The big freeze

Views from my bedroom window

I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. And it's still snowing...

Apparently, this is our worst snow seen for 18 years, causing schools to be closed across England, public transport to be withdrawn and the advice to only make essential journeys.

The prediction is more heavy snow later this afternoon, accompanied by strong winds in blizzard condition. I will be at work then. I, unfortunately, cycle to work, thus can't use the excuse of no public transport to arrive at work (unlike the people in London who have a day off as the trains and underground tube are not working).

Better enjoy the snow while I can....

Day out in London

Went down to London yesterday to meet an ex-university friend. We were originally planning to eat at Rasa Sayang restaurant in Chinatown but the streets in Chinatown were close as they were busy preparing the decorations for the official CNY celebration on Sunday. Thus, we moved location to Malaysia Kopitiam instead.

Through her, I found out that 2 of my ex-university friends, working in investment banking, have been made redundant and they were offered 6 months pay. Pretty generous, I must say, with the current economic crisis.

Then, met up with friends for dinner and an opera. We went to Asia de Cuba, a small restaurant at the St Martin's Lane Hotel, to try out their Bento Boxes. They were having their 10th year anniversary, thus offering their Bento Box meal for only 10 quid. Well, only one box was 10 quid. The others were priced higher.

20 pounds Bento Box - seared spiced tuna with avocado and wasabi, tempura shrimp with chilli mayonnaise, asia de cuba salad (curly endive, chayote, hearts of palm, banana, cashews, roquette, adicchio, sesame orange dressing) and shanghai noodles

10 pounds Bento Box - grilled salmon with wasabi sour cream, beef dumplings with plum sauce, thai salad (avocado, shredded coconut, orange segments and asian greens with hot and sour dressing) and havanna noodles

25 pounds Bento Box - tamarind chicken, asian pesto prawns, honey-run glazed roast of pork with sauteed shanghai bok choy, fried plantains and enoki mushrooms and coconut rice

The ambience was nice, but the food was definitely over-priced. I didn't particularly enjoyed it as it was too salty for my liking.

After the dinner, we proceeded next door to the English National Opera, at the London Coliseum, to watch the Magic Flute.

It was a nice opera, and the first opera that I have been that was sung in English, which surprised me at the start. I am used to watching the subtitles as previous operas have all been sung in Italian or German, but I didn't need to in this one.

And then, it was a rush to catch the train back as I had to work the next day. Sigh....

Learning my ABCs

An excellent rendition of the Sesame Street theme song on piano by Joshua Radin.

Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

Come and play
Everything's A-OK
Friendly neighbours there
That's where we meet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

It's a magic carpet ride
Every door will open wide
To happy people like you
Happy people like
What a beautiful

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

As a child, I was a huge fan of Sesame Street. I would be stuck in front of the tv every weekday afternoon, learning how to pronounce,

"break....................fast"
"break...............fast"
"break..........fast"
"break.....fast"
"breakfast"

and countless other words.

I remember the characters I enjoy, the really grouchy Oscar, Cookie Monster gobbling down cookies, with the cookie crumbles spraying everywhere, and the big bright yellow Big Bird. Not forgetting Kermit the frog, Bert and Ernie.

The show is still running, since 1969!. In a way, I believe that the show has been able to survive for so long is mainly down to its ability to adapt. It uses a combination of puppets and live actors to stimulate children's minds and to improve their literacy and numeracy skills. Besides that, it also teaches basic life skills, such as proper hygiene (teaching Cookie Monster to clean his teeth at night), healthy eating habits, and social skills (how not to be as grouchy as Oscar).

What more can you ask from an educational tv program for children?

This blog has been brought to you by the letter M and the number 27.

Ps. I have heard of Joshua Radin prior to these due to some of his songs being aired on Grey's Anatomy. After a random google, I found out that he will be performing in London this March. So, without hesitation, I bought tickets for his performance. =)

Angels Flying Too Close

If you had not have fallen
Then I would not have found you
Angel flying too close to the ground
And I patched up your broken wing
And hung around a while
Tried to keep your spirits up
And your fever down
I knew someday that you would fly away
For love's the greatest healer to be found
So leave me if you need to
I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground
Fly on, fly on past the speed of sound
I'd rather see you up
Than see you down
Leave me if you need to
I will still remember
Angel flying too close to the ground

Heard the above song, 'Angels Flying Too Close' by Beth Rowley in Private Practice, another medical drama series, which is a spin-off from Grey's Anatomy. Like Grey's Anatomy, it deals with complex emotional medical problems, which I can relate more to, being a medic at heart.

One thing I enjoy about watching these tv series is that they find an interesting collection of under-heard or under-appreciated tunes. There are lots of undiscovered talents out there and they managed to find good wall-to-wall music that goes well with the show. I have discovered more artists and their music through these series than our local UK radio station, that's for sure.

Ps. The above song was originally sung by Willie Nelson, but I like this version better.

A surgeon or an executioner?

Following on from the post on organ donation, Grey's Anatomy recently aired a 3-episode series focusing on organ donation.

A young 16-year old boy requires a liver and small bowel transplantation, desperately.

