Internet’s down… typing this down first on a word document, then putting it up when internet’s up again…

Had my first ever recorded interview assessment this late morning.. had the 8am lecture, ran back (well, didn’t RUN but I had stomach-ache so I brisk walked.. ☺) yah.. came back and started throwing clothes on, and couldn’t think of what to wear, the black pants made me look fat, and didn’t want to wear all black… so finally settled for my mng purple pants and my long sleeve purple top.. they asked for professional clothing so.. yeah ☺ threw the beige pashmina shawl around my neck to “keep warm”..

Aw.. sweet memories of the pashmina shawl.. ☺ mass bought it end of JC 1 for our Prague trip! Haha!

Anyways, the simulated patient had a presenting problem of dermatitis, and she has come to see the doctor to get some cream for the condition. The aim of the interview being for us to find out the patient’s presenting problem and contextual history, I started by asking what does she think is the reason for the skin problem… and from there I found out about her job, as a cleaner… so daily exposure to the cleaning chemicals has irritated her skin, yups.. and then further on I found out that she is actually staying alone, moved from another place, divorced, and very unhappy about it, and her husband remarried a family friend a few months ago and she feels cheated.

Reaching this point in the conversation, I got stuck. In a sense, I couldn’t really think of a good way to continue? I didn’t know what to do with the emotional response that was presented to me. In relaxed conditions I would have responded something like.. “oh.. would you like to tell me more why u feel cheated?” and just take off from the cue presented? Yea.. but I didn’t… so there was this bit of silence there.. and I gave some feeble empathetic response and then moved on to asking her whether she drinks. HAHA. ☺

But feedback from the examiner and the actress was good, in a sense that the patient felt really good talking to me? She was ready to open up to me… and the flow was alright.. it was just that “I feel cheated” bit. Sigh. ☹

Stayed in school after lectures to study a bit.. not very successful, we were all sort of hanging around and like waiting for KC to finish his interview assessment, then we hung around for a while more and decided to go eat half price waffles from New Zealand Natural.. REALLY NICE LAH! ☺ yum.. but I wasn’t feeling that hungry so didn’t eat much. Plus wearing clothes that seem tighted than before didn’t help much in changing my mindset that I needed to eat? Yah ☺ so! Had a bit then went back to IH.

THEN WE HAD TUTES. My goodness. The second tute we had with JK.. haha.. ☺ on a PBL exam question. The amount of medical knowledge that we actually needed to know is like .. how overwhelming. Not sure whether u guys want to know, but there’s this 20 yr old guy, unemployed, knocked down by a van, thrown a few metres away, and landed hardly on the ground. He suffered a bilateral closed femoral shaft fracture (thigh bone fracture in both legs) but no external injuries. Upon giving him IV (Hartmann’s) his blood pressure was 70mmHg (very low) and his pulse rate was 140 beats/min (increased). His skin was clammy, cold and pale.. and he appeared confused.

So apparently he has gotten a shock.. and during our exams, being present with such a case, we have to write down what we think are the possible causes of confusion, the mechanism that causes confusion, explain his rapid pulse rate, and what other information that we need to gather from his history/physical examination and investigations?

So we were like.. OKAY.. and JK taught us the mnemonic for what are the causes of confusion.. “HE’S MAD”:
Hypoxia
Electrolyte disturbance
Sepsis (overwhelmed infection)

Metabolic (maybe diabetic)
Apoplexy (intra-cranial pathology)
Drugs that he might have taken before..

I think that was cool lah! ☺ ahha.. learning new stuff everyday..

Anyways, I am eating really well here.. so yups. Walking around a lot too.. and studying a lot = sitting around collecting fats very often too.. so..

Be prepared for a fatter jiahui in june.

I will slim down.
Yes ma and pa! let’s go swimming everyday! Ahha.. or.. walk along ECP every morning! Haha.. meaning I get to drive lah! Haha. Wooohooo..

Was just thinking about living independently, with no one to care about mainly, just living by yourself, being responsible mainly to urself, and not being bothered by anyone else’s agenda? It’s nice to have that freedom.. but sometimes, u just feel frail and u wish to have that someone whom u can count on everyday to fall back on, to support you, to accompany you for the rest of ur life. ☺ sweet ain’t it?

Have you found yours?