day at home
Mood:  special
today's the only day in my one week holiday that i don't have to go to nus for rehersals...spent morning updating my webpage (i haven't done it for about 2 months)..and also playing dominion (this fun online game that i'm now hooked to)..

it's pretty boring at home, too bad i can't go out with jing cos she has to study for this long string of tests commencing next friday..luckily i still have some unwatched vcds at home..i guess that'll suffice for now..:)

1 week break
Mood:  lazy
ah, finally finised my surgery and medicine postings..on retrospect i guess there was really much more to learn in medicine than surgery (besides the point that i was in alexandra hospital for surgery and sgh for medicine) so i really should have studied harder for medicine..time was also very tight at sgh, there were lectures every afternoon, and tutorials almost every morning, leaving us very little time to clerk patients on our own..some of my friends even stayed back after 5 pm to clerk patients..

but nonetheless the first two postings were very enjoyable! got to know people form other cgs better..had lots of fun playing worms and drug wars in the sgh students lounge too..haha..

so now i'm taking a one week break from clinics, gonna start next week at paediatrics in kk hospital..meanwhile i'm busy rehearsing for playhouse which is 5 days away!! (playhouse is an annual competition in medical school where each class of medical students, from year one to five, puts up a play each)..darn, lots of lines to remember..but i'm quite excited, cos this will be the first time i'm acting in a play!! hope i don't get stage fright! :)

and i also started playing dominion..it's an online MUD-like game, and it's quite addictive..you are given a country, and have to develop your land and troops, attack other players as well as defend yourself against them..i've been logging on every hour to see if anyone's been invading my precious land..:P

badly behaving medical students
Mood:  irritated
I see badly behaving medical students in the wards everyday, and it really disappoints me when I see patients getting upset after being clerked or examined by a medical student...I've always maintained that medical students should always remember that patients are in hospital for treatment of their various illnesses, and not for us medical students to learn from. And when they actually let us examine them, they are doing us a favor rather than us deserving it...So it really upsets me when I see my fellow students waking up patients from their sleep, or interrupting the patient and family, so that the students can examine the patient.

Once there was this terminally ill patient with good `signs' (it was obvious that he was in great distress and pain), and my clinical group decided to go examine him...after taking a look at him, I decided that it was not wise to have him subjected to 6 rounds of abdominal palpation, so I attempted to talk my group out of it...I got rebutted, `If you don't have the heart to examine him now how will you handle more ill patients when you become a doctor?'...I gave up on them and left the group. They totally didn't get my point. It's not that I didn't have the heart to examine the patient, but rather I had too much heart...when we become doctors, it will be our duty to examine the patients, diagnose their illness and initiate treatment...it'll be totally different then...right now, when we examine patients, we don't help them at all...besides, the only sign the patient had was a palpable liver, which could be felt on other patients who are in a better state...so why subject this patient to so much trauma?

sigh...

i'm back!
Mood:  lazy
i've finally got myself down to writing in my blog again after stagnating for 6 weeks..there wasn't really much motivation to write, plus the fact that doing medicine at sgh is really hectic! got lectures and/or tutorials everyday..sometimes there's not even enough time for us to clerk patients (unless we stay back after 5pm!)..

anyways today is gonna be yet another long day for me..i've 2 tutorials in the morning (one at 9am and another at 11am) and one lecture in the afternoon..i'm supposed to read up on testing of higher mental function for my tutorial, but i haven't done so..oops..i was caught up with playhouse rehearsal yesterday..

okies..gotta go..happy children's day to all you kids out there (or even those who are still young at heart!)

second last day of surgery posting
wow, a good 8 weeks passed by just like that..and i was beginning to get used to Alexandra Hospital..

anyways, my past 8 weeks doing surgery was rather fruitful..true, we did have many moments when we were sitting around 'waiting for something to happen' (i.e. waiting for a tutorial), and there was a lack of patients (which my friends claimed), but the tutors were all very nice and they took us through many tutorials..they were all also very friendly..

oh, my surgery long case last week was about post-cholecystectomy obstructive jaundice...so i was asked about the causes...and possible treatment plans..

my cg went out to watch 'stepford wives' today..it was quite a good movie (i voted for alien vs predator instead, but lost out) ..even mark, who doesn't like nicole kidman, says she acted really well...the movie is about this super career woman and her family moving into stepford and discovering that they actually genetically modify the women there to be docile and husband-abiding..there are two tiny twists in the ending, one of which i figured out long before they revealed it..i didn't expect the second, though..

