A departure and an arrival

My aunt and uncle left to USA to their son's place. Missing them. They've been more of grandparents than uncle and aunt. Cant see them for 6 months now :( Their village was the only place I used to go as a 'native place'. Now no going there for 6 months :( Wonder what my mom will do when she gets doubt in any household work. Maybe an ISD call, because all she used to do all these days when she wouldn't find something at home, was call my aunt ( because aunt used to stay here on and off and she would have kept things in different places) :) Anyways, wish things go well with them and they enjoy their trip :) And yeah, my cousin was waiting for them to come, so that he could have his favourite 'akki rottis' ( our rottis are a bit different). Im sure he'll hog like many pigs together now :)

My best friend is back in town. Yippee!!!! :) I'm so happy. Missed him so much all these days. Kinda was missing my 'all time company'. Thank goodness my postings got over soon today. I could spend the rest of the day with him. :) They say na, 'all happy times come to an end', mine too did. :( But its on a temporary basis. He has some other official works to complete within a few days and he is busy with that. But I'll get to meet him soon again :) Yeah!!! :) Trust me, meeting your best friend after a long time feels like 'bliss'!! :)

Chandana C. Shekar

Shift + Ent

I've been shifted to the department of E.N.T. I whole - heartedly wish this hadn't happened. Reasons? Oh, many of them. All of us had two 'batting' sessions on the first day itself for actually what seemed like 'no reason at all'. Did nothing other than writing what the professors said to write in the OPD registers and prescriptions. Hardly examined one or two cases. So got nothing to learn. Afternoon session was nothing but sitting in the seminar hall and listening to P.G.s do seminar, which went well above our heads!! Mind you, attending it was compulsory. One consolation prize- biscuits and coffee at the end of the seminar!! Phew! Forget us, P.G.s go through more than us. It goes without saying that they are the scape-goats for everything. And when they are missed for a target, we are caught!! Wanted to take leave for the next day, to go to b'lore, but due to circumstances, couldn't get one :(

Day 2- I went to B'lore last evening after postings to see off my uncle and aunt who were leaving to USA. Came back early in the morning to Mysore and I was so god-damn sleepy. Went to O.T. and had 2 'batting' sessions from some anaesthesia staff!!! Jeess!!! I don't even come under that department and she shouts at me for 'absolutely no reason at all'!!!! What the hell!! When your an intern, every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks its their birth-right to shout at you I guess! Again a consolation prize- The P.G. tells me that they too get scolded by that staff for crazy reasons. I feel consoled after listening to those reasons!! We get to do nothing in the O.T. Just stand, stand and stand, and fill some histopathology forms. Thats it. Thats such a waste of time. Thank goodness, O.T. got over by afternoon and I could go out for lunch with a friend.

Have OPD tomorrow. Hope things go well.

Chandana C. Shekar

Happy ending :)

Oh boy!! Dermat postings came to an end :( How I wish it hadn't. Enjoyed this posting thoroughly. Asking me reasons? Oh there's no reason not to enjoy it. Go to the wards even after past nine and put notes, nobody will bother (unlike other departments where you go at 8 am and odd). They just need that job to be done. Everybody from the HOD (who is moody at times and blasts everyone and anyone when he isn't in a good mood) to the professors to assistant professors to P.G.s to nurses to patients are very cool. No 'kirik parties'. No patient comes as an emergency. And yeah quite a few people remember that they have skin problems only on government holidays and sundays!!! Because they get free then and so the OPD is loaded with patients on government holidays :) Nobody shouts at you for minor mistakes. Nobody wants you to be 'very' punctual. They don't exercise their power unnecessarily. All they bother is that you should know your work and do it. And for that, you get all the help you want. There is a 'comedy material' in the department too ;) ( only people from my college who have finished skin postings will understand this :) What say people? )Most important, they teach you stuff. At the end of the postings, I'm able to diagnose the common skin conditions atleast(I think so). I agree that you have to do the clerk kinda job here too. But still, you do quite a bit of intern's work also. And hey, if your interested, you get to learn and do procedures too. I did and I loved it. Thanks to the wonderful P.G.s - Pavithra and Sandhya especially, and the assistant professors (especially, Dr. Savitha). I liked the procedures here too. They are so delicately done. I agree that all surgeries are delicate. But these are extrw-delicate. Cosmetic reasons you see :) I am now keen on Dermat as an option for my P.G. than earlier :) Its a nice subject. I liked the prospects of it for an M.D.

Given an option, I would definitely finish my whole internship in this department itself. Missing it :( Had a real nice time and hope the next postings go as good as this. :)


Chandana C. Shekar

Random happenings..

