moleskine

I have one!... whilst other people's moleskines hold great ideas, beautiful sketches and stuff that would be made into moving stories and movies...

Mine's mainly as a paper reminder to my slightly forgetful brain. Hehe.
The first entry would probably reflect what I have to do today, and would go something like:

Things to do:
Summary session for this Friday
Anaesthesia PBL for next week
Invites for party
?Rehab Writeup


Oooo. This is going to be so fun.

things that caught my eyes.. help!

so very geeky.
so very cute!

the molecular structure of caffeine is represented in this cool pendant. the solid metal round are carbon (C) and the hollow metal rounds are oxygen (O). Big orange circles are nitrogen (N) and small orange bits are hydrogen (H).
Perfect for a
caffeine addict! (me)
























This ebony and pearly earrings are just perfect for the dinner out with some great friends! or with a special someone!

Classy without being too overwhelming.



























ahhh. nice spacious summery bag.

good for all the crap that a medical student should be carrying! notebook, stethoscope, hospital ID, stationery, notes, etc etc.

























simple and sweet earrings!
for everyday wear!

and i like the mix of green and teal. plus the teeny flowers... whee!



ok end of my online window shopping.
back to rehab writeup! :(

last work day of the week! woo hoo!

It's ANZAC day tomorrow man. Even though I don't particularly celebrate it but I guess it's still great to have a public holiday anytime man. I did however, wake up early once in 2nd year I think to watch the dawn service on the telly. Anyhow, I think it's a more symbolic and meaningful holiday than say Adelaide Cup?

Spent the entire Wednesday at Hampstead Rehab. Was not especially productive but I guess at least I saw a few things. My patient, whom I am following up for my rehabilitation write up, is really nice. I think stroke is indeed a bad way to be living with a disability. My poor patient may be extremely mobile but the problems with his speech is causing him much anguish and frustration. I'm hoping he gets much improved in the following weeks of rehab since he has already shown a significant amount of improvement to date.

Anyhow, the thing with Hampstead was.. it left me so damn tired. I came home and just felt spaced out despite attempting to re-charge with a can of redbull. ugh. Oh well... but 9 hours of sleep is OH SO GOOD. (swoons) heh heh

Ok dokes, back to falls. -.-

the making of a great day

you only appreciate a great day..

1. when you spent the day before stuck with a bad migraine + nausea + vomitting + photophobia and you had to curl up in bed sick like anything from the migraine.
2. because u are feeling well rested from a 10 hour long deep sleep.
3. as soon as you wake up, you want to DO something and LIVE!
4. after u clean the bathroom until it sparkles.. every single damn thing inside the bathroom is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN.
5. when you realise the next 6 weeks.. u are stuck in a silly rotation called ACC2. so seize the weekend!
6. when you can sit in a cafe for as long as u like, sipping away at the coffee.
7. when you have a great sit down dinner with your close mates!

powdered coins anyone?

mEi~mEi says:
hahahahahhah~! oki oki

mEi~mEi says:
66.10~!

mEi~mEi says:
right?

zickzen says:
eh.

zickzen says:
66.093339

mEi~mEi says:
yahlorh~ 66.10 ma?

zickzen says:
i want 9.3339 cents exact okie

zickzen says:
lol

mEi~mEi says:
HAHAHHAHAH

mEi~mEi says:
OKAY

zickzen says:
good stuff

zickzen says:
:)

mEi~mEi says:
i'll break the coins into pieces

mEi~mEi says:
rotfl

no incision appendicectomy?

(click on pic to link)

i think most of you have heard news about it before.. but this is a pretty cool article anyhow. (if you are interested)

happy happy 32 months!!

from quaint little barossa valley...

round the other side of the world to bustling London..

wandering around KL..

sipping coffee in a small lane in Melbourne..

to your crazy wine sprees in Perth...

I'm so glad to have you with me.
happy happy many months baby!
here's to even more! :)

*hugs*

what a weekend.

I was corridor marshal-ing at the AMC (Australian Medical Council) clinical examination for foreign trained doctors. It was a full day thing and I earned 160 bucks from it, just from directing people from one place to another. You have no idea how difficult it was to 'follow the red line on the ground to the next station'.

Many stranded and panicky doctors, to say the least.

Lucky Daphne was there to rescue them from the possible plight of getting lost in the middle of a clinical examination. te he he.

During the rest stations, I asked the candidates where they were from originally AND where they are working at the moment. The candidates are from anywhere and everywhere.. India (mostly), China, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Germany, Argentina... so varied. Yet when they sit for an exam, it's uncanny how similar their reaction and behaviour can be.

