It's over!

It’s finally over. The end of my surgical rotation has marked its date. I left Bendigo, with mixed feelings. A part of me rejoice and celebrate because I no longer need to travel back & forth during the weekends, no longer need to be away from my friends here in Melbourne. The other part of me feels bad because I really really really enjoy this rotation in Bendigo. I love the hospital there, and being under Surgical Team 1 is the best thing to learn and experience my surgical rotations. I have wonderful registrars and surgeons teaching me and guiding me along my rotations. My top 10 moments in no order is:-

1. Being able to scrub in 5 laparotomy & open bowel surgeries; thyroidectomy; appendicectomy; lung resection; witnessing a femoral-popliteal artery bypass, lower knee amputation, skin cancer resection, & some others that I can’t remember their names.

2. Waking up at 6a.m. to walk in the icy cold weather of Bendigo for ward rounds.

3. Enjoying the historical & unique Bendigo architectures across the city.

4. Listening & laughing together with my registrar at how some funny & weird patients complaining about their surgical conditions to us.
5. Being able to cannulate & take blood from real patients.
6. Singing “Irreplacable” & “Do-Re-Mi” with my group members.
7. Cooking & Barbeque dinners with my group members.
8. Obsess with a British registrar who has absolutely pure & typical British accent.
9. Still love surgical team 1 a lot a lot a lot.
10. Build relationship & encourage certain patients that I’ve seen. Really taught me a lot of things on people’s reactions and emotions in response to their medical conditions.

Just hope someday, I’ll be able to work under my registrars during my intern year. It is a pleasure to work with them & hope I’ll be as capable as them in future. Hopefully neuroscience in Austin will be as exciting as surgery in Bendigo. Being in surgical rotation really affirms my desire to specialize as a general surgeon in future. This is truly a memorable 6 weeks experience. Will post photos soon. Cheers!

He made a way!

One day, as I was having meals with my friends, one of them said, “Hey, don’t think you can eat food prayed over by the Muslims. It’s blasphemy if you do.”

In my mind I was thinking, hrmm… if that’s the case, I’ve sin so many times. I’ve disobeyed God abundantly since I’ve gone to food stalls in KL eating nasi lemak, roti canai, etc cooked by Muslims. That’s no good. Some even say the food offered by Chinese to their gods is not “clean” to be eaten. Some Christians even say there is certain food which we can eat, and some which we can’t. I asked God; if that’s the case, if You are limiting the types of food which we can eat, then why create every other varieties. Why placed skills and talents into different people from different background to come with different varieties of food!!! Just stay on with bread, or rice, chicken & green vege. Not only you will stay within rules, you won’t get fat by consuming food like nasi lemak, rendang, barbeque pork, etc.

As I was doing my devotion today, this verse was so real to me!

1tim4: 1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

His word says He made everything good!!! Everything that God created was good (Gen1:31) So if God says everything He made was good, who are we to say there’s restriction to food. This verse reaffirms me that, God is not a God of rules, but a God of relationship. He said that everything should be received with thanksgiving, & by His word & prayer, it shall be cleaned. In the name of Jesus, all that we eat shall be sanctified. If we still live a life following a bunch of rules, then our salvation, our relationship with God is no longer by grace, but by our deeds.

This verse also speaks about faith, about our believing life. It talks about whom we believe & the power of who we believe. I believe, Jesus who made His way to the cross & paid the price of our sin & rose from the death on the 3rd day is able to make a way for me in all the food that I eat. There is freedom in the name of Jesus. Free from all sin and shame! We no longer need to live by the dos & don’ts put forth by men. All we need is Jesus in our lives! In Jesus’ most powerful name I pray!!!

Level up!

What another week. A tiring and energy consuming one… Being back in Melbourne for the weekend somehow took my mind off study and medicine, but I certainly didn’t get the rest I needed. Time seems so short (1/2 of the time I’m not sure what I’ve spent it on). Anyhow I had a good time with my friend, Wern & her family. She graduated yesterday a degree holder of Bachelor of Arts. Had a wonderful meal together with them and it did somehow remind me of the times our families used to hang out together & go for meals. It’s just fantabulous!

