Something for you to think about...

To make up for my last short post - I'll give you guys something to think/reflect about.

So you meet a 55 year old male patient on the  neurology ward who was admitted with severe unilateral headaches in the front which radiates to the back of the head with no associated neck stiffness. As you talk to the patient you notice he's fairly relaxed and quite talkative. He tells you how he first presented to his GP 4 weeks ago who didn't explain much and sent him for a CT/MRI scan on his head, then proceeded to send him for Chest X-rays...eventually getting a pelvic MRI scan. The patient says: "I have no idea why I had to go through all these scans. Bit pointless in my opinion. It's just a headache...any ideas doc?" You know all these events had happened over the last 4 weeks and this patient has seen several doctors and you start to wonder why no one has told this man why all these investigations were done. Eventually you find out that the patient is aware that there is a "lump" in the back of his brain and that he's being scheduled to get a biopsy. After saying this, the patient still seems very relaxed and seemingly unaware of what is going on...actually he ends up telling you that he actually doesn't have a clue what's going on.

After the nice conversation you've had with the patient, you go look in his medical notes. You read the report from the scans which clearly says: "Query metastasis to the brain". You know that the GP/other doctors had sent this patient for several different investigations is to locate the primary cancer - which the patient is completely unaware of. Next imaging report: "Primary glioma". All brain tumours are technically malignant. Then you think: does this patient know he's possibly got brain cancer? No one knows how severe it is as a biopsy hasn't been done.

So here's something for you to think about. As a medic or soon to be medic: would you rather know about everything? Know exactly WHY the scans are being done and what are the results. Reasons behind all the investigations. All the plans from the doctors and suspicions/differentials. Then you look at it from another point. If this patient knew about all of the reasons and all the prior suspicions that the doctors had, would he still be as relaxed and calm about his "headache"? So is it actually better to not know that much?

Personally I think there's a fine line between knowing too much and knowing too little. As a patient, I would want as much info as I can as I'm a medic - I want to know things. If I didn't have any medical background, I think I wouldn't want to know anything. Live life in denial and in the unknown I guess? At least I won't be busy stressing myself out. These things can be emotionally difficult and cancer is such a sensitive topic. I would think the general population wouldn't want to know all the reasoning. It's tough. I think every person has a different view on this. Something for you to think about/reflect about.

Post #100 - A Look Back.

Post #100 for this blog. I obviously want to make a special post and let's take a trip back to the beginning of this blog.

August 6, 2009 - my first blog post. It was a big day for me as it was the day I received an unconditional offer from my university to study Medicine in the UK. Looking back, coming to study in the UK was a huge decision and definitely a path of a lot of unknowns. A new country. A new culture. A new chapter. Little did I know what a roller coaster ride it would be for the next 2.5 years. I faced many challenges (and still facing challenges) and have grown up a lot in the last 2.5 years. University was a new chapter to my life. Saw and learned so many new things. It has so far been the best few years of my life. I can easily say that Freshers week will always be a highlight as it was quite an experience getting to know so many new people in such a short amount of time. I've been in the same school for half my life so making new friends is something "new" and I was extremely nervous. Kind of laughing at myself now for being so nervous/scared as there was nothing to be scared about. Every one is on the same boat in terms of friends and people are just so friendly. A tip for those who will be starting this coming September: be EXCITED. There is nothing to be afraid of and don't let anything hold you back. Enjoy your time as a Fresher as it will blow by in a blink of an eye. 

When I first started this blog I was really unsure whether I will even be able to keep up with it. Slowly I've noticed that people are reading it and it really motivated me to keep posting. Whilst scrolling through my archives...I have noticed quite a change in frequency of posts. I think it's a fairly good representation of excitement through my years in medical school. Obviously if there is something exciting, I would post about it. Here's reality: the first 2 years of medical school is a bit of a shock. I think a lot of us come into medical school thinking like we would be like the TV show ER...or House and we would be immersed in doing clinical procedures and running around. WRONG. Well in my case I was stuck in a lecture theatre for 2 years learning about the basic sciences, which isn't the most exciting thing. It is obvious there were a lot of up and downs in the last 2 years. I lost sight of the final prize (becoming a doctor) several times throughout the last 2 years. You get to a certain point where you're like "get me on the wards!" and then there will be times where you ask yourself: "Why in the world am I studying Medicine?" Medical school is full of obstacles and it is emotionally, mentally, and physically tough. There are so many times where you're on the floor and you really need to dig deep to pick yourself back up. I realized this is a degree that you have to be committed to because there are times where you truly do question your desires of being a doctor. Then at last - I reached clinical years. 2 grueling years of being cooped up in a lecture theatre and finally I am able to do some practical things and talk to patients. But hold up...with my school we are quite lucky to have a bit of clinical experience in the first 2 years.

