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Monday, August 31, 2009

She's coming HOME!


Finally, I'm going to see Bianca again! The kid wearing fuchsia pink--that's her. She's coming home. It's been so long since we've since her. She moved to Canada with her mom and younger brother. That picture was taken three years ago--the night before she left..it was her last night with her (we were still very young in that picture btw). Anyway, my mom announced that they'll be coming home for Christmas this year. Yay! I can't wait to see my cousin. She's all grown up now, and i'm really excited to see her.



hmm..that's all. Haha. I just want to share my happiness.
Finally, something to look forward to this holiday season

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Of failing grades and hospital duties

Antagal ko nang hindi naguupdate ng blog. Anyway..I was busy as a bee these past few weeks. Kakatapos lang ng midterms pero bumulaga agad ang finals. I had one hell of a week! Our midterm grades were released, so far ok naman. Okay as in pwede na considering that i was expecting one failing grade in one particular subject: CoHealth. That is one hell of a subject for me. I hate it. As in I seriously, seriously hate every part of it. To say that Cohealth is difficult is probably an understatement. Well, hindi lang naman ako nahihirapan, lahat naman ata kami. Actually konti lang ang pumasa dun. And I'm just lucky enough to be one of the passers. Pero actually, lahat naman ng major subjects ko mahirap, specially if it's a nursing subject. Ang pinagkaiba lang e ung ibang nursing subjects, mahirap din but at least I can still manage to understand the lessons. Pwede ko xang pagpuyatan kc at least at the end of it, maiintindihan ko. But Cohealth isn't like that. Kahit pagpuyatan ko pa sya, in the end hindi ko pa rin maiintindihan. I feel stupid. Ewan ko, but i just don't get it! Everytime we are in the lecture room, I always get lost in the middle of everything! I jot down notes that I don't even understand. I bought a freakin' book even though it's not required just so I can at least understand that freakin' subject. I tried to read it but it still doesn't help me in any way. The worst thing is that I have to deal with this particular subject for the next 2 years of my college life! Good luck to me.

Anyway, I'm still thankful that I got more than what I hoped for. Maybe there was some kind of miraculous divine intercession that took place while I was taking my cohealth exams. Or at least I'd like to think of it that way.

Change topic. So this week, my next hospital duty is LMMC (Lipa Medix Medical Center). Honestly, I hate having duties at that hospital. For one thing, my shift starts at 6 am (earlier compared to other hospitals) so we have to be there before 6:45am. When you arrive at 6: 46, sorry but you're already late so that means you have to have two "make-up duties." And when you arrive at 6:01, you are already considered absent, don't even dare to enter the hospital premises because you're sure to receive a 5minute scolding from your clinical instructor. The people there are mean and cranky, well at least I think most of them are. And the patients are always complaining about every little detail. That's the difference between private and public hospital patients. Patients at the private hospitals complain a lot. Probably because they expect to get more quality services because they pay a lot of money. Well, my mother is like that too. But what I hate about them is that they always blame it on the nurse. For example, I had this patient who blamed me because her episiotomy hurts a lot (*An episiotomy is the surgical incision done by doctors on the perineal area during the 3rd stage of labor to prevent the massive tearing or damage to the vaginal walls during vaginal delivery). She's blaming me for the pain in her vajayjay!!! I just don't get it. I didn't even stitch up the damn thing! She just gave birth to a 7pound baby for god's sake. Of course it's gonna hurt. It's supposed to hurt. And it's nobody's fault. She gave me a hard time explaining that to her. I had a lot of traumatizing experiences in that hospital. One such example was the day I assisted in cleaning the incision site of one of the post-CS patient. The doctor was mean to me, and she scowled at every little detail about me including the loose thread on my white uniform and the stray hair sticking out behind my ear. She seems to have microscopic eyes and xray vision. The worst part is that she humiliated me in front of the patient and her family. She didn't even give me a goddamned break considering that I'm only a level 2 BSN student and I'm practically a newcomer in the medical world. She reprimanded me for the very little details and she didn't even recognize that I assisted her well while she was cleaning the patient's incision. She even used my mayo scissors and my crile forceps! I hope she knew that! That was the single, most humiliating day in my life as a nursing student. My stomach still flips whenever I recall that incident. It's a good thing I didn't cry. That would be even more humiliating. Usually, I feel like crying whenever I feel extremely humiliated. God, I hate that doctor. Oh, and btw, that doctor (she's a resident OB-GYN) is the mother of my former classmate in highschool. Her son gave me flowers on valentine's day when we were in Level 7. She has a really nice son so it's kind of hard to imagine that they're realted. I wanted to tell her that but I think that's just stupid and irrelevant and it's gonna make her hate me even more. Lol! The good thing is that she's too preoccupied torturing nurses she didn't even had the time to tell anything to my CI. Hah! Buti na lang di nya ako sinumbong sa CI ko, that would have made things worse. That's the only consolation I get. Honestly, I think she's not a good doctor. Sure, she finished her degree with flying colors. She even took fellowships. But I think that even though how smart you are or how many degrees you've finished or how many titles are attached to your name, they're all worthless if you're not a good person. And I think every doctor should know that. I don't hate her because she's mean to me (well, just a little bit). I hate her because she's an arrogant person. The other nurses told me that she's always like that to the nurses and interns (and to whoever she considers as inferior to her). I think I have better bedside manners that her (seriously!), which is just pathetic because I used to look up to her. So to all the future doctors out there, please remember that professional success does not compensate for a bad attitude.

