I <3 the King!

Just thought of posting a summary on what this year's youth weekend was all about...



Now THAT is MY King! :)

The weekend was awesome! I honestly did not want it to end. And I just want to say a big thank you to anyone reading this post who made this youth weekend possible. Thank you. :)

RT: Practice Makes Perfect

Summer has been rather busy with so much work to get done before turning a new leaf and start my final year at Uni. For a first time in a long time, I was actually excited to get started this year. Though the pressure really is at its best as the finals draw closer with every passing day.

For people with a voracious appetite for knowledge, 5th year can indeed be exciting. But the worrying hearsays regarding the tribulations I'm going to have to endure have commenced already. In fact, at this rate, I'm just really hoping that by June they won't get the better of me (especially in front of Dr. Parveen Kumar as, apparently, it does you know favours; 'specially if you're female like me).

Most people say the practical component to the final exams is the core reason behind all this terror. Though, in all honesty, what's scaring me the most is what will happen later...

But let's not go there and not think so much long term. Exams are an overwhelming reality as is and they have to be tackled very judiciously due to the heavy practical/hands-on compnent to them. And as stated in this very striking poster that inspired me to write this...



Still, all practice and no theroy, like I discovered yesterday at casualty whilst trying to learn something, is like sailing an "uncharted sea". Putting it in modern English... you feel utterly lost and confused in your sea of patient complaints and medicine problems... You would be asked very intimidatingly... "Allura tabiba, how are you going to manage this lady?" But whilst summing up the affairs of your brain, you simply draw nothing but a blank...

If you ask me... I think that is what really is scary!

June 2009 and June 2010

Just a few thoughts of today...

1. June exams are over and passed Pathology.
2. Simon has reached his 300th mark on his blog. And I'm featured in his vlog... *embarrassing*.
3. Today it's Father's Day... It's suppose to be a nice family day today. Thing is, it is turning out to be anything but...
4. But that's not what my blog is going to be about. I just want to record a little something for myself... Though feel free to read through...

Last Friday was an ordinary day for most people. It was definitely an ordinary day for me, except for one thing... My best friend finished her 5th year medicine exams last Wednesday and Friday was the day she was going to discover whether she can be officially called Dr. Scerri. Problem was, results weren't due to come out before 2pm. I'm sure my friend's stomach was churning a lot more acid than usual... I know mine was.

So, I decided to keep myself occupied till the clock struck two. I then ran out of things to do until my sister came up with this big idea of going to Pavi supermarket to buy a BBQ at 1pm. Half an hour later, we were on a bus to Valletta to catch the 2pm bus at the terminus.

Then, whilst trying enjoy the bumpy ride on the 88, I get the phone call... The phone call I've been waiting to get since we become friends in 6th Form. Well... The news she brought was good... Very good indeed. After 2 gruesome years getting the right A level grades and 5 years getting beaten up at medical school... She is now a doctor, alongside a few other lucky ones. The blogger behind That Malignant Grin also surely has something to smile about. And I'm glad they do! I'm sure it was well earned.

Now... As we congratulate the ones that made it through medical school this year... We now wait in joyful hope for that person to be me... Hopefully next June... June 2010! But before that... Only God knows how much I've got to get cracking before I get there. *sigh*

Little Picture Composition

The above picture is actually quite inappropriate to put up here since this guy is just starting PATHology and I just finished mine... Hopefully for good.

Whilst many people believe (wholeheartedly) that I made it through, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. Because, you see, if success in my pathology exam, or any exam for that matter, were to depend on the amount of highlighter used on notes and books, I should pass with flying colours (pun intended). Sadly, medical school rarely works that way. And today was enough proof of that. (Yes, the rumours about getting a 20 mark question on a three sentence-long condition in the biggest medicine book are very, very true...)

Now, I have obstetrics and gynaecology on Friday and Paediatrics following Wednesday. And for those people who are still wondering what the hell the word obstetrics means, here's the definition in graphical format...

