Feeling lonely?

Don't be. :)

A difficult day at the hospital.

Hye guys.

I'm here today, updating in a rather somber mood. Continue reading if you're really interested to know why.

Yesterday was supposed to just be another day for us at the hospital. Lectures by the professor, taking patient history, inspecting them, conducting physical examinations, yada yada yada. Well, it started out as planned. A rather long lecture on Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and Lymphoma by Dr Nabil where I found myself to be ultimately clueless. But takpe lah, boleh je baca balik kat rumah nanti. Moving on, we then had a female patient. This patient was suffering from Schistosomiasis, which is an endemic disease here in Egypt. Yang bikin panas nye, mak patient ni ade sekali. The patient was rather cooperative with us, but the mom on the other hand was unbearable.

"Heyya musyfatirisy min subh" "Haram haram". Or something like that. At one phase she came near us and I was even afraid that she might swing her arm at me. Haha. That didn't happen tho. :P

We then rounded the ward to see a few other patients. The next one was suffering from lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphoid tissue. He was cachexic. When our doctor was demonstrating for us, the patient brokedown. He plead his case with tears streaming down his cheeks. How could one empathize and not symphatize? We can see that he was exhausted but our doctor was adamant to show us the examination. It required a kiss on the cheek and some comforting words from the patient's father to calm the patient down. Seriously hati kena macam batu, kalau tak memang boleh nangis lah tengok semua ni.

And to round it all up, a patient went into septic shock right in front of us. His mouth was foamy and he wasn't breathing. It was an emergency situation of course and we saw it spot on. Oxygen tanks were brought in and CPR was performed. That same patient was walking about normally around the ward just days before. According to our doctor, the patient suffered from acute leukemia and had received a round of chemotherapy. Unfortunately he caught an infection and his body wasn't able to fight due to the chemo. Even antibiotics can't help. When we left, the doctors were still performing CPR on him. I'm not sure will I be seeing him today in the wards. May God be with him.

Hmm. It is all in a days work. Life, moves on.

Selingan tatkala sibuk

Assalamualaikum wbt. Selamat sejahtera semua. (Ade gaya lecturer tak?)

Mcm biase, kawe masih sebok dgn studies kawe. Smlm dpt lah cuti sehari tp kawe pi main bola dgn teman. Nak bagi peluh tubek sikit, baru sihat tubuh, dok gitu?

Sy orang KL tulen, tak reti cakap dialek. So yang kat atas ni, sj nk main2 menghiburkan diri sendiri. Jgn makan hati yer kawan2 utara dan timur ku. :P

Anyway, I just feel like updating the people back home as to what I did last week. Jeng jeng jeng. Surprise2. I took my first blood sample. ;) Seronok n nasib baik lah my hands takde nak menggigil sangat. Got the vein on my first try but the blood didn't come out. I had to move the syringe around and let the needle find the vein without pulling put the syringe. Peluh sejuk lah jga! Hehe.

Thanks Anas for letting me poke a needle into your arm. ;)

Next time I'll try to get some pictures from my clinical rounds. *wink2*

Oh, here's something for those who enjoy seeing the photos I take. (Bajet ade je peminat gambar ko). Haih.


Till the next update. Stay sane.

Of clay and bricks

Evening guys. (Or morning if you're reading this in Malaysia)

If I'm updating my blog frequently, it means I'm back in Egypt. Hehe. Less distractions mean more ideas for me to update my blog. :P

Anyway, I had my first class today and wow, the clinical years are definitely different from what we've experienced in the pre-clinical years. It was only one day, but it felt like a week. There were lectures as usual but rather than being spoon-fed whereby what the Dr said is similarly written in the book, it was completely the opposite. Furthermore, the only things that I was able to take note from the lecture were only the headlines. -.- An hour felt like two. Urh. And I've not even started talking about the assignments. Hmm.

So next came the clinical rounds. Four whole hours of going around the ward, taking notes as we go. I need to get myself a notebook as it is utterly impossible to write on a piece of paper while walking/standing. We discussed not only the patient's condition but also our basic science knowledge which we've taken in our first three years here. There were obviously some gaps in between questions since we can't remember the answer. Fine, there were LOTS of gaps. Haha.

Thus came lesson number 1. "I can't build bricks without clay." Ouch. Doctors 1 - Us 0. Nasib baik lah tak buang buku-buku teks lama aku tu. Haih.

Oh, its fun when you have to look for what you've learned in reference books or online. But it sucks when you're paying for them. Huge hole in my pocket, and its only day one.