Getting jumpy when the bell goes off, concentrating hard as one reads the question stuck firmly on the wall, knocking politely on entering the door. Even as a bystander, I could sense how stressful the atmosphere was. Understandably of course, I always feel the same before my dreaded OSCE.

Anyhow, it was quite an interesting day as I get to be in the setting of an examination from a different perspective. I got to read the questions and I wandered from station to station without much stress or anxiety in me. I knew some of the examiners and role players, everyone was chatting endlessly during lunch. It was really good. :)

Hopefully I get to do it again in September as a role player. It would be fun me thinks. :)

ramblings.

i think they should change the system. instead of one semester of MSAs and ACC2 (which is not very busy) and another semester of O&G and Paeds (damn busy).. they should mix and match. like in a proposed semester:

do like an O&G, followed by say 3 MSAs.
next sem do Paeds, and ACC2 and 1 MSA.

makes more sense? so people who are doing O&G and Peads right before the final barrier exam.. don't have to freak out and start studying their other components of the curriculum eons in advance. it's like they have no common sense, those people running the curriculum and designating when our holidays and rotations are meant to me.

anyhow, orthogeries.. is starting to feel abit repetitive.
inclusion criteria: >65 years old, low-trauma fall, sustained fractured NOF (neck of femur ie hip fracture)
other stuff that usually goes along with it: diseases of the heart/kidneys/lungs +/- current infections in the lungs/urinary tract

at least i have been seeing some common signs. heard a few interesting chest sounds.. heart murmurs.. have a patient with possible frontal-lobe dementia (very very interesting)

other than that, i get free coffee almost every day (wheee!) so that a huge plus plus for me. keeps me happy and awake. :)

this is week 10 of school.

9 more weeks to go before I'm home bound! :)


my ortho-geries consultant is SHO NICE.
approachable, friendly, knowledgeable, humorous, .. and best of all..

she gives me one-on-one TUTORIALS!

wah, she's like harrison's come alive..except she is concise and makes things so simple to comprehend. i'm really lucky to have her for 3 weeks.

maybe things really do fall in place if you trust and have a little faith.

no rural gp? well.. here comes a chance for you to meet this great doctor!

things do come together at the end of the day. and i'm really glad it did :)

new found inspiration

looks like im going to be doing orthogeriatrics at RAH for my next MSA. gosh that is going to utterly boring. unless i concentrate on the 'ortho' part of things, but i doubt that there is much opportunity to do that. >.<

at least i'm glad that is settled. can't say that im not sore about not going for rual GP.. but i guess that's life. gotta let go and live.

anyhow, i stayed around till 6.15pm today. did a very thorough admission note for a patient, who is to say the least, rather difficult to extract history from. ugh. spent so long reading through previous admission notes and outpatient notes. at least my RMO thought it was a good job on my part.

so yeap. that kept me slightly pleased at myself. yay for me!

*sniff*

I got a call from Christine Egglestone saying that they were unable to organise for me to do rural GP afterall. I kind of had a hunch about things, seeing how I did not get any information at all regarding the rotation.

Firstly, I'm peeved that it took that THIS long to come tell me that hey, sorry mate, no place for you. It's already Tuesday today and the rotation is due to start next Monday. Secondly, I had a pretty good list of other MSAs that I could have choose from - ID, hematology, forensic pathology and what nots. BUT I CHOSE to do rural GP. just simply because I wanted to! plus all that crap about how good the country is and blah blah blah. So I'm mighty disappointed. If you allow 4 students to sign on for each rotation, shouldn't the rural coordinator be able to accommodate for that number?

Anyhow, after receiving the sad news from Christine, I got an equally sad email from the rural coordinator, Marie Smith.

Hello Daphne

I am so sorry for leaving it this late but i have tried to find a rural placement
for you but most practices already have enough students or the GPs are going on
leave so it hs proven to be very difficult. Christine Eggleston from MLTU will be
finding an urban placement for you as there is plenty of places available. She will
be in contact with you very soon.

regards


Anyhow, I stood by my choice and refused to do a urban GP rotation. So now, Christine is going to try put me up for some rotations at the RAH.

Everything is in limbo at the moment. So so so annoying.

feeling in need of some inspiration?

