Milestones: Flashback In A Blog
Three weeks to go and it's going to be the official end of my post-graduate internship. It is also going to be the official end of The Freudian Slip: Life of a Post-graduate Intern. And what a way to end the blog right? After April, the Freudian Slip shall no longer feature the Life of a Post Graduate Intern but shall undergo into a transition. An old chapter is about to be closed and a new chapter begins. Therefore, to start this transition from the exiting old blog into another new blog, I deemed it fitting to look back to the ups and downs of internship for the past year from my point of view.
May - June 2006 - the start of internship; first department rotated in was Surgery; teamed up with Con and Chico; shared 24-hour duty slots with Gesper, Gabby and Kenneth; the four of us then started calling ourselves: Magic Four; the start of friendship with people whom I have never been closed with; meet and befriended surgeon consultants a few of whom I consider my mentors up until now; For two months, I had the privilege to assist a few of the best surgeons in this city, if not in this region. Most Unforgettable Moment: Perform appendectomy with Chico with Dr. Hinolan as our assist. Dr. Hinolan remains as one of my mentors in my internship. It was during this time also that Tita Kat was supposed to join us officially as part of the roster of PGIs in BOLMSH. However, she changed her mind and transfered to Cardinal Santos. She left us with her "curse" though. Since then, all the PGIs who were supposed to share a 24-hour duty slots with Tita Kat started "experiencing spooky experiences"; Andy's dad died last December, Leah had to take a leave of absence because she underwent stat pelvic laparotomy also around December, Con also had her "spooky experience" but on her but to...well, I won't continue any longer kay basi mabuking pa sya and even JJ who took the place of Tita Kat also had his share of "spooky experiences", he had to take a leave of absence also because he had to go back to Iloilo to be with his dad who just got diagnosed with cancer. All four shared a 24-hour duty slot with Tita Kat. Weird but true. But the last time I heard from Tita Kat, she is already happy and contented with her life.
July - August 2006 - rotated at Pediatrics; this was the time when the entire roster experienced a lot of stress when the admin decided that those who were taking up FCM should also be doing 24-hour duties as "substitute" (I actually forgot the term) or "fill-in" because there were only 2 interns rotating in the Dept of Medicine. While most interns did not agree, we had to obediently comply, but it did cause the start of strain among us; enjoyed rotating with pedia junior consultants; proven myself to be benign in my pedia rotation; Most Unforgettable Moment: My grand rounds, attended by pedia consultants, during which I was praised by my mentors, especially Dra. Amante for a job well done.
Sept - October 2006 - rotated at OB-GYNE; it was during this rotation that I enjoyed the most; the DR and Nursery staff are the friendliest, including the people at the OB and GYNE ward stations; It was during this time that I shared a 24-hour duty slot with the new "magic four": Gesp, Kenneth and Marc J. Gabby was on FCM duty. It was during this rotation also that the strain caused by so many internal conflicts among the PGIs culminated in one big PGI meeting amongst ourselves, with the purpose then to air out all of our grievances to one another and settle conflicts once and for all; unfortunately, not all grievances were aired and not all conflicts were settled. Most Unforgettable Moment: Birthday party for me and my eldest in my house, attended by fellow interns, staff and junior consultants. During my rotation in OB-GYNE, I was privileged to have assisted my mother's OB-GYNE in one of her deliveries. I of course introduced myself to Dra. Sanson and told her that it was her who delivered me out of my mother.
