~aNnaTomY~

2009-06-04T23:30:00.002+08:00

havent been blogging in ages...not sure if anyone reads this blog anymore haha...

anyway, once again time has flown by really fast.. electives have been fun & i've really learnt alot even though I didnt get to experience how healthcare is practiced in the US(all thanks to H1N1!!) but I'm not really complaining cos it means i'll get to save up more for my grad trip(woohoo!) and I did learn quite a bit at nni and saw really cool neuromuscular cases (like kennedy's disease!)

It's almost surreal that I'm about to start m5 when it feels like i just finished csfc yesterday...all the info that i'm 'supposed' to know by now somehow seems to disappear into the very deep recesses of my brain where I hope i'll be able to retrieve at least 10% of it =S... it's very different being an m3/4 in the wards in the sense that when tutors ask u a question which you dont know the answer to, they will be more forgiving & tell u the answer. When you're a final yr student, you are EXPECTED to know the answer and of course will look utterly imcompetent when you dont...plus this statement will follow: "you're m5 already! it's gg to be your mbbs in __ months' time..better brush up on your clinical knowledge!"

Seniors say your m5 yr will pass by in a flash, a very painful flash; and before you know it, you'll be HOs, all ready to start at the bottom rung of the hospital food chain again.

*Philippians 4:13*
Thats all I need.

2009-01-16T14:20:00.002+08:00

it's been ages since i last posted!!

2008 has gone in a flash & we are already into the 3rd week of 2009...how fast time flies and i'm now done with patho pros and looking forwards to electives (which = holidays!)
and for once I dont have to mug during CNY!(which has been horrible for the past 3 years)

I guess looking back on 2008 I have lots to be thankful for:
thankful for God's grace, unmerited favour and faithfulness upon me the whole year, for having a big cg that brought with it many, many memories, moments and anecdotes to last long after med sch, for learning that there are some specialities in medicine i would never go into, for watching my sis marry the love of her life, for making new friends and saying bye to some, for strengthening old friendships and for the knowledge that my Heavenly Father will see me through the new year as He has always done and will always continue to do...

And this is how i know 2009 will be a great year ahead...

2008-10-22T21:40:00.005+08:00

a spur-of-the-moment cycling trip in ubin before O&G madness begins...

only 4 of us went cos some pple (i shant reveal names) were lazy & were only game for sedentary activities...haha

anyway, although the sudden downpour did dampen our spirits a bit, i still found cycling in the rain refreshing and fun...at least we could cycle faster to seek shelter unlike some poor sec sch boys who were trekking in the rain as part of some camp...haha

hng wee & GH attempting to imitate the "danger" sign

i still want to go back again to ubin when the weather is much better to cycle in the mountain bike park cos the scenery there looks quite nice!

2008-09-09T18:27:00.005+08:00

I got to meet president nathan today during his visit to YLLSOM! we were supposed to demonstrate a CVS simulator to him as well as resus a collasped 'patient'...all in all it was quite fun retrospectively...plus there was gd food at the reception after that...photos with pres nathan will be uploaded later =)

fish, gh & me with Mr Harvey- a cardiopul simulator

3 of us with prof chen

Meet mr Sim! who eventually collapsed with V fib and we had to cpr & defib him...

2008-09-03T19:57:00.003+08:00

Songs that probably should not be played in the OT:

1. Keep Bleeding - Leona Lewis
2. Fever - Michael buble
3. First cut is the deepest - Cat stevens
4. Amnesia
5. Another one bites the dust - Queen
6. Breathless - Corrs
7. Fighting for my life - Michael Bolton
8. Torniquet - Evanescence
9. Blinded by love - Rolling stones (esp. in opthalmo)
10. Died in your arms - cutting crew

2008-08-29T18:33:00.005+08:00

all too soon, 2 weeks have passed & i miss anaesthesia already.. maybe not as bad as emed(with withdrawal symptoms & all) but i still found it to be quite a nice speciality to go into, esp. for girls....the lifestyle seems quite gd with no long ward rounds except for pain rounds, no clinics(unless u are an MO or reg) and u get to sit in an aircon place the whole day....haha...perhaps one reason why I enjoyed my time in sgh was the working environment & the anaesthetists i met who always seemed happy & ever so willing to teach & impart skills to med students even though our failed intubations, plugs and wrong bag & mask skills probably gave them much more work to do... maybe i'll consider doing anaesthesia as one of my MO postings next time, but that's a long way more....haha

here's some random photos from the past few days...

Michelle ventilating a baby....prob one of the very very rare times u will see her with a baby...haha

a pic to show how small the paediatric oral airway can be...(my pen was used as a reference & for comparison)

totally random photo of mich's socks, OT shoes & shoe covers....(i was bored during ICU tutorial when i took this)

practicing how to do a CSE with a Touhy needle

Anyway, I'm on to opthalmo next @ nuh...Bleagh...

2008-08-19T21:43:00.003+08:00

Here's my newest niece Natasha!! She was born on the 18th of August 2008 @ 5.30pm, at east shore...

The first thing everyone noticed when they saw her was her full head of jet black hair! plus she has lungs that would rival my auntie's! hahahaha....

And the medical student in me noted her length(51cm) and OFC(33cm) =)

Congrats Lee Lyn & Andrew on your wonderful bundle of joy!!

2008-07-13T15:41:00.004+08:00

i'm supposed to be doing my ortho case write up now, but procrastinating badly for obvious reasons...hahaha

Anyway, 2 reasons why you should attend the scheduled occupational therapy visit:

1. Free finger splint (so you can understand how it feels like to wear it for 6 weeks)

Apparently it costs $30 for a private patient in sgh..

2. Free heat therapy with husks thrown at your hands in a machine

Fish & baorong looking very pleased with their treatment

Quoting fish: "It was very shiok and relaxing, possibly the best part of OT!"

sadly, now it's back to writing about SLRs and spinal stenosis for me. bleagh.

2008-07-08T22:52:00.002+08:00

havent been blogging since sch started cos i've been super tired from waking up at 6 plus everyday to make it down to sgh in time for tutorials at 7.30-8am, or sometimes even earlier to clerk a patient b4 he/she gets wheeled off to the OT for their op......so far, ortho has gotten slightly better for me compared to when the posting first started and parts of ortho(like the spine) are actually quite interesting....

had a tutorial today with a tutor who was totally random & lame with his attempt at jokes/sarcasm....here are some of his lines:
Student: "I have no idea, Sir."
Dr: "No idea? So what animal is it??"
*students stunned*
Dr: "A blind deer, cos its a no-eye deer."
*students even more stunned & speechless*
Dr: "So what if its a haemorrhagic blind deer?" (No bloody idea)
Dr: "What if it is a copulating blind deer?" *pauses* "We shall not say it in front of the girls."
*students utterly speechless by now*

upon discussing x-rays showing osteopenia, Dr suddenly says:
"If you pray a lot, do you get osteoporosis??"
Student: "No sir, you get clergyman's knees."
(i apologize to the non-med pple who may not get this joke, but the tutor was trying to get us to say 'Yes' that praying a lot causes osteoporosis, citing pope john paul as an example, but once again the context in which he was saying this was totally random & divergent from the train of thought)

There were many more examples of his lameness but I shant quote anymore lest i get into some trouble with the dept...hahah...

3 weeks of ortho are almost up...I need to find a case write up soon... =S

2008-06-15T19:40:00.005+08:00

just realised this is my 200th post!

Anyway, i was at a kelong in the middle of the sibu sea in m'sia over the weekend...what an interesting experience it was for me, cos personally i'm not a big fan of being out at sea with the fear of the unknown lurking in those deep waters...i took a while for me to get used to standing near the edge of the kelong as there are no railings to prevent u from falling straight into the murky depths and the nearest island is abt 10-15 mins' boat ride away...

Fears aside, it was a fun and relaxing time with days spent languishing on the kelong fishing, singing, playing taboo & hitNmiss or playing beach volleyball on sibu island; while nights were spent trying to fish for sotong(which sadly turned out to be a futile attempt although other pple seemed to be catching 4 in 15 mins =S), playing games and just bonding with good friends in general...

I learnt how to fish with a fishing rod, how to hook sotong bait so that it isnt stolen by fish so easily, how sotong are attracted to fake prawns as bait, how to bathe with a pail of rain water and pee into a hole that opens into the sea, how somehow the big fishes seem to congregate under the toilet area (EWW) and how it is possible to feed greedy little fishes everything & anything under the sun...

I'm so glad it was one of those holidays where i could really enjoy myself without having to think of schoolwork or studying, and where i could happily watch the beautiful sunset/sunrise and think to myself: 'You are truly Amazing, God'

the 25-30 min boat ride frm msia peninsular to the kelong

Kelong in the middle of the sibu sea (sibu island in the background)

A fish i caught, 3 jellyfish swimming at dusk

the beautiful sunset

2008-05-21T19:48:00.006+08:00

paeds portfolio is over! yes! the bane of my paeds posting(so far) is over... haha..anyway, since i have received feedback from a certain cg mate that my blog is boring, i shall attempt to add more pictures to my posts to perhaps make it more interesting....

went to this nice restaurant called the Wine Company along evans road (near botanical gardens) on sunday for dinner..its really quite a quaint place with both indoor and alfresco dining in a nice courtyard at the back surrounded by plants and water features...but the best draw was the food and pricing(prices on the menu are nett)...everything from the starters to the mains and desserts were all reasonably priced and they were really quite tasty and value for money.

Salads & soups(clockwise): Victor salad ($10), seafood bisque($8), Caesar's salad ($10), cream of mushroom($8)

Starter & Mains(clockwise): Salmon with cuscous($16), aglio olio(plain $6, with prawns$12), oysters with goat cheese on toast($12), Lamb stew(cant remember the exact price, but should be btw $16-18)

Desserts: Bread pudding ($6)-this was actually very nice and different from your normal bread pudding, chocolate molten lava cake ($10)

on the whole i would really recommend this place cos its tucked away in a relatively quiet area with nice ambience and gd food at reasonable prices. Already recommended mich to try this place, so u may see a review of this on her blog soon!

2008-05-05T21:13:00.003+08:00

We don't appreciate things that we have in front of us until they are gone.

How true.

Contrast KK, full of patients in at least 5 wards, with Nuh, with barely enough patients to go around. Not to mention everyone trying to find EIGHT case writeups for the portfolio review which i bet is an evil ploy by the paeds dept to make us suffer miserably. Gone are the days where u can pick any child to do a DA on, randomly select any patient which will turn out to have a gd history and cheap lunches in the comfortable staff lounge. Not to mention the efficient shuttle bus service at KK.

The whining shall stop here.

Will blog more often when the madness of portfolio reviews end.

In the meantime, enjoy photos of us on the AGVs. haha.

