19 more Things to be Thankful for

*
I am blessed beyond belief.
=======================

I eat 3 meals a day.

My immune system rarely needs help from antibiotics.

No one in my family is seriously sick.

I've never been tempted to indulge in vices.

My sister's a good kid, someone I don't have to worry about.

I live with my family, and I can still eat my fill even if I've run out of cash.

I have a job.

I don't have to wear shoes with holes to work.

My boyfriend wakes up in the middle of the night to drive me to work.

My father wakes up in the middle of the night to drive me to work if my boyfriend can't.

My mother walks me to the street in the rare event that I have to take a cab to work.

I can afford to take cabs if I need to.

I live in Cebu, where transportation choices are abundant but not complicated.

There are lots of plants around our house, and it isn't as hot as it would otherwise have been.

We have electricity and running water; lots of people still don't.

I don't have to walk around the neighborhoods during Sundays, offering to fix people's electric fans, shoes and umbrellas.

Our school library had a whole shelf devoted to Nancy Drews.

I've read good books.

My pets wag their tails when they see me.

Gotta make a change / For once in my life / It's gonna feel real good / Gonna make a difference / Gonna make it right / As I turned up the collar on / A favorite winter coat / This wind is blowin' my mind / I see the kids in the street / With not enough to eat / Who am I to be blind / Pretending not to see their needs / A summer's disregard / A broken bottle top / And a one man's soul / They follow each other / On the wind ya' know / 'Cause they got nowhere to go / That's why I want you to know / I'm starting with the man in the mirror / I'm asking him to change his ways / And no message could have been any clearer / If you wanna make the world a better place / Take a look at yourself and then make a change

Problem-Based Learning: Real Life // Module 2: A Slice of Humble Pie Can Be Good For You

Humility, I once read, is knowing your true worth -- and thinking nothing of it. There is such a thing as false modesty (almost always a sub/conscious fishing for compliments) and it is as distinct from true humility as is a hideously inflated ego. The one good thing about the former is that it is a hell of a lot less annoying than the latter.

And so we come to:

Problem-Based Learning: Real Life
Module 2: A Slice of Humble Pie Can Be Good For You

======================================

Haha, okay, so I'm not the best person to talk about humility.

Still. A message to some doctors out there. Guys, please...di ta magpaka-uwaw! Hehe.

Actually, I have just been wading through the discussions at PinoyMD, and I came across this guy who was ranting against the whole process of applying for jobs and having to wait for hours for the interviewers and all that. Some of his gripes were valid, but then he said something about why we [doctors] have to be screened by HR people who "can't understand the level of our thinking and degree of hardships."

Come on... Ayaw sad mo pag-ingon ana. Especially since it's not true.

Off the top of my head, I can name 5 people who worked in Human Relations who are smarter than 50% of the doctors I've met. And out of the top 20 percent of all the classes in all the schools I've ever been in, only a few decided to become doctors. So that's a whole lot of smart non-physicians out there.

Moral lesson: No one is better than everyone at everything. Let's keep our egos in check.

And, oh yeah, the world doesn't owe you anything. If you think you're too good for something, get out. Otherwise, put up, suck it up, and shut up. :-) And smile. Life isn't always smooth sailing but it's still a pretty good ride. :-)

Problem-Based Learning: Real Life // Module 1: The Things They Never Tell You About

Problem-Based Learning: Real Life
Module 1: The Things They Never Tell You About

Case #1
During an annual physical examination, your patient, a 25-year-old female call center agent, has no subjective complaints. (Although, the way she answers your questions, you are apparently wasting her time.) Vital signs are within normal limits. She is conscious, coherent, but borderline uncooperative. When you say you will be performing a breast exam, she gives you a stare and demands, "Why?" She complains about the rectal and genital exam being part of the physical examination, but (unfortunately for you) she agrees to go through with them. As you prepare to poke your hitherto fragrant finger into her butt, she says haughtily, "Do you know, doctor, that I earn more than you do?"

Ano ang gagawin mo?


Case #2
Having completed your residency training, and taken your written and oral exams, you decide to rent clinic space, which you share with 2 other doctors. The doctor who holds clinic before you subtly keeps on extending her time. Since she is your senior, you have so far decided not to complain. You charge a professional fee of P150 per patient. Your clientele are in the C/D class, after all, and you are just starting out. During the past 3 months, you have averaged a total of only 20 patients per month. You pay a monthly rent of P5,000, plus P1,000 as your share of the secretary's salary.

Ano ang gagawin mo?


Case #3
You are conducting a pre-employment physical examination on a female patient, and their company requires them to undergo a complete physical examination, including a rectal and genital exam. The patient appears uncomfortable while you're examining her external genitalia but does not say a word. (You are a female physician, by the way.) A week later, you learn that the patient has filed an incident report with the company's HR department, complaining that you performed a vaginal exam, and asking why rectal and genital exams are necessary. The company asks you to explain.

A million things run through your head: the patient is a complete anatomy ignoramus...the stupid company was the one who required rectal and genital exams, in the first place, but could they explain that to their employee, no...it's not like you want to perform those exams, in fact you would really rather not, but did them so the patient's application would not be classified as pending...d*mn the whole lot of them...

Your clinic manager sees the smoke coming out of your ears, pats your arm understandingly, but cautions, "This is our biggest client. Try not to upset them with your response, okay?"

Ano ang gagawin mo?


*
These aren't my own experiences, but they're real-life experiences nonetheless. Apparently, the things they don't tell you about in med school could burst your aneurysm, if you had one. :)

con men making asses of themselves, girls getting caught and crying foul, etc.

Con Us

If for no other reason than that I don't trust anyone in the present government to do anything right, I am against the move to amend our Constitution.

And because "Con-Ass" is a really stupid-sounding term! Cha-cha, con-con, con-ass... Can't anyone come up with something even remotely respectable? Although, in the sense that there's a bunch of asses in the Congress trying to con us, Con-Ass is unfortunately accurate, as terms go.

If, like me, you don't actually have a clear idea of what's going on, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has an archive of all articles related to Charter Change.



Some of the Things I Learned

[Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño] said one of the sponsors of the resolution had admitted on the floor that the "whereas clause" in the resolution that prohibits the term extension of the incumbent president...and that there would be elections in 2010 was "not binding."
FULL STORY HERE


Gabriela party-list Rep. Liza Maza asked one of the sponsors, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., if it was possible under the resolution to postpone the 2010 elections.

"Everything is possible, but it depends on the sound judgment of our colleagues," Barzaga said.
FULL STORY HERE

(Then heaven help us. -ME)


There is no reason to take House Resolution No. 1109 to the Supreme Court because what the majority members in the House of Representatives essentially did on Tuesday night was to announce that they would commit a crime, constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas said Thursday.
FULL STORY HERE


To this, Nograles's reply was curt: "[They have] my word. No term extension during my watch. What else can I say?"
FULL STORY HERE

(President Arroyo also gave her word that she wouldn't run in the previous elections. If I paid you a hundred pesos for your word, you'd have to give me P99 change -- that's how much anyone's word is worth at this point in Philippine politics. -STILL ME)



On Other Matters

It's a really cheap trick to get married just before the election so you could benefit from whatever star power your wife-to-be has got. Whatever chances Mar Roxas may have had on getting my vote is almost all gone. And I've never liked Korina anyway. Cheap, cheap, cheap. As a girl, I resent it. As someone who wants to be married someday and values marriage for what it is and not for what it incidentally brings, I resent it. As a voter who doesn't like being thought stupid enough to fall for stunts like that, I resent it. I hope you both go to ratings hell.

And take those other awful presidentiables with you!

Speaking of being a girl -- if you connive with a boy to cheat on the boy's girlfriend, and something goes horribly wrong, there's a Cebuano term for it: gaba^.

If I were the girlfriend, and I had access to all those videos, I would upload them for sure, and may they all rot in hell. Not to mention do all the things Carrie Underwood sings about in "Before He Cheats."

I am not saying the guy was right to film those videos. He wasn't. That's a given. I am just raising my eyebrows at the one crying foul. If the video hadn't been uploaded and shared with the whole world -- say, the guy voluntarily showed the video to her -- would she have been this angry? Or would she have volunteered to make another one? Come on, let's not kid ourselves. She got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but if she hadn't gotten caught, she would most likely have reached in for another one.

Oh, and if I were a senator, and I had the reputation of being a shameless womanizer, I would shut up and find some other cause to champion. Like, I don't know, education or healthcare. Same thing with those other senators.

Why is it that, in the Philippines, there are children without classrooms, and classrooms with no roofs, and schools that teach the students to wash their hands properly but don't have running water in their bathrooms, and STILL all our leaders can do is immerse themselves in scandals and plots to stay in power?

If I were a boy, and I had a girlfriend who was madly in love with me, I would love her back. And I wouldn't cheat on her. But if I didn't love her, I would do the right thing and break up with her.

Although...if I were a girl, and I had to be a fool for something, I might as well be a fool for love.

the mountain and the squirrel

While reading Aesop's Fables in Project Gutenberg, I rememered this lovely little poem that we learned in high school English class.

Fable

Ralph Waldo Emerson

THE MOUNTAIN and the squirrel
Had a quarrel;
And the former called the latter "Little Prig."
Bun replied,
"You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I'm not as large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
I'll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track;
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut."

I hardly give my high school teachers much thought, but this poem makes me remember Mrs. Aranduque with fondness. I also remember singing Sad Movies in Ms. Cabajar's class and The Sound of Silence in Mrs. Peteros' class. High school is a lifetime behind me now, but I think, perhaps, I do owe those teachers something.

today

Today I took our dogs out for a walk. I stopped to smell the sampaguita flowers blooming profusely by our garage. I petted a week-old, scraggly-haired kitten who was hiding from the neighborhood crow between a barrel and a watering can.

Today I personally took my grandfather's blood pressure. I checked my cousin's hurting throat. I laughed heartily with my parents around the dinner table. And then I washed the dishes.

Today I ignored all work-related phone calls, but got to talk, albeit for just a few seconds, with my sister and an old friend. I thought I'd do something, but changed my mind, freely, with no pressure from anybody or anything. I decided that, just for today, I would do what I want to do, and only what I want to do.

Today I slept in. I read a book in bed, and watched some TV. I showered late. I ate with leisure. I talked with Aivan. I played Scrabble with my family.

Today. Not tomorrow. Not when turnaround times have been met, and the clients' demands have been satisfied and their whims indulged. Not when there's enough money in the bank, and the bills are paid, and the future is secure.

Today. Because the future might not come. And I will have it said of me that I lived, every moment of my life.

lonely, wounded healers

Doctors are the last persons you would think would be lonely. They are surrounded by patients, nurses, medical representatives, colleagues, friends. Even at home, people come knocking at their doors -- to ask for advice, to extend invitations, or for various other reasons. Their phones are always ringing. They are rarely left alone.

So what one of my MD friends said this morning -- as we waited for the morning's patients to start trickling in -- may come as a surprise to most. Out of the blue, he observed, "Medicine is a lonely profession."

And it's true.

I listen to patients. I heal their hurts. I tell them what to do. I tell them it'll be okay.

But at the end of the day...who listens to me? Who will heal my hurts? Who will lift the burdens from my shoulders?

People tend to think: I'm so good at solving others' problems, I should be able to handle my own.
And I can. But I shouldn't have to handle it on my own.

Should I?

I spent most of my Saturday morning crying my stress away. I felt like I had given everything that was within me to those who needed it. I had summoned so much energy trying to deal with others' dilemmas, and now I had nothing left for myself. I was empty, and tired, and still there was so much to do.

It was in The Secret Pilgrim, I think, where George Smiley says to a class of graduating intelligence officers something like, "By becoming all things to all men, one runs the risk of becoming nothing to oneself." (This is a paraphrase...I really must look the correct quote up!)

It isn't only doctors who run this risk. Psychologists, priests, counselors...anyone who finds himself or herself constantly being turned to, by others, for succor and sustenance.

I think the description that is most apt is that of a "wounded healer," as illustrated by Henri Nouwen in this story:

"A well known story among the Hebrew people concerns a Rabbi who came across the prophet Elijah and said to him:

'Tell me—when will the Messiah come?'

Elijah replied, 'Go and ask him yourself.'

'Where is he?' said the Rabbi.

'He’s sitting at the gates of the city,' said Elijah.

'But how will I know which one is he?'

The Prophet said, 'He is sitting among the poor, covered with wounds. The others unbind all their wounds at the same time and bind them up again, but he unbinds only one at a time and binds them up again, saying to himself, “Perhaps I shall be needed; if so, I must always be ready so as not to delay for a moment.”'" (STORY FROM HERE)

I am blessed to be loved by people who could [eventually] lend me an ear when I need it. Others aren't so lucky.