Mukhang hindi na ako sanay magsulat ng liham.
Mga tatlong oras na yata akong nakaharap sa PC (may kasama namang distractions hehe ^__^) para sa isang liham na ako ang naatasan ng pamilya na gumawa. May kaibigan kasi kaming taga-Germany na ni isang beses di pa namin nasulatan, samantalang taon-taon siya nagpapadala ng liham sa amin.
Mahirap naman talaga magkuwento ng mga karanasan ng bawat isa sa nakaraang taon... Sa dami nun alin ang ikukwento ko? Alin ang pwede nang hindi isama?
O marahil ay kinalawang lang talaga ako sa pagsusulat. Araykupo.
Sa kabilang banda, okey na rin 'to.. napipilitan akong balikan ang mga nangyari sa amin ngayong 2006.
Sa totoo lang kailangan ko rin ito...para masuri kung nasaan na ako sa kasaysayan ng aking buhay. Patapos na ang bakasyon, at ang taon.. di ko pa nagagawang magbulay-bulay at kausapin ang Panginoon...
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
On that night when the whole UP Med community celebrates talent...
Our class won the TRP chorale competition again! I'm so proud of my class... go 2009! ^__^
Salamat sa lahat ng aming mga naging pasyente na nag-inspire ng aming kanta... :)
Salamat sa lahat ng aming mga naging pasyente na nag-inspire ng aming kanta... :)
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Happy Birthday Pa!
I'm glad I was able to spend tonight with my family to celebrate. Salamat sa mga pumayag sa 'kin wag muna mag-practice for TRP (Tao Rin Pala--I might write more on that this weekend when it's done). We ate at our (apparently) favorite pasta place, The Old Spaghetti House. Yum! We shared stories and laughed together and went camera shutter-happy..hahaha! Hanggang sa van pauwi umiral pa rin ang kakulitan naming magkakapatid.. nakakatuwa. This was definitely worth going home at the middle of the week. Buti na lang, declared walang pasok bukas! Thank you Lord! I don't have to wake up super early to get to the OR on time. ^__^
I thank God for my dad who loves the Lord so much and serves Him well; this down to earth dad who seeks to raise a Christ-centered family in spite of his imperfections... Happy Birthday Pa. :)
Surgery: Day 3
I had quite an interesting morning at the outpatient General Surgery (GS) clinic today. This was just my second clinic duty of the week, and I was expecting to see either a breast mass or a neck mass case since these were the more common conditions seen at the surgery OPD. But I forgot that this is GS after all, and what I would see could be anything.
Enter patient #1: B.L., a 22-year old male from Pasig. "Magandang umaga... so anong ipapa-konsulta mo ngayon?" I asked. The patient answered,"Luslos po." At first I was a little confused because I couldn’t remember what the colloquial term meant. But as the interview went on it dawned on me. Oo nga pala, hernia... For a fleeting moment I felt awkward. Buti na lang may ka-partner akong classmate! I can't imagine encountering my first hernia patient on my own. It would probably take a bit longer for me to 'recover' and be efficient in my interview. Siyempre 'di pa naman ako sanay tumingin ng hernia patients noh.. hahaha! He first noticed the hernia when he was Grade 3 or 4... Sobrang tagal na! But he said he experienced pain only three times (first during high school and the next two in college). We managed to examine him with the guidance of the resident surgeon on duty. We actually insisted, even if he said, "Ok lang yan, kaya nyo yan." Hahaha. Then we sent the patient off with a referral to Urology for repair of his hernia.
Patient #2: N.R., 31-year old male from Bulacan. Chief complaint: "Luslos". Wahaha! Second hernia patient! This time 2 months lang ang history nya. At inoperahan na rin sya nung bata sya para sa luslos sa kanan. (Kaliwa ang nirereklamo nya ngayon.) Sabi ko 'pag yung susunod pang patient hernia pa rin, ay exagg na. Haha..
