Roda!

It's been a long while since I've been inside a Roda. There's something almost magical about being part of that circle, hearing the call of the berimbau, with the pandeiros and atabaque joining in the rhythm of that ancient music.

We have our monthly Roda today. However, I am home in the province. *sigh*

After one year of being a capoeirista, I don't think I have learned that much. Bo does his best, but I try his patience to the utmost. I've been busy and really tired lately. It's a pretty lame excuse, all in all.

I miss capoeira. Miss sweating it out. Miss muscle cramps and falling down and doing handstands (against the wall). Miss the sound of the berimbau. Miss push-ups and prone cobras. Miss the ginga and esquivas and au sem maus and the meia luas.

The thing is, capoeira is now a part of my life. There's no ignoring it.

I will definitely, definitely be back.

So... Home at Last

So. After fighting with my siblings over who gets to go online, I finally am online. So I browse my FB, open my blogs, tried to write, and come up blank.

There was a time when words flowed out from my brain to my fingertips. Those were happier days.

Anyway. So. I'm home at last. And with my two siblings at that. It's a rare event. Since Ex went to college and Cho graduated, we have seldom been home together at the same time.

It's great that we're all home together. The house is definitely more disorganized now that we're here. And mama gets to yell at us lazybones again. But that's the great part. Mama yelling at us. With all of us in Cebu, this house has been silent for too long.

Yesterday was an ordeal.

A drive which could have taken 15 minutes at most on an ordinary day took me more than an hour. The traffic was enough to drive one nuts. And to think the North Reclamation road was a major highway! It certainly didn't feel that way as I went at an agonizingly slow pace, wedged between ten-wheelers! It didn't help that there was an accident. And to top it all, the electricity was down in the pier area. After I finally got myself a ticket (the last ones!), I had to drive home as fast as traffic allowed, stuff clothes inside my bag, pack my Harrison and laptop, and get a taxi back to the pier. The last part was not as easy as it sounds.

But. All of that doesn't matter now. Because I'm home. Finally. Fighting with my siblings over chores and the internet and television. Just like the old times.

And now, I have to worry about getting a ticket back to Cebu.

x_x

Rabo Day

Sunday was Rabo day! (enter fireworks!)

We started the day with our daily ritual of midnight noodles and canton. I gave him my surprise gift afterwards. Actually, it wasn't much of a surprise. I had ordered customized voodoo dolls but then got tagged in FB so he found out about it. Tsk tsk tsk. At least he had the decency to try to act like he was surprised.



Actually, I wanted to give him something else. However, my poor wallet did not allow me.

I made munchkins to make up for it. Actually, I made munchkins because it was the only thing my culinary skills allowed.

We planned another surprise for that day. But it backfired. Again. (I give up on organizing surprises.) Was going to give him a surprise after-dinner party but then he started inviting people to dinner so people got a little mixed up. Anyway, so it was finally cleared up and we went to the Japanese Carenderia for dinner. It was closed. (Surprise!) So we ended up at a friend's BBQ restaurant.

Dinner. Finally.

Then off at last to another friend's house for the real party!

This is where they started playing dress up. He'd actually make a really pretty princess. Ummm... if it weren't for the biceps bulging.

There was booze (for them) and softdrinks (for me), videoke (again!)and an all-night poker tournament. I kept losing and Rabo had to keep supplying me with coins to keep me in the game. We kept this up until sleep (and Red Horse) finally caught up.

Despite the surprises (on my part), it was a really great day.

And none of it would have been remotely possible if it weren't for the following: Arame & Exquisito (whose house we crashed for the night), Gaivota (who had duty the next day but came anyway, Passarinha (who was supposed to go on a trip but decided to be with the gang instead), Martelo (who had to go home to avoid relieving an embarrassing situation... kidding...), Rato (the big bro), Podim & Barullo (who brought chocolates!), and Papagaio and Cascudo (who came for free dinner... hehe..)

Special thanks to Pristine for the hot pink princess dress.

Looking forward to more Rabo Days in the future.

Thank God It's Friday!

Friday Night. Finally!



And with Monday a holiday (Barangay and SK Elections), what better way to spend a Friday night then with friends and a karaoke machine?



It's been a long, long while since we got together. I remember it was at this Karaoke House where I first bonded with them, the capoeiristas. I was the noob then, the new face. Didn't really realize how much a big chunk of my heart this group finally came to occupy.

Tuesday, with its Module Quiz (which I have yet to start studying) will come soon enough. But I'm glad I had Friday.

x_o

shocked

I could hear the collective inner groan as we saw the special lecture topic was about *insert drum rolls here* Shock.

There's nothing wrong about the lecture topic itself. Shock was something we all needed to learn by heart. Hypovolemic shock. Traumatic shock. Distributive shock. Cardiogenic shock. Signs & symptoms. Management. Prognosis. Blah blah blah.

But the thing was, we probably had the same lecture over and over and over again by different lecturers. I don't know if it was a mistake or if they really meant to drill every single thing about shock into our thick skulls. Or maybe they just wanted to torture us.

