Wednesday, March 11, 2009

What next??!!??

Ah well... here I am again. And with nothing better to do than sit at home, watch TV & sleep (as though there could be anything better than this!), I decided to think over my specialization choices once again.
The list definitely needs to be refreshed.

One thing's for sure, it'll have to be a medical branch & not a surgical one.
-With my clumsy fingers, I'll manage to cut the appendix in a cholecystectomy operation.
-Then, I don't really like to care about the minor precise details. So what if I cut an artery or a nerve.
-All the blood & smell turns me off.

So for the branches:

Paediatrics: Yay for the IAP Paediatrics Quiz! I got my interest into this branch after I'd studied loads of syndromes for the quiz. & I even enjoyed it! Now that is not something that happens everyday!
I like to study about these congenital defects & all these Pediatric situations more than any other subject.
I like the small instruments thwy have for the neonates. & the li'l X-rays are nice too :)
Genetic diseases have always been in my area of interest even since the pre-med days.
Then these cute li'l kid patients tend to attract me to the field.
*Although my experiences with them in the past two exams have been slightly less than good. In the Pre-Univ prac, the kid, 3y/o male, was a happy little fellow while I got history from his mom. He had the chocolates I'd got him, played around with my steth, decided to bang around with the hammer. But the moment I touched him for examination, he decided that I was not a nice person anymore & started to cry! He wailed pretty much throughout the exam & did not allow me to examine anything more than two lung areas.
Pretty much a similar story followed in the Univ Pracs too! The kid, 2y/o male, was fine till the inspection part, but started crying the moment I touched him. Then there was no stopping him! He cried everytime I got near him or his Grandma. This one even had temper tantrums & rolled on the floor!!! Boy, I couldn't even do the anthropometry right!
So basically these two incidents have me doubting my ability of dealing with the young lot. I guess they're put off by my presence!! :( *

But still, peds is on the list. I'll finally decide on it after my intern posting in Peds.


Obs/Gyn: Since the last list, where O&G topped with a hu-uge margin, its gone down so deep, that it'll be tough to get it back on the charts.
This is all thanks to the fetal pelvis and maternal skull (..or whatever!!). I mean, it seems stupid to me to make this whole hue & cry over li'l centimetre or two. And with stubby fingers like mine (yeah! the endomorph..i knoww), it'll be hard reaching the sacral promontery in any damn pelvis! So then, all maternal pelvis-es (is that correct??) will be nice and adequate if the doctor is yours truly.
And my experiances with Obs says that however much I try learning, I'll never get my cms right. Even if I do, the I, ermm, am not that good at assessing measurements. (Those who really know me can testify for that.. :/)
Managing malpresentations & malpostions is not my cup 'f tea. Add to it, those manouvers & protocols, & hey, you lost me.
Most imprtantly, I am not made to manage emergencies. Hell, you might need a bed for me by the patient's side, if I'm asked to singularly control a haemorrhaging third trimester bleed!

Then there's this thing about Gynae. I mean after reading it all, I still think that the Gyanecs give OCPs & progesterone for any damn disease! The entire list is like 10 drugs & they keep shuffling b/w those for all pathologies. C'mon, I need more variety than that! (I know this is a stupid reason to write down, but hey, it was bothering me!)


Neurology: Ahem, its very quickly climbing up to the top of my list. The only hurdle is that I'll have to do a PG in Med to do Neuro... & that means studying Cardio!! Now those who aren't aware of my realtionship with everyone's-favourite-oh-so-good Cardio....Well... I HATE IT!!! Those tiny ECG scrawls, the similar murmurs, the lub-dub of the heart...& everyone's infatuation with cardiology, makes me dislike it even more.
Anyways, back to Neuro.
I like doing a neurological examination.
I like how precise everything is. I mean a UMN lesion...exaggerated jerks & extensor plantar. LMN....absent reflexes with flexor plantar. Add a UMN & LMN as in SACD, & u get extensor plantar with absent jerks. How calculated is that!! :) :D Its like organised clockwork.
Btw, even as I'm writing this, my interest in Neuro is increasing.
Then, those problem solving classes in Neuro were fun. I like that kind of a thing. U get facts, and u deduce an answer. No messing around with the type of sound, its pitch & quality!


I'll end halfway thru coz now I'm bored of typing.
Will write more if & when I decide to think further.

13 comments:

  1. Wow, unlike you, I can't imagine doing anything BUT surgery. And failing med clinics makes me even MORE sure :P.
    Comm. med is the next choice... i know most ppl don't like it but it was one of my favorite subjects!
    Aw, that fetal skull and dummy pelvis.. ARGH! Hate that! I would NEVER do OBG even if i have to wait another year :) .. good luck with your options!

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  2. wow! surgery & community med.... that's a diverse list...
    hey..good luck with surgery. have fun cutting up pple.. ;)

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  3. hi girl, u have a nice blog and i see that u love the tv show friends, me too . am the admin of www.jokesmuseum.blogspot.com . saw ur comment and just thought i'd say hi. bye and have a nice day.

