the end of rotation 2
well, not exactly the end just yet, but today i unpacked everything, knowing that i'm free of peripherals for the remainder of the year!! i survived! against all odds. i still remember the day i found out that i would be out of edin for 6 weeks of psychiatry. what a horrible day. and the day i found out my GP posting was in armadale...and worse, the day i found out from matt that it's super duper hard to get to. and i realised that it was my last 3 weeks...and i would have to study on top of writing portfolio and 9-5pm everyday...and staying at st john's again! what a horrible day. what a horrible end to the 1st rotation, along with all the stress of exams, discovering i didn't have much to look forward to. and the injustice of realising that some people had the privilege of doing everything in edinburgh.
i was so angry really. so angry at God. i couldn't understand why He had to make things so difficult for me. and other people, He completely just blessed with easy easy rotations.
and now at the tailend of the 2nd rotation, i can say (as i always do, in retrospect) that God is some joker. He totally enjoys doing this to me - wind me up to no end, make me frustrated and angry, and then make everything go so smoothly that i can't help but be stunned speechless. my 1st two weeks at st john's was alright. met yen bee, ate with ivy, had john drive to asda, even went to watch movie haha. (ps i totally can't rmb what the movie was! i'm going senile)
the next 4 weeks in cupar was...not so lovely at the time. i remember the fear of walking around alone in a psychiatric hospital. talking to scary patients. staying in a room with no table so i couldn't even write my notes. seeking refuge in my movies and house when i felt so isolated and so alone. living for the thurs evening when i could go back to edin and just bask in the knowledge that i'm surrounded by people i know. but honestly, after listening to horror stories of the royal ed, i am SO thankful i was away. everyone was so nice. my timetable was mine to organise. there were no formal teachings (not really. cuz i couldn't be bothered to organise them after the 1st 2 weeks). could go home whenever i liked. started at 10am everyday. the travelling was not so nice, and i certainly was glad to finish the attachment, and there were days of horrible rain and wind which totally depressed me. but the freedom i had there! and having a longer weekend!
3 weeks of neuro i was so looking fwd to as a break (cuz everyone says it's so slack) was not that great. i didn't like it, couldn't really adjust to having a formal timetable with scheduled teachings and tutorials everyday, didn't like my tutor at first (although at the end, he signed off my sheet for me so that was nice of him). it's hard to explain why i didn't like neuro. i suspect it had to do with the busyness of the timetable more than anything else, and the stress of having to sign the sheet off. neuro as a subject is fine...i can't believe i'm saying this but it was a bit boring. the shallowness of what we're expected to know doesn't capture the depth and intricacies of neuro, which are too complicated to understand at our level. but it certainly was very nice to be able to stay in my own flat for a bit.
and armadale GP. i don't know what to say. the thing i dreaded the most. the day before i was supposed to go in, i found out the surgery opens at 8.30am everyday. o. m. g. haha i was so frustrated that when jeffer and hl laughed at me, i just couldn't take it, i stalked out of yumyum.
honestly, these 2.5 weeks there were amazing. i won't miss the travelling for sure. 40 mins each way everyday is not nice. having to get the 7.45 bus to reach there by 8.30. plus the amount i spent there on buses and food (and buying chocolate to get change for the bus).
but the people there are amazing. they're so friendly and helpful and accommodating. i'm writing this so that i won't ever forget what they did for me. they let me come in whenever i liked. haha. i abused this once or twice, but mostly tried to get there by 8.30. they offered me tea every single tea break and lunch break. they even occasionally made tea for me. and offered me biscuits and cake etc. they have so much fun taking the piss out of each other, it's so entertaining! and they even talk to me, and tease me about being a medical student. and the fact that i have to stay at st john's. they let me talk to patients on my own, taught me to do so many things like checking babies (hoho my first ortollani on a baby!), let me take bloods (so now i'm reasonably confident at doing it =)) and give injections and even spray warts!!
my unofficial tutor, dr macgillivray, is honestly one of a kind. my first impression of him was that he's so weird. abit childish in his mannerisms (like sliding down the banister on his abdomen o.O) with such a sense of humour. but as i got to know him, i really really respect him. his patients love him, one of them said he saved his life. and he tried so so hard to get me my 2nd portfolio patient (in fact, dr duncan also tried very hard). he's a great teacher, took me to baby clinic and explained everything that he did. and let me try everything too! and when i told him i'm not good with babies, he promptly made me carry every single baby that came in that morning to build my confidence. and he was so nice during the assessment...of course the fact he gave me good marks contributed to it haha. and he agreed to be my reference! and he pronounces my name correctly (no really, it's quite rare here). and he told me i can skive the last week if i needed to study. =) (hence, i'm skiving tmr afternoon and fri morning hehehe).
and the best ever thing is...i finished at 3.30pm everyday!! sometimes earlier! i really think it makes such a difference to be able to get back to st john's before 5pm as opposed to at 7pm. st john's is still like that lah...but i shared my flat with jeffer, so it was quite fun actually. had company for dinner and going to the library. and if there's one thing i miss about the place is that it's so warm there! i could wear a t-shirt and shorts. even sleep with the window open and without the duvet. impossibly warm. too warm that i couldn't sleep properly most nights hahaha. but it's nice not having to shiver everytime i go out to pee or to the kitchen.
so yeah. i'm so glad for the armadale attachment after all. hahahha. glad for the way this rotation went. God is so surprising. happifyingly surprising.
