Tell your story#10 (My Bittersweet Defense Day)

What happened?

Today I almost peed my pants! Today was my Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) defense day. Meaning that everything I had learnt during my period of attachment in the hospital I went to when I travelled home, I was supposed to pick one case and give a report on it. Let's go back to how it started.

Two weeks before I came back to school, we were told to start preparing a case study for our seminar presentation when we come back to school. Apparently, this presentation was to be a report of all we've learnt in the 4 months we went home. When we travelled home, all of us were supposed to go to a hospital or a diagnostic center for a student training on our profession for a particular period of time.

Being in Radiography department, the hospital I worked had computed tomography (CT), Ultrasonography and conventional radiography (X-ray). So I was supposed to pick a case study from any of the modality I learnt. I choose X-ray because it was more flexible and I could talk about it anytime anyday.

My topic was initially lumbar spondylosis then I heard that so many of my classmates were presenting on that topic so I quickly changed to osteoarthritis of both knees while I still had access to the images of my case study. This could have gone easy but then I found out that plenty people also wanted to do it as well.

I thought about changing it to CT or Ultrasound but then I didn't have the images again and I didn't want to confuse myself further, not after I've finished preparing for this osteoarthritis case. I decided to call some of my senior colleagues and tell them about my topic and my dear because I actually wanted to do something different that even if people were to do it too, it'll not be up to 5.

But then again, each person had different opinion. Some said I should focus on my already existing topic and present it well that'll be different from anyone doing the same topic, others said I should change topic. After going back and forth with conflicting emotions, confusion and frustration up until it was 3 days to my defense, I finally called my mom and she advised me and encouraged me to stick to what I already knew so well so I won't fumble and that was what I went it.

Mothers know best after all! To crown it all, one of my friends who encouraged me to continue doing my topic regardless of the population doing it went on a call with me to tell me about "outside the box" questions my examiners might throw at me that I wouldn't expect and like he said earlier, the questions were trivial but not so relevant, but I took note anyways.

After preparing my slides and I started rehearsing and checking for potential questions, the D-day finally came and my scrubs, sneakers, hair, badges were all ready, they told us to be in school latest 7:30am. When I got there, they hadn't even opened the room so we had to wait hours before they finally started by 11am.

When they called us in, from the list of 21 persons presenting today, I was the last person to present and on the list. So I sat in silence, watching and listening and clapping for others as their turns came and passed. My friend presented a unique case on mammography and it was very interesting.

When it was the second to last person's turn, our HOD came inside to watch. I was silently praying the man should go because he would throw questions at you and almost make you doubt yourself. And that's what he did for the guy that was presenting. The guy was thrown off balance and he was at loss of words on what to say so he just rounded up and left downhearted.

I was then called to present and our HOD hadn't left, infact it was as if he came specifically for my presentation. I didn't even go a minute into my presentation before he started asking me questions like "what causes osteoarthritis"? After answering that and trying to move forward to my patient preparation, the man threw multiple questions at me, questioning my every sentence, every procedure and every step.

Fortunately for me, the questions he asked me were the questions my friend stayed up late with me to prepare for, so I looked into his eyes and was answering his questions confidently which I think was what he wanted because he nodded in approval before going out.

As he went out, everybody gave a sigh of relief and from their faces, I could tell they were feeling bad that I had to be bombarded with so many questions from that man and also impressed at how I handled it well. After the defense, we went out to congratulate ourselves and take pictures.

My friend said my voice wasn't so loud again when I was presenting and somehow coupled with the interrogation from my HOD, it just made me feel kinda sad and also kinda happy that I finally finished after days of preparation.

Even while snapping pictures, I wasn't totally happy and I dunno if it was just because of how mine went or there was an underlying reason behind it. But one thing I am so grateful and happy about is the fact that I am now a finalist and I have come to the final lap of my academic journey in the university.

What I learnt from the story?

Yes, I am now a 500 level student, and honestly, coming out of my defense hall made me nostalgic almost as if I can't believe I'm in my final year. Deep down, I'm so happy and I'm so grateful that after 5 years of being in school, I get to complete this last lap with most of the people I started with initially. My whole defense has thought me the power of believing in what you can do.

Probably if I had changed my topic last minute, I wouldn't have been able to give my all to that presentation. I'm grateful I listened to my mom and my senior colleagues that told me to stay on the case, because I was able to explain it very well and also answer the questions thrown at me to the best of my ability.

This is a learning curve for me, it's an opportunity to practice public speaking and confidence boost and I'm so grateful for every minute of it. I'm even more grateful that all my friends did well, and with their encouragement and believe in myself, alongside strength from God I was able to give a satisfactory performance. I invite @ngoenyi, @irawandedy and @chilaw

Cc,
@ruthjoe