I believe I was born to be somebody.... So I always try to make a difference, not all the time though, nakakatamad rin naman kasi pag palagi diba!, EFFORT!!
So summer of last year, go go go na ko sa MMI. Sabi nila toxic daw kasi may mini-ini(tiation) blah blah tapos kailangan magWORK tapos may points-points pa para maging member! Points-points ka jan, e ang saya nga dito e. Punta ka lang sa office, tambay ng konti, bilang ng meds, inventory, HINDI BAGOT, punta ka malta, ma-meet mo si Karl (siya kasi ang pinakamakulet), punta ka minor mission, magtuli ka, ma-meet mo sila, maaadik ka na sa MMI kasi tuwing friday nandun ka na kahit walang meeting, minsan pati lunch break andun ka na din, tapos magmajor mission ka, mag committee ka o kaya mas masaya, mag-officer ka. :) Madaling sabihin, MAS MADALING GAWIN, kasi masaya! Fulfilling PROMISE! Nagsimula ako, saling-cute lang ako sa minor missions tapos biglang may family na ko sa MMI, ngayon may sarili nakong mga anak (hello Jay and Ralph)! At ngayong taon, as a bonus (or not? Haha!), naging officer ako... More time to serve my organization. *Can this be love? Nyahahahaha!*
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| May 2010. My saling-cute moment! |
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| May 2010. Still cannot define what NG and SG is. |
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| June 2010. My 1st MMI LTS |
This summer is the *most* thrilling, exhausting, kaubos-pera, but fulfilling summer of my life. Pasyal dito, pasyal doon. JOKE! Mission dito, mission doon. Pack. Pack. Pack. Inom ng coke. Inom ulit ng coke. Kain. Pasalubong. Inventory. Pack ulit. Kain ulit. Inom ng coke. The irregular cycle goes on. Inom pa rin ng coke! (Doc Cuevas?)
April 11.
I was a team member. I joined the Mindoro major mission. (Thank you TL Ryan!) Weeks before the 1-week mission, we started to do the inventory. Count the sutures, count the meds, count the sutures again. It’s never ending!
You separate the abs(orbable) and the nonabs(orbable).
You write it down.
You type it.
You print it.
You check and balance.
CHARAN!!! Hindi balance.
Count again! Monosof, Ethilon, Mersilk, and the list goes on. But what really balances? The foods! Kung anong pagkain ang nasa table ng 10am, nasa tiyan ko ng 10:15! Masaya kasi marami kang nakikilala (aside sa marami ka ring nakakain). Tapos para kayong may ULTIMATE BONDING EXPERIENCE ng team mo kasi araw araw kayong magkakasama.... sa hirap at ginhawa! Tapos you get to talk about your pre-med courses. You discover your similarities and differences. Few days before the mission, you practice PROPER IV insertion, PROPER scrubbing, PROPER gowning, PROPER gloving and many more you cannot learn while sitting inside the 125-seating capacity classrooms.
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| IV Training at Anes Department |
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| Proper gowning, etc. |
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| THE foods |
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| Mindoro and CamSur Close Pack |
The next thing you knew, you’re leaving for the mission (na parang hindi pa sapat yung UBE nyo at kailangan nyo pang ituloy sa mission site!), trying your best to pack light for a 5-day mission. Quite impossible but NOT!
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| Last minute preparations |
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| Mirmo inside my (-) pack-light bag |
During the mission, you’ll meet and work with the doctors from UST and other hospitals, the MMI nursing group whom you’ve worked with since day 1, the nurse volunteers, real patients and in our case, volunteers and doctors from US! First day, you carry and open boxes, take vital signs, smile to patients and doctors, feel cool even you feel you’re inside an oven, distribute ballpens to doctors (this is not normally done haha), translate for an “SPOKEN-IN-DOLLARS” doctors and learn from them. Real patients will surely bring out the worst in you, I SWEAR, parang ibang language sila kasi hindi mo alam bakit ang tagal nyo ng nag-uusap hindi pa rin kayo magkaintindihan, tapos pagbalik mo galing mission aba, ang haaaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaa na ng pasensya mo. TRUE STORY.