年轻的心
作词：陈佳明 / 作曲：巫启贤
演唱：裘海正 / 巫启贤 / 伊能静 / 方文琳

你享受和平日出的光辉
映照昨天你的泪水
在和谐的旋律中成长
让我们一齐欢唱
也许今日我们有些困苦
也许明天依然如故
但千万不要畏惧退缩
让时间拨开黑雾
就算身处在艰难和困苦里
也有生存的勇气
只要从头开始把握你的信心
紧握的双手里有你的命运

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务
给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

你享受和平日出的光辉
映照昨天你的泪水
这没有战火的天际
它需要你的延续
这世界会有不安的动荡
这国土也曾有沧桑
在此刻清醒的回顾
你背後不远的历史
只因你我祖先的艰苦
才会有今日的财富
我们历经几代风雨中的奋斗
要相信所有困难就要结束

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务

给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务

给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

给我年轻的心
给我你的热情
让太阳为你披上雪亮的制服
你我的肩上有着共同任务

给我年轻的心
给我你的生命
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容
在今天抚平所有波涛的汹涌
向未来岁月展现你的笑容

Whenever this old chinese song plays on my itunes when i put the playlist to shuffle.. it gets me all happy and inspirational. It speaks of life and how we should treasure the peace and harmony that we grew up in, brace the challenges of the present with trust and faith and face the future with hope and a big smile on your face!

It does sound rather cheesy. afterall, this song was written in the 80s! sometimes I wonder if I should have been born in the 70s or something. I really like oldies!... lol

melby!

i'm not going to be able to talk on and on about how wonderful melbourne is. most people already figure that out on their own. so i guess i'm just going to post up a couple of pics just for the heck of it. first up! laurent on little collins street. (click pic to check them out). I think it's a great place to hang out and have a slow afternoon. There's this very old-school french feel to the place. decent cakes and coffees... and they have macaroons!
and this is vickaroo. with his cup of latte. there ain't many pics of me because i was in charge of the camera.. so he gets very lazy.

oh chicken and avocado sandwich! yumyum. (vic's)

roast lamb and roast veges sandwich (mine) yumyumyum
and look below! post-sandwich indulges included a strawberry tart.. and a macaroon.

(click on pic for link to moonlight cinemas)

and on one of the days, we went for an outdoor screening of the movie, sweeney todd! it was held in the royal botanic gardens. there were tons of people, probably nearing a thousand or something. everyone brought their mats, sleeping bags, cushions.. we didn't. everyone else brought snacks and drinks.. we didn't. haha we were like total amateurs at it. lucky vic's friend (who invited us for the movie in the first place) prepared some mats and stuff. it was a pretty chilly night and i was clad in SHORTS. the only way i could take my mind off the freezing atmosphere was to really really concentrate very very hard on the movie.

and sweeney todd was pretty neat in my opinion. some of the songs are hilarious! especially 'the worst pies in london' and the one about the magical hair elixir. haha. ok. enough talk for now. look out for the next part of the melb pics!

friday's my fave day!

i ended at 12 because the afternoon off was meant for 'self-directed study'... which didn't really happen. haha! i went to rundle mall, got my electives application forms sent off. ran a few other errands. came home. turned the aircon on full blast. it's still freaking 40 degrees in the day and it does not get much cooler at night.

joined the boys for abit of soccer but got bored so i ran around the oval. the route is pretty nice, alot of trees and stuff around. only problem is i don't really dig running on gravel. the noise irritates me! all that stone grizzling sounds.

anyhow, we went to the northern lights outdoor exhibition just now. really cool! photos will be uploaded when i. feel. like. it.

i'm tired from all that running and walking.

tata

back in adelaide

I did superwoman worthy acts yesterday, waking up at 3.30, flying back to adelaide at 6.00.. and being able to be awake and alive for ward rounds at 9am.

and best of all, lasting till 3.30pm! all this on 2 hours of sleep.

haha and then i got home and totally died on the bed for a very much needed nap.

melbourne was great, shall blog when i get my photos uploaded.

anyhow, gastroenterology seems full on. eeugh. i received my cardiology case report and assessment form in my mail yesterday. let's just say that prof horowitz must have been in a hell of a good mood when he graded my papers. No mean comments scribbled on my work, no big question marks anywhere. heh heh heh.

anyhow, need to sleep.

seeya world.

safe in melby!

it's so much cooler in melbourne; so glad to miss the heat wave going on at the moment in adelaide! apparently sporting events might be cancelled for fear of sportsmen collapsing from heat stroke. o.o that sounds pretty bad man.

anyhow, my last day at cardio was pretty uneventful. did the usual ward round and was really amused by my reg.. who claimed that i looked 'different' and more 'radiant' today compared to the day before. i'm not sure what criteria of difference and radiance he used...

he was oblivious to the fact that i woke up late! (turned the alarm off and went back to bed for a longer than intended length of time) and thus had to rush like speedydoo out of the house. i was still partially asleep whilst washing up and changing.. no idea how he would think i looked 'better' than usual.

but then again men are weird creatures.

and i have to tell you about my friend's brother! he makes mean cocktails! it was one of the better long island teas that i've had in a long while man....

anyhow, long day ahead tmr.

blog soon! takecare world :)

cardiology rox my sox! (not)

It's times like these.. I can finally get why some medical students/junior doctors fall in love with cardiology and would like to pursue it as a career option. It's intense, interesting and positive. You have the opportunity to do procedures - such as catheterizing, EP studies, ablation, blah blah. There are various investigations and imaging modalities that you can employ to aid management of your patients. There are so many drugs (and drug interactions) that you can fiddle around with.