Well, the good thing is that I won't have to deal with her this week at the hospital. I'm assigned to the pediatric ward. Bye-bye, OB ward! I'm sure as hell that I'm gonna miss all those vajayjays. I did pedia once before on san jose district hospital. It was as tough as OB because almost every kid cries at the sight of a person wearing white. I blame their parents. Lagi na lang nilang ginagawang panakot ang mga nurse sa mga anak nila. Children always connote nurses to needles and injections.

..ooops, gotta go. I still haven't written anything on my critical paper on PhilMan. I gotta finish that tonight so that I won't have to deal with it during my duty week.

so that's it for now. Sorry for the crappy update.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Paalam, Tita Cory (quickie post)

MAY WE ALL NEVER FORGET



Corazon Cojuanco-Aquino
January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009

Monday, July 27, 2009

And she's done it again...



54 minutes.
126 applauds.
More than 6 billion audience.

And so, she's done it again. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has given her "last" (and longest) state of the nation address today at the Batasang Pambansa. And as usual, I watched the whole event on TV just like I always do. Well, I'm not really into politics or anything. I'm not even pro-administration or anti-administration. I just enjoy watching Madame President whenever she gives out her speeches about the country's "development" and what her administration has done to improve our struggling nation. Dunno, ever since I watched her SONA for the first time, I always wanted to finish it. Some people at my age find it boring, I find it..well..entertaining for the most part. I can't help but laugh on some of the things that she says. I don't wanna comment on them anymore, but if you watched her on TV, I think you might actually understand what I mean.

But anyway, even though how much the people hate her, I still find her amazing. Not in a sense that she's a good leader or anything, but because of her unique personality that I find very amazing. Despite of everything, she still has the courage to stand up and look strong in front of her people. Yes, she may be in to a lot of controversies lately, but the president still stays strong and brave to face her people with both love and authority. I may not like her when it comes to governing, but I do admire her personality.

"Governance, however, is not about looking back and getting even
But it is looking forward and giving more to the people
who has given us the hardest and greatest gift of all,
to care for a country.."
-PGMA

(I just hope this really is her LAST state of the nation address! )

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Hospital duty: Day 2

My second day in the area was a mixture of excitement and disappointment. I still had the same patient that I had yesterday. Apparently, the woman's husband doesn't have the money yet so they still can't leave the hospital although both the mother and her baby are cleared for discharge. Because I had the same patient as yesterday, it means that I have less jobs to do..and it sucks!! All my other groupmates in the ward are busy doing their physical assessment while I just stand there watching them getting busy. It's not fair, I wanna be busy too. Plus, their cases are better than mine. My case is just the typical postmaternity mother who had a normal spontaneous delivery. She's fine, her baby is fine and their only problem is that they still can't pay their hospital bills. The others got the chance to be assigned to new patients with cooler cases like CS, preterm labor or Dilation&Curettage. One of my classmate regulated the IV fluids and had to check her patient's vital signs EVERY 15 MINUTES. One of us was given the chance to take out a urinary catheter (I wanna do that too!). As for me, I just waited for what seems like eternity! I waited for my patient to be discharged, I waited for a new patient, a new case, a new assignment.