2008-04-05T20:44:00.002+08:00

The past 4 weeks have really flown by and i'm somehow filled with a sense of sadness that emed is over...i guess it's because ttsh is such a nice place to be posted to, with abundance of gd food right at your doorstep, instant noodles from an open ttsh 7-11 to perk u up at 4 am on a night call, lovely room 32 in the A&E with comfy sofas and a laptop to play solitare/minesweeper/freecell on, nice drs who were willing to impart their knowledge and were longsuffering whenever a plug failed or our knowledge was severely lacking, lots of T&S to do, CPR to perform (on mostly asys pple though), ecgs to read, CXRs to interpret, back slabs & M&Rs to do, histories to take, etc.

It has been a great ride from start to finish & I've enjoyed every minute of it.

I think I'm a type A person. =)

2008-03-28T10:17:00.002+08:00

Dear uncle,

Did you realise that when you were wheeled in yesterday, your life was going to change completely?
even though you were still so lucid and talking normally to the nurses and paramedics?
all you complained about was some head pain and bleeding from your nose and abrasions,
but you still had all your mental faculties intact.
then within half an hour, everything went downhill from there.
you started vomitting blood, started having focal neurological deficits;
and all too soon you became unrousable.
The flurry of activity after that left you with tubes everywhere,
and it became clearer when the scans came back.
Massive subdural, subarachnoid, intraventricular bleeds with midline shift.

And with that came the realisation that you are probably not going to make it.

2008-03-23T13:32:00.003+08:00

If there's one thing i've learnt so far in A&E, it's to never try and kill yourself by overdosing on pills or by drinking weird things like bleach.
Firstly, you'll be in lots of pain,
vomiting violently as ur body tries to expel what you've ingested.
then when u've been rushed to the A&E, drs & nurses do a whole host of invasive procedures to purge you.
If its pills that u swallowed, they will do a gastric lavage which involves inserting a tube the size of a small pipe down ur throat into ur stomach to wash out all ur stomach contents. Not pretty and definitely not enjoyable.
Next u will have to drink a whole bottle of activated charcoal which probably tastes as bad as it looks. (the ones without sorbitol)
By this stage, u should probably be gagging and vomitting out charcoal.
Should you aspirate what u drank(eg. bleach), u can get chemical lung infections. once again a painful process.
To add insult to injury, drs will start inserting needles into ur arm and do ABGs etc.. Having a needle inserted into ur wrist/groin to draw arterial blood? VERY PAINFUL.

In essence: Drug overdosing or drinking caustic substances is a very painful way to kill yourself.

2008-03-15T22:20:00.002+08:00

had my overnight ambulance run yesterday following scdf paramedics around...i requested to follow the ambulance stationed @ geylang fire post, hoping to see some action (eg. fights, drunks, etc.) in geylang on a fri night....alas, there wasnt alot of such action, although it was really an eye-opener driving along lorongs 10/12 @ 3am on a sat morning finding the entire place crowded with pple just mingling (or rather, oogling at members of the opposite sex).... had 4 calls during the whole run: one vagrant with bleeding scabs all over his body, one chinese worker having seizures in his dorm, one assault resulting in a forehead laceration and one guest in a hotel having an MI right in front of us but refusing to go to the hospital....
all in all, it was quite an interesting experience sitting in the back of an ambulance as it goes thru cycle after cycle of speeding & then sudden braking (those with motion sickness, u have been forewarned)...had quite nice paramedics with me who refused to allow me to help them carry stuff or even jump out of the back door for fear that i would hurt myself...haha...

looking forward to my last ambulance run on mon, this time during the day....hope i see more interesting cases...

2008-03-08T20:32:00.004+08:00

remind me never to want a tan for a long, long time.

currently i'm sunburnt from cycling in what turned out to be very hot weather @ east coast.. was supposed to go to pulau ubin with my youth grp but the morning weather forcast (as checked by hui jun) was supposedly showers for the next few hours...so hui jun decided to change the venue to east coast park instead, which as it turns out, was totally devoid of rain today....anyway, had a very fun time today trying out the changi coast park connector which was really quite scenic at parts & very much reminded us of pulau ubin...plus we got to see an overturned horseshoe crab stranded on a sand bar desperately trying to right itself but finally giving up when the tide receded.. i REALLY REALLY want to try cycling from east coast to changi beach park and perhaps pasir ris park one day! or maybe at night when it's not so scorchingly hot =S

mental note to self: wear sunblock next time

2008-02-27T16:34:00.003+08:00

Pros are over! yes yes!! now i can finally look forward to my next posting, which is emed...i think it's gg to be really interesting and exciting =)

anyway, celebrated end of pros today with lunch @ Azabu sabo at marina square...food was ok, but the main highlight there is the desserts which look really irresistable in the menu...finally managed to use my discount card for the first time since getting it last year in nov....haha...it's actually quite worth it after the discount, with no charges for tea or napkins...the only grouse i have is that the service in marina is quite bad...the waitresses dont respond when you call them, they just plonk cups of tea and towels on one spot & expect u to pass it around, and there was this waitress (most probably from china) who did not understand what mich was asking for in english....other than that, the desserts were quite gd....i quite like green tea ice cream but no one else in my family does, unfortunately....

here are some food pics frm lunch...for the full variety, go to mich's food blog....

okie, now for a whole week of slacking b4 sch starts again!!

2008-02-18T14:36:00.003+08:00

it's been a really really long time since i last blogged. promise i will blog more after pros are over =) anyway, enjoyed my CNY with lots of goodies, steamboats & yusheng...plus i learnt how to juggle (the singtel balls we got in our exam welfare pack) & solve the rubik's cube over this period.. haha..i am such a geek.. i guess i was spurred on to learn how to solve the cube after i saw that this was one of the roadblocks in amazing race asia.... hahah...my favourite show of the season....plus i'm so glad that adrian & collin won! Singapore boleh!! hehehe... anyway, i should really stop digressing & start on proper mugging for pharmaco & cofm(yucks) but somehow studing pales in comparison to yes, even the rubik's cube...

some really random photos i took on the last day of sch...

can't wait for the 27th of feb to be over.

2008-01-25T15:37:00.001+08:00

My bid to live a healthier life: Tennis & badminton sessions!

btw, these pics are taken with my new hp k770i...very happy with my new phone =)
forgot to take pics during our badminton session on tues but it was quite a fun time...

oh yes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERYL , CHEW LIP & JAMES!! it's quite amazing that i know 3 friends whose birthdays fall on the same day...hehe...

2008-01-19T15:22:00.000+08:00

data analysis is over! woo hoo! i never ever want to study maths or stats for that matter....but SPSS is a really gd & very amazing programme that calculates everything for u...u just need to know how to manipulate it, which is the hard part....
anyway, i went to the new club Marina@Keppel 2 weeks ago for brunch with my sis & her bf...it's quite a nice & quiet place since it's relatively new with few visitors save for some expats and their expensive yachts docking in the marina....one yacht even had a helicopter on it...talk about being R-I-C-H...

notice the white helicopter at the apex of the hut?

we decided to eat at TCC since the ambience was nicer than the prive bakery below and we had the whole cafe to ourselves.... food was quite good and the staff were very helpful & friendly(which i suspect was becos we were the only ones there)

dessert was this molten chocolate cake which my sis & I simply couldnt resist. YUM.

if you want hang out at a TCC cafe with a nicer location, this place is it...

On another note, went cycling with my church friends on sun which turned out to be a bad idea cos it really poured halfway thru our trip...we ended up seeking shelter at a bus stop for 45mins b4 deciding to cycle back in the rain when it subsided...

taking photos while waiting for the rain to stop

it was a fun trip & i actually enjoyed cycling in the rain but not drying out later in wet clothes...
and i still want to try out at least half of the 42km cycling route in the east...anyone game?

2008-01-13T22:45:00.000+08:00

it's been an eventful week so far....just came back from a cycling trip with church friends & am too tired to write the events in prose, so i shall list them down in point form..

mon: trying to rush out cmps report in a day
tues: vivo shopping & CHP survey briefing
wed: CHP survey 9am-10pm @ toa payoh
(with a nice rest at alvin's house in btw)
thurs & fri: resting from all the blisters i got on wed
sat: CHP survey part 2 & worship practice
sun: attempting to cycle part of the 42km eastern park loop but foiled by heavy rains

this coming week marks the start of data analysis for CHP... =)

2008-01-08T22:26:00.000+08:00

Task list
Patho: done
CMPS report: done
CHP: ahhhhh......

tmr my grp will be doing a survey for our chp study @ tao payoh from 9am-10pm... yes u heard it right. 13 hours of getting survey responses. usually i would not like to do such stuff, but i'm actually quite excited abt this....maybe it's because patho & cmps is over and i dont have to worry about anything else(esp. exams) for some time....it will be quite an interesting experience, esp with me & joel partnering up...i hope the aunties & uncles dont burst out laughing when they hear our spoken mandarin lol...

here's an excerpt of what we have to say tmr:
早安/午安/晚安，我们是国大的实习医生。我们正在调查新加坡人的睡眠习惯。这会让我们了解睡眠习惯与一些病情的关系。如果你能给我们5分钟的时间，帮我们完成这个调查，我们会非常感激。

hopefully i can manage that without sounding like an 'ang-moh'...which happens quite often whenever i speak mandarin. =)

okie...better get some rest b4 my extremely long day tmr...

2007-12-31T23:29:00.001+08:00

and so it is, at 11.30pm on the 31st of dec 2007, i am officially at home while everyone in my house (& the world for that matter) has gone out to party & celebrate the new year. Bleah. And there's probably more of this to come in the next 2 years b4 i graduate. oh joy.

I hate patho, i hate patho, how 'bout you, how 'bout you?

2007-12-25T11:14:00.000+08:00

It's Christmas!! the season of giving & when carols & music fill the air (or in my case @ christmas eve dinner last night, it was bad off-key carols being sung by some sch choir).. anyway, really glad christmas is here once again, & it brings some sort of closure to a wonderful year that saw me pass microb(woohoo!) & enter clinics....really thankful for God's favour & blessings this entire year & i'm believing Him for much more in the coming year! =)

Had christmas eve dinner last night at Indulge @ the Park....food wasnt too bad but the atmosphere was much better, with live music, party favours placed at each table & free-for-all balloons hanging from the ceiling....my sister took the chance to revel in the atmosphere, literally letting her hair(& inhibitions) down...hahah...here's what she did:

my sister started the ball rolling, & soon we all joined in in wearing our party hats!

and this is what happens when u have too many balloons on 2 different people...

they all get entangled! hahaha

Sadly, after christmas is over, its back to patho again... =S

Here's wishing everyone a very BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!!

CHRISTMAS = because of CHRIST, Many Are Saved

2007-12-20T23:23:00.000+08:00

I will get down to blogging more often when the MEDness of patho & cofm project ends--if it does end.

anyway, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas & a blessed new year in advance! no prizes for guessing how i'll be spending my hols.....never send ur kid to NUS.... bleah....

