this has been a most glorious weekend! no studying needed, just plain lazing around and of course checking out the great singapore sale that has just started. 

and all this because my ortho test is over!

well my ortho clinical test was held on friday, and ohmygosh i got a heart attack when hsienmin and i were only informed of the test on wednesday afternoon!! yes, that's less than 48 hours before our test cause the secretary told us that we were to meet him at 730am on friday morning!! that's some scary shit cause i was really banking on the weekend to study.

so in the end, i had to cram in 7 weeks of ortho learning (sorry, i'm not terribly diligent as hsienmin can probably attest to that) in less than 48hours! i think i learnt more about ortho in 2 days then i did in 7 weeks. FINALLY figured out the anatomy of the hand (calling it hand bones and hand nerve didn't go down quite well with a certain hand surgeon at nuh heh) and physical examinations

considering that i hadn't done more than 2 physical examinations in the whole ortho posting, i was really sweating it out when i decided that hey, i need to practise on someone! so poor mama teo who was at home cooking had no choice but to lie down on the bed while i tried to examine her hip. and in the end i confused the whole hip examination with the spine examination cause both had something to do with lordosis or smthg like that. and in my utter desperate attempt to cover up my ignorance, the woman who has known me all my life immediately called my bluff. 

"eh, you know what you doing anot? i think you're going to fail!"

damn sad la can. even my own mum could tell that my physical examination is damn pok. really utter demoralising crushing blow. 

soon the last minute panic set in cause i really knew nuts about orthopaedics considering the scant interest i had in it (pls refer previous post). lucky some friendly tips from manny vicliang and ortho HO from nuh, chiak, saved my ass!

so onto the test proper. when the doc gave me the case he said "ok i'll be back in 30mins and u'll present to me ok?" then he zao back into his journal club meeting. so off i went to find the patient i was supposed to clerk, and the shittiest thing happened! the patient is no longer there!! like TMD!!! turns out she had already gone to OT so clueless and helpless me had no choice but to go look for the doc. this was when i realised that i dunno what's the doc's name, i dunno how he looks like (cause i only saw his face for like 10seconds), and i dunno where they having the journal club meeting!! jialat sia. really sweating liao. heng i walk out of the ward and straight away heard some mumblings about 'orthopaedic surgery has come a long way...' coming out frm a room and then i had to stick my head in to look for the doc!!

when i just push the door ajar, everyone in the room turn to stare at me, thinking like waddehell this student in labcoat doing man. but luckily the doc saw me and came out... phew. and gave me another case. 

overall the test was okay. then hsienmin and i went to orchard to start our great singapore sale hunt!! shiok. to be in town on friday afternoon when everyone else is probably still in wards/lectures/clinics/polyclinics/IMH/wherever just feels TOTALLY SHIOK man. this after my 48-hour-mugging for ortho... u can't say i dun deserve it! so there. heh!

so on hindsight it was great that the test was over so quickly for me so now i got a short breather before the MCQ and OSCEs next friday. oh well, to those taking the ortho test in week 8, good luck and all the best!!