Running around shopping is the only thing I've been doing nowadays other than my internship. Are you thinking, what's so new in that? Wait a minute, I've not shopped anything for myself!!! That's 'news' na? :) Shopped for Mom's birthday gift. Lotsa things for my aunt and uncle. They are going to USA to meet their son ( my cousin brother), so bought quite a few things for him. Went to the best places to buy all of them. Had to send it to my brother after all you see :). And I'm writing 5 digit accounts (all of them are true ones) :). Now all that's remaining is packing and I'll do it tomorrow.

My co-intern (my friend) caught chicken pox from nowhere yesterday. I agree that we are working in Dermat department. But we had never seen a case of chicken pox till yesterday. God knows from where she got it. Poor girl, she comes to the hospital in the morning with vesicles on her face and stuff and gets diagnosed as chicken pox. Couldn't see the look on her face. :( Miss her at work. Her parents are worried about her health and if whether the scars will remain for long, and this girl is worried about whether she will get leave or will she be marked absent!! Well, in one way , that's genuine you see. If at all she gets marked absent, she will have to do extra duty-days later!!! There is just one leave for every fifteen days as per rules, and she has already availed that before her chicken pox episode. Poor girl, hope she gets well soon and gets leave too :) Get back to work soon gal :)

My sister's been after my life since the past few days to make me lose weight and I'm running away from her. Hate exercising man. But I need to lose some weight sure. Hope I start running on the treadmill soon :) She's got to know that I write a blog and she read it yesterday. She saw dedications for my brother and mom on my blog, and has started nagging me to write something on my blog for her. She says 'it's no big deal' that I've written two poems for her!!! Well, little ones you see!! :) Oh yeah, think of the devil and the devil appears. She's come to my room now saying 'hi, wasup'. I know for sure ki its not just a 'wasup' and there's something more coming up. So I better sign off now and see what mischief she's upto !!!

Chandana C. Shekar

You say it best when you say nothing at all..

It's been said, 'Music, is love in search of a word'. What more can it seek when it finds an amazing rhyme? It then turns from just love, to romance. Romantic songs always and always make your day. And everybody at sometime or the other wishes to have a song of their own. You might listen to a song and say, 'How I wish that will be my story sometime'. Or you may even think, 'How can somebody love somebody so much?'. Or maybe, just 'Nice song yaar!'.

Music is music to me, no two ways about me. Love loads and loads of songs. But there's one particular song, that always makes me go weak in my knees. It's a song by Ronan Keating, called 'You say it best when you say nothing at all'.Come on yaar, just the caption of the song is so impressive and it says it all!! I love a song more for its lyrics than music. Music and Lyrics are both equally essential for a song, I agree. But lyrics are something deeper than the music. Music can speak a different thing to different people. But lyrics say it out and touch your soul, in a very subtle way. Music and Lyrics of this song is so god-damn good!! .I'm sure all you guys would have heard this song. For those who haven't, here it goes-

It's amazing, how you, can speak right to my heart

Without saying a word, you can light up the dark

Try as I may, I could never explain

What I hear, when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face, lets me know that you need me

There's a truth in your eyes, saying you'll never leave me

The touch of your hand says you'll catch me, whenever I fall

You say it best..

When you sayNothing at all...

All day long, I can hear people talking out loud

But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd

Try as they may, they could never define

What's been said, between your heart and mine

The smile on your face, lets me know that you need me

There's a truth in your eyes, saying you'll never leave me

The touch of your hand says you'll catch me, whenever I fall

You say it best..

When you sayNothing at all...

Isn't it awesome? I loved the movie in which the song is featured too - 'Notting Hill'. Oh, its my all time favourite movie. Amazing movie and amazing song :) This song was being played on my ipod and I felt I should write about it :)

p.s. - You can watch the video of this song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuJrEBtmM1Q . I strongly recommend you do :)

Chandana C. Shekar

Happy birthday Mommy :)

It's my Mom's birthday today and we had fun. Wished her at 12 midnight. Gave her her gift ( I got her a bag and a wallet). Went to Chamundi hill. Went for dinner at her favourite restaurant. And the most special part - Mom looked very very pretty :) Dad's a real lucky chap :)

Mom's kinda my friend ( as most moms and daughters are). But trust me, the things my mom has done in life for us, I'm sure not many would have done that ( No offence to anybody). I can't do even 40% of it. I don't think many will survive it too!! Hats off to her :).

I have written poems and dedications for my sis, brother, friends. I've always wanted to write one for my mom. But it never happened. Every time I used to pen down matter to write on, it would go on for pages together. Come on yaar, a poem can't be so long right? You guys tell me, when a person does n number of things for you in one single day, how can you describe a whole life-time experience in just 4-5 stanzas?!?!?! And so being the reason, I've never got to write any specific thing for her. Sorry mom :-( :-)

But then, there are two posters in my room and I love what they say. Here it is-

A mother really knows you.

