Oh Phweeez, let me through.........

*Pic from Vince Crain Octane Art*


Okay, if I catch his eyes, he might just let me pass. *#%!! 'Kay, no probs. Maybe next car will give way. Come on...look over here.' Ah huh, she's looking over here and yup, yup, I think I can go........ *#%!!!

Trying to join a traffic to go somewhere is a nightmare. I have learnt to drive like a crazy female when attempting to either cut lane or being partially blind when edging my car in between two others to join the traffic queque. Actually, I do become selectively blind when cutting others on the road. I can manage to see at the far 'corner' of my biddy eyes, a fist from another car wavering at me but I pretend I have only one eyed vision for the road ahead.

It's a real nightmare just driving in Brunei. Parking spaces are limited, so risk it being scratched or towed away (if that did ever take place at all in Brunei) or being fined for leaving it in the middle of nowhere.

What about 5 parking spaces available just a block away and me insisting on Pete to squeeze a 'mission impossible' parking space close to the supermarket entrance. "Why don't I just drive thru' the shop? Will that be easier for you?" says the man. " Can you? Shampoo section please. Need the 2 in 1 Loreal conditioner. Tha!"

We complain we don't ever walk enough, but bruneians will drive round a building 10 times to get as close to the front door, even if there are car park spaces just 20 feet away.

'You think if I pout my lips and blink my eyelids, he let me thru'?'.....'You look like Nemo the fish.'says my friend.......Sigh

Nurses and doctors

"CRASH in Bed 2!!! Get the crash trolley now!!!!". Everyone's heart races to the max, and only nurses are to be found at the scene. "No heart rate. Start CPR!!" So, with me close by, I initiated the cardiac massage. Another nurse rushes off to beep the doctor on call, while another is pumping air via the Ambu Bag(Respiratory Bag with Oxygen Filled). A few other nurses co ordinating the drips and pumps that's infusing into the patient. Within a few minutes of cardiac massage, my arms are already getting tired but there's no way to stop the massage when there's a life at risk. The cardiac massage are quick in counts of 2 pumps in less than a second.

The doctor arrives, patient still hasn't 'woken' up. One doctor available. That's it. No junior doctors, no consultants, just one, uno.....doctor at the scene. So, all nurses present would just have to play the part of junior doctors at hands.

The pressure to revive the patient is unbelievable. My colleague helps the doctor to put on his theatre gown in preparation for invasive procedure. The patient being intubated and all, still hasn't got a heart beat. " CHARGE!!!.....CLEAR ...EVERYONE STAND BACK !!!" Patient given a defibrillator shock by one of the nurses.

Still no heartbeat, and I'm still pumping away. " ATROPINE....NOW!!" says the doc. "CHARGE AGAIN!!!! ...CLEAR...I SAID ....CLEAR!" Everyone stands back this time, and a second shock is delivered.
.......A rhythm on the cardiac monitor, ...."Somebody, check the pulse.."

All I can think of is the patient's family. 'Please let him live'

"Pulse present. Stop cardiac massage. Get the family here" ..Even when the heart has started pumping, patient's blood pressure still low and unstable. The mess is terrible around the patient's bed. Floor covered in spilt blood and other fluids. A disaster area, a fall would be inevitable. All nurses are still runnning like loose chickens to either prepare more drips, trolleys for more invasive procedures or documenting the whole series of minute event on the charts.

This has been the scene at the previous hospital where I worked as an intensive cardiac nurse. It was always one minute to the other, having to revive and stabilize patients. But the adrenaline rush kept everyone going. My problem working there was not the stress that came along with the job, it was more of how the doctors and management treated us.

It didn't matter if you stood on your feet for 12 hours, working non stop, having probably less than an hour break. It was management thinking all nurses under them should work 'round the clock' and still be underpaid. Funny how they will manage to tell the nurses there weren't money for bonuses or extra pay rise in salary. And yet, brand new equipments (non medical) or office furnitures or new designs of nurses uniforms will be purchased shortly after the statement.

It's not so much of money that nurses are after, just gratitute and appreciation would suffice. Problem is, nurses in South East Asia, I feel, are still undervalued and certainly in this country, not well respected.

