paeds

so comes the end of my 6-week paediatrics block. i have to say, it has really opened my mind about paediatrics. i went into it thinking "there is no way i am going to go into this specialty". i'm finishing it thinking exactly the same, but for very different reasons than before.

i like paediatrics. i didn't think i would, but i do. it's not nice seeing ill children - i'd very much prefer them well and annoying, thank you - but it's so rewarding and exciting every single day as you deal with an entirely different spectrum of disorders than what you usually see in adult medicine (minus the usual chest infections and asthma).

however paediatrics really isn't just about medicine. there's a whole other part of it, and it is this which totally puts me off from being a paediatrician: the social aspect. i recently learned that in the UK, 1-2 children die PER WEEK from NAI (non-accidental injury). this is a really alarming statistic, coming from a country which takes children's welfare seriously as compared to many other countries with very laxed laws on child abuse. NAI should always be considered in a child with physical injuries or a suspicious lack of emotional/social skills. then there's sexual abuse which all paediatricians fear to come across as it puts them in very complicated and difficult situations.

on my on-call week there were 4 cases on the ward with suspected NAI, all with various presentations. i spoke to a paediatrics registrar about his thoughts on dealing with NAI. he told me that it is the one thing which paediatricians hate to have to deal with, because it is indeed ridiculously difficult. if you miss an NAI in a child and the child dies, you are in trouble. but if you wrongly suspect a case of NAI and the child is taken away from his/her parents, you will very well get sued. the thing is it's not like getting sued for malpractice, it's being punished for good intentions but with very poor judgment.

i know it might be silly to completely disregard paediatrics as one of my specialty choices because of this, but child abuse is something paediatricians must always have at the back of their heads, and i really, really don't want to have to deal with it. another thing that puts me off is having to answer to children's parents all the time. sure, most of them are nice and compliant, but there are some who are incredibly fussy and you can't really blame them because it's their children after all, but sometimes you can't help but think, shut up and let me treat your child! just the other day on the ward, a senior house officer was inserting a cannula into a toddler when quite a large amount of blood spilled on the floor. the worst part was, not only did he have to deal with the child's parents, the child's GRANDPARENTS were there as well, and they were all clearly upset. in the end the SHO had to sit them down to apologise and give his explanations, which took up quite a lot of his time (it was a very busy evening and he had many other patients to tend to).

oh and also, i don't like neonatology - which i'm aware that all budding paediatricians have to go through somehow.

it's been a very good 6 weeks indeed, but i am feeling very jaded coming to the end of it - though i feel like i've been in an alternative medical universe the whole time doing paeds and it has been somewhat refreshing. i've learned that i do actually like children and that children like me, but it has also enabled me to add another specialty to my list of what i don't want to do (a list which includes chest medicine, surgery of any form, psychiatry, oncology, geriatrics and radiology). i've gained a lot just from these 6 weeks and while a lot of people feel 6 weeks of paeds is not enough, which is quite true - it's SO wide a specialty after all - i am ready to move on to something i have a strong feeling i would very much enjoy: obs and gynae.

and i absolutely cannot wait.

i died and went to Muse heaven

hello hello after my month-long hiatus. things have been crazy since my summer break ended. i am now back in india - oops did i say india? i meant england - and sadly i have returned to being a medical student again. i've moved houses, started paediatrics, been on-calls, settled this and that...

but i'm sure YOU KNEW i'd be blogging soon enough (otherwise you wouldn't be checking my blog and reading this), because YOU KNEW i went to watch Muse and YOU KNEW i would have to rub it in all your faces over and over again!

seriously. i had the best time of my life. ever. EVER. i can't believe i wasn't at all enthusiastic prior to the concert, having been tied up with hospital work and moving and cleaning and unpacking and all that. in fact i was so nonchalant about it that i didn't even bother bringing my camera out. biggest thing i regret to date. i really only realised the magnitude of the event while waiting for the tram to get to the concert site - there were easily hundreds of people waiting at the same stop, all going for the concert as well. and god knows there are only some thousand tram stops in the whole of manchester. we (amritawhocameallthewayfromglasgow and i) had to wait for 3 trams before managing to squeeze ourselves into the next one. we smelled armpits, had dandruff flaking off people's heads/coats onto ours and hung on to sweaty railings before we finally reached Old Trafford!! (the cricket ground not the football one)

i held my breath when i saw the terribly long queue waiting outside the entrances. the crowd was massive. and massive is an understatement (see this - and to think i was part of the crowd! SPOT ME!!!!!). but the officials were surprisingly efficient (they had to go through each and everyone's bags for security reasons) and we actually only had to wait for less than half an hour before we found ourselves right before the mega Muse throne that is the stage. AND we actually got to stand quite in front! turns out there were many, MANY more behind us.

so blabla fast forward the opening acts by Pulled Apart by Horses (utter rubbish), Band of Skulls (woohoo! they were really good!) and The Editors (quite good as well), we waited, and waited, and waited.

(and camwhored)

till.