2007-11-30T14:49:00.000+08:00

really sorry that i havent blogged for a very very long time, all thanks to wonderful fam med case write-ups, cofm project, pharmaco & patho CAs piling high on my plate.... =S

today marks the last day of my GP posting, and it really has been a great time, all thanks to the wonderful guidance by my GP, dr wang and his wife dr foo.....Both of them taught us lessons in life that med sch will prob never teach you...and i guess that in the end, family medicine is probably one of the very few disciplines that will enable u to tangibly help others and develop a long-lasting relationship with them....where else will u be able to look after a family for 3 generations and understand their social circumstances and family dynamics?

All in all, i learnt a lot, not just medically but language-wise as well...haha..all thanks to CL for insulting my 'mgs-worthy' mandarin... =) really glad that we got such a nice & friendly GP who took us out to lunch 2x at nice restaurants and gave us days off....

Me, CL & Dr Wang @ oasis family clinic

I'm on to polyclinic posting next week....geylang polyclinic should be fun...if all else fails, at least the food there wont disappoint =)

2007-11-14T17:34:00.000+08:00

today was our (unofficial) last day at cgh psych....in a way, i actually found pysch better than i had expected, partly due to the better structure and timetable that the psych dept came up with, as well as the nice & hardworking drs such as dr peh who were willing to spend time to teach us & even prepare us for our osces...dr peh even gave each of us a book he wrote on substance abuse & we managed to get him to autograph it =)

will definitely miss cgh & ward 14 which is so bright & nicely airconditioned....hahaha...cgh is so much cleaner than many other hospitals...and the ADO at cgh is really efficient, unlike our previous posting...

photos of my big cg in the med students lounge

Also, since we were at changi, we decided to check out the new T3 as it had an offer on its duty free perfumes (30% off the duty free price).....the main demographics of the pple @ T3? think peoples park complex but in changi airport...hahah...there were lots of guided tours gg on with quite a lot of sch kids as well...the whole facade is not bad, but probably will be better once all the shops are open and all the construction work has stopped... we even saw a couple having their wedding photos taken at the new conveyor belt!!! hahahah....can't imgaine why anyone would want their wedding photos to feature an airport conveyor belt.... anyway, here are the pics....

note to fish: sorry fish! cant figure out why picasa cuts ur face from the last photo!

2007-11-09T18:14:00.000+08:00

and all too soon, my 2 & a half days of posting at IMH are gone....surprisingly, i'm actually quite sad to leave IMH, even though it was really a big shock to me on the first day when we visited the wards...never seen such depressing wards before, but the cases there were really florid and interesting...

I guess what made the today interesting was a hypnosis session by Dr Su, who very very kindly took time off to accede to our request....he's really a very nice dr who's very patient and gentle(thats what the patient said =p) and of course we had a very willing volunteer for him to do hypnosis on, i.e. Michelle lim! hahaha... and i'm sure mich will testify that it does work, although she refused to be filmed while telling us her experience....i took a video of the hypnosis session, but its 14 min long and dr su spoke quite softly, so it's pretty hard to hear what he's saying....with the hypnosis session done, this means that mich is officially supposed to be hardworking & study smart, just like the trees & plants in the garden which take a very long time to grow, right mich?? =)

here's some photos we took in IMH...

IMH : Loving Hearts, Beautiful Minds

2007-11-08T22:15:00.000+08:00

to take a quote from Mich's blog:

~REASON WHY I HAVEN'T BLOGGED IN A LONG WHILE~

The med soc president has roped us, his 'kar kias' to help him out as we plod through the stacks of paper...hahaha...

2007-10-28T22:52:00.000+08:00

celebrated my sis's birthday at MELT: the world cafe @ oriental today...food was really gd, even better than aquamarine @ marina mandarin...usually i dont eat the cooked food(to save space for more seafood), but today's cooked food dishes were really gd...the ambience was also much nicer than & quieter than aqua, and they even had waffles which were so delicious that i ate 2...*argh my arteries!* anyway, i'm so full now i feel as though if i bent over, i would fall on my stomach...hahaha...so i'll let the pics do the talking...

2007-10-22T23:06:00.000+08:00

psych posting has started & one of the few things i learnt today: ACT MAD?
hahaha...how appropriate =)

anyway, tmr will be my first day in the wards, & i can't wait to finally go to a hospital which is much closer to home & in the opposite direction of peak hour traffic... & perhaps i'm a little excited abt clerking pysch patients...

to leave u with a joke from "Frasier":
A group of pyschiatrists were skiing down the mountain at a ski resort, when someone who was watching them commented:"I dont think I have ever seen so many Freudian slips before!!"

2007-10-10T21:10:00.000+08:00

since it's our last week in AH, prof low so kindly treated us all to breakfast today, where we had pearly soya milk. kaya toast & curry puffs....while waiting to buy the drinks, i was told by michelle foo that my AH surg was in the newspaper today!! hahahha....u can imagine how suprised we were, & we rushed to find a copy of today's mind ur body section just to confirm for ourselves...true enough, there smiling on pg 19 was my reg telling others abt his eating habits....hahahaha....me & mich just burst out laughing & we showed it to the other surg drs who were also having breakfast nearby & everyone started laughing as well....all in all, it was really a pleasant surprise to see him in an article & definitely one of the more interesting things that happened today...

having a breakfast treat by prof low

anyway, here are backdated pics of the cg outing to pasta waraku @ central....

and cycling @ east coast on mon!

2007-10-09T22:24:00.001+08:00

decided to invite myself to cg8's outing to east coast to cycle yesterday which turned out very well, all thanks to the nice, fine weather that came after the storm =) we had fun cycling all the way to changi airport runway strip (ie. changi coast road), and it was the furthest that i have ever cycled @ east coast.... maybe we should blade next time, but i doubt we will get very far....hahaha... anyway, photos arent with me yet, will upload it when i have them...in the meantime, u can check out wm's blog for the photos.....

we saw a very very nice & obliging patient today who willingly let at least 8 of us examine him 2x at a private place, without so much as a frown or complaint....he even went on to say "it's for you students to learn" & it's really rare for any patient to understand that we as students have to learn from patients themselves & often many aren't willing to let us examine them...so for that, i'm really thankful for this very nice uncle...hope he gets well soon!

oh yes, & on a note abt bringing back bad memories, i saw my medicine short case patient today in AH!!! ARGH... i was happily walking into the ward when this approaching patient smiled @ me..thinking to myself that she looked kind of familiar, my neurons started firing 5 secs later & i finally managed to recall where i've seen her....hahahah....sigh...the cons of being posted to the hospital u were tested in....and i think she remembers me cos i was probably the only girl tested @ my short case station....

3 days of surg postingleft ... how time flies when u are having fun =p

2007-10-05T09:47:00.000+08:00

had another fun day yesterday in AH, with me & michelle leaving pple in stitches =) while we were waiting for the next patient to come into the ot, we (well, I) decided to have a photo-whoring moment in our nice blue scrubs (vs. the ugly green ones in sgh which according to cl makes me look like a midwife & a nurse-cos nurses wear the same green wrap-around thing) haha....during csfc in sgh, my surg actually thought i was a nurse at first & asked for an instrument until he gave me a gd look & went "oh sorry!" haha...sgh= not the most glam place to be as a med student in the ot :)

nice blue scrubs!

anyway, i'm going to miss ah, especially all the nice doctors that i have met(save for a few) & how they have really changed my impression of surgeons as being brusque, uncaring & unfriendly... i will also miss the mandai zoo-lookalike toilet, walking up stairs instead of taking the super slow lift (i think it's a ploy to make everyone walk cos the lifts take FOREVER to go up/down THREE floors), having lectures in kaizen & ideas lab & of course, walking in the rain to get from the canteen to the main building....

2007-10-02T20:56:00.000+08:00

3 reasons why i'm a happy girl whenever my sis comes back from a trip overseas:
1. presents
2. presents
3. even more presents =)

this trip's stocktake? 5 blouses, 1 pair of earrings & a pair of black shoes

I'm truly blessed. =)

2007-10-01T22:26:00.000+08:00

Facebook. Is. BAD. ADDICTIVE.

I just spent like 2 hours adding applications to my account....argh.....

2007-09-27T19:39:00.000+08:00

it's been quite a fun 2 days, with the lab simulation and my team's OT day today...more so when the pressure of EOP test is gone! haha...

for yesterday's lab simulation, we managed to shock a fake patient (which apparently costs $200k) with a real defribillator and watch his ECG return to sinus after Vfib...at first we didnt know that it was a real defribillator that was on & charged & so we were playing with it (& trying to act cool like in "ER")...that was until the lab tech came & told us to be careful & stay away from the patient because it discharges a real electrical shock...hahah...but that was fun...
the other fun part was getting to intubate the fake man & after 2 unsuccessful tries intubating the oesophagus, i finally learnt that the trick was to bend the guide wire a bit to make it easier to enter the trachea....hahha...and the lab tech got quite pissed with cl after a while cos he was crushing the teeth of the patient while trying to unsuccessfully intubate..... =)

managed to assist and stitch in the removal of a sebaceous cyst today which was fun....the MO was really nice and willing to teach (albeit by lecturing =p) and i didnt screw up my stitching today unlike the first time...woo hoo! hahaha....the little things in life that make me happy =)

weekend's coming soon!

2007-09-25T21:40:00.001+08:00

woo hoo...i'm officially free for the next 3 weeks...hehe...thanks to a very nice dr.....this posting has been fun, but i realise that i really have to brush up on my examination skills....argh.... anyway, it pays to hang around the seminar rm in ah cos whenever they have workshops there, there's always plenty of food left over and it's a free-for-all... =) mushroom & cheese sandwiches, curry puffs, crepes and tuna rolls kept our stomachs full while we waited from 4-6.15pm for our surgeon who was really nice to accede to our request even though he was on call...anyway, i'm just glad it's over....other interesting & funny things happened in sch today which i shant mention here....

Here's wishing everyone a happy mid autumn festival!

2007-09-23T00:27:00.001+08:00

i have finally finished my first case writeup for surg. and it took me 3 sittings to do so. how sad is that?? it involved me changing my diagnosis twice cause the symptoms somehow didnt fit...argh...my surgeon better not tell me that he isnt going to read it or i will just scream cos i wasted my time =S (CL was telling me that a surgeon told his student that "the case writeup shows me that u are a hardworking student. I am not going to read your report, i am just going to give you 10/10")

anyway, had youth service today and the topic was on God's goodness....i cant begin to say how much of that i have experienced from Him, the most recent testimony being my med EOP test...He's shown his favour, grace and mercy time & time again, and for that I am truly grateful and blessed... =)

- If my God is for me, then who can be against me?-

2007-09-19T22:48:00.000+08:00

this is from a funny email i received =)

The Doctor's Vote

When a panel of doctors was asked to vote on adding a new wing to their hospital,

The Allergists voted to scratch it and the Dermatologists advised against rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had a gut feeling about it, but

The Neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve, and

The Obstetricians stated they were all labouring under a misconception.

The Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted;

The Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body", while

The Pediatricians said, "Grow up!"

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness,

The Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing and

The Radiologists could see right through it!

The Physicians thought it was a bitter pill to swallow; and

The Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter."

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but

The Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.

The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas and

The Cardiologist didn't have the heart to say no. So in the end

The Proctologists left the decision up to some arse hole in the administration

2007-09-15T19:04:00.000+08:00

here's congratulating chris & san on a very blessed matrimony today! hui san looked really beautiful today(as do all brides) & chris really showed a different side of himself when he sang for hui san "wonderful tonight" & serenaded her with his guitar....haha..for those who know chris, u never ever get to hear him sing, so today was really a rare opportunity... the food was generally gd(save for the fried rice), plus i got to meet old church friends whom i haven't seen in 4 years!!
on another note, happy 18th birthday val!! u can officially drive, get married, have kids, etc. now!! hahaha...if u can't figure out what to do with ur new 8gb ipod nano, i would be most willing to help u use it!! =)

had a gd call on thurs which was quite eventful, even if we didnt see any ops....had a patient w/ a previous MI who developed angina with ST elevations on his ecg(surgeons quickly referred him to medicine =p), a patient with a foreign body in rectum, a patient with severe anemia(Hb 3.0) who had a BP of 70/30-u should have seen my HO running to the patient when she heard abt her BP, we all thought the patient was gg to crash (which thankfully she didnt)....
the call was made much better by the nice drs on call who bought us ice cream & invited us for their pizza dinner in the OT....there was even enough pizza left over for breakfast....thanks to the HO for buying us ice cream when she heard that i hadn't had dinner & thanks to the MO for giving us a tutorial on shock @ 1am when all 3 of us were probably not thinking straight already =)

4wks left of surg. 2 case writeups to go.

2007-09-12T20:02:00.000+08:00

before lines are blurred, i just want to say that i'm NOT attached nor have i found the right person yet.

so there. i have said it.

2007-09-11T20:27:00.000+08:00

2 things that made my day:

~seeing a case of leprosy and feeling his thickened ulnar nerve

~holding someone's resected multinodular thyroid in my hand

Thankful for the little things that come my way in AH =)

2007-09-08T11:49:00.000+08:00

it's the weekend again! haven't been updating my blog for a while cause surg has been quite busy but definitely more fun than medicine, even if you have to wake up @ ungodly hours to be in AH by 7.30am for ward rounds....it's quite amazing how time flies when you are having fun...not having to do cvs, resp, rheumato or neuro exams on pple & getting to scrub in to try your hand @ stitching(which was quite a disaster the first time)...
yesterday was quite a productive day whereby i managed to clerk a patient, examine lumps & bumps in the clinic & SDA & scrub in for a hernia op...i remember things a lot better when i have visual cues...anyway, i think i'm gg to miss surg when psych med starts, although i think we are already meeting psych med patients in the wards now...haha...who can forget nice Mr "you are my sunshine" guy yesterday?

still "looking for the corals in the sea, flowers in the desert & patients in the ward" =)

2007-09-03T20:00:00.000+08:00

a very funny & cool mtv called "Living with a Hernia" that was shown to us by dr tan @ AH today after he lectured us on hernias.....Enjoy!

2007-09-02T21:59:00.000+08:00

nothing really interesting gg on right now, but this song has been ringing in my head the whole week....

My Future Decided
by Hillsong United

Verse 1
You hold the future in your hands
You know my dreams and you have a plan
And as you light my way, I'll follow you

Pre-chorus
My eyes on all of the above
My soul secure in all you've done
My minds made up
And you are the only one for me

Chorus
Jesus, savior, in my life you are everything
My future decided, I will praise your name
And I know that I am, I am yours
Yeah, I know that that I am, I am yours

Verse 2
You hold the earth in your command
You are the rock on which I stand
And as I live each day, I'll follow you

Bridge
Unafraid, unashamed Lord we know who we are
We are your people and we won't be silent
Unified hear us cry at the top of our lungs
You our God and we will not be shaken

It doesnt matter what others say abt your dreams or how unrealistic they sound, I know that I will walk out the plans my heavenly father has ordained for me.
And that is something to rejoice about.

2007-08-25T00:05:00.000+08:00

it's been an eventful 2 days so far in AH, with me finally getting to scrub in for a hernia op....honestly, i haven't seen such a nice surgeon b4 & that honour goes to the reg of my team....he actually allowed 2 of us to scrub in & he brought his own camera along for us to take photos of the op so that he could discuss it with us later....it was really a fun & hands-on experience for me & my surg was nice enough to explain the anatomy to us step by step, even if it meant that he took much longer to finish the op....at one point he even told the scrub nurse to be careful so that she wouldnt poke herself with e suture needle.....i dont think other surgeons elsewhere are this nice =)
I also went on call on thurs but sadly it was an 'abscess night' where all kinds of abcesses were drained....disappointingly there were no acute abd or appendicitis cases & everything became very quiet after 9pm..went out for supper with mich @ tong shui after that.....

anyway, just came back from my so-called annual counsellee-counsellor dinner & it was quite a gd time....got quite gd advice from my seniors & we met the new m1 girl as well...i can still remember how it was like when i was a m1 @ the first dinner & how little i spoke cos i really didnt know them well...2 yrs later, i'm now part of the clinical years & conversations are now so much easier to flow with, with the HO dispensing advice on how to survive MBBS & what to do in each posting...

i shall end this post with a quote from prof low:
"Find the corals in the seas, the flowers in the desert and patients in the ward"

2007-08-21T21:05:00.000+08:00

started my surg posting yesterday and i must say that walking through AH feels as though you are walking through the zoo...i haven't seen so much flora & fauna since the botanic gardens....haha...it really is a very relaxing place where somehow the pace of life seems to slow down & everyone seems nicer, even surgeons who are post-call...the reg in my team seems like a very nice guy & we followed him for clinics today...felt my first lipoma lump today on a guy & knowing how small AH is, we must celebrate the little cases that come our way....haha...the gd thing abt AH is the food nearby (cos the canteen is very very small) with alexandra village, ikea, anchor point, etc...there's even queensway right next to ah where u can have ur retail therapy... =)
hopefully surg will be more relaxing than med!

I will be @ the right place @ the right time, doing the right things with the right people! AMEN!

2007-08-18T23:24:00.000+08:00

finally my medicine end-of-posting test is over... and no, i don't want to talk about it... just know that it was bad, esp. for my short case... oh well.... i just hope that i pass... =S

anyway, too tired now to blog abt anything, so i can only hope that surg posting will be much better....

Emmanuel, Jesus Christ
You'll never let me go
My shepherd King
You're watching over me,
Emmanuel

2007-08-10T19:46:00.000+08:00

it's the weekend once again, which means my end-of-posting test is only a week away!!! arghhh....who knew 8 weeks would pass by so quickly?? i really need to mug harder cos somehow i seem to know very little =S

anyway, on a brighter note, i was just telling fish the last time when we got our med/surg postings that it would be really really amazing if we got posted to the same hospitals again for our next posting & she agreed... after all, her cg & mine have been posted to the same hospitals since CSFC and out of the many permutations of cgs, it would be highly unlikely that we would be posted to the same hospitals again for the rest of M3 & 4.....but guess what? the latest postings came out & mich & fish are in my new Big cg!!!! woohoo!!! all the way to next yr!! hahaha...u cant imagine how happy i was when i heard it in the wards that i jumped up & down...hahahha.....which means now we finally have cars to go out for makan during lunch! =)

plus i think our cgs got one of the better postings cause we have psych & fam med just before our pharmaco & patho CAs, which give us more time to study for them...praise God! it just goes to show that when you commit things to God, He always gives u the best!! Amen!

anyway, here are some random photos of fireworks from the NDP....

2007-08-06T23:09:00.000+08:00

-- Father, sometimes it seems like it's very hard to serve You, but always help me remember that though Man may fail, You are always faithful & there for me when I need You the most--

2007-08-05T16:24:00.000+08:00

I dont like COFM house visits for a very simple reason: patients who keep on cancelling the visits even though they've agreed to let you come...
i was supposed to go for a house visit yest @ 8am(dont ask me why it was so early but the patient wanted it at this time) at BUKIT PANJANG(which is on the other side of spore for me)...and this is actually the second time that we were attempting to visit this patient...so the morning started off very early for me with me leaving house by 7am...so i was in the car on the BKE near bukit panjang when i got a call from chew lip, AND....HE TOLD ME THAT THE PATIENT CANCELLED IT AGAIN!!!! ARGH ARGH ARGH!! i felt like screaming at that point, but thankfully i wasnt at the foot of the patient's block already like CL, so i probably took the news a lot better than CL did, or GH for that matter(he was @ woodlands mrt all the way frm sengkang)...
Note to the patient: If you dont want us to visit, tell us straight away...dont cancel it @ the very last moment, like half an hr before the supposed visit!!! dont waste everyone's time!!

since the visit was cancelled, i decided to follow my dad to his work meeting at haw par villa & take a bus down to meet my mum @ vivo city...It's been a really long time (abt 12 years) since i last visited haw par villa & the place now looks more run down, with fading sign boards & few tourists...even the boat ride thru the dragon has been removed & replaced with a new exhibit....the only part in haw par that is new is the Hua Song museum which was opened in 2006 which my dad helped to renovate & refurbish.... anyway, since i was bored, i took a walk around the place with my dad & took some photos...

This is the Hua Song Museum...its abt the story of overseas chinese...i took really random photos though..haha

There was this very weird statue of liberty in the garden that was really out of place amongst all the chinese exhibits, so i couldnt resist taking a photo of it..haha..

In all, it was quite nice to take a somewhat nostalgic walk through the garden & remember how it used to be so crowded many years ago but it is quite deserted nowadays...

okie, back to mugging for medicine end-of-posting test as well as case write-ups to complete!

2007-07-27T23:42:00.000+08:00

was halfway through another horrible case write up process when fish's email brought a smile to my face...here's what she sent:

Diet Questions Answered

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this
true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't
waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up
your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can
extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live
longer? Take a nap

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay
and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more
than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system.
Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass
(green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your
recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine,
that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even
more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain.
Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to
one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular
exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No
Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!!.... Foods are fried these days in
vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting
more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the
middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You
should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the
best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me. ( i thought of u, fish when i read this =))

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

hahahaha...simply hilarious!

2007-07-26T12:16:00.000+08:00

boo...typing this in the NUH student's lounge as i wait for mich & fish to finish clerking their DM patient so that we can go for lunch...feeling very hungry now and the photos on mich's food blog aren't helping either =( argh argh argh....

