I wonder how many of you had ever considered
giving up the student medical career. I did seriously consider giving up my
medical student career in the 1st term. If you want to hear more,
please read on.
As a direct medical entrant (1st
MB), I found the medical student set up and the surroundings completely alien
and unfamiliar to me. The anatomy dissections and the daily lectures were
exhausting and very demanding. I spent hours and hours studying till late in
the nights with very little mental satisfaction and hardly any measurable out put.
The bi weekly anatomy signatures were reasonable but trying to make some sense
of the vast amount of material presented to us during the daily lectures in
physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, histopathology etc was much beyond me. The
more I studied, less I understood and even less I remembered.
By the end of the 1st
term, I was overwhelmed with the ever accumulating work load. When we heard of
the end of term tests and vivas, I just froze with fear. At the time, I was
with the “De Silva “group as my body partners. Most were keen, studious and
serious but some were taking life relatively easy.
When I expressed my difficulties and
the morbid fears in having to face the 1st term exams, none of the
batch mates in the group took me seriously. As days passed by, I became more
and more agitated and unsettled mentally.
Just one week prior to the scheduled
exams, I was totally exhausted and had reached the end of my tether. I packed
my belongings and left my boarding house and took the Ruhunu Kumari train home.
I had told my parents of the
scheduled tests and the last date of the term previously. But when I returned
home earlier than planned, they were surprised and confused. When I told them
why I came home, my mother was very angry and disappointed. She thought I was
being stupid for giving up such a competitive and elite career and wanted me to
return to Colombo the next day.
My father (he was a school head
master) took a very different approach. He asked me to express my feelings in
great detail and asked me if I knew of previous statistics as to how many had given up the medical career in the 1st
term, how many would normally fail and what happens to them if they fail. I had
no knowledge of these details but gave some bogus figures to show that quite a
few tend to drop out.
He appeared very sympathetic and
understanding and accepted my action of returning home in the circumstances. He
told me to just relax and enjoy the return home. He did not want me to do any
more studies or make any special preparations for the exams but just take it
easy. He did suggest that I could sit
the exams once but that I could go to Colombo the previous evening prior to the
exam date. He appeared so calm and supportive and showed no anger or
disappointment with my sudden and hasty decision.
I was happy with his advice and was
determined to prove that I would fail the exams as I had already preconceived.
As suggested, I enjoyed my stay at home with no tension or worries of studying.
I returned to Colombo just the evening prior to the exam date and attended all
the exams and the vivas the next day. Eve though the results were to be shown
in the notice board within a few days, I did not bother to stay in Colombo to
see the results but returned home very happily soon after the exams were over.
I felt quite relaxed and happy.
Few days later, one of my friends
rang me to congratulate me on my exam success.
Strangely enough I was somewhat
disappointed with this news as I was determined to prove that I would fail.
When I told my father of the news, not surprisingly, my father asked me if I
still wanted to pursue with my studies. He did have a long chat with me
afterwards to explain that path to success can be very difficult and
challenging and that we have to be strong and determined to face those
challenges rationally.
On reflection, it is likely that I
was feeling home sick and “depressed” and we did not have the necessary back up
facilities for proper counselling and guidance.
I am so appreciative of my father’s tactical approach and superb
understanding during such a crisis. It is possible I would have given up my
student medical career forever, if he also tried to force me to go back to
studies.
I just would like to hear if any one
of you had similar experiences during the medical student days. (I can hear
some whispers that I should have given up my medical career in the best
interest of humanity and they may well be correct!).
Nana
C.S.Nanayakkara
Dear phil, I never had success much
here and generally most things went wrong for me. I remember my last memory was
my fatherarriving to see the finals results and i told him that i had passed but he insisted on going to the
results board and his face dropped when he saw the class list. He said 'Umbalata
viyadang karala wadak neha. Boru karala ne. Varen yanna gedara'. He took me home
like a criminal. My first day as a doctor and that was how i was welcomed,
However i arrived in Melbourne and under Southern cross my life changed. I got
my exam easily, got 3 fellowships got consultant and teaching appointmentsmade
some money and developed a consultant practice which i am doing for 35 yrs. Had i stayed in Ceylon I would be
still MOPU Kandakaduva my last place in Sl. My relatives say I do well because
of Southern Cross.
Bye
Daya J.
Daya Jeyasinghe
Hello Philip,
Our Med student days were not all frivolous and exhilarating. There were some
serious sides as well.
You may recall that under the SCM umbrella we took charge of Sunday Services at
the City Mission - how the inmates will be waiting for us during the whole week
because they enjoyed our company. Nalini Rodrigo, yourself included, Buddy
Reid, Jeyandran Guanaratnam, Singaratnam were the leaders at the services. The
old folk would often sing out of tune, but looked forward to these every
Sunday.
Then there was our involvement with CNAPT visiting the slum dwellers around
Kelani river to check on their drug compliance. These poor folk would specially
prepare short eats to entertain us. One week end there was flooding in Colombo,
and a few of us from Brodie decided to check on these folk. All their homes
were flooded out, furniture washed away because the river overflowed, dirty
water was thigh deep, yet they thanked us so much that we remembered them and
visited them to find out how they were doing. Those were the days never to be
forgotten!
Regards,
Victor.
Phillip,
Your
email forum seems very active and loaded with enthusiasm.
Karals
has mentioned a few names.
There
are many more that come to my mind, also many more anecdotes
starting
with the very first - Abdurahman (aka Tunku) spent almost his entire post
intern life in Canterbury, consultant Psychiatrist, now retired.
Vernie
Abeynaike- popular GP at Templars Rd Mt Lavinia, Lambert Abeynaike, USA,
Paediatric Surgeon, there was a write up about him in the Daily Noise a couple
of years ago.
LR Amarasekera(Suruttuwa),
D.Amarasinghe
was Director Castle street for many years.
the
list goes on,
Also
there is another true story about David Jansz and his lectures.
There
was a particular young lady who was dropped off at MC by a gentleman
who owned a car,
One
rainy day, the couple arrived and parked opposite the Phys block.
Parting
being such sweet sorrow, the couple decided to engage in a quick last
minute cuddle.
This
was observed by Jansz,
When
the young lady arrived at the lecture theatre, late as always, and a bit
dishevelled,
Jansz
let off one of his finest gems in perfect rhyme,
He
said
"------------"(name
of the lady)
Cold
weather,
come
hither
we'll leather.!!
Cheers
