8 Things I Hate About Being a Nurse

Wondering why I chose eight? Each entry represents the standard eight hours nurses like me spend in one shift. Standard, eh? I frankly used the number because I need one; otherwise if I add up all the extended hours, this list could go on forever.

So I hate being a nurse because…

EIGHT - Nurses wear all white and we have to wear our hair up in a bun. You know how inconvenient plus hard to maintain that is? Okay, I came to duty on a heavy rain and mud starts making its way up my white uniform and there it is, a stain to last my entire shift. Also, putting my hair up prevents my it from being gorgeous! Really. That means no straightening, rebonding nor perming because I have to pull my hair back every single day. Oh God, I always envy those girls in high fashion corporate wears and all-set hairstyles. Maybe nurses should be allowed to look the same. Umm, just maybe.

SEVEN - We don’t get a professional fee (PF).  We also have a license, and that makes us professionals too. But we don’t have a professional fee and we live on meager salary regardless of how many patients we’ve handled or cases we’ve assisted.

SIX - We do not have a holiday.  Everyone in the industry can relate to this, I wouldn’t dare watch out for holidays because I just feel hopeless. The entire country rests lazily on their couches while I pin high my dear cap.

FIVE - We can’t leave unfinished work. I mean office girls do that, do they? They can leave unfinished works and get to it the next morning. But nurses have to stay for as long as needed because we just can’t leave things undone. Life is at stake and life can’t wait.

FOUR - We are the complaints center, if there is such a thing. When patients have a complaint on just about anything, they complain to the nurse. Not to the housekeeping staff, guard, doctor, or anyone else. Directly to the nurse; blame that for being too available.

THREE - Refer this and that. Even if I know what drug to give, and I have it right here in my very hands; I can’t give it, I always need to refer and ask for a prescription. I say nurses carry immense responsibility but very little authority, now how more frustrating can that get?

TWO – We are not treated as professionals. Leaking faucet? Faulty telly? We are always asked to do things we are not supposed to do. I mean, we’ve studied four dreaded years and earn ourselves a license for what? Fixing your telly signal? Hell no. Nurses are professionals like engineers, accountants, lawyers, and your beloved doctors whom you do not dare raise one eyebrow while you mindlessly shout at your nurse like your entire hospital bill goes straight to her salary.

ONE – Nursing is more than a sacrifice, it’s suicide. From nursing school to nurse’s station, enough sleep, enough food, nor enough rest is next to impossible. Here’s one idea that I’ve thought of just now: nurses religiously monitor patients’ urine output but at the end of the shift we realize we haven’t once gone to the bathroom: and that makes ours zero. So,if there’s one profession that wholly uses up one’s existence: be it mentally, physically, and emotionally, you got it: it’s Nursing.

Gosh, making a hate list is tiring; but then of course, I also have a list of the things I love in this field…

8. There are always doctors and nurses who look handsome in white and you get to trifle with them; and suddenly, the world is a better place J

7. I love it when I get in regular clothes and everyone stares in shock; as if I’ve got no right to wear nothing but white.

6. More seriously, as a nurse, I get to see life in all its forms: from womb to tomb.

5. I get to work with all the goodness of my heart, no PF needed. I’m quite about sure you wouldn’t find nurses in hell.

4. I love being able to discharge patients in their improved condition. Nothing beats seeing them go home thanking you for their recovery. I guess that just transpires the very essence of this job.

3. My heart leaps when patients and/or relatives appreciate the work I have done; when they actually call me by name and boast that I am their nurse.

2. No other profession is as heroic as ours: giving up our own lives in order to save others.

1. Last of all, nurses may not be angels, but we’re the next best thing.

Oh you get it, I’m proud of this job: I just never admit it because it’s just too much fun to complain. Kudos nurses!

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Repost From: Airina April's Read My Lips

The Grand Dame of Philippine Pediatrics laid to rest

Dra. Fe del Mundo

(November 27, 1911 - August 6, 2011)

The Grand Dame of Philippine Pediatrics

Necrological Services in Honor of the National Scientist 

Speech of Pres. Noy Aquino

Rites and Awarding of the Golden Heart Award Rank of grand Collar (Maringal na Kwintas) 

Thank You Very Much Dra. Fe del Mundo

"Mankind Owes to Children the Best it has to Give"

Dra. Fe del Mundo

(November 27, 1911 - August 6, 2011)

"The Grand Dame of Philippine Pediatrics"

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Beautiful Life as doctor to Generations of Kids; 99
By: Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Dr. Fe del Mundo, esteemed doctor and healer and nurturer of generations of children, died on Saturday, three months shy of her 100th birthday.

