Officially had my first meeting with the committee as an examiner for the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology. Every year the society gives a diplomate exam to those who have completed their 2-3 year training (aka fellowship aka HELLowship) in accredited training institutions, such as PGH, Veterans’, St. Lukes, Makati Med, UST, and so on. The diplomate exam is sort of like the board exams for medical oncology, composed of two parts: the written exam, and the oral exams. I was recruited this year to be part of the committee in charge of this, and one of the perks is that I am bestowed the latest edition of De Vita, which is like the bible text book for oncology trainees. Back in med school, residency, and hellowship it was so hard to get these textbooks because they are super expensive, so we had to sometimes resort to bootleg copies sold by a certain Loida.

I took my diplomate exams in 2013, along with my PGH batchmates Alanis Cornucopia, Eric, and Carinez. Out of the 8 examinees from all over the country the four of us passed the written exam, qualifying us for the oral exams conducted 2 weeks later. In the oral exams we had to go through 12 stations, each station manned by 3 examiners. For each station we were given a complicated case, like a case of a breast cancer patient who discovers that she’s pregnant, or a patient with pancreatic tumor who refuses to have biopsy and insists on skipping ahead to chemotherapy, or a patient who has read so much from the internet that she rebuts all the treatment options I would offer. It was one of the rare occasions when there were more examiners than examinees, and we could only watch in pure envy as the examiners would chitchat, have snacks, and read fiction novels while waiting for an examinee to fill the table.

After the oral exams I met Smoketh in a Burger King beside St. Lukes. I was super broke, had terrible acne, and wore a pair of rundown Crocs that had tiny holes on the soles and I really felt kawawa. It was the middle of July, so of course it had to rain while I was walking to Burger King to complete the drama. Smoketh who was already on her first year of private practice as a nephrology consultant, gave me words of advice, and consoled me on the terrible goings on in my life at the time. Most importantly, she brought me to Mang Kebab in Tomas Morato and fed me. Nothing improves the mood more than free food.

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