Today was my first day of tutes for urban week: breast examination in the morning and basic first aid part B in the afternoon.

I'm not sure what to say about my feelings about this morning's tute. At the time it was both exciting and nerve-racking. Questions kept going through my mind... "What sort of woman will I be examining?" "Will I forget bits of the exam?" "Will I make an absolute fool out of myself?" (This was indeed my foremost concern. Funny how I was more concerned about this than the fact that I would be touching a stranger's breast in less than an hour's time) "Will I somehow do something so badly that I get sued for battery?" (Er...yeh, wasn't thinking very rationally then).

But in the end, it all worked out fine. I was grouped with Chau Wang and Jia Mei examining a "near-menopausal" woman. To be honest, I would have guessed her age to be no more than late 30's but oh well...the two tutors were really patient and gentle with us and in general, I think the tute went quite well. We were taught the "lawn-mowing" technique which literally is sliding our hands up and down the precordium in parallel lines with regular spiral palpations. However, one of the problems I did experience (and Chau Wang did too) was that I was too gentle. The problem lies in the fact that MEN DON'T HAVE BREASTS! We were too scared of hurting the patient, so we didn't use enough pressure when palpating. A little about our patient though...not the standard "near-menopausal" patient you would expect. For one, she had a ring piercing on her left nipple O_O Then roughly 20% of her body was covered with tattoos. Just to top it all off, when I sneaked a peek at the screen-saver on her phone, it was a pair of breasts.

The tute wasn't all rays of sunshine...h3dl3y was in our tute and I am pleased to say that Chau Wang finally had the pleasure of experiencing the hate that one can feel when faced with a racist imbecile. Beautiful quote: "Yah, Daniel, I hate him too" =P I won't go into the details but he was every bit as annoying and arrogant as I remembered (makes you think what he's doing in medicine...)

The afternoon tute was quite uneventful, and boring. My tutor was supposedly the same as the one I had last year but I couldn't recognise her. That is due to two facts: 1) She had cut her hair. 2) She had lost about 30 pounds. The latter is because in the short year that I haven't seen her, she was diagnosed with MS and the weight loss is a side-effect of the medications she's taking for it (but increased appetite!)

Even though today was only two tutes, it was still exhausting. So tired now T_T...but I have the day off tomorrow!! Guess that's all for now...

I am now at the EACH office on CBP placement...blogging...facebooking...not very busy at all as you can tell. We don't have any supervisor until 4 and were told to just do "officework" until then (at which point we will be heading over to Croyden for an interview with a doctor. Then after that, we have another interview near Chadstone with another doctor around 5:30pm. This morning, we arrived late in Ringwood at 9:50 for supervision (was supposed to start at 9:30). Counting the time, we will spend a total of 10 hours at CBP today o_O

I think I'll let you draw your own conclusions on whether CBP is a waste of time or not. At the moment, I'm really looking forward to the tutes tomorrow (at least I'll be doing something productive). I think I've got Basic First Aid and Breast Examination.

On a darker note, poor Yeu Sheng still has a painful tooth/teeth. It's been 4 days already and today finally she decided to go see a dentist. The appointment has been made for 12:30 tomorrow so maybe I'll drive her there during my lunch break. Hopefully she get's better soon and I don't have to just sit and watch her suffer =(

Good luck to all those going to rural rotation this semester.

As for me? I'm on urban rotation (yay...) and that means CBP and tutes for two weeks. It's nice to know that I will have at least 3 days off but it just seems that we're still spending an absurd amount of time on CBP placement T_T

In the end, I think that this CBP placement is probably useful in some abstract and minor way but to have so much time AND effort devoted to the silly placement honestly isn't a good thing. I've heard stories of people washing the toilets because their field educators mistakenly thought that they were free labor o_O

Hopefully these two weeks will be a good chance for me to catch up on some work. Since my mum left, I've gone back to my job as an accountant for my dad's business and that's chewing up at least an hour every night...and I still have all my medicine stuff =(

Guess that's all for now. Keep working hard everyone!

The exam is over! YAY! YAY! YAY! A couple of updates about my life...

1) I have recovered from Pre-Exam Stress Disorder (duh...we had the exam on Wednesday =P)
2) I have recovered from Reunited Family Syndrome (I took my mum to the airport) on Wednesday)
3) Yeu Sheng and I (+ Ryan + Yun Ying) are going to Leo's birthday dinner tonight at the Glen about 7:30pm.

