Here’s a picture of me holding a patient’s leg that just got skin grafting. Simply explained, skin grafting is placing live skin from the same person’s body and placing it on the burnt area, hoping it will adapt and be the new skin. All this I experienced in 1 week of burn… this is the last part of my surgery rotation *cry*… This is one of the most common, yet most alien part of surgery to me. I didn’t get to see many cases of burn during clerkship, and even then, I wasn’t the one who was in charge of dressing them. I again was proved “toxic” by my fellow interns, because I gained a total of 5 consults compared to the usual ZERO. Yup, during the day of my duty, people came in because:
1. they were at a rooftop holding a metal rod which happened to touch live wire,
2. their 4 year old child accidentally was splashed by hot water,
3. a 20 yr old woman who was scalded last week, did not clean her wound AT ALL until she came to us,
4. another woman spilled phenol on herself, and
5. a drunk guy played with a kerosene lamp and it exploded on his face…
Yup that’s what my duty was like. Good Lord people, why can’t you guys be careful… Tomorrow I am on duty again, so please please just sit still for a change people of the Philippines… on the lighter side of things, at least i got all that experience in just one duty. When my friend Sam went on duty yesterday, she didn’t have a single consult. Good or Bad? It depends on how you look at things. Good, means you got to rest, Bad, means you came to the hospital just to sleep and the reason why you went to PGH (that is, to get more exposure) is non-existent.
I really hate getting patients who are babies with scald burns… It’s a sign of great neglect from the parents or guardians… It’s never a pretty sight to see a baby, who is so innocent, to have injuries like that, even if they incessantly cry… One thing I hate more than that are drunks… drunkards in general who come in to the ER with injuries from fights or from clutzyness.. They smell awful and they treat u like shit… When I get patients like this, no mercy. Just treat them and teach them a lesson. Plus they come into the ER at wee hours of the night, waking u from sleep because they are intoxicated. That’s why i like the fact that anesthesia doesn’t work on drunk people. It is just fair.
They say burns are the worst kind of trauma a person can get… Even if it really hurts for them to get cleaned up everyday, It is amazing to see their wounds getting better and better everyday. That’s what I like about surgery… Results of your work are easily seen ^ ^ It’s almost over. But I’ve made up my mind, surgery is really a cool thing for me to be in, and it’s harder to see myself in any other field.
NOTE: The picture of the baby has been taken down because it has caused a ruckus among some of the members of the online community. Although the picture was taken and uploaded with permission of the baby’s parents, I cannot let such pictures cause a scandal. This blog was only meant to share my experiences and the things I learn throughout my life as a medical student and practitioner, and I have always made anonymity a priority, and made sure credit is given where credit is due. Thanks again to my supporters.
Today I finally saw “Hairspray”, the Broadway musical inspired movie, which starred John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Zac Efron, James Marsden, and the newcomer who is also the star of the movie Nikki Blonsky. I’ve been waiting for this movie to come out for months, not knowing the actual plot of the movie, and when I finally saw it, I was completely satisfied. Zac Efron was more impressive to me than he was at high school musical, I guess the kid does have some talent. John Travolta made a comeback to his singing and dancing roots… It was kinda weird seeing him in drag, but he pulled it off real nicely… For the first time, the leading lady doesn’t have to be as thin as a twig! I was really impressed by Nikki’s performance… Given the chance, I wish I could sing her songs on stage… ^^ You gotta see the movie for yourself… If you are a musical lover, you’d love this movie… It’s a real feel good movie… ^^
d them up as well…
I guess today is all about food.. Or is it just coincidental that I wanted to take pictures of food all day. Hannah (my roommate, fellow intern, and fellow La Salle graduate) and I went to Rob to eat at World Chicken, my current favorite (but expensive) resto…
Ah… first day of subspec… At first I was uneasy with the idea of me being a uro intern, but like I always say, you enjoy if you have the right attitude. All I had to do was look at the bright side… And there I was, having the time of my life. I started the day helping out in the OPD. My residents are the nicest bunch of residents and the most approachable too. They gladly took me in (or at least I felt like they did) and showed me the ropes. Some people don’t like uro because most of the time you end up going home late like I did today… But compare that to my GS days, I learned a lot more now than in all those duties… Dr. Raymundo and Dr. Manalo taught me how to look at KUB-IVP x-rays… Dr. Baysa-Pee taught me how to do a proper Uro charting… And like all uro interns I got a taste of the “free food” ^_^… I got to work on their fancy computer with built in laser printer and free paper (unlike in GS and in internal med where i had to haul my own printer in and provide my own paper… They even told me I could use the office’s Wi-Fi… sweet!!! The best part about it was that they didn’t treat me like a slave… So I gladly did the work… My seniors even told me not to push myself so hard… And that comment made me wanna work even harder… It always makes me work better when people don’t nag and if they ask in an authoritative but nice way… I’ll try to study on my Urology so I won’t look that stupid… Hope we have a good conference tomorrow. ^^
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