I think…

The hardest part of the job is knowing I can’t do anything to help.

Today was day 3 of my short attachment at KKH. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely looking forward to it, feeling I couldn’t learn much from this purely administrative role. But I suppose, from every experience, we take away something different.

My co-workers have been nice and easy to get along with. It isn’t difficult to find things to chat about over stacks of papers to file and correct. The hospital is rather nice (though albeit a tad confusing), and the food isn’t too bad. But every time I hear a resus case page over the intercom, I feel this pang of heartache. Someone out there is suffering. Someone’s parents are suffering. And all I can do is sit. Punch holes in paper. File. Photocopy. File. Correct. File.

I want to be able to do more. And 4 years never seemed so long before today.

I just got my green!

Now just to keep up and continue contributing as a member of the awesome forum, without which I would certainly not be where I am today.

In other news…

I was rather surprised when KK called me yesterday evening to inform me I had gotten the job, especially after the recent debacle regarding the overdosing of two cancer patients, one given 24 times the stipulated amount of 5-fluorouracil. Either ways, I’m still slightly conflicted as to whether to accept this job, since I would only be there for 10 days before flying to Melbourne to settle my housing problem. I anticipate they would spend a good 3 days training me, another 2 days for me to settle down to routine, leaving just 5 days of me working before I quit and they have to hire and train someone else. From an administrative point of view, it doesn’t quite hold up. But they seem to be in a dire need of staff, and my conscience doesn’t feel too happy just leaving them in the lurch.

On the med school front, I had my medical checkup a couple of days ago. Got my xrays and blood test taken at Paragon’s Point Medical Centre and Radlink, both recommended by the Australian embassy for student visa purposes.

Note for Singaporeans: You need to bring your PASSPORT. IC won’t do. =\ I had to drive home to get my passport! Epic waste of time.

The doctor was pleasant enough, chatting about how his sons were both doctors now, and asking if my dad was a doctor as well, then proceeding to stab me with a needle. Curious isn’t it, how so many people ask if my dad is a doctor? Does it really matter? Some argue that lots of kids in medical school are the offspring of physicians, but there is an equal and unrepresented number of non-physician families in medical schools as well.

Anyway, all the test results came back negative. I’m one step closer to medical school again.

Still waiting on the info pack from Monash. It’s unnerving how long they take to send the info packs to international students. The only reason why I feel one step ahead of the other international students is thanks to updates from the local students on the forums. I.e., knowing the start of school is on the 27th of January and not the 1st of March as the offer letter states. Knowing about FOBS day before Monash sends the letter. Knowing about immunization and police checks and first aid courses. If I didn’t have my additional info source, I would be booking my flight for mid February, not have tickets to Melbourne in December, not be prepared for immunization or police checks, and would not be booking first aid courses now.

I hope they send out the info pack soon. There are 9 other internationals out there who might have no idea what’s happening.

Well, so much for waiting a couple of weeks.

Today, after my rather odd interview with KK hospital, I met up with my parents for lunch before my mom suggested we go take a look at the Netbooks again. I already more or less had my heart set on a Samsung N120 if I were to get a netbook, mostly due to it’s weight, size, matte finish, speed, and battery life. The sound system on the N120 is also pretty good for its size and range. All in all, this is pretty much what I need to pick up, chuck in my bag, and walk off to and from lectures.

This 160GB 1.66GHz 10″ little wonder set me back about $700 with an upgrade to 2G RAM and a small pile of free gifts. I think the freebies took up more space than the netbook. We have here a USB keyboard vacuum, earphones, two microstatic cloths, one Toshiba retractable mouse, and one of those ball things you attach to the bottom to help it cool down.

Since I paid for my own computer, mom bought me something as well to bring to Melbourne. This little digital photo frame. We actually got it pretty cheap since the store owners gave us a discount. The plan is to load it full of photos of me my family and friends, then display it on my desk for extra motivation to study. =)

I might be heading down to Melbourne again in early December to do a little recce work, find an apartment, and hopefully get to make a trip down to Monash to attend the FOBS (Foundation in Biomedical Science) day. It’s supposed to be one where we get to mingle with staff, faculty and students, as well as get a short tutorial on FOBS to prepare us for the test on week 2 or 3. Apparently, we need an 80% to pass, otherwise we’ll need to retake it. =\

Not looking forward to the test.

My mom and I have recently developed a nasty habit of pre-med school shopping. After getting the full offer last week, preparations for med school next year has gone into full steam, buying tickets for flights, textbooks, arranging for visas, health checks and police screenings. It has been a hectic week.

