Analgesia

My classmate, Beshoy- very busy taking pictures of his histopathology slides.

I FINISHED OFF A PACKET of ten 500mg paracetamol tablets this week.  And I am extra thankful that at 5pm yesterday (Friday) I am still up and kicking! 

Yesterday was the last day of my Pathology and Diagnostic Services Rotation—and for the whole week since Monday, my rotation group-mates and I were required to do 4 case presentations and sit for a one-hour exit exam.  With an exam and a grand rounds presentation left for the final day, I was stressing out over the fear of failure.  On Thursday night, I just felt extremely exhausted—every square millimeter of my bones and flesh was aching, that I simply couldn’t believe to have completed the rotation and embraced Friday evening unscathed.

This morning I still feel the need of taking some more painkillers.  No regrets, it was my fault last night—I decided to celebrate the conclusion of my pathology rotation by gulping down some milliliters of Shiraz-Merlot-Sauvignon trio as well as gobbling up hundreds of grams of grilled lamb chops with a good friend Jordan.  So here I am having a bit of head and body aches yet enjoying the comfort of my humble yet well-heated room (while missing out the second day of the Barossa Gourmet Weekend). 

Don’t get me wrong; that rotation was the best that I had, so far.  I truly loved it!  Foremost and most importantly, the pathologists and the rest of the diagnostic ancillary services team had successfully created a very friendly atmosphere—which ended up to be a very good learning environment, and in building up my confidence on this field… unlike the other clinical rotations that I’ve done where arrogance and ego dominated the entire teaching process.  It’s so disappointing that I possess no power or no right to dispatch this message off to the other rotation coordinators.  Honestly, I stepped out of the lab, postmortem and microscopy rooms yesterday holding my pathology lecturers in high regard but my respect seemed to have plummeted for those who humiliated and treated me like a crap in medicine and surgery.  Well, they couldn’t blame me for that.

I know that out in the real world someday (I consider vet school as a not-so-real-world), I will be doing things that will surely remind me of the good old days in the lab, postmortem, tissue trimming and microscopy rooms.  But for now, it is time to take a break… no rib and brain cutters, no histopathology cassettes, no agar plates, no thermal cycler.  It’s time to pick my dusty stethoscope up and get ready for the Anaesthesia and Analgesia Rotation on Monday. 

Oh well, my Nex-5 is getting dusty, too… and my Instagram account has been screaming out for the past few days, as well.  

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The Anaesthetist and the Surgeon

I WAS EXPECTING THAT I'll be celebrating tonight after finishing the last leg of our practical exam (Surgery) for the Veterinary Practice Fundamentals A this morning.  But I have been stressing out, instead, because I had screwed up a station at the Anaesthesia component yesterday and another station at the Surgery component this morning.

It really pays to browse the entire page and read all the sentences on the exam sheet before loosening up a bit on a station.  I can still see myself moving to another exam station and eventually realized that I had missed a bunch of questions in the preceeding one after spending half of my time 'taking a nap' there!  I could only wish that our senior lecturer in Anaesthesiology or the exam station facilitator would consider that failing to write it on my paper doesn't necessarily mean that I don't know how to trace the fresh gas flow in the anaesthesia machine.  But yeah, that's not how this final practical test goes.

The anaesthesia machine- Rebreathing System.

My classmates who did the Surgery bit of the prac exam ahead of our group were saying that that was the easiest of the three components (the Diagnostic Imaging element was the most challenging); but I still burnt loads of midnight candles- stitching, familiarizing myself with my notes and the things we basically did in the practical sessions.

Our Surgery prac exam was scheduled earlier this morning and I believe I did well in the suturing station, etc... but in the final station, where I was asked to apply a light compression bandage in an 11-minute time frame, I just simply messed it all up!  I was surprised to find a giant dog cadaver (sorry I failed to identify its breed) lying on the surgical table when I entered the room.  I was panicking because didn't expect that I would need to make a bandage doughnut that would snuggly fit around those exceptionally huge paw pads; I'm not good at these surgical doughnuts and I felt that I was just unprepared to do it.

Well, I did manage to make two bandage doughnuts but those weren't pretty enough; I started to worry until I heard the bell ringing- a reminder that I only have three minutes left to finish my task.  I knew I was in trouble because I hadn't even started with the first layer yet!  In short- I didn't make it in the final station.  Is bandaging skills a measure of being a good surgeon?

It's been a very long day and I can feel that I need a soothing massage while waiting for the exam marks.  With all these stressors, I have still gained 6.6 lbs since February.  I have started to eat a little lesser and healthier for three days now, hoping that this food restriction will do more good things for me.


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