Post-Exam Status

So I finally got done with the mini on Monday. There is definitely a sense of relief that it is finally over. But I have to admit the feeling of rush that I get several hours before the exam, is amazing. It makes me to test myself, and push my limits or otherwise I just do things in my pace.

MONDAY's Events

I slept only 4 hours before the exam, and I know that is not good, but I was fresh and awake enough to know that at 7 in the morning I still had time to freak out. There were ICM questions I hadn't done, pharmacology was still a lose end. I was forgetting everything I had learned for pathology, and Microbiology was vaguely hiding somewhere in my cortex after food and money. Oddly enough I composed myself well for the big day. It could be because I have started meditating again.

Well after the 3 hours of rigorous mental insult that they call a 'Mini', I went home with a relief that for next 2 weeks I can open my schedule for things that I have been holding back. So first on the list was to treat myself with some good food. And luckily enough I got my friend shikha's call, who I promised that we will cook some Indian food after the exams. I went with all my spices, and vegetables to her house, where we talked about my palm reading skills, some spiritual stuff and lets not forget some gossiping. To help us enjoy the food more we had Ashna 'Miss Malapur', Amy 'Da Chinese Chick', and Neema 'group's new edition'.
In the end (around 11pm) we ended up making Rajma-Chawal and Okra. It was fun to see that everybody chipped in to make the food. You should all know that I doubt myself with things, which oddly enough, people think that I am good at. So after all the self doubt and lot of running around, the food was finally ready. And to my surprise it turned out really good. We ended up going home around 3 in the morning.

TUESDAY's events

Yesterday (tuesday) was a national holiday here on the island, and we had plans from monday night that we should cook some Indian food again. So I decided to invite the group to my place for some really nice Kadhaai Paneer, Punjabi chole and Chawal. As expected it was an adventure. Though the whole island was close, I managed to buy, a bit over-priced, bell peppers, onions, tofu and tomatoes from a chinese restaurant owner.
I was thinking while I was watching my friends help me cook, that I will miss these days when I leave the island. It was a good change for me getting together with my friends and doing something different than just going to a bar and getting wasted. Not too proud about it, but I have done that too. It just sometimes I need my peace and I get that by having a good course of meal with my friends.

See medical school can really steal lot of good things from your life. It takes you away from your parents, the friends you used to play pool with or go to late night casinos with, or the drive around the golf course in a cart with your friend, or the McDonald's cheeseburger, or the massage in the jacuzzi and on and on and on. I am not going to sugar-coat in the end by saying that "All this experience is for a higher purpose" or motivate you in any such way that is just a cliche. I have not reached that far to look back at this time and make those remarks. But I will tell you this, that most of the times it sucks. It sucks having constant headaches, just because you didn't eat right, or you didn't had time because you got a paper to turn in, or just because you are tired and you wouldn't dare moving your bones, because it hurts. All I can hope for in the end is that all these efforts of mine will work out for something amazing.

My Freak is ON......

I am freaking out in my own non-subtle punjabi way, coz mini is on monday. For non-medical people, 'mini' is like an exam but not for one subject.....anh anh, no that would be too easy. Instead it has all the subjects that one has studied for that whole semester.

So for a 4th semester student like myself, a mini would have sinisterly daring Pathology, impossible Pharmacology, ridiculously hard Microbiology and gee boring ICM (i talked about it in my last post). These mini's are not just meant to bust our balls and check our knowledge but also to see if we will crack under pressure.

Withstanding the pressure in medical school is the key. Everybody freaks out in med-school. Some hide it really well, and some nervous people, run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Most of us have our own way of hiding our freak. Some do it by overeating, some do it by working-out in the gym all day, some do it by taking excessive long naps, some even do it by not talking at all. Whatever works, the point is you can't let your fears take over you or let your friend know that you are as scared as him. You just have to take your chances in your ill-confidence and hope that you don't screw it up again.

I will talk about it more some other time, probably before the next mini.

Peace

Welcome

I am Gurvinder Singh, also very well known as Kabir, G, Shampy, Golu and panghoode-wala-sant (my father called me that when I was young). I am currently a student of medicine in carribeans. I am going to share my experiences and goofy adventures through this blog.

First day (making the blog) - It seemed like an eternity to find a suitable name for this blog and to come up with a title. As you might not know, English is my 4th language so thinking and finding a name which fits my personality was bit of a hard task. And for people with English as mother tongue if I make a mistake grammatically or constructing a sentence, you are gonna have to forgive me for hurting your feelings. I will try my best to not butcher it.

Anyways, today started as regular day. I had my ICM today. (Integrated Clinical Management - thats what I think it stands for, basically its where u poke around a voluntary patient to practice your clinical skills). We practiced our basic reflexes and I think hitting people with hammer to get a neurological response seemed like fun. And after we had Stan sessions where we were given a stimulated patient (like a robo-patient), which was showing symptoms of a asthmatic attack. And as a group of 9 students we were able to make sure that patient didn't 'crumped' (medical slang for - dying), and survive our unmanaged and very doubtful clinical skills.

I think I am loving practicing clinical skills. I think its the challenge that fires me up.

I will soon post some pictures from my clinical practice for ICM.