Rizal, MD

Yesterday was Rizal Day; today is new year’s eve; and tomorrow is my first day as a resident physician at the Philippine General Hospital.

So many have inquired about this choice of mine, to stay in the Philippines, and to undergo residency training here.

The Starbucks vs Jollibee Planner Comparison

2008 is just around the corner and it’s about that time of the year again for me to get a new planner (quite a requirement for a semi-OC person like me). Last year and the year before and the year “before-before” (hi to my Comm I/II Prof, Ma’am Gavino of UPM at this point, who finds the distinctly Filipino phrase “before-before” weird), I used Starbucks planners. It was quite easy to get them then; I was still a med student and the stickers overflowed with each exam that went my way (at worst, there could be 4 exams in a week). This year though, the stickers were more difficult to complete (reason 1: unemployed state, reason 2: no more exams, reason 3: tachycardia), so I had to find an alternative, especially since by 7AM of January 1, 2008, it’ll be all systems go for a full year of toxic work c/o the PGH Department of Neurosciences for me (gawd!). Good thing I found the Jollibee planner. As it turns out with my critical appraisal (which follows), it seems that the Jollibee planner is not just a decent alternative, it’s even a better datebook than the one from Starbucks!

No Special Epeks for Christmas

(Poking fun at my friend Manggy’s blog today)

The traditional Filipino christmas celebration involves the preparation and partaking of what is usually a large, lipid-laden, stroke-inviting Noche Buena feast during Christmas Eve (I’ve heard stories of dogs suffering from strokes after begging for scraps at the Noche Buena table!). And while the actual event (ie, eating time) is a very happy time for everyone, the activities some hours prior are usually toxic and stressful. Grocery lines start snaking and become kilometers long, taxis become rare commodities, pots and pans have to be brought down from places you didn’t know existed… all this culminating in a mad dash of cooking/preparing the usual suspects (in our family, they’re spaghetti, ham, and fruit salad).

So this year, our family decided to be practical (read: lazy) and instead of tiring ourselves with hectic cooking, we spent the 24th doing our last-minute shopping; then we just had our Christmas dinner outside (we also had loads of Friday’s Fun taking pics).

Still, Christmas didn’t seem complete without at least a semblance of a potluck meal. Hence, upon arrival at home, I prepared my very own contribution for our Noche Buena Dessert: Strawberries and Cream. The recipe follows (no, it’s not from Jamie’s Kitchen; he wouldn’t dare make a dish this complex):

Putin is Time Person of the Year

Russia’s enigmatic President AND Prime Minister, modern-day Tsar and overall CEO of the Kremlin Vladimir Putin bests celebrity environmentalist Al Gore and crowd favorite JK Rowling to take this year’s Time Person of the Year recognition.

Photo credit: Platon for Time

The banner story reads:

Stop the Hunger (for Gold)

 
(Photo credit: Cyberprince Chronicles)

The Philippine contingent on Saturday ended up in 6th place at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, a far cry from the what was posible 2 years ago when the meet was hosted by Manila, where — cheered on by their kababayans and helped by homecourt advantage – our atheletes won the most golds. This year, on the other hand, the country took home two special awards: the MVP of the entire tournament was Miguel Molina, a Filipino swimmer, who was chosen because he was the winningest male athlete in the games (with 5 medals in all); the award for Sore Loser of the Year meanwhile also goes to Team Philippines, with the most number of athletes walking out from their respective matches to protest against alleged bias in their events (ie, boxing, taekwondo). Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao I heard was very disappointed with the new title bestowed upon Filipino athletes; Thaksin on the other hand must be thinking that this was payback for his allegations last time that there was cheating in officiating in the Manila games.

