The First Urine

I saw an interesting patient today. She had conjunctivitis (sakit mata laaa..). I learned something amazingly new, from her, something modern medicine have yet to prove. She claimed that her parents insisted that smearing the first urine over the effected eyes will just about cure the red eyes. Hmhhh....Amazing. Maybe that is why the older generation do not get sore eyes. Or maybe they do, but they don't bother seeking medical treatment, hence, no data for statistics to show they have suffered such conditions. It's just like when I ask a patient if they have hypertension or diabetes etc. I am smarter now to ask if they actually bother to check with any doctor. And when I get "no" for an answer, I'd bombard them with my standard question, one I'd utter even if I sleepwalked and came to work, "Kalau pak cik tak periksa, macamana pak cik tau pak cik tak dak kencing manis atau darah tinggi?...

We Malaysians are very fond of believing the unbelievably illogical non logic myth (the redundant sentence is created on purpose to reiterate my exaggeration to the matter). Stop and think for a second. Had the body needed the excess urea in the body, why bother urinate it in the first place?

Once I had a lady who came in with complaint of feeling bloatedness, and insisted that she, "kena buatan orang", and her tummy felt "keras". I examined her bloated tummy,indeed, it was "keras" then tested her urine and came to a diagnosis, "Kak, kak memang kena buatan orang kak....kak mengandung 5 bulan"....(I love my sense of humour...the kakak on the other hand, was not too amused, she was 48 years old )

Why oh why! Why do people like to think that every all unexplained conditions are related to the supernatural? Is it because, they like to take short cuts in the thinking process? Blamimg the unknown is more convenient rather than having to understand how smoking could actually cause our blood to thicken hence the blood clot hence the heart attack or stroke.

When we get lost in the jungle, people always say that it would most likely be due to the "other being's deception". Even if there are other "beings" , I think they have got better things to do, than to mislead people in the jungle. Whatever for? Turn us all into their slaves? Could it be that most of us go into the jungle with non proper attire, leading to hypothermia, hence impaired judgment leading to us making the wrong turn in the jungle? Think about it...I know because my experience in jungle tracking in Irau, almost cost us a few lives, because the boys who went up tracking wore singlets, trying to show off their arm muscles (most people with small brains, show off their muscles to compensate..so i was told...) , and it rained. They were blue halfway down back to the camp. Thank god for my aluminium blanket, which came in handy to keep them warm ( I would have kept the blanket had the victims of cold weather looked like George Clooney though....insist on body to body heat transmission ). Hypothermia vs Orang Bunian...hmmm...Poor orang bunian, blamed for the offence they've never committed...

I know why. Our society lack the habit of reading. We are comfortable with being ignorant about many issues. "what we don't know won't hurt us". "Ignorance is bliss". Well, if we're talking about not knowing our husband is doing FRCS
( means "Fellowship Royal College or Surgeon" to the doctors, and it can be "F....king Round Country Side" too...) , then I guess, ignorance is bliss. But for most cases, we need to adapt to the Mafias' "go to the matress" attitude, err, in the non prostitute sense of it ). It simply means, kill the problem before the problem kills you. How do we do that? By knowing. How can anyone know anything? By experience, learning through reading.

" He who knows not and knows not he knows not,
- he is a fool; shun him,
He who knows not and knows he knows not,
- he is child; teach him,
He who knows and knows not he knows;
- he is asleep; wake him
He who knows and knows he knows;
- he is wise; follow him "