The Freudian Slip Of A Bacolodnon

Last night was my last 24-hour duty in the last Department I have rotated in my PGI-ship. This Thursday, I will be doing electives and hopefully, will be done with the internship and more focused at last to passing the boards. I should not even begin to overemphasize the importance of passing the medical boards this August. It is a make or break moment for me. This is going to be perhaps the biggest hurdle I shall ever encounter yet. Once the board is passed, all doors of opportunities are open. Should I not pass the boards, then it is the guillotine for me. But like I said, it is not in my hands now. Well, partly it is. Two-thirds of my destiny lie in the choices I make. The other third lies with God. I have always told myself that no matter what happens, there is always a reason for everything. But let this fact of life not turn me into a complacent buoy wandering aimlessly in the ocean of life. Like what I told my friend with regards to his problem with love. If he does love the gir...

Below is a list of choices. Anyone can copy and paste these questions in their blogs or friendster profiles or wherever and answer these questions. Hopefully, others can get to know you more through this simple exercise. There are no grey areas in this case. 1. House or Home? 2. Land or Sea? 3. Sunrise or sunset? 4. Sun or Moon? 5. Raid or Sunshine? 6. Beach or Mountain? 7. E-mails or Text Messages? 8. Surfing or Chatting? 9. Fast cars or joyrides? 10. Cats or Dogs? 11. Gym work out or Diet Plans? 12. Long Walks or Long Talks? 13. Staying up Late or Early to Bed? 14. Book or TV? 15. Team Sports or Individual Sports? 16. 100-meter dash or marathon runs? 17. (for girls) Two-piece or One-piece swimsuit? 18. (for guys) boxers or briefs? 19. Fast-food or deli? 20. Uniform or civillian attire? 21. Boy or girl? 22. Strict or lenient? 23. Planning ahead or "Que Sera Sera"? 24. Total Honesty or "White Lies"? 25. Rational Lover or Hopeless Romantic? 26. Leader or Follower? 27...

I had the most toxic duty last night. Although I only had 14 admissions all in all, three of those are very toxic patients. One is a case of massive GI bleed, the other is a case of a seriously large cerebrovascular infarct and the other is acute respiratory distress, a known Chronic renal disease patient secondary to gouty arthritis. Before I went home today, I found out that the stroke patient already died at the ICU. The kidney patient's folks have signed the DNR consent. The GI bleed patient is currently recuperating at the ICU as well. It can be very wearisome at times. It was my first time not to eat dinner on time. It was my first time also to wake up early before breakfast time since I had to go on a much earlier morning rounds to check up on all my toxic admissions. The hardest part was apprising folks of their patient's conditions, especially those who are in a very critical stage. My strong religious background and experience as a campus peer minister have helped me ...

It has been a frustrating week. First of all, this has been my third attempt to write an entry to this blog. The last two attempts have been interrupted by pc troubles which I cannot fully understand. I am supposed to write this blog with matching pictures and all but I guess the pictures have to follow. Yesterday I was supposed to write about ConCon's birthday and how much we enjoyed her blow-out at the On-Call Room. It was fun time for all of us and we thank ConCon's mom for cooking up the best pasta ever! The frustrating part is the fun had to last only for a little while. I was also supposed to share about how Gesper celebrated his Valentine's last Wednesday while he was on 24 hours duty. His girlfriend was also on duty that night and since they can't go out the hospital, they spent a romantic but brief moment at the On-call room, with him giving her flowers and all. I was later told that he was the first and only guy to give this girl flowers...ever. He gave white ...

Last Friday, after my case presentation, we bid goodbye to JJ, a fellow PGI, who had to go home in Iloilo to attend to his duties as a son. Last week, he had to hurry home as well when he heard about the news that his dad had to be brought to the hospital for some work-up. When he came back to work, he brought some sad news. It seems that his dad's colonoscopy results were not that promising. The biopsy results are not due yet till Monday that is why JJ, the PGI with the "gonococcal smile", friend of everyone, had to rush home and be with his family, most of all with his dad. He had to leave indefinitely. I am pretty sure JJ is reading this (and I told him to do so from time to time to keep in touch with the crazy lives of the PGIs) and I am confident that he knows how much we will miss him. Hang in there, JJ. Too bad that sometimes, duties to one's family had to come first before duties towards your own dreams. When it comes to choosing between profession and family,...

I am currently working on a presentation which is due tomorrow morning. The case that I will be presenting is about a patient I admitted less than 24 hours ago. I am supposed to present a case of thyroid carcinoma but I felt that the case isn't as exciting as this one I recently admitted. This German patient made me stay up almost the entire night, barely 36 hours before my presentation. This morning, with the help of JJ's laptop, I started making my slides, taking pictures of my patient's X-ray films and CT scan. Tomorrow 8 a.m. I will be presenting him, making this case as my last and final presentation for the department of medicine and perhaps for my entire Post-graduate internship. What made this patient "toxic" was the hard labor of performing what would be a quick 20-second bedside procedure: NGT insertion. I made attempts at the E.R. but to no avail. Second set of attempts was done at the I.C.U. in the presence of my bosses. The third set of attempts was w...

Below are lines on liberty, freedom and democracy from people ranging from the most memorable to the most trivial: The fact, in short, is that freedom, to be meaningful in an organized society must consist of an amalgam of hierarchy of freedoms and restraints. ~Samuel Hendel Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. ~Napoleon Bonaparte My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. ~Adlai Stevenson, speech, Detroit, 1952 In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan into the fire. ~Eric Hoffer Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim. ~Thomas Macaulay Self-reliance i...

The On-call room or room 208 is home to 15 PGIs of BOLMSH (except really for 3 other PGIs...remember the triumvirate?) It hosts at least 6 PGIs every night, two of which are resident PGIs from Iloilo. Half of the day is spent by a PGI inside the room. During lunch time and siesta time, especially for those who are from duty or on-call status. It is a cozy room and thank God for the flash floods, it has become cozier when JJ transfered his TV set from the quarters downstairs. It has two double decked beds and one bed foam which can accommodate at most 5 PGIs but in most cases, this good-for-5 room can accommodate as much as 8 PGIs in one setting. Most of the happy times are spent inside room 208. It isn't really the best On-call room but has become witness to the many drama a PGI can encounter in his or her life. Many secrets have been poured out into this room. Many crying moments have been invested. But mostly, it is the hilarious ones that get to be remembered longer. For an...