights…

20th edition of SurgeXperiences

A landmark event in the history of surgical blogging, our blog carnival SurgeXperiences will hit its 20th edition next Sunday. It will be hosted by veteran surgeon blogger Dr Sidney Schwab who is behind his popular blog at Surgeonsblog.

He has called for submissions, so link on and see what he’s got in store for this 20th edition.

“SurgeXperiences is a blog carnival about surgically-related blogs. It is open to all (surgeon, nurse, anesthesia, patient, etc) who have a surgical blog or article to submit. The next edition will be on April 27th. The deadline for submissions will be April 25th. Please submit your posts here.”

Claiming to have been tricked by yours truly, Dr Schwab is a first-time host of any blog carnival. Even long-lasting Grand Rounds has not had the honour of having him as the host. So SurgeXperiences is truly lucky. I guess persistence pays off. I have asked him to host on 2 or 3 previous occasions. He was the first i asked to help me host when SurgeXperiences took off.

And to downplay what the flattery i have served up to “trick” him into hosting, i shall cut and paste my invitation to him and you decide if its too flattering..

I would like to invite you to host the 20th edition of SurgeXperiences. This is a monumental time for our blog carnival and i would like to give you the honours of celebrating this achievement of 20 good editions that has gone by. I could not think of a better person than you to do it. People think of surgeons blogging and they straightaway think about Surgeonsblog by you. So i do hope you consider this once again and grant us the privilege of having you host.

I think i was just being honest. Who can disagree with the statement of people thinking of Surgeonsblog when we think about surgeons blogging? His blog is a prime example. Most medical bloggers will agree. What do you think? Was i being too much of a suck-up?

SAGES Scientific Session Exclusive Coverage

The kind folks over at OpNotes were there at the SAGES Scientific Session and have several articles.

SurgeXperiences 119 up!

The one and only SURGICAL blog carnival, SurgeXperiences is now up at Marianas Eye.

What is SurgeXperiences?

It’s a blog carnival (registered with Blog Carnival) that collects blog entries every 2 weeks* on various surgical experiences. But we also accept articles on the news of surgical advances, etc. It is THE blog carnival for everything surgical and more! All are welcome to contribute.

Many thanks to Dr David Khorram, an ophthalmologist hailing from Saipan, for hosting this edition.

Next edition

The 20th edition will be hosted by Dr Sidney Schwab at Surgeonsblog.

If you are keen surgical reader, you should already know him. Otherwise, you should hop on over and check out his best posts in a “sampler” delight.

If you are interested in hosting future editions, kindly contact me. I have written some tips to host to made the process easier. We need hosts to keep this carnival going. If you enjoyed it, maybe you could do a part in helping it go on. Your efforts will not go unappreciated. You can submit your articles via the official submission form.

Here are all the issues of SurgeXperiences thus far:

Season 1

1. Surgexperiences 101: monash medical student
2. Surgexperiences 102:monash medical student
3. Surgexperiences 103: Unbounded Medicine
4. Surgexperiences 104: Other Things Amanzin
5. Surgexperiences 105: Suture for a Living
6. Surgexperiences 106: IntraopOrate
7. Surgexperiences 107: Vitum Medicinus
8. SurgeXperiences 108: Aggravated DocSurg
9. SurgeXperiences 109: monash medical student
10. SurgeXperiencs 110: Cut on the dotted line
11. SurgeXperiences 111: Buckeye Surgeon
12. SurgeXperiences 112: The Sterile Eye
13. SurgeXperiences 113: Counting Sheep
14. SurgeXperiences 114: Notes of an Anesthesioboist
15. SurgeXperiences 115: Made A Difference
16. SurgeXperiences 116: Other Things Amanzi
17. SurgeXperiences 117: Suture for a Living
18. SurgeXperiences 118: OpNotes

*subject to change to 1 week upon popular request

so he did it! again.

Here i am, proud of what my brother has accomplished once again. He traversed 250 kilometres in the driest place on Earth. Atalacama Crossing. Chile. The Atacama Desert has the most lunar-like landscape on Earth and is frequently used by NASA to test its Mars rover vehicles. The Atacama Desert is 15 million years old and 50 times more arid than California’s Death Valley. Some of the oldest mummies found on earth come from the Atacama, dating as far back as 9000 years.

