Re-structuring

This pandemic has disrupted our daily routine -- both in a good and bad way. For us in the residency training, it somehow slowed things down. It lifted the daily pressure of complying with residency activities and focusing only on seeing patients which is a major breather for a short while until the hypo-productivity is dragging us all down. 

I live in routines, and a slight detour of my daily activities would be difficult for me to regain the momentum. Before the pandemic, I had so little time to sleep having to wake up very early in the morning so as not to be caught in traffic and doing my home readings late at night. I was used to that albeit complaining of this unlivable metro condition. This lockdown gave me so much time that I spent most of it having extra time sleeping because I no longer worry for the traffic. 

I feel like I've wasted my two months, except for the priceless time I spent with my daughter, Amal. Other than chief-resident's stuff, I've indulged way too much Netflix, which seems to be a bad habit now (oh, please watch Ertugrul, Hospital Playlist and Reply 1988 if you haven't yet. CLOY? I'm done with that too).

Ramadhan has passed, Alhamdulillah, I feel very spiritually productive though. I only missed very few tarawih nights and finished 8/10 tahajjud prayers. It's better compared to my performance in the previous years. May Allah accept our good deeds. 

As GCQ comes to a close, I need to re-structure my daily life. There is so much that needed to be done and I am not moving any finger to finish my tasks. Subhanallah. My research is still hanging and I need to be done with it so I can finish residency and fly to Jeddah as soon as possible. There is no getting used to this LDR thing. I don't want to miss my kids' growing up years. 

I reckon this covid virus will still linger but we are slowly transitioning back to our normal lives. Although it will never be the same again. If you really think about it, this pandemic is a major game changer and you know that somehow, it brings blessings. It changed the way how we lived and yet, it made us realize what is really important in this world.

What are your realizations? 

What's with the CI logbook?

What's the most famous logbook among the PGH interns?

Answer: CI logbook.

This logbook is the interns' attendance logbook at the Cancer Institute and every single intern who gets to spend some few hours of duty there looks forward to flipping the pages of this logbook. It doesn't look any extraordinary at first glance, just plain and cheap logbook bearing the interns' names but the important pages are found at the back. It holds important and controversial secrets that only interns know. This is where we vote for the Sunog-Puri awards. 

Trivia: interns traditionally burn an effigy of the most loathsome resident, nurse or any hospital staff perhaps to get even and label them as Sunog Awardees while the effigy of those heavenly angelic residents or any hospital staff are being raised on a pedestal, they are the Puri Awardees.

In between hourly monitoring of patients or doing ward works such as blood extraction or IV insertion, one would definitely get entertained by just leafing through the back pages filled with vandals expressing their frustrations, hatreds, mundane thoughts, sometimes love and everything they want to express. Conversations between people who probably doesn't know each other would happen sometimes. But people have an unspoken rule of NOT indicating their names. But there's a particular intern whose name is the "talk of the logbook". Of course I wouldn't tell who. 

Now, to give you an idea of what I'm yakking about. Here. 

"This is what CI boredom does... It's called the CI Effect Syndrome:

1. Enhanced chismis skills.

2. Grammar regression

3. Literary warfare

4. Decreased hemoglobin secondary to lamok. Echosera." 

True! You might not get dengue but you'll suffer from anemia (chos!) from excessive mosquito bites!

People even mercilessly taped the mosquito carcasses on the page!! Boredom!!

People would even show their artistic skills by drawing!

...Or greet their friends.. HELLO BLOCK U! That's us! :) Hey! *waves at Block U*

And these are the reasons why nobody would even dare to tear a single page of the logbook:

BAWAL MAGPUNIT NG PAGE. ANG PUMUNIT:

1. IPAPASOK SA TIME CAPSULE PERO NAKALABAS ANG ULO.

(Imagine riding an aircraft with your head out the window!)

