DAY 1544-1547

Nov 24 - 27

1) Quite unlike the last blogpost where nothing much was happening, there have been a few exciting things happening these past few days. Obviously, the main reason I'm writing this post is because our psychiatry exams are over! Exams are never not stressful, so I was really glad to be the first batch of students to be called for examination. There were six stations, each with an examiner and a real patient. We had 15 minutes to clerk, followed by 20 minutes of presentation and discussion. Before I knew it, the bell had rung, indicating that time was up, and that I had to leave immediately. And just like that, Group B is done with psychiatry. That means we can look forward to starting our new rotation (family medicine) next Monday. 

2) Since coming back from the UK, I have been steadily gaining weight and developing really bad eating habits. It doesn't help that Malaysia has good food, and that my mum cooks really delicious food. On top of that, I have been neglecting my exercise, especially in light of the lockdown restrictions. It was my dad who encouraged me to change all this. I made a promise to myself that I would start exercising more frequently and being more active when I was in Penang. And of course, what better way to motivate myself than by enrolling in a virtual run. I enrolled in two - the Vitality London 10,000 and the Greater Manchester Marathon 2020. Both of these runs were held virtually due to the pandemic, so I could run it from home.

3) Using my fitness app that tracks distances via GPS, I began the arduous task of slowly regaining some of that stamina. Of course, it was a delicate task to balance my study time and my recreational time, especially as I could not afford to exert too much or risk being tired for the rest of the day. So baby steps it was. A huge advantage of the virtual run was that I could submit multiple runs and they would take the total mileage covered. This was especially important for the Manchester Marathon, as there was little chance I would be able to actually cover the full 42.2km in one go! So I split the distance into four runs - 10.5km each; I found this much more manageable. 

4) Long story short, I managed to complete both virtual races and submitted my runs online. Coincidentally, I received both finisher packs yesterday. Essentially, they represent the fruits of my hard-won labour - the race medal, finisher's tee, and some trinkets. Spurred on by my achievements, I went out for a longer than usual jog today. Most of my "baby-step" evening runs have been 15-20 min at a slow pace, so as not to tire myself. Today, I pushed really hard and completed a 5km in under 30 min. It was my first decent 5km run in at least two years. In London, during the Great King's Run, I had previously tried and failed to achieve this milestone, managing 5km in 31.5 min instead. 

5) Suffice to say, I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself after this run. Hence this blogpost today.  It is an incredible experience to feel fit again after so long, and I intend to maintain this level of fitness even as my study load increases. Anyway, that is it for this edition of my blog. Thanks very much for tuning in, and have a great day. Cheers!

Finally received my Vitality London 10,000 finisher pack! :D

Huge medal to commemorate this achievement!

The Greater Manchester Marathon has a special place in my heart - in 2018, I ran the full marathon (yes, all 42.2km of it) in aid of the Children Adventure Farm Trust (CAFT, UK). Now, I have taken part and completed the Greater Manchester Marathon 2020

Manchester Marathon medals are well-known for their enormous size and weight

Post-run snack, just a few weeks too late XD

My 5 km run today - it is not a particularly fast time, but symbolically, being able to run 5 km in under half an hour represents a good milestone for me :)

DAY 1529-1543

Nov 9 - 23

1) Not much has transpired since my last blog post. The partial lockdown is still in place, and if we're lucky, is expected to end by Dec 6. Until then, we've received confirmation that clinicals will continue as usual, which should mean no delay from my current rotation (psychiatry) to the next one (family medicine). Speaking of which, we have our clinical and communication skills (CASC) exam for psychiatry in just three days.

2) Essentially, we have one station with a real patient and an examiner. We are given one minute to read a scenario, and then we have fifteen minutes to clerk the patient. After that, we have twenty minutes to present the case summary, formulation, and management to our examiner. Believe me when I say that is a lot to get through in such a short amount of time. Nevertheless, it is an important skill to have as working doctors do not have the luxury of time; most consultations (especially the follow-up sessions) last at most 5-10 minutes! 

3) On a side note, it's already December - and so the year 2020 is coming to an end. And what a crazy year it has been! From mask-wearing to social distancing and distance learning, we've had to adapt so much to the coronavirus pandemic. Fortunately, there are many ongoing independent vaccine trials, many of which are showing really good promise. Hopefully, if the vaccines pass large Phase III Clinical Trials and are approved for public use, then mass vaccination can begin, and we may yet see a post-COVID world.