Nov. - December 2006 - started rotating in FCM; we were hoping that my groupmates would no longer rotate at Dept of Medicine as "fill-ins" because the department has already 3 interns rotating but unfortunately, Leah had to take a month-leave because of her pelvic lap. Although Andy had to go home to Cotabato to attend his dying father, JJ was officially included in the roster of interns and started rotating in OB-GYNE. Thus we only reported in the Dept of Medicine. It was during this time that the supposed settled conflicts among the PGIs started to re-surface again, to the point that even our junior consultants, out of concern, had to gather us once again and help us settle the conflicts. Most Unforgettable Moment: Christmas Carollings and Christmas Parties - for less than a month, the interns practiced for our christmas carolling and so far we have saved around 20K at the end of the Yuletide Season. Of course, the money will be spent with the least fortunate brothers and sisters....in the white sands of Boracay. It was also during this time when the dormitory went underwater due to that infamous flash floods that hit the city in the wee hours of the morning. All those staying at the dorm lost a lot of their stuffs. The On Call Room was turned into a makeshift dorm, with at least 8 people sleeping in one night in a room which could only accommodate 4. It was fun though and it kept us closer together as interns. I will also never forget the Christmas Parties I have attended, specifically the one with the OB-GYNE-Nursery Christmas Party at Soleo and the one hosted by BOLMSH at Goldenfields.
Jan - February 2007 - rotated at the Department of Medicine, the most toxic department relatively because of the patient load; all patience was tested, endurance even and the level of knowledge; while I was relatively benign, my benigness in Medicine was my toxicity in the other departments....times three. But I was privileged to have experienced doing rounds with the best doctors in this city, learning their trade, observing keenly how they interact with their patients and how they approach a certain diagnosis. My waterloo still is Neuro and Nephro. I enjoyed Pulmo cases and slightly even Cardio. Infectious...hmmm, somewhere in the middle. Endo is definitely difficult but not impossible to grasp. Most Unforgettable Experience - My Friday conferences. It is always NOT fun to present a medical case every Friday in Medicine. Although the questioning is relatively benign compared perhaps to other medical institutions, it is still NOT fun....but I did learn a lot from my readings.
March - April 2007 - the return of the comeback to OB-GNE! Elective rotations began at this time and I spent the first two weeks at Radiology and the remaining weeks for OB-GYNE. It was during this time that my wife delivered to a healthy baby girl and unlike the first one, I was there inside the Labor Room and even at the Delivery Room with my wife. Perhaps that is the most unforgettable moment in my life at this point in time. I still continued on my benign streak, although the past duties lately have been quite toxic. But as of yesterday, I tallied the admissions we had for OB-GYNE and so far Con had the most OB admissions, followed by Marc J, then me and then Chico.
Embedded within this span of time are memories, both bad and good, events which I shall never forget, along with the people who have touched my life for the past year as an intern. I shall always be thankful to the many junior consultants who were genuinely supportive, consultants who were not just bosses but also mentors, nurses who taught me things no book could ever relate to me, even staff members who shared to me experiences in this field of life, fellow interns who became my brothers and sisters, and most of all the many patients who gave me the privilege to touch their lives as well, no matter how inadequate I am.
So, this blog entry officially closes the "Life of a Post Graduate Intern" chapter of "The Freudian Slip". I am planning to continue the Freudian Slip blog under a new sub-title: "Life of a Struggling Young Parent". The objective now of the blog is to share intimitate experiences I have as a young and struggling parent, who started off unprepared and now hurled into the arena of the "real world" where the survival and security of my family is the utmost priority. It now becomes also in some way an advice-giving blog especially to those who share in my situation. However, since the revelations under the new blog subtitle will be more personal, I have decided to keep this blog open only to registered users of www.blogger.com. In this way, I am sharing experiences with fellow bloggers who like me find blogging as an alternative medium of self-expression. I am keeping this last entry posted for a week as a way of informing especially my friends who are also into blogging here in www.blogger.com so that they can send me the emails they used to register at www.blogger.com and enroll them into the list of those who can read my blog. The blog shall change its subtitle at exactly May 1, 2007.
What happens now to the "fearless" opinions and expressions from this blogger? It shall remain but in the other blogsite which I originally intended for opinions and commentaries. As one would remember I did open a new blogsite way back entitled: Macellarius est - The Slaughterhouse. (http://macellarius.blogspot.com). It was actually intended for my personal commentaries on politics, religion, society and other local issues. In fact, I have already posted entries in that blog but I haven't given much time for it unlike this one. So, I am reviving it and inviting fellow bloggers to read. Also, I have opened another blogsite - Speaking In Tongues - which is also intended for commentaries and opinions but unlike the Slaughterhouse, the Speaking In Tongues is supposed to be a consortium with other bloggers out there. (http://these-beautiful-disasters.blogspot.com). So if you wish to share also your commentaries about life, politics and the trivial things, tell me so I can register your email add as one of the authors in the Speaking In Tongues Blog.
