(no subject)
Hi thar livejournal, it has been a while etc etc. I am not really entirely sure where the last few months have gone. They have been busy ones, which is, I suppose, why I haven't had time to write very much on here of late.
The first few months of this year were pretty hard slog. I was working in paediatrics in Livingston, doing lots of commuting through heavy snow and stuff and working night shifts one in every three weeks. On top of this, I was studying part time at Glasgow Uni for my tropical medicine course and revising for two exams at once. On top of that, I was applying for jobs for next year and filling out ridiculous online forms and preparing for horrible interviews. Suffice to say, outside of work I didn't see much of my friends or family at all for about four months and it was pretty tough. The fat cat I share my flat with is nice and all, but she is a pretty lousy substitute for a social life, it has to be said.
Paediatrics was a fun job though. It was refreshing to work on a ward where patients come in having swallowed Ben 10 toys rather than having had their fifth heart attack of the year so far. Also, having initially found neonates terrifying, I came to enjoy the SCBU and liked getting to do teeny tiny venflons on teeny tiny people. I also got to anaesthetise a premature baby who needed to be ventilated one night shift at 4am, which was a terrifying test of mental arithmetic skills, but really exciting medicine.
The tropical medicine course was also really interesting and I am fairly sure this is what I want to end up specialising in now. It's so cool! The exam at the London School of Tropical Medicine was fairly hardcore though, spread over three days and involving a three-hour long practical exam in which I had to examine lots of poo down a microscope and identify lots of parasites and their arthropod vectors in a crazy spot test. I have come to appreciate parasites on a whole new level now; they're really pretty awesome, provided they're not inside you, that is. Obv.
Job application-wise, I went to an interview in London but didn't get the job, which I was upset about at the time, but am actually quite relieved about now. Due to the weird way the medical specialty training application process works in England and Scotland, there was a scary period of about a month where it looked like I wasn't going to get a job at all for next year and then an even scarier period of about a week where it looked like I was going to get a job somewhere remote in the North of Scotland, before I finally got an offer from the West of Scotland deanery. So now I am going to be moving to Glasgow at the end of July! If I can find a flat, that is. I'm in a Core Medical Training programme for the next two years, which is what I want to do to allow me to apply for specialist training in Infectious Diseases at the next level.
I'm really very sad to be leaving Edinburgh after 7 years of living here but I'm also happy to be staying in Scotland and excited about going to Glasgow too. It's going to be strange working outside of the area I've trained in so far, though. One of the really nice things about starting work in the place you've trained is that you can walk into any ward in the hospital and bump into familar faces, people who were in a study group with you in first year or who toughed out a grim four weeks living in hospital accommodation with you in Kirkcaldy in fifth year. There's a nice sense of camaraderie among the house officers and it's great to make a referral to another specialty and hear a friend's voice on the other end of the 'phone. I know I'll really miss that as everyone moves away from Edinburgh to different bits of the country in August, but I also know that the nature of the job means that I'll soon get to know the teams in my new hospital too. Katya's moving to Southampton and I'll really miss having her just around the corner from me, especially. I'll miss all my friends in Edinburgh, to be honest, but at least the non-medics will still be here in Edinburgh and I'm sure I'll be back through from Glasgow visiting them lots and lots.
Currently I'm working in haematology in Edinburgh which is easily the most depressing specialty I've worked in thus far. The treatments for haematological malignancies are amazing when they work and absolutely fecking horrendously awful when they don't. The patients who come in suffocating with their chests full of fungus after failed stem cell transplants are just the most wretched cases I have encountered so far. So many people die on our wards, so many of them only my age or my parents' age; it's just not nice. Before this rotation, I'd never broken down in tears on the job before, but working in this specialty I've done that twice, once just overwhelmed with sadness and once in sheer frustrated rage and helplessness. The wards are really busy and the workload can be pretty intense, especially when you're dealing with so many severely unwell and dying people and their families. Fortunately I'm working with an amazing team of really funny, lovely, clever, kind doctors and nurses and we've all stuck together through the last few months, which is support I don't think I could have managed without, quite frankly. I've learnt so much in this placement as well, I know I'm a better doctor now than I was three months ago for sure.
