Oh, The Haze

So over the last few days, KL's been blanketed in a thick haze. When we first arrived, we could see the golden Buddha at the Batu Caves (~15 km away) from our apartment balcony (very big Buddha, very clear air). Yesterday, we couldn't see across our neighborhood. KL is experiencing some of the worst haze in decades due to raging forest fires in Indonesia. Sadly, these fires were set intentionally as slash and burn clearing efforts. The haze is so bad that yesterday organizers delayed the KL Marathon, scheduled for this weekend. The KL port is closed to ships without special navigational equipment. (Does this mean further delay of our household goods? Speaking of household goods, Monica B requested a blog tour of our apartment. I've been holding out until we have our household goods and I've decorated it a bit. Stay tuned!)

The kids and I have had a couple of quiet days. On Thursday after lounging and reading, we spent time with Robin and the kids at the pool. Then we checked out Mont Kiara's Thursday weekly night market. It's a small market mostly with food stands and some fruits and veggies. I had Korean. This will be on our weekly agenda. Yesterday, we installed Google Hangout and had a fun call with Mom, Dad, Mike, and Jane. Love the conference call style communication. It was great to "get together" to catch up and laugh. Miss you guys. Mom and Dad reminisced about when they moved to Japan in the late 1970s, calls home were over $12 a minute. They only talked with their parents once or twice a year. Times have changed.

Yesterday was also Brian’s first full day of rounds at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). For those who you who were wondering if Brian actually has a job in Malaysia, here is a picture of Brian, the PUGSOM medicine clerks, Toby (medicine clerkship director) and Kris (visiting JHH resident) in front of Ward 26 at HKL. HKL is the biggest hospital in Southeast Asia - 2,200 beds, 10,000 staff, 30,000 baby deliveries each year. To put that in perspective, Hopkins has 1,060 beds and only 2,000 deliveries per year. PUGSOM is incredibly fortunate to be able to start our first clerkships at the flagship hospital in Malaysia. 

Ward 26 is awesome (for those of you not excited by dengue fever, you should skip to the end of this paragraph)! It is an all-male open ward with 30 beds. The beds are divided into pods of 6 beds, with the middle pod devoted to more critically ill patients (sort of like the MPCU or a step-down unit at other hospitals), and the first pod devoted to dengue fever patients. On morning rounds alone we saw 4 patients with dengue fever (4 more than Brian ever saw in Baltimore), a patient with heart failure and Cheyne Stokes respirations, an empyema, possible vancomycin resistant staph aureus pneumonia, cellulitis, sinusitis, newly diagnosed lung cancer and a schizophrenic diabetic with a tooth abscess. Other than the dengue fever which is endemic in Southeast Asia, it was like being back on Nelson 4 in the old hospital building in Baltimore. Dr. Z, the specialist in charge of the ward, has been incredibly welcoming of us. She is a good bedside clinician and has a unique combination of sternness and humor which will be great for the students.

To make us feel even more at home, as we left the ward, a patient walked up to Toby and said, “Dr. Toby – Money for nothing and your chicks for free!!!...Do you think I have schizophrenia?” (I think he was trying to quote the Dire Straits but didn’t get it quite right). He then opened his mouth, pointed to his teeth and said the chip that controls his mind was hidden in his molars. Toby politely told him that he was not a psychiatrist as he backed away towards the elevators. It is incredible how similar urban hospitals can be halfway across the world!

Look - no heater!!

The car returned safely to our parking garage. 

Clearly, Brian was happier than a pig in you know what, nerding it up in the hospital. After taking a 90 minute taxi ride home from the hospital (yes – it is only 6km), we had an exciting and quite timely development on the homefront. Mr. Derrick delivered a Toyota Vios to our apartment complex, handed Brian the keys, and politely explained that the windshield wipers and turn signals were on opposite sides compared to the U.S. We then went on our first drive in Malaysia to meet some PUGSOM faculty for coffee in Bangsar (at another mall). Luckily for Brian it was raining so he could almost hide the fact that every time he tried to make a turn the windshield wipers would mysteriously go on. We made it in one piece without clipping any mirrors so all-in-all it was a pretty good excursion. Thanks to Patrick for navigating and to Tyler for not singing “Sexy and I Know It” so his dad could concentrate on staying on the left side of the road. In Bangsar, we also found a Garibaldi restaurant with a Garibar! We'll have to try it out sometime.

We are excited to have the car since we have a few weekend excursions planned. This weekend we are going to Batu caves and in 2 weeks we are driving to the rainforest for a 4 day adventure. (Booking the rainforest trip has been painful. It's very remote and it's nearly impossible to get in touch with any of the accommodations via phone or email. Pair that with not knowing how to dial and an "in country, out of state, mobile to land line" call...)

Last night was Patrick's going away party. Brian is taking over Patrick's role at PUGSOM as Patrick returns to Baltimore. We are going to miss him very much. (And the kids are forlorn as a beach vacation will not be the same without climbing on Patrick's shoulders and having him launch them in the air -- over and over.) Patrick needed to use up some gin before he departs, so we obliged by picking up limes and drinking gin and tonics. The limes here are tiny and delicious! After shutting down the cafe in our building, we had our first little get-together in our place. Yes, the cupboards are still a bit empty.

Going down to our apartment's parking garage. Now which one is our car????