Under Construction
[Because that's the state of my life]22/M MNL, PHL | Medical Intern at UP-PGH | Future [Chef / Physician / Dad]
[Lego Lover] [Music Maniac] [TV Junkie] #sixseasonsandamovie!
WHHYYY the fuck is my Tumblr site not green anymore?
I had a hard time choosing that perfect shade of green and this is the surprise I get when I randomly decide to check out how my Tumblr looks, all of a sudden it’s just white and black and gray all over! UGH to the nth!
*calms myself down*
In other news, so internship started four days ago and it’s kind of benign and stuff since my block started with Family Medicine and we just check out simple and common cases at the OPD and shit. Haha. I’m actually more troubled by how Tumblr screwed up my Tumblr site than whether I’d have the energy to get up every morning to face the daily nuances of internship life.
So there, a glimpse of the obsessive-compulsive side of Helmut.
FIVE DAYS UNTIL INTERNSHIP!!!
Colored x-ray of a full-term fetus in breech position.
(Source: Science Photo Library)
My first thought was: “Is that really an X-ray? Did they really just X-ray a frickin’ PREGNANT WOMAN? Considering they don’t have an indication where the benefit outweighs the risk, have they gone insane?”
—
Said one of my mentors.
(via cyanide-poisoning)
We can never be perfect.
Learning never ends in medical school. Our practice is just an extension of it.
Look what I found in my room: my high school senior year Biology notebook!
Biology had always been my favorite subject since high school, and ever the obsessive-compulsive eager beaver, I used to make notes from our biology textbook (this huge, heavy paperback by Campbell) aside from my notes during lectures.
Come med school however, my note-taking prowess circled down the drain… Haha.
I’m being much of a home boy right now.
Just able to get out of the house to jog every other morning. And for the last 10 days when I said I’d do laps in the pool every other day as well, I was only able to swim once. Meh.
Basically my day starts around 9 or 10 in the morning, to be greeted by my nephew singing and dancing to The Backyardigans (the cutest thing EVER.) I cook (or help my sister in cooking) our lunch, and for the past 5 days we always had fruit and ice cream for dessert because of this frickin’ summer heat.
Most of my day is spent reading though. I must say I’m determined to maintain this 3-chapters-of-Harrison’s-a-day habit and it’s going pretty well. I’m also in between three non-medical books as of the moment, namely Jack Kerouac’s On The Road (it’s been long since I wanted to read this book); George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, andIan McEwan’s Atonement. Compelling reads, all of them.
When not reading I get to update myself with my TV series - Community, Game of Thrones, Survivor: Caramoan, and Suburgatory, butI have yet to start with season 8 of HIMYM and catch up on Dexter, Nurse Jackie and The Big C though. In the evenings my family and I watch either these local telenovelas on TV or a movie.
I can’t believe that my last summer break as a student lasts just barely a month, unlike back when I was younger when we had two full months to enjoy. It’s surreal thinking how far I’ve come as a student; how all the time I have spent studying my ass off has led me to this - days before I start my final year in medical school. I’m thankful I have this summer to prepare myself for what lies ahead for Internship and beyond, as well as time to pamper myself during this much-needed break from the hospital work that was Clerkship year.
A poster I made for the OPD in compliance to my Medicine requirements (to make up for my sick absences during my ICU rotation). It’s a poster in Filipino on Acute Coronary Syndrome (Heart Attack).
Slaved on this for a day and a half, given my limited Photoshop skills. Got to say, it looks too cluttered and too wordy, but the end-product on tarpaulin looks okay though.
Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 18th edition.
Plan is to read at least three chapters a day during this summer break, and perhaps even through internship year, in preparation for the licensure exams. I realized I finally got the hang of reading this med textbook and the nerd in me somehow finds joy in re-learning (and finally understanding) all those topics that were lectured but didn’t really stick.
Wow, time flies SO fast.
Goodbye clerkship, hello internship summer break!
Clerkship is finally OVER!
Now I have exactly 27 days until the start of internship. What’s a better way to kick-start my month of R&R than a series marathon of my second favorite TV show ever?
1. So I was out of the hospital for the past four days now. Remember that whole post about that ICU duty? Well after that I contracted some sort of respiratory infection and it was the worst I felt in years - I was burning up like hell and coughing up like crazy and had muscle pains all over. I’m better now and I think I’m ready to be back to the ICU by tomorrow, but heck, that was one rough ride - I felt like I was gonna die any moment. (That’s probably over-the-top, but seriously, I thought I was going to convulse any moment then.)
2. Good thing I was with my family during the weekend, and in between hearty dinners and arroz caldo (chicken and rice porridge) and intermittent drug intake, I finished 3 chapters on pharmacology and season 2 of Suits (awesome finale that was!) And I know I’m like a decade late, but I’m currently obsessing with David Guetta and Sia’s Titanium, with me occasionally attempting to reach the high notes in between bouts of coughing my lungs out.
3. Got to watch a few segments off this year’s Oscars. I can’t believe of all this year’s notable titles that I said I’d take time to watch with friends, I got to watch none. So I guess Imma be downloading Argo, Django Unchained, Life of Pi and Les Miserables to watch by myself, unless you’d want to come by and let’s watch together. Popcorn’s on you though.
Benign duty much! (Let’s hope not to jinx it!)
Helmut’s Plan Of Action: After I finish reading this chapter on anti-arrhythmia drugs in between hourly monitoring of ten (benign) patients, it’s gonna be complete bed rest until the end of duty! Yay!
And did I mention they got the fastest internet in the entire hospital? Haha.