2. IKUKULONG SA ELEVATOR NG CI MULA 2-4AM NG UMAGA. 

(There had been rumors about bizarre creepy events at the Cancer Institute especially during the wee hours of the night. Gusto kong maniwala na chismis lang lahat ng yun.)

3. PIKTYURAN PWET AT I-UPLOAD SA FACEBOOK.

(Unless you're some whore, then you wouldn't like people to be feasting on your ass)

4. FOLEY CATHETER! 

(worst punishment ever!)



The CI logbook is a huge source of entertainment, but still, I don't like going on duty at the Cancer Institute because it feels creepy even at daytime and..
it smells of death. 

This is how we ended our OB-GYN rotation: a public health lecture about nutrition among cancer patients. These are patients diagnosed to have either H-mole or gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN). H-mole is not necessarily a neoplastic disease but it predisposes a patient to acquire GTN. In addition, all of them undergo methotrexate therapy, the difference is the etoposide and actinomycin-D therapy included for GTN patients. 

We have Dr. Melissa de Quiros in this photo (the one beside me), the one and only Trophoblastic Diseases Fellow at the Philippine General Hospital. 

At the back door of the interns' callroom at Ward 8 (Ortho ward), some crazy fella wrote:

And the Chief Resident said:

"Let there be a callroom" And behold! 

There was a callroom.

Then on the 6th day, he said:

" Let there be a bed!"

And they rejoiced as a 

stretcher bed appeared. 

Not all departments provide a callroom for interns, so THANK YOU Mr. Chief Resident. :D

Status post: labor room/delivery room duty! BEST DUTY EVER!!! It definitely has something to do with typhoon Mina that we got this scene at the LR/DR:

Empty labor room!

  Empty DR tables!

So, what would interns and clerks should be doing in such heavenly duty hours? What else, loiter at dreamla-la-land!!

Below, pedia clerk and the intern were snoring where postpartum patients were supposedly lying! Ew, how does dried blood smells guys? Hehe.

Everyone was sleeping! 

Take a closer look, someone didn't even spare the OR table! 

I even had time lingering at OBAS while "breaching sterility" as if there is something to "breach". Duh.

Magka-duty pa kami ni Jehan! She's at the Pedia catcher's area. We ate our iftar and suhoor together and good thing there was no patient because we had lengthy stories told just like the ol' undergrad times! Ah, I miss this girl! :)

Indeed, while a particular event may bring disaster to some, it could also be a source of joy for some. Thank you, Typhoon Mina for giving us a rest. :) 

FamMed With A B-A-N-G!!!!!

It was Suzie and I's last PM duty at the Ambulatory Care and instead of the hackneyed Last Duty Syndrome, this is what we got!!!!!

Lights off. Basically, our role last night was "bantay" ng Ambu. LOL. This scene was opposite from our last PM duty na 4:30 AM, may mga pending patients pa.

 Empty Ambu!!!! Weeee!! Record breaker kami! We had only one patient at around 11:30 pm who came in due to palpitations, shivering and a feeling of choking. We thought of a medical condition like arrythmia or some endocrinologic problems, but upon probing, we found out that she's been worrying about a lawsuit against her and the future of her 8 children, 7 of which married at an early age without finishing college, unemployed and with children of their own. It's a bitter world for that old lady. Hence, our verdict was: 

I- panic disorder, without agoraphobia 

II- defer

III- hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obese 2

IV- financial and family problems

V- 71-80

Another good news, our block received a 12-hour merit "for actively participating during EBM conference". Technically, it was only DS and Irving who should receive the merit because it was they who did most of the talking but we were just so lucky to have been showered by their blessings. The two got an additional 5 points though, perhaps will be added to their shifting exam score. Speaking of shifting exam, bukas na pala yun!!!! 