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  4. Very well reasoned, indeed!
    I'm really happy to see Pediatrics at the top. Don't worry about kids being noisy and being uncooperative. Think of vets - at least kids don't have fangs and claws!
    You write well -- I've been reading your other posts. As you can guess, I'm a pediatrician myself. Passed out from SNMC and Umed Hosp for Children and Women.
    Keep writing, and cheers!
    Parang.

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  5. @parang boss..
    for firsts, its really good to know that someone from SNMC is actually onto blogosphre..& reading my blog.. :)
    & right now, am posted at Peds. Well.. what dyu know.. I'm considering it all over again.
    Pple have snubbed my neuro thing for the moment by making me realise that the treatment part is really less in the field.Its all about diagnosing & telling the patient 'dude, you got this disease & we ain't got no treatment for it!'

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  6. Hi !

    Actually I was surprised because I almost have the same list in my mind!

    Pedia is great! I love it, and it's very rewarding when you see a child improving and got his/her smile back!

    Neurology is very interesting but I've always had a concern regarding the lack of treatment options, you know so much but can't do anything for the patient. On the other hand is branch is a great opportunity for research work. There still a lot of things to discover.

    I was thinking of combining both!
    Why not Paediatric Neurology??

    I'm thinking of that seriously but what we said about neurology is more clear in peadiatric neurology, it's frustrating to see all these children with untreatable conditions!

    Great blog.. keep it up :)

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  7. ODGY definitely sucks.. .so does neurology.. i never used to understand the neurology examination and predicting where is the lesion n all..
    but rite now ive chosen a subject, where u have to study all of these ... :(
    nwz hows life?? whts up dese days??

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  8. @ Dr.Mood... wow its a surprise to know that someone else shares the same interests in subjects as me.. Coz all my pals out here seem to hate neurology/peds!!
    But these days, as I have my posting in Peds, I'm enjoying it thoroughly. Turns out all kids don't hate me *yay*..
    & its really a satifying thing to make a kid smile!! :) So inclined towards Peds now..Altho Ped/Neuro has been in my mind for a long time... But if I go for Peds I'll decide b/w Neuro/Endo/Heamt...
    Lets see..

    Btw: At what stage of deciding on branches are you??? Would love to know your decision...

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  9. @shashi: What are u upto these days??
    I started with internship...

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  10. Five reasons to choose Pediatrics

    1. You like to cure patients. The child with severe pneumonia you admit in the ICU today will be sitting up and trying to pull his IV line

    out. On Day 2 he'll be running around the ward, destroying everything he can reach.

    2. You like challenges. The challenge of diagnosing uncommunicative patients, the challenge of treating reluctant medicine-takers,

    the challenge of examining a patient in the cacophony created by a child crying and the parents trying to make him stop...

    3. You like honest patients. When they say their tummy hurts, it's because their tummy hurts. It's not because of college exams, a

    tough boss at work, a difficult mother-in-law at home.

    4. You like to see the gratitude in parents' eyes when their child gets well. Even if it is ephemeral.

    5. You like kids.


    Five reasons to not choose Pediatrics

    1. You like money. Pediatrics is the least lucrative of the specialties.

    2. You like peaceful nights and undisturbed weekends.

    3. You like respectful, cooperative patients.

    4. You like patients that keep coming back to you. Forever.

    5. You do not like kids.

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  11. @dr.parang: lol!!! according to that i should be totally anti-pediatrics!!!
    lolz!! lets see how it works out then with crying kids and an impatient doctor!

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  12. Hi Arps,this is Karan.
    First of all congrats for such a nice blog.U really write well.Its great to know that u like Neuro.I am the biggest fan of Neurology there can be.I would just like to say that those who say that there is no treatment in neuro live in the 19th century.ok lets take
    Stroke
    Epilepsy
    Headache including Migraine
    Peripheral Neuropathies
    the above 4 diseases constitute 90% of Neuro n all are completely curable.
    Its only the neurodegnerative dzs which dont have a complete cure but very good treatment options.
    n as I think u r goin for mle let me tell u that Neurology in US has great fellowship opportunities like stroke,Intervention Neurology,Epilepsy,Sleep,Pain,Neuromuscular to name a few.
    If u have interest in Neuro my advise wud be to go for it this is one branch where many people are not comfortable with but those who have interest really love it!!
    all the best n ya r u aiming for 2011 match?

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  13. Hai Arps!..
    Congratulations on being matched in child neurology. Reading your description on Neurology gives mea high anytime. It was something i fell in love before i fell in love with anything else!.. Weird but true. I love for its really organised and no matter how good you think you are you can never really say 100% right about neurology coz human brain is god by itself. it immense capabilities are trivial to what we know of today.

    ReplyDelete

=)

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