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| Some of Mindoro SG |
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| Taking vital signs at OPD |
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| Booooxesss and machines |
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| Carrying boxes |
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| Translating for Dr. Paat |
For the next days, you get to assist inside the major operating room, do your own minor surgeries, monitor patients inside the recovery room, change IV fluids, read patients’ charts, dispense drugs at the pharmacy… But the best part for me was when I had my own patient. One table, a BP app, stethoscope, thermometer, pulse oximeter, prescription pads, history and PE guideline, you and your patient! O diba ang bongga! If cardio patient, you learn how to use an ECG machine pa, a little by little, try to interpret the results (u wave for the win!) and prescribe drugs………… like atenolol (50mg)…. (Let’s pretend this is not a part: have them checked by a real doctor)…..Then sign with all your heart………. ***Sabay sigaw ng “Doktor na koooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”*** Then back to reality, explain what you wrote to your patient. Then ituro mo kung san yung pharmacy, then tatayo siya, sasabihin nya “Salamat po doktora at gagaling na rin ako!” or aakapin ka nya or kakamayan!! THEN YOU CAN JUST DIE RIGHT THERE I SWEAR!!!!!!!!!!
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| Action inside the operating room |
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| Monitoring vital signs at recovery room |
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| In between operations break |
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| Explaining prescriptions to patients |
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| History, physical exam, diagnose, treat. COOL |
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| Whip my hair back and forth! Dispensing! |
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| Graffiti by Justin Paat |
Sometimes, you can pretend to be a superhero who saves the world from PAIN! A patient with chronic arthritis who can hardly walk, walks up to you, and your supervisor doctor lets you do the MAGIIICCC!!! You give local anesthesia on his knees, then give cortisone shots! Flex-extend ng slight… then you’ll see your patient’s twinkling eyes….. full of joy…. Alam mo yung feeling nung pag-alis nya… nakikita mo siyang naglalakad palayo and hindi na siya in pain. WHAT A FEELING! I COULD HAVE DIED THAT MOMENT AGAIN! THEN LIVE TO DIE AGAIN. Wahahahahaha!
Syempre hindi complete ang RR(recovery room) experience kapag wala kang graveyard shift! Hindi rin kumpleto kung hindi ka magigising ng madaling araw kasi sobrang init! Hindi rin masaya kung walang blood-letting gabi gabi para sa mga lamok na type ang may off lotion on top! Then after the mission, you get to rest for a bit, swim a bit, have fun, fun, fun, and then pack things again. You’re going back to Manila…………. And it’s the end of April already!
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| Performing THE MAGIC! |
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| Ayos ba 'tay? :) |
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| Illegal sleeping during graveyard shift |
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| Thanksgiving party! Videoke! |
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| Dinner with my fave kids and Doc Cordero |
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| Sings: "Dito sa bayan ng Pola!" |
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| Beach |
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| Beach |
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| Going back to Manila (roro ship) |
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| Team Mindoro SG! |
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| TEAM MINDORO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
April 30
At this point, ang gusto ko na lang talagang gawin ay ang matulog, matulog, kumain, magDVD marathon, matulog ulit at hindi na lumabas ng bahay! Gusto ko talaga! Pero kinabukasan, pag gising ko, ayun nasa school na naman ako. Post mission report for Mindoro, forming the team for the next mission, cleaning the office. Hay! Then it was May. Preps for Bulacan mission started. Team leader na ko this time. Level up! And since house staff mission, we had less preparations compared to Mindoro and CamSur missions. All I did was to contact the doctors, tell them what they need to bring/buy and form my team.
