Thesis Defense

Me and thesis-mates during our pilot study

It takes thirty minutes to present a thesis you’ve worked on for the last year. In those minutes, a panel of experts scrutinize every move you do, every word you utter, and every step you’ve taken. And you have no one to lean on aside from yourself and your research team who share the same hopes getting this over. You are sleep deprived for days and the manifestations from the caffeine overdose you inflicted upon yourself last night had become more evident. You could feel the blood vessels in your temporal pulsating and those episodes of blank stares increase in recurrence.

By the way, our study is a True experiment that utilized the use of a video to educate young males about to undergo circumcision. We had two groups: one who received the conventional health teachings while the other group was asked to watch the video. Then we evaluated its effects on the knowledge and the pain perception using a knowledge assessment tool and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain. Based on our results, there had been significant increase in the knowledge scores and a decrease in the pain perception. Therefore, our intervention can be concluded as effective.

Although our group had a bumpy start, we realize it is never too late to fix things and pave the way for a smoother, better road. The benefits of delayed gratification just gets even more satisfying as it gets delayed. We have good results, plus we were able to carry on with having a true experiment and it is just up to us on how we will convey the information to the panelists.

Minutes before the defense, I suddenly had this heavy feeling of the stress and exhaustion. Then I remembered a line from the Desiderata which says:

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Indeed, those lines were very comforting at that time. We started the presentation at around two o’clock. At around two thirty, the defense started and I was just simply amazed on how eloquent and spontaneous my groupmates were. At some point, I feel that we are already professionals defending a full blown research, citing sources in our responses, justifying our choices in the research design. Indeed, no one knows your research better than yourselves.

After our defense, the panelists asked us to wait outside while they deliberated among themselves. Personally, I was expecting a grade maximum of 88 based from what we presented. But it turns out that the panelists didn’t seem to agree with me and gave us a score of Meritus (91%) for the manuscript and Bene Meritus  (93%) for the oral defense. 

Good bye sleepless nights! :) 

The Search for 30 Foreskins: The Aftermath

After examination week, it’s just about time we once again cringe up on our thesis work. Our study involves the use of a video to decrease the pain perception and increase the knowledge of children undergoing circumcision. We were able to gather respondents during the summer break since that was the “peak” season of circumcision programs sponsored by the different local government units and private parties. We actually participated in two missions, one in St.Theresa’s College and another in Quezon City which gave us a handful of subjects. 


Summer break ended and were still in need of 20 more participants. Our research professor suggested that we just organize our own "Operation Tule" program. I was half-convinced with the idea since school had already started thus adding to the difficulty of finding subjects.

Last Sunday, we took the risk of making a circumcision program materialize. We pulled together the resources coming from the community of  San Jose Del Monte Bulacan, UST Hospital Operating Room, Medical Missions, Inc., Rotary Club Internationale, and other volunteers. I personally would like to thank Sir Gian Carlo Torres for helping us with the supplies, Maam Brenda Luy-Aragon for helping us find a volunteer doctor, Mrs. Neulaendner providing us with transportation and Dr. Pio Calma for joining us in this Operation Tule.


The circumcision program lasted from 10:00am up to around 5:00pm. We were very exhausted after the last operation but still very happy since we were able to give our service to the community. Aside form that, our group was also very happy since were were now able to satisfy the required number of participants for our study.


After packing up our things, we were led by one of the community leaders to the water refilling station donated by the Rotary Club Internationale from Korea. I personally believe that dole out giving of goods would only provide temporary relief so it's really a good thing that the Rotary makes projects like this which could help the community to be self-sustaining.


Before heading back home, we were led to the house of one of the community workers to eat. As we approached their house, we saw pink and purple cloths hanging as decorations in front of their house. Her daughter was celebrating her debut! It was the first time I went to a debut without even knowing or even meeting the debutant. Oh, gate crashers we were.


Although it was  fun seeing how the community puts up celebrations like this. I like how everything was so simple in the place. From the decorations and the sound system, the party had a province-esque birthday feel to it.


While we were feasting on the platter of pancit, menudo, lumpiang shanghai and morcon (I just had to put the entire menu in), one of the volunteers went up to the microphone and acknowledged the group's presence and contribution. We felt very appreciated at that time. It's one of those appreciations that you don't normally get in the hospital setting where people just seem to come and go. This makes me consider taking up a career in Community Health Nursing (CHN). I mean, even though you don't get much compensation for doing your work, the fulfillment you get from serving people is enough.


I even like the though of doing home visits, conducting health education programs at the barangay halls, and giving immunizations to babies and children. Economic matters aside, I don't get it why nurses have ironically no jobs in the Philippines and are struggling to pay hospitals for work experience while there are a lot of countrymen in need of their services. Choosy lang talaga siguro ang ibang mga nurses. I think CHN is still one untapped field currently unemployed nurses may explore.

One sentence from the volunteer struck me the most. He said, "Mas mabisa ang gamot kapag libre". Oo nga naman. Mas mabuti nga naman kung habang nagpapagamot ang pasyente wala na siyang iniindang bayarin. Sana maitanim ito sa kaisipan ng mga health care professionals na dapat hindi lang pera ang habol sa kanilang propesyon kundi pagtulong din sa mga may sakit at nangangailangan ng kalinga.

Unedited Blurts#1

Have you ever felt that everything happening around you is just the same and monotonous? I do.

For the past week, I've been struggling to keep up with the all the things happening. I'm raped by my examinations, harrassed by thesis works,and abused by projects, both co-curricular and exta curricular. I'm exhausted, leaving me with a decreased drive to do all there is to do with some level of anhedonia.

I've had difficulty doing things I used to enjoy and do with ease, say, writing blog posts, I have some topics in mind yet in the middle of my entry, I find the them too shallow or too absurd to finish. Hence the unfinished, underdeveloped entries on my notebook.

Once this week finishes, I'll have my long weekend. Probably, I'd go somewhere quiet and less stimulating, (Manila's been too busy for me these days) I want to catch up on my reading, do some artworks and SLEEP.

Ugh. This too shall pass.