Category: mbbshacker.blogspot.com

It has already been half a month since I turned 21.

The sedentary life was giving me a heart attack. So I started jogging. Three days later replaced that with football in the evening. Only “Campnow stadium” (or hostel ground) is so full of dust that playing there is equivalent to smoking 2 cigarettes.

Postings in community medicine is proving useful. Though I have not taken any case seriously in the wards, I have been reading about parallel stuff – like the story of tuberculosis (that led me to the understanding that tuberculosis has a very important role in the history of medicine) and the Indian national programmes for children.

Here is a beautiful quote:

2000 B.C.—Here, eat this root.

1000 A.D.—That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.

1850 A.D.—That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.

1920 A.D.—That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.

1945 A.D.—That pill is ineffective. Here, take this penicillin.

1955 A.D.—Oops . . . bugs mutated. Here, take this tetracycline.

1960–1999—39 more “oops.” Here, take this more powerful antibiotic.

2000 A.D.—The bugs have won! Here, eat this root.

—Anonymous

 Classes are still going slow. OBG is the only subject that is proving interesting.

Outside the classes, things are going faster.

Last Monday Dr Dharav Shah, a psychiatrist from NIMHANS took a beautiful session on how doctors can stop the alcohol epidemic.

The Kreida 2014 team is beginning to rev up. All teams have been decided. I am doing sports quiz, one of the new items in this year’s kreida.

Academic society will also kick up some dust soon with its activities.

Fest: To hold, or not to hold – that is the question. Because October is too close to the exam. May is too close to today (which prevents fund collection) and to rain (which prevents outdoor fest)

Trip: To go to Goa, the best time is November to March. Due to Kreida, March is blocked. I am sure I will have to walk without clothes if we go in this month itself.

Community medicine  department became the first to suggest reading a textbook that was written for a different subject when the HoD asked us to read Harrison’s, Davidson’s and Hutchinson’s , McLeod’s instead of community medicine textbooks like Park.

He also suggested one important thing – to stop getting involved in college activities, politics, etc and to start pouring in hours after hours reading those standard textbooks and others. Genuine. Why should students be spending any time doing things that are not useful for them, but probably harmful, in the long run?

Thus, my resolutions to disregard anything that isn’t directly related to my career henceforth, got some cementing.

He also said of the need to stop depending on parents. And that gave me some more reasons why I should start earning some bucks on my own.

Technically, I’m motivated.

After revision on 4th (coming back from a quick visit to home) and 2 days of not studying anything related to pathology, today on 7th I took the Pathology practical exam.

As usual, it started with the spotters. I remember fatty liver, and peptic ulcer; WBC Pipette, bone marrow aspiration needle, Wilm’s tumor, CLL. And the rest of the histopathology slides were too confusing – what I thought emphysema was probably CVC lung, and I don’t even remember if I wrote the others right.

Then, I got to sit down at my chair where a chart, a peripheral smear, a discussion slide and a urine sample was waiting.

Peripheral smear was probably dimorphic anemia. I got really confused till I adjusted the condenser for the high power. (Always remember. High power, high condenser). Nevertheless I was asked the causes of eosinophilia, microcytic anemia, macrocytic anemia.

Urine – my question was a sore-throat kid with burning micturition. Proteins present, Blood absent. Had to explain how phosphate coagulum gets dissolved in acetic acid, while protein doesn’t. Messed up by pouring nitric acid over urine in Heller’s test, instead of adding urine to nitric acid.

(I remember the other side were being asked reducing sugar (diabetic neuritis), and ketone bodies)

The discussion slide I got was that of a 56 year old man with burning micturition. BPH was an easy find, but I didn’t know about the serum markers of Prostatic cancer (which I answered in the evening – Prostate Specific Antigen, and Prostatic Acid Phosphate) or about the grading PIN-1,PIN-2.

The chart was of CSF examination with cobweb formation, increased protein, presence of lymphocytes. Straightaway TB meningitis. Had to say other inflammatory conditions in the brain.

With blood grouping, I got my answer paper soiled. The slide was kept right next to my microscope, right above the answer paper. And after I finished answering some other examiner, the slide was nowhere to be seen. 😛 The front page, where “RGUHS” was printed was very nicely coloured red and blue, red and yellow and red and colourless 😀 I almost did the same with the second slide I received too. Put the Rh on the backside of my answer paper. But luckily, by then I had found out that the group was B-ve. Had to tell the examiner about the minor blood grouping systems too.

With the morning session done, I was too stressed out having a headache, just wanted to sleep. Came back to hostel. Had lunch, and went back to college so that I don’t sleep in my room.

At 2 o’clock the viva-voce started and it was very quick for everyone.

First room: Specimens on the table – Fatty liver, squamous cell carcinoma, lobar pneumonia, TB lymph node. But the questions were causes of fatty liver, define shock, types of shock, define necrosis, types of necrosis.

Second room: Specimens – Osteoclastoma, Polyp intestine, hydronephrosis etc. Questions were PIN (which I forgot earlier), describing osteoclastoma, describing polyp, classifying polyps, cause of hydronephrosis, describing the specimen.

Third room: Specimens – TB Lung, seminoma, Breast cancer, and so on. Questions – describe TB, describe seminoma, describe breast cancer. The important thing was to describe only what was visible. 😀

Fourth room: Instruments. Wintrobe’s, Westergren’s. Had to tell the anticoagulant used. Pasteur’s pipette (I never knew it was called that. My “dropper/pipette” answer didn’t work)

And in about 10 minutes I was finished.

Been waiting to upload them all. Pharmacology microbiology forensic medicine. RS3, December 13

Note to subscribers: Sorry for all the irrelevant question papers I posted. That was just a way of saving them, and gaining some organic hits.

So, it was pharmacology paper-2 today, and I think I had the longest night in my whole life today. Slept from 2:30 to 5 AM, and that’s all. (I know, it’s not new for some people out there. My friends had slept everywhere from 45 minutes to 5 hours)

Anyhow, such intense sleep deprivation gave me the amazing chance of experiencing an awesome lucid dream. And read till the end, there’s a surprise. So, here’s how it goes.

At 2:30 I set my alarm to 6 o’clock, and decided I’ll wake up at 5 o’clock. (I don’t like waking up to alarm. So, I keep the alarm tuned for a later time which I must absolutely get up at, and instruct my body to wake me up before that. I somehow end up waking between 5 & 6)

And then, I was home all of a sudden. Talking to my dad, watching TV, etc. Suddenly I realize I was dreaming. And here’s what made it different – I couldn’t wake up! I tried pinching myself, but I just couldn’t open my eyes. Like I was stuck. I tried ringing my phone up, so that I’d be woken by the ringtone. But alas! Connectivity trouble inside the dream 😛
So, I wrote down about this amazing lucid dream, and without wasting time, went on top of my house and jumped down.

And then I woke up! 😀 I studied for a while, and went to write the examination.

And then, I actually woke up in my bed, at around 3:30. Still having a long time before 5 o’clock, I went back to sleep.

So, it was a lucid dream within a normal dream. The first one at my home was the second level dream, because it was really hard to come out of it. I felt like it took half an hour for me to come out of it. And the second one was the first level dream. Inception. Mind f***ed.

Try solving these

Feel free to download all the images and use them. This is 2012, not tomorrow's paper 😀

Okay, I've probably messed up the 10 markers