A mother really cares-

you are in her fondest thoughts

And always in her prayers.

She loves you very dearly..

As she has right from the start.

And she's the one you turn to,

When you need a 'helping heart'.

M - is for the Million things she gave me

O - means she is Oh, so beautiful

T - is for the Tears she shed to save me

H - is for her Heart of pure gold

E - is for her Eyes, with love light shining

R - means Right, and right she'll always be

Put them all together, and they spell

MOTHER - A word that means the world to me

p.s.- I gave an Intra-Lesional Steroid Injection today. Yeah I know it's as easy as Intra-muscular. But I cherish the 'first time's of everything in life. And this one's no exception :)

Chandana C. Shekar

Mind-Shake!!!

Sometimes everything in life stays right in its place. Sometimes everything goes wrong as a whole. Your personal life affects your professional life and vice-verse. At times, your work front is awesome, but you personal life is awful. Either you've had a fight at home, or just had a break up with your better half or maybe your bills are high or you have neighbours who throw some unwanted tantrums. It might as well be the other way round- a fussy boss, colleagues who feel J, loads of work and very less pay. Be it anything, name it and we all would have gone through it.

When we think of it in retrospect, we feel its something that's an inevitable part of life and everybody goes through it. Some people even say that if you don't know what sorrow feels like, you'll never be able to enjoy happiness. Maybe.. But when your going through a problem, its tough dude. You might try to find a solution.Maybe even talk to friends and pour your heart out. But then, sometime you end up being ruined. Your day is ruined. Life is short and every day has to be enjoyed. Then why is that these things turn up?.

I think I like this movie 'Bridget Jones' Diary' very much. This is the second time I'm quoting a dialogue from that movie in my blog. There is one line which says something like 'When one part of your life gets into its perfect place, another part just shatters into pieces'. That's so very true. That's god-damn true. Practically speaking, I almost have everything I want in life. But still, I've had problems too. When I've tried to talk about it to friend(s), I've been told that these are not great problems and they(or others) face worse problems than that. But then, its my life dude. Maybe in their life this wouldn't have been a problem. Maybe my threshold for problems is low.Maybe that's because my parents have brought me up in a way that I hardly faced any problems. Thanks to them for that. But still, now its something that I have to sort out and I'm getting screwed up. And to get that thing right, I spend a fortune of a time!!(It's always easier to solve others' problems than yours). If at all it doesn't go right, I crib about it too. I have a problem now. Maybe it'll get solved by morning, or maybe it won't ever get right. But at the moment, its irritating and frustrating and its persistently occupying my mind even though I'm trying to divert my attention towards something else. Sometimes choices in life are hard to make too. And when you start writing about negative things, all you get in your head are negative thoughts. Maybe that's why I'm going on with this..

Whatever it is, at the end of the day, all I wonder is, Why the hell is life so complicated?!?!?!

Chandana C. Shekar

Weird..

I was watching TV and just surfing through the channels. In Sony entertainment TV, there is a show called 'Specials at 10'. In that, there is a serial called 'heroine' ( I too got to know just now) directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. It was time for ads, and there is this note thats being shown, which said something like 'Madhur Bhandarkar shoots realistic films. And to shoot for a film based on prison, he visited a real jail to get to know about the life of the inmates of the prison'... Duh!!! Why the hell does that need to be told as a great thing?!?!? Come on yaar, if you want to do a film on the inmates of the prison, obviously you will have to visit the prison!!! A lot of people who make documentaries do visit the prison!!!. Glamour world u see,, anything and everything they do ( and don't do) becomes 'News'!!!!


Chandana C. Shekar

Friends!!! Huh!!!

In life, you get into a deja-vu kinda situations at times.There's a dialogue in the movie 'Bridget Jones' Diary - The edge of reason' which goes as - "Friends, they spend years trying to get you a boyfriend ; and the moment you get one, they instanstly tell you to dump him"..