I read in the papers about promoting nurses education. I do hope it takes place pro actively. I have rarely found a doctor around here, respecting a nurse for what she is. It still frustrates me how doctors and other specialists disrespect and verbally abuse their nurses. And the sad thing is, they get away with it.

I used to work in St Mary's in London Paddington and have worked with top great cardiac surgeons. It was such pleasure to work with them. They talked on the same 'par' with us and have always listened in to nurses decisions and opinions. We even called them by their first names regardless of our status as junior or senior nurses.

If there were anytime of nurses not having breaks, doctors would have chipped in money to get us burgers and drinks for lunch or dinner. Well, just count on your bottom dollars the doctors here will be asking why are you even taking a lunch break.

Not all doctors are that bad. But they are very rare to find 'here'. Their bedside manners are definitely something to improve on.

I guess if managers of hospitals can take priority in giving their full support to their nurses, doctors would probably follow the lead. In return, the nurses would have to find their voices when addressing medical issues or opinions to doctors without fear of retaliation.

There is a strong 'Who's to blame?' culture among nurses here, rather than 'looking' into why and how the incident took place. Pointing fingers still plays a big part in the medical professions here in hospitals and until they can move forward from the blame culture, no profession is going to learn from what they already do know. If nurses stay submissive to doctors and doctors still retain their 'ego' mindsets, only the patient has so much to lose from a system that's still in it's victorian days.

Rain Flies

Getting up at 4.45am everyday is so hard. (Getting ready for yoga session at 6.30am) I have to set my alarm clock to four different times, five minutes interval, just in case I missed out on the first one with my 'volcano' snoring. Ya, Pete has to turn me on my side countless times. Haven't worked so far, he has resolute to place his pillow over his head. Worse comes to worse, out he goes to the guest room!

I can hardly open my eyes while I'm brushing my teeth. The worse thing is having to find what to wear in the dark. I have the small lamp switched on but doesn't help cause I still feel un-color co-ordinated. Wait! No, the worse thing is the house has a burglar alarm when you head downstairs. If you trigger it off, the alarm goes off and you have literally woken up half of Brunei. The only way you can go pass the super dupper alarm is doing a James Bond move. Ya, seriously. How? Slap yourself against the wall and quickly walk sideways towards the alarm in less than 10 seconds. I have me training myself for the upcoming film Spiderman 4.

So, off I go, in my car to the studio. You think everything else will run in smoothly after. Kinda. If it had rain the night before, guess what, the so called 'Chui Bang'( Rain Flies?) from the road lamps will hit your screen, leaving big white blotches of their leftovers on your windscreen. 'Splat here, splat there'
I feel sorry for those insects. I think, why they probably have a small 'wanted' picture of me in their insect world, stating to look out for a crazy woman driver from Kapok.

By the time I get to the studio, ya, you guess it, my car looks more like 20 pigeons have pooed all over it.

Sigh, the joy of waking up 'that' early........................................So, if you see my car covered in white, you'll know it's not the new polka white trend you think I maybe setting.

Poor Rain Flies................

Sanskrit Names for Yoga Postures (Asanas)

"What did she say? Virabudrudasa wot?? Is she speaking english?" said one of my student to another. Then we all broke up laughing. Yup, I get that all the time. It's not that there aren't terms of the yoga postures in English. There is. I just respect the yoga postures in it's origin of the Sanskrit names.

Look at it this way, the fasting month is coming up and am sure all the locals are preparing nice cakes, biscuits and all assortments. Now, Kueh Mor or Kueh Lapis wouldn't sound just as nice as saying The White Round Balls ( okay, that sounds a bit off, but you know what I mean) or The Layer Cake (Didn't we have a movie on that title with Brad Pitt in it?) Okay, see what I mean? It just doesn't sound the same at all. They sound more delicious and scrumptious in their own names, triggering the memory of Kueh Mor sweetness, melting away in the mouth.

So, listen guys, I am quite happy to say both the yoga postures in English and Sanskrit, but for the enthuasiast, there's a brilliant website that explains the sanskrit names in english. And here it is if you clicked onto http://www.harley.com/yoga/index.html

Yoga May Help Heart Failure Patients

Yoga May Help Heart Failure Patients
Heart Failure Patients Taking Yoga Classes Improved Inflammation Levels, Quality of Life
By AUDREY GRAYSON and DAN CHILDS
ABC News Medical Unit
Nov. 6, 2007—


At a meeting where new drug combinations and cutting-edge heart treatments are usually the discussion du jour, one researcher presented new findings on how a 5,000-year-old approach to health may hold special benefits for today's heart failure patients.

