Presentation Time... Again

Yes it's that time of year again... presentation time. Towards the end of term there are always presentations to be done.

This time thankfully my presentation is quite fluffy. There is very little fact and a lot of self reflection. Unfortunately I'm not quite sure what the guy marking it wants, so I've had to make it up a bit as I've gone along. I've got to the point now where the number of presentations I've done mean I'm a lot more confident, I just dread the couple of minutes before the presentation where I get overwhelmed with fear, my hands start shaking and my mouth feels dry.

I've got one more night after tonight to prepare myself. Unusually for me, I've already made the presentation, so now I can concentrate on getting my essay finished and tweaked in time for the Friday hand-in date.

Lily xXx

Something Tasty....

Mmmmm... Ferret!

I weighed my ferrets and Archie is now 1.4kg and teeny tiny baby Hugo (in the pic) is a whopping 1.8kg!

Lily xXx

The Aberdeen Story...

...The Interview From Hell

As AberdeenMedStudent commented on my blog, I thought now was a good time to share my mentally scarring experience of Aberdeen.

For some reason I applied to Aberdeen even though I come from Kent. In face there were a lot of reasons...

1. Easyjet to Aberdeen is cheaper than a train from where I live to the midlands or up north
2. I know people from there who love it
3. Entry was only ABB the year I applied
4. The boys have cute accents
5. Why not?!

Anyway, so I applied and got an interview. My Dad and I decided to make a little trip out of it, fly up the morning before, stay in a hotel and have wander around.

On the day we left we drove the hour and a half to the airport, pretty early in the morning. At the airport we had breakfast and chilled out until we got on the flight.

My Dad and I fly a fair bit so aren't nervous about it and comfortably settled into our seats on the plane.

About 5 minutes after take off my Dad started to say he felt "funny", "sleepy" and "not well". In the space of 10 minutes he went from being quite coherant to slurring, resting his head onto my shoulder and moaning in discomfort. I didn't really know what to do. My Dad is NEVER ill.

Next thing before I knew it he was leaning back in his seat, grunting, shaking and struggling to breath. I completely paniced. I shouted for help and the air stewards came running. Thankfully there was one who spoke my Dad's mother-tongue which made things a little easier for him. By now he's stopped shaking and was moaning and vomitting. He couldn't even hold himself upright in the seat.

The air crew made an announcement for doctors on the plane. There were none. There was only someone who had just started to train as a paramedic and although they offered to help, felt out of their depth.

By this point I was trying so hard to stay strong, and not cry. I knew that showing I was worried would make things worse. I ended up shouting at half the other customers on the flight because people were standing up and leaning over their seats to get a look. Vultures.

We got landed as quickly as possible at Aberdeen as it was the nearest airport at the time (lucky for everyone) and met by an ambulance crew.

This is where it all went even more wrong.

By this point my Dad was visably better, but still shaken and weak. The ambulance crew completely ignored me. Hating hospitals my Dad insisted to them that he just fainted and I was actually told to be quiet by them when I tried to describe what I saw.

When we got to the hospital I had to give my Dad's details to the reception at A&E. Once I'd done that they said someone would get me when I could see my Dad. An hour later and I'm sitting crying in the reception area as noone will tell me where he is or what's happening. I ended up so distraught a randomer bought me a cup of tea and made a fuss at reception for me. After a good 10 minutes of bargaining with reception, the receptionist took me into A&E where my Dad was sitting up in a cubicle looking almost as right as rain. Noone could tell me why I hadn't been taken to see him before that, or at least told where he was. Yet again noone was interested in hearing my story... shocking now that I know an eyewitness account of any funny turn is important.

After that we got in a taxi and checked in at our hotel. I tucked my Dad up in bed for a couple of hours and once he was feeling a little better we took a stroll up the street and had a pizza. I spent all night in the bed beside my Dad's bed listening to him breathing, unable to sleep because I was so worried something would happen. He's all I've got. He's not only my Dad but he's my best friend. Since my Mum died he's done everything to try and give me the best life I can and I couldn't imagine what I'd do without him.

