DAY 1942-1953

Dec 27 - Jan 7

1) It has been 12 days since my last blog post. And what a busy 12 days it has been! We've started a New Year, finished our public health rotations, sat for the Public Health II Examinations and end-of-block surgery examinations, gotten swabbed (again), and received our booster dose vaccinations. Public health was the final hurdle that we had to clear before our final semester of final year (due to it being a barring examination), and I'm really glad that it's over so that we can get back to our bread and butter of medicine / surgery.

2) On a personal note, I had another SFP (Specialised Foundation Programme) interview recently. Without getting into too much detail, it certainly was not what I had expected for an interview session. Imagine studying the entirety of A-Levels physics only to appear for a History examination - that's how far I missed the mark XD. At this rate, only time will tell if it was good enough for an offer, although I'm certainly not keeping my hopes high. At least I'll find out the results for both interviews soon, as they are due latest end of this month.

3) Semester 10 will be the final semester of our long medical school journey. It consists of "only" two modules - medicine and surgery, each of which lasts 7 weeks. Half the class starts with medicine, and the other half with surgery. I'm in Group A7a, which means I'll be starting off with medicine first. For this semester, three training hospitals are utilised - Penang General Hospital (PGH), Seberang Jaya Hospital (SJH), and Taiping Hospital. 

4) In addition to the usual ward rounds and clinics that we have become familiar with throughout our course, this final semester also includes sub-internship, where we shadow house officers and observe / assist / perform procedures as required. Sub-internship seems quite daunting for now, as it is 7am-7pm every day including the weekends, and 7am-1pm on Sundays. A measly 2% is awarded for sub-internship in both medicine and surgery, which frankly is inconsequential compared to the remaining 80% available from our final examinations. Nevertheless, I'm confident we'll gain some good practical experience from being exposed to the daily tasks and duties of a house officer in the wards.

5) It is the start of the new year, and hopefully the start of better things to come. Thank you for visiting my blog as always, and have a great weekend ahead. Cheers! 

Celebrating Nana's birthday @ Coffee Elements, All Season's Place

Ending public health with another nice group photo!

Pic taken at Seberang Jaya Health Clinic (KKSJ)

Doing my part for the community - my presentation on smoking cessation

It seems like I'm presenting to an empty audience 

but there were actually loads of people behind the chairs

A nice thank you gift!

I certainly was not expecting to bump into Hoong Yun, and right in front of my apartment too!

Hin Bus Depot on New Year's Eve - very lively and happening as always :)

Hin Bus Depot - for our New Year's Eve Countdown

Bumped into our seniors Jason and Vivien from C2019! :)

Ushering the new year with four thumbs up!

Liang pi (spicy cold skin noodles) from a food stall nearby

At an undisclosed bar, where we drank the year away :p

(bumped into yet another senior in the form of Kay Vin)

A very thoughtful message from the drive-through staff at McD today :)

Beef barbacoa served with crispy tortillas

A very Mexican lunch at Holy Guacamole

Batu Ferringhi Beach today

(killing time while waiting for our booster dose walk-in at Seberang Jaya Hospital)

Chinese-style lunch today (chicken with dried chilli and claypot tofu)

before heading for our booster shots

I'm starting to notice a trend of bumping into people lately XD

With Fadhli at the walk-in vaccination centre

Title above my head reads "I've been vaccinated!"

Pfizer 0.3mL intramuscular injection into the left deltoid muscle

No side effects, all good

DAY 1879-1891

Oct 25 - Nov 6

1) I've been really busy and stressed out this past week. Essentially, there were two really important events taking place: i) the International Undergraduate Medical Research Conference 2021 (IUMRC21), and ii) the Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP) interview. To make things more difficult, there were both held on weekdays, giving me very little time to prepare after our clinical rotations in the morning.

2) After emerging as the best overall presenter for RUMC Research Day 2021, I was privileged to be sponsored by my university to present my research findings (on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) at the IUMRC 2021. My abstract had been accepted for oral presentation, where I was required to submit a 10 minute recorded video of me presenting my PowerPoint slides. On the day of the conference itself, this video would be played to the audience (and adjudicators), followed by a live Q&A session for two minutes. 

3) It took some time for me to remember all the details regarding my research, and to prepare for the possible questions during the Q&A session. Also, my WiFi has a habit of failing me whenever I have important events coming up. Fortunately, there were no hiccups on the day itself, as I managed to answer the two questions posed by the audience. On a side note, it was really interesting to listen to the other presenters and find out more about how research is conducted in other disciplines. It reminded me of how diverse research can be, and why I enjoyed research in the first place.

4) I had to wait until the next day to get my results. Indeed, I was incredibly lucky to be awarded the Best Oral Presentation Award in the category of "Discovery Science". I certainly would not have been able to do so without the continuous support, encouragement, and advice from my university, and for that I am truly grateful.

5) After attending the conference, I had less than half an hour before the next event - the Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP) interview. This is basically an interview for aspiring clinician scientists hoping to train in the UK as a Foundation Doctor. Although this is very much a longshot, I knew I had to at least try. After the hour-long interview, we were informed that the results would be announced next year. I had done my best during the session, so the only thing left to do is to keep my fingers crossed. That, as well as to start preparing for the upcoming Situational Judgment Test (SJT), the end-of-rotation examinations for medicine, and the second half of the Public Health Examinations. There's never really a break is there? XD

6) I did spend the past few days finishing off my Public Health Report, just so I could get it out of the way. I have been neglecting both my medical and surgical rotations, so it is time for me to start revising properly. Thanks very much for visiting as always, take care and stay safe. Cheers!