Sorry for the lame post, but I really wanted to blog even though I had nothing of substance to say... Too tired to type out a decent post.

PS: Murmur rocks! Well done Claire and all involved.

Murmur is OUT!

The MEP election campaign, with all the political drama and propaganda, has brought along with it much blog fodder. Sadly, now is one of the worst times to be on blogging mode. But, this entry is worth a mention... Nothing to do with the MEP elections... Far from it! And I promise to myself to keep it short...

MURMUR IS OUT!!!!

Cartoon has been drawn by Matthew Urpani and designed by Claire Vella who was editor of MMSA's magazine (Murmur) this year.

Can't wait to get a hold of my copy on Wednesday... *happiness* Even though I have a bitch exam coming up on that day! *sigh*

Twitterific

As you may or may not have noticed, I've decided to form part of the Twitter community after the following sequence of events:

• Twitter has been first brought to my attention thanks to Robert Galea's blog.
• Miley Cyrus has admitted to E! News that she is Twitter obsessed... Thanks to Demi Levato.
• Those two points above made me want to delve into what this "Twitter" thing is.
• Discovered that many a medical student is twittering - it's infectious I suppose... but also...
• Things are starting to get a bit lonely at home now that I stopped having lectures for more than a week. (with Prof. Paul Cuschieri managing to turn our last lecture into a class reunion after such a long time of not seeing certain faces...)

Having said this, exams start on Friday... Needless to say I'm lagging behind in studies. Hence, got to go. For Twitter updates, you can check the right margin (just under 'God's Twitter' entitled "Verse of the Day")

Tomorrow's Doctors...

Our University class Yahoo Group has always been quite a hub of communication all year. All was done in an endeavour to keep ourselves updated with everything going on at medical school, from lectures to other leisure activities. But lately, the emails (in red) that are being sent are so shameful, that I thought they deserve a little mention. As implied in the previous sentence, some people know no shame whatsoever. (But repetition is justified, you know, for the sake of emphasis) It is during this crucial time of the year were people are asking questions regarding issues that have been dealt with many months before such as...

"I was wondering why the viva [oral exam] for pathology is held a day before paediatrics exam. Can you check with secretary whether this thing can be changed? [OMG! You've never had two exams in succession before?] i have heard from previous years that people end up failing their paeds exam or do badly. would a day or 2 make a difference for them? after all a viva in pathology never helped anyone but people still have to go and thus waste a day or 2 before paeds exam."

And whilst they're at it, these same people are, naturally, asking for the pharmacology past papers...

"Can anyone kindly tell me what past papers are available for pharmacology as last time i checked at papier i found only 3. (btw i checked a week ago)"

And... wait for it...

"Wasn't there supposed to be a full set of past papers?"

Kindly note that past papers have been put in the stationer's for everyone to photocopy ages ago by our class representatives. (Yes... We are so childish in our ways that we actually need the "prefect system" that one only finds in secondary schools in order to ensure that things are working in some order.)

And they are also asking for notes too, as though our class reps haven't done a good enough job to collect and distribute all notes available throughout the year. Naturally, these people would have found it pointless coming to the lecture since the PowerPoint used is, in 99.9% of cases, found in the Yahoo Group ready for everyone to download... And emails such as follows naturally ensue...

"Hi, does anyone have the notes from Dr. N. Spiteri about vaccines please? Thanks"

And someone rightly replied...

"sa fejn naf jien [as far as I'm concerned] we don't have any notes of Dr. N Spiteri, she had written them out on the white board"

Another bright mind sends an email on the same thread...

"Anyone typed them out and can send them on the server?" [:O]

Needless to say, no one really bothered posting anything on the server. And so, people continued their panick sequence with regards to the pharmacology that most medical students never touch until the last two weeks of the year...

"hi, [Yeah, hello there] does anyone have notes for gynae pharm pls? thanks"

"And what about ophthalmic pharmacology? Are there any notes? If not, can anyone kindly list very briefly what was discussed?" [You have got to be kidding me!!!!]