Alhamdulillah. Allah's the best! :)

Poor Brain, Rich Eyes

First of all, I know that this blog was created to air my insights and all that weird things boiling down inside my thoughts. However, due to the swift constant revolution of my everyday life, there has been some scarcity of musings nowadays. Or probably I get used to the wretchedness of this world---the hospital, that is---that I lost connection to my inner humanity. While it's good to escape and find diversion, I'm afraid to get stuck into  the "other world" that I might get lost on my way back. Still, I escape because I need that diversion. Now, instead of sharing a piece of my brain, I'm gonna share pieces of what my eyes see in my everyday life. I don't have a great camera, I only have my mobile phone with me hence the poor quality of my photos. :( 

Last weekends, I was fortunate to be duty-free on Saturday and Sunday morning, so I went home to Merville at my cousins' home. I haven't been there since the start of internship. I was so glad to be back and play with my nieces. Here is Sabreen, my cousin Ate Pie's eldest. Such a cute darling!

In this photo, she's pretending to read. I love it when she mumbles un-understandable words while pointing to every single paragraph. Haha!

Sab. She's only two.

 Before I went back to my dorm. I accompanied Ate Hannah to SM Makati where I had a chance to feast my eyes on the pretty dresses and blouses of Forever 21! Aaaaah! How I drooled! But I was broke I went out empty-handed. :(

 I loiter nowadays at our condo lounge at 10th floor where there is swimming pool and free Wi-Fi. I never tried the pool kasi stagnant ang water! Haha. One fine afternoon, I had this view from where I was sitting and tweeting. :) Love the sunset sky! I imagined myself to be sipping coffee with a loved one sitting beside me...but nerrrhhh, it didn't happen. Most probably it won't happen. Aaaaahh!!! Nooooo!!

 My housemates: Emily and Sal. We're gonna have a new housemate since Pie moved out. Yay for that! :D

Meet the Block U. "We Revive, U Survive!". That is our temporary slogan until we come up with a smarter one. LOL. Taken at Pedia-ER on our last day. Photo courtesy of Renzo G., our Track B co-intern. 

First row L-R: Crystal, DS, Dane and Rex
Second row L-R: Tina, moi, Suzie
Back: Alaric

 Our Pedia-ER team. I'm gonna miss them, they're the best so far! They're so sweet and all. I admire Ma'am Glo, our senior resident, for being so composed and calm no matter how toxic we are! (except for that time her voice rose because of a cruel patient's watcher).

L-R: Suzie, moi, Ma'am X-Tina (thanks for allowing me to write my own order!), Ma'am Glo (the great!), Ma'am Inah (thanks for that recommendation for 24-hour merit!) and Tina. :)

 Block U's first lunchdate. So, these are the people I'm gonna be with for the rest of internship. :)

Done with my first month in Pedia. Next round of Pedia-OPD and Ward will be April next year.

Next stop: Family and Community Medicine. I am so ignorant about Evidence-Based Medicine. We just don't have that back in MSU. Aaaah, why oh why!!! It will take time for me learning that while my blockmates are so knowledgeable about it. 

Talk To Me, Kid.

I declare: I LOATHE STUBBORN KIDS! Only because I wasn't when I was little. I wasn't afraid of needles, of people wearing white, i.e., nurses and/or doctors, and most importantly, I was easily talked to! I still am, by the way. Why do kids nowadays are so maarte like they are trying to act like an adult and they wanted their whims and caprices to be followed? BRATS! You know what, parents and older sibs out there, these kids MUST know who takes the lead and who is the follower. Right? 

We had a patient last night, 9 year old male, brought in at around 9:00 pm and was complaining of right lower quadrant abdominal pain. He was s/p appendectomy last year so we were contemplating on bowel obstruction secondary to adhesions. In other words, he will be transported to the OR as soon as possible to prevent further compromise. The Pedia-Surg resident asked us (Suzie and I) to insert a foley catheter and nasogastric tube. I was the one who inserted his IV line so I knew he was so inquisitive like he asks too many questions and since you cannot lie to a child, I had to explain tiny details including why I need to place leukoplast all over the IV cannula. Then comes foley cath insertion, we had to explain ALL the details that need to be done. The parents were there to console and assure him. So we thought everything's okay. When Suzie was about to enter the tip of the tube, he shrieked and closed his thighs together which made it impossible for us to perform the procedure. We talked him down in our most soothing voice, said all the things that would probably make him comfortable. Epic fail. We left and decided to return when he's ready.

