Antony’s Personal Opinion

I have been having dermatofibroma on my leg’s skin in the last 5 - 6 weeks. What is dermatofibroma? According to Wikipedia:

“Dermatofibromas are harmless benign skin growths, found especially on the legs, that range in size from about 0.5 to 1 cm. They are hard papules (rounded bumps) that may appear in a variety of colors, usually brownish to tan.“

About 4 weeks ago, I went to a doctor in my area, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The doctor said it is infection, so he gave me antibiotic. I used the antibiotic for about 1 week and nothing happened. I decided to go to another doctor. The second doctor had no idea what it is, so he recommended me to see a dermatologist. I went to the dermatologist one week later (it took me one week to make an appointment because he was so busy). He diagnosed my problem correctly. He said it is dermatofibroma, but then he gave me antibiotic only. I used the antibiotic for one week and the problem was even getting worse. Why did he give me antibiotic? Here is the proper treatment to dermatofibroma according to an article from Harvard Medical School:

“There are two main ways to remove a dermatofibroma: surgically or by freezing. Because a dermatofibroma grows deep, total surgical removal requires cutting it out below the surface level of the skin. This process usually leaves a noticeable scar. Alternatively, the nodule may be flattened to the surface of the skin by shaving the top off with a surgical knife or by freezing it with liquid nitrogen.”

It is not mentioned antibiotic at all there. I am wondering why the doctor gave me antibiotic. Now, I am really scared going to Canadian doctors. They cannot diagnose the problem correctly or give the wrong treatment. Today I asked the second doctor to apply liquid nitrogen on my dermatofibroma. Guess what… the situation is even getting worse. See the picture below. I hope that Canadian doctors read this blog. I would like to know their opinions about my case.

Update (14-Aug-06): I have removed the picture of my wound because it looks so scary for some people. If you want to take a look at it, please visit this post.

I am already tired with Canadian Immigration Process. Why?

• Last year, my fiancée’s visitor visa application was rejected by Canadian High Commission in Singapore. The reason was because no guarantee that my fiancée will return from Canada. Although she did have return ticket, it did not satisfy the immigration officer. They were asking about job or property outside Canada (unfortunately my fiancée was unemployed at that time). At the end of the day, we had to pay $150 for ticket cancellation.
• Before coming to Canada to work, I had to apply for working permit. The process was not so easy either. Firstly, they thought my contract is fake. The contract was sent by my employer via fax, so it didn’t have a nice “looking”. Secondly, they gave me working permit for 1 year only although the contract clearly says that I have to stay in the company for at least 2 years.
• I just noticed recently that I need Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) to re-enter Canada although I have a working permit. Why? Because working permit doesn’t authorize us to re-enter Canada. The stupid thing is that TRV has to be applied from outside Canada, either from the US or our home country. Isn’t it ridiculous? They require us to have TRV to come back to Canada, but we cannot apply for TRV from within Canada.
• The process of getting Permanent Residence in Canada takes forever. I have submitted my PR application as a skilled worker in December 2004. Until November 2005 (almost 1 year), I didn’t hear anything from them. They just said that my application is “IN PROCESS”.
• Since my PR application was going nowhere, I applied for BC PNP. The PNP process is much faster compared to “normal PR” application, but we need sponsor from our employer. Normally, it should take no more than 6 months. I have submitted my PNP application in November 2005. A couple of days ago, I called PNP office asking about the status of my application. What was their answer? They couldn’t locate my application because they lost it. At the end of the day, they asked me to re-submit my application.

Aaaarggghhhh…..

When I went back to my home country for my wedding about 2 months ago, I had to drive a car. As some of you may already know, the traffic rules in Indonesia are a little bit different to western countries. For example, amber light (yellow light) in the intersection means accelerate. Most drivers in my home country will accelerate when they see amber light. Why? They don’t want to get “trapped” in the next red light.

When I drove in Indonesia, I always stop on amber light. My cousin said to me, it is dangerous if I stop when the amber light is on. The reason is because we may get hit by the car behind us. The driver behind us may accelerate his car when he sees amber light.

Actually it was a long story why I have a new habit of stopping on amber light. When I relocated to Canada last year, I had to take 5 times driving tests. After taking driving school for a couple of months and taking several times driving tests, now I drive very carefully.

There are so many reasons why I failed several times on driving tests, mostly because I used to drive in a country with no traffic rules… We do have stop signs and yield signs, but they are somehow useless. Nobody looks at it. We do have crosswalk too, but don’t try to cross the street without looking left and right. Most drivers do not yield to pedestrian in the crosswalk.

Well… this is just a warning for you who want to drive in developing countries, like Indonesia. You need to improve your hazard perception there…. IMHO, it is better to use local drivers who have much experience driving in such situation.

Just to give you an overview how driving experience in Indonesia, I have uploaded a video that I captured during my trip back to Indonesia. The video was captured in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Notice how close the motor-cycle to the bus and how pedestrian walk so closely to the bus.