The PBL

Sorry for the "irregularly irregular" in updates recently. (for those not in the know, that phrase is used to describe pulses!) Well, a med student's life is never that free, ain't it? Been busy as a bee lately. Not to mention s.t.r.e.s.s.! *starts pulling hair tradition*

Wondering why? yesh, I know, our exam just finished last friday too. Well, the obvious wud be pointing fingers towards my first PBL 2 in GI... with none other than Htin Aung as a fasci!! *gasps*

To be truthful, it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. But then I have been told that I've a vivid imagination that I tend to use towards pessimism. Anyway, although it wasn't that bad, it wasn't that good either, but it could have been worse. (getting confused? Let's just say I rate it as moderate, but I definitely could do with some improvement.)

Anyway, I was really uber stressed the night before, been preparing for this for quite a few nights. So stressed out that my normally nice smooth face was suddenly invaded by a few acute-onset pimples! Ish. I know, silly me. Well, at least now I know a considerable lot abt esophageal diseases now! lol.

Alright, I confess, I did a solid good preparation for almost everything except anatomy. Was alsolutely stressed out that I was like "to hell with the anatomy of the pharnyx, tongue and mouth"! I figured that I'd know enough to cheat my way by.

Alas, it was not to be. Apparently a lot of that knowledge had somehow trickled out of my dumb brain. And as I'd NOT have it, I was quite unfortunately chosen to present the anatomy of the pharynx to the group (which coincidentally consist of two PBL group that were merged, totalling to more than 20 ppl!). And presenting something that I'm not very sure of to so many ppl was definitely not an appealing idea. No way.

And I didn't have the presence of mind to keep my composure. I'm pretty sure that I was visibly-as-humanly-possible-nervous. (well, public speaking ain't my strong point, so cut me some slack here!) I'd have been better if I'd known the subject. Anyway, thks a bunch to Dejun for lending me his notes, real life-saver! Arigato!! ^o^

Anyway, thks to my nervousness, I had to confuse btw oropharnyx and nasopharnyx. -_-" Everyone probably think I'm a fool by now. yeah. Okay, I'm just exaggerating but stillll...

I think Htin Aung let me off coz he saw how nervous I was. I know that's pathetic of me.. but what to do. I promise myself I'll work myself even harder, next time! Anyway, I think I managed to redeem myself a little bit by venturing answers here and then & managing to answer the one question he threw at me alone. Due to my suggestion that myaesthenia gravis can cause dysphagia in the first PBL. Thank god I was able to answer that one coherently enough. I probably managed to convince him that at least I wasn't an idiot. Or have the intelligence of a low-life amoeba. Riiight.

Besides, he sure was more strict with some of my other group members. Kelian. Hope next time will be better ya! Smilez! =)

After poking fun at myself for the heck of it (it's essential to maintain a sense of humour to keep oneself sane, you know), I declare that PBL for once was really informative. Learnt loads from him. Well, at least he's intimidating enough to force me to down tons of info in preparation for PBL. yeah. I foresee a crazy 6 weeks with him. I'd survived the first, that leaves another 5 weeks. [so do pardon me if there are less updates within this period okay]

Anyway, I'll try to do a better preparation for the next few helluva weeks, and yesh, not excluding anatomy. Everythang.

As he'd always say: "Would you let me treat your mother (or insert any close family member you can think of) if I only know 60% of what I know now?"

The correct response was of course a shake of heads.

But truth to be told, what he is saying is true. I'd not want to be a half-past-six doctor if I could help it. Although he have lots of droll interesting stories to tell us of when he were in our shoes, at least he inspired us, or me at the very least, to study and amass more knowledge. *fired up*

PS: Myasthenia Gravis is a disease that affects mainly striated skeletal muscle. So it causes dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing) coz it can affect the upper 1/3 of the esophagus plus upper esophageal sphincter which consists of that sort of muscle.

PPS: Two PBL groups were merged becoz his wife was busy with some uni event. I think they are a funnily cute couple. lol. Btw, his way of doing PBL is that we prepare ALL topics and then he will randomly pick one of us to present. And he gave us so many topics too! (yeah I'm sucha whiner :P)

PPPS: Htin Aung is a great teacher, I'd not give any less praise than that. Can you believe that he read Gray's Anatomy a mind-blowing total of 32 times?! o.O And he has a fren that has read the whole Robbin's an unimaginable total of 37 times! *OMFG*

PPPPS: Went out to destress on thursday night after a crazy three hours of PBL (note: double the normal length). Kee and I went to Sunway to have dinner at Kim Gary (luv it! besides got to use the discount voucher!) and catch Sunshine the movie. The movie was pretty good, I like it, altho it got a bit too gory for my liking at the ending. I might blog abt it sometime. These precious nights out are just too few in btw.

PPPPPS: Am back in penang while typing this post. For less than 48 hours though sadly. Going back tmr morning for more crazy studying! :T Could have had 1 extra day if only the time for PBL could be changed. *sigh* Well, at least I'd sufficiently recharged during this short trip. I slept more than humanly possible imo anyway. There's no place like HOME~! :D