Now I can introduce myself as a final year medical student ad because I PASSED!!!!!

will blog more about this when I hv time. Thanks for your prayers everyone!

the long hours of talking to myself and many months of practising for the OSCE still are not enough to prepare us for the real one.

:(

pray that things will be fine

2 down 2 more to go

my mental state examination (as of 15/6/10):

appearance:

young girl with greasy messy hair and smelly clothes which looked as if they have not been changed for a week. Posture was rigid and tense with restless legs.

behaviour:

appeared to be tired and restless. But was agitated when mentioned the word OSCE. eye contact was difficult to maintain as eyes were buried in piles of books and notes.

speech:

speech was spontaneous and coherent with appropriate responses however was slightly fast in rate, tone and volume.

mood:

subjectively she described her mood as "not too bad"

objectively her mood was euthymic.

thought content:

no evidence of obsessive thoughts, delusions or phobias.

however she expressed feelings of helplessness and anxieties in the upcoming OSCE in the next two days. no suicidal ideation was elicited.

thought form:

she complained of episodes in which her thoughts have been sucked out by a vacuum leaving her mind empty.

Perception:

she denied any visual, auditory or tactile hallucinations.

However, she was seen (a few episodes) to be talking loudly to an invisible person and seemed to be asking and answering questions of the invisible person. One example was she was seen talking about antidepressants treatment to an unseen person.

cognition:

she was orientated in time place and person. Good concentration and attention. Memory was intact.

insight:

She has poor insight. Did not think she was unwell and therefore unwilling to accept treatment.

********************

2 papers down another 2 more to go!!!

What is left is the OSCE. I'm starting to have palpitations and sweaty hands at the thought of the OSCE.

what if I get tongue-tied during exam? or what if I don't know how to answer the questions the patient ask? what if my mind goes blank during exam? I had an episode of how my mind can go blank during a practise osce last week and it was so scary. It's as if my thoughts were sucked out by a vacuum leaving my mind empty.

Please pray for calmness, peace and confidence for the OSCE. Also for clarity of mind and God's wisdom to ask the right questions and answer appropriately. thank you all who are praying for me!

freedom is near

daily requirements:

h20 - 30-40mmol/kg

Na - 1-2mmol/kg

K - 1 mmol/kg

Cl- - 1.5mmol/kg

phosphate - 0.2-0.5mmol/kg

0.9% saline contains 154mmol/L Na+, no K+, 154 mmol/L Cl-

5% dextrose does not contain Na, K, Cl

dexSaline - 30mmol/L Na+, 30mmol/L Cl-, no K+

chancroid - gram -ve bacteria Haemophilus decreyi

salphingoctomy - removal of ectopic but preserving tube

salphingEctomy - removal of ectopic AND tube

abdo circumference --> accurate predictor for IUGR

normal range:

Na: 135-145

K: 3.5-5

Cr 70-150umol/L

Ca2+ 2.12-2.65 mmol/L

PaCo2: 4.7-6

T4: 8-22pmol/L

TSH: 0.35-5.5mlU/L

MCV: 80-100fL

ask me these next week, I probably won't be able to answer half of these without referring because my exams will be OVERRRR!!!

Freedom is near. I can smell it.

funding

I received a total of £560 for my elective funding!!

Wasn't really happy about it at first because 1. it was not what I expected as according to the seniors, they have received much more than this (blame on the economy downturn) 2. my friend managed to receive one funding of £800 and another friend received £250 for just an elective report whereas I am doing a blardy elective project which involves interviewing mothers and writing my findings in the report which i foresee wouldn't be easy! grrr

In an attempt to console myself, £560 isn't that bad because it's a person's monthly salary back home. I should also be grateful of what I got and I shouldn't compare myself with others and no use whining or moaning about why I din apply to this and that when the deadline is over.

Although £560 only covers part of my airticket but it's still better than nothing! So thank God for that! :D

exams

my exam is from 14th to 18th June. Please keep me in your prayers!!!

a week in the delivery suite

I feel helpless when I see women in labour pain and not being able to do anything to ease their pain because it's something they have to go through.

I saw a forseps delivery and it was the scariest thing I ever saw lol. The obs doctor was literally pulling the baby head by force. And what I meant by literally is he got into the 'tug-of-war' stance and used all the strength that he has to pull the baby head out with the woman screaming her lungs out. it was so scarrrrryyyy.

But the minute the baby was born, all the screaming stopped and the mum is smiling again. weeing is gonna be painful for her for the next few days

our male counterparts are so lucky to not to go through childbirth pain. Like what one of the mums said to her husband, 'you will never understand how painful it is'.

not fair! :P