She passed quietly, succumbing to cardiac arrest, in the simple room at the Dr. Fe Del Mundo Medical Center in Quezon City where she has been living for years.

As she was a National Scientist, among other outstanding achievements, Del Mundo will be buried with honors at Libingan ng mga Bayani on Thursday, according to her niece Elisa Bengzon.

Her wake will be held at her Quezon City hospital. She will be brought to the Sto. Domingo church on Wednesday.

Bengzon found it fitting that her aunt, a devout Catholic who religiously went to Mass everyday up to her last years, died on the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ.

“She is transfigured into the most beautiful Dr. Fe del Mundo,” she said.

Del Mundo’s family has found comfort in the outpouring of love from those whose lives she had touched.

And they are many, given her tireless devotion to children.

Del Mundo’s legacy and her teachings have been immortalized in a coffee table book published in time for her 99th birthday last year. It was called “Dr. Fe Del Mundo: A Beautiful Life,” and chronicled the accomplishments and teachings of the petite doctor who stood head and shoulders above many colleagues.

She never lacked for recognition, even in her twilight years.

Magsaysay Award

Last year, the then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred the Lakandula Award with rank of Bayani on the noted pediatrician.

She was also conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.

She has also been honored with the Elizabeth Blackwell Award for Outstanding Service to Mankind and was the first lay recipient of the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Award, which is awarded to those who have dedicated their lives to serving the poor and who serve as an inspiration to the world.

Various other institutions, including medical ones, have also bestowed honors on her. So numerous were her awards that listing them took up eight pages of the coffee table book on her.

According to Del Mundo’s family, they have been informed that President Aquino had been planning on bestowing on Del Mundo the Grand Collar of the Order of the Golden Heart.

The Order of the Golden Heart “gives official recognition to Filipino or foreign citizens who have rendered distinguished services or given noteworthy monetary of other material aid, encouragement to the campaign for the amelioration and improvement of the moral, social and economic conditions of the Filipino masses, and for volunteerism in the service of the Filipino masses.” The Grand Collar is the highest rank under the order.

The same award was first given in 1955 to Hellen Keller, who dedicated her life to helping deaf-blind people in several countries including the Philippines. It was conferred on comedian Dolphy, or Rodolfo Quizon, last year in recognition of his contributions to the entertainment industry.

Postgrad at Harvard

The acclaimed pediatrician lived in the Quezon City hospital named after her, which has been serving as a haven for ailing children since it opened in 1957.

Del Mundo’s life was a stellar example of one who has devoted her heart and soul to helping and comforting the afflicted.

She decided to turn to pediatrics upon seeing that more children than adults were dying, given the lack of doctors specializing in children’s health.

For her, medicine was more of charity work, not a means to material enrichment.

She put up a medical institution in the Philippines after choosing to return home from her studies in the United States, where she was the first Filipino woman accepted for postgraduate training at the Harvard Medical School in 1936.

She also trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Billings Hospital in Chicago, Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston University.

Valedictorian, UP

She earned an associate in arts degree from the University of the Philippines at the age of 17, and graduated valedictorian from the UP College of Medicine.

Her dream of putting up a hospital began with “The Little Clinic,” which she put up in Mendiola, Manila. Since it was always overcrowded, she decided to put up a bigger hospital, selling her home to realize her dream.

She also made sure to help the poor by training teams of medical workers and sending them to remote provinces to treat sick children and provide health care, resulting in fewer children’s deaths. She also invented an open native incubator to be used by rural communities for premature, low-weight or jaundice-stricken babies.

She remained humble despite her many achievements, once joking that since she was the oldest living pediatrician, she was being given an award as the organizers didn’t know who else to give it to.

With so many activities on her plate, Del Mundo never married. But she was like a mother, a nurturing force, for all those children whose lives she touched, and to whom she gave her all.

And she felt rewarded in turn.

In her own words immortalized in her book, Del Mundo shared what her passion meant to her: “I am glad I have been very much involved in the care of children. They are the most outstanding feature in my life.”