March 15, 2010 - first hospital attachment. It was a short clinical attachment and really just a taste test of what I'll be doing in the future. Only a few months ago I saw first year medical students starting with their first clinical attachment like I did back in 2010. Seeing these freshers really put things into perspective of how far you have come along. (And for once it was nice not being at the bottom of the ladder at the hospital). It really gave me a flashback to what it was like when I started my first clinical attachment. Patient histories were a struggle...I was not good at them at all. Hardly knew any medical sciences so I didn't really understand anything and tried my best to keep up. Couldn't do any clinical skills. Essentially just shadowed the doctors and tried to not get in the way. Went to observe a few surgeries and standing on a pedestal trying to peer over the consultant's shoulder. However, I do remember how much I enjoyed watching surgeries. It just clicked. Fast forward to 2012. Patient histories - easy. Interacting with patients - easy. Medical knowledge - growing every day. Clinical skills - taking bloods, inserting cannulas, inserting catheters...just the other day I put in an endotracheal tube on my own (supervised by the anaesthetist). Surgery - observe? Heck I'm scrubbing in now and even helping close up at the end! Medical school is a long and painful process...but when you take the time to stop and think back to when you started...you see how far you have come.

February 8, 2011 - immigration laws changing. I believe this is the first proper post where I've discussed in detail about being an international student and things we have to think about. From then on, I have dedicated 2 other posts (Tidbit for International Students and Life of an International Student) to give a bit more insight about the life of an INTERNATIONAL medical student. To be honest, being an international student isn't that much more different than a local British student. We go through the same course. We get treated the same. We learn the same things. We see the same things. The only difference is our accents, and our passports...and the fact we have to worry about Visas and immigration laws. But other than that, being an international student hasn't been that hard of a transition that I had initially thought. Before I started medical school, my biggest fear was the fact I was an international student and it might be a bit harder for me to make friends or get used to the culture. Again during Freshers week...everyone was just so friendly...I didn't feel different. I didn't feel that much of an outsider. There were a few times in the last 2.5 years where it was frustrating to be an international student due to the lack of support from the medical school, but you learn to manage. As an international student, you make a lot of sacrifice. You leave your family behind. You leave home behind (which can be thousands of miles away). You pay higher fees. But hey hopefully it will be worth it. Hopefully this is something I will not regret. At the end of the day...hopefully this will be all worth it. Homesickness is a huge thing for international students and a lot of my friends do struggle with this...including me. Every time this happens I just have to take a break and tell myself it will be worth it and think about all the obstacles I have already been through and how far I have come. What makes me wake up every morning is the end prospect from studying medicine. I am grateful to be in such a great field and the experiences I have had so far have been amazing. The future with immigration and working in the UK - not a straight path and one with many bumps, but the fact I have made so many sacrifices just gives me so much more motivation and determination to make it work. Work hard and hopefully have a bit of luck on my side when it comes to jobs.

August 7, 2009 - first tip post. Not exactly one of my best tip post, but hey we all got to start somewhere. Obviously this blog was to keep a track of my crazy life of being a medical student, but also to give some tips to future medical applicants. I try my best and over the last 2 years I have posted quite a few tip posts here and there. Applying to medical school is no easy process and I wished I got some tips. My school back in Canada was not very good with helping out students with applying abroad as they are not very familiar with the process. It was a difficult process as I had to do a lot of stuff myself and call up universities in the middle of the night (my time due to the time difference) to get some more information. Hopefully with my tip posts I am able to help future applicants with the process. Obviously I applied 3ish years ago so UKCAT info and tips are a bit off, but I'm sure the interview process is still the same. Now I'm trying to focus on giving tips on surviving medical school. Little tricks I have learned here and there. I remember my very first medical school lecture, one of my professors told all of us: "Life is not fair." And it is so true and particularly true with medical school. So here is a tip to all of you: Life is not fair. You cannot have your way with everything...unfortunately, BUT what you can do is make the best of every experience no matter how undesirable it is. There is always something to learn. Stay humble and treat those around you with the same respect you would expect in return. You will meet a lot of people throughout medical school and treat everyone well as you never know, you might see he or she again in the future. Consultants on placements - treat them with as much respect as you can as who knows, he or she may just be your future employer in a few years. Don't do anything you will regret, even outside of school hours as things can come back and bite you on the ass. Unfortunately as a medical student - we got to grow up very fast. We start medical school at around 18 or 19 years old...you will see patients of all ages and they expect professional behaviour despite your age. Also grow some thick skin - consultants can be very unforgiving. Do your best to not take it personal. At the end of the day their criticisms are for your own good.