Two hours later, we came back with another set of foley cath. Still wearing our baby voice, we talked to him as if he's an adult hoping to alleviate his apprehension. Yet, no effect. We called a resident, who did a lot consoling. The kid was shouting: "Hindi niyo kasi alam ang pakiramdam!", and the resident answered: "Naku hijo, pinagdaanan ko na ang lahat. Lahat na ng klase ng tubo nagawa na sa'kin..Kaya sige na please, mabilis lang naman eh. Please?" in her most begging look.We even mixed lidocaine with the lubricant to make him a little numb. Still, no effect.

Five hours passed and he was still throwing tantrums. We called the Pedia-Surg resident to help us out who did a lot of bargaining with the boy until she almost lost her patience. He was so whimsical he wanted everything he says to be followed. We were initially giving in to him, until the Pedia-Surg resident noticed how stubborn he is. So much talking on our part and so much yelling and shouting on the boy's part. He's 9 years old and difficult to restrain. He doesn't listen to anyone, not even to hisparents. We gave him midazolam which sedated him for like a few minutes, but when he felt the NGT poking on his nose, he struggled again and regained his energy!! Aaaaack! This time, we had other watchers help us restrain him until we successfully inserted both the NGT and the foley cath at around 3:00 am! The worst part is, when I pushed 10cc of water on the catheter for inflation, he squeaked and struggled so the needle passed through my skin! That was my second prick last night. On the positive note, both needles were not used for blood extraction...otherwise, I need to panic!

It was a long 24-hour duty. We bagged almost whole day, two of which expired. :(
Conducting patients who doesn't respond to midazolam to the CT-Scan room.
Suzie and I had "The Phenobarbital Incident".
And, THAT BOY.
We left the ER this morning with the preduties bagging again. *Sigh*

Bagging Tina

Triage Area. 

Adult Triage. Sitting and looking from the Pedia Triage, parang ayoko mag-duty diyan!

Finally, na-sedate na rin ang patient na ayn!

L-R: Tina, Ai and Suzie! :)

Bilbil versus Pelvic Mass

It's terrifying how some simple jokes can lead to some grave bugaboo. It all started as an endless teasing of who's-got-bigger-tummy kind of joke. Abby, my classmate who has a noticeable bulging hypogastric area once touched my flabby abdomen and compared the consistency with hers. She, who has a slender body type is not expected to have a tummy quite as big as the fat girl that I am. We continued to tease her about doing Leopold's exam on her or monitoring a heart beat on her tummy. She jovially rode on our silly jokes but behind her laughs were waves of worrying thoughts as she sensed that a hard tummy, incomparable to that of a fat and flabby abdomen, means something must be growing inside. Definitely not a human being. Albeit asymptomatic, she went for consult. Ultrasound was done and she was found to have an ovarian mass.  Transrectal ultrasound was done this afternoon (and yes, Sheng and I were there!) and it was found out that her left ovary is already multilocular and has crossed near the midline, slightly compressing on the uterus. Thank God, the right ovary is intact with normal size follicles. Elective surgery will be done hopefully after clerkship before graduation. We are all praying for a successful operation and sana unilateral oophorectomy lang because we want to see little Abbies and little Enkels!! (our class nicknamed her boyfriend Enkel!) 

Captured and posted with permission from the patient (who is still in her uniform!).

*I don't know if it's only me but there is a peculiarly odd feeling when the patient is someone close to me. 

Patho/Rehab

After Anesth/Derma comes Patho/Rehab Med. Pathology in the morning and Rehab Med in the afternoon. I have seen so many things in the Patho clinic that one wouldn't ordinarily see in the hospital, or some things that we wouldn't normally mind but are clinically significant. "Little things do matter", 'ika nga. And I am so surprised how I am so ignorant of such little things I sometimes want to melt in shame. At the same time, there are countless things that amazed me. 

