good morning monday

the birth of a new week
the welcome relief of
pulse
respiratory rate
tempbloodpressuresats
of people with bigger problems
and who desperately
need
a bigger God

"and till i see you face to face and grace amazing takes me home
i'll trust in you" - Till I see you, Hillsong United

derm clinic

today i found out that I still have steady hands on zero sleep, but no concentration whatsoever.

i was in a group dermatology tutorial when we were asked whom amongst us wished to be a dermatologist.
answer: nobody.
so the tutor said "alright then, who's interested in surgery?". mine was the only hand raised. after this, i was booted to the surgical clinic to assist in excising skin cancers for the rest of the morning.
and although this meant i didn't have the opportunity to see all sorts of interesting inflammatory and systemic skin conditions (like the other students presumably would've), i suppose it was still a valuable learning opportunity because skin cancers are incredibly prevalent in australia.

this rotation has been totally hectic. it's a combination of long rounds, (unnecessary coffee breaks), plenty of ward jobs, and no interns on the team. this week i spent on average ten hours/day doing university or hospital-related activities. when i get home, i am totally exhausted. it's quite amazing, actually. i am still really enjoying it, but also very much looking forward to the coming weekend...

random tutorial blooper #1
me: okay guys, so what goes in and out of the Na/K pump?
group: *silence*
me: alright i mean obviously it's Na and K...
*random girl in group bursts out laughing*

random tutorial blooper #2
me: would anyone like to come up and draw the motor neuron --> skeletal muscle pathways?
group: *silence*
me: your reward will be fame and glory
random guy: uh, our other tutors bring us lollies

childhood stories

one day, the sun and wind decided to have a competition.

they both agreed that whoever could make the man remove his coat would be the winner.

the wind tried first.

he blew as hard as he could, but no matter how hard he blew, the man only clutched on more tightly to his coat.

then it was the sun's turn.

he just smiled at the man. even though the man ignored him, the sun just kept on shining.

"phew, it's getting warm in here," the man thought.

and took off his coat.

TGIS!

I couldn't log onto blogger yesterday, so here's a TGIS picture post instead:

{oscar in our garden}

above, oscar takes one small step towards world domination. and below, my very pleasant discovery this morning: "Quilton loves your bum". LOL. libra odd spots, anyone?

{toilet paper, if you didn't realise}

week 1 of gen med

all weekend long i was eagerly anticipating starting on a new rotation with a (hopefully) eccentric consultant.

olivia's criteria for eccentricity (male version)
- interesting eyewear (eyewear- but not particularly interesting)
- briefcase (check)
- suit (yes; with added holes for character)
- long/white/curly/steel-grey hair (nope)
- frequent use of intensively curious expression (check!!!)
- european accent (nope- disappointingly, not even a british accent)
- strong opinion on obscure topics (check)

total of 4.5 points = high likelihood of eccentricity

i'm very disappointed about the presentable haircut, but i can't really complain. furthermore when he heard someone making a cynical comment, he didn't laugh along with everybody but very heroically corrected her and emphasised the importance of never losing empathy in our profession.

needless to say, i'm just a little bit star-struck.

also, i noticed today that i am definitely regarded as part of the team. even though all i really say is "i'll check with X and get back to you". i am not really sure when that change began, but it's the start of an irreversible movement towards graduation. NO! i've only put in fifteen or so cannulae this year! job applications? what?? somebody slow the passing of time, please.

meanwhile, happy international nurses' day! thank you for the free chocolate cake and chai latte :)

chicken soup is good for the soul

i finished reading Spurgeon's All Of Grace between my lab classes yesterday. around a year ago, i was convinced that what i was lacking in my spiritual life was grace. not that i didn't already have it, but i wanted the conviction of grace. as i was explaining to E, i didn't want to just sing Amazing Grace during church, i wanted a personal understanding of it. i wanted to experience what John Newton must have felt when he penned that famous hymn.

eventally, i became convinced that if only i read this book (an online copy is available here, by the way), i could be levelling up spiritually ;). of course, it's pretty silly to try and contain God in a formula, and by the time i actually managed to obtain a copy, i was well aware that God does not, in fact, need a book to remind me of how sinful i am. i read the book anyway.

i'm in between rotations at the moment, and it is pretty evident just how productive i can be as long as studying is not on the cards. between 0800 to 1030, i went for a run, showered, convinced my brother to replace my lightbulbs (2 out of 3 had blown!) and fix my laptop, prepared lunch/dinner, and did the dishes.

this morning, mum assigned me to unsupervised cooking duty, which i was absolutely thrilled about. learning how to cook with my mum is a bit like learning how to do practical procedures in hospital. you have to watch it done 100x before you actually get to do anything. well, she had no choice today, so as she left the house, she insisted that all of the cooking was done outside, so that at least the house remained clean.

i was meant to cook chicken macaroni, which is pretty easy- in theory. However, mum told me to fry the garlic first because it takes forever to cook. that was the start of my troubles. by the time i had finished frying, nearly everything was dark brown/black. when it came to filling the pot with water and putting the chicken in, there were all these black bits floating around the top. i'm pretty sure burnt anything would make the soup bitter, so i got a sieve and fished everything out. which left... just the chicken, and water.

i suppose theoretically, that should still make soup?

{lunch!}