June 2, 2012 - post #100. It has been quite a journey and I expect more ups and downs in the next 2 years. Being a doctor is starting to get real. Now going through my specialty placements, I'm starting to do more and more on placements. This post has made me look back and realize how much I have grown emotionally and mentally. Thank you to all you readers out there and keeping me going on this blog. I really appreciate it. Happy reading!

Clinical Specialty Placements

So tomorrow I will be starting clinical specialty placements. I will be on Paediatrics for 6 weeks. I am kind of nervous for it as I don't know what to expect. I was placed in Paediatric Surgery in first year (which by the way is still my most memorable and fun time I have had on placement), but  I was only on the attachment for 1 week. I'm pretty sure it'll be a completely different ball game as obviously the consultants will expect much more knowledge. I have been placed in a peripheral hospital so hello to 1 hour drives each way. Should be interesting...hopefully the weather holds up to make my drive less stressful.

To best honest, I am alright with kids. I don't LOVE kids so I'm not uber excited to be surrounded by them. But who knows, in first year I was really inspired by my first attachment and saw some really interesting things. At one point I was thinking about maybe even specializing in Paediatric Surgery. Hopefully this will be a good experience and I will be able to learn loads as the hospital is much smaller so the doctors will have more time to teach.

9 am introductory lectures tomorrow until 4pm, then on Tuesday I'll be going to the peripheral hospital. Really hoping this will be a good attachment. More updates will come in the week!

5 More Days.

So yesterday it finally set in...the sense of impending doom - exam is just around the corner. It has been a very tough revision period. It was particularly hard to muster up some motivation as it is quite weird to have an exam so soon (as I just had an exam in May). I think I'm still recovering from May's exam - it was brutal/traumatizing. Horrible experience.

I've spent about 6 weeks revising now, and I feel like I haven't really learned anything, which is an unsettling feeling. Worst bit is that no matter how much I study/revise, I am not going to know everything. That's the thing with Medicine, it's just a bottomless pit of knowledge. Give me another month, I'd still find something to study. Went to look at specimen papers earlier today - had a semi-realization. No book will teach you how to pass a clinical year exam. It seriously is common sense. I mean I went through a whole paper and I was like "...nothing I've studied has been asked." Then I realized clinical questions is the application of knowledge. Take the basics and apply it to the question. No book will teach you how to diagnose. It is a matter of taking what you know and putting it together to form an answer...like a puzzle. After 2 years of medical sciences, you forget that Medicine isn't about 2+2 = 4. It's more abstract and requires critical thinking and pattern recognition. And then I kept flipping through the specimen and seriously some of the questions they ask really deserves a fat: "What...?" And then you look up the answer in a textbook and find the answer in tiny fonts as a footnote at the bottom of a page. Seriously think some questions are put into exams just so it's impossible to get 100%. If anyone ever gets 100% in our exams I will personally go to them and bow to them. Then again I forgot how disliked my year is in the medical school so I'm pretty sure there will be questions on the exam where you just want to pick up the paper and throw it at someone.

Anyways...looking forward to end of exams and at the same time I am scared out of my mind for this year's exam. Ugh. ALMOST THERE!

Exam Preparation.

To be honest...I haven't really done anything in placement, hence, the lack of updates. As you probably noticed from previous posts, my exams are coming up which involves 2 written papers and 1 OSCE. It's my first year of taking OSCE and doing more clinical based papers, so I'm quite nervous as I don't know what to expect. Yesterday, I finally got an idea what the OSCE will be like though as the school held a mock OSCE session for the students.

