once upon a time in a bloody orthopaedic theatre

Sep 05, 2009 12:30

well, the last 3 days have been a bit of a nightmare.
I didn't work on tuesday cos i came down with THE BUG. And I get the impression THE BUG is affecting a large proportion of the working population of North Bristol NHS because the Estates People (people who control the boilers in the hospital) cannot regulate the temperature in the Operating Theatres to counter-act the temperate weather the UK is currently having.
As a result the theatres are either 18 degrees or 28 degrees and not a lot in between.

So people have been going off work with colds and shivers and christ knows what else brought on by wildly fluctuating temperature. And the hospital doesn't have air-con either. All this is due to the place being a draughty hole to work in. I've taken to wearing a cami and 2 scrub tops just to keep warm.
And all this is the dog-days of summer?
I hate UK weather.

On other news my parents returned from New York on Wednesday morning.
And they brought gifts.
I got a book on Robert Capa from his brother's gallery on 43rd street, 2 t-shirts and a pair of sunglasses from Macy's, A pack of Lucky Strike, 2 loaves of challah (one plain, one raisen'ed) and shampoo.
And bags.
I've always said I wanted a bag from New York. Cos, let's face it, New York is considered the bag Mecca in some circles (Macy's, Bloomingdale's, etc). So my mom found me a knapsack which she herself got an identical one in a different colour. And her friends bought me a gothic purple handbag i'm taking clubbing in September with me. And my mom found me a discounted proper 100% American Leather Handbag from Macy's/ And it is soooooooooooooooooo posh I'm kinda scared to take it out with me in case the Ukk weather rains all over it.
I think it will be saved when I go on official job interviews or to Union meetings. See, I can be cultured and upper-class if i choose to! ;-P
I'm gonna post pictures of these bags I think.

Speaking of the Lucky Strike. $10 for a pack of 21 unfiltered (*gulp*) ciggs???????
that's like £7.50 for a pack of 20?
Yep, according to my mom New York has tried to curb smoking in Manhattan just prior to the point of becoming dickensian. Impossible to buy cheap fags and a clamp down on legal places to smoke on the Island is going far to stop people smoking anywhere but their own homes. And how many 'normal people' can afford homes on Manhattan Island???

On the last 2 days I've been learning how to scrub for spinal cases.
And it's been nice as the company rep has been guiding me through it with a very steady hand while I learn how to load screws onto screwdrivers that looked like bridge cables. And he was lovely.
And married. :-(
Why is it all the people in work whom I connect with are already hitched?
We developed a little spinal coda too: " First you find it, then you probe it, then you feel it, then you screw it!"
Well it had us in stitches.
Along with the surgeon's request: "Dee, wipe my tip".
You had to be there.

The only bad point was yesterday the surgeon was a newly-appointed Consultant surgeon who was learning how to do spinal surgery at the same time I was (an impressive feat to be sure). But, cos he was newly-appointed he clearly wanted to impress the other spinal Consultant who was hovering in the department (that guy's a fuckhead) and as a result he was taking his impatience and worry out on everyone around him, from me to the poor radiographer who was getting an earful every 5 seconds.
I just stood there and thought: 'You prick'.
He's not enamored himself to the ortho scrub crew I can assure you. Which is now tantamount to professional suicide.
In the end I handed over to another scrub nurse and went home to get ready to go see Inglourious Basterds again.
I love it.
Brad Pitt trying to pass himself off as an Italian despite a thick Tennessean accent almost makes me wet myself.

presents, nyc, brad pitt, spinal cases, crushes, smoking

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