To our relief (which was kinda relative now, on retrospect), patient #3 was different. A.D., 16-year old male from Tondo, had a painful mass on his lower back, which grew from a size of 1 1/2 inches to about 4 inches wide in just one month. He also had on and off fever. He consulted a private doctor two weeks ago and was prescribed antibiotics and paracetamol for a week, but the pain still persisted. The mother also said he was prescribed cough meds (which she couldn't recall), but they were not able to buy them. We tried to further explore the cough for a moment, and we didn't get much except it was non-productive, and that the mom and a sibling had chronic cough as well (about a year's duration). I was thinking (and I'm sure my partner Jill was, too): TB kaya yun?? And when I listened to his lungs, I heard something like wheezes on all lung fields. Warning signals began to go off in our heads, but on we went... His mother also said he had similar masses in 2004--two on his back and one on his left upper thigh. One was excised in a hospital and the other two 'erupted', with pus draining out. On examination, his current mass was reddish, and on palpation it was warm and felt like it was fluid-filled, most probably due to pus also. We endorsed our case to the resident, and in just one minute, he said, "Naku, hitsura pa lang Tuberculosis na! Ipa-AFB smear na tsaka thoracolumbar x-ray… Baka Pott's disease yan..." Yikes! We just got ourselves exposed to a TB suspect… I sure hope my immune system doesn’t get weak enough that my lesion (if I already have one) gets activated…
Back to our patient—the resident asked me to aspirate some pus to submit to the laboratory, but for some reason I couldn’t get enough. So he decided to proceed with incision and drainage (I&D). Poor kid—no local anesthesia was given (even if the Pain Clinic was just next door), so he was shouting and wincing in pain while the resident stabbed his abscess with a blade and milked out pistachio-green pus (yeah I know it’s gross... hahaha). We didn’t get to see the resident finish up though because we had to leave for a small group case discussion. On our way out we saw the mother looking quite worried that we had to assure her that the I&D was done for her son’s sake (although I agree with my classmate that giving anesthesia would also be a big help… =/). Kawawa yung patient… pati yung family members nya kelangan nang matingnan, malamang may TB rin sila.
This day at the OPD was a lesson for me to be observant and alert, especially when an obvious case is already staring me in the face. Looks like Surg will be another fun rotation… =)
Enter patient #1: B.L., a 22-year old male from Pasig. "Magandang umaga... so anong ipapa-konsulta mo ngayon?" I asked. The patient answered,"Luslos po." At first I was a little confused because I couldn’t remember what the colloquial term meant. But as the interview went on it dawned on me. Oo nga pala, hernia... For a fleeting moment I felt awkward. Buti na lang may ka-partner akong classmate! I can't imagine encountering my first hernia patient on my own. It would probably take a bit longer for me to 'recover' and be efficient in my interview. Siyempre 'di pa naman ako sanay tumingin ng hernia patients noh.. hahaha! He first noticed the hernia when he was Grade 3 or 4... Sobrang tagal na! But he said he experienced pain only three times (first during high school and the next two in college). We managed to examine him with the guidance of the resident surgeon on duty. We actually insisted, even if he said, "Ok lang yan, kaya nyo yan." Hahaha. Then we sent the patient off with a referral to Urology for repair of his hernia.
Patient #2: N.R., 31-year old male from Bulacan. Chief complaint: "Luslos". Wahaha! Second hernia patient! This time 2 months lang ang history nya. At inoperahan na rin sya nung bata sya para sa luslos sa kanan. (Kaliwa ang nirereklamo nya ngayon.) Sabi ko 'pag yung susunod pang patient hernia pa rin, ay exagg na. Haha..
