#medph

april 7, 2024

genuinely think i aced my embryology exam

Since I’ve been spending my first and second semester from the comforts of my home (due to the panorama), I realized that my iPad holds a lot of gems that more or less describe how my experience in online med school has been. I want to take you on a ~journey through my curation of annotated random pictures in my iPad’s gallery. Enjoy! 

(In first photo: learning about the parts of the heart a.k.a. one of my favorite lessons in anatomy thus far) 

Learning how to conduct a lung and chest physical exam (on a teddy bear but whatever) in front of a preceptor! I was super nervous and I practiced so many times just so I don’t stutter in front of Doc huhuhu. Overall it went well and I got commended for my efforts! 

Remembering this line from Monsters Inc. during my head and neck module, just to remember the optic nerve. LOL of course I forgot about the specifics now

Ninja Nerd (who finally FINALLY hit 1M subscribers!! Yay!!!!) helping me understand the brachial plexus during my musculoskeletal module. It was a journey but I finally understood it after so many visual cues and lessons! 

Self-explanatory. 

Finishing ten portfolio notes and celebrating because I managed to label, color, and learn all at the same time! Hindi lang halata sa face ko but I was super happy, swear. Sent them immediately to my professor right after this picture.  

One module required live proctorship during our exam, so it was extra nerve-wracking since I disconnected TWICE during the exam itself!! Grabe, war flashbacks. Pair with the fact that I did not have a desk mirror during the first exam so I had to use my iPad (which kept on locking itself every 5 minutes), I was a stressed-out med student during this whole endeavor. LOL 

Major thanks to Shopee for almost half these things on my desk! I was able to fill up my study desk with organizers and essentials for my ~study mode to activate. I haven’t been this home for so long (as in consecutively ha) so it was fun for me to fill up and actually study on my desk. 

That’s it!! I had a lot of fun making and annotating these pictures. I would love to look back on these someday and remember all the fun (and frazzled) memories I made during my first two semesters in med school. 

Cheers, 

To be honest, I want to. But I don't want my parents to pay for my studies anymore. Working myself made me realize earning money is no joke. We are not as well off as my parents try to provide us. Until now, I can't believe how they were able to send me to school— not just any school but a private and one of the top medical technology schools in the country. (Yes, free promo) I'm so thankful to have been given the chance to experience studying without thinking of anything but acads.

Also, I have a younger sibling and a niece. I feel like I'm robbing them opportunities if I ever insist on having my parents make my dreams come true. All our money will be spent on me again. I don't want that.

Parang ayoko na ulit mag-isa. That's one of the reasons I always tell people. It's true though. I can't believe I was able to live alone for five years (MTLE review included). Being back here in our province makes it hard for me to even think of being away again for several years just to study. I just got back, imagine the days and moments I could've spent with my family if I'll be away again... the thought alone makes me sad. With the recent events, I'm even more convinced to just stay. At least if I were to die, I'm with my family.

Can I handle all the info? Kaya ba ng megabyte brain ko ang terabyte info ng medskul? I'm scared I'd lose hope in the middle of being in it. This was what I realized when I reached the clinical year during undergrad years. The clinical subjects in medical technology were enough to overwhelm me, how much more sa medicine?

Lastly,

It's hard being average. Too average to pass a scholarship with entry quota grades to maintain and too average earner to afford a regular medical school.

Must be nice to reach for your dreams without any problems, noh?

april 10, 2024

hi! just spent the whole day studying. here's some pics i took over a year ago. what a time that was, my notes were so pretty back then

april 13, 2024

april 9, 2024

woke up super late today, so i had to adjust my study schedule

it's fine though

i've gone back to paper planning, which has been a lot of fun

In our institution, we are assigned to a mentor and a mentoring group. I really like my mentor. I learn so much from her every session even if we've only had a few. She's full of wisdom, and always says things that I need to hear. I just wish she was more clingy. And by clingy, I mean that she wants to meet us more instead of us reaching out to her. I think mentorship is really important not only in medicine, but also in life in general especially as a first generation doctor.

My story about how I conquered my first year in medical school is probably but a drop in the vast ocean. But for the sake of my sanity, I shall write anyway, because earlier, as I was making myself a cup of coffee, I realized I had gone far. I’m almost through my first semester in second year, surely that means something. The clink of the spoon against the mug echoed in my ears, going “You are almost there”.

Actually, there’s still no official confirmation that I passed my first year. I haven’t seen my grades yet because the admin did not, would not, post our grades online. The damn pandemic begun just as I was celebrating the end of what seemed like a dreamy year. 

A month before the lockdown, me and my med friends decided to unwind after a brutal module exam (about the kidneys, blergh). I study in the quiet city of Legazpi, sparse in sight, sparse in population, sparse in attraction. But their medical school attracted me for one simple reason: Tuition is free. I packed my bags and left home for Bicol, the home of the most beautiful volcano in the world. 

One attraction in Bicol is the Legazpi boulevard. I wasn’t going to come with, but a sweet person convinced me to go. We needed it, she said. And she was damn right. We went there before sunset and when we arrived, we saw that it was beautiful, and our hearts rejoiced. The sky was pink, the air was salty. The sound of the waves felt therapeutic to my ears. The moon was full and big against the cotton candy sky. We couldn’t speak; we were in awe. We took pictures, we looked at everything and everyone. People were sitting on benches, some were jogging, some were skateboarding. We arrived at a restaurant soon after and had the most filling dinner. No phones allowed, the mother figure in the group said. And so we enjoyed each other’s company.

I never dreamed that that would be the last time I bonded with them. A week after there was chaos...in the form of a damn virus.