Hodgepodge

Before I entered med school, I heard a couple (law student and med student) critic each other's field, and what I distinctly remember was the law student's  hirit: ...these med students and doctors pretend to care for their patients, when they can't even remember their patient's name.  They call them bed number 1, bed number 2, bed number blah blah blah... I was trying my best to be inconspicuous in the room, since I'm not really friends with them (my orgmate was the law student's roommate and we were just doing something that day).  She turned to me and asked if I'm really sure I'd want to be a doctor.  I said  yes .  Then she told me to make sure I'd be more compassionate and patient oriented. I was.  I tried.  But sooner or later, when you're left to monitor several beds by yourself, or extract blood from 1000 patients, you can't help but forget your patient's name.  I'm guilty of referring to them by their bed numbers, or thei...

I think I have acquired this habit of having my hair be at the mercy of hair butchers.  Yes, for the nth time, I just had a disastrous haircut.  You have to realize that when you have a short hair like mine, a simple mistake would leave you with not much choice - it's either you pretend you're making a statement by having it shaved or just live with all its ugliness.  Ugh.  For the first time, I cried over my hair...at the public restroom - in front of the mirror with all the other girls.  I know I looked like a complete idiot, but what can I do?  I felt stupid, helpless and well, uglier.  I mean, when it was all over, I just realized that in a few months, we will have to have our pictures taken for the yearbook.  Shux.  Good thing, my friend was with me to help me see the brighter side of things, and well, help me find a few hair clips that would help make the ugly parts inconspicuous.  Grrrr...  Well, as we both resolved, maybe it's a blessing in disguise.  For what kind,...

I hoped for a decent and friendly way out of that extremely difficult and awkward situation, but my chances of having that lies on somebody else's self-perception of worthiness.  How that is, I'm not sure.  I've turned someone down, and in doing so, I am aware that it must have meant to that person that everything from before does not and will never amount to my affection.   I have been selfish at some point in insisting that we remain friends.  There's a whole lot of damage, and I, in my interest of making things uncomplicated, refused to give way.  I was wrong in being inconsiderate that day, and I know now that it's not that easy.  Things will never be uncomplicated again.   Some things need to be reclaimed - be it pride, self-esteem, life?  In the same context as things or self have been viewed prior to even meeting or liking me.  I am not the one more devastated.  I am relatively unscathed because I have no obligation to reciprocate, and I have the luxury to le...

I've been blog-hopping today and I came across this celebrity's blog.  I have always admired him for his voice but I like his more upbeat counterpart, Jason Mraz, better.  I never knew he can write like this, or maybe have this kind of perspective on things.  I just have this theory that. limelight can damage some part of the brain that's responsible for keeping us firmly grounded. Despite all the criticism thrown on him - most recently is his hook up with Jennifer Aniston - I have a new-found respect for John Mayer.  Check out his blog:   http://www.johnmayer.com/blog Here's his blog entry: FROM THE HEART.... I need to write this.  I've been traveling alone in Japan for the better part of three weeks now, and It's been so remarkable an experience for me that I can't book a ticket home yet. I haven't spoken very much out loud these days, but I've been thinking to myself in what feels like surround sound. I can see so many things clearly, and feel so ...

I would have never done it had I been more careful, but then, it was inevitable.  I have subjected my cheap 2GB flash drive to a test.  I forgot to take it out from my blouse's pocket, and it was submerged in soap and water for at least 10 hours.  The great surprise:  it's functional - good as its pre-submerged state.   Only 450 pesos at CD-R King.  Brand:  pqi.  Galing!

I have just shifted from Ophtha to Pedia. Pediatrics is perhaps one of the dreaded rotations by interns and clerks in PGH, mainly because SIC job and the duties are physically taxing, in addition to the challenging procedures that come with small veins, crying (sometimes super hysterical) children and unreasonable expectations from their caregivers. So anyway, our block are officially pedia interns. Luckily, we are starting the 8-week rotation at the Pedia OPD.  And surprisingly, I am really loving it.  I like children's stares, i like giving vaccines, I like making my diagnosis and giving suggestions in the management.  I like the nice and helpful residents who are working with/supervising us at the clinic. But in less than two weeks, I know it's gonna be very very hard.  Pedia ward rotations WITHOUT clerks.  Huhuhu.

I was standing near the ACU Extension entrance giving my last few instructions to a 'bantay', when he said,   alam niyo doc, dito na-confine ang anak ko bago siya namatay sa bahay . All the while, I was charting some patients, seeing referrals, having conversations with residents and endorsements, making prescriptions, helping my patients budget their money, extracting blood - it was the first statement out of that routine.  It's interesting.  This man, who barely knows me, is sharing a personal, intimate matter.  For lack of a person to talk to, I suppose.  But why to an intern who runs around and around the hospital?   So he goes, pero tanggap ko na, masakit minsan.   It was the first time he stepped inside the PGH ER again after two years - after that very sad day when he decided to go home with his daughter who had biliary atresia.  They stayed at the Pedia ER for a month, hoping that a less invasive intervention could work.  But it didn't.  And nothing that we knew...