Ironic docs who smoke & drink

A lot of students coming into med school smoke and drink, which is fine since that's your choice. The irony is in that they didn't fully know of the consequences of smoking and drinking until they took biochemistry in 1st term of med school. I keep hearing people getting surprised, "Oh! I didn't know smoking and alcohol could do that! Can't believe I'm still alive!". Some students have the belief that alcohol is more dangerous than smoking, so it's okay for them to smoke - this is the logic they use.

OSPE finished!

OSPE (Objective Structural Practical Exam) is an exam that tests clinical skills and counts 11% of the total clinical skills mark in the 5th term of SGU. In order to study for this, you have to learn all the clinical conditions with "pictures" for all the courses. Every question on the OSPE has pictures in it and most if not all have to do with diagnosis or treatment. There are also physical exam questions where REAL patients are the questions. You are asked to do a specific procedure on the patient while a proctor watches you. Then the proctor tells you what to bubble based on what you did.

I have to say, this exam was a lot easier than I initially thought it was. A lot of people over-exaggerated stating that because this exam is cumulative, it is a very difficult exam. However, looking over all the clinical conditions with pics actually doesn't take more than 4 hours and you can do it the night before the exam. Most of these clinical conditions you have been learning already given you are studying normally post-midterm. This means you only need to review the pre-midterm conditions which will come very quickly once you see the pictures.

Questions from OSPE include percussing the lower border of the liver, feeling the pulse of the dorsalis pedis, listening to the heart valves, and cranial nerves.

Overall, I think I did good.

I can hear again!

I went to the clinic today and they used the syringe to clean my ears. I didn't put any ear drops the day before nor in the morning. She even said that it didn't matter. Man o man, as soon as she did it on my right ear, the world changed. I could hear the sound of footsteps, clothing, the air, etc. In a way, I had a temporary hyperacusis. I had to re-adjust the filters and dampeners in my ear in order to focus on the sounds that matter. I didn't even feel dizzy after the procedure. Normally, you do since the fluid enters the semicircular canals in the inner ear which are responsible for balance. She said that my right ear had so much mucus that it may even have more that is deeper. Now, it makes sense to use the ear drops to loosen the mucus in the deeper areas. I am going again Friday for the last one.


I had an appointment today with an anatomy professor and we went through all the structures of the head and neck. Now, this time I could hear, so I was able to answer all of his questions.

My first experience to Grenada's walk-in clinic

So I've been having a problem lately. It started mid-August actually, but it wasn't a big deal then. It is early-November now and the condition has exacerbated. I pretty much have mucus blocking my ear and it needs to be flushed out. I already had my ears flushed out actually last year in Troonto. The procedure is simple, you just put some warm water in a syringe and apply pressure. The water will clean out everything. The solution also has some hydrogen peroxide in it. They even sell self-serve ear cleaners with a right-angle bent syringe. You need the tip of the syringe to be bent so that it doesn't go too deep in the ear canal and hit the eardrum. Anyways back to the story:

I had a 2-hour Histo lab in the morning followed by a 1-hour optional Anatomy Lab. I had problems hearing the professor the whole time. Then, I ate lunch, then went to class. I had 3 classes today: 2 Histo+1 Biochem. The problem is that my classes are 1 pm to 4 pm and the Grenada walk-in clinic closes at 4 pm! I didn't even know that clinics can close that early. Anyways, I skipped my biochem class. It was just a lecture on vitamins, something I can read myself. Biochem is the kind of course in which A+B=C and there is nothing you can learn from the professor to change it otherwise, everything is in the notes. The professor pretty much "reads" the notes.

So I went to the clinic, signed-in and wrote "ear cleaning" as the reason for visit. I waited around an hour, which is reasonable since there were other patients before me. During that hour, I read the vitamin lecture that I was missing and finished it. I got called later stating, that since it's my first visit, I need to fill some forms. No problem, done. Then, they asked, if I had insurance with the school or do I have my own insurance. When we registered, we had stated that I was going to be using my own health insurance company. Then she asked me of a form that I had sent to SGU when I registered. Obviously, I don't have that form with me. So then, she said that I would have to pay today and that she'll give me a receipt which I can get reinbursed later. Again, no problem.

I finally got called (it was hard to hear). The lady asked me why I'm here and asked why I didn't come earlier in the morning. I told her my schedule and told her that I skipped a class to come. She understood. Next, the actual doctor called me. He asked me, "Have I had any illnesses in the past?". This is the most general question I have ever heard from a doctor. Yes, of course, I have had illnesses in the past, would you like a list of all of them? Seriously, I just told him yes I did and that the only major procedure I've had was an appendectomy, but nothing related to my ears. Then, he checked my oral cavity and my breathing. This is normal since the mucus from the ear can go into the mouth and the breathing was just incase, the mucus went into the trachea in which case my breathing would be a little dyspnic. He finally said, after all of that, that I need to come another day. I asked, "Can't you just take a syringe, put some hot water and squeeze?". He said, "Yes, we can do that, but it requires more pressure". He wanted to prescribe some ear drops that would loosen the mucus and the wax in the ear so that when he puts pressurized water into it, everything would come out. This is fine, but it's not really efficient. The solution that is in the syringe has hydrogen peroxide for a reason and serves as the same function as the ear drops he was prescribing me. It would have taken him 5 mins to prepare the solution and another 5 mins to do the procedure.

