Exams are a pain

I have not left my house for 3 days...
I wake up way pass noon, watch tv, eat, tv, computer, tv, eat, computer, tv, eat, sleep at 4am or so.
I slept at 4 something last night cause I was busy reading Nicholas Spark's Safe Haven online. Got to love the internet.

For some unknown reason, well, maybe it's because I haven't been out in sunlight for a couple of days, but my nose is acting up again. Argh. I am so bleh. I don't do anything besides watching tv or movies or checking facebook. Argh. Wish I could do something more useful with my time. Hmm. Blogging seemed like the best idea, besides, drinking tea. Which I have. Been. Doing. For. Many Days. Now. My mum taught me the art of brewing the perfect cup of tea, the one you get at coffee shops, or even better. Still haven't mastered it completely but I'm getting there.

I've considered going back and reading my notes. To see if my answers in the exam, matched the ones in my notes. Hmm.. I felt kind of unprepared for my third paper. I felt confident on my first paper which was a MCQ and I got an A- if I'm not mistaken. I mean, judging by the number of mistakes I made. The second paper consisted of 24 SAQS and 60 MCQs. That one was alright, I guess. There was one whole page about water and sewage treatment which I, thankfully, had read up on last minute so I could do that. But I completely left out on my genetics and most of my comm med. Which, sadly, came out as well.

I should have really read up on genetics and comm med more detailedly. I absolutely detest genetics because I just don't get anything the notes says. I remember one question was, define recombinant DNA. The subsequent question was 'define recombinant DNA technology'. Haha it's almost funny now to imagine the look at my face or anyone else whom never touched that part of the notes whatsoever. I guess I felt alright about that paper because I could still come up with a lot of bullshit. I think I left two questions blank, basically because I run out of creative yet logical answers. There was another question asking about the services provided by primary healthcare system in Malaysia which completely left me dumbfounded. I made up some nonsense just to fill in the empty spaces and moved on.

Now, the third paper was the one that really killed me. It was the paper that really made me stand back and think, "Wow, gee I could really blow this." What's so special about the third paper is that, instead of sitting down for 2 hours cordially scribbling answers on a desk, we have stations. More specifically, we have 24 stations which contain graphs, pictures, tables, diagrams etc.

My first station was not that great but alright as well. There was a picture of a blastocyst and arrows pointing at the inner and outer layer of it, and at the cavity inside. I had to name them, and I was kicking myself because I drew the small picture a few weeks ago and stuck it in my handy dandy notebook which never parted from me. I remembered vaguely the names and scribbled down what I could.

In 5 minutes, a buzzer ran and everyone had to stand up and move to the subsequent station which was only like one feet away. One of the things to know about me is, I do not work well under pressure. Add a 5 minute timer to the recipe, and I'm bound to burn whatever it is I'm suppose to make. I learnt this a long time ago, like when I was in Form 3 and in some sewing class. For the life of me, I couldn't get the stitches right and my teacher came over and yelled into my face, shouting obscenities (alright they weren't exactly obscenities but she was really angry and scary.. and evil.. and.. mean.. and no one liked her.. yeah..)

Instead of the light bulb switching on or whatever like in the movies, my brain kind of just shut down and my mind was a blank. I stopped working, stopped moving, maybe even stopped breathing for that few seconds that followed. I don't know how some people excel under pressure but I'm most certainly not of the same breed. All things considered, I'm the exact opposite actually.

Where was I? Oh yeah. The third paper was horrible and I came out really sad and a little depressed. After discussing the ordeal with my friends, I realized I made even the simplest of mistakes in the questions that I should have scored. That was as painful as stubbing my toes. For instance, (and I really can't emphasize how stupid this was) there was a picture of several viruses under the microscope and we were suppose to name them. Instead of the obvious answer which was rabies virus, I wrote down the family virus name of rabies which is rhabdovirius. Completely idiotic of me. I didn't bother rechecking cause I've seen that picture a thousand times and rabies is one of those special and distinctive viruses that with one glance at the microscopic picture, you'll know it was rabies.

Yet, the oh so brilliant one got it wrong. Fool. I'm annoyed. TV time. Bleh.

Cheers

P.S. on a totally unrelated topic whatsoever, this made me laugh.

whaat? first year? done? seriously?

Wow, time just flew right by me. A statement proven by my last post which is entitled 'week 4 of med school'. I have no idea what week it is now. I just know that my exams have ended. My-big-arse-important-exam-which-decides-whether-I-stay-in-med-school-or-get-kicked-out exam. Yeah, piece of cake.

Can't believe it's finally over. Now, all that's left is the torturous wait for the results on the 19th. Excellent. So now I'm back home, anxiously awaiting my destiny? Alright, that was a little melodramatic. But I am a wee bit anxious though. I'm pretty sure I'll be posting again on the 18th. Hmm.

Will post more about my first year some other time. Hate wordy posts. Well, to be fair, this isn't very wordy but the tv's calling my name.

Took this during a roadtrip to Ipoh.

