On Call

Today I shadowed my first on call I actually enjoyed.

It was gynae.

It surprised me how many people come into A&E with gynae complaints. There's also a real variety in what's causing the complaints.

I just wish my rotation had the opportunity to get more obs and gynae clinical experience, as our opportunities are quite limited.

In a few weeks time (I can't remember the exact date), I'm being shipped off to a district general hospital for 3 weeks to get the chance to really immerse myself in obs and gynae. Although I'll miss the ferrets, and probably get pretty tired from the hard work, I'm really looking forward to it.

This could be a possible career choice for the future.

On the subject of the future I watched relocation down under. Wow. I really like the look of Australia (and not just because I'm addicted to neighbours). Does anyone know what the situation is like for doctors wanting to immigrate over there? How different is the training/hours?

Lily xXx

Apologies

I haven't blogged for a week!

I don't really have an excuse except to say that not much has happened that I've felt I could write about. It's been a slow week at uni due to my firm head being taken ill and otherwise I have pretty much been taking it easy.

The highlight of my week has been getting a Wii Fit. On Friday I tried on wedding dresses and was horrified at what a fat blob I've become in the last year or so. Rather than just mope I'm going to do something about it.

The wii fit is my first step to that, along with lots of healthy eating and reducing my calories. Apparently it turns out that cake is not one of the food groups.... who'd have thought?! Shockingly the wii told me that my BMI was 24.88!!!! That's literally a bag of crisps away from over weight. It's suggested I aim for a BMI of 22... That means losing 1st 2lbs over about 3 months. If I manage that I'll be very pleased with myself.

Amusingly husband-to-be hopped onto the balance board and our BMI's are almost identical. How come it looks so much better to be a man with my BMI than a woman?! Anyway because I can't eat cake he's on a forced cakeless diet. I don't think he's impressed.

Lily xXx

Stressing About Exams

This is going to give you all an insight into how constantly stressed I am.

I'm already getting myself in a tizz about exams this summer. It turns out OSCEs (practical exams) this summer are over 7 days. This is great if I'm timetabled for the first week, but if I'm timetabled for the last 2 days I might have to miss my friend's wedding, which is sandwiched the weekend between.

Seeing the dates has also made me realise how little supervised practice I had of limb examinations last term. By the time it gets to exams I'm going to have to have practiced loads. To make it worse my rotation at the moment has hardly any practical clinical sessions as my group is twice as big as all the others, but with the same amount of clinics as the smaller groups. It's so frustrating, but I shall just have to make the most of the time I've got.

On the plus side I've been really cheerful for the last week or so. Maybe I'm learning how to chill a bit because usually just thinking about exams would have me totally miserable.

Lily xXx

Giggly Bits

This week I have a whole week of lectures on "giggly bits". That is the bits of medicine that seem to make the lecture theatre erupt into uncomfortable giggles.

Sexual history taking is not something that worries me particularly. I'm a pretty open minded person and with the conversation my friends have most lunch time's there isn't much that shocks me. In fact I can run through a worryingly long list of bizarre sexual acts and body part nicknames without feeling at all uncomfortable... although I must admit the description of discharge does make me cringe inside.

Lecturers try to put everyone at easy with using various sexual terminology, but it's not that simple to bring shy people out of their shells. I wonder if it would be better to make us all do at least 3 or 4 sexual health clinics rather than just the 1 so people get used to it?

I'm developing a (strange to some) love for GUM at the moment. I also really like the idea of specialising in sexual dysfunction. I just find it all so interesting, a great mix of general physiology and psychiatry.

Lily xXx

Sniffles

Over the last few days I've had a major cold and sore throat. Not only did I lose my voice (disaster!!!), but I've had a non-stop headache and somehow bit my cheek on the inside while eating an apple and it's sore!

So I'm feeling a little sorry for myself.

To top it off I went to Ikea yesterday. Got a mirror that is about 3mm too big for the space I need it to go in. Grrrr.

After that I went to Lakeside. Husband-to-be got an iPhone (sooooooooooooo jealous), and I was going to get a wii fit. They were sold out everywhere. I've since found wii fit online in Next (who'd have thought?), but I need a wii as well and it all seems pretty expsensive when you add it all together. Especially considering I'm paying for my youngest ferret to have his testibobbles off on Friday.

Overall the weekend has been a bit of a disappointment with the headache and the failed shopping trips. I have a week of lectures next week. I really hope they prove to be exciting otherwise they'll turn January into a pretty disappointing month. There's nothing worse than dragging yourself across London to get to lectures and for them to be rubbish, or even worse... cancelled!

Lily xXx

Snow Days

Not much has been happening this week.

Went to my new placement for the first day on Tuesday. We got a tour, which is a bit scary when you get into the labour ward and all you can hear are screams. They deliever 6000 babies a year, so the odds of us seeing a couple of births are looking pretty good. After that we had the afternoon off so I thought I'd go home to get psyched for the next day...

Snow, snow, snow...

We've been told not to bother coming in until Monday, when we have a whole week of GUM teaching, not at our placement. So in fact this is going to be a mini placement due to all the time we spend everywhere else.

On wedding updates I'm having some drama with where to have the actual wedding. The reception is already sorted as that will be held by family. I'm Catholic, and husband-to-be is not. In fact he's not any religion. It means a lot for my Dad to see me get married in a Catholic church. Unfortunately due to a work arguement the priest nearest to my Dad told Alan that he hopes his children are born crippled. Lovely. Won't be asking there then.

This morning my Dad called to say the priest at another church fairly close, where my Mum's funeral was, said he'd be pleased to talk to us about it and can't see a problem with us getting married there. Phew. For some reason I'm still nervous about calling him. I doubt my Dad has mentioned that I haven't been to church regularly for some time, and I never got confirmed. I've told myself I'll get brave and call the priest after lunch.

Lily xXx

First Day Excitement

I find the first day of term really exciting. Not only is it a chance to see friends who haven't been seen for a few weeks and catch up, for 4th year it's always an induction day so the catching up is made much easier as we're all at the same campus.

The morning was filled with lots of ring showing off to the girlies, and various lectures about what's expected of us during our obs, gynae and breast rotation. The afternoon was a surprisingly useful and interesting seminar delving into the scary world of sexual histories and intimate examinations.

I've been looking forward to obstetrics since 1st year. I'm not easily embarassed by genitalia or talking about intimate things, and I think that the whole process of childbirth is a completely magical thing. One minute there's only one person and next there's another tiny little person starting out their life.

As well as looking forward to this rotation I also have lots of exciting engagement things happening. We've set a provisional date in summer 2011 (about 2 weeks after the end of term), so I need to get as much of the wedding organised as possible before I need to start revising for finals. Thankfully I'm not too worried about the little details, what matters is that I'm going to be making a big decleration of love and telling the world that I plan on spending the rest of my days with my best friend.

Lily xXx

An Announcement

I wasn't only celebrating the beginning of 2010 last night but also my engagement to my lovely boyf, the most handsome, lovely and hairy man on the planet.

Lily xXx