2007-07-25T20:50:00.000+08:00

clinics are just so busy with patients to examine, histories to take, COFM house visits to do and lots & lots of studying...i want >24 hrs in a day!

anyway, here's a very funny quote i heard from chew lip yesterday after lecture and i added in some of my own input:

"TCH is the oldest and best BZD still on the market today"

hahha...the med pple will know what i'm talking about =)

oh, and i found out i'm posted to TTSH for emed...very very happy now =) =)

2007-07-19T20:54:00.000+08:00

I've finally done 2 case write-ups which seem to have taken an eternity to finish... who would have thought writing up on cases would be so utterly painful and time consuming? for all the pple out there doing med postings, 2 down, another 2 more case write-ups to go..

oh joy.

2007-07-15T20:13:00.000+08:00

If only there were more than 24 hours in a day...been so busy over the weekend having church practices for our 10th anniversary coming up, not to mention case write-ups to do, clinical skills to brush up on and mugging as well...so far, the last 2 have not been going well at all....and case write-ups are taking FOREVER cause of all the literature reviews needed...I really need God's strength for this...

anyway, photos from my australia conference trip as promised...

2007-07-12T19:27:00.000+08:00

Check out this cool MTV by Hillsong United! It's currently one of my favourite songs called "Point of Difference"...they just released this music video during the Hillsong conference this yr & it looks really cool...
The lead singer is Joel Houston, the Hillsong senior pastor's son...

2007-07-09T20:44:00.000+08:00

i'm back! havent posted anything for a really long time because i was away in sydney for the Hillsong Conference 07! Had a great time there learning from all the speakers which were gd as well as being inspired by the songwriting workshops, esp. the Chris Tomlin one....the praise & worship at the rallies was awesome...really impressed by the drummers(their hands were moving so fast everything became a blur) & the guitarists...anyway, besides the conference, i also managed to see the blue mountains & the 3 sisters....photos will be up later cos my camera is still with my sis in aus....and a sidenote to those who shared the camera for my present, THANK YOU!! the camera was very gd, much better than my previous one... =)
oh yes, & i really want to thank God for his blessings as we had very nice, sunny weather all the 8 days we were there & it didnt rain at all until the afternoon we were leaving....managed to get nice photos of the blue mountains because of that =)

anyway, touching down in sg brought me back to reality.....reality of sch & the many many patho lects, med readings, clerking, case write-ups that have been piling up while i was away...not forgetting the report i have to submit abt the conference & the fact that i'm still super tired from travelling & super sian abt coming back home after a nice, relaxing break.....
I need ur help God to get me through this few wks!!

2007-06-28T16:42:00.000+08:00

Thanks to everyone who celebrated my 21st birthday with me as well as those who wished me, be it by phone, email or friendster!!

It was a nice small celebration with food(that i didnt get to eat much), fun, family & the gd company of med friends....it was actually quite a nice ambience by the river, although it did get a bit hot sometimes...glad everyone enjoyed the food, esp. the guys(& mich of course =p) who really ate a lot...haha....

Thanks for all the wonderful presents & the thought that went into getting them, thanks to my family for the dinner, thanks to mich(for being my official photographer) as well as to those like fish, wm, hw who also helped to take photos, thanks to serene for being such a wonderful cake cutter(my mum was very impressed by that...hahaha), thanks to my cg mates(chew lip & gh) for bluffing me(as usual) that another cake 'from down under' was coming, thanks to marc for saving my candles from being blown out by the wind, thanks to my anat grp for helping to eat half the cafe, thanks to angie for looking so pretty for the occasion(my mum says u are very sweet & chio!), thanks to yilin, sheryl & evelyn for being one of the nicest pple i've known and finally to everyone whom i may have inadvertently missed out, my sincerest apologies as well as my utmost thanks for everything....

Also, thanks to grace & lifang for having a celebration for me at Abof yest! Grace, i must say i really thought u forgot my birthday & was feeling a bit sad but yest's dinner more than made up for it =p

Thanks everyone! I feel really blessed! =)

2007-06-24T21:51:00.000+08:00

In a few hours' time, I'll officially be an M3.

Less spoonfeeding from academics , lots more scolding frm busy doctors & nurses, being at the bottom of the foodchain in hospitals, lots of reading to do, being on ur feet all day, waiting to rush & rushing to wait, feeling like u know nothing at all after 2 yrs of med sch....

Enough said. Welcome to clinical life.

2007-06-21T17:55:00.001+08:00

havent updated in a long time cos basically the hols have been really relaxing for me...hahha...and by relaxing i mean waking up late, sleeping late & watching lots of tv, surfing the net, shopping, etc. in btw....sadly, just as i am getting into the hang of things during hols, sch is starting next week!!! argh!! the dean's office just had to put a damper on things by scheduling only THREE meagre wks of hols after csfc...we didnt even get a proper break after our pros b4 csfc started (1 wk to be exact).....at least it's clinics now, albeit with patho & pharmaco lects still scheduled to torment us....

anyway, we had a belated birthday celebration for GH on wed as well as a csfc CG outing today, both at astons.....food wasnt that gd, maybe because for both occasions, we went when it was the peak dinner/lunch period....oh well...but i liked the hickory bbq sauce which mich said was nice when she tried it the last time.....after GH's celebration on wed, we decided to go karoke @ teo heng, & CL & GH really succeeded in trying to scare me by painting teo heng to be a really sleazy place with call girls & stuff & they even offered to ask for a girl to join us in the room.....so it was with this apprehension that i slowly walked over to teo heng with them, only to realise that teo heng is NOTHING like what they said....it's really quite clean, smoke-free & cheap....however, it specialises in chinese songs, so i was lost in translation when GH & CL started belting out chinese songs one after another....but overall the experience was fun....

btw, my church is having a youth service this saturday at 1.30pm @ capitol building....there will be nice music & a gd youth speaker at the service....all are welcome to come!! =)

2007-06-12T17:02:00.000+08:00

school holidays really lighten my wallet....over these past 2 wks, i have spent $$ on a plethora of things & my my, retail therapy does do wonders.... here's a random list of things i've spent $$ on so far:
- a pair of asics sports shoes (cause i lost my soles on my previous pair)
- ipanema sandals (that had a 40% discount & i really needed a new pair since i also lost my soles on the old nike pair)
- movie tickets
- food, food & more food(esp. with mich & wm..hahah)
- topping up my ez-link card (due to the numerous mrt/bus rides that i have taken)
- a pair of shorts at half price
- socks to match my new sport shoes =)

anyway, i gtg now & fetch my sis from work!

2007-06-11T21:33:00.000+08:00

mich & fish are back from hols! familiar phone calls from a private no. are a nice welcome to the week long lack of interesting news....hope u guys had a great trip & enjoyed urselves thoroughly over there!

anyway, i went out with mich to watch shrek 3 today @ tampines mall since i promised her that i would wait for her to come back b4 watching it......shrek 3 is absolutely hilarious!! the front part of the movie was extremely laughter-inducing & mich was practically cackling away at some parts.....hahaha....havent had such a gd laugh since dory tried talking to the whale in finding nemo......i highly recommend watching shrek 3 cos i found it much better than the 2nd movie....same goes for oceans 13 as well...it was much better than oceans 12(which had a rather messy plot)

after the movie, we decided to eat the famous bedok bak chor mee but after driving there, to our horror we discovered that it was closed! so i suggested trying the HK cafe @ east coast but alas we were too early(it only only opens at 6pm & it was 5.20 when we reached there)....unfazed, mich decided to try the bak chor mee at the chai chee minced meat noodle shop that was just next door.....after trying a bowl of mee, i suggested we eat at astons for dinner, not realising it's closed on mon.....so we drove there only to see shutters that were down =S =S... we finally ended up at HK cafe again & satisfied ourselves with 'mango king' drinks & the wonderfully sinful french toast....

i'm supposed to be losing weight & it's obviously not happening....argh

2007-06-07T11:42:00.000+08:00

met up with angie & yun for lunch yesterday @ sakae sushi at wheelock....i think sakae has become our designated meeting spot whenever yun is back in town....hahha....usually yun eats a lot of sushi (i think the record was 13 plates??) but yest she wasnt in top form, notching only 5 plates....angie also ate very little & i think i ate the most(a ramen) even though i'm the one who's supposed to have 'teething' problems...haha...after that we went shopping for a while b4 angie had to go off.....nice seeing yun again & i cant believe 1 yr has flown by since we last saw her....& next yr she'll be back in sg for a yr so we can meet up more often...i must say, yun is still as chio as ever, & she was even approached by some girl scouting for new faces on ads....hahahah....if only u were gg to be here longer, yun, then we could see ur face plastered on ads everywhere! hahaha...

oh yes, i got my med & surg posting for yr 3..... med @ NUH & surg @ AH.....i'm alright with the postings even though they are quite far away but the gd thing is, i wont feel the urge to pon patho & pharmaco lects....i think i may do that if i were posted to CGH instead...can u imagine the amt of travelling i would have to do?? & i think AH for surg isnt as bad as it sounds cause i think the drs will have more time to impart knowledge to us, unlike in SGH where my surg tutor was way too busy to teach us anything....plus i prayed for my postings, so i'm trusting God that this is where he has placed me & everything will turn out fine...Amen!
another gd thing abt my posting is that mich & fish have the exact same postings as me, along with wm....so i guess lunch will be gd with mich & wm providing transport to sniff out all the gd eats around the hospitals....& mich should be very happy she's so close to alexandra hawker centre where she can enjoy her avacado milkshake & claypot laksa withe extra ham....haha...

looking forward to yr 3 now.....clinics are so much more fun!!

2007-06-04T20:26:00.000+08:00

i'm getting a headache trying to think of where to celebrate my birthday.....any suggestions anyone???

mich's bday!

2007-06-01T16:57:00.000+08:00

it's been 2 days since we celebrated mich's 21st birthday @ aquamarine....the food was really gd(as usual) and everyone ate a lot.....it was the most i've ever seen fiona, yilin & meichin eat....hahaha...and if u see how much they eat usually, u would have been most impressed with their performance that night....

anyway, the highlight of the night was the cake! it was the coolest cake i have ever seen & i'm sure weiming would have been very impressed with it...hahaha....the cake was like a celeb whereby the moment it was brought out, everyone lost interest in the food & started taking photos of the cake for almost a full 5 mins.....i think i want a cake like that too....according to mich, the shop also makes other expensive cars like the lamborghini & porsche....mich's cake even came personalised with her actual car licence plate no....and the spoiler & wheels were totally edible...the wheels were made out of pure chocolate while the spoiler & the rest of the blue 'paint' were made out of marzipan....yum yum... some info abt the cake: it weighed 5kg & the interior was chocolate sponge....when it came down to cutting the cake, i think no one wanted the beautiful cake to be cut but the deed had to be done & there were a lot of moans when mich finally cut the cake into half....

photos of the dinner & cake....

