med school mumblings...

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Of Paediatrics (I)

what a change it has been to enter paeds posting. squeaky toys, red balls and barbie stickers have been my constant tools, and i've added cooing and high-pitched verbalisations to vocabulary. there's a heck lot more of studying to do, but being able to play with kids while at work helps to keep the stress levels down. where does the stress come from, you may ask? it comes from having a load of different syndromes that the little ones have, needing to read up on various systems simultaneously, and people jostling for ward space.

i've met a couple of children whom i know i'll probably remember for some time to come. am currently posted to the renal ward, and i must say that i've been touched by the way the patients deal with their conditions. and despite nephrology being the craziest of the subspecialties with its absolutely cheem pathologies, i will miss going there every day, even if it were just to ask the resident computer genius about buying a laptop. heh.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Of Hiroyuki Sanada

(ok. let a gal have a chance to fangirl, especially one who's a medical student.)

presenting to you, sanada-san:not a good photograph i know, but that's the best picture i can get, cuz i can't download the rest. and all the movie stills are of chris tucker and jackie chan, who together are not even half as good looking as sanada! did you know he acted as the fool in the rsc's production of king lear? he was the first japanese actor to do so, and was awarded an OBE for that.

i must say though, that while he looked really, -ahem-, delicious in rush hour 3 (ooh that dangerousness and that superb build!), he didn't look quite as good in other photographs, especially when his hair was cut. haha. it's all about the hair, baby.

all right, that's enough for now. before the readers start to think that mumbler is just a silly fangirl. heh.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Of...

...movies:
watched the simpsons movie two saturdays ago with the cg and it was everything i expected from it. funny, smart and simple. i've literally grown up with the characters, and it was touching to see the relationship between homer and marge taken to a "deeper" level. as usual, the writers could be trusted to include digs at various people and organisations into all the crazy gags and jokes. i started watching the show in primary school, so i'm really glad it's still around. i give it 4 stars!

just yesterday, as a way to wrap up our short postings, we went for a midnight screening of rush hour 3. it was hilarious, what with the brainless slapstick and all, not to mention the "yu" and "mi" joke that was funnier by virtue of the fact that we understood chinese. if you were looking for a meaningful movie, you'll be sorely disappointed. but if you need a show to destress, you'll enjoy the fast pace and action in this movie. the icing on the cake is hiroyuki sanada (absolutely droolsome, but you're free to disagree!) - i can't believe he's 47 years old!

...postings:
opthalmology was interesting all right, but i'm not likely to pursue it further after this posting. heh. it's probably the only specialty that has clinics in such ornate surroundings, but the reality of the subsidised clinics is seeing these poor diabetic patients who default on their eye check ups and who only return when they experience loss of vision. the few have nearly lost all sight due to diabetic retinopathy, which is a major cause of blindness in the developed world.

i start paediatrics tomorrow. somehow this and obg have held the greatest intrigue for me, so i'm quite looking forward to them. sure, i've heard those horror stories about how the paeds folks love to grill you about the smallest things and the almost daily tests during obg, but i shall wait till i'm done with these postings before i form an opinion of them. no point starting a new postings with preconceived negative notions.

school life:
so the dean's office has finally decided to make the meeting with the perm sec compulsory. (now, why was i not surprised?) it used to be a nicely worded email inviting us to rsvp, now it's a terse "we wish to inform you that attendance is compulsory for the following event." it apparently was a communication error of sorts. oh wells.

what's more astonishing is that we're hearing rumours that the short postings will be removed from the curriculum from next year onwards! this is quite unbelievable because i love the idea of short postings to expose us to the various specialties in medicine. i mean, who better to explain diabetic retinopathy than an opthalmologist? or the finer points of intubation from an aneasthesiologist? i mean, first they remove systemic patho from the second year curriculum, and now this. i honestly can't fathom what's going on.

as a f/u, chek jawa was excellent, and if you haven't gone, do go before the tours are turned over to a private company to run, and then you'll have to pay just to tour. our volunteer guide was this friendly, retired english gentleman originally from manchester who's married to a singaporean. it was great to just walk on the sandbar and touch the different creatures. we were never meant to live in cities surrounded by metal and concrete, so this get away really recharged me, and i came home feeling most peaceful, and strangely comforted. heh.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Of Gases and Blood

i wished i had more time in anaesthesia. contrary to what i've been told, anaes at the western hospital has been a heck of a time thanks to my tutor, and ranks as one of my favourite three postings so far. as one of my seniors said, it's a very girl thing. does anyone know why?

two hours before the anaesthesia test, my tutor was called to the ctvs ot because there was an emergency. what greeted me was something i had never seen before, not even in emergency medicine. i don't suppose i'm at liberty to say more, but let's just say that it isn't everyday that you see a bp of 39/4, and you hear one anaesthetist tell another, "i'll probably need to replace all his blood."

i hope the patient survived.

**

time to sleep. chek jawa beckons.