med student by day, insomniac med student at night. adores her family. all pinay. peyups iska. 09 benigner. lingkoder. mss member. a lambda lady. egpie + baitz + pugad gurlette. hearts coldplay. a ravenclaw. craves for books. fawns over cats. tweaks on caffeine. hopeless romantic.
dec 13: Only The Phinest - Pasko sa E.R. dec 20: Cjoy's Bday dec 25: Christ's day dec 26: Von turns 21! :)
dec 27: Mommy's birthday :)
dec 29: Baitz Dayout :)
dec 31: New Year's Eve
2008: MY YEAR! :o)
TO GET
currently reading... - "The Historian"
- Longnecker's Anesthesiology
presently wanting... - Treo 650
- more kikay scrubs! (hehe)
- summer in Boracay!
ONLINE THINGIES
you think you know me? - then, take this quiz: click!
I surely don't have an answer for that. If you do have, the geekiness in me terribly wants to know.
I was tagged by my bestest friend/panatiko (haha!), Ninsy.
How long have you been blogging? I must have become part of the blog-osphere while I was wandering aimlessly in the worldwide web when I was still in my early years of high school. That was approximately ten years ago. My first venture was with Tabulas and my blog merely shared the superficialities of my high school life. I wish I had kept that one up if only to look back on the posts I did and bawl my eyes out at how simpler life was back then (haha!). I eventually made a Livejournal account, which I found to be more customizable than my first one was. So, that was where I spent many years posting my nonsense in my little spot in the web. When my posts became seriously collegiate (= boring for non-medical people), I started looking for a different place to vent my medicine-ridden angst. I decided to create this blogspot account and vowed to keep it updated. But as medlife would have it, I have not been able to be true to that "vow" and just occasionally pop in an entry (a) when desperate times called for procrastination, (b) when this serious bum needed literary relief, and (c) when a friend tags me (yoiks!). I also have Multiply where I literally dump all my photos.
What inspired you to write a blog and who are your mentors?
I'm a writing nut. I've been a fan of the written word long before blogging became popular. I used to fill notebooks with my thoughts, no matter how juvenile they got (Ex. Dear Kitty, I saw *toot* today and he looked cute in spite of all the sweat... blahblah). I also kept notebooks which were strictly for the poems, short stories and novelettes I concocted. It is a huge wonder for my friends why I went into medicine when I was all about writing in high school and had journalism as my first choice in UPCAT. (However my writing skills have regressed since I went into medicine. Biggest proof: these many sentences with parentheses.) So, one could say that nobody inspired me to blog. I just like to write and blogging allows me to do that... endlessly.
Are you trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
Getting paid to write my thoughts would be a dream. Can't you make money and have fun? I think this question was made by some self-righteous blogger who'd much rather steal scraps from dogs than get paid for blogging. (Oops. PMS. Hehe.)
Connecting with people through Friendster and Yahoo! Messenger.
Blogging, and free downloads wherever (e.g. PC games).
Tell me 3 things you STRUGGLE within the online world.
I would have wanted to keep my blogs updated. I do love to write. Unfortunately, the demands and stresses of my chosen career have prevented me from doing so.
I'm not a techie person. The skills I have are limited to basic HTML and Microsoft Office. I actually asked my sister's boyfriend to make a Multiply layout for me. I envy bloggers who have very organized websites, where they have a gallery for their pictures, a clean layout and a well-kept tags area.
Money. I like browsing through online sites like Ebay, but never get to buy any. I need moolah (as every non-working shopper does, haha!).
Who should I tag really? Anyone who wishes to pour out their heart and soul should answer these. Haha!
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My block's shifting into Surgery rotation this Wednesday. A month from now, we'd be in Internal Medicine. This news can only mean one thing: 89% possibility of having zero entries until April.
To be honest, I am not surprised to experience "compassion fatigue". But, I am surprised that I have experienced it this early on in my medical school life.
But, when I read this post in the pinoy.md online forums (link), I felt happy. These were the exact words I needed to read and reread again each dreadful moment that "compassion fatigue" sets in.
Below is an abridged version of the 10 reminders and the poster's brief reminder on the perils of being in med school... ... Next year, most of you will match headstrong (or headfirst) into the frontline of that battlefield called internship. This battle is about facing one of our worst fears - confronting and overcoming your vulnerabilities and insecurities... The responsibilities that come with the honor of being addressed as “Doctor” must never be underestimated. Nothing will fully prepare you for the emotional roller-coaster ride that entails. Hopefully, this article might just help that a little bit.
Point 1: Know thy limitations. ... A good doctor never stops asking and learning because as you grow older you will learn the truth in that cliche –“the more you learn, the less you will realize you knew”.
