Humigit-kumulang walong taon na akong nakikipag-usap at nagpapaliwanag sa mga pasyente ng pinakamalaking pampublikong ospital ng Pilipinas. Bilang medical student noon at neurosurgery resident ngayon, natutuhan kong dalawang tanong ang pinakaimportante sa lahat. Read the rest of this entry »
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12 May 2012
Dalawang Tanong na Hindi Ko Kinalilimutang Itanong sa Aking mga Pasyente (o sa Kanilang Pamilya)
Ang kuwentong naghatid sa akin sa UST National Writers Workshop, iginuhit ni Andoyman Komikero. Abangan sa ronibats.ph!
Abangan - Palimos ng Kulangot (Komiks)
On this day in 2011, after a three-year literary hiatus, I decided to launch ronibats.ph. This is my 20th article for the website, and as of this time, my Facebook page is nearing its 500th like. Despite the irregular post times and frequency, the response to ronibats.ph from friends and strangers, colleagues in the medical profession or otherwise, has been nothing short of overwhelming. So on my website’s birthday, despite the nagging urge to sleep, I write this to express my thanks.
The irony is that everything happened in front of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, a 200-meter sprint from the Department of Justice building. I had just attended a mentor’s Christmas party and was walking home just outside the hospital where I had spent almost a third of my life training to become a physician. Looking back, the street was well lit even though it was quarter past midnight. However, the traffic light along Taft Avenue was on green, hence the few jeepneys cruising Padre Faura at that time were stuck on the other side of the intersection. The iPod, long-sleeve polo and jeans didn’t help; I resembled a wandering, inebriated Japanese on his way to get a taste of Manila’s nightlife.
He was walking in the opposite direction. Before I realized his motive, he rushed towards me, grabbed my upper body and declared, “Holdap ‘to!”
Medical students and doctors have this nasty habit of using the letter “x” to stand for anything and everything. To illustrate:
An intern sees a Px in the ER, elicits pertinent SSx, and writes his clinical Hx in the chart. The resident-in-charge examines the Px and subsequently orders Dx and Tx, which include getting a CXR to check for a possible rib Fx. Seeing that the Px might be suffering from an acute appendicitis, the receiving physician then refers the Px to a Sx resident for further Mx.
To any medical student, no task is more daunting than having to come up with a diagnosis for a patient who comes to him or her for medical opinion. I am not referring to patients seen in the wards or in the outpatient clinic, but to family members or friends of family members complaining of headache, difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, or some skin lesion, among other things. Being the first doctor in the family (and my mother being the friendly village pancit vendor), I have had my share of such patients when I was in medical school. Read the rest of this entry »
Sustaining severe injuries after his motorcycle collided head on with another motorcycle, Eric Reyes was in semicoma when I first saw him at the Emergency Room. He would not open his eyes no matter what I said or did. He moved his arms and legs only if I put pressure on his ribcage or pinched his fingernails. Although he could still breath on his own, his airway was in danger of obstruction so the trauma team intubated him on arrival at our hospital. Compressing the Ambu bag and having a hard time keeping up with the rhythm of Eric’s breathing was an obviously distraught Ofelia, his wife. Noticing that Ofelia also had scratches on her forehead and arms, I asked, “Bakit sugat-sugat ka rin?” Read the rest of this entry »
- Hindi ako nagha-highlight ng libro at transcription. Nadudumihan ako sa mga pahinang ginagawang coloring book ng mga kaklase ko. Sinubukan kong mag-highlight noong first semester ng first year med proper; hindi epektib kasi kailangan ko pang isipin kung kailangan ba talagang i-highlight ang gusto kong i-highlight, at hindi ako makapili kung anong kulay ang gagamitin. Read the rest of this entry »