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" Almighty Father, eternal God, hear our prayers for Your daughter Fe del Mundo, whom You have called from this life to Yourself. Grant her light, happiness, and peace. Let her pass in safety through the gates of death, and live forever with all Your saints in the light You promised to Abraham and to all his descendants in faith. Guard her from all harm and on that great day of resurrection and reward raise her up with all Your saints. Pardon her sins and give her eternal life in Your kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto the soul of Dra. Fe del Mundo oh Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen "

The Good News of Our Starvation

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IMNMD 2B by Myrna L. Sajo

Anatomy Group 3 with Dra. Luz Surio

I am an MD-to-be. I live an unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle composed merely of sleeping to four hours a night (that is if you get lucky), sitting for long hours in the library. My exercise regimen is changing classrooms, standing for an hour or two during bedside discussions, and carrying thick-paged and hard-bound medical books. I am on the verge of caffeine addiction. All my energy has been drained from me. And the worst part is, I'm not just physically drained, I'm mentally and emotionally drained and socially stunted.

Anatomy of the Dorsum (R) Hand

Is this the price I have to pay to be a doctor, to have that right to attach to my name those two most important letters in the alphabet, MD? Being a med student is like being handed a free roundtrip ticket to hell. For me, at least, it feels like it. I'm not delusional. I'm not discouraging anybody to be a doctor. But, one must know and understand the realities—the truth that lies behind the typical life of a medical student. Before I entered medical school, I already had this preconceived notion that it would be really difficult. That was an understatement. First year was devoted to studying the "normal". The greatest bulk of my time was spent smelling formalin in the Anatomy laboratory with the cadavers. Since my pre-med was not Physical Therapy, I really had a hard time memorizing the origin, insertion, and actions of muscles which the doctors lovingly tie during practical examinations. Hello! Of course I know the commencement, termination, and tributaries of pudendal vein, but where the heck is it? I could not find it. I bet, even if they give me the whole hour to look for that vein, I'll never find it. Biochemistry? You need a trillion neurons to accommodate the litany of information you have to store. You'll need more than 36 ATP from glycolysis and Kreb's cycle to pass that subject. And more importantly, gluconeogenesis should also take place in your brain, not limited in your liver, because you'll really need a large amount of glucose to feed your ischemic brain.

Biochemistryland Map (Clinical Biochemistry MRS)

If you can live in Neuroanatomy, Histology, Anatomy, and Biochemistry memorizing without understanding, Physiology is a different story. Physiology is understanding without the need of memorizing which unfortunately, was even harder for me. Moving on from first year to second year was like transferring from the Sahara Desert to Siberia . Everything we studied was abnormal. We spent hours in Pathology looking under the microscope, helplessly racking every corner of our brains for the diagnosis of a small scraped tissue. How could you tell that the patient is having a heart failure, that she has cancer and that she only has five years to live just by examining a teeny-weeny bit of stained tissue, resembling more an abstract-surrealist painting which I can never appreciate?

Coping for Exam by doccartoon

The essence of being a doctor nowadays is to be able to give the patient a prescription (Right or wrong, most of the time it does not matter anymore. Patients get instantly healed when they get their prescriptions). And in our Pharmacology examinations, I usually don't get the right drug for prescription writing. Well, except for Paracetamol, but what the heck, I always computed for the wrong dosage. Internal Medicine tackled history and physical diagnosis. Here, you'll get a first-hand experience of interviewing a real patient. It's one small step closer to being a doctor.

I remembered how nervous I was approaching my first patient. I didn't know what to ask. My line of inquiry lacked coherence. I fumbled with the physical examination, wondering why I could not hear any heart sounds nor breath sounds, only to find out I wore my stethoscope the wrong way. I've just finished third year and I'm barely alive.

Third year was a totally different story. I had completely lost the idealism I had when I entered med school. I am beginning to ask myself why I'm spending the prime years of my life almost a breath away from cadavers, half alive-half dead myself. At 23, I should be earning already, and not be an immense burden to my parents. I have a high-maintenance lifestyle. My parents would spend close to a P100,000 a year only for my tuition. I still had to ask my mom money for my books and daily allowance. And I know that this setup will continue another four years or so. As my highschool friends are starting to save their earnings and beginning to build families of their own, I'm hardly out of med school, probably still stuck reading Harrison's Internal Medicine, cramming for a case presentation and helplessly being grilled by a consultant during bedside discussions.

