The lost student in the wards

So here begins the art of medicine. After 2.5 years of studying the science of it, this is the true art.

Like most things in life, it is both fascinating and frightening. It is fascinating because it is frightening, it is frightening because it is fascinating.

We are ending our 3rd week of ward work now. Every morning we leave the house at 7.20am, reach the ward at 7.45am, clerk patients before the MOs do their rounds. Basically if you are lucky patient number #, you will see 4 different white coated people every morning. 1st round say "hi" to the HOs who are there from as early as 6am, then we medical students poke our noses in at about 8am, followed by the MOs, and lastly the big bosses. The doctors in the wards are really helpful, taking into account their ridiculously hectic schedule, they still take the time to give us a few pointers now and then, but i still am a little jittery when approaching the nurses mainly because i still cant differentiate a student nurse, from a staff nurse, from a sister, from a warden, and from the other rainbow coloured bands i let out, it just wont stick it my head, what colour means what, so im still bantai-ing my way crossing my fingers hoping they wont realise it, 7 colours in the rainbow what so 1/7 chance of getting it right.

After clerking ,we have "Case Presentations" with doctors who are amazingly impressive in their field of specialty. Seriously i never expected Seremban to be this good, im really impressed we learn loads from just discussing one case per day =)

At 1pm we officially finish ward work and CP, its lunch time! Lunch means scraping whatever is left at the bottom of the "chap fan" tray, rejoicing when we occasionally find vegetable still there, eat about 20mins, then reading up for TBL till 2pm. 2pm we go for TBL, a more power pack form of PBL because you cannot crap your way through this one. Some days we have CSU, other times we have lectures, basically the day officially ends at 5pm. Once a week we go on call, the "happening time" because we get to do more procedures than the mornings.

Yup yup macam itulah my life for now, and for the next 4weeks or so.
Schedule and lifestyle aside, i am getting used to the life here =)

Of course in the 1st few weeks i was a total blur case, feeling dumber than i've even felt before, but that's just part of the learning here, I've learnt that now =)

There were 2 broad groups of patients i generally tried to avoid at the beginning. The complicated cases and the Chinese. Both for OBVIOUS reasons, the first : i may not be able to put together a diagnosis fo a complicated case, the second: i cant speak Mandarin.

BUT there is progress!!!! I'm proud to announce that i took a FULL history today from an uncle who only spoke Mandarin!!! YES YES YES YES!! ME!! DENISE TAN SUYIN! TOOK A FULL HISTORY IN BAHASA CINA!
waaaah...it felt gooooood, dont need take DNA test to prove my ethnic origin ady. But i owed it all to the uncle, he was so patient with me (ironic cos he is the PATIENT, get the pun?), i told him at the beginning that my Mandarin was worst than elementary, but he said its ok, i had to start somewhere anyway... so nice right!
So i learnt quite a few new words from him, basically relying on common sense and non verbal ques, and as expected the history taking session took well over an hour. But the history taking was so much more than just that, despite the glaring communication gap, he taught so much shared so much and gave so much of himself, i am really touched to have met him, i will never forget this individual and the feelings he stirred within me. My prayers are with him and his family.

We pass their beds everyday, and even though we have been repeatedly reminded so many times it has become cliched, it is true that its so much more than a bored woman lying on her back, than a non compliant man, than an excessively complaining grandmother. This is the art.

When fatigue and sleep deprivation sets in and we see our tiny pay cheque, it would be easy to wonder" does this goverment deserve us?" , but perhaps a better question would be "do our patients deserve us?". I like to believe most of the time, they do.

Hullo isse me again!

In fear of people threatening to erase me from their links, imma gonna tell you a little bit about my life here so far.

I've been in seremban genap 3minggu now, if you had a fever since i first moved here till now, it is enough for us to suspect that you are having fever as presentation of AIDS (dont panic la, i think only, should check before i start a scare).

In 3 weeks, we have been able to convert our house into relatively livable conditions =)
Proof:
- we got a nice tiled table with a stove
- we have a fridge which we use to store FRUITS, and BISCUIT, and BREAD (all very domesticated things i didnt have in vista)
- Phing-Phing cooked TWICE, of which i was privileged enough to drink home cooked chicken sup!
- My housemates are neat freaks, we have compromised to sweep and mop the floor once a week taking
turns, but of we are creatures with free will so they are allowed to sweep and mop their rooms till their hearts
content. And their hearts contentment doesnt come in singular numbers.
- I'm finally listening to Lesley's advice to handwash some of my clothes. Too broke to keep buying white shirts i conveniently ruin in the washing machine.