Not to mention, tomorrow morning I’ll be heading down to KK Women and Children’s Hospital for an interview. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll probably be serving a short temporary tag on in the pediatrics’ emergency department to get some exposure and gain some context in which to better understand what I’ll be learning in slightly over 2 and a half months. And a little extra (which I’ll only blog about once I get into it…)

So today, mom and I went book shopping after a nice yummy brunch. We headed off to Yun Nan medical bookstore at Bras Basah and bought my first medical textbook! Kumar and Clark’s Clinical Medicine. I also managed to get Wheater’s Functional Histology, a book that was at least twice as expensive in Kino. The books were not only cheaper at Yun Nan, but the lady at the counter also gave us lots of very helpful advice on which books were good and which not to buy. While her tone was a tad condescending, I could really feel she was passionate about what she did, and really wanted to help. =) She was really knowledgeable about the books in her store, advising me which I would need, which were better or more popular, and suggesting some other books I might require in Year 1. Really nice lady.

We couldn’t find Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy there though, and she recommended we went to the NUS Co-op to find it. NUS was horrid to navigate about. Since neither mom nor I had any experience in NUS, we ended up spending most of our time driving in and out of carparks to nowhere and reversing out of dead ends. We did eventually find the medicine and science co-op and found a neat little stack of Netter’s. And having a quick flip through the pages, I can see what all the rage is about.

I have a suspicion that Netter’s was the book Hans Bacher was talking about when he spoke to me earlier this year about medical school. He mentioned he knew someone who did an arts degree, then went on to medical school, later becoming one of the world’s most famous medical illustrators. Netter is definitely one of them. And he graduated from design school too! His drawings are gorgeous and extremely detailed. I would have to struggle to turn off the drooling art student in me to study this book properly.

So after today’s purchases, my textbook stack has grown a little. Here it is next to my phone for some size comparison.

We later went on to Funan to 1. Buy ma’s outdated Korean drama, and 2. Drink arguably the best Ya Kun coffee in Singapore.

The shop turned out to no longer carry the outdated Korean drama, so after a quick coffee, we went about looking for luggage; an exercise that eventually turned into a hunt for a good netbook.

Now, I’m using a really pretty, fantastic, amazing Macbook Pro, currently. However, it does weigh a very hefty 2.5kg. As much as I love how it is awesome with pdf files and looks really pretty, I found myself looking at the much lighter, cheaper, and simpler netbooks. I’m terribly tempted to buy a Samsung N120 netbook simply to chuck in my bag and bring from class to class, then return home every night to write essays, make presentations, and do revisions on my larger macbook pro. Though I’m worried I might slowly lose the need to have two computers and eventually stop using either one. A decision on this would take a couple more weeks of thinking. Not like I’m pressed for time anyway…

So a bit more studying before sleep time. Tomorrow promises to be an exciting day.

I know this was meant to be up yesterday, but time was not on my side…

Happy 10th month, baby.

Here’s a dancey song for you!

Hate begets hate.

How would you feel if someone told you that everything you were was stupid, ugly, and everything you touched would rot?

I don’t often buy the new paper, and when I do, it’s probably to satisfy this need for gossip and scandalous news running amok amongst the aunties of the marketplace. Today I bought a copy and amongst the articles that piqued my interest was a small commentary tucked away deep within the pages titled “Singlish ’sounds like chimps fighting over bananas’”.

The article was written by a youtube frequenter who noted some comments written on PCK (Phua Chu Kang) videos. These were written by a fellow named KaydenKolldy in which he asks “What kind of language is this? It sounds like chatering chimpanzees fighting over bananas. Do Singaporeans speak like this? PS You Asians are (expletive) ugly.” Then repeated this comment on several other videos to which he got replies like “You Australians are (expletive) stupid” or “(expletive) you (expletive). Don’t be a racist douche bag”. Another viewer tried to clarify KaydenKolldy’s understanding  of Singlish by explaining that “This is ‘Singlish’, a kind of English mixed with Hokkien and Malay”. To which the 23 year old Australian replied “Geez, it sounds horrible. You Asians see to rot everything you touch. Languages included.”

Now, I’m not going into how racist this young fellow seems to be, but more about the reactions from both sides. The author is right. Hate begets hate. But I strain to keep my tongue in check when I feel so insulted.

Insult. Why is that? I suppose pride is the source of this. I’m proud to be everything I am today. An ethnic Chinese. A Hainanese. A Singaporean. A woman. An arts student. A medical student. A not-entirely-straight human being. Thousands of people around the world worked hard over centuries for me to be able to stand here today as the person I am, with the culture I have. And to have someone come and spit upon everything I stand for just takes the icing off my cake.

I can’t help but feel like I have to retaliate. Protect this which is my life. I feel like if I just stand by and let comments like these pass, I’m perpetuating a growing trend of racism, sexism, bigotry and discrimination. Perhaps many others in the world feel this way. That we have to put in our comments. Protect what we feel is right. And try to sway these people with our words filled equally with anger and disdain. I feel slightly ashamed to say I do have a sense of gratification when I see these people get soundly beaten up by others in rows upon rows of text and compounded expletives. But at the end of the day, the world is just filled with more words, more shouting, more ****** and less understanding.

