Graduation Day

I finally and formally appended Doctor of Medicine to my name last Monday.

I felt like everything that happened that day was so unreal but so very happy.

Thank you to everyone who supported me through this wild ride. :)

Baccalaureate Mass for the Quadricentennial Batch Fireworks

Doctor of Medicine

I have hurdled the oral revalida.

Praise God.

I can attach M.D. to my name now.

Friends are Love

Okay, so this family photo is not complete but it would have to do for now.  The schedule gods conspired to give me a free day to spend with my barkada from UP Manila.  I hadn't seen most of them in about 3-4 years already, so I was really raring to go.  We went to the Taguig area to celebrate Daal's birthday, first visiting the exhibit of plastinized human bodies entitled "Myth of the Human Body,"  proceeding to enjoy iced coffee and a (long) game of Dutch blitz at the Starbucks store near St. Lukes Global, and then enjoying a sumptuous dinner at 1771 Sentro.  I love my UP family!

I ♥ Purple

Isn't it a bit OTT?

I really really really LOVE purple.

Gossip is not Glamorous

Gossip is something I've never enjoyed because I associate it so much with irony and bigotry.  Strong words, eh?  I don't like being around people who have nothing better to do than talk about other people, often in negative ways.  I just don't get how people feel that gossiping about others and finding malicious amusement in it help strengthen bonds of friendship.  I don't get how people love pointing out how this other person acted out of the ordinary and how they start treating the said person with less respect just because the person was different.  I don't get how people take out their "rulers" and judge people based on their often imperfect scales.  I don't get how some people use gossip to confront another, just because they were too uncomfortable to talk to the person directly.  I don't get how people try to make themselves feel better by comparing themselves with others; such action reeks of insecurity, in my humble opinion.

Gossiping to buttress one's ego is never glamorous, no matter how chic the clothing/shoes/bags/hair/makeup of the person doing the deed.  It becomes more irritating when people condemn other people based on traits that they possess themselves.  There are more things, tangible or not, that would make anyone feel better or be more productive than gossip.  If anyone would have nothing constructive to say, I don't think it's right to just blather about for the sake of having something to say.  I wish people would be reminded of such, each and every single day.

Humility, Respect, and Appreciation

Humility, respect, and appreciation.  These are basic values that we student doctors are taught throughout the four years of medical school, and hopefully will carry beyond those four years. Humility, respect, and appreciation. Values we apply in all the things we do during our ward work, our emergency room duty hours, and everything else that happens within the hospital.  Humility, respect, and appreciation. Values that help us survive the toxic environment with our dignity intact.  Humility, respect, and appreciation.  These are gentle reminders that we and many others can fall prey to the illusion of knowledge.

True Love

I used to think true love existed only in movies and books, but it took seeing it in the hospital for me to realize it does exist, albeit not as glamorous or as dramatic. There are wives who work themselves to the bone during office hours, spend some time taking care of their families at home, then go to the hospital to take care of their husbands; they endure the heat, the smell, the cramped conditions, and the fatigue that goes with watching over the sickly men who almost cannot be recognized because their diseases have made them waste away. No complaint passes their lips when they have to sponge their husbands' feverish bodies every so often, change soiled diapers, wipe away drool, or wait for the patient to finish a piece of bread in three hours. There are husbands who cannot sleep because they want to watch over their wives, brush their wives' hair, whisper sweet nothings in their wives' ears even when they are not sure she can hear because she's GCS3 and slipping away, and remain their families' pillars of strength when she finally bids goodbye. There are sons and daughters who drop everything else just to be with their parents in the hospital, pooling funds from their meager income, just so they can buy antibiotics or pressors to keep their moms or dads alive. Seeing how sickness makes people cherish each other just a little bit more everyday gives me hope and reminds me of the presence of love in this world.

Hello, I Am Alive and Lovely

It's been quite some time since an update was made on this little piece of real estate on the Internet. Blame it on the lack of a decent connection and on the taxing minor rotations of late.

I'm thankful that I had a relatively light rotation on the week of my birthday last April. I had time to recharge from the shock of being an actual MS4 (senior clerk) and being on duty most days on my first rotation. I almost never made it past 24 hours completely awake in medical school before (surprised?) and the concept of 24++ hour duty with its attendant responsibilities was completely foreign prior to April.  Truth be told, I very slowly got the hang of clerkship-errands, reports, etcetera.  May was a completely horrid month, and since I don't want to dwell on the details, I'd just focus on the fact that I survived it.

Am enjoying the short reprieve aka the 2-week Dermatology rotation.  Sort of a sanity break just before all hell breaks loose once more (aka the Internal Medicine rotation.)

Crazy Past Few Days

 I'm recovering from that week of 30+ hour duty assignments that came with tons of paperwork and errands. I miss the toxicity of the week in Otorhinolaryngology because that rotation taught me a lot in the very short time I spent with the department. Best of all, I had the best teachers: multitudes of patients who had all sorts of diseases that are now in that part of my brain marked 'unforgettable.'

Signing off for now because tomorrow is a very early day.

Stay healthy everyone!