AnneC.

Seeing babies for the past two months made me realize how it was really easy when we were younger. Babies and kids are so care free - they smile when they are happy and they cry when they are sad or hungry, in pain or irritated. They throw tantrums when they don't (or until they) get what they want. Being an intern in pediatrics, I realize how tiring it is to be an adult. You are expected to understand, you are expected to be patient, you are expected a lot, cause you are a grown up. And it gets more tiring when the other adult people around are not being adults and are in a sense acting like kids. And well, I cannot blame them as sulking in one corner and crying until they give me what I want is so tempting to do and is actually the easy way out. It's funny (actually more frustrating) how the world works.  Every single time, I see parents teach their kids how it is wrong to hurt other people - a kids hits another kid and the knee jerk reaction is "That's b...

I have been trying to write something, anything worth posting for quite some time now - to no avail evident by my blog hiatus for about 2 months now. But then, having the time and some motivation (insert overwhelming emotions and sentiments) to write something, yay! here it is! It has been the 3rd day since we (me and pao - one of my blockmates) have become inadvertently "un-blocked". You see, there is a varicella (chicken pox) outbreak around the hospital, where two health workers have become infected with it - and the hospital is trying to quarantine the pediatric ER, wards and the nursery ICU for 14-21 days. Anyway, our immune systems were not actually so excited to do their jobs that our varicella IgG titers were nowhere around the expected levels for us to be cleared. Thus, in the efforts of the administration and the hospital infection control unit, to control the outbreak, we were not allowed to continue and rotate into the wards with our block (hence the reference...

"Be not afraid. I have made you. I have saved you. I have called you. You are mine. You are precious to me and I love you." I can still remember the butterflies in my stomach the night before our first day as clerks last year, which actually did not stop on the first day since technically, the fear of the unknown, the fear of not knowing what to expect is still a persistent feeling everyday at the hospital. There is nothing wrong with fear if we dont let it contain us and if we dont let it stop us from moving forward. And today's homily is a good reminder that this fear should actually be used to remind ourselves of two important things that hospital life is actually teaching me everyday - humility and trust. Training in PGH is a humbling experience. I learned to accept my weakness and ask for help whenever I need it. I learned to trust the other members of the team because they also made me feel that I am not and will never be alone. And of course, my faith in Hi...

I've been planning to write something at the end of my IM rotation (in less than 2 weeks!). however, something has happened that triggered me to re-open this blog earlier, and well, blog. As a medical student and as someone training in the hospital for a year, I have had my fair share of mortalities - patients dying, calling codes and doing basic life support. That I was left with no choice but to actually feel a little less attached to my patients (unless I would want to cry every time someone goes); yes, the care and the compassion definitely stays but less emotional attachment (in a sense). But there are definitely those patients (and family members) with whom you actually become more close to. These patients are those who had made such huge impact in my learning and training, these patients were usually chronic patients that you actually look forward to go to the hospital everyday and do daily rounds, see their improvement until they are actually discharged. Today (well t...

3 days post the real end of clerkship and I finally have the time to write about its end :) Clerkship gave me a lot of learning and memories to treasure and i hope my words and the pictures i grabbed from a lot of people would suffice in trying to give tribute to the year that was :p Join me in my journey of remembering the days of clerkship :) which actually starts with TradMed as my summer elective. I was able to document the 20 days of tradmed in my instagram account, and i am posting this as a representative of tradmed because it's my most favorite picture :p dahil sabi ko nga sa caption ko which is not seen in this particular screenshot: 'the PBB fan in me is happy.' ta[ps lumabas pa siya kagabi sa biggest loser. haha. and look, it's 46 weeks ago :o taking my elective during the summer was the best decision i've made for clerkship. :) learning about the different treatment modalities and actually experiencing them first hand made that summer elective re...

I am a week away from freedom. Exactly the same time next week, i can be worry free until the first of May :) But before that freedom, i still need to finish 6 final exams and one comprehensive exam to test my learning and well, stock knowledge for the past four years of studying. And just like that the extra four years of studying is over, and i am on my way to internship - the last year before I enter the real world of actually, really being responsible for someone's life. Now it's overwhelming thinking about that. :o But let's save the internship thoughts for May 1. :p I was not able to share my clerkship thoughts for my family medicine and OB rotations. Suffice to say, I enjoyed every waking day for these two rotations and going to the community and the hospital weren't much of an obligation because I liked what I was doing and I  was with very encouraging and inspiring people. :) The past month was all about elective which I took last summer giving me a whole...

Denial After entering the room, you get  that fleeting sense of impending doom (well not really) but the feeling that something is wrong. And then you start to realize that your Ipad and laptop are not in the place where you left them a day ago. And your heart starts to race (and you are actually still palpitating trying to recall what happened). You try to keep calm and you try to remember and picture the scene before leaving the day before. And you are quite sure, remembering what you said to yourself, "Malayo byahe ko, sige iiwan ko na lang yung ipad ko. Ay ang dumi na niya, lilinisin ko muna" . But you are in denial. so you looked inside the cabinet, the drawers, under the bed, heck even inside the CR. that maybe, just maybe, you were too preoccupied to remember that you left them anywhere but on the tables. But then it is slowly sinking in, they're gone. Anger Heat starts to build up and you start to sweat. How is that possible?  You asked around and you start to...

Tonight, i decided to finish all my required papers for the family medicine rotation, but i can't get myself to start writing, thus i resorted to blogging (to keep my thoughts going and the words flowing:p). I am in such in a sad state after finishing the Divergent-Insurgent-Allegiant series by Veronica Roth. And no, I wont be going through the effort of summarizing (or spoiling you if you haven't read it yet), since I would not want to go through everything that happened in those books again. Yes, it's that heart breaking. I love reading books, reading anything for that matter. I can read and finish anything I put my heart and mind into and I don't believe that there are bad authors or poorly written stories/novels. Sometimes, no matter how annoying the characters can be, or how pathetic the stories are, I continue reading on. The moment I start reading, I allow myself to be captured into the story and be part of a different life (and make things more exciting in t...

Tonight I heard the cheesiest (if there's such a word, and if it is actually legit to use it as a description for a statement) line and it's not even Valentines' day yet. It made my heart leap that I had to write it down so that someday in the near future, when I get to read this blog entry again, I can give myself the 'kilig'. *** Dear self, You're such a lucky girl. You may be too stubborn to admit it and you may joke countless times with how much u're  worth it, when in fact you are a lot luckier to have him in your life.  It seems so long ago, when you first met and you actually denied him of the chance to prove himself even though you actually felt and know how pure his intentions were.  If only you could replay all the memories that has happened in the almost 10 years that you have known him, it would surely be one hell of a ride. And after everything? Well now you have that unchanging number which means a lot to both of you. And tonig...

The kilig i get from reviewing past blog entries and this newly discovered very portable blogger app in ipad are reasons enough to continue writing blogs :) and well it's the first day of the year :)  That i would like to share some share-worthy firsts and well basically things I'd like to read about next year about the first day of this year :p My first ever 2014 selfie :p  because this is definitely a year about self appreciation ;) My first ever 2014 dream (nightmare-ish) was a walking dead experience wherein i get to kill and fight zombies. Except I am not as skilled as the walking dead characters who can kill with just one stroke. I need to stab them on the heads a couple of times before i hit it right :p talk about real gore and the rush, it felt so real, that i think re-watching the walking dead in a marathon for about three straight days has taken its toll :p My first ever 2014 #ootd   (and technically first ever #ootd for that matter...