3 days..

Currently listening:

Wednesday
Because of my headache, I slept early at 10 pm, but woke up at 3 am. Thought to myself why the heck did I wake up so early for.. Slept back until 5.30 am, then attempted to do a bit of reading for bedside teaching and PBL. Was supposed to do quite a bit of things which somehow ended up not getting done anyway.

Went to the female wards for bedside teaching. Since our Professor was not there yet, went to look for a few patients to clerk. 1st thing that greeted me at the entrance was the wrapped body of a dead patient being wheeled to the mortuary.

Anyway, came across an old diabetic lady, whom I was having difficuty clerking coz she spoke some Kelantanese Malay dialect (which I can't quite grasp what she was saying, but we both laughed since I can't understand her, and she looked at me one kind. at least i tried..). Then there's this lady houseman who came along for her rounds, and looked at me one kind. Duno lar what was her problem that day, she asked me whether I'm a medical student, and what year I am in, but in an apparently snubbing type of manner before going back to the old lady's case files (I'm inclined to think that she looks cocky lar, but shall give her benefit of the doubt, maybe it's just me being too sensitive).

It's a bit harder to do physical examination at the female ward if you are a guy, as you need a chaperon, and patients tend to be reluctant to allow you to examine them. But it's a nicer ward (in terms of being less hot and stuffy, and also more eye-friendly and relaxed, can spend time talking to patients).

Wanted to clerk a particular patient whose bed was at the corner of the ward. Somehow she doesn't seem to be in the mood to entertain me, but she tried to smile lar. When asked of her reason for admission, she told me that she was a housewife married to a police officer with 2 kids, she came in for overdose of sleeping pills. Apparently she was stressed over 'family problems', and the husband always goes out at night after work. Couldn't get much information from her, so looked at her case files. Under Family / Social History; 'Domestic abuse by husband'. I was quite stunned, but not sure how else to respond to her (or what to say), so I just smiled and wished that she gets well soon. *walks away, as much as I want to do the right thing for her, not sure what else I can do*

At night, watched American Idol.. both finalists were outstanding on the way to the final, but on this night, I really liked David Archuleta singing from the bottom of his heart. From the songs he chose, I mean (Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, by Elton John; In This Moment written by Ryan Gilmore; and Imagine by John Lennon).. I guess it reflected what he feels lar.. his performance gave me a hair-raising moment :p (seriously, don't laugh!)


Thursday
3rd day of headache, but getting better I guess. I walked into the Long Case discussion rather unprepared.. and like my tutor forewarned, "You come unprepared, you DIE." lolz I mean, it turned out ok lar in the end, we like our tutor, and since it was our last class with him (probably for now), he took a photo with us :-)

p/s: Tutor's comments after looking at photo: "Umm.. what is Gary trying to do ar?"
Night time.. rushed back from CG to watch American Idol. David Cook won. Ok lar.. I try to be neutral, I support both of them. It's just, not really a fan of Cook's song choice for the finals. But you have to admit that he is a risk taker to be admired. And somebody was screaming the roof off last night + got high until cannot sleep :p

Ok lar.. at least the final song was nice :-)

Friday
Slept early, but still felt tired when I woke up at 7am. Supposed to wake up at 5 am to study for MCR (ie practical exam). Stressed, havent' really studied for it, but I don't want to re-do, coz not much time already, plus the backlog of work no thanks to my procrastinating. Since 10am til 1pm, stuffed myself into 1 of the clinical skills room, trying to somehow study.. but nothing seems to be going into my brain, so pacing up and down the corridor to the washroom and drink water (signs that I'm stressed).. can I not have the practical exam today? Sick and stressed lar..

When the time came, don't know what to do, just prayed and surrender it to Him, as long as I try my best. Initially, I thought I'm doing the respiratory exam wrongly, but it turned out ok, was surprised myself at how well it went.. The examiner gave feedback that I should be more authoritative (ie not hesitate too much with the patient) and confident. Just need more practice and put in more relevant positives, instead of relevant negatives. I'm happy with my scores!! I PASSED!!! With higher marks than the previous MCR, not coz I'm smart or what, but by God's grace (thank you :-)).. and the sight that greeted me when I exited the staff room was this Indian girl in the cardio ward pointing her finger at me as she walked past hand in hand with her mother, telling her mum, "Mummy, doctor.. doctor.." lolz so cute.