Back in the OB-GYN module in junior med, I was able to read up on mature ovarian teratomas which are presumably derived from ectodermal differentiation of totipotential cells. Normally, one would find hairs, cheesy sebaceous materials, tooth, bones, and rarely, brain tissues in the ovary. Common beliefs would blame witchcrafts or adultery with evil, but of course, we are in the 21st century where almost everything can be explained by science. When I was an OB-GYN clerk, we rarely have gynecologic cases. Most ovarian cases I was able to assist to in the OR were either serous or mucinous cystadenomas judging from their gross appearances. Only in the patho lab was I able to see dermoid cyst which we were able to identify immediately by the hairs and the sebaceous materials!! There was even a nipple protrusion and a piece of tooth found!! 

Dermoid cyst.

Aaaahh!! There are so many fascinating things in the Patho lab. For instance, when you see your crush's pleural fluid for cytology exam. And you'd be like "what? oh, what could be happening to him?". And there you see, under the power of the microscope that he's positive for Koch's infection aka TB!!! Eeew. He's a health worker so he's prone to that. All of us, Filipinos, have 95% possibility of having a latent tuberculous infection. Just don't get that immune system of yours down.  Whatever, he's still my crush. My tall and lanky crush who made my surgery days a lot more inspiring. Yiheeee.  <3

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In the Rehab clinic, all we do is to observe what is being done to the patients after our lectures. Mostly are post-stroke, s/p ORIF, those with Bell's palsy, scoliosis and other musculoskeletal diseases. Shengot and I roam around like kids trying some of the modalities used.

Sheng trying on the crutches.

Pretending to meditate using the vestibular ball.

We also tried paraffin waxing (i loooovee!!!) and the different electrotherapies. I pray none of my family members and friends would suffer anything that would bring them to the Rehab because I swear you wouldn't like the feeling of electricity permeating through your muscles!! Even with 9 volts only, it shook my muscles like crazy I so hate the feeling!!! Brrr... 

*****

This is another story. 

In line with being a med student, we're taught to investigate like a journalist. We ask who, why, when, where, how. It came to my knowledge that someone we closely know has chronic Hepa B infection, and presently has psoas abscess and his attending cannot completely rule out malignancy. I feel for him and his family. I know they're keeping this a secret because of the Hepa B infection which connotes his true sexual preference. I don't care he's homo, he's still a very good friend and I wouldn't judge him because of that. This time around, he cannot deny, his illness spoke in his behalf.I'm still deciding whether to visit him in the hospital. Most probably, I would. As a friend, I cannot do anything but pray for his early recovery. InshaAllah. Ameen. 

The Non-Clerks.

It has been a week since we baptized ourselves as "non-clerks" after starting to rotate in the Ancillary Services. Technically, we are still, of course, clerks except that we don't have to suffer the 24-hour++ duty, writing lengthy history, physical exam and progress notes of patients, doing ward works and that helluva pressure of being a clinical clerk 24/7. Ah, we're past that already and hey, look at us, Group 4 have emerged unscathed!! Wohoo!!

The sad thing though is, we go on duty in pairs which means that for the next two months, I wouldn't be able to see (unless scheduled) the rest of my groupmates (I miss you already, buddy Juey and adorable nightmare Tisoy!). So my partner is the Korean Bug (as she's been fondly called by Dr. Marquez), Sheng aka Shengita/Shenggay/Toy/Pet.

In this rotation, we will report into 8 minor departments: Anesthesiology/Dermatology, Pathology/Rehab Med, Health Centers/Psychiatry, and Ophthalmology/Radiology during clinic hours. That implies how much free time we got on our last two months of clerkship! So below are some photos of Sheng and I in the O.R. as Anesth clerks and our killing-time moments at some nearby coffee shops. 