Anyway, that's not very cheery. I have done some fun things this year too. I went to see Pavement at ATP and that was pretty brilliant. I'd never made it to ATP before and I can't believe I've been missing out on it for all these years! I think I probably enjoyed the water chutes and dodgems almost as much as I enjoyed Stephen Malkmus et al. Highlights for me were the Times New Viking moshpit, being right at the front for the Fall, Fiery Furnaces, The Raincoats, Quasi, Broken Social Scene and, obviously, Pavement, who played an amazingly crowd-pleasing set. There was a lot of love in that room, oh boy. I also danced lots and lots and lots, which I just simply haven't done anywhere near as much of as I would like to of late.
I also saw The Magnetic Fields play in Manchester Cathedral, which was just utterly magnificent. I still grin like an idiot every time I think about it, even now.
Unpop, our indiepop night has also been really good fun. My favourite was the Valentine's Day/ Anti-Valentine's Hop that we had in February which loads of people came along to and said nice things about, including Gordon from Ballboy, which we were pretty chuffed about. We're going to get to DJ at the Edinburgh Popfest in October that he is helping to organise, supposedly, and I'm very excited about that.
In recent weeks in the clement weather I've been for picnics in the botanics, I've been on a night hike in the Pentlands with Adam, I've been adventuring in Pitlochry and I've been out to Cramond Island with Amreet and Liz. It's quite good for me that Amreet is moving from Edinburgh to Glasgow in August too, as we are both trying to do lots of awesome Edinburgh things one last time before we move away. We went out for dinner at the Roseleaf in Leith the other week and drank cocktails out of teapots, something which I would highly recommend doing, btw, and it was really lovely.
I have also been booking tickets for things in the Fringe this week, which is exciting but also a bit strange, given that I won't be living here anymore by the time it's happening this year.
Anyway, I should go to bed. But that's what I've been up to of late. Sorry it's not more interesting. Or more concise. I just felt like writing about it tonight, I guess.
The first few months of this year were pretty hard slog. I was working in paediatrics in Livingston, doing lots of commuting through heavy snow and stuff and working night shifts one in every three weeks. On top of this, I was studying part time at Glasgow Uni for my tropical medicine course and revising for two exams at once. On top of that, I was applying for jobs for next year and filling out ridiculous online forms and preparing for horrible interviews. Suffice to say, outside of work I didn't see much of my friends or family at all for about four months and it was pretty tough. The fat cat I share my flat with is nice and all, but she is a pretty lousy substitute for a social life, it has to be said.
Paediatrics was a fun job though. It was refreshing to work on a ward where patients come in having swallowed Ben 10 toys rather than having had their fifth heart attack of the year so far. Also, having initially found neonates terrifying, I came to enjoy the SCBU and liked getting to do teeny tiny venflons on teeny tiny people. I also got to anaesthetise a premature baby who needed to be ventilated one night shift at 4am, which was a terrifying test of mental arithmetic skills, but really exciting medicine.
The tropical medicine course was also really interesting and I am fairly sure this is what I want to end up specialising in now. It's so cool! The exam at the London School of Tropical Medicine was fairly hardcore though, spread over three days and involving a three-hour long practical exam in which I had to examine lots of poo down a microscope and identify lots of parasites and their arthropod vectors in a crazy spot test. I have come to appreciate parasites on a whole new level now; they're really pretty awesome, provided they're not inside you, that is. Obv.
Job application-wise, I went to an interview in London but didn't get the job, which I was upset about at the time, but am actually quite relieved about now. Due to the weird way the medical specialty training application process works in England and Scotland, there was a scary period of about a month where it looked like I wasn't going to get a job at all for next year and then an even scarier period of about a week where it looked like I was going to get a job somewhere remote in the North of Scotland, before I finally got an offer from the West of Scotland deanery. So now I am going to be moving to Glasgow at the end of July! If I can find a flat, that is. I'm in a Core Medical Training programme for the next two years, which is what I want to do to allow me to apply for specialist training in Infectious Diseases at the next level.