The next morning was interview day. It started with a tour. The student who did the tour was lovely. In fact my Dad still goes on about how nice she was now. The uni was lovely and everything was looking better. In fact I didn't even feel too bad about the fact I'd had no sleep.

I went into my interview and things started okay. I didn't panic. I felt alright. Then I yawned. I couldn't help it. After that horrible interview man made some sarcastic comment along the lines of "Are you bored or tired? Maybe you should have got an early night and not gone out partying before an interview." .... I flipped. I completely lost my temper and snapped, "Actually, I couldn't sleep last night because on the way here my Dad had a fit, I had to spend hours in your hospital being ignored and then funnily enough I couldn't sleep." Eek. Not good. The interviewers went quiet, but carried on with the interview looking at me like I was a little unstable.

I left the interview and told my Dad it had gone well.

Surprisingly I didn't get an offer.

Nice place though.

Anyone else have any interview nightmare stories?!

Lily xXx

Home or Away?

Until now I've been 100% that I want to do my elective in the South Pacific, somewhere laid back that I can spend a lot of time on the beach chilling out and recovering in time for my final year, full of hard work.

The group of islands myself and a couple of friends had our eye on is very expensive to travel to. This is only made worse by the fact our elective starts on the last weekend of July.

Because of this I'm making a back-up plan just in case flight prices don't come down and I can't afford it.

I'm trying two things for this. Firstly I'd like a tabloid media placement to do with medicine, such as a woman's magazine or with the health editor of a tabloid newspaper. Managing this is proving near impossible as it's so hard to get in contact with anyone. The second (and still quite exciting) option is to work with an ambulance service, looking at prehospital care and how the control room works.

Part of me is now thinking that these back-up ideas sound so fun that is it worth spending thousands of pounds for a beach holiday with a bit of medicine, or should I just stay in the UK?

Any thoughts?

Lily xXx

Poor Little Fuzzy

One of my ferrets has been really ill this past week. I think it's flu (they can catch the same flu types as humans). He's lost lots of weight and was all shakey whenever I gave him a cuddle.

Thankfully my doctoring skills came to use and now he's fattening up again, looking healthier, not sneezing and shaking. If only people could be made better by lots of cuddles and kitten milk.

Since I've had my pet ferrets I've realised how scarily alike humans and animals are in illnesses. On ferret forums people talk about insulinoma, which is treated the same way in ferrets as it is in humans. The drugs are even the same!

More and more I wonder how vets actually treat animals though? I've learnt that fluids can be given subcutaneously so that takes away the need to find a vein... but what about when they do blood tests? It's hard enough finding a good vein on something that isn't covered in fur.

I might ask the vet next time I go.

Lily xXx

Eggsplanation

Sorry for the bad title... but it had to be done.

The Manchester Medic asked why do I hate eggs and why not mention scrambled eggs, commenting on my last post. These questions are far too long to answer just as a comment so I thought they deserved a post of their own.

I think eggs white is horrible! As far as I know I've always thought this. I didn't eat eggs willingly ever, and I've always thrown up if forced to eat egg white. It's partially the texture, but mostly the really sulpherous stench they give off. However I do think they look quite pretty and if they smelt better I could possibly bring myself to eat them.

Strangely enough I've never had a problem with scrambled eggs. I LOVE scrambled eggs. I don't love all scrambled eggs though, they have to be done properly. Eggs mixed up and put in the microwave are not scrambled eggs, they are a treat for ferrets. Scrambled eggs involve melting butter in a pan and cooking well seasoned mixed up egg until it is still gooey and runny. I can eat omlettes done like this too. Mmmmmm.

Also rather strangely I'll dip buttered french bread in well seasoned mixed up raw egg. Om nom nom...

Lily xXx

Ewwwww!!!

I hate people who spit.

Today at the bus stop some man just spat out a huge globule of saliva. I felt like punching him in the nose. It made me feel all queasy. I also hate getting in the lift in my block of flats in the morning and seeing the blobs of spit on the floor. I don't understand why it's so cool.

I also hate people who don't take the time to say please or thankyou.

On my hate list are also fried/boiled/poached eggs, back ache, people who hate ferrets without giving them a chance and shutting my fingers/toes in doors.

Lily xXx