On Topical Penicillin

This afternoon I was convinced by my mother to allow a manicurist to work on my ugly toenails. And since these toenails of mine have not been seen by a professional in a year or so, the ill-fated manicurist had to contend against what was probably the largest, deepest, and ugliest ingrown cuticle she had to remove in her entire career (judging from the old woman’s routine, she’s been at it for a long time). Her experience and agility was unfortunately not enough against this monster of an ingrown that I had been allowing to thrive in the corner my right big toe: I was injured as she was trying to extract it (the monster of course was resisting death). We both gasped at the sight of blood, but what happened next was very interesting.

First she comforted me and told me that everything was fine, that sometimes these things happen, and that everything was under control (hmmm… familiar lines of medical interns missing IV insertions). Then she wiped away the blood with a cotton ball, which she followed with antisepsis using alcohol (OK so far). From her kit she then took a packet of what I later found out to be ground penicillin tablets; this preparation was carefully topically applied onto the side of the nail (where presumably the wound was). Her home instructions were to not allow the toe to get wet, as it would wash away “the medicine.”

Reviewing Our Human Rights

Today the world celebrates the 59th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In a year, it’ll be 6 decades since the construction of the single most contentious, single most confusing document in the history of mankind. For one, the declaration has been cited too many times by the activist left in criticizing oppressive governments; this notwithstanding that the war in Iraq was waged by the most oppressive regime known to man under the pretext of protecting human rights as well. The document is obviously subject to interpretation; it’s scary to think that the source of our universally-applicable, inalienable rights is not spin-proof (I have previously tried to spin human rights, in my post on this blog about torture and human rights).

 

Let’s Play NationStates

Two or three years ago, I got hooked on this online game called NationStates. The game is fairly simple: you register your own country/nation-state, select its attributes, and then by deciding on issues/dilemmas presented to you as your country’s leader, you get to chart the status of the country on three areas: political freedoms, economics, and civil rights. Based on the country’s status on these three areas, the country is categorized into one of 27 “UN categories” ranging from Scandinavian Liberal Paradise to Psychotic Dictatorship. The number and the happiness of your people, the economic performance of your industries, your government spending priorities, and the influence that the country can peddle is based on how dilemmas are settled and on the age of the country. Evidently, the game appeals to controlling political animals who would like to test their skill at governance and nation-building (GMA and Dubya, have you tried this?). For those who like role-playing, there is space in the game to spy on and/or correspond with other leaders, and there is even a mock United Nations where supranational issues are addressed.

Apparently the game is still up and running to this day; there are now over 75,000 countries registered that are actively being played. The server deletes countries that have not been played for 28 days, so obviously I had to register a new country to play (also since I already forgot the password I used for my old country, the Republic of the Capybaras).

The first step in nation-building apparently is to choose a name. I chose The People’s Republic of Pizzaloy to represent the love for pizza of my country’s citizens (and also their love for their great leader). Then I went on to choose a flag (I’ve always loved the Vietnamese flag), and a government style (sensible, liberal, oppressive, anarchic, evil… sensible seemed most sensible to me). I then typed in my currency (the “pepperoni”) and my chosen national animal (the Garfield). The country’s motto is “Onward to pizza heaven!“

DeMyer: Treat Your Patients Like Robots

(This post also doubles as my announcement that I want a Robosapien for Christmas )

 

The medical school where I graduated from leans to the application of the humanistic approach to the practice of medicine. When I was a student, we were always encouraged to develop rapport with our patients; we were always instructed to get not just a detailed history of the course of illness and the reason for consult, but to also derive the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the patients we were assigned to. Emphasis was given to finding out the context of the patient: his family situation, economic capacity, educational attainment, social standing, etc. All these were postulated to have significance and relevance to the nature of the patient’s illness, and were taught as important in the treatment of the disease and eventually in the patient’s healing. “Your patient is a living person, and not just a defective machine” were frequently spoken words of wisdom from our teachers.

DeMyer, however, in his textbook Technique of the Neurologic Examination (my favorite med school book of all time) teaches us something else. He makes a compelling case for the treatment of patients like robots: