A mizdiagnosis

Why did I choose medicine?!

Friday, May 25, 2007

About rabbits and unprotected sex..

I love Paediatrics.
Name me another posting where a lecturer would walk in a discussion group, carrying loads of inflated long balloons and teach you how to make a rabbit, dog or parrot with it? Then, he'd ask you to bring your 'animals' to be given to the children in the ward. How cute!

I felt like a small kid again, giggling at how fun it was to play with balloons.

Paediatric exam was not bad. At least I was smiling alot yesterday compared to the depression I had after surgery. I had to clerk a patient with palpitations, and I couldn't figure out what caused it. I was praying, "God, I don't know what's wrong with her and what to do.. help!"

God decided to send the whole group of doctors who were having their ward round to my patient's bed, and I could hear their discussion. Haha. Basically, He decided to deliver the answers on the diagnosis and management to me. Turned out she had an idiopathic supraventricular tachycardia. I just had to rule out thyrotoxicosis and drug-related tachycardia. *thank God*

Today, I was asked to be a simulated patient in the Semester 8's Family Medicine exam. I have never been so embarassed in my entire life!

My history: "My name is Lily, and I'm a 19 year old college student. I had unprotected sex with my 'current' boyfriend on Tuesday night and I really don't want to get pregnant. I smoke, drink, slept with my 2 previous boyfriends and have considered taking drugs. If I'm pregnant now, I want an abortion"

All the students counselling me knew who I was, and I could see the shock in their faces when they saw me being the patient. I was torn between being the great senior trying to help them to being cold so that the examiner could see whether the students had good communication skill when dealing with a patient like me.

Prof: "Sasha, you can't be your usual bubbly sweet self. You need to act anxious and sad. Like the worst thing in the world now is to find out you're pregnant!"

How to not smile when I have to look at someone like KC in the face, someone I've clubbed and gone karaoke with, and act sad?! I had to bite my lips to not giggle! The worst part is that I am not at all like Lily! To listen to people ask me about my non-existent sex life.. that's something to laugh about.

Student: What day did you last have sex?
Me: Tuesday night. (if only that was true.. hehe)
Student: Oh, err.. how many days ago was that?
Me: (Wei, count-lah yourself.. today is Friday morning) 3 days?

Hehe.. what a day. In the end, I earned RM20 for my service. I was supposed to be paid RM40, but I split the money with Yuhana, who sent me to uni this morning. I learnt alot about counselling and contraceptions, and Prof Cheong taught me about examining a real thyrotoxic patient. So the money didn't matter in the end, the knowledge was enough. Fu-yoh.. quite the philosopher, ain't I?

"Happy Birthday ChaiLeng! Hope to see you when you're back in July."

posted by Sha @ 8:12 PM 4 comments

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Blogs can be odd at times

Funny.

I can't figure out why you can't leave a comment on my last entry (other than on the tagboard). Maybe the entry is too long. Anyway, you can leave comments here if you want.

*sigh*

Paediatric exam on Thursday. Wish me luck!

posted by Sha @ 9:46 PM 5 comments

Friday, May 18, 2007

A Day in My Life

My messy bedroom. It's worse around exam time, because the books on the table will be on the floor. Man, I still need to clean up soon.. malas-nye..

Every medical student need books. I have my own mini-library. To make myself look smart, but my brain contains nothing :p

This bridge is the starting point of my day. Anything can happen here. Get caught coming late by a lecturer. Get caught in a heavy downpour. Get caught leaving the hospital too early by the same lecturer. Your experience at this bridge determines your day.

"Oh hospital, you're hot, stuffy, dirty, smell one kind and your lifts suck.. but in you, I know I've learnt and experienced so much. For that, I'll keep coming back. "

After a hard day's work, the library is our next stop. Welcome! It's not much, but it's a great place to sleep or pretend like you're studying.

You can tell who's in uni by the bags in the pigeon holes. "Oh, that's Sasha's bag! I thought she said she's cabut-ing to KL" (oops!)

While ShuYuan's busy with her social life, Sunila's dreading the thought of getting a book to study.

SiewLian denying that she should be studying instead of reading newpaper. Haha.

PeiLin: Stress, stress!! Must study! No time to sit down!

Hungry? Skipped breakfast? Skipped ward work? Come to 'Starbucks'! Food isn't that great, but the company rocks! This is basically our hangout place. The juniors seemed to have kicked the seniors out of the student lounge.

They were the ones who named the place 'Starbucks'.

Indian, Chinese, Malay.. masyarakat majmuk makan bersama!

I have no comment, poser.. heehee..

Afternoons are about group discussions. If you think early morning 'problem-based learning' classes were sedating, after lunch at 'Starbucks' and the hot weather here, your afternoon classes will definitely knock you out.

While waiting for class to start everyday, I have to listen to these two fight.. intellectual fighting-lah..

Fight or not, we're still one happy family!

After class, it's either sleep, study, ward work, volleyball or futsal! Usually, I'm sleeping or at CF. But this is my one time playing volleyball last week. I SO love this shot. I look so professional, when I actually suck at volleyball! Thanks for the photography, Azman!

Everyone was all smiles, but you can't imagine the pressure I was under when I realised that my team was one point away from winning. Z and KarSeng must have been praying hard that I wouldn't screw up. But we won anyway.. muahaha!

At night, if you're lucky, there's a party or gathering going on, and it's makan time!! After that, it's either study, on call, sleep, movie, clubbing or karaoke!

