DAY 1772-1786

Jul 10 - 24

1) It has been a good two weeks since my last blog post. Things have been chugging along for us in Group B, as we continue our clinical exposure in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G). This is our last rotation before the end of fourth year examinations. As expected, the pressure of exams is building up, as we barely have a week's respite after O&G exams before having to sit for the final examinations. 

2) Regardless, I have found O&G to be a very interesting, if challenging field. Essentially, obstetrics covers care before, during, and after pregnancy, including childbirth and the post-partum period, while gynaecology covers the health of the female reproductive system i.e. vagina, uterus, ovaries, and breasts. Our curriculum is structured such that we spend a week each in the obstetric ward, obstetric clinics, gynaecology ward, and gynaecology clinics. We also have a session each in the fertility clinic and urogynaecology clinics, as well as five labour on-calls (essentially "night-shifts") where we are given the opportunity to witness childbirths. 

3) In addition, we have a total of five case reports to write: three labour cases, one obstetric case, and one gynaecology case, where we discuss the management of the patient as well as outline any learning points from each case. It's a busy rotation to say the least. I'm not going to lie - waking up early to clerk at least one case for presentation before 8.00am is not something I look forward to, given that we have two bed-side teachings in day - one at 8.00am and another at 12.00pm. At the end of the day, my mind is usually saturated with information. Thankfully, we have the rest of the day for self-study. 

4) Last Monday, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that an art submission of mine had been selected as one of the top three winners for the "Artist's Impression: The Heart" competition organised by the RUMC Peer-Led Assisted Learning Society (PALS). As the title suggests, the theme revolved around the heart - so that inspired me to draw a heart undergoing a heart attack, along with the progressive build-up of plaque leading to atherosclerosis, which can result in a heart attack. It was really fun to take my mind off studying medicine and instead concentrate on one of my old hobbies i.e. drawing.

5) Next week, it is our turn to enter the gyanecology wards. So I think it best to end on here. Thanks very much for visiting as always, and have a lovely weekend. Stay safe, and stay happy. Cheers! 

My submission for the art competition:

i) The main picture shows a heart undergoing a heart attack, with the shaded zones representing myocardial (heart muscle) necrosis (death), injury, and ischaemia 

ii) The diagrams on the right show the sequence of plaque formation, which can result in a heart attack

iii) The wavy lines on the bottom show the ECG changes over time in a patient with a heart attack

My O&G group mates @ the infertility clinic

(l-r: Myself, Ainin, Vinny, Ain, and Aida)

A negative COVID-19 swab test was required for us to resume our clinical training in the wards

We booked our free screening and received our results in under two hours :)

DAY 236

Apr 25

1) Today has been another full day at the library. Made my way to the library right after breakfast, and here I am studying. It's been a long day going through the REGUB lectures, and still tons more to go through.

2) My afternoon was spent napping and just taking some short breaks in between the studying. For a brief moment, hail began to fall. And just as quickly as it had come, it just disappeared- replaced by a sheet of rain which barely lasted five minutes. This was followed by clear, sunny weather. And we complain about the weather in Malaysia...

3) Evening came and went. After a while, I realise that if you pen yourself up for too long in a particular area, you lose all sense of time. And since the sky turns dark only at about eight or nine, very often I completely lose track of what time it is. I suppose it's no surprise that I constantly have to check not just the time, but the date as well. Anyway, that was my day today, and thanks for reading. Have a nice day, cheers!

Hail - disappeared almost as suddenly as it appeared ^^

DAY 233

Apr 22

1) Today was a rather unexciting day. I've come to the library after breakfast -as I usually do, and I've been here for the entire day. As our OSCE exams are in two days' time, that's been what I've been doing for the most part. Plus a bit of procrastinating here and there of course...

2) In the afternoon, I had a short chat with my parents. They encouraged me to cheer up, as exams were about to start (and therefore end soon haha) and soon summer would come. Then, my friends and I would be free to take a long deserved trip. But I had to finish my exams first of course.

3) The rest of the night was just me and my notes. I've to start leaving the library earlier, so that I can get enough sleep to function the next day. Time's ticking - perhaps it's best I continue with my business. That's all for today, and thanks for reading. Have a great day, cheers!

Ducks in St. Stephen's Green

My batch-cooked lunch

DAY 229

Apr 18

1) Today has been a typical day for me in the library. I went over to the Dublin School of Barbering, for a free haircut. My hair is so short now, but I'm happy with it. At least I don't have to visit the barber anytime soon. On my way back, I stopped by at Tesco to do my grocery shopping, as I'm planning to cook tonight.