But when she started talking about Shock, well, we were shocked.

She talked at lightning speed (she reminded me of the teaching videos), had a wry sense of humor, delivered punchlines with a straight face, and said "ummm" only twice. (I counted.)To sum it all up, she was brilliant. I was starry-eyed with admiration.

And I think at least 70% of the material actually penetrated my thick skull.

She was a huge contrast to another lecture we had that morning. I won't say anything more except that I know he knows his material (or he wouldn't be standing in front of us) but that he wasn't an effective lecturer. I spent the whole time daydreaming. (Which makes me guilty, now that I have confessed about it.)

Another lecturer we had recently must have been really good with her field and understood what she was talking about. We just wished she'd look at us while she talked instead of staring at the LCD screen the whole time. Anyway, everybody felt it was a waste of time and nobody listened.

My point: Most of the time, I blame the lecturer. If I didn't listen, it's because the lecturer was boring. But then again, it all boils down to me in the end. They've been through all that already. I haven't. And if I don't listen, it's not their loss. It's mine.

x_x

Reminder to self: Listen to lectures. Even if you're bored to death. Even if you're falling asleep on your chair.

Copyright, 1975

One of the first things I fell in love with in my medical school was the library. Having graduated from a state university with it's not-quite-so-impressive armament of books, I was positively thrilled peeking through those glass doors and gazing upon rows and rows of shelves stuffed full of medical knowledge just waiting for me to absorb.

What can I say? I was young and naive.(Still am, mostly.)

I was well into my second year before it finally hit me. (It took me long enough.

Our library is a museum!

There were books as old as Copyright, 1975. The oldest I found was Copyright, 1981.

Seriously. Maybe it's sentimental values. Or maybe it's the historical value aspect. I dunno. All I know is that those really old books are useless. Nobody... as in NOBODY... reads them.

We do have the latest editions, safe and sound inside the Reserve Section. And since there are as few as one copy each, we'd have to outwit everyone else if we wanted to take the books home for the night.

Well... it's not that I'm complaining. But then again, maybe I am.

x_x

the making of a case pre

The case I was going to present was given to me eleven days ago. ELEVEN DAYS AGO.

There was this really good case which my groupmate did not want to take. He already had a case (the one given to the group as a requirement) and with Block Finals coming up, he didn’t want to go to the bother of making another history and physical exam and plan of management. I was next in line so I volunteered.

Most people get their case five to seven days before they present. The unluckier ones get cases three days prior.

I, on the other hand, am more than lucky. I am extremely lucky, because aside from getting my case 11 days prior, there was going to be no Module Exam on Monday. Most people have to juggle studying for module exam & preparing for their CP. The unluckiest have in addition to those, a Clinicopathologic Case Presentation. Not me.

I had a lot of time in my hands so I did not worry. And so “I’ll do it tonight” turned to “I’ll do it tomorrow” which turned to “I’ll do it on weekend” until I woke up on a Monday morning with a case presentation 25% done. The presentation was going to be the next day.

Anxiety turned to mild panic. To finish on time, I absolutely had to stay up the whole night. However, my good intentions were no match for my inherent abnormal sleepiness. I woke up at twelve midnight, still without a differential diagnosis and a plan of management, with no clue on how to proceed. I worked feverishly at an agonizingly slow pace until 3:30 in the morning, fell asleep, woke up at 6:30, went into another panic mode, and finally… FINALLY… finished at 12 noon.

*Sigh*

Some lessons I just never learn.

The Long Road to Medical School

For the umpteenth time, I am late again. I guess that's kind of inevitable if your class is at eight am and you wake up at half past seven.

That wasn't quite a problem before. I am gifted with the ability to take a bath in less than ten minutes (if I skip the daydreaming part), and the lecturers are often late, and because I had Yesu, my beloved 1997 Honda Civic.

However, due to parental conflict, Yesu was grounded and I am left to the mercies of jeepney drivers and early morning pollution.

I guess it wouldn't have been much of a problem if school was only one jeepney ride away. However, I have to take a grand total of three jeepney rides to get to school. This morning, I had to wait for around 5 minutes for 01K, the last jeepney that would take me to school.

On the brighter side, it wasn't raining this morning. (PS. I don't own an umbrella.) And to my great joy, that dusty dirt road en route to school is now paved. Thank you, City Government. It took you long enough. Plus I am wearing my brand new shoes and is therefore no longer suffering excruciating pain.

And with that, I arrive 30 minutes late and missed 15 minutes of lecture.

Bow.

x_o

Kiddie Doctor Birthday Bash

I am a naturally semi-antisocial person. It's not that I don't like people. It's just that I don't like it when there's a lot of them in the same room at the same time. I make an exception for church, schools and hospitals.

So I don't attend victory parties, end-of-blocks parties, end-of-semester parties and the whole lot of them. I am duty-bound to attend Acquaintance Parties so I tolerate those, but you don't see me hanging around after.

Maybe I'm not really antisocial. Maybe I'm just a kill-joy.

But for this girl, I'd do anything. Even if it means going to Marco Polo and trying to look presentable and civilized.