Lead researcher Dr. Bobby Khan and colleagues at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta studied the addition of an eight-week course of yoga to standard medical therapy in a group of 19 heart failure patients to see if such a regimen would be safe and beneficial.

They found that yoga was not only safe but appeared to improve patients' ability to exercise, lower levels of inflammation, as well as improve overall quality of life.

The findings were presented at the American Heart Association scientific sessions in Orlando. Fla., Monday.

"With heart failure, which is becoming the more and more prevalent condition we're facing as our population gets older, the morbidity and mortality still remain very high, even with all the advances in medical therapy," said Khan, assistant professor of medicine at Emory's division of cardiology.

"This basically means we have to have some other aspects [of treatment] -- maybe nonmedical with some benefits in mortality, but especially in quality of life, because heart failure is difficult to live with."

Dr. Srinivas Murali, director of cardiovascular medicine at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Penn., said yoga does indeed hold promise as such a nonmedical treatment -- particularly since it offers an easy inroad into a healthier lifestyle as well.

"Anybody can do yoga with the proper training and instruction," said Murali, who was not involved with the research. "It's cheap, you can do it at home, and you don't have to join a club to do it."

Khan added that the nature of yoga therapy makes it an ideal entree into physical fitness for heart failure patients.

"Exercise is good in all populations ... but care has to be given to these patients, and you can't have them go from a sedentary lifestyle to heavy exercise," he said. "Yoga is an easier transition to improve overall exercise capacity as patients progress.


The Head-Heart Connection
But aside from the regimen's physical effects, yoga proponents have long maintained that the art's effects on the mind also lead to measurable health benefits.

Scientifically speaking, the link remains unclear, though research has pointed to yoga's benefits in terms of overall quality of life. In a study published last month in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that the breast cancer patients assigned to a yoga regimen showed improvements in quality of life, greater emotional, social and spiritual well-being, and less distress.

And while there exists no evidence that yoga can help treat tumors or heal hearts, Murali said the positive effects of the regimen on the mind should not be discounted.

"Connection between the mind and body is a huge part of yoga, and we're only scratching the surface with respect to mind on health and disease," he said.

"So there is a link there, and I'm not sure that it's been systematically studied and we understand all the details of that relationship. But I think that I would look at yoga as having not only a physical benefit, but if it helps you relax your mind and do other things beyond direct physical benefit, then that will further augment its role in someone with [heart-related] disabilities, such as heart failure."

Khan noted that at least for the heart failure patients involved in the study, the mental benefits of the exercise system were clear.

"There was considerable improvement in their overall ability to do well," he said. "[They had] improved moods and felt better, with not as much depression. ... They slept better, they were more energetic."


Findings Still Preliminary
Khan admitted that the study was preliminary and that more data would be needed before recommendations could be made. Early next year, he said, he hopes to begin a longer study looking at the benefits of yoga on about 100 patients.

But he noted that the findings, at least for now, are promising.

"The early reports show benefits from action," he said. "We need more patients in a follow-up study, and I would like to do a longer follow-up period -- have them continue therapy and then look at other types of analyses. Not only just blood markers but also some imaging and objective analyses on exercise tolerance and improvement."

Murali agreed.

"I think there is a definite connection between a patient's mental health and their physical health, which is why yoga might have major benefit for heart failure patients," he said. "It stresses that connection between the mind and the body."


Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

http://www.abcnews.go.com

Yoga For Back Pain

My previous job as an ICU nurse required a lot of manual handling. At the worst, we would have lift a patient off the floor to bed during an emergency rescue. Patient's weight when unconscious is always ten times heavier. Inevitably, I suffered from lower back pain. However, constant yoga practice has helped strengthen my back immensely and have suffered little since then.