2) After a long hiatus, the cleaners have come back to take care of all the emptying of the rubbish, as well as to fit in new paper towels in the dispenser. How clean the cafe looks like now! A far cry from its filth ridden, garbage piled high self from a couple of days back. This is what we students want - a conducive environment to study and prepare for our coming exams...

3) As I had not pre-made dinner, I decided to hop over to the Bla Blas Cafe to grab a chicken fillet roll. Cheap and filling - what's not to like? XD Came back and it was down to business. Studied for the rest of the night, mostly on OSCE. After a light supper, I made my way back home. That's the end of my day, and thanks for reading. Have a nice day, cheers!

Squirrel spotted in St. Stephen's Green

Chicken fillet roll for dinner

DAY 227

Apr 16

1) Happy Easter everybody! Most of the shops and shopping complexes in Dublin were closed today, and I forgot about that when I went to do my grocery shopping. And what better way to spend a holiday than by studying, right? Thankfully, the library was still operating, with usual opening and closing hours.

2) Today I'll share with you my experience with scammers. So I am in the process of booking an apartment for when my lease ends this summer. Most students use daft.ie for this purpose, and I used it too. One particular ad caught my attention, a €520/mth apartment for rent, in Dublin 2! Now the saying goes, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. But in this case, it wasn't absurdly cheap; just really cheap and good location.

3) So I messaged the owner, and I didn't get a reply for two days. Contrary to what you may think, I actually thought it was NOT a scam because they didn't reply instantly - usually scammers would reply you straight away since they want the money ASAP. But this was different, or so I thought. Fast forward till today, and I received an email apologising for the late reply, plus they shared some of their personal details with me.

4) At this point, I already had my reservations. Firstly, the original ad had been removed from daft.ie. Secondly, some sections of the email had perfect English while others were mediocre, with the ending asking me "not to let them down". Thirdly, they were asking me for my particulars, including a photo if I had one! All in the name of issuing a receipt and drafting out a lease, apparently. More like trying to identify me so you can target my friends too, I say.

5) Now all the warning bells were ringing. I continued digging deeper. I searched the name of the fool who claimed to be working as a doctor at a hospital. At first, I was a bit stumbled when the name and hospital matched, but it didn't take long to figure out they could just use the identity of someone else. Then I took paragraphs of the contents of the email and searched on the web. Turns out the content was from an Airbnb website, which explains where the perfect English came from.

6) So that was that. I never replied to the email, and that's the end of the matter. The moral of the story: if it's too good to be true, it usually is. And always double and triple check. Never give your personal details to anyone. EVER.

7) And to the scammer if you somehow managed to track my blog: People like you are the reason parents who send their children overseas to study have nightmares. You prey on gullible students, who have little to no experience dealing with situations like this; you are a cancer to society, and you take away whatever little hope we have left for humanity. All I know is retribution awaits, and it will come, especially when you least expect it. I won't wish it upon you, for that is sinful, but if and when it comes, you shan't have my sympathy.

8) That's the end of my little experience. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time it has happened. A couple of weeks earlier, my friend had a similar experience, and he was fortunate to identify the scammer before any sort of deal could be made. So to all future students coming to Dublin to study, I implore you to be careful, and be weary of such advertisements online. Take care, and have a great holiday, cheers! (EXCEPT MR./MRS./MS. SCAMMER ^^)

Flowers calm me down when I'm upset ^^

*Someone* decided they'd just make off with my leg XD

(10/10 for effort, RIP grammar)

DAY 223

Apr 12

1) Today has been another long day at the library. There's really not many days left until our first exam, which is our OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). So we are rotated through three stations, one of which is a History Taking Station, another is a Cardio/Resp/GI exam station, and the last is a rest station - in random order. All in all it shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes, but what effort required for it!

2) As you can imagine, my entire day has been spent at the library. Sometimes it's hard to find motivation to study when you don't even know where to start, because there's just so much to cover. So I just picked anatomy and studied that for the afternoon.

3) In the evening, I went over to the National Surgical Training Centre for our last Surgical Laporoscopy Session. It was the same five tasks, from simple transferring of pegs to the more difficult extracorporeal and intracorporeal suturing simulation tasks. Thankfully, I managed to complete all five tasks without too much of a hassle. I've done these same tasks so many times that it has become a bit like muscle memory to me - just like when I play the piano.

4) Returned to the library after saying goodbye to Mr. Harrington, the Surgical Research Fellow, for what is our last session before the holidays. They will use the data recorded (time taken, number of pegs transferred etc.) to plot a chart over time to see whether our skills improve/decline/show no change over time. That should be pretty interesting to see. I suspect mine to be all over the place, as there were some really good days and some pretty bad ones as well for me.

