||: Expeliarmus! Confundo! ... Eureka!

||: It's dawning on me that I now have a little less than 11 months before I finish my residency training in General Surgery. Time indeed flies fast. It seems just like a few months back when I passed the Medical Licensure board exam and was somewhat clueless as to what specialty to pursue.


||: Looking back, I stumbled upon an old blog post from my Multiply site, which I am reposting for the sake of reminiscing...






||: Yesterday was one helluva day. It started with everything going smoothly and according to plan. I woke up early, even had time for a leisurely breakfast, arrived at PRC before it opened its gates at a little past eight. I was able to register, get my other license, and request for a certification all in less than an hour!

||: At around 9 o'clock, I was already in Robinson's Place Manila, having a second breakfast --err, make it mid-morning snack, hehe!-- at Gonuts Donuts, while waiting for Flo. We were supposed to go together to Dasma for our batch's thanksgiving mass (and for the college's pa-lunch and our beloved Dr. RA's pa-dinner). Since she unexpectedly had to attend to 2 patients, I went ahead at around 11 o'clock. Although I was running late, I was able to make it just in time for the Gospel. Things are still going smoothly and just according to plan.

||: Lunch was very pleasant since I got to see classmates and former mentors which I haven't seen since we graduated. After luncheon, some of us took advantage of already being in Dasma and went to the registrar's office to file requests for some documents which we will be needing for residency. While queueing at the cashier's, Alysees asked me about my plans and I told him how I was waiting for the DOH Integrated Residency Program for surgery. Suddenly, his girlfriend Leah, also a classmate, told me that Nyok, our classmate and my co-intern under the DOH Integrated Internship, already applied and was to start pre-res on Monday! Huwhaaaaaaaat!!!!

||: I really felt like I just performed the Expelliarmus and Confundo spells simultaneously... ON MYSELF! All the while I really thought application would start in September or October and pre-res would begin on October or November, as was customary. I was wobbly-kneed all throughout the afternoon, while Flo, Candy, Ayen, Aldwych, and I were killing time in SM before RA's dinner party. I felt like I got a solid upper-cut from Manny Pacquiao in the gut! I haven't submitted my application yet and pre-res was less than 5 days away!

||: Upon hearing the info yesterday, I really wanted to go home (stat! asap! immediately! right now!) and rest! But I chose not to be KJ and stayed on until the party (which I enjoyed, especially the food! Thanks, Sir RA!) and even went home later than some.

||: Today, I was supposed to go to the DOH Integration Office at NKTI and East Avenue MedicalCenter first thing in the morning. But I was in denial and ended up sleeping most of the day and went there at the last hour -- at 4 in the afternoon! O, diba, pasaway? Hehehe!

||: I found out through Ma'am Glenda, the ever gracious and accomodating secretary of the DOH Integration Office, that USec Jade del Mundo was still processing the accreditation of the Integrated Surgery Program of DOH. Since they still lacked some papers, they decided to do a semi-integration, still with the 5 DOH Specialty Hospitals: Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Children's Medical Center, and East Avenue Medical Center (as the mother hospital), while its not yet official. So I was told to hand in my application there, instead, since it will eventually be the Integrated Program once they finish working-on the accreditation.

||: Since the pasaway me went late, I wasn't able to catch the secretary of the Department of Surgery, but a resident, Dr. Jiju Garcia assured me that they were still accepting applications. Besides, Ma'am Glenda mentioned that Dr. Nilo delos Santos, the DOH Integration Coordinator and surgery consultant at East Avenue, said that he would accept anyone who had their internship with DOH. Oh well, I'll just go back tomorrow then... early this time, I'll make sure! Hehehe!

||: Anyway, why is it that it always seems that I am under the Expelliarmus and Confundo spells... and self-inflicted, at that?! I am always clueless with application deadlines! I feel lika a Ron Weasly- or perhaps a Neville Longbottom-incarnate whose spells almost always backfire on them. This same cluelessness caused my delay in entering med school and the very reason why I wasn't able to apply in PGH, although I am perfectly happy and proud to have graduated from La Salle -- and would not have it any other way, if ever given the chance to start things all over again!

||: Although my anxiety was tamed by the assurance that they're still accepting applications, I still continue to pray for guidance as to where my career is heading. As you see, I believe God has been behind my med-life all throughout... and always in the nick of time. You see, from the very beginning, I was clueless when the NMAT was and how one applies for it. Through a classmate, Taj, I learned everything I needed to know about it and I even got to prepare for it well. I also recall I was in CDO for Christmas when I found out that the deadline for submission of application for PGH was on that very same day... and that the other med schools' deadlines were also over! When I got back in Manila after the holidays, I found out that La Salle was still accepting applications, when Flo invited me and another classmate (Shana) to study there with her. And as I've said earlier, I am perfectly happy and proud to have graduated from La Salle -- and would not have it any other way, if ever given the chance to start things all over again! The curriculum's perfect! I mean, with a semi-PBL/modular curriculum, I got to experience both the problem-based learning and traditional curriculum -- the two ways of teaching medicine. And since its a Catholic university, I really am proud how our medical education (including the community and our classmates/friends) moulded us to become Christian doctors.

||: The story doesn't end there. When we were applying for internship matching, I already submitted my form (with East Avenue Medical Center as my first choice)  when again, the clueless me, found out about the DOH Integrated Internship that was based in NKTI. But when I received my acceptance/matching letter at East Avenue, it accompanied a letter which informed me that there have been changes in their program since the DOH Integrated Internship has been formalized, making EAMC officially part of the integration! And, had I not attended the thanksgiving mass at school, I wouldn't have known about the changes in the schedule of the application deadline and pre-residency.

||: I believe God is behind all these last-minute twists. This evening while hearing mass, I prayed for Him to continue guiding me and bringing me to where He wants me to go. And then I came into a realization that the cluelessness that's making me miss out things is the very same cluelessness that's allowing me to let God lead me and plan things for me in exactly the way He wants it to be -- the perfect way!

||: Although the perpetually clueless me continues to cast the Expelliarmus and Confundo spells on myself, I am thankful that God is always there to make my mistakes serendipitous... Eureka!




||: PROLOGUE: For the record, I'm glad I was led into pursuing Surgery. I couldn't imaging myself in another specialty! ü