Ern Sheong's Blog

OGDS, anyone?

By Ern Sheong | January 8, 2010

For a couple of years now, even before I left for the States to study, I have been having this condition where there is a lot of wind in my stomach, and thus a lot of burping.. I came home recently and this condition did not recede, so my mum insisted that I go see the doc, despite my resistance to that idea. As a result, I went to see the GP, but he did not help very much, and thus I went to see a Dr Suresh, a gastroenterologist at Assunta Hospital in PJ. He told me that in order to see what the problem was, I had to be sedated and have a stomach endoscopy done.

So this morning I went, 7 am in the morning.. But the nurse also told me that I could have the choice to have the endoscopy done without needing to be sedated. They would spray what I presume to be local anesthetic. I was afraid of sedation, of being unconscious, so I opted for this (without my mum’s approval, since she was outside. but hey, I’m 21!). So in the operating theatre after spraying something that felt very hot in my throat all the way down, they put a metal ring in my mouth, and made me swallow this < 1 cm rubber tubing that was then slowly pushed down through my oesophagus and into my stomach. Dang I was SO SCARED WEI until I cried, somehow my left eye was tearing a bit. Well, just a bit :) I am fully awake and they shaft this thing down my throat. But the doctor kept of speaking words of reassurance, saying “I’ll be over in a few minutes”, “Not painful wan ah”, “Nothing to be afraid of”, and so okay lor. If they did not tell me to breathe through my nose I would have not known how to breathe in my panic!

Almost immediately I was diagnosed as H.pylori (Helicobacter pylori) positive (this is for my docs-to-be friends out there to read up :) ). The doc said no stomach ulcer, no stomach cancer (phew!). I was actually prepared to die today, to be frank. Something could have gone really wrong. But thank God I live to type this. Apparently this bacteria infects during childhood but causes not much problems until later in life. If left untreated, it could even cause stomach cancer later in life, hmm. Not to mention stomach ulcers. As of now, it is causing the problem of gastritis. Antibiotics were prescribed, so there is nothing much to worry about :)

Assunta also gave me a dvd recording of the whole journey through my oesophagus and stomach. Pretty fun watching, seeing how those clippers pulled at my stomach walls to get a sample tissue. In the dvd I saw the stomach wall bleed as these samples were taken, but I felt no pain. Bill came to a whopping RM 1300, yikes, no medical insurance in Malaysia. JPA’s one only covers the US. And of course, only two things can make me see a doc in the US: 1) A screaming/pleading mum, and 2) something worthy of intensive care. I prefer nature’s healing. Well here back home point 1 made me see the doc.

So I was advised not to take sour or spicy food, because the bacteria loves acidic environments. How to be Malaysian liddat? NO spicy??

Go docs-to-be, study hard!

P.S. OGDS stands for Oesophagusgastroduodenoscopy.

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Straight-A semester! (well, almost)

By Ern Sheong | December 24, 2009

A- in EE143, but A in the rest! I am surprised! Yay!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

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Chinese name

By Ern Sheong | December 22, 2009

My chinese name is actually 凌恩雄，not 林英雄， as I previously thought. So it is not literally “hero.” My Chinese dictionary says that ‘恩’ means “kind act (from above).” ‘雄’, on the other hand, means “heroic.” Hmmm.

So I asked my grandmother, who gave me this name, and she told me the following. When I was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped round my neck. Apparently, this occurred throughout the nine-month pregnancy. So it is by God’s grace (‘恩’) that I am alive, and secondly, I was like a hero (‘雄’) for fighting through something that might have strangled me. That’s it I guess, haha :)

Topics: General | 2 Comments »

Finally, finals are done!

By Ern Sheong | December 19, 2009

On the black board today for EE130 final (my last final):

Start: 12:33 pm
End: Endless as long as room is free.

LOL.

And the results of the CS61B Reversi AI Tournament (didn’t win anything, but nonetheless :))

Winners:

   1. gq
   2. ac
   3. bd
   4. cr

		Number of wins for P1
		when playing P1 vs. P2.

	P1             P2
	   ac aj bd cf cl cn cr ed gd ge gq st
	ac --  6  6  6  6  6  3  3  6  6  1  4
	aj -- --  2  5  3  1  3  3 --  1 --  1
	bd --  4 --  3  3  6  3  3  3  3 --  3
	cf --  1  3 --  3  3  3  6 -- --  2  1
	cl --  3  3  3 --  3  3 --  3  6 -- --
	cn --  3 -- --  3 -- --  5 --  3 --  1
	cr  3  3 --  3  3  3 --  3  3  6 --  3
	ed  3  3  3 --  6 --  3 -- -- --  2  1
	gd --  6  3  6  3  6  3  6 --  3  3  2
	ge --  5  3  6 -- -- --  6  3 --  2  5
	gq  5  6  6  4  6  6  6  4  3  4 --  3
	st  2  5  3  5  6  5  2  5  4  1  3 --

I’m “aj”. My AI was probably one of the worst AIs in the tournament. Boleh tahan lah. Beat the staff (“st”) once :)

Pretty fun but very occupied semester. Eyesight deteriorated by much, I think, thanks to this programming class I suppose. Can’t see white board 10 meters away too clearly anymore :(( There’s always the desire to have a “freerer” semester but I also have a fear of being unoccupied. I just can’t take it if I am too free. An endless cycle, yes, hopefully I can break this cycle, and do more in less, and learn to care for people more with the free time…

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Sorry Stanford, Cal won the Big Game. Again.