Essentially, our OSCE will be 6 stations of patient histories, and 6 stations of physical examinations. Each station will be7-8 minutes long. Before going into the mock, I had an impression that it will be really difficult. To my delight, the mock turned out a lot easier than I thought. Obviously could have done better as I didn't study for it (haven't had time to) or really practice for it. All in all, it wasn't too bad. I do have to work on making my examinations more slick and quicker as I take too long examining the peripheries. For example in Cardiovascular examination, I spend too much time looking at the hands and face. I think I need to just quickly glance over the hands and really just scan it instead of really looking at every single detail. Obviously the most important part of the exam is to examine the chest and I felt that I spent less time on the chest than the peripheries. Again, I think this is down to practising more.

It was really nice getting feedback from people on how I did in the mock OSCE and I now know what to focus on. Prior to the mock, I wasn't too sure what I needed to work on so I will be making a trip to the hospital tomorrow with one goal in mind: get slick at examinations. It should be good and I'm quite determined to get this down as the OSCE is worth 70% of our mark. In terms of history taking, it has always been my "strong point" as I do enjoy talking and I feel that I have a really good logical system of asking questions. In a patient history you would ask Presenting Complaint, History of Presenting Complaint, Drug History, Family History, Social History. Once I get that in my head, I find that asking questions and getting info from the patients quite easy. During mock, I was also helping out and was a patient for a station. Some people don't have a system at all and you can tell as their questions are all over the place. It's nice to see the level of history taking other students are at as it gives me a good idea of how much I need to work on my history taking skills.

Other than that.....3.5 weeks until exams. Eep.

End of Placement 3.

What a placement. It actually went by a lot faster than I thought it would as I hated my first week of placements. In the end, it wasn't too bad. Definitely found out colorectal surgery is not for me. I can never seem to orientate myself in theatre especially during laparoscopic procedures. Everything looks the same! Just bowels here and there. Clinics were alright - completely understand why consultants hate it though. It's usually the same old things - over and over again. Only been to 2.5 clinics - and to be fair - it was starting to get repetitive and boring. I must admit, I am a bit embarrassed by the fact that I only turned up to ward rounds ONCE in the entire 4 weeks of placement. Oops. 7:30am ward rounds are too early - Note to self: don't get admitted as a patient to a hospital with 7:30am ward rounds - no wonder most of the patients we saw on ward round were cranky. You're ill/in pain and you're tired - 7:30 am a team of 5+ doctors (have seen teams of 10) crowd around your bed - doctor takes a feel/ask a few questions and then disappear. As a patient, that would really tick me off, but then again I'm not the most cheerful person in the morning.

What else have I learned on this placement? As previously mentioned in an earlier post - common sense takes you a long way. Oh and some consultants are actually human and love to talk about other stuff other than medicine. And again especially at busy hospitals - medical students are probably the least important things in the hospital - be prepared to get ignored/no one caring about you. That's reality and you just have to be proactive and be responsible for your own learning.

Next placement will be in endocrinology. Don't know what to expect; however, I don't even think I will have time to go into placement as exams are around the corner (December). Need to really study and start focusing. Can't tell you how stressed I am - it's mental. Like most students - I hate revising. The only thing that keeps me going is the future. I keep telling myself that once these exams are over I can slack off again and it'll be a year before my next exam. Can't wait as we just had our year-end exams in May - so it's only been 6ish months. The thought of 2nd year exams/revision still scares me - it was tough/a nightmare. At least this year's December exam will be more clinical (what I like) and not as science based. Still a bit lost as to what to study. Just hoping the best and hoping that I'm studying the right material as this year - we've hardly had any guidance. Eep.

Hectic.

Okay...I may have lied in my last post about updating my blog sooner. Oddly enough, I did not expect to be this busy. No I am not on summer holiday. I had a 4 week holiday...well 2 weeks after results. Started back on June 6. It has been non-stop 9am-5pm lectures. I have never really had 9-5 days. Usually I would be in lecture for the morning and get the afternoon off. There will be a day here and there where we would get the odd lecture from 3-5 after 2 hours in the morning from 9-11. But I have never had 9-5...non stop. We're talking about 1 hour lunch breaks. Most of you reading this will be like "...9-5 is nothing. What are you talking about?" I find it quite difficult to sit for so long, so by the time I get to the afternoon lectures I am mentally drained and can't really focus. On top of that all my friends feel the need to cram a million events into these next few weeks as we'll be splitting up for placements and all of us are in different hospitals so we will not be seeing each other very much. Can't handle so many dinners and outings!

