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

The End of The Year

It's time for resolutions again.

I've decided to keep it simple this year. My new years resolution is to stay focused with medicine and keep working hard. Only 18 months to go and it's getting harder and harder as I have to know more and more stuff. As well as knowing stuff I also have to be able to do all kinds of things with sharp needles and rubber gloves.

Thankfully I'm really enjoying it still. I had a bit of a wobble in Sept/Oct where I thought I wasn't good enough and would never be able to do it, but sticking with it paid off.

We'll see if I'm still saying that when I get my last exam results on the 4th of Jan. Scarily they're putting all our exam results up before our "welcome back" lecture, where you can usually just check them online. Fingers crossed this won't be the first exam I've failed.

My only other resolution is to stick with the blog. It's amazing how much writing about silly day to day things helps sort out my thoughts about things. I also love the fact that whenever I'm feeling down or have a dilemma I get lots of lovely comments offering advice and kind words.

I hope everyone who's reading this has something nice planned for this evening and has a wonderful New Year celebration, with an even better year to follow.

Lily xXx