pleasant surprises leave me gushing...

with all the hype about censorship on blogs, it's a real blessing that im so self centred that i blog only about myself! hehe

well, it's tuesday... today my weekend starts...
i've been stressing quite badly over my OSCEs, it was at the end of a 6 week surgical rotation and while last term we had a long case, for me, osces are waaaaay worse. im not a showperson, i can't feign confidence in something i dont know. put me on a stage like a school's perhimpunan or such, and it wont be a problem, im not required to know stuff, thats why it's so bad. the long case allows me to go over it many many times, and even pose questions like "eh bang, liver abang besar tak? doktor kata abang kuning tak?' with a huge smile on my face! hehe but a lot of good that did last time.
back to my point... OSCEs allow us 5 mins to make an impression of knowing our stuff, to pick out sign(s). no matter how much u can read about how to measure the liver span, or how to approach a patient, it wont help. the scary vascular station had mr kevin who impressed a lot upon me, and it's like being part of his gang, having a eurasian mother. thankfully, his was our last ward teaching and that made his much talked about station so do-able! the end was so rewarding!

so i thought i could rest easy, after stressing out all the pimples on my face... alas it was not to be. i've been having very severe abdominal distension postprandial, it lasts for about an hour and it hurts so badly, i can only lie prone. or supine. it makes it hard to me to eat anything other than yoghurt or fruits. even then it still distends. and hey, that diet hasnt made me lose weight. to the contrary actually. hehe but it worried my mother to the point of nagging me almost every hour and she succeeded in getting ME worried. so there went my weekend.

on the way back to penang, my bus broke down and we were left stranded for 3 hrs!

then yesterday i approached another surgeon whom i really admire, mr tan in the endoscopic room and he decided to scope me immediately.so i was left to be processed, but no one seemed to know what to do, so i sat around doing nothing for an hour. then when i finally plucked up the courage and pasted on an extra layer of extra thick skin, i get my history taken and consent form. mr prem whom i've always been very openly frightened of came and insisted on scoping me himself, immediately. and he was pleasantly surprisingly kind. so kind, it was the kind of treatment i expected in a private hospital. he actually went "all right sarah, dont worry, you're doing fine girl..." mr tan came over to see what was wrong. and i've been diagnosed with oesophagitis and gastritis. hehe he warned me off coffee (i dont even drink coffee!), drugs (yeah right!), alcohol... hehe perhaps the fact that i have gastritis gives them the illusion that im properly stressed out the way a medical student ought to be. when in reality i think it's the chili padi i like to eat with whatever i cook, the super spicy thai food... i dont think i deserve to be afforded 'stress induced gastritis'. hehe but im on medication, and mr prem said it shud resolve in no less than 8 weeks.
im just hoping for a normal stomach by christmas!

i've counted down to christmas already. planning what gifts to get those dearest to me...

well, as i was saying, now that my OSCEs and my distension are settled, im finally breathing a sigh of relief... thank God He brought me through it all with more strength than i ever deemed myself capable of!