Spiderman, OSCEs and Trains

we had our mid-posting ortho theory test on thursday, which was horrendous, given the crazy mcqs and white-as-chalk x-rays that we had to interpret. all of us had spent the past few days cramming the past year mcqs even though sometimes we barely knew what we were reading. we even had a straw poll right before the test (courtesy of our friendly class rep) to see who agreed that psoriatic arthritis causes tufting of the distal phalanx!

but nothing could prepare us the x rays. the first slide was a lateral view of a knee joint, so we all stared hard at it...and stared and stared. it looked like a perfectly normal knee joint! i took a quick glance around the room, and not a single soul was writing. everyone was looking at the screens, pen in their hands at the ready - but no one was writing. hilarious. only when the time was running out (we were given 3 minutes per question) did everyone start scribbling furiously. i could think of nothing other than to declare it to be a patella fracture with effusion (the patella was clearly separated from the femur) and listed a meniscus tear as the possible associated injuries. turns out it was a torn posterior cruciate. -groans-

generally the x rays shown were over exposed, so what we saw above the druj was just an area of white instead of the carpal bones, and a pelvic xray was just a mass of white with the posteriorly dislocated femur as a faint line transecting the milky way. i'm kinda exaggerating here i know, but oh man, the xrays on centricity are so much clearer, why couldn't those be used?! oh wells, at least i identified half of them correctly (colles, physeal fracture, posterior dislocation) but my mcq section is definitely going to bomb big time.

to let off steam my cg went to catch spider man 3 at cineleisure. i must first state that my expectations of this third installment were quite high, since the first two were so good and there will probably not be a fourth movie, hence i was a little disappointed. i shan't reveal too much of the plot here, but suffice to say that the plot revolves around revenge, and how revenge makes us turn ugly and seek powers we can't control. in the end, the characters learn to forgive and let go, and...well, i don't exactly know what happens to pete and mj. heh.

tobey maguire and kirsten dunst are excellent as the leads, and so are the supporting cast of james franco (new goblin/harry osborn) and topher grace (venom/eddie brock). thomas haden church takes on the rather dull role of sandman (he was fabulous in sideways) and bruce campbell has a bit part as the hilarious maitre d'. spidey 3 has magnificent cgi which probably explains the hefty US$250 million price tag. the stories were a little too loosely put together in my opinion, and i expected something darker after having watched the trailers. but a spidey fan would not complain, since the film has enough rough and tumble to keep the momentum going for two whole hours. my verdict: 4 out of 5.

this week also saw the change over of the house officers, and it's crazy to see the seniors i've known since they were fourth years worrying about the patho exam now running after the consultants during ward rounds. it's even crazier to see the ex-housemen running their own clinics as medical officers. time really zips by, and in no time, it'll be my turn. no wonder someone told us it's not too early to think of what to do after graduation. hmm.

and to round off an exciting mid posting period, i was caught once again in a train disruption on friday night, this time from harbour front to dhoby gaut. we were first told to take the free shuttle buses (and the station staff didn't even know where they would bring us!) before hearing the announcements that train services had resumed but that we had to get to dhoby gaut via the east-west and north-south line. took me over an hour to get home. i've resigned myself to the fate of the londoners, where numerous signs are posted outside tube stations stating the line and station closures for the day, and even disruption maps and updates on the main website!

wells, let there be no more disruptions for the rest of the year! i shall take a break this weekend before i continue my ortho posting at the western hospital. can't wait for the hols to come!