The Brain Doctor

Hello people!

If you're a person who doesn't know me in real life or on Twitter, then, hey thanks for checking in! A lot has happened since I last wrote.

BRAAAAAIN!

One of the biggest decisions of my professional life has been made. I know where I'll end up for the next five years, and how I'll come out of it. Yes, I now have a Residency position at one of my top choices! And that too, exactly in the specialty that I wanted to go in--- Pediatrics Neurology! :D

This blog played a HUGE part in my choice, since some of my readers here introduced me to the field of Child Neurology in the first place! Then doing an elective in the same furthered hammered the interest in!
In one of those earlier posts I had mentioned how I loved the academic part of Neurology -- the lesions and the localisations *swoon*; but wanted to become a kiddie doctor-- well, safe to say Peds Neuro fulfills both wishes! A dream come true. Yes.

Magical!

Dream, reminds me, I also managed to catch a trip to Disneyworld after the interviews! Had a FANTASTIC time!! All thanks to the family I have here!! :D

Also, I just finished with the USMLE Step3 exam today. And can only hope to pass. (Please pray for me. Thanks.)

As you can see I have loose associations and am in almost a hypomanic state today, I'll end this post here.

Bye bye USMLE! (hopefully!)

But I need to write a couple of pending posts. Those shall happen soon. Just, not right now.
x




PS: Oh, I just realised.. one of my best friends is getting married in a couple of hours! Too bad I can't be there! But I wish K and A the very best for their new life together!! Love you, K! (even though I'm sure neither of them will read the blog in a million years! )


Image Credit for IMG1: Gray's Anatomy for Students: One of the best anatomy books. Ever!

Hiatus

I have been neglecting the blog for quite some while now (umm.. over three months!). While I apologize for it, I would also like to tell y'all the couple of excuses that I have lined up for the neglect :P

1. Microblogging: Twitter has taken over my blogging (for now). Now days, anything remotely interesting that happens in life is reported instantly on Twitter, rather than waiting to write on the blog later. Even things that I am wondering about, missing, enjoying or need to decide on are posted on Twitter for instant decisions.
Must say, I've met quite a few fantastic (and some not-so-fantastic-yet-interesting) people via the microblogging site. :)
I tweet as @drarps by the way.

2. Laziness: Yes, I've admitted to this before and I'll say it again-- I am a lazy blogger. (I still have the Birthday post to finish -- which I can't actually do for another couple of months since I don't have the clues with me as I travel)

Which brings us to point three:
3. Travel: I have been traveling quite a bit in the past two months. If you think it would provide quite some fodder for the blog, you are correct!
I've had my share of mishaps and incidents, (been lost in a strange city, seen some amazing places, spent more than the average person's share at the airport, traveled in a bus where a physical fight broke out at 3 in the night! etc.) but I've seriously been pretty busy planning out the routes and flights, to keep up with the blog.
Again, all these incidents were taken out of my system by ranting on twitter.

4. Exam-lessness: As is natural, the quantity of blogging ideas (and will to publish them), is inversely proportional to the amount of time on hand. Therefore, I blog most often when I am preparing for an exam and am constantly stuck with books.
Technically, I have an exam to prepare for even now, but I haven't been studying for it (why: see point #3). So, I guess for me, no exam= no blogging.


Well, my excuse list ends here. I agree these are pretty lame, but this is all I have for now. Maybe one day I'll become more responsible towards the blog and write more often. Till then I leave you with these pictures that show how I've been the past three months--

(Keep praying for me. Okay?)

And where have I been? Here mostly.

Also, while I end the excuse post, I'll leave you to read the pick of posts on the blog-
Making of a Doctor - First post after the first day of clinical posting.
Best-est teacher in the world - (Clearly it wasn't one of my English teachers! :P)
Test-imony- One of the most hilarious stories I heard in med school! (<--MUST READ!!) Also in line, mono-phonic thinking!

Happy Holidays! :)

Just dropping in a line to wish y'all a Merry Christmas! :)

Happy Holidays!

Rihints

Do you have any of those little quirks that you never seem to get rid of?