[And here come the email that bursts the bubble...] "Gynae and Obs notes werent given because of poor attendence + lecturer dispute with university."

The prompt reply?

"*******... [like lecturers are expected to give us notes!] [But... the persistence of some people never ceases to amaze me...] and what about ophthalmology?"

Now, I'm a very reasonable individual. There is no harm is asking the odd query here and there. But... To all those people who expect to be spoon fed, all so that they can stay studying comfortably at home whilst the rest of their colleagues go to lectures and ward rounds as asked of them... We are forth year medical students, who will hopefully manage to become doctors in around 12 months time... Supposedly respectable and responsible citizens of society, as our duties, after all, require us to be. So, next time, instead of resting on the Yahoo Group, come to lectures and do your job as a student properly. You are free to decide otherwise and just do your own thing, in which case, when notes are missing, stop sending the class mail and go sod off!

On a more sober note, the real doctors of tomorrow (i.e. the 5th years) are just a few minutes away from sitting their first written exam (at 9am and at 3pm). I'm sure that any prayers at this stage will be greatly appreciated. :)

SPHYGMO Exam Edition

The third issue of SPHYGMO is out!!!

Check it out on the MMSA Website!

NB: This is the last issue of Sphygmo for this year and it is, very very sadly, also my last contribution to Sphygmo as editor. It's been a wonderful experience working with this year's Editorial Board and the rest of MMSA Media Sub-Committee. But now it's time to step down and move on. With 5th year round the corner and other commitments (including Faculty Rep), I already have more than enough on my plate as it is...

Why People Come and Go

This won't be the usual "meant to entertain you" post. Was meant to write this for quite a while but was a bit busier than usual.

The reasons behind this post are three:

1. I read Benji's blog post called People Come and Go... And I wanted to reply to that.

2. Went to mass last Sunday which I found very relevant to point number 1 above

3. Saw a comic on Chalkboard Manifesto (see later) that, again, is very relevant to points 1 & 2.

As Ben put it, "This isn't just about y4j but everywhere we Christians go..." Likewise, this is not about community, or any other prayer group. So, really, any possible "controversy" is not intended. But this is something important to bring up...

This is because MANY people have asked me why bother going to church? A lot of people rightly wonder why the hell bother with mass. And I sometimes struggled with the question why bother with community!

Personally, I don't blame people asking those questions, especially when mass is perceived as being something as follows...

This is the misfortune of today! That church is somewhere you go to and not somewhere to belong to. Last Sunday's gospel (Luke 24: 35-48), we were given a glimpse of how the early church was... people talked to each other, shared with each other, broke the bread and ate together. A group of people become a church, a community, when people share. And as Jesus said in Matthew 18: 20, "...where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." In fact, even in the Bible, when Jesus appeared, He usually did so when there were a group of people.

Even in last Sunday's Gospel, more than three people were gathered in Jesus' name. And Jesus appeared to them saying, "Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." Such people had the fortune of having such a profound and life changing experience of Jesus like never before.

Today, we can't touch Jesus directly. But the Bible says that the church is indeed the body of Christ (Romans 12: 4-5).

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."

For people not to "come and go" they need to be given the opportunity to move away from Christianity as being a simple idea, and more towards Christianity as being a profound and life changing experience. For that to happen, an experience of God's love is necessary... A love which is today manifested in other people... Manifested in the church.

So, if community is so important, why do people miss out?

People nowadays speak about feeling close to God thanks to personal prayer, but still don't go to mass. When I went to 18:30 mass at Naxxar on Sunday (29th of March), this mentality was out rightly condemned when the priest was able to have his 15 minutes say on the pulpit. When I went last Sunday, the priest was a bit more understanding. Nevertheless, the community aspect of our faith is important and church is necessary.

This is a fact that is worth repeating, especially in the light of hearing many community/prayer group members say, "you should come to the meetings for God and God alone". But it's a flawed principle, that is not really Biblical when you think about it. Apart from what has already been stated above, God made it very clear in the very first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis (2: 18)...