Thanks mich for the wonderful dinner & here's wishing you a very early 21st birthday & a great trip to russia!!

2007-05-28T22:29:00.000+08:00

it's been a long time since i last posted....lots of things have happened, like meeting up with grace for dinner & having a gd chat with her (sec sch friends are still one of the best friends u'll ever have), having a CG bonding session @ Yum Cha at chinatown(you will not believe the amt of dim sum we ordered-i think the restaurant lost $$ on our table...haha), having another semi CG outing to suntec for dinner and following mich's CG today for lunch @ oishi pizza(all-u-can-eat buffet) & dessert at island creamery cause i didnt have any tutorials(bleh)....notice the common thread in all of my outings?? it's FOOD!! haha...oh dear...med pple are such foodies....and there's more to come this week with mich's bday on wed @ aquamarine! woohoo!! i'm gg to start starving from tmr onwards in preparation for the feast on wed....oysters, sashimi, prawns, scallops, crayfish,etc...maybe mich should provide a simvastatin pill as a door gift for everyone....hahaha!! a tip on how to prepare ur stomach for receptive relaxation: drink lots of water b4 hand to expand ur stomach...not sure how true this is though.... =)

Yilin, fish, mich & me @ island creamery (i look really small next to mich..haha)

mich's CG + me the extra one

on another note, i have no idea why everyone is busy mugging for osces....gosh...today sgh msc was really empty in the morning, with the exodus of a lot of m2s....osces arent the mbbs final so i dont see the need for pple to mug talley like mad when u'll get the chance to do that in the medicine posting in yr3...basically csfc is for us to enjoy ourselves now & get used to hospital life first....so guys & gals, pls relax & dont spoil the market by mugging like there's no tmr for osces on wed...there's really no need....

on a sadder note, i have no tutorials again tmr!! argh argh argh......................................

2007-05-22T19:47:00.000+08:00

I've had no tutorials the past 2 days, which means half the time i'm walking around in the wards trying to find alert & comfortable patients to examine.....the gd thing is, i managed to do almost the full exam for all the four systems without the history taking....anyway, heard from some pple that the csfc test is quite crap (eg. showing u a catheter & asking u to insert it into a dummy or showing u a photo of clubbing & asking u to identify what it is), so me & chewlip have decided to slack off!! hahah...so today we spent the morning watching a neurosurg where they performed DBS on this guy with PD....quite interesting although watching brain waves isnt my thing =) the fun part came later when the surg tried to stitch the scalp back & remembering fr anat(which seemed like eons ago), the scalp BVs cannot contract to clot, so as the surg was sewing up the wound, this nice little artery kept spurting blood like a little fountain until quite a big pool of blood accumulated on the floor...to this the ssn said:"boss, u are menstruating again!" (& all the male surg laughed & laughed)
how are u gg to gain respect if u talk like that???? aiyo.....

anyway, after lunch we decided to call it a day cause we really had nothing else to do & a well-deserved rest was needed in view of tmr's long day(following our surg on his call)...

things that i am looking forward to tmr:
1) waking up later & reaching sgh later
2) YUM CHA cg outing!! woohooo!! must starve for lunch & breakfast!!

2007-05-18T20:34:00.000+08:00

It's the end of another week & i must say i'm getting the hang of things (& by hang of things i mean walking a lot & walking very very fast, talking to patients, getting ticked off by docs with tics, etc)....My battle scars so far? blisters on each heel plus corns on my soles...

This morning, me & chew lip observed a total laryngectomy surg...the dr who seemed very very mean @ M+M was actually quite nice to us this time...maybe because he was in a gd mood today talking abt his fishing & climbing exploits to his juniors & the mood in the OT was made much lighter & happier by a michael buble cd....the main surgeon was also in a teaching mood as he showed us the anat of the neck eg. the vagus nerve, ansa cervicalis, cervical LN, submandibular gland, etc....but what's sad abt this surg is the fact that the patient will never be able to talk or eat ever again & he'll have to breathe through a tracheostomy tube for the rest of his life....

a gross specimen of the resected larynx with attached epiglottis...

after that surg we adjourned for lunch @ the temp chinatown market b4 heading off to tutorial where we saw tophaceous gout, acromegaly, PD & cerebellar stroke...& since my dr is very nice, we are thinking of getting him either a) a smaller shirt b) a whiteboard duster c) beijing 101 voucher or d) weight gain tablets as a thank u present (if u've seen my tutor u will understand why i listed down these items) =)

anyway, 2 weeks left of CSFC b4 a meagre 3 wk break before M3 starts..... oh joy....

2007-05-16T23:08:00.000+08:00

just reached home after a very very long day @ sgh, albeit a very fulfilling one.... finally had a surg tutorial today with my surg mentor for the 1st time & he's actually a very nice guy(unlike most alpha male surg =) he's very helpful, patient & doesnt scold us when we give stupid ans...haha..plus he invited us to follow him on his call tonight to show us gd cases as & when they come in...so we did so & managed to see quite a few interesting patients....since my surg tutor is a colorectal surg, we saw him insert many NG tubes & do many PRs & he even made me do one myself! haha...which means i'm no longer a newbie @ PR! woohoo!
we spent lots of time running from the wards to the A& E(which was very packed) & we even saw the MP dr fatimah lateef working there! another MP that we saw today was dr lim wee kiat at the SNEC for our intro to opthalmology....he's quite a charismatic guy & we asked him questions on lasik, stopping short of asking him for a discount if we decided to do lasik =)
later in the afternoon, i had a med tutorial where we learnt neuro history taking, after which we heard a patient with a prosthetic heart valve....

i'm super tired now & cant think straight.....thankfully no need to go to sgh early tmr!!

~i need more comfortable shoes & sleep~

2007-05-12T22:02:00.000+08:00

Class of 2010

2007-05-12T09:43:00.000+08:00

left sgh really late yesterday at 8pm because my tutor was so busy that he could only have a tutorial at 6.30pm..even then, he called to say that there was a new admission & that he could only see us at 7pm...& as usual, the tutorial with this tutor was a whirlwind, with him talking & moving ever so fast & b4 we knew it, it was over.....didnt really learn much though, but at least we made our tutor a little guilty for making us stay back until so late....hehe...hopefully the guilt trip will last next wk so that he'll be nice & try to teach us more things....

had another tutorial earlier on in the day & managed to do a LL neuro exam on this patient with an UMNL.....i was really quite nervous but managed to cover the various steps, save for trying to elicit reflexes from the patient who was somehow areflexic(even my dr couldnt get a reflex, so it wasnt due to my bad tendon tapping)....managed to see a nice babinski's sign though....my tutor also showed us patients with Bell's palsy & Horner's syndrome....it's really interesting to see all the theory coming to life & i really think anat should be taught in 2nd yr or at least have a refresher course because most med/surg tutorials go like this:

doc: "tell me the course of the arteries in the leg starting from the abd aorta"
us: " common iliac, external & internal iliac, femoral.......erm....."
doc: "yes, but what is the course & where does the femoral become the popliteal?"
us: "erm.....*silence* erm....."

*lots of eyes staring @ the floor*

doc: " didnt u guys just study anat last yr?? how come u cant remember??"

* sheepish smiles all around*

sigh....oh well....hopefully next wk will be better.....
any takers for me to perform and abd exam????

2007-05-08T20:07:00.000+08:00

the end of a another tiring day.

even though e-clinics allow me to wake up later than i used to when i was in MG, i somehow feel more tired than i did then...maybe it's all the walking about from block to block in sgh as well the waiting for busy tutors who somehow manage to successfully push tutorial sessions back in 1/2 hr intervals...
Take today for example: originally, we were supposed to meet our GIT tutor at 11am...at 11, we called him only to find out it's been pushed back to 12pm...at 12, he called, asking us to clerk this long case & present it to him at 12.30pm...so we did so & at 12.40pm after waiting for some time, we called him only to have him tell us he'll meet us at 1pm...at 1pm still no sign of him & he shows up only at 1.30pm which left us only 1/2 hr for tutorial b4 we had to rush off for a vascular surg tutorial @ 2pm!! argh...if u are so busy, then dont help out in csfc, 'cos it only wastes everyone's time....
Oh yes, do u know that sgh actually has wards 11 & 12??? i had no idea they existed until today when we had to go & clerk a patient in this ward.....still no idea where the wards are?? they are actually those container-looking buildings opposite the NCC! hahaha...so we had to cross the road frm the main blocks to that area in the hot afternoon sun, but it was worth it as the case was quite a gd one....managed to pick up a systolic murmur in the pulmonary area all thanks to chia BL's teaching yesterday....

Tmr's gg to be a long day with a 7.30am ward round followed by a movie @ night with the girls!

Announcement: Lim Wen Phei has very kindly volunteered to give a wonderful rendition of the hokkien song, "Jit Ba Ban", @ SGH on friday in the ward/student's lounge! Details will be confirmed soon...All are most welcome to hear her melodious voice fill the air & bring cheer to the patients! =)

2007-05-04T23:07:00.000+08:00

today was quite a happy day, even if it was results day....

reasons why today was gd:

a) did better than i expected for microb(even if it was avg) considering how my CAs turned out...All glory to God!

b) did suturing today which was really fun once u get the hang of it....managed to do a nice subcuticular suture =)

it's the bottom wound which is everted & u cant see any thread save for the ends

c) had a nice, funny dr for the catheterisation station (basically clinical skills lab is fun with everyone playing with the equipment)

d) most of all, having a treat from michelle at The Line @ Shangri-La cause she did quite well for her pros (congrats mich!)

-for photos of the food we ate, visit www.eateatandbemerry.blogspot.com

-I think we started eating @ 6.30 & ended our dinner nearly 3 hrs later....hahah...the seafood section was really gd with lobsters, oysters, clams, scallops, prawns, etc...all very fresh & succulent...yum yum

Very very very full now....bet the fundus of my stomach is filled with food instead of air & my LES is trying to maintain its closed tone now... hahaha

No more buffets for me for a while =)

2007-05-02T22:46:00.000+08:00

to sum up my tiring day:
1) arrival at sgh at 9.30am
2) went with chewlip & candice to clerk some CCF patients
3) discovering that my tutorial had been pushed back to 12.30pm
4) having an early lunch at chinatown food centre opp sgh
5) totally embarrasing myself at the food centre drinks stall(ARGHHHHH!!)
6) abd tutorial with this dr who looked like he has tics
7) discovering to my dismay tt more reading of talley needs to be done
8) another neuro tutorial at 2.30pm
9) observing a really cool fasiculating tongue tt deviates to side of lesion
10) attempting to clerk more cardio patients
11) deciding to call it a day at 5.30pm
12) going for wed night bible study cause i was supposed to play
13) home sweet home at 10pm

Random thought:
why cant info from a book diffuse into your head when you sleep on it????