One of mine is 'Rihints'

As a kid, once I was down with a nasty cold.

[If you've ever had a really bad cold (-which you probably have-duh!), then you might remember that one of the most infuriating things about this common-cold, is that constant lacrimation occurring unilaterally.]

So then, I asked my dad for some medicine for those tears. He being doctor, gave me a cold medicine that was meant to 'Combat Rhinitis'.

Now as a kid of about ten years, I read it as 'rihints' ...(Note: R-I-H-I-N-T-S) and decided that it was a term used for those tears running down my face. (Maybe it was because of the blurry vision due to the "rihints"??)

..And rihints they have been ever since.

One good thing happened because of my silly error of reading. I got a term to describe that incessant lacrimation when you have a common-cold.

___________

Okay that was essentially the most useless story ever.

But what the heck, I wanted to post a new story for the pretty green template, and just decided to go on with whatever sprung to mind.

Hopefully some better stuff to come in the near future.

PTSD

The exam I'd been dreading the past few months is over!

Yes. Done with it.

And now I'm scared shit about the results.

So we won't talk about that anymore.

As for my life, well, I've been just relaxing since the past few days. Of course, its difficuilt to have too much fun when all of your friends are studying for one exam or the other. So its been mostly me, watching a lot of movies and just surfing the net. Haven't even started on the TV binge yet.

Which reminds me, why is it that when you have an exam coming up, you make lists of all these wonderful things you'll do once it is over, but as soon as, the beast has passed, you just lose interest!

Before the exam, I had to restrain myself from spending hours reading blogs and articles, but post-exam... ehh...nothing! (In fact today is the first time I returned to even my blog, after four full days of doing nothing. So have a lot of catching up to do here.. esp in terms of reading.)

I had this whole list of things I wanted to watch/read/do planned out, but ...nah..not anymore!

So maybe the things-to-do-post-exam are actually just defence mechanisms to distract me from the scary reality of the upcoming exam and loads of syllabus.

And another thing that I've noticed is that medical students are born to take exams.

We are programmed this way.

We crib, and we crib... starting months before the exam, but the when on the other side, there this feeling of actually being 'too free'. Every now and then I get this jolt in my tummy, reminding me that I've got to study.. and when I realise the fact that no, I really don't have to study at this point of time, I get a weird sense of apprehensiveness over the sheer unnaturality (if that's actually a word!) of the situation.

Ah well, I guess that's what Medicine is all about.

PS: Writing this post, has brought back those shivers over the thoughts of all the questions I got wrong. Sigh. *Do not in any way ask/tell/talk/mention my past exam. You are welcome to talk about yours*

PPS: Apparently I am incapable of writing about anything besides padhai (and cribbing about it!) these days. I'd started off with something else in mind (writing some sort of list maybe), but landed up ranting about the exam. Oh well.

Enough about me.

How have you been the past two months?

Cheers!

Arps

That's Me :)

So Says The Wise Owl

I came across this article about sleep-wake cycles yesterday.

According to this article some people function best in the mornings, while others do so at night. It is biologically set into their bodies.

Excerpts:

"If you have a hard time crawling out of bed in the morning, it could be that your body is biologically programmed to start the day later.

Experts say a spectrum of natural sleeping and waking rhythms exists, ranging from extreme morning people to extreme night owls."

"That may be because evening people show increased motor cortex and spinal cord excitability in the evening, about 9 p.m., meaning they had maximal central nervous system drive at that time, Lagerquist said.

Although night owls may maximize their strength in the evening, they are at a serious disadvantage if they have to compete in the morning."

This news could not have come at a better time for me.

Since the past 3 days, I've been trying to work my body clock into going 'early to bed and early to rise', but have been failing miserably!

Here's my story:

You see up until last week, I had gotten into this habit of going to sleep in the early hours of the morning and then waking up past noon. So, as everyone says that you're supposed to wake up early, I started feeling guilty about it all.

Then I decided, that if I've got to study, the circadian rhythm must be changed. Hence, the effort.

