DAY 2032-2046

Mar 27 - Apr 10

1) At present, it is a little difficult to describe my emotional state. I am simultaneously anxious for our upcoming finals, while also feeling relieved that all of this is coming to an end. The same can't be said for some of my friends though. Most of them seem to be in full "exam" mode and ready to start pulling all-nighters, if they have not already started doing so.

2) This week is our sub-internship week for orthopaedics - the last of our three sub-internship opportunities (for medicine, surgery, and orthopaedics). Unlike the previous two which were in Taiping Hospital, the orthopaedics sub-internship will be in Seberang Jaya Hospital - which is much more convenient. Hopefully the next two weeks will be kind to us. Coincidentally, there are only two weeks more to go before formal teaching is over. What follows after is a series of practical and written examinations which will (hopefully) conclude our medical student life. No pressure then. 

3) Studies aside, I was very happy to be able to join some badminton sessions with my friends over the past two weekends. While I was never really good at it, I thoroughly enjoyed myself - plus it gave me something to look forward to at the start of the week. Sadly, with the start of the fasting month for Muslims (Ramadan), as well as our fast-approaching finals, badminton sessions have since been temporarily suspended. 

4) Given how much I have left to cover, and how little time I actually have, I think it is time for me to resume my revision. Thank you very much for visiting as always, and have a great week ahead. Take care and stay safe, cheers! 

Group photo after an excellent ortho session at Penang GH
L-R: Helmi, Penny, Myself, Dr. Eu, Rachel, Ting Ying, Faizul, Esther, Midun

Dinner with Khang Way and Esther after an excellent badminton session :)

A fine meal to replenish those calories

(at the aptly named Grandpa's Kitchen)

Coming in early only to find the endoscopy suite (where the sign-in sheet is located) closed

L-R: Rachel, Ammar, Myself

Post-BST destressing at Fu Er Dai, which serves Cantonese-style dim sum

The highlights (for me at least) were the woo kok (fried taro dumplings) and lau sa bao (salted egg yolk buns)

Unlike most traditional dim sum which is carted out to each customer's table, here customers are required to make their selections at the counter instead

A surprise package - wonder what's inside...

An interesting addition to the OSCE sessions

Before anyone gets any ideas, the mannequin is for practising intimate physical examinations

A second badminton session to wrap things up before finals

L-R: Khang Way, Esther, Michelle, BK, Marcus, Myself

The spicy pomfret was to die for!

The cutest iced coffee I've seen

My face after realising I'd been fooled a second time... turns out the endoscopic suite only opens around 7.30am each day

Back for some clam noodles at Ah Gu Pan Mee today

One more for memory's sake :)

DAY 1985-1997

Feb 8 - 20

1) After the brief but much needed reprieve from our CNY holidays, it's back to business as usual for us. The last two weeks in Penang General Hospital have been quite pleasant, with bedside teachings in the mornings, and online tutorials / presentations in the afternoons. Of course, that was until multiple wards in both PGH and SJH closed due to an influx of COVID-19 patients. Thankfully, they reopened a few days later, thus allowing us to continue examining patients in the wards rather than the clinics.

2) As we inch closer to our finals, it seems that surprises are lurking around every corner. Immediately after coming back from our CNY break, those in the medicine rotation (myself included) found out that our short case examinations (which were originally scheduled for May) had been brought forward to the the first week of March! If that wasn't enough, the entire format was changed as well, from short case to OSCE stations, and the time for examination was cut from 10 min to 7 min. As if our finals weren't already challenging enough without the constant change to our exam schedule and formats.

3) Nevertheless, I am very grateful that this really is the last semester. After finishing our OSCEs for medicine (in March), the medicine group would switch to surgery for another seven weeks. That will be followed by the surgery OSCEs, and finally the written papers and long cases for both medicine and surgery. All of that will happen in May, assuming no changes to our current schedule. If things go to plan, that will be the end of my time here in Penang, and then the next chapter of my life begins. But I'm getting too ahead of myself.

4) For the next two weeks, my sub-group (A7) will be based in Taiping. We have a week in sub-internship and another in the wards / clinics in Taiping Hospital. While I would have preferred to remain here in Penang, I do appreciate the opportunity to experience teaching at different clinical settings. Looking forward to starting tomorrow, and with that, I'll end my blog post here. Thanks very much for visiting as always, and have a great week ahead. Cheers!

If time + effort = results, I wouldn't be worrying so much about our finals

My third BLS course certificate. 

In my humble opinion, the advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) courses should be made a pre-requisite for medical students instead

Miss the good ol' Sepoy Cafe!
(it's now permanently closed)

L-R: Olly, Sagar, Mariss, Myself

Back at Kim's Korean Restaurant

Thank you so much Rach for the super-belated / super-early birthday dinner!

Ah Gu Pan Mee for lunch today

(starting to wonder why they call themselves pan mee if their specialty is clam noodles...)

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 1822-1847

Aug 29 - Sept 23

1) This is the longest I've gone without a blog update - and for good reason. I've been waiting for the end-of-fourth year results to come out. What initially started out as a one week wait turned into two, then three, and finally just shy of a month since our last exam, we finally received our results this morning, during online class no less. I can just imagine some of my friends just zoning out of the lecture in order to check our results mid-lesson - I know I did.

2) For the past four weeks, we have had online classes on medicine and surgery, which are our fifth year modules. It has been rather difficult for me to find motivation to study for fifth year, especially when we didn't even know if we passed fourth year or not. Honestly, I was mentally preparing for the worst - as I knew I did not do well in a few modules. But without getting into too much detail, I was so incredibly lucky to pass fourth year! And suddenly, the stress and anxiety of waiting a month for our results seemed to just melt away. 

3) So the next (and final) step is fifth year - which is divided into Semester 9 and 10. Semester 9 has three modules which the students rotate through i.e. surgery, medicine, and public health. However, there have been problems getting us medical students back to the wards, as our main teaching hospital (Penang General Hospital) has no more teaching wards. This is due to the fact that most of the wards have been converted into COVID-19 wards, which is off-limits for medical students.

4) Nevertheless, we are scheduled to return to clinics beginning next Monday. It will be a slightly different experience, as the clinics see different patients compared to the wards. The main difference being that patients seen in clinics are generally in a more stable condition as they do not require ward admission. But there is still hope, as we are likely to utilise another teaching hospital (Taiping Hospital) after our first two weeks of clinics. Currently, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the resumption of clinical teaching. Hopefully, this is sorted out as soon as possible, so that we may graduate and move on in life.

5) The coronavirus pandemic has really turned the world upside down, and on a personal note, has affected our clinical exposure with patients. Hopefully, we will be able to make up for this deficit and become safe and competent healthcare professionals in the end. On that note, I'll end my blog post here. Thanks very much for visiting, and have a great day. Cheers! 

On a side note - I've received my second dose of vaccine!

This means I'm fully vaccinated, and just in time for our return to clinics too :)

The sign reads, "I've been vaccinated. You should too!" - which is really good advice