Beautiful moments in medical school

I’ve been dreaming to write about this topic since I entered the first year of medical school.But now,since I created this blog when I was in the 3rd year ,I would like to tell you the story of my journey during the 3rd year aja..haha..yo yo o ja..

I started off my clinical year with the surgical posting,the one rumoured as the most relaxing and enjoyable posting,which turned out to be true.Well,I have to say that I loved doing this posting since most of the surgeons were really cool.But,the best thing was I got 2 teachers extraordinaire, who were Prof.Zulkifli (a urologist a k.a our hostel principal) and Mr.Shahrul Akmar ( a cardiothoracic surgeon). The cool thing with Prof Zul was the nobility and generosity of him.Our group members had 2 lunch dates with him and other surgeons,thanx for the delicious foods,Prof.The next person who I admired most,Mr.Shahrul Akmal,was a serene,tranquil man with mesmerizing personality.I once entered the cardiothoracic OT to watch the Coronary Bypass Artery Grafting(CABG) and the anaesthetist there scolded me and my other 2 friends.This is the conversation describing what happened there on that particular day.

Anaesthetist : Who are you ?
Us : We are 3rd year medical students.
Anaesthetist : Don’t you know that medical students are not allowed to be here?
Us : Hmm..(actually I was like ,’Really?’ )
Mr.Shahrul : It’s OK.They are MY students.(soothingly)

In one different situation,one of the surgeons there made a joke and we smiled.Suddenly,the surgeon asked me,’Why are you smiling?’.And I said,’No,I’m not’,(thanks to the mask, I was able to pretend).But he knew that I WAS still smiling and he did not continue the surgery,waiting for me to admit, but suddenly, our hero answered,’ x apala,senyum tu kan sedekah’..and behind that mask,aku pun tersenyum sgtlah bestnya smpi ke telinga..haha..yes!!


There were tonnes of experiences during this posting,from removing suture,observing band ligation for haemorrhoid,scopes,major and minor surgeries to the result for exam.And it will make me smile while reminiscing memories from this posting.


Then we come to my next horrifying posting,O & G.People used to say that O & G stands for Orang2 Garang.But Thank God,I got Prof Hashim(a benign consultant,you know what I mean!) from the Red Team as my supervisor.Well,here,in O& G,we were divided into 4 groups which were assigned to respective wards comprising of the Red,Orange,Yellow and Green ward. Here,all of the 3rd years were required to complete the tasks in our logbooks such as to conduct 10 deliveries,take urine samples for ketone,sugar and many more.Honestly,I liked O & G,but the midwives were too fierce to us,especially to the girls,seriously.And it left more bitter memories ( better left unsaid) than the sweet ones.One more pleasant memory,I met a girl named Manuela from Deutschland,I spoke to her in Deutsch and surprisingly,she said my pronunciation was good.hehe..syok habis,finally I got the opportunity to practice what I’ve learnt in school for 4 years.yg syoknya,during that chat,I understood what she said,but I asked her to speak langsam(lambat2) la..hehe..

Let’s move to my next posting,which was the JKM posting a.k.a Jabatan Kesihatan Masyarakat a.k.a Public Health.Actually,I enjoyed being in Tanjung Karang for 2 months though I noticed I gained some weight during this posting.Here,we were delegated to 3 places,the Hospital,Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah and not to forget,Klinik Kesihatan.There were loads of informations to be discovered and lots of delicious foods as well!!
We went to Aroma Ikan Bakar,which is renowned for its Ikan Tiga Rasa ( I guessed so when I saw many families ordered this mental stimulus).We also travelled to Bukit Melawati and watched Kelip-kelip,and makan2 with Kak Nani at Mee Bandung Special.But all in all, during this posting,I realized who my true friends are and who are not.Those who are always with you during your hard times are more important than those who’ll be around only when you are smiling.And I got to know the true colours of She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Before it gets too emotional,I will tell you all about my Medicine posting,which was my last posting for the 3rd year.For the first few weeks,I was quite blur because I’d just ended my ‘holiday’ in JKM.So,it had been quite a while since I examined patients.For me,this posting was the toughest of all because there were so much diseases to be learned within 2 months.Not only the symptoms,but the investigations,differential diagnoses,and the treatment as well.However,this is the price to pay once you entered a medical school.The most unforgettable memory was during the short cases.But before that,I would like to let you know that I got a case of Pulmonary Fibrosis for my long case.However,I gave the wrong diagnosis of AECOPD (Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) simply because I missed the clubbing of the patient’s index finger.In patients with COPD,clubbing is unlikely to be one of the presentations.OK,let’s continue with the short cases,we were given 2 short cases ( short case means we have to do physical examination for any system given such as cardiovascular system AND give provisional and differential diagnoses-within 10 minutes).Most of the time,they will give cases which are not too subtle to diagnose.Well,I got 2 interesting cases,Cereberovascular Accident (this one was easier than the other) and Lung Cancer.The first station was the station for respiratory examination,I was tachycardic and anxious when I saw Prof Nor Azmi as the examiner for the station.The following was the conversation :

Prof. :Say Hello to this Auntie.
Me : Hello,auntie.Selamat pagi.
Auntie : Ya,ya selamat pagi.
Prof. :What do you notice about this patient’s voice?
Me :Hmm..she has hoarseness of voice.
Prof. : Yes,correct.So,what is the diagnosis?
Me :(By looking at the patient’s cachexic face)..Lung cancer.
Prof. :Good.Examine this patient’s respiratory system.

However,in the end,I gave wrong diagnoses and I totally forgot about lung cancer.Nonetheless,he just smiled at me,which made me more nervous,and he said,’Your time’s up’.I was sad ,still ,I have another case to perform well.The second case was easier and the examiner was not too threatening(actually Prof Nor Azmi was not threatening at all but it just me who was too nervous to think about the possible related diagnoses). The second case was Left-sided hemiparesis secondary to Right CVA.I got satisfactorily good marks( the examiner wrote it in front of me) although the muscle power grading that I gave was not too correct.I was grateful that I did not get miscellaneous PE such as Rheumatoid Arthritis,Cushing’s syndrome and etc.I was relieved that I did not get the case of Bronchiectasis which I think might be easy to diagnose,but I believe I won’t be thinking of that diagnosis in such a young patient.However,the cause of bronchiectasis in him was hypogammaglobulinaemia.Afterall,I’ve learnt about the common questions in exam and I think it is good to discuss about certain unexpected diseases here without any bad intentions(referring to the medical ethics,boleh kan?).By the way,remember this :

‘In patients with clubbing and FINE crepitations,think of Pulmonary fibrosis.On the other hand,in patients with clubbing and COARSE crepitations,remember Bronchiectasis.’

Overall,I enjoyed my 3rd year and I can’t believe I’m gonna be a 4th year medical student.Rasa mcm sgt sekejap,like in a blink of an eye ja.In addition,I want to thank Allah cause I’ve passed my 3rd year.