if there's anything to be said about having too much knowledge, it's that doctors (or in this case, medical students) can have it much harder than most.

case in question: an intelligent, witty, lovable, and hot 18-year-old up medical student contracts a rhinovirus, which presents regular symptoms since over three weeks ago. a week ago, he notices an increased number of pruritic, erythematous papules regionally distributed on his chest, where some soon coalesce into a well-defined plaque on the right side of his jugular notch. he also notes a purpura on the flexor side of his right foreleg. four days ago, he starts complaining of intermittent headaches localized on the right occipital area of his head. the next day, he notices a lymph node swelling on the right nape area, and slight ringing in his right ear. around this time, he decides to consult the up-pgh health services clinic after the much-dreaded derma-upper extremities exam duo, foregoing the first two hours of cadaver dissection, which started a week ago.

now, how do you even start making sense of all those differentials? if i was still the typical simple-minded high school student i was a couple of years ago, all this would have been attributed to a typical flu, which would have then been taken care of with fluids, bed rest, and the occasional paracetamol tablet. but now, thanks to the advent of anat/physio subjects, icpc's, and medical enlightenment in general, simple symptoms can take on entirely different (and mostly outrageous, i hope) diagnoses.

in the span of a few days, we've already looked up lymphadenitis and lymphedemas, parotitis, cranial neoplasms, hodgkin and non-hodgkin lymphomas, and probably a couple illnesses more, each more unlikely than the last. it's like we can't just relegate common symptoms to common diseases; our mere awareness necessitates a drive to uncover any and all possible causes behind the physical signs. once we start associating these signs to the respective diseases, it gets even worse when all the related symptoms, prognoses, and complications of each disease are uncovered. considering that the chances i contract mumps or that i develop malignancies are slimmer than my chances to ace the last two exams, it's still frightening to think of the possibility of sterility or a 10-year lease on life developing from a simple lymph inflammation.

and if the disease-guessing scare wasn't already enough for me to handle, now my caring father has to get on my case about cheering my lungs out at uaap games and my daily living habits, implicating them to my inflammed nodes. as if i'm not aware of the need for proper sleep and daily vitamin doses. when your child gets sick, or might be sick, i think it's more standard operating procedure to lay off the repetitive, stressful sermons and show your concern through more constructive means, am i right? luckily, i'm more than a bit used to the apparent lack of discretion on his side, so i'll just be stashing away counter-arguments for next time, and taking the silent way out this time.

anyway, the respectable diagnosis i got yesterday from the doctor at the health services was rhinitis with possible reactive adenitis. a week on co-amoxiclav to start with, and a referral to the department of otorhinolaryngology just in case. we'll just see how good our doctor-ing skills are at this point by then.