Alright alright alrightto

Back by popular demand, here I am. I guess i've been a little bit crappy at keeping up to date with my blogging...but i blame society. And particularly the Australian Medical Association for requiring a high standard for physician training. So let's see what I can recall about the highlights of the past while....

Overview: Classes have been going well..i still want to be a doctor, so that's about as good as it gets i think heh. Lot's of work to do but they are incredibly clinically focus here so i'm already practicing taking histories, doing a general inspection for physical examination and next week will be starting palpation, percussion and auscultation for the gastrointestinal system physical exam. So i'm looking forward to that. On the drier side of things we've been in an Infection and Defence module. Most of our lectures have been focusing on the various immunological responses of the body and anatomy has been focused on the primary and secondary lymphoid organs etc etc. The PBL case was on a 5 month old who presented with what turned out to be an immune deficiency disease called SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). Cool stuff...only since the cases are hypothetical and not on an actual 5 month old child who could die :S .
Last week I had my first "street rescue" experience. My housemate Jill (who is a 2nd year med) and I were on our way back from the pub one night and decided to stop at Hungry Jacks (Burger King). On our way out we noticed a group of people around what seemed to be someone on the ground. We went over and asked if anyone that was there was already a medical professional (nurse, paramedic, doc..whatever) and nobody was. So we stepped in and told them we were med students. The girl was unconscious and completely non-responsive. Jill grabbed the phone and started talking to the ambo's while I took the girls vitals. She had a steady pulse and steady but shallow breathing. A sternal rub produced no response...meaning she was really out of it. We tried to get her history from her mother and examined her to make sure she didn't have any trauma from hitting her head after passing out and so on, she was fine. Her mother was chinese and didn't speak english very well...but continued to try and give the girl water, which I had to stop her from doing and explained that she could choke and die..i don't know if she really understood me the first time, b/c she tried to do it again..twice. Anyway, jill stayed on with the ambo's and I continued to monitor her breathing to make sure we didn't have to start CPR. Just before the paramedics got there she started to come to and could respond to verbal commands (nodding..trying to squeeze a finger etc). After we told the ambo's what they needed to know we thanked them and went and enjoyed our burgers. Not sure what ended up being the problem. We found out that she had OCD, but i can't think of why she would've passed out from that...especially for so long. Jill and I both got the feeling that she had gained consciousness earlier than she had let on...but who knows.
Oh...new segment: Things that I saw on my way to school today....
1) A caucasian samurai business man...don't know what that looks like? Think of a tall white guy, wearing a Men in Black uniform (w/ sunglasses) and a braided black pony-tail down to his waist.
2) A used lace thong in the parking lot...not sure how it got there..but sure i don't want to know.

Cheers