Happy Easter once again!
May - June 2006 - the start of internship; first department rotated in was Surgery; teamed up with Con and Chico; shared 24-hour duty slots with Gesper, Gabby and Kenneth; the four of us then started calling ourselves: Magic Four; the start of friendship with people whom I have never been closed with; meet and befriended surgeon consultants a few of whom I consider my mentors up until now; For two months, I had the privilege to assist a few of the best surgeons in this city, if not in this region. Most Unforgettable Moment: Perform appendectomy with Chico with Dr. Hinolan as our assist. Dr. Hinolan remains as one of my mentors in my internship. It was during this time also that Tita Kat was supposed to join us officially as part of the roster of PGIs in BOLMSH. However, she changed her mind and transfered to Cardinal Santos. She left us with her "curse" though. Since then, all the PGIs who were supposed to share a 24-hour duty slots with Tita Kat started "experiencing spooky experiences"; Andy's dad died last December, Leah had to take a leave of absence because she underwent stat pelvic laparotomy also around December, Con also had her "spooky experience" but on her but to...well, I won't continue any longer kay basi mabuking pa sya and even JJ who took the place of Tita Kat also had his share of "spooky experiences", he had to take a leave of absence also because he had to go back to Iloilo to be with his dad who just got diagnosed with cancer. All four shared a 24-hour duty slot with Tita Kat. Weird but true. But the last time I heard from Tita Kat, she is already happy and contented with her life.
July - August 2006 - rotated at Pediatrics; this was the time when the entire roster experienced a lot of stress when the admin decided that those who were taking up FCM should also be doing 24-hour duties as "substitute" (I actually forgot the term) or "fill-in" because there were only 2 interns rotating in the Dept of Medicine. While most interns did not agree, we had to obediently comply, but it did cause the start of strain among us; enjoyed rotating with pedia junior consultants; proven myself to be benign in my pedia rotation; Most Unforgettable Moment: My grand rounds, attended by pedia consultants, during which I was praised by my mentors, especially Dra. Amante for a job well done.
Sept - October 2006 - rotated at OB-GYNE; it was during this rotation that I enjoyed the most; the DR and Nursery staff are the friendliest, including the people at the OB and GYNE ward stations; It was during this time that I shared a 24-hour duty slot with the new "magic four": Gesp, Kenneth and Marc J. Gabby was on FCM duty. It was during this rotation also that the strain caused by so many internal conflicts among the PGIs culminated in one big PGI meeting amongst ourselves, with the purpose then to air out all of our grievances to one another and settle conflicts once and for all; unfortunately, not all grievances were aired and not all conflicts were settled. Most Unforgettable Moment: Birthday party for me and my eldest in my house, attended by fellow interns, staff and junior consultants. During my rotation in OB-GYNE, I was privileged to have assisted my mother's OB-GYNE in one of her deliveries. I of course introduced myself to Dra. Sanson and told her that it was her who delivered me out of my mother.
Nov. - December 2006 - started rotating in FCM; we were hoping that my groupmates would no longer rotate at Dept of Medicine as "fill-ins" because the department has already 3 interns rotating but unfortunately, Leah had to take a month-leave because of her pelvic lap. Although Andy had to go home to Cotabato to attend his dying father, JJ was officially included in the roster of interns and started rotating in OB-GYNE. Thus we only reported in the Dept of Medicine. It was during this time that the supposed settled conflicts among the PGIs started to re-surface again, to the point that even our junior consultants, out of concern, had to gather us once again and help us settle the conflicts. Most Unforgettable Moment: Christmas Carollings and Christmas Parties - for less than a month, the interns practiced for our christmas carolling and so far we have saved around 20K at the end of the Yuletide Season. Of course, the money will be spent with the least fortunate brothers and sisters....in the white sands of Boracay. It was also during this time when the dormitory went underwater due to that infamous flash floods that hit the city in the wee hours of the morning. All those staying at the dorm lost a lot of their stuffs. The On Call Room was turned into a makeshift dorm, with at least 8 people sleeping in one night in a room which could only accommodate 4. It was fun though and it kept us closer together as interns. I will also never forget the Christmas Parties I have attended, specifically the one with the OB-GYNE-Nursery Christmas Party at Soleo and the one hosted by BOLMSH at Goldenfields.
