Med Day

As always, I'm here again at my favorite room in school.. Med week is winding down, today being rthe final day of festivities.. I'm in civvies today, a fresh change from the usual all-white garb we wear to class. The council was able to make college shirts to be worn this day (nice one SC!!) and thus hindi namin kelangan mag uniform. :) We still had class from 7-8am though .. not bad, kasi I was supposed to report din naman today, so it's better na tapusin ko na rin 'diba? At 8, there was a mass held in the Med Audi. There was a surprisingly good turnout. In fact, it was so good that the dean decided (with the blessing of the Father Rector who was the main celebrant) to suspend classes and declared the rest of the day a holiday. He even gave the clerks some time off! Thanks Dr. Lopez! But we shouldn't forget the man who made it all possible, so once again, Braix, I salute you!! =P

After the mass, there was the Medigras, a kind of bandfest which is handled by the brods and sisses from Phi Sigma Gamma and Theta Lambda Phi. I found myself in a bit of a funk sometime in the middle of the mass. Seeing all my friends who are brods going around doing stuff and making themselves useful, kinda made me regret (yet again) not being a brod.. =( Looking back at my MTS and OMTI days, I've always had this penchant for doing behind the scenes stuff. Seeing everything come together just makes my day... =D Sigh...

But God really has a way of making things come together. Even though he strongly manifested that being a fratman really just wasn't for me (I'll talk more on this next time..), he heard my little prayer and came to the rescue by putting me in the thick of things helping out the tech crew pull their stuff together. Needless to say, I was happily toxic once again.. =D

And just when I thought the day couldn't get any better, I ran into the guys from GBE who were selling their neato T-shirts in front of the LRU. 200 Php lang each!! It was too good an opportunity to miss! I quickly snapped one up before maubusan. I'd buy another one if they'd sell those gray ones in my size. :D

Hay.. what a week.. at least we got a day of rest kahit paano.. It was fun being able to chill out with friends kahit sandali lang.. It helps keep us sane.. hehehe

So once again, I'd like to give a shout-out to the Med Student Council for a job well done!! =D

Babalik ka rin...

Wow, it's been like 3 weeks (i think) since my last post. A lot of crazy stuff has been going on as of late. I know I've said it before, but third year is HARD! I'm learning to cope though.. At least I'm doing a bit better in my subjects, and I study more too.. =P Credit goes to the Lord for taking care of me and never letting me down (Thanks God!) :D The recent recollection we had really turned things around for me. I just hope I'll be able to sustain all this productivity and sudden rush of enlightenment all throughout the year. ;)

We went to Megamall yesterday. Went to mass early para 'di hirap sa parking. It turns out my folks wanted to celebrate my birthday a bit earlier, so they opted to forego the usual fast-food lunch and we ate at a classier place (minsan lang naman eh. Thanks mom and dad! :D). Then I was able to buy a pair of cool jogging pants at the Surplus Shop. To top it all off, I was finally able to get my hands on the one song (well, actually it's an instrumental track) that I've been looking for since the MT Grad Ball. It's hard to find music if you don't know the title if there's no lyrics 'diba? =P Let me explain how it happened..

We wandered into Powerbooks not really looking for anything in particular.. I drifted off to the Tower Records area on an unexplained whim... It was there that I thought "Mahahanap ko pa ba kaya yung track na yun? Will I ever find the title or who performed it?.." So I was just going around, looking at CDs at random.. then I heard a similar-sounding track being played over their local system..

Befor I go on, the CD in question is The Best of Bond (you know, that all-girl instrumentalist group)

I thought "Parang ganun, but it's not it.." Then I went to the area where they had the "DJ" booth to check out what was playing. I didn't notice the Bond CD displayed there 'coz I thought it was some kinda diva compilation CD or something lang.. The cover wasn't what I expected.. I thought they'd be clad in black or something, basta gloomy or serious.. Anyway, I asked the guy what was on and he told me na Bond nga. 450 bucks.. man, that's a lot.. He then showed me the other Bond CDs available there.

Again I was thinking.. "What if the track I want isn't there? Eh parang nakakahiya naman magtest ng mga CD tapos hindi ka pa pala bibili.." (You see, I'm kinda stingy at times.. =P) So I thanked the dude and left.. On my way out, I ran into Mom who asked me where I've been. I told her that there's this CD that I really wanted but it costs a bundle.. She told me to go get it 'coz may isasabay din daw siya para isang bayaran na lang daw. So I got two CDs (The best of Bond and another album) and brought them to the testing area. Umpisa pa lang ng first track, I knew I already hit the jackpot!!! Grabe, I was so thrilled to get that! Finally, after 3 years of wondering and hoping, I finally have it!!! :D Thanks mom!! You're the best!!! (It turns out the track was entitled Victory, and I couldn't agree more.. :D)

It looks like for the first time in so many years, I'll be having a really happy birthday once again... Sniff! ;)

I wanna be a Medicine!!!!... =P

Good thing Blogger's up and running again. I thought I wouldn't be able to post despite being in school for the whole day (what a waste that could have been!).. =P

The prelims ain't over yet. We just had our examination in Pediatrics a few hours ago. I thought about going home but nah, I'll be able to accomplish more by staying here. Had lunch with the guys at the hospital canteen. It's so refreshing to be able to hang out with friends without much pressure bothering you. I mean, we take our exams very seriously, but the fact that we're free from other worries is already a load off our tired minds. Medicine 2 is up next tomorrow. Some of you non-med people might be wondering "What the hell do you study in the Medicine subject? Isn't Medicine what you call your entire postgrad course??" (listen up Reg, you might just learn something.. =P)