THIS.

bloody. awesome. beyond. awesome.

i wonder how many people had multiple myocardial infarctions throughout. i didn't, but i very very nearly did.

sigh.

as you can see i have been suffering from a Muse-withdrawal that i've been on youtube nonstop (happily eating up all my mobile broadband bandwidth as my permanent broadband service has not been activated yet) watching videos of the performances. i put together a playlist of all the songs they played at the concert, in correct order. yup. kerayzee. so that i can relive the whole thing again and revel in the fact that i was there! three of the videos are my own: dom & matt on bass & drums (mk jam), exogenesis symphony part 1 and take a bow, taken by my useless nokia e71 camera. useless to the core. i wish i had brought a proper camera.

SIGH.

Muse. amazing, amazing band. matt can really sing live and is a brilliant guitarist and pianist. chris is so hot on the bass. and dom. i don't know how he does it on the drums. it's like he has infinite energy. i think my ultimate favourite parts of the concert were chris on the bass in the beginning of hysteria, when he played the harmonica before knights of cydonia, when he and dom did their solos in mk jam, and the whole of guiding light and supermassive black hole of course. erm. and new born. and united states of eurasia. and a short version of the house of the rising sun leading into time is running out. and maps of the problematique. hahaha. can you see where this is going.

oh you know what's interesting. i found out that i can actually stand/jump and hold my bladder for 8 hours straight. geez. concerts are so bad for the kidneys and blood circulation. but i don't care. i am definitely going for more Muse concerts in the future. i don't care.

eat, drink and be merry

and sleep and watch tv!

all. day. long.

but as cliched as it is, all good things must come to an end. and that end is exactly one week from now when i have to once again endure 14 hours of flight (which does not include travelling to and from KLIA and Manchester airport) to begin a gruelling and horrendously long 4th year of medical school.

i am so glad i had an amazing summer back home. it's exactly what i needed - laid back and medicine-free, with good company, food and almost-24-hour tv. yes i'm a tv and couch potato. so what.

i did however take my butt off the couch and my eyes off the tv to have a fantastic weekend in KL to re-live IMU times with tr, howai, adrian and ben. we went around eating, of course, and tried a new place for drinks called Hakka Republic (the name seriously does not do the place justice) in the heart of the city. man, do i really miss IMU!

pics taken over the weekend (courtesy of howai):

it is unbelievably difficult to get decent southwestern food in the UK. i kid you not. hence the need for my mushroom jack fajitas at chili's!

then we went for drinks at the aforementioned Hakka Republic, which has virtually no elements of the Hakka clan except for this poster of what seems to be Chairman Mao? no idea if he was even Hakka. when howai suggested we went to try out Hakka Republic, i admit to being really pissed off because 1) i hate hakka food, and 2) i thought it would be a lame ah-beng place. but i was wrong. :)

the place is smacked right in the city, providing a nice view from the 2nd floor of menara hap seng. they actually have a French fine-dining restaurant and a wine/champagne bar. Hakka what?!

i ordered a frozen rose margarita which turned out really tasteless. then i figured that they messed up my order and gave me a normal frozen margarita. angry. normal margarita also cannot make.

howai and ben had bellinis, which i really should've ordered! they didn't bill the both of them so they had RM70 worth of bellinis for free. unfair!

also met up with eli, grace and their friend tricia.

the ultimate ramly burger for supper! from the stall outside 7 eleven in sri petaling. best. in. the. world. this is my usual burger ayam special tak mau bawang! (used to be tak mau sos cili mau sos tomato but i have evolved to actually like chilli sauce now...)

the next day: chilli pan mee at madam chiam's in cheras. i know i know you're like eh why never go kin kin blablabla. truth is i really prefer madam chiam's.

then we decided to rest our stomachs and went to kamal to get our medical books and then to book xcess in amcorp (they've moved to a much bigger and nicer lot - impressive!), before proceeding to bangsar to have banana leaf rice at nirwana's! people who say nirwana sucks shouldn't be allowed to roam the earth. seriously.

yummy sotong goreng.

hanging out at BVII's starbucks. GOSH I MISS IMU LIFE! this is what we used to do. always.

AND THEN! we went all the way to subang SS14 to have bak kut teh at ah ping.

dry bak kut teh. best.

ate everything clean. ;)

what a great weekend! shame we didn't get to eat more but we covered most things? this will be our annual summer routine!

in ipoh, i've eaten/eaten at:

- jap food
- korean food
- vietnamese food
- hakka mee under the tree
- ah tuck chee cheong fun
- funny mountain tau fu fah
- oversea restaurant
- foh san dim sum
- stadium banana leaf rice
- lotus roti canai, roti planta, thosai, thosai tissue, roti telur
- salted chicken
- kai si hor fun
- chicken rice
- pohpiah
- ais kacang
- rojak
- seafood

ohmygod lah too many to list down. oh i also went to penang and ate char koay teow, prawn mee, penang poh piah, lor bak...

and also to bidor to eat wan tan mee.

i've still got one more week to stuff myself and satisfy that stomach for the entire year. and then i'm back to roast chicken, potatoes, fish & chips and other stupid food.