#up-pgh

08/30/2018

So THAT's how it feels to break bad news to a patient's family.

Patient was admitted from ER due to deranged status and blood per orem. I was not able to see the patient until monitoring the next day because I had to stay in the Operating Room when I received news of a new patient. He was more responsive then.

A part of me wished I had not promised the family I would tell and explain the results of the CT scan as soon as I got them after hearing "Ang hirap kasing tanggapin eh". A part of me doubted what I knew -- wished I knew wrong about the patient's prognosis. Is it possible to recover fully and not have neurologic deficits? What are the chances none of the several tumors found are malignant and that the constitutional symptoms are just incidental?

Nakikipag-ugnayan na ang Department of Health sa Department of Justice para sa pathological analysis ng mga namatay na bata na nabakunahan ng Dengvaxia.

Dear rogrogrog,

Congratulations! You made it past the 3/4 mark of your pedia rotation. The pedia wards are beyond description. It is just painfully fulfilling. The babies, parents and children I was able to interact with in the span of two weeks will always be part of my memorabilia as a clerk. There are lots of stories to tell but I'll save them for later. :)

The ER was too fast-paced for me. I am just thankful that there are no mortalities during my term of duty. Yeah, I know the atmosphere at the ER: humid, noisy, and chaotic. The monitoring from 3 am to 7 am was just something that I had to crawl. Crawling in the deep. :)

Thank you Lord. Thank you. I am on my last week in Pedia. I am so wounded and tired right now. I am a wounded healer. And will always be.

One bracelet after each week of N121.1 otherwise known as the Intensive Hospital Experience. These actually served as small increments of a reward and a countdown to the end of my clinical rotation.

Right after the last shift for the week, before meeting up with my parents at Robinson’s Manila, I would pass by the bead shop and randomly select one of their ready-made friendship bracelets. Haggard man ako palagi, masaya pa rin dahil may bagong bracelet.

I actually lost one bracelet at Rob right after I bought it. Guess I didn’t notice it slip off. I mean, I was malling half-asleep…so…sigh. It was pink.

Two of those were from Jonna. She gave them to me as an exchange gift last Christmas 2011.

Admittedly, N121.1 was a struggle because each week had a different professor who would demand different things. At some point, I was working my ass off to please the professor rather than to deliver quality care. But, paper work aside, I really enjoyed working in the ward. The absence of a hovering professor made every procedure “more real.” (Di nga sila naghohover pero nakakagulat kasi apparition naman ang trip nila ngayon.) Working in the ward and managing several patients independently is a rush. When you forget about the fact that you are being graded, it is a great kind of rush.

In the end, I really appreciated and enjoyed N121.1. It gave me experiences that I would never have gotten had I not studied in UPCN.