May 9
Second week of May, team building at Pangil, Laguna……. For more bonding, planning and eating!!!!!!! 50th anniv committee was formed... and more PROMISING plans for this acad year!
May 20
Tapos isang kurap lang, BULACAN MISSION TIME na!!! Carrying boxes (TL box na ngayon!), supervising my team while running back and forth from the hospital and function hall, head counting, errand girl aka dakilang utusan………. Ahhh the duties of a team leader. “Celine!!” here… “Celiiiiine!!!!!” there… Ang toxic, pero rewarding! I wasn’t able to do a single minor surgery since I was too busy being a runner. I entered the operating room twice, thank God for Karl and Joy, ka-relyebo ko sila because I don’t want to ask ATL CelinA (the TL with the A) to do my work for me kasi I want her to experience everything! But sadly, wala yung favourite kong OPD. The last surgery finished at around 2AM in the morning na! The surgeons and anethesiologists finished all the major surgeries in a day! Grabe ang galing lang nila! But we have to stay up until morning. And dito ko naexperience ang makatulog ng hindi ko namamalayan! As in I even asked for a chocolate daw? Before sleeping! I can’t even remember that! Basta pag gising ko, nakahiga ako sa floor NG HOSPITAL! At may chocolate sa tabi ko! Bulacan mission is a great experience for me kasi after several years ngayon lang ulit ako nakapagleader.... and of course, a great team behind me. :)
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| Bulacan Close Pack |
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| Arrived at mission site |
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| TL and ATL |
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| Team doing pre-op |
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| Clearing a patient for minor surgery |
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| Doing minor surgery |
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| I was just playing sleep minutes before |
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| Team Bulacan and House Staff!!!!!!!!!!! |
May 25
And speaking of leader, just 2 days after that mission, I was sent to represent MMI in SOCC LTS. I learned new things (OSA-specific things!), gained more friends and more weight, nakasayaw ako ng bonggang bongga *Buble’s Everything plays*, nakasayaw ulit ako ng bongga! *A Whole New World plays*, nakasali ako sa pagmamayabang ni Doc Sherwin na ang pride ng UST ay ang FACULTY OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY *palakpakan!!!*, nakabalik ako sa Caleruega at ang pinakarewarding sa lahat, binilang nila kung ilang years nako nag-aaral sa UST to think college halos lahat sila! Wahahahaha! Thank you! Okay lang, cute pa din naman ako! (wonk wonk woooonk!)
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| MMI represent! |
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| Team sticks and coins |
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| THE Interpretative Dance |
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| Medicine represent! |
May 30
Then after that, I went back to the office for two more days to finish the Bulacan post mission report (na si ATL na halos ang gumawa, thanks Celina!) and para maging business manager na lumalagare sa Recto para makipagtawaran sa pamaypay! (Thank you Karl sa pagsama!!)
So anong nagawang life-changing ng MMI sakin? Eto lang naman.
- assisted 2 thyroidectomies, 3 herniorraphies, and 1 open cholecystectomy
- performed suturing to emergency, dirty and open wounds, cyst excision, drained cysts
- used an ECG
- monitored post-op patients
- cleared patients for surgery, diagnosed under supervision
- prescribed meds, dispensed meds
- learned what "nahapos" and "nahimay" means
- new friends from MMI and SOCC
- ambon-ambon falls and nakapagswimming sa napakalamig na ilog!
- nakatulog sa floor ng hindi namamalayan!
- met LOTSSSSS of doctors
- and many other things na hindi ko na ikkwento (MWAHAHAHAHAHA)
I am eternally grateful I had this very wonderful and fulfilling summer….
An MMI summer indeed!......... And this must really be love? Wahahaha!
Cheers to this coming acad year MMIers!!!*in tears*
More bonding esp with EB Dino, Karl and Ryan!
Let’s all be the “somebody” we wanted to be!
Pero syempre mas bongga yung pagka-SOMEBODY ko kasi blog ko to. MWAHAHAHAHA!