Being a med student is nothing but sacrifice. First and foremost, you have to give up sleep. Sleep is the most precious gift any med student could ever receive. It seems that sleep does not exist in the vocabulary of our teachers. Sleep is taboo to medicine except when doctors advise it to their patients. It's totally ironic. Doctors know that human beings (medical students included), in order to function maximally the following day should at least get eight hours of sleep. Then why do they expect us to read everything, to pass all their difficult exams,actively participate in case discussions and to answer all their questions when you only get an average of four hours or less sleep per day? We're not different from human beings who need to eat three times a day, who breathe the same air, and who need to rest. It's not as if God had given us an extraordinary pineal gland and reticular system so that we have an extraordinary circadian rhythm and a long, long s tate of arousal. I just hope our doctors would understand that if a med student failed to read something, it's not because he was lazy. He was probably tired and had gone to a dreamless slumber because he spent the previous night like a psycho studying for three exams.

I have sacrificed time for my family, for my friends, and for myself. My whole life right now is devoted to Harrison, to Schwartz, to Nelson, to Adams, to Smith, to Green, to Kaplan, all authors of my medical books. I mean if these are the surnames of all the guys I go out with, seven times a week, geez! I would die a happy and fulfilled woman! Instead of accompanying my mom to the supermarket, I have to stay home because I have to study. My dad had already complained to me that I do not have time for him. My friends had stopped calling me because whenever they talked to me I either spoke in monosyllabic words, or they could not understand me because I spoke as if I drank tons of tequila. I talked like a drunk. Well, in fact, I was just in the middle of a dreamless sleep.

See? How can you choose this kind of lifestyle?It's not even a lucrative job anymore. You have to get rid of all the more experienced and old doctors to get even a handful of patients. So, if you want to be a millionaire, don't slave in the hospital because even if God had made one day 72 hours, instead of 24,or gave us 14 days instead of 7 in one week, you're still way off your one million mark before the age of 30.

Of course, I have witnessed a lot of people giving up med school. But never have I heard, not even an anecdote, of a rich businessman giving up his entire career, just to study medicine. Being a doctor is not something you have to decide overnight. It's not a result of your whim or a fulfillment of your parents' dream. Because if these would be your reasons, you're entering the wrong profession. Choosing to be a doctor means being committed to a lifelong journey of endless sacrifice. You have to be sure that this is the life you want to live—that you love to live—not something you'd tire of halfway. The ironic thing is I never wanted to be a doctor in the first place. I wanted to be a writer, a novelist, or even a journalist. I was just dragged by my mother to take up medicine but fortunately after seven years of schooling, I learned to love it. Of course I still have doubts that maybe I'm really not cut out to be a doctor, leading me to think if it's really worth it.

At this point, I don't know anymore. What inspires me to continue is that in the future, I know I'm going to save a man's life. And through it, I can honestly say to myself that I have made a difference in someone else's life. And I reckon, maybe that's what being a doctor is all about. It's not working in some fancy hospital,earning big bucks from your patients, changing your cars quarterly from BMW to an Alfa Romeo to a Jaguar, nor travelling around the world magnanimously sponsored by some big drug companies.

Neither is it the various letters attached at the end of your name. Being a true doctor is not treating the patient as some hypothetical case from a medical textbook. It is treating the patient as a human being, who possesses a heart that does not only pump blood but a heart that could feel, who doesn't have a brain that is visualized only as black and white in an MRI or CT scan but has a mind that could reason, who is not merely composed of cells, of tissues, of organs, and of different systems but a human being who has a soul.

Being a doctor is being able to look at every patient's eyes and seeing in their depths the hope that somehow you can make one father go home and enjoy dinner with his family, or you can make a grandmother attend her only grandchild's piano recital, or you can send a mother to be with her daughter as she enters into the complicated life of adolescence or you can transform an infant's cry to a frolicking laughter. Being a doctor means being a part of an unimaginable greatness that you can only understand if you surrender yourself to years of rigorous training and incessant pursuit of medical knowledge.

During all my interviews in different med schools, they asked me why I wanted to be a doctor. I always answered that I wanted to help and save humanity. I'm sure all my interviewers have heard that same line from countless fellow applicants. But I don't care because it's the truth. I don't know how I can do it but I know eventually I will, in my own small way.