Point 2: Be honest with thyself and be honest with others. ... Lying will undermine your credibility as a doctor in people’s minds in the long run.
Point 3: Learn from thy mistakes. This is a hard one, and I sometimes think only a saint can do this right. Face up to your failures, have the courage of admitting it to yourself and hopefully to others. ...
Point 4: If thou want to be treated with respect, thou have to earn it. Work hard,and others will work hard for you. Treat your patients/ nurses/ peers/ consultants/ examiners (PS: not in any particular order) nicely, and they will treat you well...
Point 5: Avoid losing thyself in The System. It is very easy to become depersonalized in the chaotic hospital environment because of the stressful atmosphere and stereotyped roles each of us has to play. Very often the demanding patient fails to see that tired, discouraged young person behind the surgical mask, and conversely, the impersonal doctor fails to see that once-a-beautiful-young mother-now-turned-bald-and-bloated “case of lymphoma day 10 post stem-transplant” Try putting yourself into someone’s shoes* (note*: a figure of speech for C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N, just in case) for a minute, then your anger/ prejudice/ frustration/ disgust ..etc will dissipate.
Point 6: Thou shall learn to handle stress in thy own way. One of the ways when I get too overwhelmed with the stress of a situation is to stand back, take a deep breath and then tell myself, “yes, I am having a really bad day right now. But one day I am going to look back and tell myself that, gee, that was a really bad day, but I got over it just like any other regular bad days in my life”. The fact is you should not bottle up stress because it will wear you out in the long run. You need to wash it away like a bad odor as soon as it happens to you...
Point 7: Develop a sense of humor. Black humor helps a lot...
Point 8: The futility of constant worrying. There is no point worrying about things that have not yet happened and things that are well in the past. Constant worrying will only wear you out and turn you into a sleepless zombie, and the worst thing is, worrying stops you from focusing on the Present. ...
Point 9: Reward thyself after a long day, because thou deserve it. Look after yourself. If you think you are physically / emotionally not 100%, go and get help... Why study medicine to help others when you could hardly help yourself in the first place?
Point 10: Make short-term goals that thou can reach, and most of all, have hope. Always have the Big Picture in your mind i.e. why do you put yourself through medical school in the first place and what do you want out of it. Don’t burn yourself out too soon. You are only in your twenties and you have a lot more life to catch up...
Yesterday in PGH, six lives shared a similar story with three very different outcomes.
From Cebu, 8 month old conjoined twins Rezzie and Rezzia were brought to PGH last year for further surgical management. They were joined at the chest and the abdomen. They are still undergoing several pre-operative workups.
Two weeks ago, media flocked to the PGH ER to catch a glimpse of the ten-days old conjoined Romano twins from Samar. I was on duty then at the Pedia ER and I could see the distraught in the face of the twins' father. All we could tell him then was that the twins would still have to go through some imaging procedures and lab tests before a final course of management can be determined. I learned of the verdict on TV a week later: the twins shared a heart. To separate them would kill both of them instantly.
There was also one "catch" at PGH this week of twins from a first-time mother. It was expected that one of the twins had a debilitating physical defect. But, it was not expected that the twins were conjoined, complicating their situation even more. They were immediately brought to intensive care and eventually died in the afternoon of the same day.
Isn't it sad that these children were given lives that they weren't physically able to really live? Isn't it ironic that we carry on with our lives, often taking for granted the minutes and hours given to us?
Their parents and other concerned people fought and are still fighting to keep these twins alive. And, I found it really ironic how some people would choose to destroy their lives figuratively and literally to rebel or to just give up.
For me, no matter what happens, my life is precious and I am going to live it the best damn way I know how.
After all the emotional turmoil (the panicking a month before the June 2007 boards, the angry run-ins with the unsophisticated in the unending queues at the PRC) and the mental anguish, you have finally been given this moment, a moment that you truly deserve. My everdearest sister is now a Philippine-registered nurse! I am deliriously happy for you, dear, and a million times proud. (I actually shed a tear when I saw her name. I could just imagine how I would be two years from now... hehe.)
Does this have something to do with my birthday being in the summer? It can be so.
But, the rain also brings in a lot of bad things. I had an intern share a story about a time in her clerkship when she was on ER duty and she thought less people would come to the ER because it was raining. But, she was so wrong. Lots of patients came in for acute manifestations of certain diseases, needing emergency care. Vehicular accident was also the number one reason why the area for surgical patients never had a vacancy.
During the rainy season, there are more accidents, more injuries, more fatalities. People get sick more when there is rain. I always get sick during the rainy season.
I shall pray for your souls.
