Boulevard of Random Thoughts

My eyes are watery but still have to read.

I'm lazy but have the stupid Social preventative Medicine (SPM) project to do.

Aahhhhh...malasnyaaa!! I don't mind studying (ok, that's a lie) but looking at the computer for so long to complete my project is soooo ANNOYING!!! My eyes are already watery (yet still blogging) and my neck kinda hurts.

I'm currently doing a project about the young people's awareness about HPV and cervical cancer (ru aware about cervical cancer, friends? Especially those who are sexually active. muahaha)....So mcm kena byk buat research on the internet la, besides designing and distributing the questionnaire to assess people's knowledge. Malu k berdiri depan random people then suruh derang isi soalan!!!! Dah la skrg ni panas! sunburn!!

The now, after all the preliminary works, I have to do the write-up. Part ni la yg kena duduk depan computer lama2 ni. Every single perkataan that i quote from other authors, semua kena buat reference. Ish...

So yea. This is what I've been looking at for the past 1 week, and it's not the only thing website!! You enter the search item, then have to filter yourself which article is suitable for your write-up. Mataku.....aku kesian padamu......

 

 

Mind you, satu result page ada 40 articles, and selalunya ada 10 pages that I have to skim through walaupun dah buat Advanced search! Dah la tu...some articles kasi abstract je....tapi i nak yg PDF punya? Ha apa lagi? Search la lagi guna Ovid medline pulak!!

Oh tidak.....

Thank God, I'm half way through this thing. I just wanna get it done and over with, so that I can start studying something else that is worth more than this project!

I am finally back from my 2 weeks post-exam break. ACtually, I'm not quite sure if it was onl a week break or 2 weeks, but I 'assumed' that it was 2 weeks...hehehe.

Did a lot of trvelling this time. After my last oral exam, I flew to Lisbon, Portugal from Dublin the very next morning. Reached there at 9am and my parents (including my 2 aunties who joined our Portugal trip) waited for me at the airport (they arrived a day earlier from London). Wahhhhh I miss my parents so much u know! Felt like crying at the airport and lifting my mum up in the air tapi tak larat la kan. The very 1st day I got there, terus sight-seeing! But we only jalan2 near our rented house near Ericeria (just 20 mins away from Lisbon).

Cantik kan the scenery? Lots and lots pictures were taken tapi malas la nak upload...

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we went down south to the Algarve area consisting of Albufeira, Tavira, Lagos and apa ntah lagi. Couldnt remember the names...but it is a very commercialized part of Portugal. SO many apartments and holiday houses for tourists....And the beach was very nice. Every beach in Algarve is unique so we spent wayyyy too much time visiting all the beaches and later we realized that it was too late to drive back to Ericeira. Maknanya...we had to put a night somewhere in Algarve! Alamak....no baju, no pyjama,no toothbrush, no undies...haiyooo!! How how?? And where to stay?

I was the navigator for the trip. My dad was a really really good driver. I mean for his age, he is able to drive an average of 500km. My mum helped me to decide on our itineraries for each day. As the navigator and the itinerary planner, with the help of Discovery Channel handbook on Portugal, we decided to put a night in a small town called Tavira. It took us about an hour to get there from Albufeira and when we reached there, it was already dark and the town looked very isolated and dodgy! OMG.....my dad is gonna scold me for asking him to drive all the way there! And there were no signs of Hotels! Felt so guilty....

After half an hour looking for hotels or motels or B&B or even hostels, we finally came to a small lane....And this small lane leads us to the very very centre of the town!! Hooray!! The centre was so so lively, people playing violin by the road, a river in the middle, cobblestone everywhere, PERFECT! And we also managed to find a good place to stay, and the hotel manager could speak English!! Haiyoo it was so difficult to find a Portuguese who could speak English there. Wish Nelly Furtado could come with us and become our tourist guide or translator or something. We were recommeded by the hotel manager, Pedro, to go to this small restaurant to have our dinner. We had to walk there as the cars will not be able to fit in the small lanes, more like a walking pathway.....Sesat for 5 minutes, and......guess what we got for 5.50euro per plate?

 

 

 

2 big salmon fillets @ 5.50euro

 

 

 

 

 

12 squids @ 5.50euro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 seabreams @ 5.50euro

 

 

 

Waahhhhhhhhh after that we were so so so KENYANG! The best meal i had in Portugal, and really well worth the money. Plus, all the meals comes with a side portion of salad. Wee!!