"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone."

It is not good... i.e. it is wrong... for man to be alone.

What is most striking is that this was said at a time when Adam still had a PERFECT relationship with God, with no hardship, no separation and no sin in between. And yet, God still found it unjust for man to be alone! Let alone now! Sin, with all it's consequences (doubts, fear, worry, sickness) now makes a healthy community experience even more essential to have a healthy relationship with God.

This is why Benji's observation is so important. As very rightly put by Ben...

"Am i really testifying the love of God by including, them talking to them and sharing with them?"

Again, this is not about not having our own group of friends. This is more about breaking our comfort zones to reach out to other people. We keep ourselves busy, immersed in things to do, projects to carry out, outreaches to organise, healing services to do, dances to rehearse, programmes to film, DVDs to make and websites to update. And in all this busyness, we forget the people who come and go. The very people we would have done outreaches for, the people we would have done programmes for, or Lenten talks, or healing services, and youthful worship... All to win souls for God.

And we manage. We lure new people into our meetings to give them a taste of who God is and how much He loves us. But then the worship stops...
The music fades...
The noise ceases...
The talk ends...
And then...

What do we do?

Little Tweets

If I had Twitter and spoke in Tweets, here is what I would write about today (tweets in red)...

It's my friend's birthday. Gave her a present which she LOVED. But I think I left the receipt in the bag by mistake. :S

Sent my nomination for Student Faculty Rep. Not that I want to get too excited about it. No idea who other candidates are. We wait & see.

Saw MANY magazines lying around in the library & thought of patients @outpatients. They’d like something to read while waiting for doctor.

Went to take the magazines at OBGYN outpatients with two librarians who liked the idea. Maybe it will help reduce a few cat fights.

Was supposed 2have a lecture on menstruation & all its problems but lecturer didn’t come. Probably realised our class is 75% female already!

Still waiting for lecturer. Instead, the Dep. of Medicine secretary came to ask us if we’re going to the lecture @Boffa Hospital. We said no*.

* The reasons behind our "no" are plenty and, although my readership is pathetically small, they cannot all be made public on the Internet... And they will most definitely NOT fit into one tweet. However the reply we got to our "no" does make it as The Tweet of the Day, be it written in English or in Maltese. Here it is as it was originally said by the concerned lecturer at Boffa on the phone...

"Dawn huma l-istudenti tar-Repubblika ta’ Malta. Jitħalsu biex jistudjaw. Għidilhom biex ma jiġux!!!”

Or rather in English...

"These are the students of the Republic of Malta. They get paid to study. Just tell them not to turn up!!!"

And fianlly, my last tweet...

Writing a letter to concerned authorities in reply to the above. More tweets next time.

Now I know why Miley Cyrus is so "Twitter obsessed". I found writing out these messages kind of fun. Thing is... My day is rarely as interesting as this one.

Just a Thought

From the Times of Malta:

"The allocation of doctors at the Mater Dei Emergency Department has never been ideal but was now going from bad to worse..."

"... it had now become a habit to send to this department newly graduated doctors before these were even given their registration license" which is "illegal in all western states, possibly even in Malta."

Although these young doctors "did their best to serve patients in the most effective and efficient manner" they, "understandably, took longer on the job because they lacked the necessary experience."

And Marquita wonders...

Maybe that is what the architects had in mind when they placed the Emergency Department so, so close to the mortuary...

KSU Elections... My 2c

Yelling it out like it is in so many words...

Goodbye Jade...

It's been a while since my last post and much has happened...

1. My blog is two years old and did not even notice! (again)

2. Matt's blog came to life! :O

3. The 7 weeks ordeal in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department are over... for the time being.

4. Media is in full swing working on this year's edition of Murmur... and hopefully even Sphygmo

5. MMSA will be having elections on Monday

6. And someone's suffering in the UK has come to an end today in the early hours of the morning after an admirable battle against cervical cancer.

