Anaesthesia & Intensive Care

I started my Anaesthesia & Intensive Care clerkship on Monday. So far it's been a pretty intense compared to the clerkship I was doing before. I spend virtually all my hours of the day in the operating theatre learning about this, that and the other. Too much information than I could possibly digest (which I later attempt to read up on) + topics I'm to go home to read up on to talk about the next day. It usually doesn't work out since I fall asleep as soon as I get home. The days have been long and they've been exhausting on my mind, my back and my feet. I get home late, eat, shower, struggle to read something, fall asleep on the book I'm attempting to read and sleep till the A.M. I really need to readjust to the long days once more...just like when I did my Junior Surgery Clerkship.

The doctor in charge of this clerkship was telling us that we should do at least 2 emergency calls. That means 2 full over night calls. That means 2 calls that will last up to 36 hours. Oh boy...fun!

So, as I have very little free time on my hands, I think it's safe to say that I won't be able to fulfill that month-long challenge that I wanted to do. Maybe on my next clerkship next month?

Farewell, Smallville

Ah boy, it's been a long run.

10 seasons. 10 years. 2001-2011. Until I Googled it, I hadn't realised that I started watching Smallville when I was just 11 years old. I could've sworn it's only been 5 years. Haha. Smallville was a series I used to absolutely love! It was so appealing because, at the time, I loved watching "The New Adventures of Lois & Clark' and the idea of a story of the background life of Clark Kent was interesting. I don't remember seasons (and clearly not even years) but when things started changing up more than I expected, I felt a bit iffy about the show...I came to accept things and the direction of the plot but then things started changing a bit too much. As a result, I stopped watching it.

Years later, Smallville came to its series finale, tonight. I started the show, of course, I had to see it to its finish. And so I did. The 2 hour finale felt a bit slow and drawn out to me, I have to admit. After 10 years, it's great to see that the flight and suit came in just 10-15 minutes before the conclusion of the show. Like they just, ya know, slipped it in there at the end.

I haven't been watching Smallville for a couple of years. If it happened to cross my mind or if I had time or if I was utterly bored, I would turn to the CW on a Friday night and watch a random episode of Smallville...not sure about what's happening or why it's happening but just to see what's going on. It's a good thing I did that because the finale left me feeling very confused when it came to a lot of things...nothing at all would've made sense to me had I not seen those random episodes. So, here are a few things that confused me: (Spoiler alert!)

• I thought Lionel Luthor died a good few seasons ago. Why was he there and why was he known for his thirst for genetic research?
• What in the world was that white mist from which a dark hideous creature spurred forth and, not only ripped the man's heart from his chest to give to Lex, but said "I'll do it in exchange for your soul." ??
• And what was that about how Lionel had all the perfect parts from all of Lex's clones? Wasn't that lab burnt or set on fire or blown up or something with all those clones to die except for the little boy?
• I thought Jimmy died! Good ole Jimmy! So, how come he was there at the end in all the hustle and bustle being the Jimmy we knew him to be?

I have to say, I always did love the character that was Alexander Luthor...up until he became super corrupted, made Lana walking kryptonite and died anyway. Speaking of which, I was hoping to see Lana make an appearance in tonight's episode. Practically everyone else did. But back to Lex. I'm sorry Tess had to die (though I never had a chance to watch and get to know her) but at least she did a good deed. I'm so glad Lex forgot everything, became the good man he was deep down inside and was able to have his dream fulfilled. Mr. President in his nice all-white suit.

Regardless of it all, I'm happy with the ending of the series and I'm so glad that it's finally concluded! I'm pretty satisfied, though I don't understand why it took 7 years for Lois and Clark to finally have a proper wedding ceremony.

But, let's be honest now. Tom Welling ain't got nothing on Dean Cain when it came to ripping off his shirt to expose his suit underneath. ;)

A Challenge To Myself

I'm sure I've been saying this too often lately but I don't blog as much as I'd like to. It's not because I don't have anything to say. My days are often eventful (they've been particularly so over the past 4 weeks) and there are things to say and, even though I have the time, I don't sit down to write a post.

I've just completed my first 4th year clerkship: social and preventative medicine. I really played around with that one...procrastinating on quite a lot till the end and wasn't even able to find time to study with all the rushing I had to do to finish my two presentations and evidence-based medicine project.

On completion of this clerkship, I move on to my next one starting on Monday: Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. It's bound to be a pretty interesting one. I'm back in the operating theatres again...but this time, not for the surgeries. As soon as I discover what my scheduling is like for this next clerkship, I'll decide for sure on challenging myself: posting on my blog at least 3 times a week for 1 month!

That's my self-challenge. You think I can do it? 

The Slaughter House

Today, as part of my rotation, I had to make site visits to an abattoir and poultry processing plant. As such, I had the glorious opportunity to watch a number of pigs, chickens and a cow be slaughtered for food consumption.

It was, by far, the most disturbing and terrifying thing I've ever had the honour to witness.

And now I know how inhumanely animals are killed for the benefit of the stomachs of men.

First, I saw a cow get shot in a head (apparently it just stuns it), listened to the health inspector talk about what they do when they kill cows, and saw and heard blood gush from the neck of a hanging (upside-down) cow like a waterfall. The most interesting thing I saw was how huge its stomach is with its internally divided 4 stomachs. I don't eat beef and steak and I didn't see most of the process so I wasn't as bothered as with the pigs.

Then, I saw them stun pigs with thousands of volts to the head, slit their throats and hang them upside down before scalding off their hairs and sawing it apart. I found this to be the most disturbing thing because just before they stunned one of the pigs it looked me in the eye with so much fear. I nearly cried when it got killed. It all happened so quickly. ='( Safe to say, I turned my back to that after that but it's incredibly difficult to drown out their screams. I don't ever want to eat ham again. Not that I ate it often anyway.

Chickens don't really see to be that aware of what's coming for them. Though, hanging them upside down and passing them through machines is as bad as it gets.

This clerkship is driving me crazy! I'm tired of all the smelly, dirty, disturbing places!