Since I am blessed with so much spare time, I jot down the productive things I plan to do (ahem, good luck to me! )*shunning away procrastination* :

a. Finishing my backlogs, i.e., discharge summaries, IM census, etcetera. 

b. Reading both medical and non-medical books. As you know, reading time is meager while on duty. And I seriously need to catch up on my internal medicine readings since it is the rotation in which I read/learn the least. I almost read none!!

c. Write more. I have abandoned my journal for quite some time.

d. Watch more movies. Yeah, I'm catching up. I've seen Good Will Hunting (a 1997 film that made me understand why a lot of girls drool over Matt Damon and why a lot of guys wanna be just like him!), Black Swan (a psychological horror film that made Natalie Portman Best Actress in the recent Golden Globe Awards), The Social Network (Mark Zuckerberg, I appreciate your genius but I wish you didn't entertain your idea of creating Facebook!),  Tangled (a feel-good movie that will surely blow your blues away!) and Love and Other Drugs (Anne Hathaway!!). :) And counting!!!

e. Go home frequently. Since we don't have weekend duties, I want to spend more time with my family. Nothing beats the feeling of being at home.

f. Laag/Lakwatsa/Travel! Our group is still deciding where to go. Possibly at Dahilayan in Bukidnon. C'mon Shengita, draft our lakwatsa schedule now! Weeee!!

The point of this entry is to make the rest of our classmates who are "still clerks" jealous!! Haha!

Answered Prayer

 Finally, matching is done. There's basically none to fuss about. Just another phase to conquer. :) 

Alhamdulillah. 

Code Blue

"Every noted doctor was inexperienced at first". -Dr. Aizawa

This Japanese medical drama had been a craze among my classmates last year. It's a cross between Grey's Anatomy and House MD minus the former's excessive drama on love, sex and life and the latter's seriously crazy only-in-the-books medical diagnoses. Now that the craze had died down, it's my turn to rise! Hahaha! Yeah, the non-conformist side of me is talking. Anyway, I just started it last night at the quarters while I was on duty out of boredom. BOREDOM?! You heard me right, twelve lang ata admissions namin ni Sheng last night! Benign! Back to Code Blue, it's a story about young doctors on their first year as trainees in Emergency Medicine. What I loved about it is that their cases are the common ones you usually encounter in the ER like orthopedic emergencies, cardiorespiratory arrest, shock and etcetera, plus they're Asians! :) I can't wait for next week, during my Ancillary rotation so I can finish the entire 2 seasons! 

Round Up

The Telephone

When it rings, it brings silence to the entire quarters. Everyone's crossing their fingers as if they're wishing not to be the next on a firing squad. When they're not being called, you can see a clerk's eyes shine. When they're wanted, you can see a poker face marching out of the room. 

*******

I was disheartened by a patient's watcher's comment regarding a fellow Meranao doctor practicing in Marawi City. Apparently, this patient transferred to our facility here in Iligan City because they felt the doctor was incompetent. But the statement "kagiya a Meranao" (because Meranao) referring to that doctor infuriated me. Why? Is it because that doctor is a Meranao makes him incompetent? I hate people making comment and dragging the race, as if that watcher isn't a Meranao herself. That's the problem with people with crab mentality. I don't believe that that doctor they're referring to is incompetent, because no specialist isn't confident with his management. Each doctor who underwent training in a specific field and has earned his diplomate or fellowship has an excellent rationale in every step that he does. They, the patient and her watchers just didn't listen to his management because they didn't believe in him all because he's a Meranao...just like them. Urgh. The power of crab mentality. I cannot blame brilliant Meranaos who don't practice in their homeland. 