But then, the day I started to work on my new schedule, I ceremoniously closed down all my books before 0200. Now, since I had nothing to do, with not a wink of sleep in sight, I started browsing the net, visiting blogs and random sites and what not! And lo behold, before I knew it, it was already past 0500!!

What a sheer waste of what could've been a productive night! (well, it was intended for a good cause! :D)

Then came the waking up part!

The next day, to make sure I stuck to schedule, I woke up at 1000 (an early morning for me!) But by 1200, I was already snoozing over books and before I knew it, there I was cozy in bed sleeping for a full 3hrs!

This was not right! Frigging-not-it-was!!!

Well, continued on the same lines, hoping in vain, that one of these days, I'd sleep early, and then have a full day ahead of me the next morning... Trying. Trying. Trying some more. (Wasted three whole nights for the cause!)

But this person I was trying to turn into was not me.

I'm an owl-person and function best at night. (I used to think this 'being a night/morning person' was bull crap- but by personal experience I'd say, its true.) Everyone has his own productive hours-and mine happen to be into the night.

My cognition abilities are at their lowest in the morning hours, with a lot of time going into doing even the easiest of topics. (This is especially true, if I don't get those eight hours of sleep :D) The body has a way of telling me when am up too early (without enough sleep)- it hurts, I yawn, mind buzzes, myalgias- its like a withdrawl syndrome even without doing drugs!*

Thenforth, for my own good, I've gone back on my decision, and will now be seen up and studying at night. ( Although, just kick my ass if you see me wandering aroung on the net, will ya!)

PS: All this time browsing for the past days, I've added a new tweak to the sidebar. Check out the 'Label Cloud' :) Had to do some HTML editing, which was a first for me, so I'm really proud of my work here.

:D

*This withdrawl holds true only for mundane things like sitting down to study! Not so-much-so apparent for other activities.

Cell-ing Through The Ages

I just realised, I need a new phone. But no one's ready to buy me one. And with my...littli-ish stipend, I don't think I can afford one in the near future.

So right now just reminising on the all the mobile phones I've had till date.

2002: Grade 10: My first mobile. Well, actually it was pa's, but I got to keep it, since he never used it, and I went alone to the tution class :)

It was some ancient Siemens model. Had a display screen with some 2-3 lines and a crass sounding ringtone. It was never really a favorite with me.

Well, the charges of mobile services were sky-high back then. Forget about the 'free SMSes' that we have today. I think even incoming was charged! Haw. Lived in the stone age, didn't we, back then.

2003: Grade 11: My first 'official' mobile. Oh! It was heaven!

[I actually conned me dad into buying it. The old cell kinda broke down. Now, although I had no real need for a cell,I talked to dad over the phone and made a huge deal out of it. Ha! got permission to buy a new one, then and there. *I'm rotten to the core, I know :D*]

It was a beautiful Nokia. It had a blue body and hold-your-breath....a color screen. The best part were the polyphonic ringtones. Can you believe it *polyphonic*! Wow! So, now I did not have to listen to those crass mono-tones. It even had GPRS! (of course I could use it only after changing services to Hutch..)

[And with Hutch came the everfamous 'FnF' service that has survived all changes, and stands tall till today :)]

So with GPRS in hand, there I was downloading zillions of ringtones (polyphonic, yes) and some games (ermm..they cost like 50 bucks each, so didn't spend as much on them!)

I remember I even downloaded that FRIENDS theme song ringtone, that people refused to recognise instantly!

Also, this mobile was the central subject of the legendary 'mobile-episode' at Neeta's place (Shw, Shilps and Neeta have it etched in their memories. Oh yes they do!! :D :D)

But this cell lasted a year or so, until I got selected into Med School! Ha! Another excuse for upgrading.

2004: May: Got the new Nokia 3660. It was a beautiful thing with a 1.3 Mpx camera. Oye. This was the cell that got me nice and hooked to GPRS. Browsed the net like there was no tomorrow. There was unlimited browsing at just 100bucks a month.

