Surgery and Orthopaedics

crazeee day of exams... but i din get any viva la... hopefully tt means i passed. probably la huh? i dun think i did THAT badly to get an immediate failure.

Long Case

got ushered to a nice elderly gentleman who was lying on his bed, shaking his leg and looking quite happy-go-lucky... (of course la! he's not taking exams ma!)

introduced myself, blahblah...
Me: so what problem do you have?
Uncle: i got pain here... (patted his left buttock)
!@#$$%% !! whywhywhy?!?! why must u give me an ortho case? AAHH!!! i really wanted to cry on the spot.

anyway, continued asking... and uncle was sooo helpful. kept dishing out valuable info even without me asking. but he also kept going off-tangent for a while... and i kept interrupting him halfway.

the best were the MO's who were walking around.
MO1 (popped his head in): so how? any problem? what do you think is the diagnosis?
Me: eeerrr... spinal stenosis?
MO1: ok.. good good... carry on!

after a few minutes... while i just finished SOME examination and was in a complete fluster cos there're soooo many things to examine in a spine case!!
MO2: (walked in) how how? did you check his neuro?
Me: (gasped!) oh yeah!! not yet.. ok... (fumbled for tendon tapper)
MO2: (mouthing/whispering) it's ok... neuro normal... all normal.
Me gave the relieved and grateful look.

i had quite a long discussion... 20 minutes. basically was asked to present history, got tekanned for some of my differentials, told to show the relevant signs, some discussion on investigations and management.

i think i din do very well cos i got stumped quite a lot and had to retract my statements about 6 outta 10 times. took way too long to say i wanna do radioisotope bone scan too... among other stupid things i said la...

Short cases

i was much much luckier for short cases... maybe they saw how badly i did for my long case, so decided to gimme some easier ones to earn some marks to cover up.

Case 1 was inguinal hernia... did the usual... quite standard...
Case 2 was a ganglion... which i diagnosed as lipoma first until i saw both their eyebrows raised, i quickly added that other differentials can be ganglion. and in this case, it is very likely this is a ganglion. haha!
Case 3 was a scrotal swelling... (WHAT!?!? another groin examination?!) got tekanned a bit for this... but generally ok la...
Case 4 was lipoma at the forehead just above the eyebrow. i diagnosed as congenital angular dermoid first and then at the corner of my eye, i saw Prof's head bop forward quite vigorously... so i quickly said other differentials include lipoma. then they said what can you do to tell it's a lipoma? blahblah...

my examiners for short cases were quite slack... i din even use up the full 16 minutes... came out before the bell rang. but nice MO/reg whispered that i passed while i was washing my hands. phew!!

think mbbs is really an experience of a lifetime man... not that i'm enjoying it at all. the anticipation while we wait for our turn is the ultimate killer of all. really can die...

really must thank all the MO's who helped me along today... too bad i din get a chance to know their names...