*******

I bumped into a friend along the hospital hallway whose father is undergoing twice a week hemodialysis due to renal failure. He was smiling while I was inquiring about his father's disease. He told me his father's okay now although he doesn't actually look okay. He's using a staff to aid his walking, a surgical mask for reverse isolation and his color is that of a person with renal disease. I forgot the medical term for that, something that looks like a mix of bronze and dark bluish, something like magenta. Anyway, the pain behind his sincere smile pierced through me. I so wanna hug him tight if not only for a plenty of audience scattered all over. I cannot imagine the pain when you know that a loved one is undergoing a painful terminal disease and that anytime, he can be taken away. I admire family members who stay beside a loved one who is sick, that's so stressfull---emotionally and financially draining. But that's the beauty of family and that's the true meaning of "staying through thick and thin".  I pray for his father's early recovery (I believe in miracles) and I pray for good health for everyone especially for my family. 

*******

The Staple Food

Thank you Jollibee for providing us our un-healthy meals especially during Saturdays when the hospital canteen is closed. I've gained a significant amount of weight all throughout my Pedia rotation. I can't seem to fit in my uniforms. I hate feeling this way but I loooovvee eating. So much.

*******

And lastly, I've been fantasizing about this man the entire week. Okay, I lied. For more than a year now. :D

The Becoming

"Why do you want to become a doctor?"

This is an essential and vital question being asked upon entering med school. I remember sticking to my truthful answer: because it's my lifelong dream. I may haven't known the rough road towards reaching it, all I know at that present moment was how much I wanted to become one. I didn't said anything heroic like helping the community or to become rich to help my family (because certainly, one doesn't get rich in the medical profession), or making the world a better place. Frankly, those were never my intentions. Being not a member of The Social Liability Club is already a contribution in making this world a better place, at least for me. Sure I do know that taking med school seriously means reading and re-reading mountain loads of medical books and locking yourself away from the wordly things, but I never had an inkling as to how the clinics go. Sure we were told that being on call means stopping whatever you're doing, including sex, and attend to patients. Easier said than done, eh? Now I have a hard time staying awake and pushing myself to the ER when an admission comes. It occurred to me how naive I was about a real doctor's life---how much time he sacrifices for his profession. The responsibilities a doctor is shouldering---to the humanity, to his colleagues and to medicine itself. During my me-times, I cannot help but wonder. Had I known the difficulty of going into the clinics, the hurly-burly world that is embedded in the medical profession, would I plunge into this? I probably would have considered another profession. But what?

I don't wonder why many doctors opted to become single for life. If one doesn't perfect the art of time management, then he shall choose between his profession and his personal life (read: getting married and having children). And most toughies I know opted the former. Honing a doctor's skills requires a long time, you don't stop when you earn your license. Being just a mere general practitioner puts you in the lowermost rank in the medical world. The only difference you have with a clerk or an intern is a piece of paper called license. You still have to undergo years and years of training to acquire that great status of being on the top hierarchy--- consultant. And when you become one, you realize how much personal time you've missed. 

I cannot think of anything that suits me best. I loved what I'm doing from the very beginning. But probably when all the energy and physical strength are exhausted and being put under too much pressure, it gets the best of us and we wanted to evaporate from the current boiling situation. At the end of the day, being a doctor is my cup of tea. This is my first love and we don't get easily unattached from our first love, right? If I haven't had the concrete answer on that very first question asked when I entered med school, probably  I can picture out everything in place now that I am towards the finish line. I want to make a difference. And plunging  into the medical profession, no matter how hard it seems, is my own way of achieving that difference I wanted. :) 

P.S.

I'm seriously in-love with Pediatrics I feel bad that we only have two weeks left in the department. :(

Drunken Fontanelles

In the newborn physical examination sheet, I described the infant's anterior and posterior fontanelles as "neither sunken nor drunk  bulging". I doubt if any pediatrician could imagine how a drunken fontanelles look like. But a drunken clerk? Certainly they can. Yakult-drunken clerk. 

I learned today:

Acronyms/shortcuts must not be used in writing orders. For instance: BF with AP which means breastfeeding with aspiration precautions can also mean breastfeeding with attending physician, or the more obvious, boyfriend with attending physician. LMAO.