All is not available online

With google doctors have gone from being a source of information to the stage of being both a source for cross verification and a object whose statements need to be verified. Personally sitting on the doctors side of the table i feel the net is more a source of headache(for both parties involved) than a source of information. rather than give the various examples of the hazards of net i have this story. It was Saturday night(notice how all the fun stories happen at night) and i got Mr.Internet calling me for an urgent consult. His problem was a mole on his face(been there for 20 years). Being a son of the IT generation he looked it up on the net and found out that the mole can be a skin cancer. so he rushed to me the lowly non skin doctor. After explaining that it was a mole and not cancer as he feared i sent him.

Mr IT again comes after(finding out by a post on Facebook no less) getting a biopsy(painful and useless procedure) he came with the report because he found out that biopsy could tell if it was malignant and then read again that biopsy also can be wrong. The smart IT finally decided the net was not enough so he would trust his doctor(not entirely though, cause he consulted other doctors also). So my advice ppl dont look up the net because anything from rubbish to actual facts are online. There is an air of mistrust regarding the docs but at least remember they have been educated..

The bane of my life.

Studying in a little town has the disadvantage that when you are not studying you do not have much else to do. The cell phone was a constant companion in these bleak times of boredom. This instrument which was my second heart in student life has now become the bane of my life. Every ring brings a fear. A gripping fear. The person on the other side is one who is convinced a visit to the doctor is an absolute no no, wants treatment over the phone. now for a writer with an adequate repertoire of words this task of conveying your illness may be easy but for the lay man, well lets me just replay a conversation. (in brackets are my thoughts)

"Hello"

"good morning doctor" (3.00am)

"Uncle is having bowel movements"

"Hmmm"(whose uncle)

"you remember shoba athai had once last month, like that only"

"hmmm"

"can i give the same medication, the round white tablet"

"hmmm"

"if there is any problem ill bring uncle"

"why not bring him now only and i can decide"

"no no this tablet will work doctor. Thank you doctor. hope i dint disturb you"

"Good night"

"and doctor shall i continue my medicine"

"yes please do"

All Jokes aside i hope that no serious patient ever calls me with similar complaints.

In fact we are planning to get a new point in the Hippocratic oath

"though shall not consult over the instrument of evil"

The gold mine that is experience

I had a rather eye opening experience. My patient yesterday was a doctor herself and more to the point a senior of mine. Qualification wise we are on equal standing. The glaring difference though was that she sat on the patients side of the table. She, like a lay patient, presented her case and got the treatment. For those of you who are wondering why a qualified doctor did not treat herself and instead had to consult someone else the answer lies in the title. Experience. Qualification wise she may have been my equal but the fact that i practice actively made me more experienced and better adapted at treating her. The fact is medicine is a hands on job, because irrespective of how many books you have read and what your standing in academics it is the day to day practice which shapes us as good and bad doctors. So next time you see your doctor with a lot more salt than pepper coloured hair remember it is only an indication of the gold mine.

(now those who read this will be saying since i am so young and relatively inexperienced should they consult me. i satisfy myself with the fact that i have more patients that readers)

my grad speech

Till now i quoted experiences. but this is personal. it was my graduation speech.

Good evening everyone.

Graduation. A day for the celebration of those who have achieved something special and unique. For us it is not merely an event for getting the degree but an occasion to honour the achievements that have taken place over 5 and half years of blood sweat and tears. and I mean blood in the literal sense, we are doctors after all. Today is not merely to honour these graduates sitting here but to thank two other groups of people who made this possible. It is as much a celebration of their efforts as it is ours. They are our teachers and parents. These teachers who helped fill our once empty minds with useful information to ensure we did not have to stay back in college. We have no idea about the difficulties they faced in this arduous task but we can say, with pride, they did a great job. And the second group, our parents. The sacrifices our parents made to see us here are tremendous. The love they gave us unconditional. Thank you for all this.

It seems like yesterday but it was 5 and half years ago that we walked through those very gates, nervous students worried about what the world held for us. And yet in this nervousness there was a certain cockiness as we had done something that very few are privileged to do. Enter the medical field. Be doctors. Be those special pillars on which a healthy society stands. Trust me all that arrogance and self importance we had vanished the moment our lessons started. How tough they were.

Formalin filled bodies we had to dissect, chemical cycles we had to learn, experiments we had to perform, records we had to submit. We did have a steep learning curve.

To add to this some of us had the burden of staying away from home. Anyone who has eaten mess food will agree it sure is a burden. We struggled and yet coped well with the rigours of medicine. We worked so hard that we were perennially wearing a smell of formalin, the dobhis who washed our aprons can attest to that. Hard work though paid off and we passed.

We entered the second year and encountered something special. It was the clinical year. We discovered the best part of being a doctor. The doctor patient relation.

It was special the feeling of wearing a stethascope around the neck walking in the wards, talking to patients. We were on cloud no.9. But with all this joy came more responsibility. We faced 4 new subjects not to mention we had to learn a whole new art; conversing with the patient. But we did have eighteen months to learn them. And with typical efficiency of a student we spent our time hanging out with friends. We had amazing late night gossips in the hostel, boys and girls hostel might I add, a ride to the railway station at midnight for a cup of tea, our birthday parties we celebrated with gusto, the cricket world cup we watched with a fervour of a true Indian fan, all college and inter college functions we attended, some we hosted. We participated in college culturals some of us even becoming models for a day to walk the ramp. We were truly living the happy life of a carefree student.

Imagine when we woke up one day and found our 18 months shrunk to 2 and books were just lying there gathering dust. Well it was late nights all over again, this time though with a difference. We had books in our hands and our lips were sealed. Alls well that ends well the year sure ended well. A distinction no less to brag about.

We entered what is a little inappropriately known as the honeymoon phase. A year of a little free time and we made use of that in the most constructive way. We represented the college in Delhi, won in two competitions there. We again made plans for trips; we even fell in love, and had our hearts broken. Now these are the kind of broken hearts that even our esteemed chief guest will find difficult to fix. But time heals all. Especially when you have a shortage of time and exams were fast approaching. Fear of failure and our books helped us and kept at bay any emotion we might have had. Long hours in the library were our main activity. Going to the movies during preparation holidays, all unbeknown to teachers and parents were our other activities, butthey did help us relax.

Yet again we worked our last minute miracle. We cruised into fourth year. We decided to put all our extracurricular activities on hold. We failed badly, for it is a tradition of mrmc for the boys and girls hostel to host the ganesh festival. There started a fierce rivalry to see which of us could do a better job.

Being from the boys hostel I am inclined to says ours was better, but if I were honest I would have to say we both did a great job, good enough to win us the award for best design in gulbarga.

As I run thru these memories nostalgia hits me. The things we achieved, while great, seem insignificant in front of the relationships we made. I made friends here who will be a part of my life forever, had my first roommate, had my first crush, all in this lovely place.

I took a transfer away from mrmc during my internship. Those few occasions that I met my friends made me realise that though locations may change our relationship will not

It was a real pleasure working among these special people.

I came with misconceived notions of a rosy little world. I thought everything is always right and the world revolved around me.

In this place I realised the fallacy of my thinking. We are all part of a large system. That does not mean that we lack for identity though. Through hard work and perseverance we have made a mark in this system. 5 years ago I walked in here happy, because I was achieving my childhood ambition. I walk out of here today proud because I achieved what I set out to do, and yet I feel a little sad because I am leaving behind something that is special to me.

I have often read these words from Harrisons text book of internal medicine

No greater opportunity or obligation can fall the lot of a human being than to be a physician. In the care of the suffering he needs technical skill, scientific knowledge and human understanding. He who uses these with courage, humility and wisdom will provide a unique service for his fellow man and will build an enduring edifice of character within himself. The physician should ask of his destiny no more than this and he should be content with no less.

We the graduates today are on our way to fulfilling this glorious destiny. We came in here rough crude teenagers. We walk out proud confident doctors. In this transformation We are lucky to have parents such as you for giving us this chance and supporting us through all our tough times. For that I thank you once again. We are honoured to have teachers such as you who have instilled in us every skill required and shown us every emotion needed to be a kind humble honest and good physician. Your words will always be remembered revered and respected. We are lucky to have each other as classmates and collauges of the future. For this you will always be loved orions. And most importantly we are privileged to be graduating as doctors from this wonderful institute as . For this I have no words to say only emotions to feel..

WE LOVE YOU MRMC. Thank you

My unicorn... sleep

Its all fun when your a student and you loose sleep over exams. i mean its one month when your nervous and you wake up sweating at the image of a question paper. And yet the other 330 days of your life is so comfortable. you get to sleep till you decide to wake up. This magical new year i was the on call doctor in my uncles hospital. A good new year celebration and hitting the bed at 4.30am takes a lot out of you but when there is a baby whose mother sees it fit to bring it to the doctor at 6 in the morning you just attent the baby without fail. For the babies luck(bad) its condition was not good. so my new year after ordering treatment i spend time in bed wondering if the lil angel is going to be alright. and evetually my alarm rings to wake me up from a sleep i never had to tell me i gotta get ready for hospital. so a really tired me freshens and check on the baby who is fine( and sleeping happily). The serene look of that kid made me realise he has my unicorn... sleep(for all those idiots who wondering what a unicorn is it is a mythical creature which you can never catch)..