Oh yeah, before my mum left, Yeu Sheng and I bought this for her:


Isn't it cute? =P Well, my mum did so I don't really care if you don't ^^

I guess that's all for now. My dad just called me to go over to Box Hill and buy corn flour and tempura batter for his shop (since when did I become an on-call part-timer?!? @_@ GRRRR...) Enjoy the weekend!

Jack wakes up with a huge hangover after attending his company's party. Jack is not normally a drinker, but the drinks didn't taste like alcohol at all. He didn't even remember how he got home from the party.

As bad as he was feeling, he wondered if he did something wrong. Jack had to force himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw was a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to them, a single red rose!! Jack sits up and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed.
He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotlessly clean. So is the rest of the house.

He takes the aspirins, cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at him in the bathroom mirror. Then he notices a note hanging on the corner of the mirror written in red with little hearts on it and a kiss mark from his wife in lipstick: 'Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to get groceries to make you your favorite dinner tonight. I love you, darling! Love, Jillian.

He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast, steaming hot coffee and the morning newspaper. His 16 year old son is also at the table, eating.

Jack asks, 'Son, what happened last night?'

'Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind. You fell over the coffee table and broke it, and then you puked in the hallway, and got that black eye when you ran into the door.'

Confused, he asked his son, 'So, why is everything in such perfect order and so clean? I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me??'

His son replies, 'Oh THAT... Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, 'Leave me alone, I'm married!!'

Broken Coffee Table $239.99
Hot Breakfast $4.20
Two Aspirins $.38
Saying the right thing, at the right time: PRICELESS !

I have acquired this syndrome in the past couple of days. In addition I am also suffering from Reunited Family Syndrome. Luckily I have a protective factor: a girlfriend =)

My mum's been back since last Friday...and I still have to study for this upcoming exam. And there's soooo much to study T_T It's a really good thing that I'm living at halls, so that I can study without being kacau-ed by my parents. That's not to say that they haven't been helpful. My mum's been doing the money counting for Sushiman so I've been given a break from that job =P

Still have so much to cover between now and Wednesday ooo...at the moment I'm having trouble with STIs particularly Chlamydia Trachomatis, Trichomonas Vaginalis and Treponema pallidum. Just can't remember them!! ><

Anyway...good luck to everyone la...gambate to myself as well...

美國人愛形容法國浪子為「那條法國麵包」，在英語的世界裡，女人是「密桃」，情人是「密糖」，「牛奶」、「葡萄」或者「巧克力」，食物用來比擬人，總是美好的，但中國人的世界卻不一樣，和食物有關的，都不是好東西。

妓女是「雞」，男妓是「鴨」。
老女人是「老藕」，男人愛上年紀比自己大的女人就是「煲老藕」。
沒反應的人叫「死魚」，雙眼無神睛叫「死魚眼」。
蠢人是「一舊飯」，容易受騙的人是「水魚」。
倚靠妓女維生的叫「龜婆」或「龜公」。
死屍叫「鹹魚」。
臉孔胖的叫「發水麵包」，眼睛小的叫「豆豉眼」，瘦人叫「排骨」，胖人叫「豬」，又矮又胖的叫「大冬瓜」或「大番薯」，大腿粗壯的叫「金華火腿」，穿得臃腫的就是「裹蒸稷」，女人的乳房太小就叫「荷包蛋」或「生煎包」，手指又肥又短的叫「皇帝蕉」，小腿太胖就說是「蘿蔔腿」，哨牙就叫「西瓜刨」。

你看我們把自己和食物醜化到甚麼樣子？

食物該是美好的，應該用來比擬愛情，比擬美麗的身段，比擬情人身上的特點。

為什麼西方人可以，而中國人不可以？會不會是我們的食物不夠優雅？是的，你總不能形容一個中國男人說「那條中國臘腸」，好難聽，還是「法國麵包」含蓄得多。

Tonight, (我们都忘了回家的路~~=P) I had my first taste of what being a doctor is like. Of course, I had absolutely no clue about what I was doing and in general didn't really have a differential so I wasn't much of a doctor anyway. But yes, tonight...two patients. Let's discuss the first one.