Week 4 of med school

Today's lecture was about parasites. I think.

I had to get up waay earlier because I had a CSU session with the nurses.
And also, HY was spending the night so I knew not feeding her breakfast in the morning would be a big no no.

Haha today in CSU, we learnt how to do effective handwashing, how to properly put on and remove gloves and gowns, and how to inject syringes etc. The first half of it was pretty okay, a little dull because we were basically just watching the nurse teach us how to wash our hands the right way. There's like 6 steps lol.

Then we watched her wore gloves and the gown. I know from a third party, it seemed pretty pointless but I'm very sure if anyone was asked to demonstrate all the steps before the CSU session, no one would pass. But the process was made lighter and slightly more jovial with the nurses cracking jokes every now and then.
I liked the injecting part.

Since IMU doesn't have any cadavers, we had to practice injecting air into dummies. On a table was a part of person's buns, and we took turns finding the location at which we were to inject the medication. Thank God, I didn't go first because the girl next to me who did, got pretty roughed up by one of the nurses.
(I have issues with dealing with authority. Exactly like Dr. Arizona from GA :-))

For some reason, I felt super drained after the session. But we had two lectures back to back right after that, so I hurried over with KV. I noticed something odd about the gloves. When you took them off, they left strange white smooth powdery substance on your skin. It smelt pretty weird too. Anyway, I was completely out for the good first half of the lectures. I was just so so so mentally drained. Probably because I've been sleeping pretty late due to my temporary insomnia (self diagnosed, of course.)

Thankfully, I bounced back though but the damage was done. Towards the end of the second lecture, I was totally lost because the lecturer was going so fast over the parasite terms. But I learnt many lectures ago to record all the lectures so I could go back and playback them. So at least, I can write down whatever I missed.

Ah, it's been roughly 2 weeks since I've not had any astro. Oh God.

I've sent a report two times now, going to be three -.- The lady on the phone told me to try again in 3 hours. It's been roughly 2 hours. -.- This is so pathetic.
I should probably start my PBL now. Argh. Anyone know what filariasis is?

CPR 101

Today during my CPR lecture:
Doctor: What do you do if the person who fainted has really big breasts? Like if she was a Westerner.

 [no doubt acknowledging the abundant blessing that God probably forgot to add to Asian women ;P]

 Me: You press harder!

 Doctor: No not really. Anyone else?

Me: Oohh, you push it aside! Like... you clear the way. So you just.. yeah push them aside!

Doctor: Correct! Here you go!

 

This is what I got. So awesome!
I wanted it since I saw the EMT people demonstrate how to use it. So cool. Hee hee.

Actually the EMT lady sitting next to me, told me if I answered his questions correctly, I could get it that's why I answered.
Otherwise, I usually act like part of the wallpaper in lectures. Eric got the other one. (There were two).

His Question:

Doctor: What do you do about the bra of the lady? You can't put the sticky pads of the AED on the bra. So what do you do?

Eric: *high pitch yell* TAKE IT OFF!!!
[no doubt he understood the game now and probably noticed that there was only one mouth mask left on the table ;P]

hahaha apparently, it was correct.



P.S. it's a mask for when you breathe into the mouth of the person who fainted, you won't contract anything like HIV especially if the person is bleeding or has ulcers or whatever.

Hence, it's more hygienic and safer. I gonna carry it wherever I go. :D

Unexpected inspiration

Was watching season 6 of Grey's Anatomy earlier, and it kinda spoke to me.

And it's not just about the sex, love triangles and other plots written just to grab the attention of viewers but.. the fact that a doctor having the power to determine his patient's future, which door his patient enters metaphorically. 

It really struck a chord with me.

In the medical world, there's always only two exits, life and death.

Watching the show just made me see that, every decision a doctor makes, is crucial in the recovery of his patient.

One mistake, and it all goes to hell.

This is probably one of the best tv shows ever, in my opinion.

A little exaggerated and a little dramatic here and there but, yeah.

It makes me laugh, cry, sad, happy all in 40+ minutes.

It makes me want to pursue my studies even harder, just so one day, I can get the chance to hold a patient's life in my hands too.

To be honest, just the idea of it scares me to death.

But, at the same time, it's really exciting.

At least it inspired to do some revision.

 Dr. Meredith Grey: After all this time, all your warnings about me sleeping with my boss and you're doing the same exact thing. 

Dr. Cristina Yang: Oh, it's not the same thing. 
Dr. Meredith Grey: It's the exact same! 
Dr. Cristina Yang: No, it's not. You and McDreamy are in a relationship.
Dr. Meredith Grey: And you and Burke are in? 
Dr. Cristina Yang: Switzerland. It's very neutral there and they make very nice watches.

IZZIE: "I wouldn't have called you, but I can't get hold of a translator. Can you just ask her what's wrong?"
CRISTINA: "No."
IZZIE: "Why not?"
CRISTINA: "I grew up in Beverly Hills. The only Chinese I know is from a Mr. Chow's menu. Besides, I'm Korean."