Life is good. Thanks to my final year batchmates for being great models. Thanks for being there for me the past one and a half years. You guys will definitely be great doctors, I'm sure of it!

posted by Sha @ 10:13 PM

Sunday, May 13, 2007

I love you, mummy

"The man may be the head of the house. But the woman is the neck that turns the head in the right direction"

I remember nights when I saw my mum crying when she was talking to my dad on the phone. She knew that for my dad to achieve his dreams of being a successful doctor and being able to take care of the family financially, she had to let him travel while she was left to take care of 2 (troublesome) kids all by herself. To add to her torture, she had to take care of 5 of her siblings at the same time. That's 7 children! But in the end, all is well, and she's enjoying every luxury in the world now as my father has finally come home to spend more quality time (and money..hehe) on her.

I remember when she told me that her parents wanted her to marry a man of the same race and religion, who had dreams of being a doctor and politician. But she chose the man she was in love with, whom only her pastor approved, a man of a different race and religion, who instead of taking her out for dates and pampering her with gifts, spent time typing postgraduate exam notes for his doctors. Oddly enough, she didn't mind helping him type notes night after night. He did make up the lost time and attention. But she was happy that she married a man who's dream was to make other people's dreams come true. Though he was of a different religion, she still married a man of God. That was all that mattered.

I remember times when she would walk through a room, and I'd be so proud of her. Everything was perfect when you looked at her. Her hair, her outfit, her shoes, her walk, her talk, her smile.. I've seen women spend thousands on their appearances and not even look half as good as her. How much does she spend? Believe me, she can afford Zara and Marks&Spencer. But she knows better. Someone asked me a week ago, "Do you buy clothes from NafNaf or CK?" I was so proud of myself when I could confidently say without embarassment, "With my own money, I don't spend more than RM30 a week on an outfit." And I know I still look good, not fashionable, but I'm happy with just good. My mum taught me that it's not the clothes, it's the attitude. I can look in the mirror today, pimples and messed-up hair, and still say, "Damn girl, you look good today."

*perasan*

She taught me the power of prayer. The first time I believed that prayers work was when she prayed for the birth of my brother and I. She prayed so hard for her firstborn to be a boy when for so many generations her family had a girl as the firstborn. Then when she got pregnant again, she prayed for a girl. Heehee.. I should be jealous that she wanted my brother first, but nope, I'm happy being the youngest and most pampered.

On a night when I couldn't stop the tears falling, she told me, "For every man that hurts you, only God has the right to punish them. You only forgive, forget, pick yourself up and show them how much more beautiful you can be." I'm so happy that today, I cannot think of a single guy who looks at me with hatred. Most of them still keep in touch with me, and most still have a special place in my heart.

This woman has a self-confidence that exceeds everything! You hear me saying. "Of course-lah, I'm so smart." What you don't know is that I learnt all that from a mother who actually believes that she's the best mother, wife and woman in the world. Sometimes she overdoes it, but I understand now that the overconfidence is what drives her to achieve the best things in life for herself and her family. So just bear with me when my head swells abit :p

I may not share the same opinions with her, and boy, do I fight alot with her. But I know she raised me to be a 'thinking' woman. Not one who doesn't know how to fight for what she wants in life. So despite the fights, she still tells others how proud she is with her children. I may not like the idea of turning into the exact kind of mother she is, but if being like her makes my children become the way I am today, I have nothing to worry about, do I?

"Mum, you rock my world. Happy Mother's Day."

posted by Sha @ 9:35 PM 3 comments

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Doctors have time to blog?

Top 15 Malaysian Doctor Blogs: (Malaysian Medical Resources)

http://medicine.com.my/wp/?p=2086

I personally read a few of them. I especially like Bernard Chan's and Jimbo Cyber Doc's.
Do check them out :)

p/s: Social life over the weekend has hit a red light. I'm determined to find out how high I can score at the end of Paeds posting if I concentrate on my studies fully over the weekends. I'll have my fun when the one-week break comes after exams.. But up till this point, I've only done one chapter and a few past year questions (not bad-le?).

posted by Sha @ 8:24 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Sold-out for my God

My depression treatment cost:

Haircut and wash : RM70
A new vest: RM80 (paid by mummy)
Extra large fish & chips with Dunkin Donuts : RM30

Truthfully speaking, none of the above made me happy at the end of the day. I still went to sleep feeling miserable.

Until I went to church on Sunday, and for ECF's 1am 'Sold Out' album launch in KDU. Nothing heals a depressed person more than a moment spent with God.

I had such a cool video, but youtube.com can't seem to upload it.. so this is all I have..

TJ is like a rock star now.. Fuyoh! 3 weeks before the concert he was messaging me asking to come for the launch. So when HiangLiang and I were there, waiting for him to welcome us:

HL: Where's our tickets?
TJ: Huh? You're supposed to buy them!
HL: You didn't buy for us? Wei, we thought since you invited us, you'd get the tics!

How cool is it to take a year off from medicine, tour the world and have your own album? The best part is you're playing for the God you love.. *jealous*

Man.. Thank God there were still tickets. The concert was great! The new album was a more upbeat, punk-rock type. Good job to the band! It was cool to see Pastor Cathryn jump around. Everyone was all hyped-up.

Later when HiangLiang and I wanted to go 'makan', we called TJ to come with us:

Me: *after talking to TJ* He asked us to go first. He'll call us later.
HL: That fella busy signing autograph is it?!

Heehee.. I think someone is jealous.

I was feeling much happier that night. Halleluyah.. amen.

posted by Sha @ 1:34 PM 6 comments

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Name: Sha
DOB: 6th July
Email: shasynergy@gmail.com

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