Glioblastomas

are tumors that arise from astrocytes—the star-shaped cells that make up the “glue-like,” or supportive tissue of the brain. These tumors are usually highly malignant (cancerous) because the cells reproduce quickly and they are supported by a large network of blood vessels.

The occurrence of glioblastoma is rare, so so so rare that in most European and North American countries, incidence is approximately 2-3 new cases per 100,000 people per year and usually by the time patients are diagnosed, they have a median survival rate of 4.5 months without treatment; 15 months with treatment.

Glioblastoma took away a dear brother in Christ yesterday, leaving behind his wife and three young sons. Felt glad for him that in a way that he had definitely fulfilled the missions God had for him on earth and is home now with our heavenly Father for eternal life, yet still felt unjust and sad for his family because it is those that are left behind whom suffers the most. They will need to go through this unbearable degree of pain of losing someone so dear and loved to them. 

Unlike the toughest physical pain, labor pains which passes and will be forgotten once it passes, it is this form of emotional pain that just etches and roots itself deep within your heart, resurfacing with every opportunity it has, just so that you will not forget, this degree of incomprehensible, indescribable pain.

With the demise of this brother, we are once reminded of God's sovereignty, how God has the ultimate control over our lives and how His plans for us might not necessarily be the plans we have for ourselves way earlier.

Coincidentally, I came across this as I was tumblr-surfing.

"Mankind still have so much to do, but so little time and effort left
to allow great things to happen."

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelations 4 : 21

Of happies and saddies,

So many things have happened of late! 

One of the greatest happies that just happened recently is this!

Krabi, Thailand

07.04.13-10.04.13

My friends and I just came back from a trip at Krabi, Thailand and it was a really amazing holiday. I have always enjoyed beach holidays, so Krabi is just perfect. 

It was a perfect getaway from all the neuroscience craziness we are all in the midst in right now(we are all Medical students) as in we have great values for food, scenery, food, entertainment, food, souvenirs and more food.

Krabi is just budget-able within a varsity student's means. It is not that touristy like Phuket, well when a place is a major tourist site, everything will be pricey and its not that there is no one else other than the fifteen of us in Krabi, there are, tonnes more Caucasians, Asians but the crowd is just nice to make you feel comfortable. 

This is our first overseas holiday together,
there will be more to come in near future, hopefully

I really really really had a great time there
and I certainly will visit Krabi again if given a chance.

Another happies will be, I AM TURNING 21 TOMORROW!

I am happy about it, not particularly euphoric, ecstatic, elated about it but well, there is just this deep sense of comfort within me that I am turning twenty-one tomorrow.

My friend once said, when you turn twenty-one, you have legally earned your right to a death sentence. That statement kinda left me dumbstruck but it reminded me once more how I am indeed an adult now I can no longer be in denial about it, I am solely accountable for my actions, and I still have so much more to learn, to see and to experience about adulthood though I cannot deny that I am enjoying that extra tinge of freedom I have right now.

I do not know, is it normal that once you have hit another milestone in your life, thoughts will start to flood through you and make you wonder what is ahead for you in another ten, twenty or thirty years time? I know it did for me, there has been a lot of reflection and thinking these couple of days, for me, about life and I am still praying to God to paint me a clearer picture about it. 

Do not get me wrong, its not that I am unhappy about how things are for me right now, I am happy about how things are for me right now. 

I have my family who love and adore me to bits though they might not be really expressive about it most of the times ahhh well that is what that happens when you are an Asian but it is also through their tiny actions and seemingly insignificant encouragement that reminds me how much they love me, and I really really really love all of them.

I have an amazing boyfriend whom self-acknowledges that his sole duty is to make me a happy princess HAHA even if that means a lot more teasing and bullying FROM ME ahhh he is all in for it, heh I love him deep down to the core too. 

I am on my way to be what I have dreamt of ever since I was what, thirteen or fourteen. I still have another three more years to go before I graduate to be a doctor, I am very very very excited about that and the current advancement of the Medical field in terms of technology and theory, they still never cease to interest and fathom me. There are still so much to explore, understand and learn about our amazing human body.

I have currently reach this juncture of life where I am contented with the people I am surrounded with. There are good friends to share with and good acquaintances to have a good laugh with.

Life is quite settled and good for me, as a twenty-one years old young adult, I could not thank God for blessing me enough.

So there you go for all my happies, well they should really be happies seeing how much I wrote about them haha so I will make my saddies real short and neat because they are hmmm saddies.

Saddies number one : I did not get to participate in our 13th General Election. In a couple blog post prior this, I mentioned how excited I am if I am able to vote for this coming 13th GE but oh well, it did not happen that way for me, so I have another FIVE more years to go before I can fulfill my duty as a Malaysian.

Saddies number two : I mentioned too in a few blog posts before this about my application to the Malaysian Medical Fellowship to be a volunteer of their mission team. About two months have passed by, some of my friends have gotten theirs and I have not received any news till now, so I guess that is it. I could not deny that I am rather disappointed and upset about it because I have taken up a lot of courage to set my mind straight to be a blessing to others. On the other hand I could plan for another holiday with my friends yay.

Basically today I wrote about the two happies and two saddies for me. What are your happies and saddies?

A good day indeed

I had the chance to experience God's kindness and love through a good Samaritan today.

Her actions reminded me how God send His one and only beloved son to earth, to help the woeful soul, to awaken the doubtful ones, to empathize the longing soul and to die for us, the sinful ones, for our salvation, so that we will have eternal life in Christ.

