The girl in the white coat

Apart from that being the blog of a friend of mine [Read Nicole Spence’s blogs at www.thegirlinthewhitecoat.blogspot.com ], it serves as a description of my day.

Today was… pretty incredible. It was the first time I donned my white doctor’s coat and went to hospital. Although we didn’t do anything, it was quite the experience. As I’ve said before, the coat gives one a somewhat perverse sense of power. And, I won’t lie, some people look at your with something close to admiration- not that we’ve done anything in our short lives to deserve it.

We spent an hour with our registrar, Dr Elmo Pretorius, who took us through the general examination. There exists a wealth of knowledge in those who have gone before us, and this was particularly evident today. It seems as though we’ve only been at it for a short time, but to be able to walk into a hospital ward and understand at least part of the medical jargon makes one realize just how much we have learnt.

The MBChB 2018 class was split up into groups of 8 members each, for these hospital sessions. Apart from myself, my group consists of: Stian “Sports and TV are what I like” Nieuwoudt, El-Marie “Animal Lover” Gallant, Firdows “they call me Death Star” Gamieldien, Duval “Oh yeah. I can sing” Geddie, Jacques “I’m a sea person” Geldenhuys, Lee “I only wear Addidas shoes” Murdock, and Haley “I smuggled a hamster into my res room for an entire year” October. That’s how they introduced themselves- I am so serious right now. Well, they didn’t put their one-interesting-thing-about-me fact in between their names and surnames, but I’m sure you get the gist.

Introductions aside, I’m quite happy with my group- peculiar lot that we are. I’m just excited to go back to the hospital and actually do stuff.

P.S. Our patient was a confounding case, and neither Doc Pretorius nor the consultants know what is wrong with her. Yet. But I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted. Well, it is getting late, I’m beat, and I really should be studying for my end-of-block next Friday.

Ciao ciao. And remember to keep monitoring that pulse!

Xoxo

12 February 2014

Vensters 2014

Once again, it has been ages since I’ve last blogged about anything. And not for lack of content either. I’ve been quite busy.

Shortly after my last post, my family and I went away on holiday. Epic as it was, that week should have had an entire blog dedicated to it, but alas. It does not.

Also, in my previous blog, I mentioned that I was anxious for second year to begin. I take that back. Kind of. There is just so much work to be done! By the time the first years started, not only had we been back for 3 weeks, but had already written our pre-clinical test.

But this is about Vensters, the single most looked-forward-to event of first year orientation. They put on street shows all over main campus and, for just R15, one gets access to every single one. It was an incredible night, one that brought back a multitude of memories from my own time performing at Vensters. My friends and I traipsed around the campus, singing and dancing like the unstable characters we are. I saw my cousin Ghaalib briefly, got bulldozed by Laylah [Read her blogs: www.theethrealdeal.com ], and, to my absolute wonderment, ran into an old friend. Suffice it to say I did not expect to see him there, but it was nonetheless fantastic seeing Micky again.

So much went down that night. More than once, we ended up lying in the road, just staring up at the stars, unable to move much. We laughed and laughed at jokes that weren’t even funny. Mohammed and I had an argument [all in good humour], things were said a little too loudly, and Taufeeq and Adam got the wrong idea. We made a point of not explaining it. Have a little fun, they say. J Also, a very happy 20^th birthday to Khalid Mohamed ‘Poppie’ ‘Pops’ ‘Popsicle’ ‘you-have-too-many-nicknames-to-remember’ Pohplonker.

Although I only got home at 2am, and got very little sleep before I had to be up and head off to take care of some business, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. So thank you, to everyone who made Friday night so absolutely epic, whether you were mentioned by name or not. Also, to the rest of the crew, who could unfortunately not make it, we really missed you.

Here’s to a crazy year ahead, and many more awesome nights like this! =) <3

2 February 2014

Leave of absence

It has been longer than I’d like to admit since I’ve last posted anything. But boy, it feels good to be back.

