Common People Trip

“A good holiday is one that is spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours.” – J.B. Priestley



I have lived in Jakarta for over five and a half year now and only yesterday that I went to Thousand Islands or Pulau Seribu. Yes, my life was boring and adventure-less. But as a former struggling medical student , it’s expected to have such life. Well now that I finished med school, the real crazy adventure shall begin.

When finally my med school finished, I run to my old roommate who work as a tour guide. Lucky me, I got the trip that I was always dreamed of. A weekend getaway to Pulau Bira (one of the island in Thousand Islands). We were in a group of 8 people who I never have never met before the trip. There were 2 Indian guys, 1 American, and 5 Indonesians. To make you have a clear vision, our age range was started from 22 to 45.

I have never met as chauvinistic as one of the Indian guy. He was born and raised in Punjabi. He has this beautiful Aryan look with long and curl eyelashes. At first, I told him my experience when I visited India last year and we had a very fruitful discussion. Then, he kept  talking about how wonderful his country and how marvelous everything there. It was interesting for the first few minutes but I got annoyed as he kept talking and repeating himself. But as soon as I changed the topic, he turned to be fun again. Thank God!  

The other Indian guy who I thought would be more ‘normal’, was too horny for everything all the time. He kept telling a dirty joke and discussing yucky sex things with the guys in front of the girls. It was so uncomfortable and awkward. I was not interested and until now still am not interested in how guys thing about girls sexually. Seriously, there are thousand of cool topics to be discussed with us, girls, but that sex thing is not our favorite! When he talked about normal things, he could be those guys who energized his surroundings. He never seemed tired of talking and laughing. He could tease anyone even he just met them few minutes ago.

I considered the American guy was the weirdest of all. He kept talking and complaining. When we shacked hands, he immediately landed a kiss on my hand. How weird was that! I felt like I was in one of Jane Austen’s book at that moment. Later on, I learned that he was drunk. He turned out to be really nice and surprisingly very wise. We had a really good talk. He had this very wide perspective on many things. He barely prejudiced and was a really good listener. I guess he developed those abilities after studying Buddha and philosophy for few years. He’s a true world wanderer. He has lived in various countries and picked up their beautiful culture as his unique character.

Two of five Indonesians in our groups are best friends, there is the guy and the girl. The guy was very good at all water activities. He went to the beach almost every weekends. He said the sea make him addicted.  Two days after our trip was over, he planned to go back to Thousand Island for another snorkeling and diving. The girl is as adventurous as the guy. She’s the kind of people who live her life to the fullest. She even plan to go to another trip for mount climbing and river rafting just a week after our trip.

the 8 insane people

The other Indonesian guy was also as interesting as the others. He denied to eat the food prepared by the resort as he’s in currently on a diet. He has undergone his diet for 2 months and has lost at least 6 kilograms. Look at that spirit! He is a really sweet guy, the kind of guy who will take you home, open the door for you and treat you a dinner. I know that since he did all those stuffs when I went back home to Jakarta with him. But the strange things is that he’s still single until now at his 30s. Do we all girls tend to not be with the sweet guy anymore?

Last but not least is my old roommate. Though she has a name of flower in Latin word, she’s as harsh as a gangster. She can pick up fight easily. However, she can be as adorable as manga character. She’s cheerful, funny and easily get along with everyone no matter who they are. She loves travelling a lot. She can spent few months in the road by herself and went home with lots of friends she made during her trip. Unlike other people, she doesn't dream of decent job or high title. Her true aims is to travel the world.

It was my first time to travel with complete strangers with random backgrounds and it was the first time when I was not only enjoying the nature and attractions but also enjoying the companions I had. It was one of those trip that will keep you smiling when you remembered it. Thank you for the great time!

Reflection on Medicine

Recently, there is a new and updated version of hypertension guideline published. For over 10 years, we have used JNC VII as our approach in diagnosing and treating patients with high blood pressure. The new guideline increase its aggressiveness in starting high blood pressure treatment in some group of patients, including geriatric and comorbid patients. Though the recommendation from the panel is widen, it does not provide any significant changes in the treatment.
The new JNC VIII reminds me of a very interesting interesting research articles that I read sometime ago in PLOS, titled “Expanding Disease Definitions in Guidelines and Expert Panel Ties to Industry: A Cross-sectional Study of Common Conditions in the United States”. This research was driven by concern about the possibility of patients over-diagnosis which might be influenced by any pharmaceutical companies. The interesting part of this article for me is how it criticize guideline making which I never consider of thinking before. After reading the article, rather than debating about conflict of interest which may arise in certain expert panel, I am more concern of the possibility of us, physician, harming our patients while we were using the old diagnosis and treatment approach in the past. For example, some years ago the selected treatment approach for rupture spleen in newborn babies were immediate surgery but since 2004 when a paper about non-surgical treatment was published, non-surgery has been thought as the best treatment option. Surgery in spleen rupture newborn is now considered has more risks than benefits.
A new approach of treating hypovolemic shock, known as hypotensive resuscitation, is the opposite of the common belief  which treats shock patients by administrating massive fluid until the patients reach normal blood pressure. However, in hypotensive resuscitation, loading too much fluid is considered to lessen the hemostatic function since high blood pressure may release the blood clot.
Medicine is one dynamic science that keeps evolving. What we know today as disease reliever might be categorized as harm in the future. Thus, we can never be too confident in treating our patients. When we treat our patients based on medical science today, it’s nothing that we should be proud of because we never know if it will continue to be considered as a definite treatment.     

There's a first time for everything (even for a blog!)

For a people who have too many things going on in mind, writing is the only way to make me feel at peace. It's like emptying a fully loaded bucket which way too heavy to carry. But in the past, instead of pouring my bucket, I sprayed the water in it. I sprayed it to anyone I met, whom might be happy to be sprayed as they feel enormously dry or be annoyed since they already all wet. 

I have come to realize that spraying didn't help me much in preserving my ideas. It vanished as soon as I sprayed it randomly. Thus I need to find another way. I need to empty as well as to preserve my water. So here comes the idea of making this blog. I may be 10 years late to start it but as people said, "better late than never", here I said, "Why not?".