So, I went then to the pharmacy, which was located in Grand Anse. I waited for the bus for 30 mins. Two Lance Epine buses came and went. (I live in Lance Epine, but I need to go to Grand Anse). I finally took the bus to Grand Anse and got to the pharmacy. I pulled out the prescription, which I couldn't even understand the handwriting since it was so bad. I gave it to the lady. I got my medication 20 mins after I gave the prescription. All 20 mins were spent looking for it, the pharmacy btw is 1/8th the pharmacy found in an avg. Wal-Mart. I got the medication and am now in Grand Anse. I'm going to get something to eat here and I might as well do some grocery shopping. This is the only good thing that came out of it.

Tomorrow is Tuesday, my worst day of the week where I"m occupied from 8-5 pm. This means, I can't get my ears flushed until Wednesday. So, basically I skipped a class, wasted an hour, just to realize that I need to come in the morning. If the nurse who was also the receptionist had seen that I wrote, "ear cleaning", she could have just told me this fact. I would have been able to go back to class. It almost makes me want to buy a syringe and do the whole thing myself. I have hydrogen peroxide in my contact lens solution too. Don't worry, I won't be not unless I can bend the tip.

Lastly, the bus that was supposed to come and pick me up at 7:20 pm from the grocery store didn't come. So, I had to take another bus back to Grand Anse campus, then wait for another bus to take me to Lance Epine.

98th to 106th days: Only 26 days remaining!

It's time for an update again. I'm done eating all the pancakes. There was a dodgeball tournament on Friday that I really wanted to participate in, but I chose not to in order to stay caught-up. One of my friends actually needed 1 more person for their team and they were not able to participate :(. That's the compromise you have to make sometimes. There's a dodgeball tourny every term though, so it's really not that big of a deal.

On Saturday, I did the same routine - laundry, cleaning, breakfast, lunch, etc. By the time I was actually ready and in the mood of studying, it was 5 pm. Though I did get a lot done. I pretty much read the entire chapter for the BRS (Board Review Series) Anatomy for head and neck. It is actually a great book and covers everything. I did relax afterwards and watched some tv shows like Master Chef India, Nikita, and Merlin.

My eyes are almost back to normal since I got my hydrogen peroxide contact lens solution. Before that, there were some people saying my eyes were blood-shot red and who knows they probably thought I was smoking too. It was just an inflammation response from the conjunctiva though, it happens all the time. One of my friends was gracious enough to lend me their solution until mine arrives in the mail.

Tomorrow, I plan to finish Histology and just review because that's the only thing I can do. When it comes to Anatomy, you can never stop eating pancakes since there are always some pancakes you find that you haven't eaten :)

92 to 97th days - Diwali in GND=Studying

I'm doing 1 post per week now. Nothing exciting has really happened. A professor from Northumbria University (Europe) came by to teach us some biochemistry lectures. The guy was pretty intense and put structures for every single molecule on his slide. Thankfully, after going through his lectures on my own, I drew the reactions and pretty much compressed his 33 slides into 2 pages. In Anatomy, we started the head. It seems simple in theory, but hard to memorize and not get confused with nerves, arteries, lymphatics, veins, etc. Plus, you have to remember the previous associations. That's why I'm making my own "laundry list" to keep track of everything in a very organized way. It only takes me around 3 hours to look at my laundry list and memorize the whole thing.

The laundry lists I should say, one for each - biochem, histology, and anatomy are getting longer each day. They serve as somewhat as my external hard drive. Eventually, they will be part of my hard drive and not RAM.

Oh, and I almost forgot - HAPPY DIWALI!! There were some people who were selling some mithai here, but I think I missed it. Oh well, I plan to go to India and party there with the patake and the mithai. There is also a ICSA show on Saturday. Don't ask me what it stands for, all I know is the first letter is Indian. It's pretty much a dance show where students try to dance. It's great, but unless I'm done with all the Gray's Review+Physical Examination+Review Biochem+Review Anatomy+Review Histo, I very highly doubt that I will go to this show.

Not only that, I already saw the show last term, it's no big deal. Just another compromise you gotta make in the road to success.

So it's a Friday night and I plan to eat 4 pancakes+questions from Gray's Review. Then, finally, relax and watch some shows and eat some dinner at the same time.