DAY 1998-2012

Feb 21 - Mar 7

1) This post marks 2,000 days since I first began my journey as a medical student. While there were no fireworks or partying to celebrate the longevity of my blog, there have been a few other milestones that make this post that extra bit special. 

2) To start off, we had our final posting in medicine last week. Previously, we had spent two weeks of our medicine rotation in Hospital Taiping. I don't recall visiting Taiping often while growing up, but being in a different environment (after so long in Penang) was certainly very refreshing. We had our sub-internship week in Taiping as well - to observe, assist, and perform whatever procedures or examinations which we could. Overall, Taiping was both fun and surprisingly quite relaxing for us. Unfortunately, we weren't able to explore the city as much as we would have liked, mostly due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases at the time.

3) I would be remiss not to talk about exams. At the end of our medical posting was an OSCE examination. Initially scheduled for May, this was brought forward to the beginning of March due to changes in our schedule. In order to standardise the OSCE stations with those of the surgery examination, the time in station was reduced from 7 to 5 minutes, with only 1 minute for discussion. While some may be relieved owing to having less time with the examiners, I personally did not, as I felt the reduced time for examination would disrupt our overall flow and thought process.

4) Regardless, we finished our final medical OSCEs yesterday. As with most exams, I knew I could have done better, but I had already given my absolute best. Now that we're done with medicine (at least until May when we have our written papers and long case exams), we can focus on our final rotation - surgery. In my mind, surgery is more labour intensive than medicine, mostly due to us having clinical sessions every day from 8-12, with afternoon online classes thrown in for good measure. At the end of the day, I keep telling myself that this is indeed the final rotation of my six-year long journey, and that gives me the motivation to see this through.

5) Here's to the last two months till our final examinations. And with that, I'll end my blog post here. Thank you very much for visiting as always, and have a nice week ahead. Cheers! 

And that's a wrap - final medicine rotation complete!

L-R: Helmi, Omar, Lilin, Myself, Sean, and Kuhan

Taiping Hospital - one of the first hospitals in Malaysia and the first to introduce the "Roentgen Ray Apparatus", otherwise known as an X-ray machine!
Interesting, the first X-ray taken here was of a pomfret - very clearly detailing all the little fish bones

Ordered the char kuey tiao "special" from Restoran Doli

A bit pricey at RM17 but the next picture explains why...

I counted 36 shrimp from just one packet of noodles!

Taiping is a literal food haven. This is one of our favourite stalls - Sri Annapoorana Curry House.

L-R: Sean, Lilin, Helmi, Omar, Kuhan, Myself

Absolute feast of a meal for just RM10!

The fried bitter gourd is one of their specialties, but really everything is just so delicious

If only I can take credit for that detailed description of the examination of the peripheral nerves of the upper limb

Rachel seems to really know where the best food spots are - this is Habee's Kitchen

The milky noodles was delightfully rich and savoury, and went really well with the generous helpings of fried fish

Another feather in our cap :)

DAY 455/456/457

Nov 29 & 30 and Dec 1

1) It is now barely a week more till our end-of-semester exams. The library and all study areas are packed to the brim, with many students staying back till after midnight to revise. On a positive note, there have been a couple of revision lectures, designed to help us consolidate everything we've learnt so far. One such lecture we attended today was the anatomy revision session. All the students from Group B (my group) were separated to four tables, each with an Anatomy Demonstrator. Mr Lane would facilitate our lessons, and he wasted no time in revising many of the lectures we had covered, including some high-yield questions.

2) These days have become less and less exciting for me, as there are no more activities to attend, nor events to go to; as everyone is busy with the upcoming exams. As a result, my daily routine involves me commuting to RCSI in the morning, and basically staying till nighttime. I usually go home well before midnight, as the LUAS doesn't operate too long after that, and because it can get really chilly walking back from the station.

3) Also, it seems that after a string of bad luck, I've finally gotten lucky again. I am of course referring to the "Buy a Burrito, Flip a Coin" challenge at Burritos and Blues. Every Wednesday, when you buy a burrito, you get to choose heads or tails for the challenge. Guess correctly, and it's a free burrito. I was three for three when I went alone, then after going out with friends I was stuck at none out of two, and now that I went alone again, I'm one for one. I wonder if there's a pattern here?

3) In a way, this winter feels somewhat colder than the last, and try as I might, I have not gotten used to the cold yet. On the other hand, some of my friends back home are complaining of how hot it is, especially during the afternoons. I guess it's hard to satisfy everyone XD. Anyway, that has been the past couple of days here, and thank you for visiting my blog. Have a nice weekend ahead, cheers!

It looks like a scene from a sci-fi movie, but it's actually the staircase to the upper levels...

Ciabatta sandwiches really hit the spot!