4) And on that positive note, I'll end my blog post here. I should really get back to preparing for my exams haha. Anyway, thanks very much for visiting as always, and have a great week ahead. Stay healthy and stay safe. Cheers! 

Completely unplanned meet-up with my buddy Sim!

@Granny's Cottage, Gurney Plaza

So there's this shop that sells Thai food in Gurney Food Hall

(this is their "red curry rendang set with rice")

This is their green curry set

And this is their basic chicken and egg rice set

(I really enjoy the curry as it rich and creamy)

My first Starbucks in a year :)

Random picture of a cat sleeping soundly

(@ Berjaya Court)

DAY 1517-1528

Oct 27 - Nov 8

1) What a difference another two weeks makes! As Malaysia expands its partial lockdown (called the Conditional Movement Control Order or CMCO) to include most states, both my hometown (Ipoh, Perak) as well as where I'm currently studying (Penang) are soon to be affected. This one-month partial lockdown is in response to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the community, with yesterday recording 1,755 new cases - the highest number of daily cases thus far. As a medical student, what this means (according to the e-mail sent to us from the college) is that all classes will revert to online mode. However, they are hopeful that clinical teaching should continue as before, which means we do not lose out on the all-important practical skills.

2) As it is, my group (Group B) is nearing the end of our psychiatry rotation, with just a week and half left before our end-of-rotation clinical assessment. In the past two weeks, we visited the psychiatric wards, the Health Clinics (at Perak Road & Macalister Road), the psychogeriatric clinics, and the private clinics (at Adventist Hospital). I have had the opportunity of engaging with a variety of patients suffering from mental illness, and I have found the experience to be invaluable. It is really interesting to see how the mental illness develops in a patient, and to explore the bio-psychosocial stressors that predisposed and precipitated the illness. Unfortunately, there also seems to be a lot of stigma and misconceptions regarding mental illness, the result of which is that patients often present late or not at all. Therefore, the onus falls on us to educate the patients and their family (as well as the wider community) about the myths and misconceptions that people generally may have regarding mental issues.

3) An interesting incident happened to me yesterday. After a long day, I was heading to sleep after using the bathroom, when I found myself locked out of my bathroom door. Somehow the door had become locked and the door knob would not turn. I spent a good hour or so trying everything I could, including the old "credit card" method, as well as by using scissors to hold the latch and try to push it inwards. Nothing worked, and I began to panic at the thought of having to call a locksmith. In a last-ditch effort, I searched online and found a method involving a coin placed into the indent of the doorknob. Lo and behold - that saved the day! Few things have given me more joy and euphoria than successfully unlocking my bathroom door. Now I am extra careful in making sure I do not close the bathroom door completely, just in case it gets jammed again. 

4) The next two weeks will be busy for me, as I will probably be preparing for the end-of-rotation assessment for psychiatry. Until then, take care and look out for yourself and each other during this most trying of times. Thanks for visiting my blog as always, and have a great week ahead. Cheers! 

Meet-up after a year! @ Nando's Gurney Plaza

(l-r: Melvin, Melissa, Kuhan, Esther, Myself)

Lunch at Sepoy Cafe with long-time friends :)

(l-r: Myself, Amir, Mad Noor, Alvin)

With my ever supportive sub-group mates (Group B3)

l-r: Myself, Sharifah, Angel, Ain

Psychiatry has been a blast thanks to them ft. myself as moderator for problem-based learning

l-r: Myself, Aida, Fadhli, Ainin, Jia Min, Jit Hong

Very big fish head curry for lunch today XD

The other day I hurt my left knee when I fell while jogging. It had healed quite well until I was forced to wear long pants to clerk patients in hospital. As my wound was still not completely dry, it stuck to my pant leg and when I tugged a little too hard at it, the whole scab came off! So for the rest of the week, I had to apply some antiseptic (betadine), a cotton gauze, and basically wrap my left knee using a crepe bandage. I'm happy to report that the scar is all dry and well now :)

Green curry rice set @ Food Hall, Gurney Plaza

Salmon teriyaki for dinner today :)

Ayam penyet (lit. flattened chicken) set rice

(Lunch menu at Sepoy Cafe)

Night life at campus XD

(Jokes - there is no life at campus)

Beautiful rangoli art in our college (for the upcoming Diwali celebrations)

The door that would not open (a.k.a. my bathroom door)

After over an hour of fiddling around, this was literally my last attempt

Lo and behold - the knob turned!

Never have I been so indebted to a 50 sen coin :')

Signature chilli pan mee @ Food Hall, Gurney Plaza

Even more beautiful Diwali decorations at Gurney Plaza today