Click [Pharma]

I accepted the task to compile outputs from the SGD and make a powerpoint presentation out of them. It was my first time to assist the presenter by manning the slides show. I can say such work is not simple as what clicking for the next slide seems to be. Edge as the reporter has his heartbeats on the rise but it seemed that my heartbeat was also racing with his. Once I deplored such task because of its tedious nature. I just realized that a presenter and the powerpoint maker should be separate but should help each other especially in the fluency of the report. I remember my mistake when I was in second year: presenting a case,  the script and powerpoint slides of which were all my toil. I was ashamed to request for a script then or ask someone to make a powerpoint presentation for me, thinking that I can make it just the way I presented my undergrad thesis. But in medicine, that kind of strategy will not usually work. There’s a lot to think of and talk about that would make a single trying-hard jack-of-all-trades lose his sanity. Maybe when the time comes that we already mastered our topics like the consultants, we can click on our own.

Chin Up

We had our patient in Rheuma today named JDR. His story is one of those noteworthy and life-changing albeit common stories we read on articles or watched on TV. Why I am writing this entry is because he is my first encounter with people who had a hundred-eighty-degree turn from their dark past. I learned that from his psychosocial history of illicit drugs use, alcoholism, and cigarette smoking. Everything started to change to when he started to feel the symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory disease of the spine causing immobility. When we were talking to him, I was also trying to visualize how he was way back his younger years when his life was a mess, how he was prone to commit crimes and how he was being reined back to the right path by his loved ones.

God saved him. That is more obvious when he shared to us in a comfortable manner that Jesus was his source of his disposition.

The above title is not meant to make fun of his hyperextended neck. It is more of telling us to have a positive outlook in life.

In Front Again [ROR]

Today deserves a blog because I was able to report in front of the block and a consultant. I was tasked to present the clinical diagnosis of a paper case based on a short history and PE findings. It would not be possible without the help of my groupmates especially in drafting my script. I know that I am not a good public speaker based from the previous years. Thus, in my perseverance to hone my speaking skills, I accepted the assignment of discussing avascular necrosis, which Jhing asked of me. That means feeling again that “parang mamamatay ka na” kind of palpitation, stutter, uncontrolled rate of speech, mispronunciation, pressured thought, butterflies in the stomach and/or gagging, unexpected clumsiness, and awkward stares in front of me. Nevertheless, I think I dealt with the situation fair enough. With good preparation and several practices, deep breathing, personal rituals/exercise, positive attitude and faith in God, I believe will be surpassing similar future tasks. By the way, while going to the conference room, one significant thought came to my mind. The day is another ordinary day for most people, but to me, it is one of the days that I need to prove something. At the end of the report, another thought came to my mind. Never deviate from what you have prepared even if there is a lot of distractions.