By Ern Sheong | November 23, 2009

Anyway, that wasn’t the point of this post. Just came back from Thanksgiving Celebration at our church here in Gracepoint Berkeley and really had just that– a celebration! 9 ministry groups put up wacky and exciting performances for the whole congregation and many friends to enjoy. 2 hours of continuous laughter, that’s what it was =)

I am really thankful for the many people here, both leaders and peers, who have supported me here especially this semester. I am really thankful for this community of faith, which continued to support me throughout this time. I am thankful for my friends and peers too. What would life be at Cal without all these people at Gracepoint. People at church have been the color of my university life here. I am also very thankful for the things I learnt in Survival Kit 1, and it has really been a blessing to me. I am also very thankful and overjoyed to see freshmen and friends coming out to bible study and church on Sundays. I am even more thankful that some of the new Malaysian, Singaporean freshmen are currently coming out to our fellowship activities. It is beyond me to understand how God works in people through little and simple invitations. Never fails to amaze me, God’s calling on people to Himself. Most of all, I am thankful for God’s faithfulness even when I am faithless.

Another 2 weeks to go, and this crazy semester would be over. Oh such bliss! Happy Thanksgiving!

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University of California raises fees by 32%

By Ern Sheong | November 21, 2009

Yesterday, the Regents approved a 32% tuition fee hike in the UC system. California has been in a budget crises and this move was in light of the University of California system receiving less money from the California government (i.e. less financial support from the Government).

As I type, dozens of students are occupying Wheeler Hall in UC Berkeley, while other students in other campuses are also occupying some buildings. Police are currently trying to get the protesters out of the building. The pathway in Upper Sproul has been blocked, and the area around Wheeler Hall barricaded.

Man, kinda sad that fees are going up so much. This semester alone there has been two strikes already, totalling 4 days. Some classes have been cancelled (though EECS classes have generally gone on). Budget cuts have caused some classes to be canceled or have less sections, some smaller departments simply ceased to exist, libraries closed on Saturdays, etc. No effect on academic quality? I doubt that. Hopefully with the extra money things would get better.

UC Berkeley students protest student fee hike
California students occupy buildings to protest fee hike
Campus protest decries UC budget moves

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Breaking the silence

By Ern Sheong | November 13, 2009

This semester has been the toughest for me, spiritually as well as academically. Maybe they correlate in some way. Maybe not. But it happened at the same time.

I am finally blogging now right after taking 2 1.5 hour EE midterms back-to-back. Also, I spent a total of at least 120 hours this semester programming 2 out of my 3 projects for Hilfinger’s CS61B. Kinda crazy, haha. Now I begin to realize why EECS what people say it is, demanding and draining. Never mind all that, only four weeks to go to end of semester! But seriously, Hilfinger sucked away a lot of my life this semester. Unless you are serious about learning to program well and don’t want a life for a semester, don’t take his 61B class. Fell sick a couple of times due to lack of sleep, etc. (which caused me to sleep in class a lot this semester). Good prof who answers all your questions and responds to bug submissions at 3 am in the morning, but nevertheless a tough class, amidst 2 other EE classes and a Chinese class.

Chinese! I finally learnt some Chinese after giving up in 2 previous attempts to learn back in Malaysia :-)

你好，我叫林英雄。认识你我很高兴！学中文很难，可是很有意思！ (actually I am learning traditional chinese, but i guess those of you back home read simplified chinese).

I’m going to start research with professor javey’s group next semester, researching the fabrication of solar cells using nanomaterials. Pretty cool. I just went to his office hours and after showing him a pretty-much empty CV consisting of academic results in Berkeley and my SSEF Science Fair report, he just told me to go speak to his graduate student and postdoc researcher. Hmmm that wasn’t too hard, though it was 5-6 weeks before I had the courage to even knock on his door and ask to do research with him. Not sure how it would turn out next semester, but would definitely try to take a lighter load next semester in light of research.

Hmm, I haven’t blogged in 3 months already. My website suffered a hard disk failure in the server and was thus down for a while. Not that I would have blogged if it was up anyway.

Also, I am not on facebook anymore due to personal reasons related to time and other things, but feel free to drop an email or two to me to catch up :-) Would probably start a flickr site for my pictures, which aren’t that many since I am not a prolific photographer. Sorry mum for ditching you on facebook. (I guess it is harder to see what I am doing now, but nothing to worry, I have nothing to hide).

I am thankful for all the prayers for me from the people I know. I have been leaning on a lot of people this semester, leaning on God and learning to see my faith in a new way– not a performance, not a duty, but out of love. Man, 1.5 years passes fast, and I feel bad because I did not go home before this to see my granddad(dad’s side) and grandma(mum’s side) before they passed away since I was here. What a reality. When I go home, there are two less family members to see.

Alright, that’s it for updates for now. Peace out.

再见！

Topics: Berkeley, General | 2 Comments »

Billy Graham at UC Berkeley 1967

By Ern Sheong | August 25, 2009

An inspirational video of Billy Graham speaking at UC Berkeley in 1967.

“… asking people to come to the person of Christ, not to a particular church. To the person of Christ and experience Christ…”

“If a group of students at Berkeley gave themselves totally to Christ and began living for Christ no matter what the cost, you could change our generation.” ~ Billy Graham

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