Tuesday, January 15, 2008

a moment

as my previous entries have stated, i'm not that crazy about ob-gyne (hah, the understatement of the year). waking up at 7:00 am everyday is physically tiring. we're constantly running to be somewhere 30 minutes before the expected time of the consultant's arrival. we're ICCs with only one ob-opd session and no gyne-opd for the whole rotation. sgds and preceps pile up, schedule changes are frequent, patients get on your nerves. honestly? NEGA.

today, my two groupmates and i went to the gyne-opd to find gyne cases for our discussion. my patient was referred from IM, and i had no idea what was wrong with her. the poor woman kept asking me to name her disease - to explain the variety of symptoms she was feeling. all i could tell her was that i'd do my best to find out. pap smear was a nightmare. it was my first time, she was screaming in pain, i couldn't find the freaking cervix, and i had no time to perform an internal exam because i was late for my sgd. the three of us ran to the conference room, sans lunch, praying to God the consultant was late. it was seriously one of the worst days of my life.

coincidentally, i met my patient a few hours later because she was scheduled for an ultrasound. small talk, some advising, a few smiles exchanged. when i turned away to hurry after my classmates, she caught my arm and whispered, "doc, salamat po." after hurting her, after failing to identify her disease, after leaving her in the middle of her physical exam, she thanked me.

after crying my eyes out, i realized that i should have thanked her too.


verse for the day:
let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. [proverbs 3:3,4]

Sunday, January 13, 2008

another crazy week gone by...

i'm almost halfway through my ob-gyne rotation and i'm still wishing i was back in pedia. something about the ob lifestyle just doesn't appeal to me - 7:00 am summary rounds every single day, the constant need to run, blood and other body fluids, keps *shudder*, stress levels. two more weeks of ob. dear Lord, please give me the strength to finish this...

anyway, on to other matters. the annual "tao rin pala" was held in st. paul's last friday (jan. 11). this was our last chance to win the chorale competition though some of us, including myself, weren't really expecting. come on, losing for two years does something to your self-esteem. haha. our class presentation was a series of dances featuring elvis, madonna, michael jackson, britney spears, n*sync (tama ba?) and the spice girls. ang galing! dean roxas (of upcm) gave a surprise cash prize for the best non-chorale performance. tama lang na sila yung nanalo, di ba? ;)

i wasn't able to watch the dance because we were outside preparing for the agape handmime which was three performances after. we did good, except we misspelled a vital word... >.< oh, and by the way... we won in the chorale competition. that's my block up there with the trophy. :D


verse for the day:
now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. [2 corinthians 9:10,11]