Anyways my lectures have been mostly about clinical examination sessions, such as how to examine a patient with a vascular disease. Or how to examine a thyroid patient, or how to do a breast examination, etc. Also I finally got to use my stethoscope. Really started feeling like I am studying to become a doctor. It was really weird. The feeling will only get greater when I start placements in 2.5 weeks. Quite nervous and excited at the same time about placements.

We have also been learning clinical skills such as catheters, injections, etc. Crazy jump from sitting around in lecture theatres learning about medical science to suddenly learning how to do stuff that you do on the wards. Finally get the feeling of doing something practical and I feel that I can finally call myself a student doctor.

On a side note the weather has been something. Been roasting this weekend and today. Sitting in a lecture theatre with over 250 students with no air conditioning, and attempting to concentrate for 4 hours of microbiology is almost impossible. It was quite annoying that during the winter the air conditioning would be on and you would be freezing to death, but during a mini heatwave they decide to not turn on the air conditioning. Hopefully they'll turn it on tomorrow, but I don't think it will be as warm.

Anyways these last few weeks have been quite dull so I won't bore you with the details. Hopefully in a few weeks I will be updating you on my first time on the wards as a clinical year student...or as a "student doctor". Hopefully I'll be placed with a good consultant who is enthusiastic to have medical students around.

Start of Clinical Years.

Finally got some free time to make a post. First want to thank those who are still following me on my blog as I really do appreciate it.

So I finished my 3 exams (MEQ, Multi-Station, and EMQ) on May 5. 3 torturous days as predicted. To be honest - The MEQ and EMQ exams weren't too bad as I adapted a new way of studying which is better suited for those two exams; however, I neglected the method needed for Multi-Station exam. Consequently, I did suffer a bit in my Multi-Station exam. It was horrible. I didn't exactly start at a great station either. I knew how to do the questions in my first station but the next 4 stations shattered my confidence. I did not study the things asked and it was a horrible feeling. With every station I lost more and more confidence and was starting to think pretty negatively. At one point I even asked myself if it was possible to get 0% on the exam. It was grim. After 2 hours of absolute shattered confidence and the horrible sinking feeling - I was hoping like no tomorrow that the EMQ would be much better. Thankfully - EMQ was quite okay and I didn't have too many difficulties with it.

Fast forward to May 19. Results day. My university requires us to go into the medical school to get our results so the journey to the school was long and nerve-racking. I don't think I have been so nervous before. To my relief I had passed and cue celebration. We still haven't received the breakdown marks of our 3 papers, and I'm looking forward to see how I did in the multi-station paper. Last year it was my best paper of the 3...I don't think that is the case this year. Who knows - maybe I've got some pretty amazing guessing skills.

Just the other day I got my first clinical year schedule and it looks really crammed and hectic but after looking at it again - it isn't too bad. The major downside of starting clinical years...is the lack of holidays. I guess they're trying to prepare us for the future? From what I've heard from upper years - this is the time when it hits you - you'll be a doctor in 3 years and it is quite a frightening thought. I swear the last 2 years FLEW by. Freshers week felt like it was only a few months ago.

Anyways just wanted to do a quick update and hopefully my next post will be soon. :)

Agitated Patient.

As some of you know - I am currently on my 6 week SSC Research Attachment. Today I was lucky enough to go to clinic with my supervisor to get some clinical experience. It was quite a straight forward day. 6 patients - all mainly with osteoporosis. However, one patient does stick out. She is fairly young to be having osteoporosis and the minute she walked in there was a sense of tension. I quickly noticed that she seemed fairly annoyed/agitated. It seemed like she was forced to come and was absolutely not interested about going to clinic.

I have followed/gone to clinics several times and have seen some patients and I luckily have not come across an "agitated" patient before. All the ones I have met are quite nice and did not fuss much about going to clinic.

First question asked to the patient: "Do you know why you're here today?"

Patient: "NO."

Immediately there was a bit of an awkward silence and in your head you're already saying: "This is going to be an interesting one..." Throughout the consultation it almost seemed like the patient was not listening at all and just did not care. At one point I thought she was going to get aggressive and thump my supervisor with her bag! It was such an uncomfortable environment. Throughout the consultation there were no bad news and everything was good - my supervisor and I were smiling and thinking that the patient would be glad to hear the good news and would smile...well she still looked "pissed". My supervisor tried to inform the patient about her treatment options and that everything will be fine and that it is essentially up to her if she wants to follow with the treatment. At no point was he rude or confronting. He was actually REALLY nice and patient. He took his time to explain to her about things and the treatment.