Contradictions:
- we dont have gas for our beautiful table and stove.
- I usually forget to eat the bread and biscuits, brought home to subang 3 over ripped pears last week.
- I havent had inspiration to live up to my 'domestic goddess' title YET. i predict more Martha moments come November when im posted to family med.
-my room is like a nuclear war shelter, once i enter, NO RECEPTION on my phone. So i make calls from my front porch in the middle of the night while towelling my hair dry with cetak rompak hello kittie towel, all the while taking in the refreshing scent of the neighbour's dog. =((
-we havent got our Internet =(( =(( =(( =(( =((

Conclusion: I am well fed, but remain unconnected to the outside world. I miss it, i sure hope it misses me.

Next post will be about the academics here alright, promise.

ps: oh NO in the half an hour typing and spacing this post out, i forgot i have a mini exam on monday!!! I have no clue how to start preparing for it. Yesh, they are giving us mini exams already, how efficient kan? On monday my mentor Dato' Kew is going to watch me take history from a patient, oh let my brain be present with me on that day! Amen.

Time

An inscription on a cathedral clock reads:

When, as a child, I laughed and wept,

Time crept.

When, as a youth, I dreamed and talked,

Time walked.

When, I became a full-grown man,

Time ran.

And later, as I older grew,

Time flew.

Soon I shall find, while on traveling on,

Time gone.

It hit me during class today, how much the 3 of us have grown this past year.

Please be safe, the both of you, wherever you are and in whatever you do.

Why I jump up and down.

There are few things in life that credit jumping up and down, whilst holding on to the rubber waistband of your baggy shorts in the event it might slip off somewhere in the middle of the vigorous exercise, screaming in decibels that are and SHOULD stay alien to the human ear. The first, when you've won a lottery that pretty much guarantees you, your children, their children, and if the world is still not a barren toxic wasteland by then, their children's children- will never have to lift another finger to work again. The second and also more likely to happen in this lifetime is when your sister gets a call offering her a place in a course she is sure she wants to pursue for the rest of her life.

Lesley got a place in Dentistry =)))

Heck..this girl has more conviction that she has to do this than i do about doing medicine sometimes, and i'm already in year3!

Ok...So given its a local degree, given its in KEDAH (why so blardy far la), given she's gonna have to eat indian food and get to know the hostel toilet bowl intimately, given she has to share a room with 3 other people we have yet to see/smell/taste(??needed 3 senses to make that sentence look right, so no choice), we are the Tans man! And we make the best with whatever is given to us, just you watch!

CONGRATS LESLEY!

ps: I hate dentists lar! They freaking SCARY! I can picture my kids checking their aunt out and .....
"BwAAaaAaa mommy save me!!!!!"

pps: fearless mommy might just start crying herself...

Cant believe it took 21years.

Today for the 1st time in my 21years of being, i sank my teeth into a Subway Club Sandwich. Let me give you the recipe for heaven:

1. Exhausted, hungry woman post formal shoe shopping.

2. Fresh crisp savory aroma from a baking oven.

3. 6 inches of Parmesan Oregano bread.

4. Sliced turkey breast.

5. Roast beef.

6. Some other thing they use to replace real ham.

7. All the veges available at the counter excluding capsicums

8. Thousand island sauce + BBQ sauce+ mustard. (which is practically all the sauces available at the counter excluding the chilies)

9. HEAVEN.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

It was so good.... I've always passed by Subway, there is one in ss15, another in Pyramid, and i think yet another in 1utama, but I never actually went in for a sandwich. Maybe because when i hear the word 'sandwich' the 1st thing that comes to mind are those soggy peanutbutter/jam/egg/tuna sandwiches my kakak used to pack with foil into my bag, only to have me throw them out on the way to school so i could buy nasi lemak and soya bean ice like the regular cool kids. Not something you would crave for man.

BUT THIS WAS SO GOOD. GOTTA GET ME MORE SOON.

Aiyo and while looking for the header up there, Google conveniently brought me to food blogs and official subway sites.....

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Dont be silly, its 1am! where to find subway at a time like this? curses!

edit: after i clicked 'publish post' i thought i smelled the faint smell of the parmesan bread leh! no kidding! *sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiif*

Advertisement.

Read "Stardust"!

ok? Read it ya.

