Hodgepodge

"The Man Who Can't Be Moved"

According to Dr. D., sulit na sulit ang first day niyo dito ah.   It was.  I always thought Ortho ORs were long and few, but I was wrong.  Like yesterday, I was able to assist/observe 4 cases, and my 3 other co-interns also had almost the same number of ORs.  But you know, it wasn't at all very stressful.  The ortho environment is generally happy and carefree so it was ok. I was directed to the LCB ER for my first case.  It turned out that I did not need to scrub in as the resident needed a student only to make sure that the specimen is properly collected and sent.  So there, I waited for around 30 minutes.  Finally, Dr. F told me that he's done and that I can do my thing so the nurse gave me a pair of gloves.  I went over the patient and looked for the tissue (You see in OB, the specimen is collected and is usually placed on the instrument table).  The resident gave me a pair of scissors.   Scissors?  Bakit hindi clamp?   I wondered. Sige A***, pwede mo na icollect yung specim...

One duty and one post-duty to go and I'm officially OB-free!  7 weeks and 5 days ago, this would have been a happy-party moment.  But 7 weeks and 5 days into OB, ( kapit kayo, ngayon ko lang sasabihin 'to),  I don't want to go just yet. I'm very happy with the people I've been with.  From PR's block to Lopao's block and the coolest, kindest, smartest residents in our service, I could not ask for anything more.  Of course, if I can undo the boo-boos, I would, but generally, I was in the best possible place.   Dr. G recently allowed me to do the subcuticular suturing of my CS patient's abdomen.  She also had me do 'some' of the curettage in one of the abortion patients. Dr. M allowed me to do amniotomy, delivery, episiotomy and repair.  Fortunately, Dr. M didn't have to do re-suturing hehe.  Oh, and I was the first assist in her BTL procedure. Dr. J had given me a lot of procedures, and promised to treat us 'soon'.  He makes any duty ...

I am going to be a senior intern. Pray for me.

Oh I wish I have the whole night to write about UP Diliman.  But anyway, I'd try to write a few. Earlier today, I was able to go back for leisure, after 2 and a half years, I think.  Oh, the nostalgia!  After being around Taft and PGH and inhaling smog, it was so refreshing to find trees lining the road, a lot of grass and plants and flowers, fewer people per square meter, less buses (and smoke from their tambuchos ), less vendors who block the already narrow sidewalk.  It's so nice to be able to walk around the oval, the lagoon, the shopping center.  I saw my old dorm (Molave), the ikot, si manong na nagbebenta ng putok , fishballs, PNB, the chapel, the bahay ng alumni.  I just love Diliman and everything about it.  You see, UP Diliman was one of the few risky, wrong-but-right choices I made when I was in my teens.  I was all set to be a doctor, and I figured that getting into Psychology would be a smart move, as it would be easier to get through college before I gear up for m...

October 7, 2008:  First amniotomy, first episiotomy, first delivery as primary attendant, first repair from the angle to the skin.  Thanks to the coolest OB resident in the whole PGH.   Yey!

To all my friends and loved ones. When you lay all your cards and cry. When you share you secret dreams. When you ask for an advice to help you make crucial decisions. When you admit your weakness. When I see your crazy side you try so much to hide. Then I drop all negativities, my disinterest in moving on, and be thankful that I'm trusted by people.  I feel worthy of my borrowed earth-time.  

dum-di-dum-dum . beautiful. goosebumps .

I try my best to understand people.  I am even more patient with patients, considering their background, the stress of having a sick family member and not having the money to buy everything that they need, the guards, the hard-to-understand-PGH-system.  That's why, I say, it's understandable when they become makulit, masungit, etc. But when patients lie and steal, it's a different story. To me, trust is a very sacred thing.   There will never be an excuse for being not trustworthy - it's either you are or you are not.  I hope people understand that in the hospital where I am from, where compensation come in thank you's and occasional gifts,  my relationship with my patients is the only thing I get to have - and that, I value a lot.   Two nights ago, during my IMU duty, one of the patients attempted to steal a nurse's cellphone.  She hid it in her panty.  I was not there when it happened, but one patient actually narrated the whole story to me.  Reportedly, the p...

Tuberculosis - ang sakit ng mahihirap sa mahihirap na bansa. I noticed that patients in PGH have a common thing for tuberculosis, they deny it.  They call it something else, like, mahina ang baga - tama sa baga - ubo.   I'm used to probing just so I can extract that important detail. Fortunately (or unfortunately) most patients don't know everything about it so I tend to catch them - how I do it, I wouldn't tell :).  There is at least one attempt to conceal their condition, whether or not it's recent or has been treated 20 years ago.  I've never encountered a patient who point-blankly admitted that he/she has TB, as opposed to admitting having Hypertension or Diabetes. I know, we have the TB stigma, which I find ridiculous because a lot of Filipinos actually have it, in different areas.  I've seen lots!  Scrotal TB, TB Meningitis, TB Lymphadenitis, TB in the colon causing gut obstruction, and of course pulmonary TB.   TB is treatable, friends.  Usually, we treat...

The talk of the PGH OB-Gyne Town.. Click the link:   Heavy Duty It's an article submitted to youngblood by a co-intern in PGH.  Up to this moment, no one has come out to take the credit (and questions, reprimand, etc hehe).  But whoever you are, you got it all right.   What's in the article is true.  All true. OB - Toxic OB duties specifically, truly make a mark, deep enough to be worthy of a space in a blog, or better yet, in one of the leading newspapers in the country. I heard some people took offense.  Our reaction:   Why?   We do not have to pretend that we are a rich hospital, because money-wise, we are not.  We deliver services, yes, but in truth, may kasamang dugo, pawis at allowance yun.   PGH is great for reasons far more important and relevant than logistics - say, clinical material, or the character that is molded each and every day.  Should not we be glad that finally, someone had finally uncovered the little heroism that each and every hospital staff, doctor, int...