Medicine is neither for the weak-minded nor the weak-hearted. My endurance has been tested. My strength has been staunchly fortified. Medicine has changed me completely. I have sacrificed a great deal and most of the times, I may feel I'm not compensated. Most of the time, I would want to give up but I know deep in the core of my heart, I won't. For after careful reflection, I realized that being a doctor actually gives me a different kind of happiness, a different kind of self-fulfillment, which I can never find in any profession. Well, I just hope my fellow aspiring doctors are fortunate enough to share the same sentiments.

                       -  Myrna L. Sajo

2nd Childhood

Last May 30, me and my family went to Hong Kong Disneyland for an overdue vacation. It was an experience of a lifetime. I felt like I was a child again, and I can safely say that I wasn't the only one who did. My brother had a smile that I had never seen for the past God knows how long. My cousins are extremely happy and on top of that, my grandfather was with us and he really enjoyed the trip.

Ever since I was little, the mere thought of going to Disneyland excites me. A lot of my friends and classmates keep on sharing their stories about the park and how wonderful it is. And last Monday, "it was a dream come true". 

Getting there was a breeze, considering that the place where we stayed, Harbour Plaza Metropolis, is right across the Hung Hom MTR station. The commute to DL is part of the experience. The Disney themed train  is really cute, it had Mickey Mouse windows, replicas of Disney characters and Mickey Handrails.

HKDL resort was everything I imagined it to be. Magical. From the rides, to good food, from the Golden Mickeys show and The Festival of Lion King to the Philar Magic, it was spectacular. I won't be telling stuff bit-by-bit because it would probably take me 3 entries just to share how wonderful my DL experience was. The highlight for me however, was the "Flights of Fantasy" Parade. We were eating our late lunch (around 3:30) when it started and my cousin Jia hurriedly ran to the main street with me and Timmy. At first i thought only kids will enjoy the parade. But I have to admit I really had fun watching it. Every performer had a really good smile while dancing to a catchy parade song. Considering that majority of the performers were my kababayans, it made me feel proud how good of an entertainer Pinoys are.

Here is a video of the parade taken by my brother.

By 7:00, everyone gathered around the main street in anticipation of the fireworks display above Sleeping Beauty Castle currently themed with Tinkerbell and her fairy dust on their 5th anniversary. 

A video of the fireworks display c/o mondaysMorning of YouTube

It felt wonderful to be a kid again. What's more awesome was that I was with the people I love the most. (next time Papa, let's go together ok? Labyu)

Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas S. J. on RH Bill

Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J., J.S.D. is a Jesuit and is Dean Emeritus of Ateneo Law School in Makati City, Philippines. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission which drafted the present Philippine Constitution. Bernas is a renowned expert in the Philippine Constitution and a prolific author of law books and articles. (wikipedia)

Following article is taken from: Inquirer-Opinion: My stand on the RH Bill

I HAVE been following the debates on the RH Bill not just in the recent House sessions but practically since its start. In the process, because of what I have said and written (where I have not joined the attack dogs against the RH Bill), I have been called a Judas by a high-ranking cleric, I am considered a heretic in a wealthy barangay where some members have urged that I should leave the Church (which is insane), and one of those who regularly hears my Mass in the Ateneo Chapel in Rockwell came to me disturbed by my position. I feel therefore that I owe some explanation to those who listen to me or read my writings.

First, let me start by saying that I adhere to the teaching of the Church on artificial contraception even if I am aware that the teaching on the subject is not considered infallible doctrine by those who know more theology than I do. Moreover, I am still considered a Catholic and Jesuit in good standing by my superiors, critics notwithstanding!

Second (very important for me as a student of the Constitution and of church-state relations), I am very much aware of the fact that we live in a pluralist society where various religious groups have differing beliefs about the morality of artificial contraception. But freedom of religion means more than just the freedom to believe. It also means the freedom to act or not to act according to what one believes. Hence, the state should not prevent people from practicing responsible parenthood according to their religious belief nor may churchmen compel President Aquino, by whatever means, to prevent people from acting according to their religious belief. As the “Compendium on the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church” says, “Because of its historical and cultural ties to a nation, a religious community might be given special recognition on the part of the State. Such recognition must in no way create discrimination within the civil or social order for other religious groups” and “Those responsible for government are required to interpret the common good of their country not only according to the guidelines of the majority but also according to the effective good of all the members of the community, including the minority.”

Third, I am dismayed by preachers telling parishioners that support for the RH Bill ipso facto is a serious sin or merits excommunication! I find this to be irresponsible.

