the perils of

I just finished my final two weeks of pre-residency at PGH, or the Philippine General Hospital. Along with my 8 batchmates in residency, we spent the past two weeks figuring out the work commute, preparing and giving lectures to each other, shadowing the more senior residents, seeing patients at the Outpatient Department (OPD) and Emergency Room (ER), and of course, practicing for the first years' Christmas party dance.  Yep, that’s me. You're probably wondering how I got here. Well it all started when…   1. Storm between calms The day immediately before  returning to PGH was November 30, the day of the Baha sa Luneta 2.0 protests. We had a 3,000-strong contingent, and more people would have showed up if not for the police. Having learned from their mistakes during the September 21 rally, the police showed up in full force. They messed up the program and caused immense delays. Still, the program pushed on. There was singing, dancing, and a few speeches. At around 10 AM, ...

I'm almost four weeks into my first ever job as a Doctor to the Barrio, and it's been an amazing ride so far. When I first found out about my assignment sometime in January, I was apprehensive. When you google Gigaquit, Surigao del Norte, there's not much information you can find. It's mostly just news articles about their recent spate of NPA attacks. As a baseline anxious person, I had a never-ending list of worries: What if I'm kidnapped? What if I'm killed? Or worse, what if there's no Internet??? I had no idea what I was getting into, and I would soon find out. 1. I'm a town celebrity - whether I like it or not. "Doctora, what's your complete name?" read the text from Gigaquit Municipal Health Officer, Dr. Roland Mira. Yup, I thought to myself, he's definitely making me a welcome tarp.  We'd never met in person before, but I'd heard much about him from mutual colleagues. A veteran doctor who'd spent most ...

Here's something you don't often hear from people who have passed the boards: unemployment sucks.  I bum around the condo for most of the day. I only ever leave to forage for meals, and some days I just can't be bothered. "Moonlighting" gigs, or temporary doctor jobs, are abundant, but they often get snatched up very easily.  Fortunately, I managed to snag a job last month with the clinic at Ateneo de Manila, through a friend who needed someone to fill in for her. Working at the Loyola Schools was a breeze. It's literally right across where I live, there aren't that many patients, and when there are, they're all benign. It was like coming home. I used to cross this bridge every morning in college. In my excitement, I arrived an hour early. Clinic was closed. The Ateneo campus is just as beautiful as I remember. There's now a self-care room on the second floor the Social Sciences building where you can take naps and rest...

Hi! After much procrastination I've finally gotten around to doing this: writing about the med boards. In this post I'll share with you tips and tricks that worked for me, and what not to do when reviewing for the boards. But first, a little backgrounder on me is probably necessary. I think that whenever you ask for advice from someone, you always have to know where they're coming from so that you know how to temper the advice you receive. So here's a couple of things I want you to know about me you might want to know about me: I am a minimalist. I like to find out the simplest way to do things, and I do that. I read just the main handouts. I buy just one pen. I do the bare minimum, and that's never failed me! I am a willful crammer. During my lectures I would space out, doodle, or browse Facebook. And I paid the price for my laid-back attitude by having to cram everything the night before an exam. Yup, it's a terrible habit, and I probably caused...

Hello! I'm back after radio silence. So much has happened since my last entry. So much that I've been putting off updating this thing for the longest time, knowing I would have to cover so much ground. To recap these events in the laziest way possible, here is a half-assed Buzzfeed-style listicle  for no one's reading pleasure but my own.  10 Really Important Events I Totally Put Off Writing About (In Chronological Order) 1 . Grad Ball.  We got dressed up and headed out to Sofitel for our batch graduation ball. Rap had just returned from his elective in Batanes that morning, where he had spend most of his time under the heat of the scorching sun. So here he is looking all brown and crispy on the outside. 2. Boards Review.  I'll post a separate blog about this later on, but for now do check out these photos from the most nerve-wracking, anxiety-filled 2 months of my life. Well, not really. ASMPH has been very loving towards its board ...