Just a bit of a general update really. Nothing too intelligent.
Generally: I have handed in logbooks for both musculoskeletal and oncology. Combination of yay and thank god for that. The musculoskeletal one was lurking for far too long - supposed to be handed in before Christmas but my lack of pushiness/luck in getting the right patients or right consultants meant I was missing a few skills. 6 hours in A&E and some helpful SHOs later, it got done (and a fracture clinic that was no help with skills at all, but I guess I know a bit more about fractures now).
I enjoyed oncology, but only because it's a topic I'm interesting, and less because the rotation was actually enjoyable. Quite how six weeks of oncology and palliative care managed to be uninspiring I'm not sure. Except for the palliative care bit, which was amazing, but more on that another time.
So, logbooks done. Woo.
I have started German lessons, which is wonderful and not great at the same time. I may not always be accurate or have a wide vocabulary, but 9 months of Berlin and a lovely friend who always talked German with me means I can very much hold a conversation. I don't think some of my classmates have ever spoken German outside the classroom... it doesn't make me better but it means our language is quite different. German lessons where you're allowed to speak English is a novelty too! Ultimately it just made memiss my lessons in Berlin because they were great fun.
I am having a weekend off extensive train travel, and instead going to London for the GLADD (gay and lesbian association of doctors and dentists) tomorrow. Whilst I may be neither of those, and not a dentist either, I'm looking forward to it, though feeling a little ominous about the LGB-ness of it all, and the distinct lack of T or Q. I may not have been to an NUS conference for nearly two years, but I still think like I'm in the midst of it! Self-definition/lack of definition altogether please.
I got a message from someone from LGBT (a former NUS celebrity) who I had no idea ever knew that I existed, but will be there tomorrow, so that's cool. I'm hoping for an interesting day.
I haven't been sleeping much, mostly my fault. I have been having a bit of a social life, yay. However I really need to learn how to ask people very nicely to leave because I have a 9am clinic and am in desperate need of sleep.
My stats course in London last week meant I stayed a night each at two different friends, which was great, the previous weekend I'd met with lots of old friends at home, and this week I had fencing friends for dinner, and a lovely wonderful friend is here currently for a flying visit. I had two good online chats with two wonderful people who I hadn't heard from for a while, and tomorrow I'm meeting in London with friends who I knew when I lived in London. Sunday, lunch with people from my original year of medschool, who I haven't seen since a wedding in July, so that's exciting. And to top it all off, other half has two days off next week, for the fist time since November, so is staying for a whole three nights, I'm so ridiculously excited I might explode.
This is so social (for me, at least) there's no option but to be positive and generally cheerful, whenever possible (ie. when I have energy to be). My mental health has to be benefitting from this.
My health isn't terrible, but how I feel about it changes on a daily basis. New meds are good but took a little getting used to. Plan to go wheat-free has been shelved for now - I'm just not that organised. I've been eating relatively well though. I haven't yet decided if the reduction in sinus headaches is worth the nostrils full of crusty blood and crusties... Oh well, not long til ENT specialist appointment.
My sister has passes her probation at her job and is basically set for life, or until the day that her job is done by machines (not very soon).
At the risk of blowing any anonymity I had to my medical school (it's a legitimate thing to worry about: a student once got severely reprimanded for posting something disrepectful about dissection on an online forum like the student room or similar. Not that I'm being disrespectful but I'm sure they would feel that imaginary headlines of "trainee doctor scared of people" would not reflect well on them): I got complained about my a member of medschool staff. Three things to learn from this: 1. Don't stress at people (I wasn't nasty, just stressed), 2. If you ever think there is reason to complain, bloody well do it! I so almost complained about the person in question myself, and am of course kicking myself as two people complaining about each other is a different story to a member of staff complaining about a student, and 3. Do not tell tutor that it will all be fine because you can just avoid each other, and never have to have dealings with each other. It does not go down well. Though has highlighted to me that I seem to be quite a fan of conflict avoidance rather than conflict resolution.
Other things: this will not go on any permanent record. Thank god. And I still feel that admin staff saying "everyone else manages to hand things in on time, what's your problem" should not be acceptable. Oh well, done now. I just have visions of said person being malicious next time we have to have dealings with each other. I do not like being scared of a person. Scared of people generally is one thing, scared of a person is different. Reminds me of my old flatmate, who does not need to be discussed now.
I am quietly having a nervous breakdown about my research project but mostly pretending it will all be fine. Which it might. The essay about general practice I stand less of a chance on, but that's ok because I didn't have much hope in the first place. I have a mental block around essays anyway.
I've been struggling to get work done somewhat, I was planning to do lots this week but other things happened, some of the time. It's largely due to tiredness, and that's multifactorial and only partly due to me being stupid. Partly due to just being knackered generally, it happens.
I think that's it for news.
I'm becoming increasingly ok at dealing with people in a medical student sense, and actually really enjoyed my time in A&E this week. I forgot a couple of questions in my histories, but they weren't earth-shatterinly important. Need to practise stopping patients going off on compeltely irrelevant tangents without just interrupting, seeming rude, or spoiling the rapport. Tricky.
Neurology starts next week, and I'm dreading it because 1. I know very little about nerves, dermatomes, sensation, important stuff, and 2. 7am buses for 9am starts. I will need to learn how to sleep/go to bed properly.
There, that was unexciting. I feel this blog needs to become more intellectual - the stuff is in my head but I need to get round to writing it.