Today is really a good day, which I will give all my thanks to God.

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 

“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Mark 10 : 21

THE GIANT CATASTROPHE

that did not happen literally on the 21st of December 2012 but rather here on rachelramblebabble that lead to a moment of silence and stillness here.

Well what should I say, year 2012 ended while year 2013 started arduously with endless of papers and evaluation to assess all the necessary clinical skills or medical knowledge I should have as I am already halfway through my second year. That by all means should suffice to justify my month-long of blogger silence even though my semester break began bout five days ago. 

 As I am typing this, millions of thoughts started to rummage through my mind while I am trying hard enough to figure out what should this post be rather than allowing my first post in 2013 to really be a piece of rambleblabble.

Hmmmm so far year 2013 has been pretty decent to me, there is not much of daily shocking hoohaa drama neither many days did passed by without being tad bit happening. Perhaps, a better word to describe my daily living will be "mundane". Please do not get me wrong, I am not complaining that life is boring or uneventful for me right now on the contrary, uneventful is good, it is really good indeed in the medical world. I am glad and comfortable when things fall into routine, it is good, to me; routine enables one to be organized and well-planned; routine will lead to this re-assuring, calming feeling which once again is something good for someone hot tempered like me.

I wonder what new year resolutions you all have in mind? I do not have a lot of big plans for year 2013, knowing that it will really be a taxing year ahead. All I want and ask for would be for God's wisdom and peace to be upon me as I journey through each day. With God's wisdom bestow upon me, I know that all decisions I make, no matter how gargantuan or minuscule they seem, will be align with the plans He has for me; with God's peace granted on me, I know that no matter how demanding, disappointing, rewarding, exciting my days would be, I have Him to count on, I have Him to be my faithful listener.

 I guess from this post you can clearly tell that I began my year with lots of thanksgiving though Thanksgiving Day is really still 876318467816871 days ahead in 2013, but I strongly believe that is how it should be, one should count his blessings everyday and of course all the credits will go to our Father in heaven.

In the beginning of year 2013 as I was tumblr-surfing, this post flooded my dashboard:

“Start on January 1st with an empty jar. Throughout the year write the good things that happened to you on little pieces of paper. On December 31st, open the jar and read all the amazing things that happened to you that year.”

I have yet started on this but oh well, there are about 10 more days to go for the month of January, and you have February, March, April MY BIRTHDAY MONTH AND I TURN 21 ZOMG yada dida until the month of December then POOF IT WILL BE YEAR 2014 ALREADY ZOMG so I guess I am not late at all to start this, would you be joining me in this?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

bible verses

are the words of God for us, to guide us through our daily life, hard times and also good times.

As a born Christian, I have been thought since my Sunday school years to memorize important scriptures such as

John 3 : 16 "For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only son, and whoever who believes in Him shall have eternal life"

Of course there are many more that came along the way and most of the time important bible verses as such will come upon familiar during sermons. I have always been trying to learn God's word by heart but this is certainly not an easy feat, considering the fact that there are 27 books in the New Testament; 39 books in the Old Testament. There are a total number of 22,485 verses in the Old Testament; while there are 7,957 verses in the New Testament. 

Some people will say, where there is a will, there is a way. This is certainly true.

Few months back I found a few bible verses that belongs to me. I do not think that this happened by coincidence, but just so happen these couple of meaningful verses coincide with my date of birth(1304). Hence, these are indeed my bible verses.

Philippians 4 : 13 "I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength"

1 Corinthians 13 : 4 " Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

These verses will come by useful during difficult and good times. When I need God to empower me or when I can give my praises to God for all the good things He had done.

I am sure that everyone has their own scriptures that are meant for them. So, what is yours?

The definitions of "Test"

are

(1) : a procedure, reaction, or reagent used to identify or characterize a substance or constituent 

(2) : something (as a series of questions or exercises) for measuring the skill, knowledge, intelligence, capacities, or aptitudes of an individual or group

I think definition (2) can be well applicable to me after everything this whole week.

It had been a tough week, with workload few times heavier than the usual heavy workload, alongside with being unwell physically through out the week, God did put me through a rather difficult test this week.

Why does God put us through tests or trials? Why does He put us in situation that we might question Him, our faith in Him and our journey ahead with Him?

In my opinion, God allows us to enter into faith combat so we can see His deliverance and victory over our adversary. As we are faithful where we are (the test), God will give us a larger sphere of responsibility. 

Another reason behind God's test for us is for us to learn how to submit to Him and at the same time resist the devil's temptation during the course of trials and tribulations. 

But why do we have to deal with temptation? Isn't it tough enough getting through God's test alone?

Resisting Satan's temptation allows us to strengthens our faith, our spiritual muscles. If we didn't have to stand against temptation, we'd never know our own spiritual strength. Facing temptations will either bring out the best or worst in us. Sometimes God allows us to be tested because He's preparing us for promotion or all the big plans He has in mind for us.

We should always stand in faith, and resist the devil and his works. God's Word always work, maybe not instantly but we know that God's test is always an open book test since we have the bible. From when we take our stand on God's Word to when the answer manifests, constitutes the test.

Besides, God is always our loving father who has a big heart for all His children. He will never put us through great trials that could possibly cause us to stumble and fail forever. 

In 1 Corinthians 10:13, it mentioned that

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

Come what may, we have God as our mighty sword and shield, victory will definitely prevail.

I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEKEND WITH A LOT OF REST OH MAI GOSH THANK YOU GOD 

=)