One part of me wishes I could come up with a device that can help me see the way others think, understand why they feel the way they do, and why I can’t seem to share the same sentiment. Perhaps the sound of chimps fighting over bananas is in reality the bickering we have over who is right in this war of words. The other part of me wishes I could come up with a machine to eradicate all those discriminatory thoughts from the world.

How would you feel if someone told you that everything you were was stupid, ugly, and everything you touched would rot? I feel pretty damned pissed.

A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE: “Doctor, I have an ear ache.”
2000 B.C. – “Here, eat this root.”
1000 B.C. – “That root is heathen, say this prayer.”
1850 A.D. – “That prayer is superstition, drink this potion.”
1940 A.D. – “That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill.”
1985 A.D. – “That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic.”
2000 A.D. – “That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!”

———

When a panel of doctors was asked to vote on adding
a new wing to their hospital, the Allergists voted
to scratch it and the Dermatologists advised not to
make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling
about it, but the Neurologists thought the
administration had a lot of nerve, and the
Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a
misconception.

The Ophthalmologists considered the idea
shortsighted; the Pathologists yelled, ‘Over my dead
body’, while the Pediatricians said, ‘Oh, Grow up!’

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was
madness, the Radiologists could see right through
it, and the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of
the whole thing.

The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to
swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, ‘This puts a
whole new face on the matter.’

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but
the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn’t hold water.

The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a
gas and the Cardiologists didn’t have the heart to
say no.

In the end, the Proctologists left the decision up to some pain in the “you know what” in administration

———–

Three blondes are walking through the forest. They come upon some tracks.

The first blonde says, “They’re deer tracks.”
The second blonde says, “They’re bear tracks.”
The third blonde says, “They’re moose tracks.”

Then a train hits them.

If I had known anatomy books would be full of pictures, I might have taken this as my undergrad course instead.

Kino was a treasure trove of shelves upon shelves of books and I managed to find most of what I was looking for (with the exception of Human Anatomy by Mary Marieb)

For those who are raising their eyebrows at the colorful coloring book, it’s not one of those with big pictures for kids to color in. The book contains the basics of anatomy and allows for students to color in groups of muscular tissue, systems, skeletal structures, etc so they can better understand and memorize the different groups as well as origin and insertion points of muscular tissue.

Quite a well drawn book by Kapit and Elson. Very detailed and concise. And quite highly recommended for those learning anatomy! I took a quite read through the first few pages while in the car and it has not only been really well done, but also made it very much easier for me to learn the concepts of anatomic planes, sections, and terminology.

This book should sound familiar to most people. It was the inspiration for the name of the popular television series Grey’s Anatomy. Gray’s Anatomy (the textbook) is a highly well known and used textbook in the world of medical schools (as far as I can tell so far) and I can definitely see why.

With gorgeous diagrams, fantastic paper quality, in depth explanations and descriptions all segregated into easy to search categories, it isn’t difficult to see why this is such a popular book.

Righto! Enough chit chat and time to get down to work again! =)

All from this wonderful site I’d recommend as time out brain food.

http://theunderweardrawer.homestead.com/scutmonkey.html

I think I’m going to start off as the Questionable Admission. Then gradually morph into the guy giving patients his apartment. =\

2 sets of eyes, 4 ears, and two right hands.

And of course, a whole stack of notepaper.

After inquiring a bit on the forums about what I would need to prepare myself for Year A of med school, the one answer that came out resoundingly was Anatomy. Now, I don’t know much about anatomy aside from what I picked up right till high school, and certainly do not profess having an in depth knowledge about the subject at all.

So I do what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks. Watch documentaries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9WtBRNydso&feature=PlayList&p=9A701D54E8896D0E&index=0&playnext=1

Youtube is host to an awesome playlist of lectures on General Human Anatomy from UC Berkeley. Having watched the first lecture, I can safely say I share the same enthusiasm as the professor about anatomy, and I’m simply itching to learn more. I have 3 months to shovel down as much of this as I can before starting school. Helps a lot that the professor is not only very clear and concise about her information, but also rather entertaining.

I’m contemplating buying some anatomy books before I begin school. They might serve to be helpful through the course of my study, especially if they are really clear and help me memorize the planes of the body easier. Time to head down to Kino soon…

This evening, Papa and Mama brought us all out to Taste Paradise at Mosque Street for dinner as a mini celebration of my getting accepted into medical school. Though dad is still a bit hesitant to celebrate, thinking that at any moment, Monash would withdraw its offer. Mom on the other hand is really excited too. =) It’s great seeing her so happy. I feel like this time, I’ve done them proud.

Lulu bought me my first stethoscope! =) the Littmann Cardiology III that I had been eying. I’ll do a proper post later on about this choice and how I came to this decision having compared the Classic and the Cardiology. Right now, it’s getting a tad late. Sleep, then tomorrow, back to studying!