Ten Things About Internal Medicine

The Year Level 5: ICC Year blog posts - stories and anecdotes, patient encounters and hospital drama, and the many colors of UP med school from the perspective of a third year. Here's the fifteenth entry, under our three-week rotation in the Department of Medicine.

1. Preceptorials took up the bulk of this rotation. The most memorable session involved Dr. A, one of the country's gods of nephrology, who is also inseparable from his ever reliable can of Coke, and our octogenarian patient from Negros with renal hypertensive disease. The following conversation (abridged) was the highlight of said session:

Dr. A: When did your BP [blood pressure] start to go up?

Patient: It was 200/100... 200/80...

Dr. A: Yes, so what was your BP in 1990? 1994?

Patient: It was... yes, it was high in 1980, 1990...

Dr. A: [shifting to Hiligaynon] Lilinti-an! Ano ang BP mo sang 1990?!

2. Every year, the last block to rotate in the department gets to do the student grand rounds, where third years study and present a case all by themselves, in addition to organizing the entire event - from invites to resource speakers to microphone men. The downside is that the entire three weeks are basically devoted to preparing for this... thing, which means time that should normally be used for reading and studying is instead sacrificed to make scripts and Powerpoints. (There is no upside.)

3. Some generator or electrical thing or whatever blew up or gave out, leaving the OPD with insufficient power to sustain the clinics' air-conditioners. This started on our first day at the clinics and outlasted the duration of our stay.

4. UP Meridian had its Neuro OSCE review and induction dinner on the second-to-the-last day of the rotation. So many new kids in town to promote Chinese Asian culture!

5. An epic "Wicked" adventure: The last Friday of February, Sister C and I went to Diamond Hotel to stalk the cast of the musical, because Sister C is such a huge fan girl, and "For Good" is the anthem of her life. We hung out at the lobby, where we met all of them (and where Sister C had fangirl photos and got her programme signed) except for The Wizard, Madame Morrible, and Glinda. So, for the sake of Suzie Mathers (word has it that she's one stealthy serpent), we ended up in line at the CCP stage door after that evening's performance. There was also a sunset walk along Baywalk, but I can't seem to remember much of it.

Sitting in front of the elevators was quite the strategy.

6. I ended up seeing majority of the shows for the first quarter of the year during the weekends of this rotation. Repertory Philippines' "August: Osage County," Ateneo Blue Repertory's "Toilet the Musical," and Red Turnip Theater's "Cock" were the ones I reviewed for the Inquirer. Photo #1: The day I first watched "August," Caucasian family amusing themselves over Greenbelt fish. Photo #2: Curtain call during the final show of "August," because brother wanted to watch (because I made him watch the movie, and he adored it).

7. "Mga Ama, Mga Anak" by Tanghalang Pilipino at the CCP. It's a Filipino translation by Virgilio Almario and Pete Lacaba of the Nick Joaquin play. Terrible script - so many cringe-worthy moments - or as Cora Llamas stated in her review, excruciatingly obvious writing. However, terrific performances from the cast, especially Celeste Legaspi as the modern wife and Cris Villonco as the resident pokpok.

8. "Rak of Aegis" by PETA featured the songs of, well, Aegis. This was a totally fun musical (the first act could stand on its own, seamless as it is), but the last quarter weighed everything down. The resolution needs to be rewritten because there is no other way to put it except to say that it's a cesspool of confusion. But, "Sinta" and the laugh-out-loud, ingenious use of bubbles! Also, Jerald Napoles and Ron Alfonso - the macho-funny and the bakla-funny, respectively - are both destined to go down as two of year's best comedy performances.

9. "Full Gallop" - a one-woman show about former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, here played by the iconic Cherie Gil. In the play, Vreeland is fresh from her European exile following her savage termination from the magazine and preparing to host a dinner party that seems headed for disaster. This one's confusifying: Gil was superb, sure, but at times, it felt as though she were only playing herself. It's indisputable, however, that the food during the opening night gala was just fabulous.

10. "Ang Nawalang Kapatid" by Dulaang UP is a musical version of the Mahabharata, condensed and translated into a two-hour musical. This spectacular show with an extraordinarily agile and hard-working all-student cast is, by far, the best production of the year. Which is to say, watch it during the rerun in July - if you can get a ticket! Last photo not-so-clearly shows the swarm of squealing high school/college girls mobbing Ross Pesigan, who's one of five actors to go au naturel in the ending.