Jan - February 2007 - rotated at the Department of Medicine, the most toxic department relatively because of the patient load; all patience was tested, endurance even and the level of knowledge; while I was relatively benign, my benigness in Medicine was my toxicity in the other departments....times three. But I was privileged to have experienced doing rounds with the best doctors in this city, learning their trade, observing keenly how they interact with their patients and how they approach a certain diagnosis. My waterloo still is Neuro and Nephro. I enjoyed Pulmo cases and slightly even Cardio. Infectious...hmmm, somewhere in the middle. Endo is definitely difficult but not impossible to grasp. Most Unforgettable Experience - My Friday conferences. It is always NOT fun to present a medical case every Friday in Medicine. Although the questioning is relatively benign compared perhaps to other medical institutions, it is still NOT fun....but I did learn a lot from my readings.
March - April 2007 - the return of the comeback to OB-GNE! Elective rotations began at this time and I spent the first two weeks at Radiology and the remaining weeks for OB-GYNE. It was during this time that my wife delivered to a healthy baby girl and unlike the first one, I was there inside the Labor Room and even at the Delivery Room with my wife. Perhaps that is the most unforgettable moment in my life at this point in time. I still continued on my benign streak, although the past duties lately have been quite toxic. But as of yesterday, I tallied the admissions we had for OB-GYNE and so far Con had the most OB admissions, followed by Marc J, then me and then Chico.
Embedded within this span of time are memories, both bad and good, events which I shall never forget, along with the people who have touched my life for the past year as an intern. I shall always be thankful to the many junior consultants who were genuinely supportive, consultants who were not just bosses but also mentors, nurses who taught me things no book could ever relate to me, even staff members who shared to me experiences in this field of life, fellow interns who became my brothers and sisters, and most of all the many patients who gave me the privilege to touch their lives as well, no matter how inadequate I am.
So, this blog entry officially closes the "Life of a Post Graduate Intern" chapter of "The Freudian Slip". I am planning to continue the Freudian Slip blog under a new sub-title: "Life of a Struggling Young Parent". The objective now of the blog is to share intimitate experiences I have as a young and struggling parent, who started off unprepared and now hurled into the arena of the "real world" where the survival and security of my family is the utmost priority. It now becomes also in some way an advice-giving blog especially to those who share in my situation. However, since the revelations under the new blog subtitle will be more personal, I have decided to keep this blog open only to registered users of www.blogger.com. In this way, I am sharing experiences with fellow bloggers who like me find blogging as an alternative medium of self-expression. I am keeping this last entry posted for a week as a way of informing especially my friends who are also into blogging here in www.blogger.com so that they can send me the emails they used to register at www.blogger.com and enroll them into the list of those who can read my blog. The blog shall change its subtitle at exactly May 1, 2007.
What happens now to the "fearless" opinions and expressions from this blogger? It shall remain but in the other blogsite which I originally intended for opinions and commentaries. As one would remember I did open a new blogsite way back entitled: Macellarius est - The Slaughterhouse. (http://macellarius.blogspot.com). It was actually intended for my personal commentaries on politics, religion, society and other local issues. In fact, I have already posted entries in that blog but I haven't given much time for it unlike this one. So, I am reviving it and inviting fellow bloggers to read. Also, I have opened another blogsite - Speaking In Tongues - which is also intended for commentaries and opinions but unlike the Slaughterhouse, the Speaking In Tongues is supposed to be a consortium with other bloggers out there. (http://these-beautiful-disasters.blogspot.com). So if you wish to share also your commentaries about life, politics and the trivial things, tell me so I can register your email add as one of the authors in the Speaking In Tongues Blog.
Happy Easter once again!
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