final evaluation over!
Today we didn't see a single patient.
After MDT it was lots of paperwork clearing up cases and tying up loose ends. Must say I was helpful to my supervisor helping her make calls and write up notes and discharge people.
My final evaluation was at 2.30 and it went fast. She graded me as high as or higher than I'd graded myself last night (I bet most students don't even do this but I always do and for this supervisor that's good because she does actually want me to justify myself). Then we spent a good hour at least having a natter about life back in Sg and UK. So much so that we didn't have time for me to put my comments in the form so I brought it home. One last piece of homework I guess. (As an aside we found it amusing that when they'd arrived in NZ they thought cars were expensive and when we arrived we'd thought cars were so cheap here!)
Tomorrow and Thurs will be fun I think. Although we only currently have 8 patients. Interestingly, I'd imagined I would be faced with loads of stroke and Parkinson's patients, maybe a handful of dementia. But for my DFO worksheet which asked me to describe a condition that is "common in your setting" and that I was "not familiar with", I had to honestly and sincerely say it wasn't anything neuro at all. I must honestly say it was colorectal cancer. Of the 8 patients discussed at MDT today I noticed that 2 had colostomy and 2 had ileostomy. Only half the caseload had normal plumbing down there!
This leads me to think about how horrible it is to have a stoma bag (ie bag attached to hole in your body direct into the plumbing to catch the poo as and when it arrives) and to live with one and to manage one, which is like after they take out the cancerous part of your colon or intestines or remove your rectum or whatever it is that they removed so that you can't poo like other people. Leads me also to how I learned it was the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. And how people's diets are killing them! But that is a whole other long thing for another time. Just don't downplay unhealthy bowels. As I read, one of the functions of your rectum is to "alert you when you need to poo". I'm so glad mine functions well! Imagine having a bag hanging off your side and it fills up with solid, liquid or gas whenever it feels like with total disregard for what you are currently engaged in, lunch, chatting, showering!
Anyway.
Got a few home visits planned and hopefully the weather will hold. But the weekend looks set to be RAINY RAINY RAINY. Lucky I'm doing washing now so it'll dry by time I'm home tomorrow.
3 more sleeps! Stoked!
After MDT it was lots of paperwork clearing up cases and tying up loose ends. Must say I was helpful to my supervisor helping her make calls and write up notes and discharge people.
My final evaluation was at 2.30 and it went fast. She graded me as high as or higher than I'd graded myself last night (I bet most students don't even do this but I always do and for this supervisor that's good because she does actually want me to justify myself). Then we spent a good hour at least having a natter about life back in Sg and UK. So much so that we didn't have time for me to put my comments in the form so I brought it home. One last piece of homework I guess. (As an aside we found it amusing that when they'd arrived in NZ they thought cars were expensive and when we arrived we'd thought cars were so cheap here!)
Tomorrow and Thurs will be fun I think. Although we only currently have 8 patients. Interestingly, I'd imagined I would be faced with loads of stroke and Parkinson's patients, maybe a handful of dementia. But for my DFO worksheet which asked me to describe a condition that is "common in your setting" and that I was "not familiar with", I had to honestly and sincerely say it wasn't anything neuro at all. I must honestly say it was colorectal cancer. Of the 8 patients discussed at MDT today I noticed that 2 had colostomy and 2 had ileostomy. Only half the caseload had normal plumbing down there!
This leads me to think about how horrible it is to have a stoma bag (ie bag attached to hole in your body direct into the plumbing to catch the poo as and when it arrives) and to live with one and to manage one, which is like after they take out the cancerous part of your colon or intestines or remove your rectum or whatever it is that they removed so that you can't poo like other people. Leads me also to how I learned it was the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. And how people's diets are killing them! But that is a whole other long thing for another time. Just don't downplay unhealthy bowels. As I read, one of the functions of your rectum is to "alert you when you need to poo". I'm so glad mine functions well! Imagine having a bag hanging off your side and it fills up with solid, liquid or gas whenever it feels like with total disregard for what you are currently engaged in, lunch, chatting, showering!
Anyway.
Got a few home visits planned and hopefully the weather will hold. But the weekend looks set to be RAINY RAINY RAINY. Lucky I'm doing washing now so it'll dry by time I'm home tomorrow.
3 more sleeps! Stoked!