A TALE OF 2 WINTERS

My MB 2 story begins with panic.

The weekend before my exams started, I got a couple of calls from my lecturers, asking if I had written some tests because my results could not be found. I was pretty shaken up as that was the last thing I needed to hear days to my exam. And how do results even go missing?

At long last, on a cloudy Monday morning, my winter finally arrived.

MONDAY

The first paper was Pharmacology, and we wrote all the papers: the Essay and Best Option Type(BOT), in one sitting.

The BOTs went well as a lot of the questions looked familiar, save a few about ergotamines and some rather unfriendly topics. When I was done, there was still about 30 minutes left, and I attempted to use that time to recall answers to possible essay questions. I gave up soon enough and waited for the next paper.

The essay took a different format than the usual. I remember getting my paper and seeing a question with a table, asking for some calculations. Which one is this again? I searched for my question on anti-malarial drugs but it was nowhere to be found. Instead I saw questions on second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs, who no one really cares about, if we’re being honest.

Thankfully, there were also some great questions that put a smile on my face when I saw them, like those on drugs used for asthma and cancer.

TUESDAY

The next day was Pathology MCQs, which in summary I would describe as an extreme sport. There were 800 questions to be answered in 3 hours. I am certain that at some point I read the options before reading the question. I picked some answers because they didn’t rhyme with the rest of the options, and so that definitely had to be the answer.  

By the time it was announced that we had 10 minutes left, I was shading away in a frenzy, barely glancing at the question. I took a bottle of Coca-Cola inside, to keep me energized and hydrated, but I couldn’t even take a sip as the only things I had time to do were breathe and shade answers.

When I got back to my room, my arms, shoulders and back were aching, the result of sitting in a fixed spot for hours.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday, we wrote Pathology essays, and they went fairly well. I love essay exams because when you don’t know much about the question asked, you can always spread your wings and talk about other related things.

There were questions on some of my favorites, like Typhoid fever and Leukemia. However, it appeared that questions on sickle cell anemia had finished as we were instead asked a question about megaloblastic anemia. Truly mysterious.

THURSDAY

The last written exam was the Practical paper.

Me wondering what I had gotten myself into.

I was in the second batch to write the practical, and I was already exhausted before we even started. The practical was in steeplechase form, with questions placed in 80 different stations. I would spend 2 minutes at a station, after which a bell would ring and I would have to move to the next station.

I began with the Microbiology set of stations, and right in the middle, I began to panic because all the agar looked like McConkey agar to me. There was also a picture of weird looking feet, some viral diagnostic tool and some other things I couldn’t recognize. But you people did not show these things during all our practicals. At the end of this part, I was shaking my head sadly, while muttering “Only God can save me.”

At the Chemical pathology station, things got fair (I think?), there were also some strange questions that had me wondering under what topic they were.

The Hematology stations were definitely better as I saw things I recognized. Also, I missed my way while moving to another station and pretended like all was well until an examiner spotted me, looked at me in disbelief and then took me to the correct station.

The last set I did were the Histopathology stations. This was my best part, ironically, as Histopathology and I had been longstanding enemies.

As soon as we were done, I hurried off to urgently purge my phone of as many pictures and lecture slides that I could. I finally saw the Season Finale of Game of Thrones, whose end I am still grieving.

Also, in the spirit of chop life, make life no chop you, I went out to get a large tub of ice cream with my girlfriends, after which we settled in to see a movie.

My oral exams held the following week, which were uneventful, thankfully, as I had heard so many stories of how dramatic they could be.

Pharmacology Orals

WINTER IS OVER

My exams are now done with and the days of premium, maximum and high-yield enjoyment are here. There isn’t much time to sleep as I want to stuff a lifetime of chilling into the few days I have.

I have started binge watching Billions, which means I will not see the sun for a few days. My bank account may be in red, but I will continue to order fancy food, because I walk by faith and not by sight.

I also have time to reflect, and all I have in my hands and in my heart is gratitude.

I’m grateful that no matter how overwhelmed I was, I did not lose it.

I’m grateful I don’t have to set alarms titled “MB in 6 days, you better wake up”.

I’m grateful that I can now spend hours on Pinterest, without feeling an ounce of guilt, about it.

Most of all I’m grateful to a God who literally keeps me in the shadow of His wings.

As usual, I remain more than available to travel.

Till next time. Thanks for reading!