Main news of the day : The PPD exam is over!!!!! (well okla, berita dah basi since it's already past 11 pm, and it was approx. 12hours ago since I handed the answer sheet to the examiner). BUT, the main thing is that it is over..
After the exam, at abt12.30 pm, all of us were supposed to have an SSM 6 briefing at the Medical School building at Mile End. Hadn't stepped foot into the building ever since 3rd year started (we don't have lectures there anymore, we're based at hospitals now) so agak nostalgia jugak la....
So there we were, abt almost 200 odd of us in the lecture theatre, waiting for whoever who's supposed to talk to us. The theatre was quite noisy when I entered, tp standard la tu, usual amt of noise. After 15 minutes or so, the crowd started to get rowdy...at least ppl at the back la. They started throwing paper balls to each other, at first....and soon enough to the rest in the lecture hall. Got hit by them twice, but I thought I'd just maintain my dignity and continued reading the MAD magazine I picked up on the way. Like, hello??? Just how old are these people? Ten?? And people's lives are supposed to be in their hands in 2 and a half years' time when they graduate medical school.
After abt almost 1 hour of sitting there with the rowdy crowd, someone came up to the front and said that the talk was cancelled. Apparently it was cancelled ages ago, and they didn't even inform us.
That's my medical school for you.
Before I post this, just like to share with you something I read in the MAD mag, I quite like it. I SO relate to many of the things mentioned...read on and you'll understand....
MEDICAL SICKNESS
-> Students are a sick lot. Start-of-term flu, food poisoning, delirium tremens : these are only some of the starters. You may be shocked at how many of the following you can recognise:
Indefinitely worn-out syndrome
An endemic problem cause by the 'work hard and play even harder' bug. Characteristic features are : persistent yawning, zombie-like gait, blood shot or glazed eyes and a state of mild confusion. These symptoms may be temporarily alleviated by a teaching-free day or an unexpected lecture cancellation.
**this is me most of the time, except for the 'work hard' part...
Cannotbebotheredism
This describes a sensation of general laziness. There is no desire to feel motivated or enthusiastic about anything. It may cause feelings of guilt in some but usually nothing is done about it.
**yup, I SO know what you mean.....
Phantom brain
An acute phenomenon which can occur when the student is singled out (by a lecturer or a doctor on their firm) to answer a question. It is often described as the mind going blank and there is a failure to feel any connection to the brain even though the head is still securely attached.
**been there, done that
Memoryitis
Caused by irritation of the memory by overly complex theories or excessive number of new words and other forms of information overload. There is failure to recall pre-learnt concepts correctly and new information is not retained
Pre-exam anxiety attack
This can be brought on by the (usually) unfounded belief that not enough work has been done over the past year and there are grossly axaggerated feelings of inevitable doomed failure. Very serious cases may be accompanied by a compulsive need to learn and recite the whole of Kumar and Clark - backwards
Post-results mania
Easily identified by high-pitched squealing and emotional group hugging. Symptoms tend to be more overt amongst females
**Aaaa...yang ni, saya tak buat ye...
Paranoid self-diagnosing disorder
In this, the student becomes increasingly convinced that they have all the symptoms of a disease described by the text that they are reading and so conclude that they must be seriously ill andwill not survive till finals. This is usually not the case
**THIS one I'm very familiar with. Expecially during 2nd year when I was doing Cardiorespiratory ("I think I need a pacemaker..."), Metabolism ("Hypothyroidism..better get my thyroid functions tested."), Locomotor ("Great. Osteoarthritis for me for sure.."), Human Development (Dx of abt every gynaecological problem, except pregnancy aaa...), and last but not least, Brain and Behaviour module (from bipolar disorder to chronic depression to epilepsy to schizophrenia...I've diagnosed myself with them all..)
Right, roger and out!!