Life certainly has been eventful. There were end-of-block exams, ebw celebrations, random and completely spur-of-the-moment lunch dates, presentations, a road trip, the OSCE and finals. All of which are one hundred percent blog-worthy.

Initially, I chalked it up to the fact that I haven’t had time. Maybe I just haven’t felt like writing. A statement which borders on blasphemy, I know, but that’s how I feel. For a while there, I lost the will to write. Quite frankly, that scared me. Who am I, if not a writer? Albeit an amateur one.

But after several deep breaths and a moment to quiet the chaos in my head, I figured it out. I had no reason to write. There was nothing I needed to deal with, nothing inside me that needed to get out. That sense of urgency was gone. Or perhaps it was still there, but I’d thrown myself into studying. I found myself wanting to write, purely out of habit, but I couldn’t. Because, on top of it all, I had a severe case of writers block.

Then, one night, it came back to me. Out of the blue. I had been up until 2am, studying for finals; of course I was going to have strange dreams. Curious though, was the fact that I woke up crying; it hurt so much. My first thought, as I wiped away the anomalous tears, was “What the hell?!” My second was “I need to tell this story.”

And so The Dotted Line was born… and, along with it, my muse had returned and I felt the need to write again. Purely out of sheer… inspiration. That urgency was back. I’d found something inside myself that needed to get out. It feels good, familiar.

Well, the lunch dates were the of the usual lose-track-of-time variety.

The road trip and presentation go hand in hand. Would you believe it; we were sent on a road trip on our own, by our university- for educational reasons. Who wouldn’t love that? We certainly did. We went out to Ceres for the day, and it was epic. [This is just a quick aside to say thanks to the [P]eeps for amazing day.] A group of fairly random people we lumped together, given a map and a set of keys and sent along their merry little ways. We spent time at the state hospital, the rural clinic in Bella Vista and some time amongst the locals of the township. We even had lunch together, along with two interns from the hospital. And the, all too soon, it was time to head home, get our acts together and deliver a presentation about what we’d learnt.

The OSCEs are practical examinations, where your skills as a medic are tested. It happens every year, right to the end of your studies. The biggest part of it [because having the theoretical knowledge is important, but mean nothing if you can’t execute it] is confidence. If you can just get over having to work on a complete stranger, in an interrogation-like room, with an examiner giving you the stink eye all the way through, you’re good to go. Of course, being a little first year means you have to dig real deep to find some confidence from somewhere, anywhere.

Then, what can I say about the final exams? They were a *insert foul word here*. But here too you have to have faith and confidence that you have prepared well enough. Or you go blank in the exam and fail. Fortunately, I managed to pass, and I am so grateful for that.

I have been on holiday for quite some time now and the one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty, apart from the fact that I enjoy sleeping in and writing, is that I cannot wait for Second Year to begin. What can I say? I’m a city slicker; the rat race is what I live for.

11 December 2013

I can't make this stuff up

Today was something else entirely.

We powered through, I think, six? Lectures in three hours. Because our lecturer was hell-bent on having an extra, super long weekend. If we finished, which she made sure we did, we get tomorrow off. Also, she’s got Monday off, and with Tuesday being a public holiday, well, like I said, extra super long.

Right off the bat, before she could even start, a student asks an alcohol-related question. At first, we thought this typical behavior- he’s prone to do such things. But the he started get really animated- atypical behavior. It was only later that we discovered that he was still drunk from the night before. Stuff suddenly made sense…

Then came the apple incident. Because I really should be atoning for my behaviour, and it would be in the best interest of my health, I cannot tell you exactly what went down. Except to say that, after much goading from Mo Bray [cracks me up every time!], one Miz Panjri [aka Jizz, the Infamous- thanks for that, Mohammed Yusuf Parker] launched his apple core across the lecture hall- twice! Well, the unmentionable thing happened, and, of course, I land up on the floor. I was laughing so hard I cried like a baby! I could hardly stop, and I could barely breathe.