2007-04-26T19:10:00.000+08:00

-4th day of CSFC-

the day started really early at 7am in sgh cause we had to attend the M&M for surgery dept...it was filled with lots of antagonistic questioning on the part of the regs/consultants/profs & surgery sure does seem like a very alpha male & cut throat place.... after M&M we went to report to another dr as our surgeon in charge was operating the entire day & didnt have time to teach us.....she then directed 4 of us to go to the OT to watch a hemi-mandibulectomy(whereby half the mandible is sawn off) & replaced by bone from the fibula....& so it was, 4 of us being totally new to sgh, having no idea where the OT was or where to change or who to contact, we finally made our way to the OT to watch the surgery....i met the surgeon whom i was attached to during my attachment to CGH a few yrs back (angie, it's dr bernard lim & i saw wah siew too-she's an MO in surg now)....didnt say hi to him though cause i bet he prob cant remember me anyway =)
the hemi-mandibulectomy was really cool with lots of flesh-burning & bone cutting, & when the prof questioned us on the spot on the nerves of the jaw, all four of us couldnt remember a single thing....i bet all our anat tutors must be killing themselves now.....hahah.....oh well...that just goes to show med is really all encompassing & the amt of info out there is endless......
after the surgery, we went to clerk patients b4 heading off for lunch at the houseman's canteen....after lunch, we went to join this consultant at the clinics but didnt learn much as we really didnt know how to examine the patient anyway....a while later, we went to clerk more patients before finally heading home at 5pm, feet feeling quite sore & tired but happy that today was an eventful day.... =)

Hope med tmr will be better.....

2007-04-23T20:17:00.000+08:00

first day of CSFC & i'm already so tired i could really fall asleep now....maybe it also has to do with the fact that i slept at 1 & woke up at 4.45am due a nightmare abt food(dont laugh mich)...today was really a long day that began at 7.30am in sch with koh dr talking, & after that everything merged into a blur until it was time for lunch...a group of us had lunch at vivo before trotting down to sgh for another long briefing session on infection control, etc etc...by the time evrything ended, it was already 5.15pm & raining heavily....however, all thanks to yilin for giving me a lift that saved me the trouble of taking the mrt home....thanks to mich too for her ever-ready generosity in giving me lifts everywhere...really appreciate it =)
and i cant believe i spent $53 today just on sch stuff!!! the breakdown: $25 for a labcoat, $13 for paeds kit, $10 for neuro kit & $5 for a stethoscope tag(w/c wasnt really necessary)...and i probably have to buy a surgery bk as well! suddenly my wallet is a whole lot lighter =S...oh well, i'm so sleepy now i cant even think straight anymore.......and there's still 6 more wks of sch left!! arghhhhhhhhhhhhh................

a new look!

2007-04-22T17:36:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since i last changed my blog skin....abt a yr in fact....haha...couldnt really find any nice skin online so i found the nice pic of the cross on deviantart and added the words myself....it's rather plain though, but i chose it cause it aptly fits the song "At the cross" which i like currently....maybe i'll change the skin again during the next hols.... =)

it's CSFC tomorrow!! and i need to buy another labcoat....

2007-04-20T22:16:00.000+08:00

there IS a limit to the amount of dim sum one can eat... just ask michelle & yilin & they'll agree...har kow, siew mai, egg tarts, chee cheong fun, pork ribs, pork tenderloin, xiao long bao, dumplings--you name it, we probably tried it all this evening at yum cha restaurant.... yum cha has currently has this promotion for all-you-can-eat dim sum high tea buffet at $15 nett per person if u print out the coupon from their website....it's not bad as the variety of dim sum is really wide & includes speciality dishes & desserts like mango pudding & almond tea(which michelle LOVED)....
as usual, the meal started off with us ordering every single item that we fancied on the menu & slowly but surely the number of orders started to taper off until we reached the dessert section.(i think we ordered 4 mango puddings, 2 almond tea, 1 guilinggao, 1 lemongrass jelly w/ fruits & 1 crispy red bean w/ banana)....and all this just for 3 pple...haha....i really think i ate 3 days worth of food in that one sitting.... =S just hope that when sch starts the weight will come off.....haha...well, one can be hopeful right??

speaking of food, visit www.eateatandbemerry.blogspot.com ....it's graphic intensive & sure to whet one's appetite!!

ubin & its rustic charm

2007-04-17T20:18:00.000+08:00

just came back from a trip to pulau ubin with chew lip, evelyn, gh & yilin & currently my quadriceps are aching quite badly from all that cycling....it was a gd CG bonding trip, albeit a tiring one that involved lots of cycling along undulating, gravelled terrain....managed to see some quarries, kampung houses, tanjong chek jawa, lots of huts, mangroves & some huge iguanas....thankfully we didnt encounter any giant spiders or wild boars...haha...now that would have made the trip really interesting....ubin really makes you feel so relaxed, away from the hustle & bustle of city life and everything moves at a much slower & relaxing pace...

really thankful for the bright sunny weather that i prayed for (although it was really scorching at some points) & it didnt rain until after we finished cycling....would really recommend gg there for outings as it's quite cheap ($8 for bike rental + return ferry rides) and much healthier than sitting down to watch a $9 movie....wouldnt mind going back to ubin again, this time to explore the western & northern side....

ok, enough said....let the pics do the talking...

arrival at ubin jetty....

maman beach, cycling & getting our bearings...

at one of the many quarries - cycling up was torture but the view was well worth it....

at tanjong chek jawa (which was closed)

tired after cycling but happy....

now back to massaging my aching thigh muscles.....

2007-04-13T23:21:00.000+08:00

went out with my anat grp + a few other med pple for bowling yesterday at kim seng...it started out as a really wet day with me forcing myself out of the house in the pouring rain...thank gdness my mum was so nice to go out for lunch with me at great world b4 that, and i ended up shopping as well! haha...bought a yellow blouse from zara for clinics....
anyway, yesterday wasnt my day for bowling & i chalked up pretty low points....somehow my balls didnt seem to go straight as usual =S... well, at least i had a fun time laughing at 'mr powccurateful' & 'mr more strikes', both of which didnt live up to their names on the scoreboard...haha....
after bowling, i went out with my family to have a buffet dinner at grand copthorne to celebrate my sis's engagement...ate lots of sashimi & nice desserts like mango pudding & chocolate fondue, although i think i kind of overdid it on the sashimi...haha...mark taylor would have been frowning upon the raw fish being eaten..."u may get anisakid...." in his trademark nonchalant attitude....

i need to exercise....

2007-04-11T21:54:00.000+08:00

It's over!! pros are finally over!! *pumps fist into air & screams for joy*

It's really such a strange feeling to come home & realise that you dont have to study anything at all, but then again who can blame us when M2 has been a very long marathon of studying due to the neverending cas that the dean's office throws at us...but it's finally over! (although microb was quite bad =S) i dont have to see another medical book/notes for at least 2 wks....haha...can't wait to start csfc & descend on sgh with my stethoscope & being a giardia to the docs there...haha...for now, it's back to watching countless hours of tv, surfing the net, gg for outings & movies......ah...the little joys med students indulge themselves in =)

watched Shooter today after neurosci & found it quite ok...lots of shooting of pple's heads, blood & gore to see, along with mark wahlberg's wrinkles (with mich commenting that he needed botox)...storyline wasnt too bad as well.....after that, i bought a nice pair of black work shoes at primavera..been wanting it for some time but the marina sq outlet didnt have my size so i'm quite happy to have been able to find it here...it was quite ex though....

gg to watch prison break 2 now.... ah, life after exams feels so gd!

2007-04-06T15:55:00.000+08:00

i think after monday is over, i never ever want to see another bacteria, virus, fungi, parasite, etc etc ever again...or at least for the next 3 months...one sure way to torture a med student? make them sit for microb pros with its "small" range of topics.... why cant all viruses just be detected by a simple blood culture instead of monkey kidney cell, HeLa cells & whatnot?

3 days to go & i'm already sian of studying =(

2007-04-05T00:25:00.000+08:00

One derogatory comment. One very, very immature comment was all it took for me to really release all the pent up stress & anger i had. Yes, i did feel very upset for a while, as that comment was seriously uncalled for & way below the belt, but then i thought, why stoop to this person's level? why get myself so angry & worked up over this comment which is entirely false? In fact, i should really be pitying this person for not showing the requisite maturity that someone their age & background should have.. That person should be ashamed of him/herself for making that comment which was really rude & derogatory..

I'm not like one of them & i'm so glad i'm not their friend.
'Do unto others what you want others to do unto you' - everything comes full circle, just remember that.

2007-04-01T20:13:00.000+08:00

Its april fool's & thankfully no jokes/pranks today....
well, april fools brings back lots of memories, esp. the times in vj where mr chua came dressed in the vj sch uniform, the time when we tricked mrs teo into thinking the lab mixed up her glucose solutions for the Benedict's test (ah, glucose=brick-red ppt. - such insignificant stuff that i still remember) and the time we mixed up our names so that mr chow didnt know who to call on to answer his tutorial questions....not to mention the many other small jokes we tried to play on each other, with of course, limited success.... those were such gd times with definitely less mugging to do & lots more playing....

argh...stop reminiscing, more studying!!!

2007-03-29T22:16:00.000+08:00

went with fish to mandarin for ********** on tues & it was quite fun, although i would have preferred to brandish a raquet instead =) i shant blog abt fish's embarrasing "mandarin" moment which wasnt forgotten by the guy(u can read her blog abt that instead)...haha...all in all a fun day but as usual, studying in sch is quite unproductive for me cause i tend to get distracted by all the movement that's going on, esp at this time of the yr where EVERYONE is mugging in the library, dentistry, pharmacy, med students & all...

10 more days left & still lots of viruses, bacteria, parasites & drugs to go thru =(

med sch = mug mug mug....

2007-03-23T11:31:00.000+08:00

every now & then, an email from medfac pops up in ur inbox & once again u are seized by panic that 'oh no! i'm so far behind in studying' or 'i just studied that yesterday- why cant i remember anything????'

just know that u're not alone =)

In Christ alone,
I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength,
my source of hope,
Is Christ Alone...

2007-03-21T21:35:00.000+08:00

just got our clinical groupings today as well as the schedule for CSFC that is abt a month away....it's kind of difficult to pen down the excitement that has been building up ever since m1 as u finally realise how close u are to descending upon the wards (albeit like parasites to the docs & nurses), full of vigour & nervous energy after being stuck in a lecture theatre studying random facts abt microb, drugs, biochem, etc. for 2 yrs.....U are this much closer to living out ur dream of becoming a doctor where u actually have contact with patients & u can apply what u have learnt in theory to treat them...perhaps it's just me being overtly excited abt brandishing my stethoscope & perhaps such enthusiasm & idealism wont last, but for now it's the one thing that's spurring me on to memorise horribly random facts for microb & neurosci so that i can clear the one "major hurdle"(in the words of mark taylor) left b4 wards beckon---PROs....