To our relief (which was kinda relative now, on retrospect), patient #3 was different. A.D., 16-year old male from Tondo, had a painful mass on his lower back, which grew from a size of 1 1/2 inches to about 4 inches wide in just one month. He also had on and off fever. He consulted a private doctor two weeks ago and was prescribed antibiotics and paracetamol for a week, but the pain still persisted. The mother also said he was prescribed cough meds (which she couldn't recall), but they were not able to buy them. We tried to further explore the cough for a moment, and we didn't get much except it was non-productive, and that the mom and a sibling had chronic cough as well (about a year's duration). I was thinking (and I'm sure my partner Jill was, too): TB kaya yun?? And when I listened to his lungs, I heard something like wheezes on all lung fields. Warning signals began to go off in our heads, but on we went... His mother also said he had similar masses in 2004--two on his back and one on his left upper thigh. One was excised in a hospital and the other two 'erupted', with pus draining out. On examination, his current mass was reddish, and on palpation it was warm and felt like it was fluid-filled, most probably due to pus also. We endorsed our case to the resident, and in just one minute, he said, "Naku, hitsura pa lang Tuberculosis na! Ipa-AFB smear na tsaka thoracolumbar x-ray… Baka Pott's disease yan..." Yikes! We just got ourselves exposed to a TB suspect… I sure hope my immune system doesn’t get weak enough that my lesion (if I already have one) gets activated…
Back to our patient—the resident asked me to aspirate some pus to submit to the laboratory, but for some reason I couldn’t get enough. So he decided to proceed with incision and drainage (I&D). Poor kid—no local anesthesia was given (even if the Pain Clinic was just next door), so he was shouting and wincing in pain while the resident stabbed his abscess with a blade and milked out pistachio-green pus (yeah I know it’s gross... hahaha). We didn’t get to see the resident finish up though because we had to leave for a small group case discussion. On our way out we saw the mother looking quite worried that we had to assure her that the I&D was done for her son’s sake (although I agree with my classmate that giving anesthesia would also be a big help… =/). Kawawa yung patient… pati yung family members nya kelangan nang matingnan, malamang may TB rin sila.
This day at the OPD was a lesson for me to be observant and alert, especially when an obvious case is already staring me in the face. Looks like Surg will be another fun rotation… =)
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Last week na namin sa Pedia...yey..hehe.. pero hay--may maaalala kaya ako by the time we take the exam at the end of the year? I think I may have to do extra studying during the few weeks before that.. buti na lang benign rotations na kami nun.. ^__^
Yup, that's how Pedia was for me... parang di ako sigurado kung may nareretain akong information... Na-realize ko challenge talaga ang iniiwanan ka lang na magbasa on your own (na minsan di ko nagagawa hehe). Pero marami naman kaming nakitang cases sa OPD. Natututo pa rin naman ako. =)
Iba-ibang disposition din ng patients ang na-encounter ko... mula sa mga baby na walang ka-imik-imik, hanggang sa sobrang likot na batang developmentally delayed at may cleft palate, hanggang sa batang grabe magwala makakita lang ng karayom... Whew!
Sabi ng blockmate ko sa simula ng rotation mukhang bagay daw ako mag-Pedia... Kung may heart man ako para dito, di ko pa yata natutuklasan... At muli ako'y nagtatanong: Lord, ano bang kalalagyan ko 'pag naging ganap na 'kong doktor?
Yup, that's how Pedia was for me... parang di ako sigurado kung may nareretain akong information... Na-realize ko challenge talaga ang iniiwanan ka lang na magbasa on your own (na minsan di ko nagagawa hehe). Pero marami naman kaming nakitang cases sa OPD. Natututo pa rin naman ako. =)
Iba-ibang disposition din ng patients ang na-encounter ko... mula sa mga baby na walang ka-imik-imik, hanggang sa sobrang likot na batang developmentally delayed at may cleft palate, hanggang sa batang grabe magwala makakita lang ng karayom... Whew!
Sabi ng blockmate ko sa simula ng rotation mukhang bagay daw ako mag-Pedia... Kung may heart man ako para dito, di ko pa yata natutuklasan... At muli ako'y nagtatanong: Lord, ano bang kalalagyan ko 'pag naging ganap na 'kong doktor?
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
I survived OB!
And who would’ve thought I’d miss it after all?
It was our first major 4-week rotation, one that my block mates and I initially approached with dread. We didn’t know if we could keep up with the daily 7am schedule and having to face the strong personalities of some residents (we did get warned by the previous blocks). But stressful as it was, OB-Gyn 250 grew on us. In those four weeks I saw patients one on one and encountered some interesting cases, did internal examinations and pap smears for real, got the hang of doing Leopold’s maneuvers and listening to fetal heart tones, and even did my first successful IV line insertion (with the guidance of an intern that we had to call from another ward). :)
And then there’s the 24-hr duty at the labor room and delivery room. Never mind that my body clock got whacked; I had a lot of firsts during that post too:
◊ I assisted an outlet forceps delivery, where I helped get the baby out (he was slippery and I feared I might drop him!), and delivered the placenta…
◊ I also got to assist a cesarean section delivery. My main role was to retract skin and muscles and suction amniotic fluid from the baby’s mouth, and later on suction blood as the surgeon repaired the incisions…
◊ I inserted a foley catheter into a patient in the recovery room. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be…
◊ One resident let me try a bit of suturing an episiotomy, albeit with somewhat fumbling hands. :) Thank you for the patience ma’am!
