TKC Principal's Dinner

Wednesday, 18th April 2007, marked another significant event in the diary of my life. It marked the night of TKC Principal's Dinner where a total of 25 students from all 3 TKC colleges (Basser, Goldstein and Philip Baxter) were invited to dine with the college principal, Dr Ian Walker. But what makes the event more significant is the guest of honour and this year, it was the Governor of NSW herself, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO! The event was held at the Bromham Room and you can imagine how everyone got silenced when Her Excellency stepped into the room. She took the time to have a chat with everyone but it was really amazing when she got to me and my bunch of friends - we chatted for more than 30 minutes and Dr Ian Walker himself had to "pull" her away from us so that the dinner could start! It wasn't surprising as Madam Governor was a medical graduate herself and once lived in residential colleges as well so she could easily relate to us. I guess I need not tell you about the great pre-drinks (I had my champagnes as usual) and finger food (thanks to Teh-Fa, our Korean-born Chinese chef, one of them was prawn dim sum! Awesome!) we had before the dinner so once again, here are some shots:

The dinner... Entree 1: Coriander and chilli king prawn with grilled vegetables and cottage cheese. Entree 2: Five spice duck breast in apple and potato rosti with wilted spinach. Main course 1: Char-grilled Moroccan chicken breast and semi-dried tomato cous cous with mango salsa. Main course 2: Oven baked Alaskan salmon with apple and parsnip puree served with roasted pumpkin and salsa verde. Dessert: Chocolate lattice filled with hazelnut mousse next to lemon sorbet with sugar pastry cornet and mixed berry compote. After dinner: Selection of fine gourmet chocolates. I suppose I need not reiterate the fine Brown Brothers wines that freely filled our glasses as we dined... :)

The program for the night (it's printed on shiny metallic blue paper!) together with the menu - thanks Mark and Teh-Fa, our 2 great chefs who cooked up a storm for us!

A seating card specially designed with my name on it... Whee...

Madam Governor giving her speech - a total inspiration!

Trent (from Goldstein) and me at the dinner

Sitting at the Master's Chair - it's actually meant only for the Principal to sit on but I was cheeky enough to check it out anyway... The image's a little blur, otherwise, you should be able to see UNSW's crest as well as the 3 TKC colleges' crests carved on the wooden top of the chair...

Ok, that's it from me for now... Ta! ^_^

Ageing & Endings 1

Just finished my Ageing & Endings 1 paper on Tuesday, so, once again, here’s another post-exam rant…

Firstly, I had a really rough time doing the paper. The night before the exam, I had a cough and sore throat. I popped a Panadol CF, thinking I was coming down with the chills. Because it was labeled “drowsy”, I asked Lou Lynn to give me a wake-up call in the morning in case I oversleep. Lo and behold, not only was I not drowsy but on the contrary, I flipped and turned in bed the whole night not getting any sleep! You may say that it’s nerves but it isn’t (I know it!) so when I got up, I was already in a state of fatigue. What a “great” way to start the day of your exam! To make things greater, I developed a new set of symptoms over the night. I got up with a headache, nausea as well as pressure and aching in my left ear; all of which persisted throughout the entire day. As I walked to the racecourse (yup, that’s my exam venue!), I suffered from muscle weakness in both legs. As you can probably tell, I was very restless and couldn’t concentrate at all while I was sitting for my exam. I kept shifting my sitting posture and couldn’t sit still. On my way back after the paper, I conveniently puked at the roadside near Doncaster Avenue – how nice! The day after exam day, I woke up feeling much better but with this contusion-like feeling as though I had been punched in my head. Once again, this was on the left side – just like the ear problem and also the sore throat (just the left side). All you fellow medics out there, can someone diagnose this problem and tell me what the heck I’ve come down with? Another symptom to help you with your diagnosis – on the exam day, I was shivering in my room despite already wearing jeans and a jacket when the room temperature was only 22°C – I had alternating feelings of hot and cold. Now, those of you who really know me will be able to tell that this is absolutely abnormal in my case coz I can still wear a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts and thongs out in the air of less than 20°C and still feel fine instead of shivering! In case if you’re still wondering, I’m way much better now though the cough and left-sided sore throat still persist…

Ok, now for the usual dose of what-I-got-for-exam questions:

1. A 50 year old woman consulted her GP, presenting menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats and insomnia.

(a) Describe the physiological changes that caused such symptoms.

(b) What other symptoms may appear with menopause? Explain the physiological basis for these symptoms.

(c) What kind of treatments are there available for this woman? What factors should you consider in recommending one treatment over another?

2. A 75 year old man with long-standing hypertension and previous ischaemic heart disease was admitted to a hospital for a stroke. Upon further examination, his left posterior cerebral artery was found to be occluded.

(a) Explain, with the aid of a diagram, the origins and distribution of the left posterior cerebral artery. Which areas of the cortex does this artery supply? What clinical effects may be presented as a result of the occlusion of this artery?

(b) What might be the possible causes of the occlusion of this artery? What clinical effects may be presented as a result of such an occlusion?

(c) List three possible fatal complications that this man may suffer within the first few weeks after the episode of stroke. Explain why these complications may occur.

3. An 82 year old man presented with the usual signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. He finds it difficult to initiate and carry out voluntary movements, is rigid in his movements, stoops in his posture and has tremors which improve when he’s carrying out motor tasks.

(a) Describe the anatomical structures that are affected in Parkinson’s disease. How do these influence the set of signs and symptoms given?

(b) Suggest possible interventions that can help this patient?

4. A 72 year old woman is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. She is often forgetful and can sometimes wander off and get lost. Her daughter lives with her at home and cares for her.

(a) What are some of the issues that the daughter may face in deciding whether to continue caring for her mother at home?

(b) Who decides if the mother should be cared for at a nursing home instead? What are the issues that should be considered here?

(c) What kind of services can community-based support offer to assist this family?

There you have it, my 4 short answer questions in the paper (remember, they’re all from memory so don’t take them word-for-word!). These plus about 50 MCQs (30 objective + about 20 written ones), all in 2.5 hours… Enjoy… :p