Ah, UNI-Ro... As half of Undernet knows, the name is UNI-Ro because the 'i' from the sign fell down and was never put back in place. Unfortunately, the Biomedical Institute building is not located at lovely Urca (I'll be putting pictures here soon for those of you who don't know what Urca is), but in Frei Caneca St., surrounded by old wall-tile stores. Fine, it's the thought that matters, and after all, if I didn't study at a place that has an elevator called Slow Death, what would I have to tell my grandchildren, eh? ;)

This is the hospital where I study now: Gaffrée e Guinle Teaching Hospital (Hospital Universitário Gaffrée e Guinle, or HUGG), of the School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Rio de Janeiro. Nice name, suitable for a reference center for AIDS, title that UFRJ (the other federal university of Rio) stole from us - that $ort of things does happen, ya know, even though all the tough AIDS professionals are still working at Gaffrée. The building is beautiful, very old, and is getting even more beautiful now that it's under repairs - at least on the outside. Inside... Well... Old paint peeling off the walls, electric net worming its way near the floor and the ceiling, a transformation into the Kingdom of Buckets when it rains, the Empire of M.A.R.S.A., and happily patients very glad with the treatment we offer.

3rd and 4th year students spend three semesters of Internal Medicine at one of the 3 wards prepared for teaching: Seventh Ward (Internal Medicine B, Service of Professor Omar da Rosa Santos) receives patients from Nefrology, nononono and nononono. The Eigth Ward (Internal Medicine A, Service of Professor Mário Barreto Corrêa Lima), the one where I study, and that I must say is simply ROCKING this year, has Gastroenterology, Family Medicine, Rheumatology and Endochrinology, and the Tenth Ward (Internal Medicine C, Service of Professor Carlos Alberto Moraes e Sá) gets the majority of HIV+ patients (Immunology), besides Cardiology and Oncology. Needless to say, this is only a theorical division, since it doesn't make much sense to have seen thousands of cases of ascitis and not being able to recognize a case of heart failure when you see one. The students do not rotate, but there's no lack of patients, so it doesn't really matter in the end. At the ward, we poor 3rd year students are under the tutelage of interns and the staff of doctors and nurses. Pretty zen. Oh, just before somebody asks me... We don't have an emergency service, ok?

But things haven't always been this nice. After two years of social torture going through the basic cicle (if you're not aware of our educational system, you prolly won't understand any of this), we were finally, FINALLY moved to the hospital for the practic part of the course. Eigth Ward, laughter, happiness, LOTS of hard work, gossiping, the famous brazilian way of getting things done, the usual. One who doesn't live the everyday life of a hospital (especially a teaching hospital) has no idea of the kind of thing that happens behind the stage. You feel like you're at a great MANICÔMIO; nobody looks normal, neither the patients, nor the ones out of the beds. Mysterious figures clad in white stroll along the corridors with stethoscopes hanging from their necks; strange beings wearing blue clothes and bad-fitting caps, turquoise plastic slippers in their feet, their pants falling down their legs, dwell in the surgery rooms. If I were you, I wouldn't go through ANY type of surgery. Not even warps. Impossible to describe the mental knot that takes place after a couple of weeks studying at a hospital. Tons of weird stories, lots of very strange cases, heavy consciences, heavy hearts, legs aching, sweating under the black jeans, white lab jackets buttoned to the neck or Basílio will be mad at me, deep thinking in the car listening to Live, Berenice, phylosophical thoughts trading neurotransmitters with each other, strong emotions, sensitive receptors working wildly. Bad food if your grandma doesn't live near the hospital, Tuesday is McDonald's day (don't forget the barbecue sauce), Geiza's lesson is pretty cool, ohno! forgot to prepare the Anatomy lesson I was supposed to give today! Darnit, those freshmen are gonna bug me to death with silly questions - Med students SUCK! And one day, here comes the practical Internal Medicine exam. Dangit. Dr. Brandão takes me and Tati down to the Gastro room. Nicely sitting behind a desk, each in her own room ('her' room... sheesh!), we wear our Dependable Doctors faces; my insides begin a wild dance, my digestive system starts an aerobic gym session, glands with Schumacher Syndrome - a thousand miles an hour. In short: total, absolute fear - but I am Flipper, Flipper hides it all, nobody never knows that Flipper is feeling, so it's ok. In comes Mrs. Neuza. 'Morning, doctor, how do you do. Hello, Mrs. Neuza, how are you? Fine, madam, apart from my usual HÉRNIA DE HIATO. Oooooh, sure, sure. Let's then examine Mrs. Neuza.

Now, serious. I can't imagine a more rewarding feeling than the smile of a patient, even if he/she's not able to measure your competence. Really. Brandão gave me a 7 out of 10 - I got nervous again when I was writing down her history and all and wrote a text that didn't make much sense; but then, medical documents can't really be called 'texts', though I always end up taking it to the literary side. What a useless life.

 lil' glossary:
M.A.R.S.A = Methicillin- and Aminoglycosides -Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. AKA Die Hard bacteria.
 

now what the heck does lefl mean? ~ this is where i'm gonna live someday... ~  zitmil & tutanar ~ the tale of iidlar  ~ darn addIRCtion ~ bookmarks ~ med school
Think I'm gonna make a good doctor? *wink*