Family Medicine: First(?) Impressions

Perhaps it is not too late to have first impressions in the second week into the posting.

1. It has a certain warm feeling to it. I suppose it should, since we _are_ talking about patient-centred approach.

2. No thanks to H1N1, the number of our field visits will likely be reduced. This doesn't stop the Community Medicine group from their Ulu Tembeling trip...

3. Thanks to H1N1, we're presented with how the public health people deal with such pandemic. The polyclinic I was posted in was crowded with so many people coming with Influenza-like Illness. Notwithstanding, chronic cases like Diabetes Mellitus & Hypertension were (are?) aplenty...

4. Patient's compliance? With some people, you'll have more luck making rocks bleed.

5. Role-play. Summary: I've too much formality and no empathy. Tsk.

6. Today's geriatric visit in Dungun. Maybe it is a misnomer, since there were a handful of those whom you might not regard as elderly...
Suffice to say, it opened my eyes - that those unfortunate are not few in numbers. So really, we have every reason to be thankful with what we already owned...
Bukit Besi was a nice place to stop for our side-programme. Now I see why there are those who enjoy photography so much...

7. Am presently contemplating whether I should return home for the weekend or not, since it's one weekend in which Saturday will be free from any class...

8. ...Internet connection, why so unreliable!?

Current Music: Smile Ichiban Ii Onna - An Cafe

The Blame Game

Sometimes it is only too easy to raise that accusing finger and point the blame at someone. So easy, that most of us resort to this way without skipping a beat. Like it's purely reflex, ingrained deep within us, essentially an inherent read-only programme which not many can rewrite without much toiling.

Blaming takes guts. It might involve getting in others' bad books, but it may or may not taint the blamer's own conscience. It may be an ego defense mechanism - albeit an immature or neurotic one - but it's not one that anybody can be proud of.

It goes without saying that it takes more guts to just admit one's own mistakes, and try to rectify the situation rather than busying oneself with finding a scapegoat.

Blindly, or even half-blindly, blaming others may stem from one's ignorance, one's lack of understanding of the matter. In cases of accusing people for what they did in relation to their personality or intelligence, could we safely say that, had we been in the person's shoes, we would never have committed the same mistake?

We are shaped by our pasts and our tendencies, our habits. We are who we are not only because of our external appearances, but also how we would react, verbally or in our actions, to a given situation. As such, it may involve conditioning - in which, when confronted with something that resembles something from our past, we tend to respond more or less the same way or, had we learnt a lesson, in a different manner. Because life is a series of lessons and quizzes, rather than just one major exam after certain intervals.

Our past is like a collection of baggage that we continue to drag as we tread this winding road we call Life. Some may fall out of our carriage whether deliberately or not, some are tightly locked, bound to our being - akin to scars that can't be erased, or those that become hideous keloids, perpetually haunting and traumatising us. It depends on what we'd do to these - whether we walk on strong-willed, holding our head high, or we choose to huddle, to shrink in one corner to sob like everything is futile, like we've reached the screen that reads 'Game Over' with no option for 'New Game' or 'Resume Last Saved'.

Depending on one's own coping mechanism, one may rise with glory or one may fall into wretchedness. There may be an inherent machinery within that gives a rough idea on how to respond, to survive. Is there any wonder that two biological siblings living under the same roof may grow up to become different, despite some similarities? Is there any wonder that children do not take after their parents totally? Is there any wonder that even the closest friends who claim to share the same interests can still bicker like selfish prats?

That said, I'd say it's only fair for one to blame another only if the former is well-acquainted with the latter's unjustified destructive nature. Even so, there is a limit as to how mad one should be, I guess.

Which brings us to another question - how much should we know?

More beyond this field of vision »

Ureshii Ver. 2.0

This will be (relatively) short, I promise.

1. After a grievous loss roughly 2 weeks ago, today I am finally blessed with his replacement, whom I shall dub [EDIT] Subaru-kun Hidenori-kun[/EDIT]. While it may not match up to the late Tatsuma II in terms of price and specifications, I must say that I am still content ♥, and truthfully, I don't need the HTC Touch Diamond2 specifically to be elated. Frankly, I didn't really listen to the FM radio in the deceased anyway - the one time I did attempt to use the feature was met with less than tolerable results. (So if I am ever in a dire need for a radio and I am nowhere near my car, I shall make use of Hakushio - providing I've brought him along).
Presently, am trying to get the hang & feel of [EDIT] Subaru Hidenori-kun...and perhaps move on from mourning over Tatsuma II for good.

2. This coming Monday marks the beginning of Family Medicine. Really!? Does this mean I need to get back to all my Internal Medicine stuff, assuming I'll be able to dig them up from...wherever it was I chucked my "To Be Used Later - If At All" items?

3. Thankfully, the issue of where and what we are to do during our Elective block is rather settled. I say rather, because it won't be much of a breeze. And, fortunately(!?), it's not going to be in IJN...

4. Forensics practical. Both the time and place that I wanted. Rejoice!

5. Psychiatry exam yesterday morning. I was thinking, like, "Where was Freud? There wasn't any question on Freud? WHAT?!" - not that I've a single speck of confidence in terms of my results...

6. We survived the trip from Kuantan to KL yesterday, despite the odds. So many people were willing to help for no cost at all. There's hope for humanity after all! ♥

Current Music: World is Mine - Hatsune Miku