My clinical coach is an interviewer for the medical school entry interviews for UQ this year; and so some of our session times has had to be changed to accomodate this. Yes, you guessed it, it's reminiscing time. I was so nervous, I said some stupid stuff, and I giggled a lot. Sigh
If anyone is reading this, who is going for a medical school interview this year, http://supersida.blogspot.com/2006/12/uq-med-interview-experience-2006.html is the link to the post I'd made about the questions I got asked.
A word of warning, though. My friend and I were discussing this, and we both thought that it would be so much fun to just go and sit in the waiting room, and watch the nervous expressions on people's faces... and knowing what they will face if they do get in. It's like seeing people who are anxious to be given the opportunity to torture themselves. (Of course, we wouldn't really do it. Even if we were that sadistic, I doubt they'd let us).
But of course, I am just bitter and tired and starving for a holiday. I'm sure that if you are trying to get into medicine, nothing that I say will stop you. Certainly it wouldn't have stopped me.
Well, good luck to everyone else that is trying to get in this year. And if you don't get it, don't worry. It means that you have another year to live your lovely pre-medicine life. And if you do get in... well... you'll see.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
SuperSida celebrates 1000 visitors
Yes, that's right. 1000 unique visitors, as opposed to 1000 visits by the same people. Well, probably not THAT much of a big deal, but I checked in to see the whole number, 1000. My own little slice of the internet. Cool.
Lets see where Supersida has taken us since its creation. Hmmm...
Well, the most exciting would have been how this blog got me in contact (well, not really contact... I have his office manager's contact) with Medicine Royalty (Australia's own crazy Professor Barry Marshall, whoes story would make a great David-vs-Goliath style movie... to read about it click here)... actually, now that I think about it, how much do we bet, that when Professor Marshall retires, someone is going to make a movie?
What else? I shared some tips about the gamsat, some experiences from the Med interview... and... that's about it.
It seems like I have my own little corner of the Internet, only to use it to complain about how I bought the wrong tea, a cake that went all wrong, and things like that.
Which is why I only have had 1000 visitors.
But ahhhhh well. At least it kept me entertained. And I got a sheet of commemorative
stamps for my effort.
Lets see where Supersida has taken us since its creation. Hmmm...
Well, the most exciting would have been how this blog got me in contact (well, not really contact... I have his office manager's contact) with Medicine Royalty (Australia's own crazy Professor Barry Marshall, whoes story would make a great David-vs-Goliath style movie... to read about it click here)... actually, now that I think about it, how much do we bet, that when Professor Marshall retires, someone is going to make a movie?
What else? I shared some tips about the gamsat, some experiences from the Med interview... and... that's about it.
It seems like I have my own little corner of the Internet, only to use it to complain about how I bought the wrong tea, a cake that went all wrong, and things like that.
Which is why I only have had 1000 visitors.
But ahhhhh well. At least it kept me entertained. And I got a sheet of commemorative
stamps for my effort.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The whinge of a hypochondriac
I have had this neck pain for ages, I can't remember how long. I've always attributed it to sleeping in a funny position, or studying for too long. The pain has always been on the same spot: on the back of my neck, on the right upper border of the trapezius muscle.
Yesterday, at about 10am, all of a sudden, I experienced a sharp stabbing pain in that exact location, whereupon I could not move my head nor my arm without excruciating pain. Sitting in a rather prominent position in the library, I managed to gather my things, log off on the computer, and leave the building before emitting a loud moan. As the day wore on, I was able to move my arm but my range of movement of my neck was poor.
I bet you're all thinking: she pulled something. That is what I thought too, except there was no trauma. In the afternoon, when I went to pick up my brother from his after school care facility, I encountered an old friend who was in final year physiotherapy, and who happened to be working there. She got me to sit on the children's couch , where she "looked at" my neck. The "consultation" ran thus:
She moves my head. I scream. The children gawk, then giggle nervously. "Wow, you've lost range of movement," She says. Tell me something I don't bloody know, I thought darkly.
She pokes my neck. I scream. The children are silent, all are concentrating on me now. Their eyes are like 20c coins. "That spot." I say. "Yeah, that's your triggering point... see?" she pokes that spot again. I scream again. I bloody well know that's my triggering point, you didn't need to show me, you twit, I think to myself. But of course, I appreciated her doing this and so I kept my mouth shut.
One little girl comes up to me. "Who are you?" she says. "She is my old friend, and she is training to be a doctor." my friend states. The little girl backs away.
When she was finally done, she said: "I havn't done a proper examination on you. But I think it's either disc, or spasm, or both. But that's only my opinion. Don't take my word for it."
