LAST PBL!

Today marks the last day that i will ever have to do PBL (problem based learning)
pre-clinical years are FINALLY up!
(and hopefully i wun have to repeat yr 3 again)

Medical school was in a flurry; people taking photos of each other, lots of hugs, drinks, food, saying our goodbyes to PBL tutors and stuff. the whiteboards, instead of being filled with cool mechanisms and details of diseases, were stuffed full of silly drawings and bets to when priya (poor girl, was caught in a car accident) would arrive for PBL today.

Priya arrived at 9.27, the winner went to Allison (she betted 9.29), and she's the girl who bakes yummy muffins and is capable of making a mean fat yummy chocolate cheese cake. I will remember her by the cute tub of vanilla yoghurt that she must have, followed by the cup of green tea that sits by her side, smelling ever so fragrant and exotic.

Danny, the guy who LOVES to scribe on the board. he is terribly enthusiastic about learning and is highly motivated. He makes yummy ham and cheese croissants and he cracks funny jokes and brings us off tangent all the time. Jim the tutor will always go "Danny, you had your restless moment already.."

Laura is the quiet one with a pretty face. she is sweet and smart, but abit blur at times. Plus, her handwriting is unique and neat - makes it such a pleasure to read the notes when she is the notetaker.

Clara is the one who wears pretty clothes to school all the time. She is a fellow Cresentian! *whistles* She is also terribly smart, and contributes both food for the brains (wisdom) and food for the soul (muffins and cakes)

Andrew sits by the side, always listening attentively and absorbing knowledge like a sponge. he is really into rural health and all, being in the rural society. and he turned up for PBL today high from champnage, which made him alot more comical than usual.

Priya, although sometimes turning up late, is soft spoken and funny. she told us she had polio as a kid. and in turn, we taught her how she could catch the free bus to uni and actually arrive on time. she normally walks 30mins to uni - not a smart move when you are running late.

and of course, there is Alex(andra) who caught glandular fever 2 weeks back. she was pale, with enlarged spleen and lymph nodes. she lives on a farm an hour's drive out of the city, but she mostly hates the animals. Her sister was premature, her mother has pancreatitis and her friend is undergoing chemotherapy. (cases we did this semester) Empathy is her forte - she's a queen at being the 'compassionate and kind doctor everyone wants to see'

oh! how could i forget Victor, the one i fight with all the time. He always try to outdo me; come up with a better mechanism, research on more topics, read more widely. It's hilarious how our tutor asked us 3 weeks into the semester, "daphne, are you close to victor?".. We blushed and our group members spent a good minute laughing. of course he is good member, he lends me notes when i don't do my work, and he confirms any doubts that i have. haha

Last but not least, there is Jim.
A tutor who is like a father figure, who insist on knowing our learning strategies, our living circumstances and what we like to do in our leisure time.
He is also environmentally friendly - he walks to uni! He enjoys our jokes and silly conversations, and he is a positive contributor all the time, bringing into the group the years of experience that he has got.

So guys, there you go. My pbl group in a nutshell. *tear drop*
Probably one of the best group that I ever have, and might ever will have.

I make it sound a little like a 'graduation'. Maybe it is.

Somehow or another, 3 years of med school has flown by.
Friendships were forged, alcohol was drunk, homemade cakes and food were baked and eaten, PBL was not done (until the last minute before the exams) and coffee kept us awake through it all. to witness the pleasure, pain and horror of being in medicine.

drowning drowning

Let's do a re-cap on my exciting week

OSCES
otherwise known as how-to-make-a-med-student-freak-out in front of a real doctor.
8 stations, including a rest station. too bad for me, i STARTED on the rest station. so happily, i spent the 1st 10 minutes of the exam sitting down and .. freaking.

they asked a variety of stuff.. from how to take a sexual history from someone who just came back from a 'trip to thailand'... to ethical dilemmas..

i wouldn't ace it..but i shld pass me thinks?

did alot of stupid things as usual.
not knowing where the Snellen chart was (the chart with rows of letters in decreasing size to test ur visual acuity).. to almost killing my patient when testing for sensation using pinpricks.. i tink i poked too hard. blahhhh.

Revision
coming along slowly. i am still terribly distracted. i also dunno why. sigh. i just want everything to be over quickly. such a dread, exams.

Weather
The weather has been behaving like a female with PMS. some days SO HOT, some days i freeze. so annoying.

Parcel
My sister sent me a envelope filled with my favourite pensSsss!! so happy. thankew little girl. yayyy! now i can write non stop. mua ha ha.

