100th Post

Here I am, shivering my ass off while trying to complete my final case write up and evidence-based medicine (EBM) which is due tomorrow. Our preceptor is a fantastic teacher, but he also wants us to be super meticulous with our case write ups and problem lists... I haven't even started on the EBM part and it's already 8 pages long (handwritten, not typed)! Ugh, and the fact that my patient has multiple non-specific problems with no real diagnosis isn't helping either.

On another note, thank goodness my research supervisor has signed my research proposal outline! Nearly thought I'd not be able to complete it in time as my supervisor is very busy and constantly in surgery or overseas. Really grateful that he's so nice and understanding. :) *breathes a sigh of relief*

To celebrate my 100th post, I shall put up some random and totally unrelated photos of my new stockings...

Damned punk rock right?:P Wore these to the hospital along with a black pleated skirt and matching pink scarf. I think a couple of patients were staring at the pink skulls. They must be thinking why is this medical student so morbid...

Ok better get back to work. *Downs more tea* End-of-rotation OSCE next Friday!! :(

Of Saturday morning OSCEs and Chinatown

Yesterday, we had yet another mock OSCE for IMU students, courtesy of the Adelaide Uni and Queen Elizabeth Hospital staff. Although I'm not too fond of trudging to hospital on Saturdays (buses come less frequently on weekends), it was really good of them or organize these 'IMU specials' for us. Throughout these months we've had lots of extra tutorials and stuff which I'd say has been a great help to us.

Anyway, the mock OSCE comprised of 4 stations: 1 clinical examination, 2 histories and 1 (supposedly) data interpretation. I started at Station 4, which I thought was going to be either ECGs of serum biochemistry or blood gases or some X-rays. Mana tahu....

*ting~ling~liigg* (the OSCE bell like ice-cream bell only. Still better than the horrible buzzer back in CSU Bukit Jalil.)

I hurried in, was going to go straight to the station, sit down and answer some data interpretation questions. Then suddenly there was this lady with a marking sheet there and she asks me to wait outside the station for one minute of question reading time. Wait... why is there an examiner for this station?? *stares at sign outside the station* Oh crap...

"You are in a cafe when suddenly someone collapses bla bla bla.... what do you do?"

I peeked over the curtains and saw a mannequin on the floor.

Crap crap crap. CPR!! That was so unexpected!!

Good thing we had a little refresher course on CPR during the first half of our Medical Home Unit Posting. If not, I'd have freaked out there and then. Still I didn't know that CPR could come out in the OSCE. And as I discovered after I completed the station (had time to chat with the examiner), you can't fake your compressions or rescue breaths at all. The mannequin is hooked up to this panel and certain spots will light up when you compress correctly. And it can also tell the examiner the depth of your compressions. If you compress somewhere else (or compress too hard) lights in spots like the abdomen, lateral chest etc will flash. -_-"

Another unexpected station was where instead of taking a history, we had to break bad news to a patient who was found to have colon cancer + ?liver mets. The other 2 stations were good ol' physical examinations and histories. Still need lots of practice though. Still struggling to get a full respiratory exam done smoothly in 6 minutes!

After the OSCE, we headed back to the city for some lunch and grocery shopping. It had been a while since we went to Chinatown, so Ken and I had lunch and did some grocery shopping there. Was looking for a new wok. The reason why will be dealt with in a later post. Anyway, we stumbled across this dumpling restaurant. And since it's a cold, Sunday morning and I'm too bored and lazy to study now, I shall show you some pictures...

The entrance to Chinatown. Pretty standard, huh? Resembles the one in Petaling Street in a way. But the place is way cleaner la.

Yes, the place is called Dumpling King. Tried the fried pork and chicken + prawn dumplings. Not bad, actually. A little oily though. The restaurant sells noodles, rice and soup too.

Like advertising for the restaurant only. Should get some commission for this. :P:P:P

The dumplings were pretty filling (for me). Had to ta pau back half for dinner. 10 chicken + prawn dumplings for $7.80, or 15 pork dumplings for the same price. Yes... it's bloody expensive if you convert to RM, but unfortunately, this is more or less standard restaurant prices here in Australia...:(

Pork + spring onion + ginger + flour = delicious combination. :)

Sue Chuen's 22nd Birthday

Hokay... super late post. But just wanted to put some pics of this event up. We had a surprise birthday party for Sue Chuen at The Village last week. Kudos to the Villagers + Jebbrine (considered villager also la:P) for organizing this! Everyone had a great time, and the coolest thing was when the cake with 22 lit candles was presented to Sue Chuen, it set off the smoke alarm! Heh... Check out Sue Chuen's blog for the vidoes. Also Stephanie's and Ken's.

The guys and the girls. :)

Updates!

Just finished half of my Medical Home Unit rotation. Currently on the General Medicine ward. So far, the ppl there are really nice...

Last week, Bryan, Rahoul, Ken and I went to watch Spider-man 3. Omigod cinemas are clearly not the a big thing in little ol' Adelaide. Either that or the cinema we went to was just to obscure. We went on the opening night (Movies here start screening later than they do in Malaysia). Considering that it was the opening night, we figured it would be wise to book the tickets beforehand. Lo and behold! I couldn't book the tickets (via online or telephone) not because they were sold out, but because THERE IS NO BOOKING SYSTEM. So I went down to the cinema itself to buy them in the afternoon. The ticket counters were closed, and there was only one lone lady at the snacks bar. Got the tickets from her. Free seating. And the cinema was not even 1 third full. And the no chun-ted THX speakers, k. Just black boxes on the wall. But overall the place was clean and decent la. Only the ticket price was horrendous. Spider-man 3 is worth the watch, but no where as good as the second movie.

Winter is inching in bit by bit now... Cold cold cold. And it's raining a whole lot more now. That's good considering it was soo freakin dry. Adelaide is going through one of its worst drought this century, so any rain is welcome. The thing is that now, it's nearly impossible to get clothes dry by just hanging them outside. We've now resorted to roasting our clothes on our pan heater (no central heating). Haih.. should take a picture la. Looks damned pathetic.

More updates to come. Internet connection is super slow and keeps disconnecting.