I hate my 2nd day of duty!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Hospital Duty: Day 1

Lipa City District Hospital. 7am-3pm. Dra. Anita Urbi RN, MAN, PhD

I woke up at 4:30 am this morning because I don't wanna be late on my first hospital duty at the Lipa District Hospital. I left home at 5:40 am and arrived at lipa at exactly 6:00am. I still had to wait for the others so that we could all go to LCDH at the same time to meet our Clinical Instructor. We arrived there 30 minutes earlier than the call time which was 6:45. I was early..or so I thought. Many students were already there together with their clinical instructors. I thought we were gonna be the first ones to arrive. Then we realized that we have different times. The hospital time was 30 minutes in advance, meaning, we were not early. We were almost late!!!! What the..??? What kind of place sets its clock 30 minutes in advance??? 5 minutes is okay but 30 minutes is "OA"

The good thing is that we weren't considered as late..plus, it wasn't our fault that we don't know the official hospital time. I just looked at the brighter side of it. The earlier we start, the earlier we finish.

Anyway, I forgot to mention the hospital part. The hospital doesn't look like a hospital at all! It was more like a construction site. I haven't seen the whole vicinity yet (we never had the time to get familiarized with the place) but I'm guessing that 60% of the hospital is under construction. There were hollow blocks and sacks of cement everywhere! Trucks carrying wood and gravel were parked outside the hospital. What a mess!!It was so unruly, not to mention the distracting sounds of the machineries. Not ideal for patients who are trying to recover. But that wasn't the worst part yet..inside the hospital is a different kind of mess. There were so many patients and the hospital can't accomodate them anymore. A lot of patients were already in the hallways! A typical scenario of a public hospital. There wasn't enough space to walk on to. There was poor ventilation so there was a mixed smell of sweat and urine that dominated the place. They didn't have enough hospital facilities so some of the patients in the hallways even had to bring their own beds and improvise their IV poles!! I know it's not polite to react but I really can't help myself! It's my first time so I was really shocked..not that I'm not aware of the condition in public hospitals, it's just that it was my first time to actually see one. What I don't understand is that most of the people working there, specially the nurses, don't seem to care. My partner said that maybe they are just used to that kind of situation..like it's normal to have a lot of patients staying in the hallway.

We didn't do much on our first day. We just attended the very boring orientation until 11 then we we're given a chance to have some nurse-patient interaction in the OB ward. We were only asked to do a physical assessment and initial examination on the patients but I still felt very nervous. We were brought to the ward and instead of assigning a patient to each of us, we were asked to pick our own. I picked the one in Bed F. Her name is Marissa Guab and she just gave birth to a baby boy (who was really cute, btw). She was really nice (thank God!) although the woman with her was kinda annoying. I think she was the girl's mother-in-law or something.

I kinda messed up with the arrangement of my Phys. exam and assessment and the notes I wrote weren't organized enough. But that's okay..the others had worse notes. hehe.. I interviewed the mother and I found out that she was admitted 3 days ago. She just had a normal spontaneous delivery so it means that she should only be confined for 24 hours. She said that she was supposed to be discharged yesterday but because they can't pay their bills yet, they still can't go home even if they wanted to. The longer they stay, the bigger they'll end up paying. She seemed so stressed and problematic but what can I do?? Kahit gaano kadaming beses ko syang kunan ng vital signs, wala akong magagawa sa problema nya..di ba? I wish I could help her get discharged but I felt helpless. I'm just new at this, and it's only my first day in the area. Until now, i still can't get that out of my mind. I felt this odd sympathy for that woman. And I can do nothing except to pray to God to help her get discharged.

This day has been very tiring to me even though I only handled one patient in the OB ward (well, it was actually two patients including the baby). I think I can handle the job, what I can't handle are my feelings. I become too attached to the patients. But that's just me. My mom said that I'll get used to it. I hope so coz it's really difficult if you keep on feeling sorry for all the patients there.

Okay..that's it for now. I still have to do homework.

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

tomorrow is the beginning of "the rest of my life"

wah. This is it. My first official hospital duty begins tomorrow.

Lipa City District Hospital. OB Ward. 6:45 am. With Dr. Anita Urbi RN, MAN, PhD

Is that scary or what??

The thing is, last friday, I was actually very excited at the thought of going on my first hospital duty. I can't wait. I want the weekends to be over (yeah, i know. can't believe i said that)

But now..I'm beginning to get a little bit anxious about tomorrow. No. Scratch that. I'm soo nervous. I don't want to make any mistakes tomorrow. Whether it's taking vital signs, bringing something to the laboratory, or whatever it is that nursing students do on their hospital duty. I know it's okay to make mistakes, specially for beginners like me..but tomorrow is just very special to me. It's my first taste of the "hospital life." I'm pretty sure that's something that I'll remember for the rest of my life...just like the first day of high school, or graduation. And I want to be able to look back to my first day of duty and say to myself that I did good.

