Friday, April 21, 2006

Confession of a medic student #13 - Raymond's Philosophy

(April 21, 2006 at 12:02 PM)

You are a detective when seeing the patient,
You are a lawyer when presenting the case,
You are a doctor when rendering the treatment.
(Quoted from Prof Dr Raymond)

I attended Prof Raymond’s talk today. He’s one funny lecturer. He even has his very own philosophy! –he calls it the [Raymond’s Philosophy]… facing exams is one thing, treating and managing the patient is another, both equally important. "I never believe in saying [i want to be a good doctor], instead, say [i want to pass my exam] first. How can you be a good doctor when you fail and is NOT a doctor... pass your exam first then be a good doctor"he said. I didn't like the way he put that, i mean one can be a good medical student and still pass exams... be nice to the patients... but i guess he had his point...

I had a weird week… an exceptionally pleasantly weird week though… I met a number of ‘different’ people… and I wonder whether was it an omen… maybe, God was trying to say something… a language, I don’t quite understand yet… (then again, since when do I believe in omens?)

3 weeks had past… I’m getting used to going to the wards… the patients here are generally nice… sometimes I feel a little guilty when the patients thanked me for examining them… I mean, I should be thanking them for being my subjects… (no offence)... sometimes, knowing the problem but not being able to help much gave me a sense of helplessness...

the wards sometimes scares me… not that I’ve seen any ghost or spirits… it’s just that, seeing sick people made me treasure life even more… some diseases are very common… you may find half the patients in the wards having hypertension and diabetes mellitus! COPD, Myocardiac Infarction, Tumour – very commonly seen… there was once, i saw 5 Dengue cases in a ward!! before entering the wards, i had never anticipated these disaese to be that common... i mean sure, you know the statistic, but seeing them is another thing... and for your information, half the patients in the wards are smokers… (NEVER attempt smoking... it's bad for your lungs, vessels, heart, brain and can cause cancer in almost every part of one's body!!)

it hurts to admit that, sometimes, every doctor has his limits… you tried so hard, yet in the end, it’s all in God’s hands… then you start praying hard… last week, they had to discharge a hepatitis B patient, ‘there’s nothing else we can do’-the doctor said… and the family cried…

Sunday, April 16, 2006

COAMS #12- Bell's Palsy?

(April 16, 2006 at 10:57 PM)

Destiny is not a matter of chance,
It is a matter of choice,
It is not a thing to be waited for,
It is a thing to be achieved.
(W. Bryan)

My consultant, Dr Hamidon, said the line above. He’s a nice funny guy.

2 weeks of clinical studies have past. So, much had happened lately that I’m not sure what to blog. My ‘interesting’ wards meetings? How I met my previous boss at the orthopedic wards? How I had cramps on both legs and almost drowned? How we got miserably caught in the rain at pasar malam? What I bought at pc fair? Preparation for AMSC Hong Kong? etc… (that could take a few pages..)

ok, let me just share with you my clinical studies, you could skip the boring lines, of course ^_^. For the first month, we were divided to 4 different systems, one system each week- CNS(central nervous system), CVS(cardiovascular system), Respiratory system and the Abdomen. So, I had my CNS lessons on the 1st week, CVS on the second.

During my CNS posting, I met a patient who had Bell’s palsy, which was quite an interesting case. For the benefit of non-medical students, I’ll explain about Bell’s palsy. Bell’s palsy is a paralysis of the cranial nerve 7- the facial nerve, the essential nerve for facial expressions. Which means, to perform an examination on the 7th nerve, we need the patient to perform a series of ‘face exercise’(which was quite funny).
1. without moving your head, look upwards
2. screw or squint your eyes
3. puff your cheeks (the examiner, with his index fingers, will attempt to pop the air out of your cheeks)
4. show your teeth (grin)
Good job! I see you had excitedly examined yourself. Good, you have great facial muscles. Ok, let’s go back to the patient : Because the nerve is only effected on one side of the face, you would only see paralysis on one side of the face (eg:left side). You can obviously see the asymmetry- drooping of eyelids, drooping of the corner of the mouth, flattened nasolabial folds, smoothing of the wrinkled forehead… The patient is OK now, you can’t really see the weakness of facial muscles unless you observe carefully and perform the facial examination.

I was happily following my consultant on the wards one day when I heard someone calling my name from the back. When I turned my head, I was like –OH MY GOD! Remember I used to give tuition lessons in Rasah Jaya during my form6 break? Well, that was my boss, Mr Raj. He was admitted to the orthopedic department, MVA(motor vehicle accident) 6 years ago, now he’s back with complications-infection. He had 5 fractures and had a graft. Serious case, almost had his leg amputated, but the doctor managed to save his leg. The kid that ran into him only had a RM300 summon, while Mr Raj had suffered for years, and still is…it’s a sad world… It’s funny though that you can actually meet people you know at the hospital. It was fun chatting with him though… He was telling me how the consultant shouted at the students, and I can’t help thinking that I might be one of ‘the students’ some day … *siGh *…

Did I mention that there’s an Olympic size swimming pool at the stadium opposite my school? It’s something like the one in S2, only that it doesn’t have a deep and a shallow area. Yes, it’s deep all the way, but if I hop on my toes, I could almost emerge. Swimming was fun, it helps me think (the way writing helps me think).. except the part when I had cramps on the back of my calf, first on the right leg, then the other. The pain was so sharp, radiating upwards. I could not even bent my knees! The funny thing is, my friend, im sing who attempted to save me, grab my hand and I was like ‘let go, I can’t swim without my hands’ –haha! Oh boy, she was scared alright. CONCLUSION : 1.never forget to warm-up before swimming, 2. sexy, good-looking lifeguards are only found in Baywatch.

P/s: I was lucky I did not get admitted to the A&E department this time. Hopefully, when I left KL campus, I left the curse behind as well. The last thing I need is to be clerked by my own coursemates! *sigh *…

Author's Note

Dear friends and readers, Thank you for dropping by and leaving comments/ shoutouts. More importantly, thank you for being there... please accept my apology that, lately, i may be busy with work and not have time to reply youir messages/comments, but rest assured, each and everyone is read, and highly appreciated :) have a nice day! ^^

of love

Today, i heard a story which was not a story of falling...
of living in the dark end of winter turmoil..
instead, it was a love story..
of a couple who did not live happily ever after...
but they live, loving each other..