Besides that, I've been meeting up with quite a few friends and all. I finally got round to talking to Debra's parents, and got their permission to court her. It hasn't been easy though. I know it was going to be difficult, but I didn't realize how hard it was going to be. Temptation aside, just making a decision to love someone unconditionally is anything but easy, and more so for such a demanding person, or one with high expectations for everyone, like me. But God has been good, and I'm thankful that Debra has been sticking around despite all my "nonsense", as my Dad puts it. When I was having some doubts about the relationship, I talked to my parents, and they gave me really good perspective and advice. I'm really grateful for that, and I would recommend constant discussion with parents about relationship issues, not only because of their experience, but also because they are older and wiser.

Attended my first PKK meeting and found out how terribly messed up and disorganised it is! I guess I should've expected it, being a student-run organisation and what not, but well. I have to learn to teach first aid in Thai in 1 week. So I emailed Elizabeth, and hopefully I'll be able to meet her there and she'll be able to help us a little. Argh students...

Today, I was privileged enough to witness a rare operation. This patient had renal failure and atrophied bladder of only about 50cc. An ileal conduit had to be constructed using Bricker's procedure, which involves cutting out an 11cm portion of ileum just before the terminal portion and anastomosing it to the 2 ureters. The other end leads out of the body, creating a conduit and a way of draining the urine. The rest of the ileum is then anastomosed to maintain gut function. It was a 4 hour operation from 0900-1330, quite a long one, but it was really exciting, especially since surgical interns usually have to wait for quite a long time to see such a case. One thing that struck me was that the Theatre was alot more fun than I expected. The doctors were all joking and chatting away, which was quite pleasant, but of course they were still concentrating on the patient. 

I had to rush to French after that and was 30mins late, but it was worth it. That was an awesome procedure. Plus the Prof Peter was really nice and he actually explained his rational for doing certain things, like being meticulous with the mesentery and the blood  supply to that conduit, as it will aid healing. Little stuff like that, including the way to anastomose the ileum using sutures, choosing the portion to cut by observing the blood supply, and putting a catheter into the conduit before putting the urinary bag to make sure that post-operation oedema wouldn't stenose the opening. Other small little details were really useful, like how to leave a little slack in the final skin sutures to allow for oedema, as well as making sure the mesenteries and the ureters are in the right position to prevent torsion and thus infarction. And just for the record, the smell of burnt fat isn't all that bad, not as much as what my friends told me previously.

I should be a little more free next week, so I'll probably ask Bertha if she has any other procedures for me to observe. Thanks Bertha!