Fourth, I have never held that the RH Bill is perfect. But if we have to have an RH law, I intend to contribute to its improvement as much as I can. Because of this, I and a number of my colleagues have offered ways of improving it and specifying areas that can be the subject of intelligent discussion. (Yes, there are intelligent people in our country.) For that purpose we jointly prepared and I published in my column what we called “talking points” on the bill.

Fifth, specifically I advocate removal of the provision on mandatory sexual education in public schools without the consent of parents. (I assume that those who send their children to Catholic schools accept the program of Catholic schools on the subject.) My reason for requiring the consent of parents is, among others, the constitutional provision which recognizes the sanctity of the human family and “the natural and primary right of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character.” (Article II, Section 12) 

Sixth, I am pleased that the bill reiterates the prohibition of abortion as an assault against the right to life. Abortifacient pills and devices, if there are any in the market, should be banned by the Food and Drug Administration. But whether or not there are such is a question of scientific fact of which I am no judge.

Seventh, I hold that there already is abortion any time a fertilized ovum is expelled. The Constitution commands that the life of the unborn be protected “from conception.” For me this means that sacred life begins at fertilization and not at implantation.

Eighth, it has already been pointed out that the obligation of employers with regard to the sexual and reproductive health of employees is already dealt with in the Labor Code. If the provision needs improvement or nuancing, let it be done through an examination of the Labor Code provision.

Ninth, there are many valuable points in the bill’s Declaration of Policy and Guiding Principles which can serve the welfare of the nation and especially of poor women who cannot afford the cost of medical service. There are specific provisions which give substance to these good points. They should be saved.

Tenth, I hold that public money may be spent for the promotion of reproductive health in ways that do not violate the Constitution. Public money is neither Catholic, nor Protestant, nor Muslim or what have you and may be appropriated by Congress for the public good without violating the Constitution.

Eleventh, I leave the debate on population control to sociologists.

Finally, I am happy that the CBCP has disowned the self-destructive views of some clerics.

Life as a Medical Student

Anatomy Group 3 with Dra. Surio

Biochemistry Section C with Faculty Members

I couldn't believe that it's been a year since I started studying medicine. I can still remember reviewing for NMAT and preparing a lot of documents needed to apply to different medical schools. Practicing for the oral interview and writing an admission essay that I hoped would stand out. Fitting in the new crowd and made new friends. Studying (cramming would be a more appropriate term) for shifting exams. Reading a lot of stuff from different books, websites and journals for a conference. Staying up as late as 3AM, trying my best to absorb everything for the prelims. The experience is just emotional, unbelievable and truly a different way of learning things.

                                                                     

Practice for Heme Synthesis Role Play

First year of medical school is over. Second year is right around the corner. I'm sitting comfortably during summer vacation, playing video games, meet with friends, watch stuff I wasn't able to during the entire year, without feeling a sense of guilt that I should be studying instead. It's also now that I am able to reflect on a lot of things. Do I really want this? Can I do this? Perhaps the biggest challenge for any medical student is to be able to know which stuff to prioritize. There are just too much that can happen in a year, aside from school, there are family gatherings, birthdays, some errands, and a lot of holidays. There are certainly a number of them that you need to sacrifice.

Section C - Christmas Party

Medicine isn't about being intelligent. It's about being able to adjust to the demands of the training and be able to focus on stuff that matters. Classes are from Monday to Saturday and usually run from 8-5. Aside from lectures, we attend a lot of conferences and laboratory works. And sometimes (a lot of times), we are required to report about the experiment the next day. What's infuriating is that we have a shifting exam in Biochemistry that day. What to do? It doesn't mean that just because you have a report to submit, you'll totally forget to read even part of the topics covered for the exam. And yes, you'll be needing a lot of time. I never really valued time before I entered med. During college, I consistently get 8-9 hours of sleep per night. Now, I consider it a blessing to be able to get 3-4 hours of rest. Truly, time is gold. And there isn't just enough of it. I never realized what I was capable of doing in a day until I was pushed to this challenge.

Med Night '11

I know that the ordeal me and a lot of other students are going through will not be in vain. Our sacrifices, along with our family's, will surely bear fruits in the future. This is how I put it. We are pressured to get high scores, if not perfect scores, in exams because we cannot afford to make mistakes in real life. We cannot just erase or have our errors countersigned all the time. We will be dealing with lives, with real people someday.

With the help of God, the greatest healer, we will endure.