5) The rest of the evening is just trying to focus on my studies and not get distracted by other activities (believe me, when you are sick of studying, anything becomes interesting haha). That's the life of a medical student: we study hard, then party hard. And I can't wait for the latter. And on that note, I'll end my blog update here. Thanks for reading as always, and have a nice day. Cheers!

The trees are starting to bloom and gosh do they look beautiful

Disclaimer: those are jelly beans, not meds

My lunch, at the Mercer Cafe

DAY 202

Mar 22

1) Today has been a free day for us. The only caveat being tomorrow is our quiz, so I suppose the plan is to allow us to study as much as we can before the quiz. And so I've been in the library as usual, studying and going over lecture notes for pretty much the whole day.

2) In the afternoon, I went over to the Mercer Cafe for lunch. Took my medicine right after (I'm on my second last day of meds) before getting my much needed rest. Woke up about half an hour later, refreshed, and carried on with my work.

3) I've covered so much material, yet I always feel that for something new I learn, something old must be lost. It's definitely not easy retaining all this information at one point in time. I guess I'll just try my best as always. Anyway, night passed soon enough. Another round of studying, and that's it for today. I'm packing up earlier tonight, as I have to be early for the test tomorrow. That's all for tonight, and thanks for reading as always. Have a great day, cheers!

Another view of St. Stephen's Green ^^

My fried rice

DAY 197

Mar 17

1) Today is St. Patrick's Day. While almost everyone was busy parading through the streets in commemoration of St. Patrick (the foremost patron saint of Ireland), your truly was busy at home, recuperating. Some of my friends did go out and told me the winds today were very strong.

2) I've spent the entire day at my friend's apartment, and throughout the whole day I've been really unproductive. I found out quickly that the medicine I take does have some side effects, primarily fatigue. Every time I finish taking it, I end up lazing on the couch, unwilling to move. Anyway, I did try to get some work done, and revise some of the Anatomy topics ahead of our next Card Signing.

3) In the evening, I tried my best to study as well, but it didn't go as planned. After a while, my mind would wander off. So after a couple more futile attempts, I decided to take a break and listen to some relaxing songs instead. That's the end of my day today, and thanks for reading as always. Cheers!

A beautiful shot of St. Stephen's Green in the morning

Dinner as usual ^^

DAY 161

Feb 9

1) Today has been a really long day for me. My entire day could be summed up in one word: drawing. Apparently the RCSI Art Society have organised an anatomy sketch competition, and I just had to take part. The theme was anything anatomy, anything goes. So off I went to find a suitable pic and begin my drawing.

2) Essentially my entire day, from morning till night, has been me trying to finish my drawing. I have not completed it even after one full day, which means I'll require the whole of tomorrow as well. I suppose I could cut some corners to finish faster, but the perfectionist in me wants to make sure every minute detail is covered properly.

3) As to how the drawing looks like, I will only post it once it's done haha. But I will have tried my best to make it look good, so stay tuned... Literally poured my heart and soul to make sure it turns out fine, so I'm hoping it works. Anyway, I've done absolutely nothing else other than that for the whole day, which I know is not good for health, but I'll be done by tomorrow so if that's any consolation... Anyway, that's all for my blog today, and tomorrow promises to be more exciting than this. Thanks for reading, and have a great day. Cheers!

Kawasaki Rose I made a while back 

(you can tell I'm running out of ideas for pics haha)

Dinner as usual

DAY 147

Jan 26

1) Today was a holiday for us! I still had one class in the afternoon, but that was on library and retrieval skills so it doesn't count. Woke up late today (8.00am is late for me in winter haha), went downstairs to make breakfast and to pack my meals, before walking to the library. Basically I revised anatomy for the whole morning and part of the afternoon.

2) I paused for a short break to have my lunch and to unwind. Then it was another bout of studying, making notes and trying to condense as much info as possible into my brain. At 2.00pm, some of us had to attend the small group tutorial, in which they taught us how to use the RCSI Website to search for journals and how to cite and reference them. It was really helpful, especially considering we have an individual and team project coming up.

3) A bit more studying afterwards, and it was evening. Decided I'd take a break from study, and walked to college to change my clothes. I'd promised the Running Club I'd come for their first run this semester - a leisurely 4km stroll. What I didn't account for was the cold - running with just one jacket on is definitely NOT ideal in winter, much less so here in Ireland, where the winds get really strong as night approaches. After our run, I headed to another event - the Orthopaedic Research Night & Stryker Demonstration, organised by the RCSI Orthopaedic Society. Basically, there were some student research presentations, before a short break, followed by a demonstration on hip and joint replacement, by a company called Stryker. Zi Yan and I asked a representative loads of questions and we learnt so much about how bone and tissue engineering. It's such an interesting field to be honest.