Around this time, the HPmania was at its peak. Made a number of hardcore HP pals and WAP pages (yes, there's no typo here-for the uninitiated, WAP is the mobile version of a webpage). There was 'Firebolt' (yours truly's page), 'The Three Broomsticks' and more! It was HP heaven for lil ol me :) My mobile became my best pal, and I churned out hours ans hours worth of stuff on the phone.

And then there was MMS. The phase reached its hilt somewhere in the middle of first year. What fun we had with that!! Sending each other random pics a nd lon---ng notes, in those dreary summers of the First yr exams. (those epic notes from SARS! :) and those crazy pics in the middle of the night-that were meant to scare me, but landed up making me laugh no end!) Oh! MMS was undoubtedly the ultimate source of timepass in those days.

Well, GPRS was also the coolest thing, since hey, I did not need a medical dictionary ever in my med school life. The cell was there, net was there, and, voila!

2006: Jan: Got me a new N-70. Okay. It was for Pa. But then....

Anyways, like I was saying, my new cell was the high end gadget in those days. It was soo much better than the ancient 3660. Had all the cool features with an awesome camera.

Annnd it came at about the nest time. When clicking pics was the new fad, with zillions of pix being taken each semester. Every activity was clicked.

Then, Hutch decided to bestow upton us the magic of free SMSes. Hah! Every little thing was messaged. Forwards came down from e-mails to mobile. (oaky, i admit it was fun initially, but now its just repetition people!!)

2008: But then came Final, and everyone forgot about pics and fun. Though the same cell was still in use for the GPRS (the best thing since sliced bread)...to browse social networks and medical resources.

The charisma of a high end mobile was absent last year, since I had no need for it. That might've been coz I was too busy studying (?). I evidently had no major use of cell besides browsing the net and SMSing (..and sometimes talking) back then. But people, now is a different story.

(PS: Statistically speaking, this was the year for me to get a new mobile anyway! ;D)

2009: Come 2009, and I've been craving for a new mobile. There's just one glitch. Ermm, no one's willing to buy me one.

PS:If any kind soul wants to buy me an iPhone, I got just two words for you -Do It!!

:)

Long Time No Blog

Haven't written on the blog for a long time since I really did not have much to put out. With college over, drag PSM postings- that we don't even have to go to most of the time, and dredgeries of trying to study for the USMLE, my life's been more of a series of merely surfing the net and sleeping.

Still, all these days have not gone wasted. I got a lot of paperwork done from the college and teachers. Heck! It really sweats you out going time and again for the same kinda stuff over n over again. (And its more of mental exhaustion, where I get an excuse to not study, and sleep away :P)

Then again, another thing I did was, finish watching Grey's anatomy (Season-5) -thanks to Shilpi for unintentionally sending me the online link to the show- I went on to waste almost one precious week waiting for the episodes to buffer and watching them, back to back!! I can really get addicted to a thing, and then its impossible to let go of it till I finish it off (... mind you, it has NEVER been this way for studies!!-its really amazing how my mind can siphon out only those things that are bound to waste time and make me feel guily later on!) But, now that I'm done with the show, I'm a happy person. No more Grey's anatomy as-a-distraction for me :D

Then the last two days have been heavy on the immunity. Had acute urticaria the other day, followed by a bout of rhinitis (..or 'rihintz' for some ;) ) with the eyes and nose running a constant drip. Feeling a lot better health wise now.

Although a mar has been put on the feel-good by the sudden realisation of how little I've studied in the past 10days!! :(

My prep..ermmm..it has been a slow and shoddy affair till now! With just about 3months left to the exam, I still haven't done my first read! Was supposed to finish it by 15th June (ie today!!!), and still have massive amounts of course left!!

*hyperventilates*

Just got a bit serious towards studies 2 days back. Have been doing Physio (one of my least fav subjects!), and realised that they've actually taught zilch at college in the general phys area of the subject. (It might be coz of my sucky memory, but I have a feeling that whatever I studied these days in general physio, sounded completely new!!)

CVS was on shaky lands.

Respi...ermm.. although haven't done it yet, I sure that what I have left of from my first yr knowledge, there'll be massive gaps to fill in there too!

Acid-base give me the shudders!

Only endocrinolgy seems to be good enough with the first yr stuff!