Shopping in Portugal was also good. They have really nice towels (fluffy, absorbant and cheap), and beautiful potteries. My mum and my 2 aunties bought so much sampai tak muat kereta when we had to leave Portugal a week later!

 

 

My mum with her potteries...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My dad tired arranging the luggages into the car.

 

 

 

All in all, the trip to Portugal was enjoyable, we travelled so much. We went up North, down South, East and West....all that in a week! We even crossed the border between Portugal and Spain!

After we left Portugal, we went to stay in London for a week plus in an apartment...and my 3 uncles and unties from Malaysia joined us. So many people la in the apartment...a bit crowded sometimes..but it was definitely fun! Zool was there too :-) Kesian him...had to sleep on the couch :P

Will update on my London activities soon!! :-)

By the way, my Pathology and Bacteriology results dah keluar...and Alhamdulillah...it's all good :-)

Till then!

    I am busy preparing for my exam. Well, not that busy. Only busy being 'gelabah' for the exam but I really, somehow have time for most other things like cooking a complete set of meal, downloading and watching movies, check emails on average 4.5 times a day (only to find out that I've got no new mail).

    Well as for tonight, I decided to go online not to do kerja-kerja tak berfaedah. There is one website that I love, the British Medical Journal. So many new things to discover, like the English turkey who was infected with H5N1 influenza strain bla bla bla - and all of its friends were killed because of him, articles about more serious stuffs, etc. And as I was busy reading about hospital acquired infection and its control .....I saw this  small box on the right hand corner of the article...'Most read articles on BMJ'.

Wah.
Guess what la friends.

BMJ conducted a study on:

Phenotypic differences between male physicians, surgeons, and film stars.

That's right. It's a complarative study.
Objectives To test the hypothesis that, on average, male surgeons are taller and better looking than male physicians, and to compare both sets of doctors with film stars who play doctors on screen.

Hahahhaha memang betul2 takde kerja ok! And they did a proper analysis on it, including the statistics-standard deviation, mean...huhu.

Wanna know the results?
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/333/7582/1291?fmr

2 and a half weeks towards my final PATHOLOGY exam. And I'm still lost. Panic attack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rasa mcm nak berenti je. Rasa mcm dah putus harapan.

The actual problem is, I get this attacks all the time - but I do nothing about it. Or if i do something about it pun, it's not enough. I still need like 10,000 breaks per day when i study. Huhuhuhuhu....

 

 

  It was the most valuable experience i ever had - seeing dead people covered under white sheets...2 minutes later...those people lie naked in front of me. They were pale, some of them were almost blue. Most of them were obese, really obese.

The knife that were used was so so sharp. The consultant cut the abdomen open, starting from below the neck, just like in this cartoon. And there it was, massive, massive haemorrhage in the cavity. Before this, in my 1st year of medical school, i only saw 'preserved' dead patients. That didn't really scare me. But today...the smell...the fresh blood, and the way the consultant handled the dead...macam butcher potong daging ok! Blood was literally splashing out - nasib baik tak kena baju i yang baru basuh ni.

We're supposed to do 6 autopsies...and today was my 1st. orang lain dah habis dah buat 6. Anyway,  kind of looking forward for the next one, and i don't know why.
If only you could imagine your body cut open...and your organs are swimming in the pool of blood....and semua org dok tengok. Orang tu mati because of abdominal aortic aneurysm that has ruptured, ie one of the main vessels pecah. sebab tu la byk sgt darah. terpercik-percik kena tangan n muka. nasib baik la pakai gloves and face mask. Ok la nak makan. Lapar pulak tiba-tiba.

Home sweet home, Afza! Well, I'm back in galway now and life has been quite hectic lately. My day is filled with attachments, lectures, tutorials bla bla bla as usual.

I got really depressed when I just got back here. Cried the whole way from Shannon Airport to Galway (a one hour journey). I didnt cry when i was on the long flight on MAS from KL to Heathrow, because I was busy sleeping (of course). I dont know, up until now, the exact reason I cried. Why should I be depressed? (Sounds like a stupid question kan? Of course you get home sick and that must've been the reason i cried. But deep inside my heart i knew i wasnt home sick. Not yet, at least. So it's not home-sick. It's something else...)