tomorrow's gonna be my last day at alexandra! next up: SGH medicine...

a day in the life of derrick
Mood:  rushed
A day in the life of Derrick: (aka what I did on 28 Jul 04)

5:30 AM wake up
6:30 leave house for Alexandra Hospital
7:15 reach hospital, follow up on patients
7:30 attend teaching session
8:15 tutorial
9:40 end of tutorial, look for patients to clerk but none were available
10:10 clerk from the casenotes instead
10:30 read up a bit
11:00 Tutorial
12:20 PM End of tutorial, go for lunch
12:55 wait for Radiology conference to start
1:15 Radiology conference commences
1:45 end of Radiology conference, hang around and look for patients to clerk (again none were found until..
2:25 clerk a patient
2:45 look for another patient to clerk
2:55 tried to read a patient's casenotes, but was scolded by a nurse for interrupting her work
3:05 give up on clerking, read up a bit more
3:40 loiter around hospital for procedures to do
4:15 tried to set a iv plug but failed
4:30 went back to ward 13 to wait for exit rounds to start
4:40 exit rounds start
5:35 exit rounds end, bum around until..
5:50 dad comes to pick me up
6:30 reach home, bum around until
7:00 eat dinner while watching tv
7:45 shower
8:15 study
9:25 call jing to chat
10:00 PM sleep

10th month
Mood:  spacey
Once more, I?ve not blogged for some time?been really tough trying to juggle with work and play..guess I?m not really settled into clinical life yet..

Had three tutorials today! On venous disease, arterial disease and peptic ulcer..Dr Anil Rao once again impressed us with his bullet speed regurgitation of list after list of factors, indications and statistics during his tutorial on peptic ulcers?it?s amazing how he can remember so much!!

Didn?t clerk much today except this lady with recurrent suprapubic colicky pain..her pain comes on almost every month or so, lasts for one day and is not associated with any git, urinary or gynaecological symptoms..her differentials are uti, adhesion colic or some other gynaecological disease..will follow up on her blood test and pelvis ultrasound results tomorrow..

Haven?t done my writeup yet!!! Arrgh..

Met up with jing at ikea after clinics today for dinner and some shopping..it?s our 10th month anniversary today..:) I got her a bouquet of roses..after that I saw her home and tried out a new bus service number to get home..it took me an hour and 15 minutes to get home (15min more than the original)..guess I?ll stick with the old bus..

day at outpatient clinics
today we had a lecture by prof low cheng hock in the morning..after that i followed dr. ganesh to the outpatient clinics, and we saw a few patients with interesting conditions..there was this man with an a giant indirect hernia leading all the way to the scrotum..after inspection we also found out that he had an undescended testis on the same same side..

there was also a patient who has an anal fistua..he went to the doctor several times but his anal fistua was not discovered until today..it's such a shame that things like this happen..

then there was this young man who had a pain in the chest wall..he was admitted to hospital a few days ago, was x-rayed, scoped and tests were done on him, but still the cause of the pain could not be obtained..this time he came to the outpatient clinic for a follow-up, and upon detailed questioning we found out that his pain came about after strenuous exercise..the pain was actually from the intercostal muscles..he had a muscle tear! now i truly understand why taking a detailed history is so important...

first day at surgery posting
today was my first day at alexandra hospital..doing my surgery posting...nothing much happened, here's a brief outline of the day's events..

first we had a briefing at the auditorium, then we were brought to the surgical teams we were supposed to follow for the next eight weeks..my cg is attached to surgical team two! our resident physician, dr. ganesh, took us on a tour of the compounds, and then to alexandra village for a drink..

when we got back we proceeded to clerk patients under our team..i talked to a lady who has been admitted for a weight reduction programme, pending a lap band surgery..she is 150kg! wow that's more than 3 times my weight..

sentosa
Mood:  energetic
oops, 2 weeks of my 3-week break zoomed by in the blink of an eye..

haven't been doing much lately, been catching up on my past issues of nejm, and going out with jing..we went to sentosa on friday, and jing accidentally left her wallet and handphone in the toilet while changing up and they got stolen..we had to go make a police report as well as cancel her cards..what a day!

will be having a short trip to malacca with jing and her family for three days starting tomorrow! i wonder how it'll turn out?