I'm really very sad to be leaving Edinburgh after 7 years of living here but I'm also happy to be staying in Scotland and excited about going to Glasgow too. It's going to be strange working outside of the area I've trained in so far, though. One of the really nice things about starting work in the place you've trained is that you can walk into any ward in the hospital and bump into familar faces, people who were in a study group with you in first year or who toughed out a grim four weeks living in hospital accommodation with you in Kirkcaldy in fifth year. There's a nice sense of camaraderie among the house officers and it's great to make a referral to another specialty and hear a friend's voice on the other end of the 'phone. I know I'll really miss that as everyone moves away from Edinburgh to different bits of the country in August, but I also know that the nature of the job means that I'll soon get to know the teams in my new hospital too. Katya's moving to Southampton and I'll really miss having her just around the corner from me, especially. I'll miss all my friends in Edinburgh, to be honest, but at least the non-medics will still be here in Edinburgh and I'm sure I'll be back through from Glasgow visiting them lots and lots.
Currently I'm working in haematology in Edinburgh which is easily the most depressing specialty I've worked in thus far. The treatments for haematological malignancies are amazing when they work and absolutely fecking horrendously awful when they don't. The patients who come in suffocating with their chests full of fungus after failed stem cell transplants are just the most wretched cases I have encountered so far. So many people die on our wards, so many of them only my age or my parents' age; it's just not nice. Before this rotation, I'd never broken down in tears on the job before, but working in this specialty I've done that twice, once just overwhelmed with sadness and once in sheer frustrated rage and helplessness. The wards are really busy and the workload can be pretty intense, especially when you're dealing with so many severely unwell and dying people and their families. Fortunately I'm working with an amazing team of really funny, lovely, clever, kind doctors and nurses and we've all stuck together through the last few months, which is support I don't think I could have managed without, quite frankly. I've learnt so much in this placement as well, I know I'm a better doctor now than I was three months ago for sure.
Anyway, that's not very cheery. I have done some fun things this year too. I went to see Pavement at ATP and that was pretty brilliant. I'd never made it to ATP before and I can't believe I've been missing out on it for all these years! I think I probably enjoyed the water chutes and dodgems almost as much as I enjoyed Stephen Malkmus et al. Highlights for me were the Times New Viking moshpit, being right at the front for the Fall, Fiery Furnaces, The Raincoats, Quasi, Broken Social Scene and, obviously, Pavement, who played an amazingly crowd-pleasing set. There was a lot of love in that room, oh boy. I also danced lots and lots and lots, which I just simply haven't done anywhere near as much of as I would like to of late.
I also saw The Magnetic Fields play in Manchester Cathedral, which was just utterly magnificent. I still grin like an idiot every time I think about it, even now.
Unpop, our indiepop night has also been really good fun. My favourite was the Valentine's Day/ Anti-Valentine's Hop that we had in February which loads of people came along to and said nice things about, including Gordon from Ballboy, which we were pretty chuffed about. We're going to get to DJ at the Edinburgh Popfest in October that he is helping to organise, supposedly, and I'm very excited about that.
In recent weeks in the clement weather I've been for picnics in the botanics, I've been on a night hike in the Pentlands with Adam, I've been adventuring in Pitlochry and I've been out to Cramond Island with Amreet and Liz. It's quite good for me that Amreet is moving from Edinburgh to Glasgow in August too, as we are both trying to do lots of awesome Edinburgh things one last time before we move away. We went out for dinner at the Roseleaf in Leith the other week and drank cocktails out of teapots, something which I would highly recommend doing, btw, and it was really lovely.
I have also been booking tickets for things in the Fringe this week, which is exciting but also a bit strange, given that I won't be living here anymore by the time it's happening this year.
Anyway, I should go to bed. But that's what I've been up to of late. Sorry it's not more interesting. Or more concise. I just felt like writing about it tonight, I guess.