Case 1
Female, ~20yo, Student
Tight piercing pain just inferior to the sternum since this morning accompanied with nausea and vomitting. Patient was curled up in bed in pain so I assume the pain was close to 10. She had drank 3 bottles of whisky the night before and since this morning, had only eaten some congee and chicken soup (most of which she vomitted up). In terms of medication, she has taken some potassium citrate and a chinese medicine for 入风 (obviously haven't helped).
Provisional Dx: Gastric +/- hangover from the alcohol she drank last night.
Rx: Metaclopramide followed by Rantidine hydrochloride 15 minutes after.

Of course, that all sounds really professional. Honestly though, most of that came from the pharmacist in Clayton Priceline. It looked like she was feeling better when we left and I advised her to take another tablet of Rantidine in the morning and to drink lots of fluids the next day. Then I went home to my other patient:

Case 2
Female, ~21yo, 2nd year medical student
Sudden onset of headache since late afternoon. Frontal localisation with accompanied nausea. No actual vomitting. Patient has been symptomatic with cold for the past week. Headache was a 4 in the afternoon. Then with administration of paracetamol 1000mg, pain subsided but returned at approximately 8:15pm (pain had worsened to a 6 at this stage). Patient found that applying pressure on forehead helped alleviate pain. I then took her to ED at MMC at which point the pain had subsided to a 1 (huh? O_O) Possible placebo effect of hospital aura is suspected. After two hours of waiting, we were admitted and the ED (beautiful German) doctor made a provisional Dx.
Provisional Dx: Tension headache.
Rx: Codeine phosphate + recommendation of bedrest and fluids.

Haha, as you can all see, I really wasn't much of a doctor for the second patient (for those who are really thick and haven't figured things out, it's Yeu Sheng). It was about 12:30am when we left the ED and thankfully, she was feeling much better compared to just after dinner. It's fair to say that the codeine didn't really work though (maybe it has something to do with all the Panadeine she took when she was sick with the cold). She's feeling much better now...and even cooking for the third patient...

Case 3
Male, ~19yo, 2nd year medical student.
Gradual onset of sorethroat and dull headache (around the level of 2) accompanied with rhinorrhoea. Suspected to have caught the cold from patient 2. Has been given honey lemon and strepsils for the sorethroat and paracetamol 500mg for the headache.
Provisional Dx: Being a good boyfriend.
Rx: Sayang and rest.

Yeah...you can all laugh and smile but I really am sick at the moment so just be cautious around me =P

Just about the title, meningitis is apparently always a DDx for a patient presenting with headache/migraine Sxs. So, when you get a patient coming in with a headache, always examine for:
1) Pyrexia
2) Photophobia
3) Neck anteroposterior rigidity
4) Rashes (particularly lower back)

It is 8 seconds past the 8th minute past the 8th hour of 08/08/08!~

Nothing much really, just questioning the Chinese and their obsession with the number 8. Does it make much sense for us to put a number (which is an arbitrary human design) above the others just because its pronounciation is similar to a word with a good meaning (which is also another arbitrary human design)? For example, the other day I saw a car pass me with a registration number of WRX888 Now why wouldn't you pick 999 instead? Because people might think you were calling the police in Hong Kong or Malaysia? Absolutely perplexing...

Olympics is starting tonight and it's the first time China has ever hosted. I can almost bet money that about 80% of you guys will be glued to a TV of some sort and watching the opening ceremony =P Remember! 8:08:08PM China time (see what I mean about the obsession with 8?)

*sigh*

It is indeed a sad day. After 1 year and 220 days of parking at the MRS northeast carpark (the one next to Old Deakin Hall), I have finally gotten my first parking ticket. Who would have known that the parking inspectors actually worked at Monash...and at lunch time too!

Ah well, I guess I shouldn't be so unhappy about this. My view on it now is: I have lived at halls for the past 1 year and 220 days for free, which should have costed me ~AUD8000. Paying a $68 fine is much much cheaper than living here =P That's all for today I guess...I have to go mourn for my wallet now =(

For those who are into eating organic fruits, a little guide to the stickers you always see on them. The numbers found on these labels tell you whether they are conventional, organic or genetically modified fruit. Remember, a store is not obligated to tell you whether the fruits they sell are GMO.

Conventional Fruit
Grown with herbicides and harmful fertilizers.
Four digits.
Mostly begin with the digit 4.
Do not begin with the digit 9!
E.g. 4922

Organic Fruit
Five digits.
Begin with the digit 9.
E.g. 99222

Genetically Modified Fruit
Begin with the digit 8.
E.g. 89222

Shop safe! =)