This post will be a little tribute to Jade Goody, originally a dental nurse assistant born and bred in Bermondsey, south-east London, who entered the public eye after propelling into fame in 2002 when finishing 4th on Big Brother. Since then, Jade signed up to many a series of lucrative television, newspaper and magazine deals, wrote her autobiography and launched a top selling perfume Shh... In the meantime, she was a mother of 2 boys Bobby (5) and Freddie (4) and also had to support her own mother Jackiey Budden after suffering from a crippling motor vehicle accident.

In all honesty, I wasn't really a big fan of Jade. And neither was the press in the very beginning. Jade often attracted press mockery for her appearance and supposed ignorance, being considered as a personification of all that is wrong with Britain today. She was loud-mouthed, brash and came up with (perfect for Sphygmo) PEARLS OF WISDOM such as, "Is East Anglia (Cambridge) abroad?" In fact, her brashness and big mouth were almost going to ruin her public image when she joined racially tinged bullying of the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in the celebrity edition of Big Brother in 2007.

However, since Jade received the devastating news that she had cervical cancer in August 2008, I started keeping a closer eye on her. For the past few months I stayed watching the last few days of such an ordinary person, with no particular discernible talent and with all the characteristics making her an unlikely celebrity... I watched her leaving such a mark in so many women's lives. The Living TV documentary of Jade Goody's battle with cancer entitled Jade has touched the hearts of thousands of viewers. Also, cancer charities noted an increase in younger women booking screening tests for cervical cancer. In fact, this tidal increase in women going in for smear tests has been noticed even by the medical profession, with doctors referring to this as the Jade effect.

Although most of her TV appearances were done to provide financial security to her sons Bobby and Freddie, I think as a medical student I owe Jade Goody a big thank you. When you really think about it, no health campaign would have, and will ever, manage to drive home the importance of taking regular Pap smears like this! So...

Thanks Jade for managing to see the silver lining in every cloud. May you rest in peace.

SPHYGMO Flu Edition

The second issue of SPHYGMO is out!!!

http://issuu.com/sphygmommsa/docs/sphygmo_jan_2009

Hello :)

Exams finished last week... In the meantime, I was contemplating on pressing the big orange "Delete This Blog" button, to delete this blog off the surface of the world wide web. But I had a friend complaining that she went on my blog only to find a very old and stale post...

So, I thought of posting today. Firstly... remember when I said that passing the orthopaedics exam is pretty much like doing this... ?

Well... I got to know two days ago that I did manage to do just that!

I guess that would be "YeY!" for me! But now, there are other obstacles to worry about, with the big one being called neurology this time. I felt crappy after the exam, and so did a lot of my friends. In fact, I got this message from a very thoughtful colleague that same day, you know, to try to cheer me up a little bit...

"Hey Marquita! I'm Cathrine.I just wanted to tell you that yesterday on Facebook there were people in our class who wrote that for number 2 of the neuro exam, everyone gave different answers... some said cluster headache, some brain tumour, some trigeminal neuralgia, optic neuritis! So no need to worry too much... Maybe there wasn't just one good perfectanswer! :) And as to number 3 everyone said it was difficult!"

Anyway... che sarà, sarà I suppose! At the moment I'm allowing my brain cells to enjoy their strike that will soon come to an end... either tomorrow or on Sunday... depends on whether I want to see this piece of crap on TV...


I'll at see whether my friend was right in saying that Kamikaze Lover is the worst of Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg... So far, I don't like what I am seeing on YouTube. It could either be the song, the main singer... or both!

Stress...

It's that time of year for the vast majority of students I suppose. Martine posted a very useful post on how to keep yourself motivated when bored studying. But with exams (very scarily) fast approaching, stress will be more likely to feature than boredom whilst trying to cram into your (poor) brain all you can till doomsday.