My parents are coming in March and we are going to Croatia. I'm really counting the days...but there are so, so much that has to be done before that Easter break comes. I have my final exams at the end of February, and that gives me chills and goosebumps. Pathology is really a scary subject -it's not difficult, it's just too much to absorb.

And all the pots in the museum....I havent even got the chance to look at it. (the pots contain organs eg heart, kidneys, lungs, testes, ovaries of the diseased which were dissected out for educational purposes during autopsy and preserved) - we are supposed to identify the abnormalities in the exam later and, unfortunately, everything looks the same to me. Sometimes, I even thought that the ovaries were the stomach. *Peace*

And so many assignments to do....

And 6 autopsies to attend....

And bacteriology....

And Medical Informatics questionnaire...

Ahh.....who says life is all about 'hee-hee haa-haa' anyway?

 

Oh btw, I went to Milan recently, for the weekend. It was a great experience, a lot of things happened, unexpectedly. Huhuhu hihihi. I bought the most expensive shoes i ever bought...and other things as well. Nearly bought this Gucci bag...but thanks to *someone*, I did not. But well, I'm glad i did not, come to think about it. Nak guna pergi mana daa...tesco?

Off to practical session now. tata.

I hate it when I have all the time in the world to study, but I end up doing nothing.

Well not literally nothing la...it means everything except studying la kan. I will spend an hour blog-hopping, another half an hour cleaning the sink in my room, another hour watching friends, and by the time I start studying, it's already 1030. But then again...I don't think I'm the ONLY one in this situation. YET, i know many of my colleagues, my dearest colleagues who are just the opposite of me.

There's this girl, called Miss. S who studies all day until she gets sick. Last Tuesday, she suffered from this bad gastritis. One of the causes of gastritis is stress, which relates to the amount of hours spent on her studying. (According to my statistics la ni).

Hmmm..come to think of it, I wouldnt wanna have a life like hers. I wanna have a life.

*What's life again?*

 

p/s: Now that i've cleaned the sink, blog-hopped and watched friends....I should start studying. But NOOOOO........I'm having a terrible flu. Well I guess, THIS is life. You plan to do something, but Allah decides. You know you're alive when you're sick. Eh things are getting complicated in my brain. What IS life?

I'm supposed to go to a plastic surgery meeting (like a journal club thingey) at 730am this morning. Oh but well...somebody told me it's gonna be boring. So i decided to skip that one, and just go for the ward round at 8. I reached the hospital at 8.10am, and I couldnt find the team in St Nicholas Ward. Hmm...10 minutes late je?!?! So my colleagues and I (3 Malaysians and 1 Irish -the Irish are starting to feel like they are the minorities here) went up and down the stairs, floor by floor, ward by ward looking for the team. Oh well...I don't know who exactly I'm looking for because I don't recognise any of 'em! Hahaha...but I just pretended to look out anyway! Tak nak la nampak bodoh sgt kan...We even looked for them in the cafeteria coz derang selalu sangat lepak kat situ according to Itul. (I wouldn't know)

Suddenly kitorang dapat idea!  Entah2 derang sitll kat plastic surgery meeting room. So we opened the door slowly....saw  the consultant's face (which I didn't know was the consultant) and...bila bukak pintu tu besar2 lagi...penuh dengan lawyers!!! (Aiyo patutla derang kata boring haha no offense kalau natte/azz baca blog i nih. I memang takkan paham a word they say). They were discussing about consent....(When was the last time I attended medical law lecture?hmmm)

They invited us to join them...but dengan selambanya, I dont know why my mulut was so longkang this morning...I said "No, I don't want to". I'm so angry with myself!!!  I could've been more polite rite?! What's wrong with me???

So anyway, we waited outside, and 5 minutes later the meeting ended. We went for the ward round....So a few patients, one collapsed right in front of me because of sudden abdominal pain...and saw another patient who was recovering from a burn. Muka dia is seriously burnt ok...kesian gila. Nasib baik dia lelaki...lelaki takyah la muka licin pun...Haha.

Ok need to continue studying. There's a guy from WHO who is gonna give a lecture about EU pandemic and endemic...(which I think will be interesting).

Adios