Well, the Medicine subjects (we had Med 1 last year) teach you how to integrate all the basic stuff you learned in first and second year. Last year, we were taught how to perform history taking and physical examinations (because "90% of the time, you can make your diagnosis with a good history and PE!"). WE also had a smattering of cases for common illnesses to expose us to the wild world of diagnosis and management. This year, we're taking it to a whole new level. With our fundamentals (supposedly) in place, we now tackle more in depth cases, are given more detailed lectures on the different pathologies affecting the different organ systems, are given workshops on some of the more practical aspects of diagnosis andpatient management, and are even expected to give more detailed reports even encompassing the realm of diagnostic procedures and treatment! Ah, such fun.. =P

I could go on and on, but alas, time is against me, and now Ii must return to my little nook up there in the library to continue my romance with the different interesting facets of the topic known as Endocrinology.. =P

Who knows, Imight even blog later when i get bored again.. hehehe

Prelims week

Ok, here I am at the first day of the prelims (or midterms for those from other schools). We'll be having a single test per day, which isn't really too light considering the amount of material covered by each. :P Yes, I have survived hell week, which wasn't really as toxic as I expected. In fact, it turned out to be quite pleasant in the end..

I'd like to sincerely apologize for what I said about our facilitator before we had a chance to meet her. I was SO WRONG to base my impression from feedback from another group! While it may be true that she may have "terrorized" them, she was very nice to us, although demanding. =P But the thing is, I was able to really appreciate the points that she was trying to get across. It was really a great learning experince, going to the wards ALONE handling your own patient for the very first time, and being expected to give a good output. It was very tiring (and tension-filled because of what we've heard from the previous group), but very rewarding at the end. I didn't get chewed out, was appreciated for my effort, and even got to snack on some peanuts which she brought for our group! Such a nice lady!! :D Though she was quick to point out our shortcomings, she did so in a fair and non-hostile way. I dunno about my other groupmates if they were able to grasp her message like I was, given the fact that we have different ideas with regards to how learning should be. =P

If I was at the brink of giving up before we started this module, I now find myself more determined than ever to finish medicine, complete my specialty training, and maybe even come back to school to teach! =D

So to doktora, thank you for giving us the chance to go solo flight at the wards. There is really no substitute for confidence and experience, stuff that can't be learned from the books or in the classroom. I know I didn't do so well the first time around, but thanks to you, I've identified my weaknesses and will be able to work on them as I grow to be a full-fledged physician someday.. (naks!) =P

Whew, now that that's out of the way, I guess I gotta get back to the books. OB is up next tomorrow! The fun just never ends! Yahoo! =D

Hell week

Nah, it's not prelims week yet, though with the present load, one can never tell.. We've got at least two exams per day this week, some of them considered "major".. The week has barely begun but it already has me worn down. It's bad enough that we have to study non-stop, but our group even has an additional "mini-revalida" to contend with... This isn't funny anymore.. :P

At least I was able to attain my objective this weekend, which was to finish up my reports for thursday.. Well, they're not really done yet, but I guess its a load off my mind to have been able to accomplish that much. Sometimes I don't want to think about what tomorrow has in store.. I'll be living day-by-day for this week.. It's the only way to get by...

Day by day
O dear Lord, three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
To love thee more dearly
To follow thee more nearly
Day by day...

Here we go again...

It's another saturday, and yes, here I am at school.. :P My group got assigned another batch of new cases.Ok lang. I guess we've gotten over the initial shock/fear of going alone. I was able to get a better history this time, with a more thorough physical examination to boot. :) I don't really care anymore if we're gonna get chewed out when we meet our facilitator on the thurdays to come. The experience we gained is invaluable. Confidence in your capabilities can't be taught in school. :D Sure there were some screw-ups, and I'm pretty sure we made some more with these new cases. But what the hell, kaya nga medical students diba? :D

I've learned to look at life from a fresh perspective. Actually, I guess it's more of rediscovering what I already believed in before. I had a chat with one of my classmates the other day. This particular classmate is one of those who worked before deciding to enter medical school. Basically she told me that the outsidre world isn't all it's cracked up to be.. and I guess her pep talk worked.

Oh well, gotta go. The ward is waiting.. :P

Sabado

It's Saturday, and here I am in school... and I'm even in uniform!! :P No, I don't have an extension class, nor did they declare that they were making life even more toxic for us by cutting our weekend in half. :P I just came from the ward where i visited "my" patient. Though I'm still disgruntled with the extra load this module has placed upon us (more than any other subsec for that matter), at least I'm grateful for the chance to be able to go on a solo flight and handle a patient all to myself. :D It's really something else when you do it alone.. Nobody asking questions in an order you wouldn't normally prefer, no more lengthy arguments on physical examination findings, etc.. It's just you, your skills, and the patient before you. It just feels so empowering! Though I know come thursday I'll probably be chewed out by our facilitator for stuff I surely missed or failed to do, at least its been a good learing experience.. (though I wish my learning experience could be a bit more pleasant if our faci would be just a teeny bit nicer to her students.. :P)

I'm beginning to learn how to cope with the multitude of stresses that Med throws our way.. I guess I shouldn't take everything to seriously and just to my best to put up a good and honest effort in everything I do.. though most of the time it's easier said than done.. sigh... I'm just praying I won't get chewed out so much when the time comes..