Anyway..I'm also a bit disappointed to the groupings. It always happens. I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!

What is it, you ask??

Well, I'm always "malas" when it comes to groupings. Either I belong to the lamest group, the last group, the group with the ugliest topic, the group with the most difficult topic, or the group where I'm the loner. And unfortunately, this time, I'm the loner. Again. All my friends are together in one group.

"OMG, we belong to group 3" says one of my friends.

"Yeah, isn't it cool?" says another

"Aww, I'm with group 1. And as usual, I'm the only one left out,"

"That's okay. You'll have fun there. 'M' also belongs to your group" says another

"Anyway, we're gonna have so much fun! We'll be together for one whole year"

"Yey..fun! *rolls eyes*" (that's me, of course)

(This isn't the exact conversation we had. But it's similar to this)

*sigh*
I'm always left out. What have I ever done to deserve this??

But I guess I've already recovered from that. It was last month. And I know I'm gonna learn to love my group. Well I have to. It's permanent.

Anyway, my mom's pretty excited about it. I've already worn my white duty uniform twice but she's still crazy about how I looked like a real nurse in my uniform.

..oops! Gotta end this...Duty calls. Haha. Still have to finish packing my things for tomorrow.

I hope it all goes well.

Monday, July 13, 2009

stressed-out

BS Nursing is killing me!

Specially now that duty weeks have begun. And return demos are also piling up on us.

I suddenly don't know what I'm doing anymore. Last Friday, i had to do a demo on parenteral administration a.k.a. INJECTIONS..and my partner is just the unluckiest girl for having me as her partner. I totally messed up when I did an intramuscular route on her. She screamed in agony and I thought i was about to kill her with my gauge 23 needle. I turned her into a dartboard. I thought I knew what i was doing. The night before, i stayed up until the wee hours of the morning just so I could perfect my skills in injecting medications on a tomato. What a waste. I just wish I slept more. Oh God!!

That day was such a mess! Never in my life have I done something so drastic. The thing is, I'm not used being a mediocre person. I always strive for perfection. And I know I am a good student. I had the knowledge, but I lack the skills.

God help me.

I just want to finish this semester without killing somebody.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Wala ulit magawa

MY CURRENT LIFE IN 85 QUESTIONS:
1. What are your plans for tomorrow?
~ magpa X-ray para sa medical exam ko (requirement sa school)
`
2. Whose car were you in last?
~ can't remember
`
3. What perfume are you wearing ryt now?
~ none
`
4. What color shirt are you wearing?
~ white and green (old PE shirt ko)
`
5. How long is your hair?
~ loooong..I'm planning to have a haircut kya lng tinatamad pa ako
`
8. Last movie you watched?
~ Angels and Demons
`
9. Last thing you ate?
~ ice cream
`
10. Last thing you drank?
~ water
`
11. Where did you sleep last night?
~ my bedroom
`
13. Are you happy right now?
~ not so much..
`
14. What did you say last?
~ "magbibihis ako"
`
15. Where is your phone?
~ on the dresser
`
17. What color are your eyes?
~ black
`
18. When was the last time you had your heart broken?
~ feb 1, 2009
`
19. Who/what do you hate/dislike currently?
~ my stupid, boring, crappy SUMMER
`
22. What are you listening to?
~ yung intro ng grey's anatomy (nobody knows where they might end up..nobody knows...)
`
23. If you could have one thing right now what would it be?
~ A big fat scholarship (coz i really want to go to med school soooo badly)
`
24. What is your Favorite Store?
~ 7eleven? haha..hmmm..mga bookstores
`
25. Who makes you happiest right now?
~ my college and high school friends
`
33. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had?
~ red wine from my ninang's dinner party
`
34. When is your birthday?
~ september 26
`
36. Who was the last person to send you a text message?
~ raiza palomillo (Sg namin)
`
37. When is the last time you were in a swimming?
~ i can't remember!!! Waaaah! Months ago pa un e. Hindi pa ako nakakapag swimming ngayong summer. How's that for cool??? Told ya my summer sucks. La tym for swimming. May pasok eh. College sucks talaga!
`
39. Where was the last place you went shopping?
~ SM Lipa
`
40. How do you feel about your hair right now?
~ hate it. So long, so unruly, so thick. Hate it. I used to have it rebonded kya lang hndi na pwede ngayon kc I have to tie it in a bun (that's the rule).
`
41. Do you have expensive Jewelry?
~ yeah..i guess. I don't wear fake and plastic jewelry.
`
46. Where does most of your family live?
~ Batangas
`
47. Are you an only child or do you have siblings?
~ one annoying older sister. (I wish I had an older brother, not an older sister)
`
49. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
~ OMG! It's 9:26am! I overslept again! (hate it whe i oversleep. It gives me a headache)
`
50. Do you drink zagu?
~ yup. I used to drink zagu all the time! As in after school (nung high school)
`
52. Friendster or Myspace?
~ fs
`
54. What is your favorite subject in school?
~ Anatomy...suuuper favorite! Best subject i've ever taken. I wanna take it again nga eh. Very interesting kasi. The thing is, i'm pretty good at it! =D
`
57. Do you have any talents?
~ yeah, i guess. Magdrawing?? haha..mejo. But if there's something I'm really good at, it's gotta be GIFTWRAPPING. Haha...seriously. I'm good at it. Mind-blowingly good. Talent ba un??
`
58. Have you ever been in a wedding?
~ naman! xempre oo.
`
60. Did you take a nap today?
~ unfortunately..no. I tried but my sister and her friends are practicing their dance outside. Malapit lang sa bedroom. It's so annoying nga e. I kept heearing the same freakin' song over and over again. Major LSS!
`
61. Ever met someone famous?
~ yes
`
63. Do you want to be famous one day?
~ oo..mejo. haha.. I wanna be a famous columnist..haha
`
65. Are you multitasking right now?
~ oo..
`
66. Could you handle being in the army?
~ hell no! They'd kick me out in less than a week. That's for sure. Hindi ko ata kaya physically
`
67. Do you believe in Karma?
~ yes. Even though i don't want to.
`
68. What color are your nails right now?
~ fingernails: parang glazed pink. I dunno the name kc hiniram ko lang ung nailpolish sa tita ko. Sa paa, wala.
`
69. highlight of your week?
~ nothing in particular....haha...hmmm, meron pala. Ung medical at physical examination ko sa isang araw. haha...

