Vampy's Weblog - Life of a Medical Officer

This is going to be a Mother of Rants post... First of all, I have a item that is being delivered by FedEx which I missed cos' I have to be in the hospital till past 5pm everyday... Guess what when I called them to arrange for a alternative date and time? I said as I cannot be at home on weekdays before 5.30pm, I asked whether it can be delivered on Saturdays? The answer is a big resounding NO! Seriously?! I may be wrong about this but isn't FedEx suppose to deliver 7 days a week? I mean even if it's not, shouldn't the delivery hours be extended past 5.30pm so that ppl can be at home to receive it? Cos' I believe that most ppl work...

Second rant... I just heard news that Singapore is calling for bidders to submit designs for a new sports hub to be build... The first design that was revealed today in my opinion is HIDEOUS! They design it to look like a horse-shoe and guess what? The color of the sports hub is golden! Wah! What's with the golden color?! Isn't a Durian bad enough... Now they want a shoe-shoe to mar the skyline? Sigh...

Okay.. enough of ranting... Something good happen today... I got well kinda praised by my consultant... For the past few months, my classmates and I have been bitching how sometimes we feel like wall decorations - ignored and unappreciated... But today, I made a remark about a patient and the consultant actually said, "Yes... that's right... It would help her condition... Should have thought of that... Thank you for reminding me..." And he asked me to tell the patient while he arrange to have the treatment for her. Those words were heaven...simple words like thank you makes so much difference to the lives of medical students... I know...it sounds pathetic... but really it makes so much of difference...

Oh also I well felt a testicle today... To tell you the truth, I was actually apprehensive... I mean it! I was sort of embarrassed too.. I didn't know whether to wear gloves or not... I mean I've seen some doctors wear gloves but I don't know if I do that whether the patient will take offense. In end I didn't... But on the whole the morning clinic was really good... I learned a lot from it... Didn't do that well with the grilling but I just think of what one consultant said to me previously, "It's better to make a fool out of yourself as a student than when you are actually practising..." It's difficult to follow that advise but I try...

Here are a few Youtube clips that I love:

First is by a group of students (former students) who does video productions as part of their hobbies and boy! were they a success! They even have their own production company. Go visit their website at: http://www.wongfuproductions.com Below one of the clips they produced. It's hilarious!

The second clip is from McDull...It's set in a restaurant

The third clip is an advertisement for a car... Well it's hilarious in a sick way...

I hope you find them as entertaining as I did.

I just started my one week opthalmology. To tell the truth, I wasn't really looking forward to it cos' of my bad experience last year with the ophthalmologist who gave us a tutorial. He actually said to us all that if we are unwilling to allow him to put dilating eye-drops on ourselves, then he's not happy for us to stay for the tutorial. I mean, what happen to rights and democracy - even if we are students. So there they are telling us that patients have the right to refuse treatment, but yet we are not afforded the same rights as students?

But anyway I was glad that the registrar who took us yesterday was so willing to teach and he's NOT a PRICK! He had excellent bedside manners and was absolutely nice to us too... He taught us more ophthalmology in that one session than the last 2 years combined. And today, we were attached to a fellow who at first glance seems intimidating but turn out to be a gem too. He really taught me how to use the slit-lamp to do a examination of the eye and he let us have a few go's with some patients. I mean that's real bedside teaching.

I also got my eyes checked out too. I'm happy to report that my visual field is normal (at least my right eye) and the rest of my eyes were not too bad except for changes caused by severe myopia. We saw a patient who came in after a work-related injury where a piece of wire hooked out a piece of his iris (the colored part of your eye)... Ouch! It wasn't still behind the cornea but you can see that his iris shape has changed from a circle to kind of a chicken drumstick. Needless to say, he was booked for urgent surgery to repair the iris cos' it could potentially cause the whole eyeball to become a ball of pus. See image below:

Difference between normal iris and an injured iris

Today, I touched my first man boob... Yes, it's a medical condition. It not just a person who is overweight and has what looks like boobs... This condition means that it actually feels like a female breast although not as large... It commonly affects males that has some liver problems.

I was feeling lousy this morning and decided to have McDonald's breakfast at the train station. I swear that there must be something in my portion of breakfast, I perked up almost immediately and was bright and chirpy almost the whole day... My classmate and I were watching cable in the Junior Medical Officers Lounge and we just kept laughing the whole time. It wasn't comedy that we were watching, it was scary programme and we came up with medical conditions that could explain what was happening - Absence seizure (main character) and mass hysteria (supporting cast).

Then we started watching a real life medical drama taking place in Obs/Gyn ward and we just rolled our eyes and laughed each time the commentator/ doctor states the obvious. Like a lady who is undergoing premature labour and despite efforts to halt the labour, it was to no avail. At the end, when they asked the doctor for a comment, she said "Well, it's better out than in." Seriously?! In another case, the commentator made this remark about a women about to undergo C-section. Quote "C-section is a risky procedure as it involves major abdominal surgery." Oh, really?!

Oh finally, it coming to the end of the week... Really looking forward to the weekend when I get get some beauty sleep...:Zzz: Time is really flying past this year. I can't believe that it's March and in 6 months I will be sitting for my last major exam...

The lyrics of the song "A Foggy Day In London Town" by Michael Buble was exactly what happen in Sydney 2 days ago. I woke up and thought there was something wrong with my eyes... Everything was blurry. I have seen fog before in Sydney but not as bad as that morning... It was when I arrived at the station near the hospital where I'm attached to that I realised the extent of the fog.

Fog at Blacktown Station. There is suppose to be a huge shopping mall at the background which is obscured by the fog.

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