My expired student ID card - had to trade it in for a new one :)

Finally received my prize for winning the Anatomy Heart Sketching Competition

- a set of very appropriate pens

I also finally got myself a new watch (from Lazada) after the strap broke off in my old one

First time trying out An Viet - a restaurant in Gurney Plaza serving authentic Vietnamese cuisine :)

As you can see, they gave me so many clams in my coconut broth!

Kimchi burger from "Dream Burger" - smells and tastes absolutely phenomenal! 

Thanks Tenisha for the recommendation :)

Of Hopes and Dreams

January-April 2016

Many events have transpired, collectively paving the way for my dreams (of becoming a doctor) to become a reality. As my father rather aptly puts it, "the skies are clearing, and the land beneath you is coming to sight".

Firstly, I managed to obtain 3A*1A for the CIE A-Levels exams. This meant I had definitely met the minimum requirements to study medicine (BBB) as set by the Malaysian Medical Council.

Secondly, I was attracted to the medical programme offered by Penang Medical College. It is a 5-year twinning programme, the first 2.5 years preclinical studies to be done in either the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) or University College Dublin (UCD), and the next 2.5 years clinical training back here in Penang Medical College (PMC). I applied online using my A-Levels results and was delighted to be called for the admissions interview on the 29th of April.

29th April 2016

My interview at PMC was scheduled for 2:00 p.m.. We took a bus to Butterworth in the morning, before boarding a ferry to Penang. After a simple lunch at Komtar, we proceeded to grab a taxi to Penang Medical College. Due to traffic congestion, we barely reached in time for my appointment.

Before I knew it, I was ushered into the interview room. No time to panic now, I thought.

My interview lasted half an hour. The interviewer was Head of Department, Obstetrics & Gynecology at PMC, Professor Knox Ritchie. He asked me questions ranging from my personal reasons for choosing medicine, to posing ethical scenarios for me to answer, in my capacity as a future doctor. We even found some time to talk about Rachmaninov's 3rd, the late Muhammad Ali and badminton. Such diversity made the interview feel very informal, and it certainly made me feel very comfortable opening up.

Before I knew it, it was all over. My dad took some snaps of the administrative building, and we were off. He promised to take my grandpa and I for a treat, so after much walking and complaining (as usual) we reached "The Safe Room", famous for its nitrogen ice cream. After such a mentally and physically draining escapade, I could not think of a better way to end the day.

The Safe Room, famous for their nitrogen ice cream

We took the bus home shortly after and reached Ipoh (my hometown) late at night.

It was with great elation that I checked my email a couple of weeks later, to be cordially greeted by a letter of congratulations for gaining admission into PMC's medical programme!

May 2016

Now the real work began. Looking through their website, I was aware of the RCSI-UCD Scholarships, which covered full tuition fees for the entire 5 years medical programme. With nothing to lose, and everything to gain, I applied for it and kept my fingers crossed.

To apply, I had to submit two scholarship essays, along with a CV and two testimonials. The weeks passed as I waited with baited breath for the outcome of my scholarship application.

June 2016

Somewhere in June, I received an email asking me to confirm my attendance for the scholarship interview to be held on the 24th of the month. I was ecstatic! All my hard work thus far had paid off, and I had one final hurdle to cross, before bliss...

Then came the days leading up to the interview. Every night, I (and sometimes, my dad) would rehearse interview questions and answer them as succinctly and precisely as I could. Each night, I would go to sleep in anticipation of the big day to come.

The interview would be held early in the morning, so my family and I had to take a bus there the night before and stay overnight. On the day itself, I was ready, all decked out in my suit and tie outfit. After a final practice, we set off for PMC once more.

Back once again to PMC

For the scholarship interview, there were three interviewers instead of one. Vice President for Academic Affairs PMC, Professor Kevin B. Nolan, as well as a representative each from RCSI and UCD, who traveled all the way from Ireland just to interview me. No pressure then...

My interview was rather brief; it lasted barely 20 minutes. Thoughts began to fill my mind, "Had I done enough?" "Did I say something wrong?" "Perhaps I spoke too fast and they had trouble understanding me?"

My parents did their best to comfort me. But this inner voice would constantly plague me until that faithful day.

July 2016

That faithful afternoon, I was busy taking a nap when I was rudely awakened by my dad. Before I could utter anything, he whispered "PMC", thrust my phone into my hands and asked me to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi. I'm calling from Penang Medical College and I just wanted to say "Congratulations! You have been awarded the full scholarsh... ""

Before she could finish her sentence, my heart leapt with joy and my whole body just went limp, overcome with emotion. My dad read my facial expressions and probably understood everything then and there. It was all I could do but to hastily voice out a "Thank you" before my dad shook my hand heartily, saying congratulations.

A few minutes later, an email sent by PMC confirmed that I was not dreaming (as I honestly thought I was) and I could finally say my long wait was over.

It has been an emotional roller coaster ride for me for the past nine months, since sitting for the last A-Levels paper on November 6th last year. So many months spent reading books on anatomy, reading medical journals on the latest breakthroughs in medical science, making my very own anatomical drawings to aid my understanding of the human body and its intricacies; all of this has not been in vain.

I am going to Dublin, Ireland to study medicine, and I will be leaving very soon, on the 1st of September.

Stay tuned...