one month summary

Dah lama tak update. Been thinking about updating every now and then, especially when stuff happens, but to actually do it.. malas. And I have a valid excuse too: my less-than-a-year-old laptop got infected by this bloody virus and i can't access anything in my laptop. At all. All the files are gone. Kaput. And the stupid virus chose to do this on the night before my Legal Med exam. All my notes were in there. All paperless. Panic attack ensued. My first thought was to call B, of course he could only guide me thru the phone. My roommate was a dear, she lent me her Mac. The next day I told other housemates about the 'tragedy', they asked why didnt I ask to borrow their notes or computers..i was like, "ye tak ye jugak kan?". Well..that's what panic does to you...but who came first to my mind? That's a big credit to u B.. ;)

The winter exam was ok, but as always, i feel i could have done better. But that's me. Suka sangat study last minute. Pastu regret it. Yelah, bila study last minute, the stress felt unbearable, and kena sacrifice masa tidur jugak, which is a big deal for me!;P Alhamdulillah results are ok too. Just got it a few days ago. I was also invited (along with lotsa other people too) to sit for the Duke Elder Undergraduate Prize in Ophthalomology, which is in May. Havent reply to the Ophthal office yet, but i think i'm going to take the exam. I may not get the prize, which i think is £400 for the highest mark, but it'd look good on the CV, wouldnt it? What worry me is that I'll be doing O&G in May. Everyone knows how the rotation is like. It's beyond insane! I just hope i can find time to study ophthal amidst its chaos. And do i need to say something about the Prof. too? I think psychiatry people should establish a term for the phobia towards the Prof. Oh ye i just started the psych rotation a few days ago. It's a leisure so far. I have to go to PortLaoise for 2 weeks in April. Nasib baik tak jauh sangat.

Lepas winter exam, ada 10 days break. Couldnt go anywhere until the orals list were out. Then I went to Belgium with two friends for 3 days. Brussels to me is a gloomy and cold city. Lagi expensive daripada Dublin. And damn freezing! Eventho it wasnt that nice to see, i did enjoy the trip. Highlights of Brussels: the hotel (bubble bath..total bliss.heh!), the waffles (yummmmyy!!), the gorgeous lace (i wish i had more money, mama would really love to have them!). And the tram incident too. Gelak tak ingat punyelahh! Shall i tell the tale here? Why not? Haha!! Tak taulah the tram there built tahun brape, tp its doors are so narrow we thot the 'boroi' and the pregnant ones cant get thru them. We are not any of those, but it was quite a struggle to get thru the doors when the tram was crowded. Nak dijadikan cerita, we wanted to get off at this one stop, borak punye borak tak sedar dah sampai situ, ape lagi kelam kabut ler nak turun. Thank you too to the crowd in there who i think were very inconsiderate for not budging at all to make way for us. Geez! Anyway when A was passing the door, it started to close! I think you can guess what happened next. But could you guess that it was her head that was entrapped? Head! In usual circumstance i would have guessed shoulders, or hands, or legs. I was still in the tram, and I feel bad coz my first reaction was..LOL!! You should see how funny it looked like. Try to picture it yourself! But i tried to help her too, especially when the scene in Final Destination 2 appeared in my head! Gruesome!! The door opened and A got off. The other A tried to pass thru next, and the door was closing again! Her hand and bag were the victims this time. Then she managed to get off. Pastu my turn pulak. Opps, I'm sorry people, my escape was uneventful. Hehe! To make the whole thing even more embarassing, after our escapade, the tram didnt move away from that stop. What??The traffic light was red?!! Huhuuuu.....tak tau nak lari gi mana dah..the only thing we could do was to laugh at ourselves and walk away..
Bile pikir balik kan...no one in that tram tried to help us. Not a single person. Hilarious the situation was, tapi camane kalau one of us was hurt....

We went to Bruges too. The place is serene and quiet. We wondered where the locals were coz it seemed like the crowd were made up of tourists and org2 yg bukak kedai2 je. A very quiet city. Would love to settle down in a place like this someday. I bought chocs and lace in Bruges, they are slightly cheaper there. I think I hurt my right knee there coz we were walking the whole day and the streets there are cobblestone-like. I dont mean to be a whiny, but my knee really hurt especially when walking up and down the stairs. Everytime i bend my knee, the pain shoot down to my calf like a knife. Diagnosis anyone? I was like tempang when we got back to Brussels. My friends were sweethearts for slowing down despite the cold wheather made us want to walk faster to get into any building every 5 mins!

Last week, my ex-housemate N was admitted to St James' Hosp for pneumothorax. It was a shock, really. In the afternoon A and me were talking to her on the phone, and in the evening we got the news that she was in James'! The sad thing was, she went to the A&E at 7pm, and only seen by the doctor at 7 am the next morning!! By that time, her left lung was 60% collapsed! Apparently, that night, the nurses triaged her as in group C, which simply means not as urgent as the groups A and B (A,B,C- D'ouh!).
Oh nurse, I have a question, I heard that you also put PE (pulmonary embolism) in the differential diagnosis, why oh why wont you put her in group A huh? Oh what is this? Hey look at my medical book right here, it says PE is a life threatening condition and should be managed urgently! *Ppfffffttthhhhhhh!!*
Ridiculous their management of N's case may seem to be, as how i narrate it here (hehe), I cant help thinking how scary the uncertainty in medicine is. The GP who N saw before she went to James' diagnosed her as having pneumonia or TB (What?TB?I know!But we are Asian.). The nurses thought she had PE. N initially self-diagnosed herself with pneumothorax. GP vs medical staff vs medical student. The symptoms might presented differently to each of them, and perceived differently based on their knowledge, experience, and other things that were happening at that time. Who could have be absolutely certain anyways? Until they did the X-ray that morning only then they came to the conclusion of pneumothorax. Evidence-based medicine anyone?

Ape lagi ye..oh yes...fifi join tabligh..Fifi? yes, my crazy brother joined tabligh group. It's a pleasent surprise, really. As long as it isnt a cult, and he does it in moderation, and tak kacau study, i dont have any objection. It's his birthday today. It felt refreshing talking to him this morning. He is a grown-up now, the fact that I always forgot. I always think of him as my little brother yang gila2 and immature, but he is also a big brother to my other siblings who has been responsible to them and growing mature each day. Bravo Fifi for the hijrah..alhamdulillah...and i pray for your istiqamah...

Ok air dah panas...mau mandi...hey it's Sunday ok, it's okay to mandi lambat..oh i so miss the bubble bath in Brussels..