Credit crunch sounds like a new kind of breakfast cereal...
I'm happy today because it's the first time in a long time that I haven't had to get up crazy early and go to work. And the house alarm that has been driving my housemate and me insane for weeks has finally been disconnected :).
I woke early and went into town for a bit of shopping fun. Every time I go shopping I manage to spend nothing or an absolute fortune. Today was one of the latter days... I bought a lot of clothes. And then I felt kinda bad because this is a terrible time for the stock market and I (for once in my life) have a bit of a disposable income and am able to take advantage of the lower prices and prolonged sales. However, I figured that at least I'm plowing money back into the economy this way and I've certainly been earning my salary...
Since I last posted I've finally recovered from 'flu... just. I was scooped up by my parents the week after New Year and taken back to their house. I just flaked out on the sofa for two days and then went back to work on the Monday still not feeling 100%. That was the start of a 12 day stint. The first half was okay because it was my normal day job but from last Saturday until yesterday I was on surgical acutes. Which was hell on earth. It was incredibly busy and I was run off my feet. And it just got worse as the week went on.
Yesterday almost killed me. I'd been awake since 3 a.m. due to the evil house alarm sounding CONSTANTLY outside. I went into work at 7.40 (I don't start until 8 but the problem is that the ward round begins then so I need to be there before in order to find all the notes, print off the blood results, and generally figure out what's going on). My buddy Mike was working with me yesterday (there'd only been me and my seniors for the rest of the week) so there were two of us to write on the ward round and do the subsequent jobs. Unfortunately there were enough jobs for about five house officers. It was NUTS. We ran around trying to do as much as possible as soon as the first part of the ward round was done (it had to break for the consultant to go to the operating theatre) but the list just kept getting longer as nurses bleeped me for new things. By about 2 p.m. we'd finished part two of the morning round and were about half way through our job list and feeling like it was almost possible to complete everything before the day was out. And then the admissions ward bleeped me to say THREE people had just turned up and all my seniors were in theatre. I nearly cried. Mike continued with the ward jobs and I went off to see the new patients. I accosted a final year student and made him go see the second patient waiting (I feel bad about this because I'd never met him before and didn't see him afterward... oops) whilst I saw the first (with another more junior student watching my every move). I was at my wit's end and was telling the student with me to finish his degree and then go find a different job... and then the rota co-ordinator walked up. She's a lovely lady but this only means one thing: she wants you to work a locum shift. She took one look at my face and said "I think I know what the answer will be but do you want to work the late shift tonight? (until midnight!!!)". Needless to say she was met with an emphatic "no". There is no amount of money that would conduce me to spend anymore time in that place. I was halfway through seeing New Patient #1 when my SHO returned which took the pressure off a little. It meant I had time to go pee at least. I was just fantasizing about lunch (it was about 3.30 at this point) when the consultant returned wanting to do the afternoon ward round. And I was totally unprepared. I caught up with Mike and was astounded with how many of the jobs he'd managed to plow through. He is a superstar. The round was done just before 5 (which is my going home time) but then we had to sort out the list and get things into a state where we could handover. We managed this just after 6 and, after another job or two, I got out of the door at 6.30. I walked straight to the chippy and nearly fell asleep waiting for my fishcake to cook. I made it through my front door at 6.45 and promptly burst into tears before shovelling chips into my mouth and putting something into my stomach for the first time in nearly 24 hours.
So a word to the wise: if you're contemplating becoming a doctor, don't.
But I have next week off and I'm going to Brussels with my friend Fiona (one of the paediatric SHOs) so things can only get better... at least temporarily.
And I may have stolen this entry's title from The News Quiz or similar. It's far too witty to be of my own mind.