And my brother did it. He came in ELEVENTH PLACE…! (pictures below)

Grand Rounds with a cardiac slant

Dr Wes hosts Grand Rounds with a cardiac slant. Excellently put together. I liked the following best:

• Reflections on Hospitalito Atitlan
• Pap smear … on a man?!
• Spine surgery - the real deal

Marathon training seems on track

Today is a day of landmarks.

For me, on a personal basis.

Last year, i tried to do the Great Ocean Road International Marathon (Half), which was 23km at the scenic GOR in Melbourne. That i wrote about here. Then, i struggled after i hit 18km. The last 5km were tortuous, painful and entirely due to my lack of training. I know i had ‘hit the wall’. I started walking when i passed the official half-marathon mark, and only started jogging toward the end. Though i completed, i considered that a failure. But i left hungry, hungry for more of such endurance events.

Yay i found a host!

The 19th edition of SurgeXperiences will be hosted by Dr. David Khorram, an eye surgeon. You can read more about his profile at his practice’s site at Marianas Eye Institute.

Removing diseased organs via natural orifices

Natural orifices. They can’t be that many. For males, you’ve got the anus, mouth, nostrils, and ears. For females, you’ve got the additional vagina, which comes in handy. Especially when U.S. surgeons have already removed an inflamed gallbladder through there before. That was way back in Sept 2007.

Surgeons at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center have performed the first clinical trial surgery in the Southwest to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of performing abdominal procedures through the body’s natural openings, virtually eliminating scarring.

is this nice or what?

Grand Rounds in 7 parts

Ramona linked them all up.

So follow this link there to see all 7 parts of Grand Rounds!

My post on the runner’s high was featured in part 3.

Monash medical student tells us that the runner’s high is real after all…

Growing up in Singapore, blogger Jeffrey was doubtless deprived of his fair share of recreational pharmaceuticals. Now in Australia, he’s discovered runner’s high, 8 or 12 kilometers into his run. But don’t take my word for it when you can exult in his awe-inspiring use of the English language:

So get your running gear, which really isn’t much is it? Any tshirt and comfortable shorts will do. A decent running shoe will suffice. Add the music player for extra motivation. Does it really?

That says it all, does it not?

Monash med may have a bit of explaining to do upon his return to Changi. (Note to self, can you get runner’s high from rattan?)

Ok, i dont know if he’s trying to be funny about the rattan. Did you know that the students who attend Duke, which is apparently one of the best universities in the country, think everyone in Singapore gets caned once in their time? My friend doing biomedical engineering told me they actually thought that, so much so the Singaporean Society had to write a formal letter to explain how our punishment system for criminals convicted of crimes work! GeeeZZ!!

Anyway, glad to be featured, and hope u experience the runner’s high for yourself.

Bowel obstruction

I was watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy over dinner, and this one caught my attention and i decided to take some snapshots and write a little about it.

The episode is entitled “Enough is enough“. Link on to find out about the story. Anyway the part of the episode i wish to highlight is when Miranda deals with an unusual surgery of a man who has blocked bowels. He doesn’t say what caused the blockage. The surgical team highly suspect packs of drugs, which apparently is common with drug trafficking and all. But then highly observant Karev says, “Are you sure they are drugs?” And everyone takes a closer look at the films…

my crazy bro

ok now so previously my elder brother did the Sahara race last year which i wrote about.

having not had enough, now he is going to do the Atacama Crossing race in Chile starting today. here he is on the competitors list.

come June 08, he will take part in the Gobi March with my not-so-athletic sister and her fiance. my dad has decided NOT to sponsor me to go for this, citing that i should concentrate on my medical studies for now. he fears the whole excitement and buzz of the race will distract me from my core business - studying.

so too bad i will not feature in them until i graduate, God willing, in Dec 2010.

good luck to my bro. i’ll be sending him emails to encourage him the next few days and monitoring his progress. he should perform much better now that he has done it once before.

Camp at Grampians

So i’m back from a family camp with Bethel BP Church. It was held at Norval Lodge at Halls Gap, in the locality of Grampians National Park. The spiritual food was plenteous with Rev Quek giving a series of messages on love. I was reaching out to Elliot too and i’m glad to see some progress. Prayerfully, God will work a mighty work in his heart and help him settle in Bethel.

The nature was great. Marveling at God’s creation could not have been better…