71. Ever been to another continent?
~ not yet
`
72. Ever been to Las Vegas?
~ not yet
`
74. Have you ever tried gambling?
~ a bit..ung katuwaan lang pero may nakataya...haha
`
75. When was the last time you updated your blog?
~ ngayon. haha
`
76. Have you been to New York City?
~ not yet, but i want to. I've always wanted to live there
`
78. Do you have a favorite cartoon character?
~ piglet
`
82. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone?
~ i put my emergency money inside my phone. As in dun sa loob ng housing. That's ridiculous!
`
83. Last time you were sick?
~ can't remember
`
84. Do you like anyone right now?
~ yes..
`
85. Do you think anyone will repost this?
~ i guess..

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Summer Sucks!

okay..first of all, I'm very sorry for leaving this thing hanging for quite some time now. haha..exactly one month since i last updated this blog.

Anyway, probably all of you have already made a lot of wonderful memories for this summer. Well, good for you. Me? Nah!


I HAVE CLASSES!!!!


No, it's not what you're thinking! I don't have a failing grade whatsoever. I'm spending my summer at school because it's a freakin' requirement! Gaaah! Well, I think it's called the third semester. That's weird because only DLSU and CSB have third semesters.

Disadvantages of summer classes:

1. All work and no play
2. I'm the only person who wears uniform during april and may
3. PHYSICS!! (yeah, we actually have to take this up. What does it have to do with medicine by the way???)
4. Still have to wake up at 5 am
5. I always get left behind whenever mywhole family goes on a vacation
6. PEOPLE THINK I FAILED A SUBJECT!! (what the heck! I never fail anything!!)
7. We're the only people in the whole campus! Some courses do't have a third semester
8. Instead of spending my time watching grey's anatomy online, i get to spend it practicing for demos
9. HOMEWORK!!
10. My class starts at 7:30am and ends at 6:45pm. And believe it or not, we only have a 30-min,. and 15-min. break!!!!


well..there are also other advantages:

1. I get to hang out with my friends during classes. We never really pay much attention to the prof specially on Logic and Critical thinking. Haha..easy peasy..

2. ALLOWANCE!

3. at least we don't have to spend 5 LOOOOONG years in college. We can finish it up in 4 years. Haha..


Okay..so that's about it.


Hope you enjoy your summer!


Mejo kailangan ko muna mag-aral for my demo tomorrow.







-pat