After that weekend I never looked at OBAS (the OB Admitting Section) the same way again.
It used to be just a ‘fixture’ in my everyday route to the college, but after experiencing what it was like inside the LR/DR, I know I’ll be reminded of those firsts every time I pass by. :)
Ironically, I still don’t see myself as an Obstetrician / Gynecologist in the future (haha). But there’s just a sense of fulfillment with all these learning experiences, and I didn’t realize I’d miss the department until I went to the hospital yesterday morning for the orientation to Pedia 250.
Tapos na pala ang OB. Next year ulit… di bale nang mas toxic na sa susunod, ganun naman talaga eh. :)
It was our first major 4-week rotation, one that my block mates and I initially approached with dread. We didn’t know if we could keep up with the daily 7am schedule and having to face the strong personalities of some residents (we did get warned by the previous blocks). But stressful as it was, OB-Gyn 250 grew on us. In those four weeks I saw patients one on one and encountered some interesting cases, did internal examinations and pap smears for real, got the hang of doing Leopold’s maneuvers and listening to fetal heart tones, and even did my first successful IV line insertion (with the guidance of an intern that we had to call from another ward). :)
And then there’s the 24-hr duty at the labor room and delivery room. Never mind that my body clock got whacked; I had a lot of firsts during that post too:
◊ I assisted an outlet forceps delivery, where I helped get the baby out (he was slippery and I feared I might drop him!), and delivered the placenta…
◊ I also got to assist a cesarean section delivery. My main role was to retract skin and muscles and suction amniotic fluid from the baby’s mouth, and later on suction blood as the surgeon repaired the incisions…
◊ I inserted a foley catheter into a patient in the recovery room. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be…
◊ One resident let me try a bit of suturing an episiotomy, albeit with somewhat fumbling hands. :) Thank you for the patience ma’am!
After that weekend I never looked at OBAS (the OB Admitting Section) the same way again.
It used to be just a ‘fixture’ in my everyday route to the college, but after experiencing what it was like inside the LR/DR, I know I’ll be reminded of those firsts every time I pass by. :)
Ironically, I still don’t see myself as an Obstetrician / Gynecologist in the future (haha). But there’s just a sense of fulfillment with all these learning experiences, and I didn’t realize I’d miss the department until I went to the hospital yesterday morning for the orientation to Pedia 250.
Tapos na pala ang OB. Next year ulit… di bale nang mas toxic na sa susunod, ganun naman talaga eh. :)
old unpublished entry: 08-25-06
I just finished my Cardio elective and once again I was inspired to consider it as an option for my medical career. =) I’ve re-learned and learned a lot of stuff… Of course a week in CVS is not enough, but I could say it was really a fruitful elective. We saw patients and heard their murmurs (one was PDA; another was VSD [classic!], and another was ASD). We were exposed to a little of 2D Echo. We got to hear of pre-op cases being discussed by fellows and consultants. My ECG reading skills improved and I don’t think I’ll forget them again. I got a little more used to doing the PE of the heart. S l o w l y I’m becoming more confident in examining patients… and I know I’ll experience a lot more of history taking and PE in the months to come. Thank you Lord for this privilege to be trained in PGH! =)
First post :)
I remember comparing high school life to a marine voyage in our yearbook—and graduation was reaching our destination on shore. And then college life I likened to a trek up the mountains. If it were so, then med school was definitely a tough height to scale. Well, it still is. But what I used to consider too far off doesn’t seem as far now. I thought graduation is still a long way ahead, until one day it sank in that two and a half years have already whizzed by. I’m actually halfway there! It’s exciting and scary at the same time. Each day is one step closer to my becoming a real physician; each patient encounter an opportunity to hone that so-called clinical eye. May each step, then, not be in vain… Oh Lord please help me to make the most out of these years of training and be the kind of doctor that you want me to be.
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