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
Phil 4:13

2007-03-16T06:50:00.000+08:00

i'm up at this unearthly hour blogging because i just sent my sis & her bf to the airport for their nice little trip to HK without me =S there are so many places i would rather be at now instead of sg mugging for finals....the gd side of my sis gg away on holiday is that i get to use her car for a few days until tues!! woohoo! supper anyone?? haha...but of course the use of her new car came with conditions: dont use up all the petrol, dont dirty the car, no eating in the car, no high mileage when i come back, cashcard shouldnt be $0, etc etc... but i'm ok with that cos i have a car all to myself for a few days!! haha...the little joys in life....

anyway, we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday yesterday at dragon city restaurant....food was quite nice & the portions were so substantial that we almost couldnt eat the birthday cake...this also explains why we now have a cake sitting in the fridge that almost looks untouched...haha...my brain is abt to shut down(i was awake at 4.15am) so i shall let the pics do the talking instead =)

2007-03-12T20:21:00.000+08:00

--- a reason why i recommend the Opti-free brand for contact lens solution---

If u look carefully at the pic above(pardon the horrible resolution from my sis's 1.3mp phone camera), circled in red is the reason why i switched to this brand after the whole Renu scare... for those who are unwiling to strain their eyes to try & make out what it says, i shall do that for you... basically, the box reads "Bactericidal, Fungicidal, KILLS ACANTHAMOEBA"

the microb student in me immediately started recalling horrible facts abt amoebic keratitis in contaminated contact lens solution & resulted in me not being able to resist the urge to post this to show some relavance of microb in our lives....haha...

on another note, really thankful that i passed my microb ca....all glory goes to Him yeah?? He's always Faithful!!! =)

2007-03-10T23:30:00.000+08:00

finally microb ca is over & its been a gd weekend so far with me slacking, shopping a lot & totally enjoying myself...been gg out shopping consecutively for 3 days & have bought 2 blouses & a belt so far....i guess retail therapy does work after u've been cooped up at home trying to memorise worms with horrible life cycles & names for what seemed like a century....bought this nice purple & grey blouse from pull & bear in vivo on fri and i'm very happy with it cause my favourite colour is PURPLE!! woohoo...which also explains my nice big purple wallet =) haha...oh dear..how bimbotic i must sound....anyway, fish & i wanted to watch the history boys on thurs but lido wasnt screening the movie so i guess i'll just have to add the movie to my growing list of movies that i want to watch but havent been able to =S....any longer & i might as well wait for channel 5 to start showing it 2-3 yrs later....haha....oh well, maybe i can watch it on peekvid as well...but recently the site has some problems with its links & i only managed to watch the devil wears prada halfway....u can imagine how upset i was....haha...

i think i'm droning on abt useless stuff again so i shall end this post....

3 down, 1 more to go

2007-03-02T13:58:00.000+08:00

as the title says, 3 cas down, 1 more to go.... so far the papers have been ok save for neurosci which was horrible because of lack of time as well as my lack of brain info abt the afferent/efferent/intrinsic hippocampus connections...urgh..oh well, it's over & finally i can slack for a while to watch prison break s2 & house s3 episodes...haha....anyway, it's gg to be a short respite b4 hitting the books again for microb & pros...

anyway, last weekend my sis brought us to try this restaurant called PS cafe...the food there is quite nice albeit a little pricey but the ambience of the place was very nice...set admist lush foliage(ok, maybe not so lush) in harding road near the british high comm....the mains were ok but the desserts were gd! esp. this gooey chocolate fudge brownie with marshmallows & ice cream on top.....gd but really sinful & u'll probably need someone to share it with cause the amount of chocolate just overwhelms u...yum yum...my parents tried this other dessert, an apple&fig cake with ice cream...i didnt really like the taste of the apple but my sis liked it....

the pics are quite bad thanks to my VGA phone camera...haha..

mich, we should eat there sometime!!

oh yes, before i forget, Happy 22nd birthday to Cheryl & Chrystal!! Wish u guys were here!!

Happy CNY!

2007-02-18T14:30:00.000+08:00

Happy CNY everyone!!! this year especially is the time to PIG out!! (pardon my pun) hahaha...so throw away all the worries abt calories in ur bak kwa, new yr cakes, kueh lapis, sweets, etc. & go ahead & help yourselves to such goodies....haha...i know i will....& there will prob be a guilt trip for me after CNY bingeing though....must exercise more after CNY!! *hint: yilin, must organise badminton okie?* haha....oh wells, i'd better go back to entertaining my relatives now..

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!

2007-02-16T21:18:00.000+08:00

the academic yr has finally come to a close for me...no more lectures in sch but lots of mugging coming up....what's new right? haha...with CAs coming up in less than 2 weeks, i should be very stressed but at least 3 things have helped brighten my mood...

firstly, i got my stethoscope yesterday!! my first very own real stethoscope, (not the kind u buy in a toy store hehe) & as nita so aptly put it "we are on our way to becoming full-fledged doctors!" haha....i cant wait to descend on the wards this april with our stethoscopes in tow & probably not knowing much even after 2 yrs of med sch...haha..blame it on microb & pharmaco...i think i've forgotten most of my anat already....=s oh wells, i'd better not mix up an x-ray of the arm & leg next time! hehehe

secondly, it's CNY!!! probably the most fun time of the yr when ur relatives come over to share lots of gd food & the calories that come with it as well...haha...my mum is super stressed now as to her CNY is like her 'iron chef' competition....hahaha...she has to prepare so many dishes to feed all my hungry relatives & the food must taste gd as well...i'd better not antagonise her by stepping into the kitchen when she's cooking or messing things up... =) can't wait to collect the $$ that comes with CNY but visiting pple is a very tiring affair as everyone would agree....

thirdly, I've finally gotten down to developing my very very delayed NZ photos in time for CNY so i can show my relatives....which of course meant that i spent the past few days sorting the photos in a nice album & trying to add captions & stuff instead of studying =S this had better not come back to haunt me.....

2 more days to CNY & lots of mugging to come.....

2007-02-08T23:28:00.000+08:00

it's been a long time since i last posted...sch's been like a rollercoaster ride with cas one after the other with more to come...plus there are only 4 days of sch left for m2...in a way m2 has gone in a flash, but looking forward to m3 when clinicals start...but first i need to conquer the pros b4 i think abt that....looking back at m2, i've made more friends & got to know lots more pple and for that i'm quite thankful...

anyway, prison break season 2 has been occupying my time when i'm supposed to be studying...it's really gd & i recommend to anyone who likes twists in their plots & like to be held in suspense at the end of every episode...been watching it on peekvid.com, but recently the website is offline cause they are updating it...so i'm kind of suffering from prison break withdrawal symptoms now...anyone has the whole to season 2 to lend me?? haha... i still havent watched the last few very interesting episodes & am itching to watch them, so hopefully someone hears my plea & accedes to my request....i'll be most grateful!! =)

went to vivo city with my mum & sis today for some cny shopping & we practically bumped into so many med pple....haha...i think s'pore's just too small with limited shopping centres....my mum & sis went crazy at the M&S sale which was really good(things were at 1/2 price) but the only drawback was that only the large sizes were left for the nice clothes....so i didnt manage to buy anything in the end....=S oh well, looks like i have to go cny shopping again tmr!

oh yes, b4 i forget, Happy 21st Birthday weiming! & Happy belated birthday Louisa!! =)

2007-01-22T20:32:00.000+08:00

it's been a slack weekend as usual, my time being filled with worship pract, repaying my sleep debt for the week, trying to catch up on notes piled sky-high on my table but being unsuccessful at it and meeting up with james who's back from melb & angie....

as me & angie have concurred, james still looks the same...haha...same dress style, same look, even the same kind of bag...haha...hope james doesnt kill me if he reads this now...but same is gd right? it means u havent aged much =) haha...trying hard to redeem myself here...hehe...anyway, we met up at raffles city where we ate at ding tai fung & later we adjourned to coffee club for some nice muddy mud pie....always nice to know that ur friends havent changed much and are still their crappy selves...haha...

anyway, today i was quite upset cause my sim card became blocked...i have no idea how my pin no. was changed without my knowledge & as a result i had to buy a new sim card for $18!! *heart pain*....plus i've lost all my contacts on the card, including my vj classmates, my med anat grp & pple like wenphei, wm, michelle, louisa, pok, etc...pls msg me ur hp nos! thanks!
well, the only gd thing abt today was that i had lunch at billy bombers with yilin, zhen zhen, xt & whitney after sch cause zhen zhen had 1 for 1 vouchers...so we ended up ordering massive amts of food that all of us couldnt finish...i think we wasted a lot of food...heheh...oh well...i'm so full and i think i'm not gg to eat at billy bombers for a long time....
i think i'm feeling some post-prandial sleepiness already....argh....zzzzzzz....

2007-01-18T20:31:00.000+08:00

as michelle the GRATE has requested for me to update my blog, i shall do so....

had another anat grp outing today where we went out for lunch + bowling once again at kim seng... & when i say anat grp, it consisted of a grand total of 6 pple (including serene & me).....haha...not quite the same numbers we had last yr for anat lunches after prac...anyway, lunch was quite nice as we ate at this nasi padang place at zion rd....as usual, lots of delectable food was brought to our table with yk polishing off 2 plates of rice (size says it all right?haha...he's >1.8m tall, angie *wink*)

so after lunch we adjourned to kim seng plaza for an arm workout & today i was quite happy cause i finally managed to break the 100 pinfall mark! hahaha....oh the little milestones i have.....my best score was 139, which beat my previous best set years ago(120)...how sad right?

haha...i was being bo liao so i took this.... =)

okie, i'd better go & catch up on the piles of notes collecting on my table...horrendous the amt of paper one can amass from sch in a day, let alone a week... =S

2007-01-14T22:38:00.000+08:00

apparently there was this 8.3 richter scale earthquake that hit japan yesterday and as a result, there was this tsunami warning going out to all the countries in the Pacific ocean....so everyone was probably busy evacuating pple from the coast and moving them further inland to prevent a repeat of the dec 26 tsunami...and as everyone waited with bated breath & prayed, little did they know that a 10CM wave would hit their coast! WOW! 10 CM!!! i'm seriously not kidding...as evidence, i took a photo of channel news asia's 'breaking news' tag and it says "10cm wave hits NE Japan" hahahah!!!

i mean, isnt 10cm shorter than my ruler? and i dont have to have an earthquake to experience 10cm waves in Singapore(who's waves are prob still higher than 10cm)....which brings me to my other questions--how exactly did they measure the wave? how did they distinguish this 'massive' wave from the others & decide that this is the wave caused by the tsunami??

maybe this was a typo error but apparently my dad heard this over the radio as well and 2 media sources can't be wrong, can they? and later on in the evening they removed the tsunami warning, so i think there wasnt any serious repercussions from the earthquake save for a 10cm wave....hahaha....

what an interesting piece of news....