Alrighty, back to schizophrenia.

update on...the toooth

hello hello.

just saw the dentist today, it's healing well!
no dry socket or wateva shit the other dentist said.

yeap, so it's well-vascularised and pinky and not hurting me anymore.
hopefully i can be back on normal meals soon.
it takes so so so long for me to eat a normal meal, the effort just drains the fun out of eating.

and theres so much more that i can say.. but i just woke up

so here's a big big thanks to every single one of u who was concerned about me... i'm back! (kinda better, but certainly one less tooth)

why can't things be simple

i was given panadeine forte by the dentist at the hospital. knowing that it was a much more potent painkiller.. i decided that i should take it, since it would be nice to be painfree ya'know.

so i popped 2 into my mouth and swallowed it down with water.

and 1 hours plus later, i was nauseated to the very pits of my stomach, and i just wanted to throw up, but there wasn't anything to throw up since i only have a smoothie and a bit of cake for lunch. (just before i discovered the loose stitches) plus i was groggy and headachy all over.

so i had to lie flat (sitting up made it worse) and i slept the day away and woke up at 1930.

i hate myself!!! sob

ps: panadeine forte is panadol plus codeine. and codeine in the body, is converted to morphine, and im sure all of you know what morphine does. guess i shouldn't have underestimated the potency of the drug.. and should have started low by taking 1 initially.

the aftermath..of the aftermath

can u believe my luck?

my freaking stitches from my wisdom tooth extraction came loose!
and my wound was like semi-exposed.

rushed to the A&E at the hospital. took me an hour to see a doc/dentist person. there must have been alot of heart attacks and other urgent patients to attend to.

so when i finally got to see the dentist, she REMOVED my stitches, with alot of ease since it was loose and hanging already. and she declared that i did not need any new stitches!... sent me home with antibacterial mouthwash and pain killers. but she warned me to rinse my mouth after i eat, to prevent things from getting trapped in my wound.

i forsee many more smoothie meals. >.<

the aftermath

when i open my mouth, i can see 2 neat stitches sitting at the back of the L row of teeth. gums are still tender and swollen, but i guess that is acceptable. i think the pain was worst right after the LA wore off and before the panadeine kicked in. it was like.."OH GOOSSSH". and i think the best painkiller of them all is ...SLEEP. somehow when u sleep you cant feel the pain. so i sorta slept my friday away.

so far it's been pretty sore, and my jaw muscles have been ultra contracted, resulting in me being unable to open my mouth wide.

and i dunno how my twinnie manages to eat rice and stuff.. i had smoothie for dinner last night and another smoothie for lunch today. dinner i had porridge. very ermm smooth meals. lol i guess i am afraid of having little bits of food stuck in my wound. i think that is horrifying and disgusting.

the freakiest bit of the surgery was when the dentist yanks the tooth out. you can still feel the pressure, and u can see the dentist using his strength to remove the stubborn tooth. the only thing is you cannot feel sharp pain. (pain and pressure receptors are different) the pressure feeling sorta freaked me out. thank god for lignocaine! wheee! :) and thank goodness vic was there, to hear me squirm the life out of me and make funny faces at the dentist. yah but moral support: very impt!

so yar.. hopefully more solid foods soon.

sick me

aishah made a funny comment about me today.
she says that i dress up so nicely on some days, and on other days.. i look like shit in my shorts and t-shirt.

and i didnt even realised that people took notice of what i actually wear! o.o

i dunno, it's tiring to dressup. sometimes its fun, but not when i have to drag myself out of bed at 7 in the morning...

anyway, its another 2 hours and i will have to be at the dentist!
will tell u how that went. bye!

blahhh

if gummies could express how i feel, this would be it.
a vile combination of boredom, lack of motivation, and general sian-ness.
i really need a pick me up soon if not i.. i.. not sure what will happen. heh

anyway aishah's bdae thing last night was good! alot of yummy food, and many people squeezed into a cosy apartment kinda feels like chinese new year. i dunno, chit-chatting and watching friends on the tv is always chicken soup for the weary soul. and aishah has a cool coffee making machine! so it was aishahbucks (not starbucks) at work - she even made me foamed milk! haha. i was so happy :) over forthy airy milk.

its only a month more to the exams. it's seriously freaking me out, esp when i consider how much revision there is to do. it's abit like the A levels, where u just have to somehow cram years of work into a brain. 3 yrs of med! just for one exam. damn.....

uni days

this is one of the slackest week in uni ever.
monday was public holiday and there are no classes on thurs!

a 3 day week.

but i am still so tired. so lacking. so bored.

*yawn*

sorry for the lack of interesting things on my blog.
going thru a boring patch in my life at the moment.

and i shall only blog thereafter if i have sth cool to tell.
like aishah's bdae party this saturday! whooppeee. and i might possibly go for international night on friday. plus my wisdom tooth extraction hoohaa next friday. *ahhh!!*

so meantime, go read some other blogs man.