A heavily guarded death row patient comes into the hospital following a home-made knife (a sharpened toothbrush) inserted into his spine. He denies any life-saving operation as he is due to be executed next week for slitting 5 women's throat 'for fun'. Dr Shepherd, the neurosurgeon refuses to comply with his wishes, as he does not want to allow the patient to 'cheat the system'. He waits for the patient to become unconscious and takes him to theatre to be operated on.

Post-surgery, the death row patient finds out that the young boy requires a transplant and offers his own.

'Let me save a life before I go'

However, protocol does not permit it, despite him being a perfect match for the young boy.

Meanwhile, time is running out for the young boy.

The death row patient suffers a self-inflicted post-operative complication and is rushed back to theatre. In desperation, Dr Bailey, the surgeon looking after the young boy, rushes into theatre to request that Dr Shepherd stops the operation.

'This man is trying to kill himself. God forgive me, I need you to let him.'

Dr Shepherd puts down his scalpel and asks Dr Bailey.

'It's your call. Am I an executioner or a surgeon?'

If one believes in utilitarianism, where the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome, simply put, the end justify the means, it seems the right decision to do. The man wants to die. If he does, his organs can be put to good use to save a young boy's life. The man is going to be executed in 5 days regardless, and his organs will be wasted, so to speak.

Watching the series, I can understand the emotional turmoil going on in Dr Bailey's mind. It's a difficult situation to be in, complicated by her being emotionally-involved with her young patient. As doctors, we are often told not to become too emotionally-involved with our patients as it can cloud your clinical judgement, as in this case. Dr Bailey crossed a line by asking another surgeon to intentionally withhold treatment for his patient, in order to save her own patient.

I will not reveal how the series ended. Watch it yourself to find out.

The above scenario explains why I enjoy watching Grey's Anatomy. It's very melodramatic due to the complex ethical surgical problems that occurs on the series. Granted I am not a surgeon, but with each problem, I can visualise how it can happen in my own medical world and sort-of gives me a simulated training on how I would handle such scenarios in the future.

Who says you can't learn from the tv? :P

Itinerary headache

Spent the whole afternoon planning my itinerary for my trip to Delhi, India next month. Will be there to present my abstract at a medical conference and will use the extra days there to travel around. Using my Lonely Planet guidebook and this absolutely fantastic forum, India Travel Forum, I have finally managed to sort out my accommodation in Delhi, Agra and Jaipur (the Golden Triangle cities).

Also managed to buy all my train tickets (Delhi-Agra, Agra-Jaipur, Jaipur-Delhi) online, which are e-tickets. Thanks again to the helpful India Travel Forum, where every question you could possible ask has been asked before and answered by people who have been there and know their 2 Rupees worth.

I could have saved myself all the trouble by using a tour package which covers Agra and Jaipur from Delhi, but the tour packages were pretty expensive (about 250 pounds), and it's much more fun to plan the trip oneself.

Am excited about my trip but also slightly scared at the same time. It will be my first trip to India, and I am going alone. It will definitely be an enriching experience for me. I just hope it all goes well.

Seven pounds - spoiler

If you intend to watch the movie, 'Seven Pounds', please do not read any further unless you want to know the plot.
You have been warned....

It's a story about a man who causes a car crash by reading his mobile phone's display while driving, and causes the death of 7 people, including his fiance.

As a result, he sets out to change the lives of 7 people by donating his organs to them. While alive, he donated a lung lobe to his brother, a part of his liver to a stranger called Holly, a bone marrow to a young kid and a kidney to another stranger.

He also donated his house and a large amount of money to a domestic-abused mom and her 2 children.

So, that's 5 people he had helped.

He needed 2 more people to help. And decides to donate his heart to a woman with congenital heart failure and his eyes to a blind man. And he does it by committing suicide in a way that preserves the heart - by allowing to be killed by a poisonous jelly-fish in a bathtub fulled with ice. He leaves a note to warn people about the poisonous jelly-fish and rings 911 to inform them about his impending suicide.

What bothered me about the story plot was the issue that the protagonist in the story made sure that the people he was about to donate his organs to were worthy of his organs. When alive, yes, you can make a decision that I want to donate my kidney/lung/liver to Mr X or Miss Y. And if you find out that Mr X is a paedophile, you can choose not to proceed with the donation. That is your choice. You have the autonomy to do so. However, for living donation, there is a lot of strict regulations to meet and a thorough process of assessment and discussion before it can go ahead.

However, once dead, I do not think that it is right that one has a choice to dictate who he wants his organs to go to. It should be a matter of need and priority. Not discriminated by how naughty or nice you have been this year.

As it is, we are in desperate need for organ donors and this movie does not help the cause if people were to come away from the movie thinking that they can choose who receives their organs.

In the UK, organs and tissue cannot be accepted unless they are freely donated. No conditions can be attached in terms of potential recipients. The only restriction allowed is which organs or tissue are to be donated.

I hope this has helped to clear up any misunderstanding that people might have on organ donation. If you have any further queries, please visit the NHS Organ Donor website or the Malaysian Society of Transplantation website.

Consider being an organ donor today....