Anyways after a bit, the consultation was done and the patient left - obviously still agitated and annoyed. She was apparently moaning to the nurses about the treatment and all that and was being a bit uncooperative. No joke I had a sigh of relief when she left as it was really uncomfortable. It didn't help that the office was TINY.

Definitely a neat experience and I will definitely encounter some patients who do not want to be in the hospital or at the clinic and will be a bit uncooperative. It was a good learning experience and it is something I will keep in mind. I felt that my supervisor handled it very well and calmly. Thought I'd mention this as I thought it was something different and made clinic a bit more interesting.

A Sigh of Relief.

Today was quite a cheerful day...well minus the gloomy/ridiculous weather. Went to meet my supervisor for my research attachment at the Bone Metabolism Centre. My supervisor has lectured us quite a few times during our MSK unit, but I always had the impression of him being a quiet/awkward guy. After meeting him - wow...he is a really chill person. He was relaxed and it was quite fun to talk to him. He told my group and I (3 of us in total) what the project entails and what is expected from us and everything just seems really straight forward. Best thing I heard was that he knows that we should be studying for exams and will not be expecting us to do 9-5 every day. In fact, he only expects us to come in once in awhile and go to some seminars/lectures and maybe visit the gait lab to see the equipment used and what the volunteers will be put through. Super excited about this. He also said that it isn't an intense research attachment and all of us breathed a sigh of relief. We were really worried that we'll be really busy and won't have time to study.

I'm definitely looking forward to this attachment and hopefully I'll get my schedule soon. We are supposed to start tomorrow but when we were leaving our supervisor said: "See you next week!". So I assume we get the rest of the week off...or until we get our schedule! Exciting stuff. To be honest I'm not being lazy and stuff as I'm genuinely really excited for this attachment and it is one that I wanted to do, but it really got the best of two worlds. Equal balance of the attachment and as well giving me study time to concentrate for exams. Great stuff.

As well, before the meeting the medical school decided to add a new clinical skill session for our year - venepuncture. We got to draw blood on plastic arm models and it was really fun. Gave us a reminder that we are studying to become doctors. Sometimes you tend to forget due to all the preclinical lectures of all the basics - you lose sight of what you're studying and sometimes it is nice to get reminded from time to time that in a few months we'll be on the wards and in three years we'll be qualified! Still seems a bit surreal.

Today was a great day...shame the weather couldn't cooperate though!

A New Decade, Another Chapter.

Welcome 2011. 2010 has been very memorable, but sadly went by too quickly. After some thought, I realized that entering this decade could possibly mean a new chapter in my life. I realized in a few months I will be completing my second year of medicine and with a bit of luck and good studying I will be entering into my third year or essentially entering into my clinical years of medicine! To me, this seems to be a huge step and from what I have heard, when entering your clinical years it will probably be the first proper time where you get the slap in the face that you will be a doctor. Just thinking about it makes me nervous and excited.

This also means that my medical sciences portion of my course will be coming to a close meaning I've learned about the basics/general idea of almost everything in the body. Quite daunting. To be honest, judging how fast 2010 went by, I have a feeling my medical school years will be going by quite quickly. Just the other day I was thinking about the 2010 Winter Olympics and how much I enjoyed watching the Canada vs. USA ice hockey gold medal game. Then it occurred to me that the next time I'll be watching an Olympic ice hockey game (IF I have time) will be months before graduating from medical school in 2014. Crazy crazy crazy. This next decade of 2011-2020 I can guarantee will be a decade of highs and lows, firsts and lasts, challenges and accomplishments. When this decade comes to a close at 2020 HOPEFULLY I will be specializing in what I enjoy in a place I enjoy. A lot will be happening in this decade and hopefully I will be able to accomplish my goals and dreams. There will be a lot of transition and change: from medical student, to a junior doctor, to picking my specialty and so on. That's a lot of transitioning/change in one decade and I'm pretty sure it'll be a decade to remember.

Cheers to a new year and of course a new decade of new challenges, accomplishments, and happiness.