Technology is a fantastic thing. I didn’t want to walk all the way to my friends’ res, so we completed our tutorial over the phone. Whatsapp didn’t work out so well. >.< It was… crazy. My hands were full, I was on the phone and I didn’t have my card out. It was a mission vacating Gergs!

And then, to top the day off, Miz made me use the elevator. I detest the things. It makes my head all screwy. And the guy actually had the audacity to laugh at me. “Sooo… if you get stuck in one… will you die?” The grin on his face shouldn’t have been there. Shows you the kind of friends I have.

I swear, these are not lies. I really cannot make this stuff up- and I'm a writer!

19 September 2013 

High-tailing it

Casually strolling out of Gergs (our unofficially nicknamed computer room), totally unsuspecting, I nearly get bowled over. No, seriously. I'd just pushed through the swinging doors, when I hear this urgent pounding from behind me. Naturally, I take a look. I see no one. And I'm like, what the hell? Not even 2 seconds after the thought passes through my mind, the door flies open, and some guy shoots out, feet pounding. And I mean he's really hauling ass as he tears passed me. Muttering, "'scuse me, sorry."

For some reason, his sense of urgency really got me going too. He'd just descended the first flight of stairs. And I felt myself needing to run too. I didn’t mean to follow him, honestly. We just happened to be head the same way, at the same time.

So there we are, high-tailing it down three flights of stairs. Yeah. Three. And again I'm wondering, what in the actual hell is going on here?

By the time I get to the K floor (took me 6 months to figure out K stood for Kelder- basement), he's gone. As in, just disappeared. But then I see the turnstile gate shaking. Almost as though someone has pushed through it with excessive force.

And that's when I realized it. Some guy in a white coat nearly runs me over, and then disappears through those gates? Medical emergancy.

Staring at that gate, instead of a what-the-hell, I thought, "Run, Speedy, run. Go save someone's life." Smiling, I turn away, "That's going to be me someday. Someday soon."

18 September 2013

Momma dearest

As if it wasn’t bad enough having one Leo [Speedy] and one Virgo [Daddy-oh] in the house, Momma’s birthday is two weeks after Dad’s. Seriously. That means we’ve got a sum total of 2 Virgos living together- TWO!

Classically, Virgos are rather stubborn, head-strong people, and for two of them to be in a relationship together is… shall we say, risky? I mean, you’re bound to butt heads. Often. But somehow they make it work. I’ve always thought that they’re a pretty good example for me to follow; you know, of what relationships should be like. They get along so well. But I digress.

Happy birthday, Momma. You’re seriously awesome. I mean, no one else would have let me cut up a kidney and a liver in their kitchen. =D

10 September 2013

What a day

Phew. I am positively exhausted. Or perhaps I should say negatively? Today we had a not-so-little family get-together. All the peeps from my dad’s side got together and had breakers. Aaand made our own lunch. =) It was… insane, to say the least. And not everybody rocked up anyway.

I don’t even know why I’m so done for; it’s not like I did very much to begin with. But I got chased outta bed super early. And I didn’t sleep very well either. Not that I’m complaining or anything; I’m just saying.

Anyway, this is just a mini photo diary of what went down.

A few of the... older generations

A mini hall, for breakfast and lunch

The breakfast buffet table

Cousinish person, Fuad, looking really intense. I don't think you have a career in modelling, dude... Just saying.

Doing what we do best- chowing

Two sisters and a... niece? I'm not even sure how we're all related...

Little cousinish people hanging out

Geotag much? =)

The guys from STOP: Service To Other People

Cousinish person, Uthmaan, looking saccharine sweet 

FOOD!!! Need I say more? Well, except that we cooked it ourselves

Of course, nobody can leave without a barakat

Uncle-ish person, Ishmaeel. Clean-up was hard work.

I sincerely hope I've embarrassed some of you! =)

1 September 2013