Funny it is classified under the "Fantasy" shelf in MPH, i thought that was reserved for Starwars and stuff about Giant Flying Spaghetti Aliens. Anyways, read it last night while waiting for Rachel to be done getting her grilling by Mr.Lee, her tuition teacher. IT'S VERY NICE. Not the grilling (duh), the book i mean. Don't know how i left it sitting on my table for the past 6months. Oh now i remember, EOS5... Ian Zing borrowed (? or lent)it to me at the beginning of Sem5 but being pelajar nerd contoh, i couldn't touch it till recently. Back to the Stardust, i remember greatly anticipating the movie when it came out, but it was quite a disappointment, the only nice part was when the Witch Queen pointed at her face to *zap* away a wart, only to cause her boobs to err...deflate?!? I remember in the cinema Mus was giving Pei heads up about that scene cos that was his what, THIRD time watching the movie of something? So the movie wasn't all that great and after reading the book, i think it was a mistake to even make it into a movie in the first place. Simply because it contains so much imagery, imagination, sentences you just want to read and reread. Then when you take those sentences and put them in a movie, they don't say that much anymore. 1 beautiful paragraph describing a scene hor, in the movie just flashes by " oh sky just means sky la, moon means moon la, market just means market la what so special?". Another thing about it, is the ideas are so familiar, not in a predictable way, but you get the feeling possibly you've once imagined a world like that before, maybe in another life, as a child. Its strange and fantasy like, but familiar. Okies cukuplah talk about Neil Gaiman.

Sunday was COPA IBA thanksgiving dinner. And though i didn't contribute all that much to the captain's ball team, we celebrated anyways!!! BECAUSE! We won a hamper for winning the losers pool!!! Which is as much a cause to celebrate as it would be if we won the winners pool =p It was pot luck, and guess what i brought? MASHED POTATOES!!!! If i may praise myself, i think it ROCKED! haha Gwong! People around the globe love you for it man, thanks for teaching me sifu *kow tow*

Today i met up with Esther and Phing Phing, my future Seremban housemates (we were missing one more, Ian Zing who had prior plans in midvalley) for an impromptu lunch date. We went to ikea. Ate, talked about our house plans, browsed through furniture. Because the house we are renting is virtually empty, no furniture nada, we are going to have to move in a lot of stuff. A 4tonne lorry most probably. ohhh and I've decided already!

1) Am going to paint my room yellow.
2) Am going to buy the a nice long rug i saw at ikea today. It has yellow and white stripes.
3) Am going to use extra fabric after making the curtains to decorate around my wardrobe. Because the one my dad is giving me is basically a metal frame, no sides no back no front, no privacy wan.
4) Am going to install an aircond in my room. Told my dad already, he said yes but lets just hope he doesn't forget and somewhere down the line tell me the idea is ridiculous for such a small room.
5) Am going to use bean-bags for the living area, because we figured it would be easier to spilt it amongst ourselves after we leave as opposed to a solid sofa/rattan set. But we didn't find any at Ikea or Courts Store, and i think the average price is rm100+ for one, so kinda tak jadi. So scratch that, now we gotta come up with a planB for our empty living room.
6) Am going to make sure we get a microwave this time. It was torturous in vista without a working microwave.
7) Am going to keep my room tidy.
8) Am going to wash the toilet once every week. Failing to do which, i am not allowed to come home to Subang for the weekend. Gotta remind myself to remind my housemates to remind me, of that.

Haih...all this planning just reminds me how close Seremban time is getting. Sure, its just the next state and wont go through all the teary eyed airport moment. Sure, all i gotta do is drive the wira pass 2 tolls and I'm back home. Sure, i don't have to plan my visits a year in advance and worry about not getting a seat on peak seasons. But it is still scary. From now on, the real medical school begins, we are going to find out at last whether or not we were cut out for this lifestyle or simply lucky nerds who studied hard enough to fool the system for awhile. From now on, I'm going to have to take care of me. Even though I've been living away from home since collage, dad telling me i had to learn to be independent, so i played along, but at the back of my head i always knew home was just a call away. But no more, not there, i am going to have to familiarise myself with all this. Of course Seremban is less drama then flying overseas la dont know why i'm still gittery all the same. Nevermind, this too shall pass, and sooner,and if not later, i will find myself having the time of my life again (i hope).

Anyways going down to Seremban tomorrow to take measurements for my room and the curtains needed for the whole house. I have a gigantic working desk i used in vista,i love it but i think it took up half my room space and now im worried it might not fit into my room *fingers crossed*. The sister is excited to see the new crib too, though i hope she isnt expecting too much being the perfectionist she is, anything ugly cannot tahan have to correct it wan =p So tomorrow would be a road trip of sorts for us!

~oh country roOoad...take me hoOome...to the place...that i beloOong...West Virginia...Monte Carlo...lalala lalala~

Oh after Seremban got pot luck at Jen's hor??? almost forgot. haha i just love my life =p

Shouldn't watch TV alone.

How does one cope or even bear faint hope for normalcy knowing the happenings in your own home, in your neighbourhood, in your school,in your state, in your country, in YOUR world, if not with apathy?

And that was just because of some silly sugar-coated movie.

What more the actual news.