So, here is something that you may find useful. Feel free to use and distribute the stress reduction kit below to all who may require it. This can be used on a prn basis (i.e. used as required), though its abuse is highly unrecommended, for reasons that will render themselves obvious later on.

Warning/Disclaimer: Please note that all treatments have their fair share of side effects, with the above stress reduction kit potentially causing headaches, bumps on the head and severe bruising, especially if not careful. Unconsciousness is possible on overdosing, though when that happens, stress reduction activity will cease automatically.

Wishing you the very best of luck!

2008 Summary

"If the events of 2008 could be summarised in 20 words these would be the ones: euro, Morena, elections, fireworks, hunting, Lourdes, Mamo, kidnapped, Muscat, buses, Simshar, Karl, Nicholas, migrants, MITTS, privatisation, St John’s, tariffs, Piano and shootout."

TimesofMalta.com

The above inspired me to compile my own 20 words. Well... at least I tried to compile 20 but only managed to get to 15... which is kind of saying something about how eventful my life is at the moment.

Euro: I had to change from Maltese Liri to Euro with the rest of the Maltese population.

Election: 2008 was not just any election year... I got to vote in this one for the first time!

Newsletters: Well, Youth Ink is practically dead. But, I'm now taking care of Sphygmo, which is being made available online for the first time (saves a few trees together with the costs of printing). The Christmas/New Year issue is bound to come out soon (I hope).

Book: Ending the Search Beginning the Quest was published and printed, with lots of copies having been distributed for free already.

Exodus: The exodus of young doctors, including fresh newly graduates, has led to much commotion in the press and a concerned government. Yes... I think the issue did genuinely concern the authorities. In fact, they're trying to deal with the problem constructively such as trying to implement the Foundation Programme here and trying to provide specialist training. Well... ANYTHING is better than being tied down for two years (or else!), as suggested by quite a few members of the public in order to get back their tax money used to educate us "for free".

Exams: There were quite a handful of these, as to be expected. But... In 2008, the Departments of Medicine and Surgery held their first third year practical exams as part of the Medicine and Surgery progress tests last June. Very well received initiative and things ran quite smoothly on the day considering it was a first.

Behavioural: Behavioural Science is finally over along with third year!!!!

Travel: Went on a student exchange in Vienna with two good friends in July. Then went to London on holiday in September. It was great. But, I had to miss this year's outreach at Assisi. Apparently, it was a great success where people really saw God's hand at work!

McDonald's: This is where I spent the rest of my summer when I was not away.

Ratatouille: A Mater Dei Hospital worker had his salad garnished with the head of a rodent. Quite the scandal of the year! Nevertheless, Papillion still lives on to see the dawning of 2009... and still supplies medical students their daily coffees.

Strike: Although the strike that caused much havoc was the 4 day strike undergone by the public transport operators, this refers to another strike which mostly upset the students. Yes, I'm talking about 'Lecturers behaving badly' and 'students being used as bargaining tools' in the dispute between government and UMASA. There was a strike last summer and now, it seems that there is another one going on, with University examinations possibly being postponed if the current deadlock in negotiations for a new collective agreement for lecturers persists. Nonetheless, I'm still having my exams starting on the 19th January. So, I spent less time reading the newspapers and more time studying my neurology! (It kind of explains my blog deadlock lately.)

Chircop: This was not one of the 20 words in the Times of Malta article so I thought of mentioning it here. The medical community said goodbye to one of the most dedicated of people it could ever see. He was a dedicated doctor, a dedicated family man and also a dedicated politician... Karl Chircop. May he rest in peace.

HealthFest: MMSA held its first ever Healthfest at City Gate Valletta (yes, the same City Gate which the government is planning on rebuilding together with the Opera House site).

MSF: Médecins Sans Frontières came to Malta to provide medical aid to illegal immigrants.

Babies: No not my own! But some very old friends became very new parents with two new first borns coming into the world... both of them boys! Baby Matthis and baby Thomas, may God bless them both and their families.

Wishing all of you who read this blog a happy new year! May it be a prosperous one for everybody.