I just felt something of the same sort today. I found a guy cute, and told a friend of mine about it as soon as I happened to talk to him. And I showed him his snap too. Mind you, I just find him cute. Just a crush that will pass away in no time. And yet, my friend instantly said "HE LOOKS GAY"!!! And he is assuring me about it too!!!Whoo...Now, thats quite a bit!!!


p.s. - I made him admit later that the guy in question doesn't look gay :)


Chandana C. Shekar

The first surgery I assisted at JSSH

17 days of internship and Oh Yes, I get my chance to assist a surgery. Do I call it surgery or a procedure? A procedure maybe. But it took one and a half hours. Well, I assisted a Micro Punch Grafting :) . I placed 6 grafts myself too :) Though its not the first surgery I've ever assisted ( I've assisted my mom whose a gynaecologist quite a few times), the fact that its the first one I 'washed' (my hands) for, in the hospital I'm officially doing my internship makes it feel so special :). And I liked it :). I always love the 'First Time' in every aspect of life. First medal, first award, first concert, First monsoons, first birthday gift, first crush, and on and on and on..And this is no exception. I'm happy about it :) Was excited the whole day. :) This happened around 5 days ago, but never got to write about it. Now, i finally wrote about it too.Yippee.. :)

p.s. : I'm liking Dermatology :)

Chandana C. Shekar

24 hours and 4 gifts

5.00 pm yesterday- Mom and I went saree shopping for somebody else. And mom got me a saree which was pretty much expensive.And the reason- well, JLT... I loved it though. Waiting for any friend of mine to get married soon so that I can wear that saree ;)

9.00 am today - My friend gave me my (belated) birthday gift. Its cute and pretty.

4.30 pm today - I come home and my sister's giggling at me for no reason. I thought it's some kiddish behaviour of hers and she's at it again. Somehow I din't go to my room today as soon as I came home ( I usually do). My sister then tells me that there's something waiting for me on my table. I go and check and its a courier envelope with "To Dr.Chandana C. Shekar" written over it. Then I discover that its from my brother and its got two more envelopes in it. One turns out to be a birthday card and the other, was a congratulations card( for becoming a doctor) with $300 in it!!! I felt so god damn rich ( I already had another gift cheque and this added to it)!!! Whoo.. Its Great yaar!! By the way, few more gifts are due to come for becoming a doctor.. Will let you guys know when i get them :)


Chandana C. Shekar

Lolz... :)

Lolz... funny pic I must say... But 'History Taking' is very important is what the professors tell medical students right? hehehe... Wat do u say guys(other medicos)?


Chandana C. Shekar

Get well soon..

The doctor told my best friend that he has to undergo a knee related surgery. Poor thing, he has to be under 2 and odd months of rest and rehabilitation. Really sad for him.Just hoping and wishing that everything goes alright with him and he gets well soon...

Get well soon chap. I know you will :)


Loads of love,
Chandana C. Shekar

My first day at the Department of Dermatology

Dermat postings started today and it was as cool as anything. It was just in contrast to the casualty postings. In casualty, you were always on your toes and in dermat, your always sitting :) Go to the department OPD at 9.00 am.Sit with a consultant, and prescribe whatever he or she tells for the patient. You get to see cases and you'll be taught a bit too. Saw an RFC (Radio Frequency Cauterization) being done for the first time in my life. Never got to see it in my MBBS life (It's a different story that I never attended skin postings then, but people who attended also never got to see it). An hour of lunch break and then, you hardly get any patients in the afternoon session. To get one report from the microbiology lab, I went thrice!! Anyways, no regrets about that. I was sitting since morning and I needed to stretch my legs and that was a nice stroll :)


One thing I liked about Dermat is that, the diagnosis is very direct. Your diagnosis is right in front of your eyes. Its just what you see. Its not that you don't do tests in this branch. You do do investigations, but comparatively, the diagnosis is more direct and straightforward than the other branches. Or do I have to call the diagnosis as easier than other branches?!?!? I'll decide about it in the next 14 days of my postings :) I have one more job to do before my postings get over. Learn as many cases as possible, and decide whether I'll want to do Dermat for my M.D. I've kept it as an option and now I wanna decide about it. Oh boy!!MBBS life was far better. One more year, and we shall be a part of a big pool of unemployed people, not knowing what to do in life next!!


Before finishing, I wanna mention about one patient that I saw this morning. For people who are not from the medical world, The department is actually "Department of Skin and S.T.D.". So HIV +ve patients also come to this department for their check ups. They are advised regular check ups. One lady, aged around 35 years, a middle class-working woman, came to the OPD (Out Patient Department) for her check up. I saw her OPD card and it was written that her spouse was not HIV +ve , but she had received blood transfusion and had undergone a surgery. She didn't look like somebody who could have had an extra-marital relationship either. Now, how did she get the virus then? Whose to blame? You never know!!! She's been positive since the past 4 years and her spouse was tested 2 months ago too and her spouse and her kids are HIV -ve yet. I went through her record and saw that she has come regularly for check ups every month and she has had some or the other problem every month- multiple joint pains sometimes and oral candidiasis sometimes and something else some other time. And she comes all the way alone from Coorg for her check ups. She smiles at you when she comes in and when she's leaving, as though nothings happened. Felt really bad for her. Well, tip of the iceberg I guess...


Chandana C. Shekar