I haven’t been doing much devotion due to my dense schedule. It’s not an excuse and I know I must get my time sorted out for God, not out of obligation, but out of hunger for His daily bread. Last week, as I was going through my church’s beginner course, these verses captured my attention.

romans4: 18Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."[d] 19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

What a high level of faith Abraham has. Despite the reality of “hopelessness” knowing that in the natural world, rationally speaking, he and his wife were too old to have a kid, but Abraham did not waver, his belief was not shaken. Rather, he strengthened his faith even more and continues to praise God for it, trusting and knowing that God will do whatever He has promised.

Sometimes, we are persuaded and convinced by the situation around us, when things go out of our hand, when we lost controls of situations of our lives… we began to lose hope, we tend to believe that we gotta end up with the consequences of the situations we are in. We forgot that God is the ultimate control of our lives. Situations are never in our hands, within our control; they are always in His control. He has ordained our days before they come to be. Let’s believe for a greater breakthrough in whatever things we are facing, let’s believe that God’s promises and favor prevail. His hands rest on us. We are always in His heart. He always thinks about us. He will never let anything bad happen to His creations because He so love us.

Yesterday, as I was talking to Shawn, he told us that ECF sealed the deal for the new lot for our extension service in Damansara. It doesn’t end there; he said that church has bought a new land for our new building. It’s gonna be bigger & can accommodate the expansion that God has entrusted us. Felt that God’s favor and provision are resting upon us now. It is THE SEASON for ECF!!! Really praise God and thank Him for such a tremendous blessing. If it’s God’s will, it’s His deal. Now, praying for His bill too. ;-) Am excited to go back end of this year to see and hear the plans that God has for our new place. It’s gonna be a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!!!!

Prophetic dream?

Recently had a dream. I dreamt that I was in the church, a church I felt was ECF, and there I was standing on stage – either sharing a testimony or preaching a message. I don’t have a calling to be a pastor, for I believe God is gonna use my career as a doctor to touch lives that I come into contact with. But as I finished what I meant to share, I walked down the stage, heading towards the back seats, smiling at the people around me who were clapping their hands vigorously for such a wonderful word. (I don’t mean to be boastful or what-so-ever) As I reached the back of the sanctuary, there I saw the familiar face of a middle-aged man, clapping together with the congregation but with a joyful tears running down his cheek. He was my dad!!! There he was standing in the church… I quickly walked towards him and embraced him…

I remembered this much about my dream. I woke up, thinking about this dream. Is this a prophetic dream??? Is God gonna open great doors to this household?

Acts16:31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."

Recently this verse really spoke to me, Rom15:13May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

Green means fresh! It means growing! It means full of life! It resembles God’s given hope into those who believe in Him… His hope that lives forever, that never will fail or fade, that is gonna be new and fresh every day. It’s a life-giving hope! This verse says this type of hope will fill us with joy & peace so that our BELIEVING LIVES will BRIM over with hope. Our believing lives will be filled with His hope in full capacity. Not just that, our believing lives is filled with life-giving energy from the Holy Spirit. God’s presence and energy brings life to the people around us. It changes lives!

I am praying that God will increase my believing life! Pray that more and more people will see the Christ in me. Pray that His glory will be reflected in me, through me, my household will know Him and His presence reign mightily in my household! He made everything beautiful in His own time.

2nd week in Bendigo

Another week has passed by. Finally, back in my room in International House. Never felt so at home since I got to Melbourne until now. It’s good to be back here with all my friends around.

Never had anything exciting this week. Been very lazy and hardly gone for any morning ward rounds. I attempted IV cannulation (which means you stick a needle in a tube into the vein so that you can infuse any fluid into the vein) on a patient in the presence of an intern, but failed to get it into the vein totally. Patient lost confidence, so I had no second attempt. I tried it on my friend, first on her left hand, and failed. I made my final attempt on the right side, but failed again. I think I’ve bruised her veins in both of her hand badly.

My friend attempted a try on me too and got it through. However, the process was painful and now, my forearm had a blue-black mark… I never thought cannulation was so bad, because when I had it during my admission for dengue fever, it didn’t felt as painful as now. Well, maybe I was too sick to feel the pain. This time, it’s no joke.

Hoping to get to get my cannula in someday next week. Need more patients to try on. Sounds evil, but well, I need to learn. I gotta learn how to take some blood too. Sigh. I missed out on a hemicolectomy(removal of 1/2 of the large intestine) this Wednesday... Hopefully there will be more exciting surgeries next week... :-(

View of Sacred Heart Cathedral outside my room in Bendigo