Crap! I thought (completely forgetting about my friend's many disclaimers). Disc as in disc protrusion? How do they treat that anyway? I don't think they can! Arrgh crap!
The pain didn't get any better last night, despite my use of pain killers and heat-packs. I couldn't even sleep properly; dreaming about the pain and waking up to the pain. Sometime during the night (I think, around 3am), I woke up, and palpated my neck, at the "triggering point" and (drowsily) thought: shit, is that a lump? What is this lumpy thing? My gosh, what if I have a tumour of some sort, growing at my brachial plexus? It would have to be surgically removed. Bye-bye use of the right arm. I won't be able to be a doctor anymore. I won't be able to do ANYthing anymore. No no, hold on, I can be a phone-counsellor. Actually I can be a non-phone-counsellor too. I will go to one of those Christian colleges... I wonder which one? (Yes I know it's stupid, but it was 3am and I was in pain.)
Fast forward to this morning, when I finally saw a GP. She listened to me describe it, poked my neck, and said: "You've pulled something." She gave me a NSAID (a "doctor's sample", right off her desk), and basically that was that. No scans. No extensive range-of-movement tests. No questions about how much I study or what I do in my part time. And that was that. I left, feeling some ambivalence over the "physicians sample" drugs, my own hypochondriac tendencies, and why I am such a wimp. My mum bought me pizza to go with my meds and told me soothingly that everyone percieves pain differently (which I know) and I am just sensitive to pain. At least it was nice to be babied.
And now my life must return to normal, albeit with a pain in the neck. So no more procrastinating for me: Iron absorption and metabolism is waiting for me.
Yesterday, at about 10am, all of a sudden, I experienced a sharp stabbing pain in that exact location, whereupon I could not move my head nor my arm without excruciating pain. Sitting in a rather prominent position in the library, I managed to gather my things, log off on the computer, and leave the building before emitting a loud moan. As the day wore on, I was able to move my arm but my range of movement of my neck was poor.
I bet you're all thinking: she pulled something. That is what I thought too, except there was no trauma. In the afternoon, when I went to pick up my brother from his after school care facility, I encountered an old friend who was in final year physiotherapy, and who happened to be working there. She got me to sit on the children's couch , where she "looked at" my neck. The "consultation" ran thus:
She moves my head. I scream. The children gawk, then giggle nervously. "Wow, you've lost range of movement," She says. Tell me something I don't bloody know, I thought darkly.
She pokes my neck. I scream. The children are silent, all are concentrating on me now. Their eyes are like 20c coins. "That spot." I say. "Yeah, that's your triggering point... see?" she pokes that spot again. I scream again. I bloody well know that's my triggering point, you didn't need to show me, you twit, I think to myself. But of course, I appreciated her doing this and so I kept my mouth shut.
One little girl comes up to me. "Who are you?" she says. "She is my old friend, and she is training to be a doctor." my friend states. The little girl backs away.
When she was finally done, she said: "I havn't done a proper examination on you. But I think it's either disc, or spasm, or both. But that's only my opinion. Don't take my word for it."
Crap! I thought (completely forgetting about my friend's many disclaimers). Disc as in disc protrusion? How do they treat that anyway? I don't think they can! Arrgh crap!
The pain didn't get any better last night, despite my use of pain killers and heat-packs. I couldn't even sleep properly; dreaming about the pain and waking up to the pain. Sometime during the night (I think, around 3am), I woke up, and palpated my neck, at the "triggering point" and (drowsily) thought: shit, is that a lump? What is this lumpy thing? My gosh, what if I have a tumour of some sort, growing at my brachial plexus? It would have to be surgically removed. Bye-bye use of the right arm. I won't be able to be a doctor anymore. I won't be able to do ANYthing anymore. No no, hold on, I can be a phone-counsellor. Actually I can be a non-phone-counsellor too. I will go to one of those Christian colleges... I wonder which one? (Yes I know it's stupid, but it was 3am and I was in pain.)
Fast forward to this morning, when I finally saw a GP. She listened to me describe it, poked my neck, and said: "You've pulled something." She gave me a NSAID (a "doctor's sample", right off her desk), and basically that was that. No scans. No extensive range-of-movement tests. No questions about how much I study or what I do in my part time. And that was that. I left, feeling some ambivalence over the "physicians sample" drugs, my own hypochondriac tendencies, and why I am such a wimp. My mum bought me pizza to go with my meds and told me soothingly that everyone percieves pain differently (which I know) and I am just sensitive to pain. At least it was nice to be babied.
And now my life must return to normal, albeit with a pain in the neck. So no more procrastinating for me: Iron absorption and metabolism is waiting for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