AK Henry's €3.50 sandwich deals 

(I'm not getting paid to write this XD)

DAY 19

Sept 20

1) Today was the toughest day yet, in terms of academics. This was partially due to our first Anatomy practical, but also because I didn't have the time to study the lecture notes beforehand. Reached RCSI for the first lecture, which was on the breast and pectoral muscles. Then we had an hour and a half break before our first anatomy practical. So we went downstairs to Coffee Doc, a usual hangout spot for students who want to study while sipping coffee or tea haha. Spent the next 90 minutes trying to make sense of everything that had been taught so far.

2) After that, it was finally time. We donned our white coats and nitrile gloves, before going into the anatomy room. I was in Group B8 for anatomy. Our surgeon prosector, Brian E. Lane FRCSI, FRCSEd, FRCSEng, FACS wasted no time in briefing us on the proper etiquette of handling cadavers, which he fondly called "our first patients". So began our first practical session, in which I even got the chance to use the scalpel and forceps! I know some medical schools have dealt away with cadavers, buy in my humble opinion, no amount of plastinated models or CGI anatomical slides can replace a cadaver, once a living person and someone's mom or dad, who generously donated their bodies for research. I would liked to have taken some photos, but respecting privacy is of utmost importance, and so photography is strictly prohibited. I definitely understand that though.

3) Had lunch at AK. Henry's, before attending the next two lectures for today. When it was finally over, headed down to Dunnes to get myself some frozen dinners to last the week. But my luck didn't hold; as I was carrying the four meals back, two of them slipped off and fell *SPLAT* on the ground! Luckily, the food remained intact, although the plastic wrap did come off a little. I had one of them for dinner, and tried to make it a more nutritious meal with complementing that with an orange.

4) To sum off, today has been a really long day and I am about to take a nap soon. After that, I plan to continue studying to cover today's lectures and, to some extent, tomorrow's as well. Just three weeks in and I can see why they say medical students don't really enjoy the luxury of sleep. Anyhow, I shall bear in mind the words said by a professor during our welcoming speech: "Bigger idiots have made it through this." I do hope he's right. Goodnight!

Vegetable korma, with wedges and carrots

€3.95

Salmon dinner

(one of the two meals which fell *splat*, still tasted great though)

Our anatomy practical course book

My Stint as a Teacher!

The past nine months have been agony for me. Waiting for a reply from my applications to do medicine was mentally draining, and to top it all off, I was bored out of my wits! Seeing this, my dad recommended that I seek out a part time job. As most of my friends were already working either part time or full, I decided that I would look for one as well.

As I was desperately searching, a good friend of mine informed me of a job vacancy as a temporary teacher at SMJK Ave Maria Convent (AMC), Ipoh. It turned out that the present Chemistry teacher was on maternity leave and would be off for three months. As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. And so without much hesitation, I agreed to it.

After a simple interview with the principal, Ms Liew, I was approved and began work the very next day! Thus began my first real "job" as a Chemistry teacher at AMC. I was in charge of five classes - four Form 4 and one Form 5 class.

The five classes that I taught

Teaching Chemistry to secondary students has taught me a great deal of things. Firstly, it made me aware of how complex the role of a teacher is. As a teacher, you not only have to know the syllabus inside out, but you also have to be able to disseminate information in a way that the students can understand and follow easily. Not to mention different students learn at different rates; some are more self-motivated than others. Some go for tuition classes while some don't. All of this made teaching a very challenging, but altogether rewarding, affair.

Secondly, I learnt how to be friendly and inviting, while still being assertive. It is a constant juggle for teachers to be kind and accommodating to their students, yet commanding respect and obedience when needed. This is especially true during the many experiments that we had, where safety comes first. Suffice to say, I've learnt how to control a large crowd and to capture their attention so that they are focused on my lesson.

Thirdly, I improved my social communication skills. Prior to teaching, I was a rather quiet and withdrawn person, who didn't socialise very well. But when I came to AMC, I was amazed by how friendly and open the fellow teachers were towards me. They chatted with me, asked me where I came from, and some even offered me food! This essentially got rid of my fear to mingle, and I started talking animatedly with them. The more friends I made, the more welcome I felt at AMC, and this gave me extra motivation to do my best.

Lastly, I learnt how to manage my time efficiently. I had to take time off to prepare notes and experiments for my students, while also dedicating enough time to revise on anatomy and physiology, as I prepared for my admission interview for medicine. I fondly recall the sheer amount of pressure on me to finish marking five classes' worth of examinations papers, so that I could key in the marks in time. While I would be lying if I said it wasn't stressful, all the hard work eventually paid off. I became adept at spending time wisely, and learnt not to procrastinate in life.

After three months, I had to stop teaching as I am leaving soon for Ireland, to pursue my studies as a medical student. Although it was but for three months, the lessons learnt, as well as the memories made, will likely follow me for the rest of my life. It was a great experience overall, and I look forward to more of the same in the future!

With Ms. Liew Swee Fong, 

Principal of SMJK Ave Maria Convent, Ipoh 

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