Here are some of the yoga poses that helps:-

Majariasana - Cat Pose
Pawanmuktasana - Wind Relieving Pose
Shavasana - Corpse Pose
Ardha Matsyendrasana - Half Spinal Twist
Malasana - Sage Pose
Triyaka Tadasana - Swaying Tree Pose
Matsyasana - Fish Pose
Uttanasana - Standing Forward Bend
Shalabasana - Locust Pose

For more details on the poses :- http://www.yogajournal.com

Moms & Babes In Brunei (Pre and Post Natal Care)

(Photo from Labor of Love, By Catherine Guthrie in Yoga Journal)



Individualised coaching for empowered birth

Preparing for Labour and Birth with Elaine Chin

An opportunity to work with Elaine-the aim of this course is to give you a thorough understanding of what may happen during labour and birth and all the practical guidance you need. This will include active labour and birth positions, breathing, massage,yoga postures and using a birth ball.

Elaine will also incorporate the principles and benefits of an active birth combined,if necessary, with the use of complementary therapies and/or medical interventions such as an epidural.

The antenatal consultation will enable you to understand how birth physiology works, so that you can approach your birth with confidence and a positive attitude. You will also be well informed about all your pain relief options and encouraged to keep an open mind, ready to make empowered decisions that are best for you and your baby.

The partner's role is a constant theme and a useful leaflet is provided.

This course is tailored to individual needs of weekly classes, sessions to be arranged mutually.

Preparing for Labour and Birth
Cost : $ 80 per session (1 hour each)

Please call Elaine for doula services.

Early booking is essential to avoid disappointment.
Please contact Elaine at 00 673 8846848

Book of Love by Peter Gabriel

I knew this song from the movie Shall we dance. It's a really sweet movie starring Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere.

The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing
But I
I love it when you read to me
And you
You can read me anything
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
But I
I love it when you sing to me
And you
You can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know
But I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
You ought to give me wedding rings

Positive Healing

"Everything that happens in your mind is reflected in your body," says T.K.V Desikachar.



Meditation is something very alien to me even as a yoga teacher. I haven't quite got used to the idea of being able to sit more than 15 minutes without feeling sleepy or restless. So, today, I decided to look up on it. There's a meditation book by Jack Kornfield call ' Meditation for beginners'. In it, he encourages the reader to focus their attention back onto their breaths should their thoughts interfere with their meditation.

I have used 'Ujayi' breaths as my point of concentration. However, I still encounter thoughts slipping into my head. Worse still is when I feel tired or having a 'personal crisis'. I just feel more restless inside.

I then came across an article by Carol Krucoff. In it she talks about Desichakar, how he believed meditation acts as the way medicine does, transforming the mind's agitation to peace.

Yoga's true power lies in its ability to harness the mind for healing and spiritual development. Meditation can also result in extraodinary powers, called artharta. One fine example is when Desikachar's father, Krishnamacharya stopped his heartbeat and breath for several minutes with no adverse effects. Krisnamacharya died in 1989 at age 100.

However, not everyone is prepared for meditation, especially if your mind is very distracted. When your mind is agitated, try asana and breathing practices to bring the body and mind into stillness.

Desichakar's practice of meditation to positive healing is to actually fill the mind with an object of inquiry. You can meditate on virtually anything: a natural object, such as the sun or moon, a flower, tree or mountain - or on a person, sound deity, even a color. Or focus on the body or breath. The main idea is to choose an object that is both appealing and healing: " The key is transforming the mind in a positive way, so healing happens. Because whatever happens in the mind, happens in the whole system"

Do remember if you choose an object of healing, it comes from the heart rather than the intellectual mind. Another point to remember is, instead of letting disturbing thoughts whip your body and mind into tension and despair, you can choose to substitute positive thoughts that will bring peace and calm.

Also, you don't need to spend an hour to do meditation. Something I have always thought you had to. Instead, just 5 minutes will do. As you feel the benefits of meditation, you will gradually make time to do more.

So, here's my journey with positive healing.

You chose your dreams

You chose your dreams
for the journeys they'd inspire, and you knew
when you chose them that there'd be obstacles,
dark days, and knuckleheads who'd stand in
your way. They're part and parcel of where
you're headed, and they don't just go away

So when you face your next challenge, welcome it.
Rise up, don't back down. See it as a stepping-stone,
not a wall; a valley, not an abyss. And before you know it,
as one is conquered after another, the journey will be complete,
and the joy of manifesting your dream will pale in comparison
to the satisfaction of your persevering, overcoming and breaking through


Don't you see these are the days, right now,
mid adventure, that will mean the most to you
once your dreams come true?

Enjoy.