Aryana Solenn Valencia
“Niloloko mo talaga ako! Walang Mara Villanueva sa UP Diliman!”
I rolled my eyes. “Alam ko!”
Umamba siya ng batok sa akin pero sinamaan ko ito ng tingin. “Hindi ba! Lakas ng tama mo ah. Hindi mo kaya mapapalitan name mo d’on!” He smirked.
Napairap ako dahil sa kawalan nang masabi. Huminga ako nang malalim saka inuntog ang sarili sa libro.
“Now, Aryana Solenn Valencia. Tell me the truth.” Sean commanded in a very serious tone.
Bumuntong-hininga ako nang malalim saka ipinagkrus ang braso. “I studied medicine sa isang probins’ya. I used Mara Villanueva as my name. But I graduated as a Valencia. Pero ngayon, I applied na sa Manila.”
He shook his head. “You studied in a province?! What the hell!” hindi makapaniwalang anang nito.
Inirapan ko lang siya bilang sagot. Because he was asking so many questions about my experience in province, my mind was flying somewhere else.
Kanina ko pa binabasa ang same paragraph pero hindi pumapasok sa utak ko. It made me so frustrated.
The first year out of college is probably the hardest. I have to learn to adjust to the new life of studying more diligently and giving up many of the small joys and freedoms I've come to enjoy in undergrad.
The workload is pretty high, and I’ll most likely spend a majority of my time either in class or studying. I learned the language of medicine and begin to use weird words like proximal, superior, anterior and distal in non medical sentences without noticing.
I’ll spend lots of time in the anatomy lab and I get to spend my nights smelling like beef jerky and chemicals. My non-medical friends ask me all about the bodies. I ride in elevators alone from the stench.
In my second year, I seem to hit the swing of things but the workload increases sharply, and thus my time is further diminished. No more anatomy lab!
Pathology is usually the main source of stress due to the sheer volume of information about human disease. I became friends with Ligaya and Maddie, and they keep me up at night by mocking my inability to remember the etiology of hypercalcemia in sarcoidosis at 3AM.
My third year, I start wearing my short white coat. My rotate through Internal Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, OB/GYN, Family Medicine, Pediatrics. My time is not my own. Your ass now belongs to the attending and the residents and they do not trust you... not one bit.
My next duty was 5 AM to 5 AM the next day. That’s how my clerkship went, barely even getting sleep, tiring myself out to distract myself.
Some people will take the elective internship but I chose to have a regular. I am not yet sanay sa operations.
However, applying still didn’t mean that I would actually get in since the maximum people could get in was only 20.
I was assigned to the Orthopaedic Department for weeks. Trauma and orthopaedic surgeons diagnose and treat a wide range of conditions of the musculoskeletal system.
This includes bones and joints and their associated structures that enable movement - ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves.
Iyon lang ang pinagkaabalahan ko buong linggo. Sa ilang linggo na inakala ng mga magulang ko’y pahinga ko lamang, ay iyon din ang mga linggo kung saan ako na-assign sa panibagong department.
I really need to work smarter, not harder. It helps me survive a day. The hard part has to do with learning is how to think like a doctor.
I was faced with different patients with different illnesses, and attitudes. Aaminin kong nahirapan akong makipagcommunicate sa kanila.
When I got assigned to the Surgery Department. I just became more tired. I was shouted a lot of times but I endured everything just to get by.
Ilang beses akong nahihilo at nawawalan ng malay. Minsan na rin akong nasuka dahil hindi ko kinaya ang nakikita ko roon.
“Gosh, Solenn! You’re spacing out!” Ralene said, waving her hand in front of my face.
“Ha? Medyo.” I answered to whatever.
Humagalpak sila ng tawa nang marinig ang sagot ko. Kasama ko si Six, Corics at Ralene sa isang restaurant. Nag-aya sila dahil nakakapagod na raw ang ilang araw nilang pagtatrabaho.
“Are you doing well, Solenn?” Six asked. I just smiled, feeling apologetic towards them.
“I am sorry. Medyo napalalim lang ng pag-iisip.” I answered.
“Stress ka, Doc?” Corics asked.
I shook my head as a response and they all nodded.
Nagpatuloy lamang sila sa pag-uusap habang hinihintay ang in-order naming pagkain. They’re all talking about how their clerkship went by.
Nanatili lamang akong tahimik habang pinakikinggan silang mag-usap. Sumagi naman bigla sa isip ko si Dylan. Kamusta naman kaya iyon sa kompanya namin?
He’s the only one who got accepted and Corics got rejected by my Mom. I warned them to stop clowning around whenever they’re with Mom.
Kaya ayun, si Dylan lang ang nakapasok at si Corics hindi. Ewan ko kung ano ang dahilan ni Mama kaya niya ni-reject si Corics.
Walang choice si Corics kung hindi mag-apply sa ibang kompanya. And luckily, he got accepted naman daw.
“What about Mrs. Valencia? She’s pretty strict, right?”
Agad na nabaling ang tingin ko sa tatlong babaeng nag-uusap sa may bandang kanan namin.
Mukhang kasama sila roon sa mga na-accept as an intern sa kompanya namin.
“Yes. She’s great when it comes to recognizing and reviewing the performance of every employees.” The tall girl answered.
The girl from the other side got disappointed. “Ugh! Why did she rejected me! Pangarap ko talagang magtrabaho sa kompanya niya!”
The other girl laughed. “Hindi ka pumasa sa standards, girl! Better luck next time,”
They both chuckled while pissing the girl off. “So annoying!” She rolled her eyes.
“Right. Why did she rejected me, also? Am I not fit in her standards?” Corics asked.
Napatingin ako sa kan’ya. Nakikinig din pala siya sa usapan ng tatlong babaeng iyon. Six and Ralene both laughed. Halatang inaasar din si Corics dahil tinanggihan siya ni Mama.
“Unfair.” He frowned.
Muling nabaling ang atens’yon namin sa tatlong babae nang magtawanan ang mga ito.
“Ay oo! Iyong isa pang lalaki na kasama ni Dylan, tinanggihan din!”
Muli silang nagtawanan pagkatapos ng sinabing iyon ng isang babae. Sinapawan iyon ng mahinang paghagikgik ni Six at Ralene na nagpasama sa mukha ni Corics.
“Tangina naman oh,”
———
YOU ARE READING
Nowhere To Be Found
General FictionAryana Solenn Valencia suffers from depression and dissociation following a traumatic breakup with her long-term boyfriend. Dylan Jax Santiago had no idea he'd run into the new Aryana Solenn so soon after their worst breakup. But what surprised him...
