Any med wannabes out there?

Damn...took a bus to the GP today...decided to call before I arrived only to find that they were closing! Wasted $2.40 and 1.5 hrs. They could have told me earlier if they picked up the phone yesterday!

Medicine really isn't all fun and drama. It only looks good on medical dramas like Healing Hands, where the doctors drive Maserati spiders, BMWs and Mercedes, and live in too-good-to-be-true condos. Or on Nip and Tuck, where the docs live in luxury, drive nice cars, and screw around. Right now, medicine for me means trying to figure out how chromosomal disorders work and getting Mendel's Laws into my oh-so-impermeable head. It also involves summoning all my willpower to drag myself out of bed at 7.20am, and hopping around my room trying to eat my breakfast and get my jeans on simultaneously (yes, I suspect multitasking is part of our med training) and sprinting into the lecture theatre at 8.05am, only to be poisoned by an overdose of sociology by 10am.

But, and I mean BUT, I'm NOT REGRETTING IT. I don't think I'd be enjoying Law any more than this.

To all med wannabes out there: Med's not what it seems...Though it CAN be wicked fun AT TIMES (not all the time).

PCL - Breast Cancer

At Monash, we've something called Patient Centered Learning (PCL), which is very much juz a mutation of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) used widely today. So basically, every week we get together in our little groups with a tutor to discuss a problem.

The topic this week was Hereditary Breast Cancer and we were given a short story to read, about a certain female (Jenny) whose mom and aunt had the said condition and who was paranoid about getting it too. Then we began discussing the treatment options. Apparently, the main form of treatment is mastectomy, or removal of the breast. After this procedure, the patient has 90% less chance of having the cancer recur. This is where it starts to get interesting.

The tutor suggested that Jenny should have her breasts removed in order to dramatically reduce the risk of getting breast cancer. WHAT THE HELL??? Aren't people afraid of getting breast cancer because they stand to lose their breasts? And now we're talking about losing their breast to prevent cancer! Oh well, being shocked frequently is part and parcel of the journey thru med school.

Yes, Let's shoot those MCPs

The S'pore med gang went shopping last friday. In a little chinese shop in Clayton, we spotted this cute little piggy-bank, shaped like a pig, with the words 'DOCTOR' on it. Since Ling's b'dae was coming up, I contemplated buying it when a S'porean med guy said:

Mr D Why not get the one which says 'NURSE'?

Me Huh? Are you suggesting Ling will never finish med?

Mr D What? Female doctor...Nurse...same thing mah!

Me You *^$)*( MCP

We managed to stop antagonising each other during the rest of the shopping trip. Until we got back to campus.

Mr D I strongly feel that women should just stay at home and make babies. That's what I expect my wife to do.

Me Wow. That's real generousity.

Mr D What

Me I mean, you'll be working 36 hr shifts right? So she'll be making babies with every other guy but you! Isn't that generous of you?

Mr D
*Mumbles under breath*