And guess what? I actually had fun. Thanks Nix for a rip-roaring birthday bash.

Crime

Sleeping more than twelve hours should be a crime.

Especially if you're a medical student.

Twice as especially if you're a medical student who is yet to start reading for the next day's PBL Case Synthesis (it's all about pulmonary edemas)and start preparing for a case she has to present on Tuesday (ovarian tumor(???)).

The case I'm presenting on Tuesday is an interesting one. Maybe I'll write a little about it later, when I'm done making my presentation and have actually read a little about it.


x_x

Farewells

Farewell, Block Four!

Farewell, Hematology. We don't really get along that well. You see, you get me all confused.

Even until now, I don't think I'll be able to recognize myelocytes and myeloblasts and lymphocytes & lymphoblasts and plasmablasts and all the rest of your deadly arsenal.

And I still confuse AML with ALL and CML with CLL. Or wait, maybe it's AML with CML and ALL with CLL I'm confused with. Hmmmm. And of course, how could I ever forget Hodgkin's and the Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and the rest of the family?? Well truth be told, it was pretty easy.

You gave me headache and you did a splendid job of getting me to state of depression in less than thirty minutes with the laboratory exam you set up with your Pathology buddies. Oh, well. No use crying over spilled milk. And it was pretty much my fault why I messed up.

I don't think you know this, but I actually kind of liked you. I guess the feeling isn't mutual, huh? I hope to get to know you better, though. Don't worry. I won't be pursuing you.

Farewell, Cardiology!

I guess you know by now you have swept me off my feet. I am utterly captivated. I cannot resist the charms of myocardial infarctions and the rest of the coronary syndromes. My heart skips a beat and dances a jig when I hear the sweet, arrhythmic sound of arrhythmias.

You are such a hard-to-get. I had an epistaxis and almost bled to death listening to your lectures. And I am still hopeless with ECGs. Trying to interpret a strip makes me feel like an archaeologist making sense of hieroglyphic inscriptions.

You give me every reason to get discouraged. But I won't give up on you. I'll never give up on you. I'll pursue you till the very ends of the earth.

This is just a temporary setback in our relationship. Goodbye for now. But you'll be seeing a lot of me someday soon. You can count on that.

xoxo.


PS. Hello Block 5. Let's get along together, shall we?

The Same Feather

Anyone can survive medical school. The trick is in keeping your sanity. And if you've lost it in the first place, then congratulations! You have one thing less to worry about.

But what's wonderful about medschool is that following the principle of "birds of the same feathers are the same birds", you'll never be wanting for crazy friends! In fact, you'll have more than you can handle.



Thanks dearest friends, for making medlife not only tolerable, but crazy fun!

x_x

First Time

There's always a first time. Performing on dummies don't count. Besides, that was last year. And watching videos or memorizing the steps help... but not much.

I've been dreading it for a while now. Bimanual pelvic exam. Scalpels can cut through skin and muscles and organs. But pelvic exams are just as invasive, cutting through a woman's inner walls. But it couldn't be help. I need to perform two such procedures to pass my OB-Gyne rotation.

She was just a year younger than me. She shouldn't have been in that hospital bed and I shouldn't have been poking my fingers in places where my fingers should have had no business with.

She had vaginal bleeding, three weeks after finding out she was having a baby. She lost her child. And the foremost thought in my head was how to do my first bimanual pelvic exam right.

So I performed the procedure. I wasn't ready for it. I hope I didn't do too much of a bad job. She was dealing with too much as it is. She didn't need me to add to her growing list of awful things happening.

I hope she's okay now. I am more than grateful for the experience and I hope I do better next time. I am never going to be an obstetrician... or a gynecologist... but that doesn't mean I won't be meeting girls like her one day, needing help, needing an experienced, caring person. I hope to be one someday.

x_x

Coffee...zzzzz...

I seem to have developed an idiopathic reaction to coffee. I go sleepy.

That's it. No more coffee for me. I'll stick to midnight noodles and soda.

x_o

Instant Fix

There was a time when I didn't even touch the stuff. As a kid, my mother used to tell me not to drink coffee because it was "bad for my health". Well, I suppose that no longer applied to a twenty-ish girl. But the idea stuck. Add to that the fact that I have terribly embarrassing hand tremors.

So, unlike your regular coffee-shop-medstudents, I spend my "study out" sessions at McDonald's, with coke floats or hot fudge sundaes and when I'm feeling extra rich, regular fries. Besides, I'd go broke if I have to spend for a single cup of coffee from Starbucks or Bo's or wherever it is my classmates hang out.

However, I have come to the conclusion that coffee is an essential part of a medical student's life. How else can I keep my eyes open enough to stubbornly plough through at least a few pages of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine? Not to mention the fact that I have to at least quickly scan through William's Obstetrics to at least get a clue about the common differential diagnosis for vaginal bleeding.

I am pining for my bed. But some things have to come first.

And so off I go, not to Starbucks, but to the nearest bakery shop for a quick fix of
inexpensive, steaming hot, instant coffee.

x_o