Sorry to interrupt here, but that was not my acclamation of my love for cardiology. it's just an understanding that I've arrived at. and I think it's really cool! :)

With the completion of my case writeup.. I sense the end of the cardiology elective.

Met too many nice folks on this rotation. pretty glad about that! Sometimes I think Medicine is a vicious cycle of learning, teaching and re-learning. All that trading of information is really helpful in formulating your own opinions in the long run.

and for now.. i'm looking forward to melbourneeeeeee!! (double yay)

big night out.

our initially sophisticated and dignified dinner at la tratorria turned into a crazy night. I say it as though I am very surprised by that, but truely, the after dinner drinks were unplanned and totally spontaneous!

We didn't really want to do karaoke (because we would have to play audience to hans' singing lol) and then we didn't really want to adjoin to a pub/bar (because drinks would be too expensive and we cannot be crazy)

So, after rounds of having people volunteer their stash - Alfred and his wines, citrus fruits and mint leaves, Venita and her baileys, Ian and his Jaeger, Sean and his Barcardi Limon.. Hans going off to buy mixers and redbull...Vicky dearest with his expensive grey goose vodka..

WE WERE SET!

I am not going to tell you how crazy the night was because really, you had to be there to experience it. Oh, and you had to have CNS depression as well. Slow reflexes, incoordination and slurred speech make the best combination for losing drinking games. In the zone we say!

Halfway through the night, we decided we would absolutely LURVE the idea of having a group picture with poker cards flying down on us. Alas, time and muscle coordination were not on our side. After something like 10 attempts, we did not even manage ONE single photo that could capture our intended aim.

some blackmail evidence as follows:

birthday girls! Quinnie and I ^^

US again! with the yummy tiramisu from muratti's (victor supplied cake!)

the poses in this pic. ARE.SO.BLOODY.HILARIOUS.

-----------------------------------------------------

Besides, I have to thank everyone who has taken time to send me a message on facebook, text me on my mobile or sent me a little email/note. It has been much appreciated!! :) It kinda feels nice to be remembered. te he he.

Alrighty, and that marks the end of my birthday weekend. It's back to cardiology!

I FEEL SO OLD.

i have reached the point in my life where.. birthdays are starting to ignite feelings of dreadfulness and not excitement. if not for the well wishes flooding in at the moment from well-wishers, i'd be damned!

Going to have a combined birthday dinner with quinnie later this evening! should be good. especially all the girly dressing up and helping one another pretty up. gosh i feel so vain! anyway, Victor has made today pretty special already. Time and time again, he has proven to me the limitations of the male human species.

The script for today's play is aptly titled:

Why men should never live alone in this world

CAST
Daphne (played by Sandra Bullock)
Victor (played by Hugh Grant)

SCRIPTWRITER
Daphne Law

This story is adapted from real life and hopefully bears no resemblance to your life, in this life or the next.

Daphne walks into the shower after a late morning sleep in. She yawns and stretches her arms, embracing the fact that she had a satisfying late saturday sleep in. She was totally looking forward to the idea of having some egg and ham sandwich for lunch, which she would obviously prepare for the two of them. Well, simply because men should not be left alone with cooking utensils, fire or raw food.

However, she stopped in her train of thoughts. The selection of bathing products ain't what she was used to. "What? Pantene for my precious hair? And you expect me to use Johnson and Johnson's shower gel?" Daphne shook her head in disapproval. She reckons if she was going to get serious with this guy, she must start by changing the bathroom products.

Thoughts of luscious and creamy lo'cittane shea butter products were terminated the moment she saw the following product, snugly positioned in between the pantene shampoo and conditioner.

She frowned and felt extremely puzzled. Did men apply moisturisers in the shower room right after they wash their faces? Did the skincare regime for men differ from women?

She continued her shower with this lingering question that she could not find an appropriate answer to. Daphne walked back to the room and promptly asked Victor.

"Do you apply your moisturiser in the shower? Is it better for the skin or something?


"Oh! you mean that that's for moisturising? No wonder it felt funny. It didn't lather up very well you see. I thought it was meant to be a facial wash."

THE END