now i just need to sit down and study for the exams. i think i'm quite stressed, i keep feeling nauseous. and can't sleep through a whole night without constantly waking up. it's not that it's alot to study. i think i just took it abit too easy, so now that it's so close to exams, there actually is relatively alot to study in a short span of time. yikes. =/
i was so angry really. so angry at God. i couldn't understand why He had to make things so difficult for me. and other people, He completely just blessed with easy easy rotations.
and now at the tailend of the 2nd rotation, i can say (as i always do, in retrospect) that God is some joker. He totally enjoys doing this to me - wind me up to no end, make me frustrated and angry, and then make everything go so smoothly that i can't help but be stunned speechless. my 1st two weeks at st john's was alright. met yen bee, ate with ivy, had john drive to asda, even went to watch movie haha. (ps i totally can't rmb what the movie was! i'm going senile)
the next 4 weeks in cupar was...not so lovely at the time. i remember the fear of walking around alone in a psychiatric hospital. talking to scary patients. staying in a room with no table so i couldn't even write my notes. seeking refuge in my movies and house when i felt so isolated and so alone. living for the thurs evening when i could go back to edin and just bask in the knowledge that i'm surrounded by people i know. but honestly, after listening to horror stories of the royal ed, i am SO thankful i was away. everyone was so nice. my timetable was mine to organise. there were no formal teachings (not really. cuz i couldn't be bothered to organise them after the 1st 2 weeks). could go home whenever i liked. started at 10am everyday. the travelling was not so nice, and i certainly was glad to finish the attachment, and there were days of horrible rain and wind which totally depressed me. but the freedom i had there! and having a longer weekend!
3 weeks of neuro i was so looking fwd to as a break (cuz everyone says it's so slack) was not that great. i didn't like it, couldn't really adjust to having a formal timetable with scheduled teachings and tutorials everyday, didn't like my tutor at first (although at the end, he signed off my sheet for me so that was nice of him). it's hard to explain why i didn't like neuro. i suspect it had to do with the busyness of the timetable more than anything else, and the stress of having to sign the sheet off. neuro as a subject is fine...i can't believe i'm saying this but it was a bit boring. the shallowness of what we're expected to know doesn't capture the depth and intricacies of neuro, which are too complicated to understand at our level. but it certainly was very nice to be able to stay in my own flat for a bit.
and armadale GP. i don't know what to say. the thing i dreaded the most. the day before i was supposed to go in, i found out the surgery opens at 8.30am everyday. o. m. g. haha i was so frustrated that when jeffer and hl laughed at me, i just couldn't take it, i stalked out of yumyum.
honestly, these 2.5 weeks there were amazing. i won't miss the travelling for sure. 40 mins each way everyday is not nice. having to get the 7.45 bus to reach there by 8.30. plus the amount i spent there on buses and food (and buying chocolate to get change for the bus).
but the people there are amazing. they're so friendly and helpful and accommodating. i'm writing this so that i won't ever forget what they did for me. they let me come in whenever i liked. haha. i abused this once or twice, but mostly tried to get there by 8.30. they offered me tea every single tea break and lunch break. they even occasionally made tea for me. and offered me biscuits and cake etc. they have so much fun taking the piss out of each other, it's so entertaining! and they even talk to me, and tease me about being a medical student. and the fact that i have to stay at st john's. they let me talk to patients on my own, taught me to do so many things like checking babies (hoho my first ortollani on a baby!), let me take bloods (so now i'm reasonably confident at doing it =)) and give injections and even spray warts!!
my unofficial tutor, dr macgillivray, is honestly one of a kind. my first impression of him was that he's so weird. abit childish in his mannerisms (like sliding down the banister on his abdomen o.O) with such a sense of humour. but as i got to know him, i really really respect him. his patients love him, one of them said he saved his life. and he tried so so hard to get me my 2nd portfolio patient (in fact, dr duncan also tried very hard). he's a great teacher, took me to baby clinic and explained everything that he did. and let me try everything too! and when i told him i'm not good with babies, he promptly made me carry every single baby that came in that morning to build my confidence. and he was so nice during the assessment...of course the fact he gave me good marks contributed to it haha. and he agreed to be my reference! and he pronounces my name correctly (no really, it's quite rare here). and he told me i can skive the last week if i needed to study. =) (hence, i'm skiving tmr afternoon and fri morning hehehe).
and the best ever thing is...i finished at 3.30pm everyday!! sometimes earlier! i really think it makes such a difference to be able to get back to st john's before 5pm as opposed to at 7pm. st john's is still like that lah...but i shared my flat with jeffer, so it was quite fun actually. had company for dinner and going to the library. and if there's one thing i miss about the place is that it's so warm there! i could wear a t-shirt and shorts. even sleep with the window open and without the duvet. impossibly warm. too warm that i couldn't sleep properly most nights hahaha. but it's nice not having to shiver everytime i go out to pee or to the kitchen.
so yeah. i'm so glad for the armadale attachment after all. hahahha. glad for the way this rotation went. God is so surprising. happifyingly surprising.
now i just need to sit down and study for the exams. i think i'm quite stressed, i keep feeling nauseous. and can't sleep through a whole night without constantly waking up. it's not that it's alot to study. i think i just took it abit too easy, so now that it's so close to exams, there actually is relatively alot to study in a short span of time. yikes. =/