4) Took my bath and changed, before coming back to the library to have my dinner. I've noticed my appetite increasing (quite substantially too) during winter, and I suppose it's the body heat we lose due to the cold. I certainly would not want to return to Malaysia as a roly-poly haha. Anyways, a third round of studying - this time on Immunology, and I was done for the day. I must say, almost all my friends here are absolutely crazy. They stay in the library all day like me, but unlike me - they don't seem to take breaks! Oh well, at least it's great motivation for me to try harder. That sums up my day, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks very much as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland ^^

Breakfast for today

My usual spot at the Mercer Cafe

That's supposed to be my lunch, just laterally rotated XD

Event of the Night!

Hip and Joint Replacement Surgical Tools

Learning more about orthopaedics and bone replacement surgery from a representative of Stryker,

the largest medical technology industry in Ireland

(excuse the informal wear - I came directly after my run!)

That's me and Zi Yan

DAY 135

Jan 14

1) Today has been another "normal" day for me. I woke up late today, had a quick breakfast and then left for the library. I was preoccupied with my my daily cycle of surfing the Internet and watching videos online for the better part of the morning.

2) Later on, I met up with my good friends Nee Kee and Stephanie at their apartment. They had just come back from Malaysia after a month! I am sooooo jealous XD. Anyway, it was fun catching up with them until lunch. I had Boojum's burrito bowl for lunch, a welcome change to my otherwise monotonous diet.

3) Came back to the library in the afternoon, and spent a long while Skype-ing with my parents. It's still hard for me to get to grips with how quickly time flies. It feels like just yesterday I touched down in Dublin, and yet here I am, about to start the second semester coming Monday. Random musings aside, I had my power nap soon after, and awoke just in time for dinner!

4) The night was spent cycling through the usual process of listening to songs, searching online videos, updating this blog, and of course revising a little anatomy - just to keep things in motion. Some cookies, orange and a coffee later, and I was back home in my lovely apartment. I will be cooking meals for next week, and that means I will be sleeping later than usual today. Oh well, it's not like I'm complaining haha. That's the end of my blog update, and I hope you enjoyed reading. Have a great day, cheerios!

Toast for breakfast :D

View into the Outside World

Pic taken from Mercer Library window

That's MY street

A reference to Einstein's iconic equation, E=mc^2

Boojum tasted soooo good after such a long time ^^

Pasta for dinner

DAY 126

Jan 5

1) Today was a routine day for me at the library. Woke up at around 8.30am, had my breakfast, before packing my stuff to go to the library. For the rest of the morning, I was surfing the Internet, looking for things to keep me occupied.

2) Had an early lunch (fried rice that I cooked a couple days back), before taking a short nap in the afternoon. In the evening, I walked to Dunnes just opposite Mercer, to do some grocery shopping. I bought a carton of eggs and some onions, so that I can cook for the rest of the week.

3) Dinner was also at at Mercer library, followed by my looking through a little anatomy for the next semester. The next semester (JC2) is infamous for being an absolute killer for the unprepared (5 modules as compared to only 3 modules for JC1) so I thought I might as well look through a bit, just to keep in touch.

4) There are more people in the library than before, most of them in Senior Cycle (SC1 & SC2) who still have exams after the New Year! Makes me grateful that we finished ours so early. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going with my friends to Howth, where I hope to take loads of photos XD. That's all for tonight, and thanks very much for reading. Cheers!

 

Morning toast

 

Fried rice for lunch

 

Preparing to go grocery shopping

DAY 36

Oct 7

1) Today I woke up feeling a little under the weather. My throat was slightly sore, and I was having a cold. At least it is the last day before the weekends. So had my usual breakfast, before getting ready for school. This morning's lectures were on anatomy, before we entered the anatomy room for our practicals.

2) For students in Group A, there was card-signing today. Naturally, everyone was really worried as this was our first card-signing and we did not know what to expect. As it turned out, the surgeon prosectors (most of them, anyway) were understanding and would drop the occasional hint. All in all, it was far less nerve wrecking than I originally thought.

3) Had lunch at AK. Henry's. Today I tried their wraps, slightly more expensive at €3.50, but as you can see from the pics below, a really wholesome meal. I decided I wouldn't be cooking tonight, so I bought a panini for takeaway. Luckily I always carry around a spare container for food, just in case.

4) A couple of lectures after lunch, and school was over! Came back to my apartment, idled about contemplating life's intricacies, before having my dinner. The panini tasted great, even without reheating. It is really convenient NOT having to cook all the time haha. With dinner checked, I am going for a nap, before taking it easy for the rest of the night. Tomorrow there is an event called "Let's Talk About Autism". Most of my friends are going so I will be following suit. That's all for tonight, thanks for reading, and goodnight!

Breakfast

Lunch - a wrap for a change!

Panini with crisps for dinner