Its a good thing I got around to finally doing the subject, rather than leaving it out of the curriculum.

As for the other subs: If Physio doesn't do it, Biochem is definitely gonna kill me.

Anatomy and BS, not sure how much I know of it, till I do some Qbanks.

Micro...need revision revision..!!

Path..not too shaky, just need to adjust the loose ends a bit.

Hah! Forgot Pharma there.. Goes to show how much I've studied the damn subject! X(

Anyway, my rants about the prep end here. And, I finally got a new post on the blog (however uninteresting it might be!)

PS: Please pray for me!! Pray that I study!

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.

Freedom!!

Ah! So I finally finished Final Yr y'day.. & can assure you - I don't care how bad they were- I'm just glad that the exams are over!!

I've been giving exams on & off since last November!! First the medicine tutorials, then PUCs (which lasted for almost a month!!), then the whole set of Univs & finally the University decided that we did NOT deserve a break...so they lined up the practicals..!!!

Actually I've so gotten into this habit of giving an exam, enjoying for a day or two, & then getting back to the next subject; that its hard for me to believe that I don't have to study anymore!!

Anyhow.. all that's past now!!

Altho I want to give a blow by blow account of the Universities, I won't do it coz it brings back scary memories. Lets just say that, Surgery-1 was the biggest nightmare of my life *goosebumps*. If I pass that one, I'm sure I'll do well in the others.

Will just leave it at this now.

The other happy news is that I got broadband back. Must admit, it'll take time for me to adjust to this computer screen now. My eyes & hand have well become adept at typing on the miniscule mobile screen.
Still, now that I have a full Qwerty board & a speed net connection, I'll try put up lots of posts... :)

The End Of An Era

2004-
The last episode of the Final Season of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. was aired...
Back then it was sad... to know that I'll never be able to watch another new episode of the show again...to know that there won't be any wait for the next season to begin... to know that there won't be any more cliff-hangers to discuss...
Well.. as Monica put it---it was "the end of an era"...

It was hard! But I pulled through knowing that there was STILL something else in my life that would keep me going. Something else that I was passionate about. Something that meant the world to me. Something that I knew still had endless stories to tell.. Yes... The last two books of Harry Potter were still there to look forward to!


21st July,2007:
The most awaited day of the year (apart from 15th March, of course!) was HERE!
It was a flurry of mixed emotions... I was apprehensive ( "What would the end be like"-wasn't this the most hyped about question??), yet excited (man!I woke up early that morning..!)
Nervous (Of course.. there was WAR in the book!!), yet looking forward to reading all the chapters (I was mortally afraid that someone would spill the spoiler before I'd finished..!)
Sad (knowing that it was the END!), yet happy (could've produced the BEST Patronus when I heard Chapter one being read by Jo on the net!!!)

In the morning,an hour before I got the book, it was as if --Ritu quotes Monica-- as if, "I had slept with a hanger in my mouth!" Couldn't stop grinning ear to ear... Even our Obs&Gynae teacher, who had an early morning class that day,must've wondered what was so funny about the "Management of twin births" ... Well.. it was the same for all of us Potter-heads at class...
Anyways...30 hours later.... as I almost reached the end.... I was crying!!! & howling at that too!!! I knew who died!!! Oh!It was SAD!!

But then I finished through the book... A nasty feeling crept over... It was all over... No more Potter!!! All the secrets were out. Now there won't be anymore books to look forward to. No more theories to go through. No more endless hours of discussions about what was to come. No more waiting day-by-day for the next book. No more setting of the new book cover as the Profile Pic or Mobile wallpaper (eh, Ritz,Avi,Shruti??)... It had all come to an end.

So here concluded another thread of life. It was the worst feeling! Oh! I wish I could've read a bit slower... And try as I might, I still can't feel as close to any other novel as I was to the Potter books... There was magic in them,to get even a non-reader like me to love 'em!

Well..now it stays... F.R.I.E.N.D.S. & Potter... gone...ended...finished!!!! Let's see if I can find something else that I'm as passionate about, as I was to these two...
Any suggestions???