II.II.III CAPPADOCIA DAY ONE The day of our long-awaited trip finally arrived. Once at the airport, I felt lighter than ever. I couldn’t quite believe I had managed to take time off. At the same time, I dreaded thinking about what Jacqueline was going through back at the hospital. But I tried to shake it off and forget it all. […]
Turkey
II.II.III TURKEY Having reached an all-time record of burnout, I just had to get away from it all. Jacqueline and I agreed we’d both take a week off – and while that week at work without the other would probably drive us insane, we figured a reset was in both our best interests. It was right around this time that […]
Drowning
II.II.II DROWNING The word busy doesn’t even begin to describe the sheer amount of work one is met with in the neurosurgical department. I’d go in every single day far earlier than I was expected to in order to do the pre-round, something I’d usually do out of my own volition to speed up the ward round. During this rotation, […]
Neurosurgery – First Day
II.II.I FIRST DAY As much as I dreaded leaving Gozo and going back to Malta’s chaos and commotion, I was still quite psyched about my upcoming rotation. Next up was neurosurgery – my all-time favourite specialty and the gateway to my lifelong career aspirations. Together with Jacqueline, another house officer in her first year, and Christa, our senior doubling as […]
D-Day
II.I.V D-DAY As relaxed as my time in Gozo was, I still had my plate full at work and back home. But somehow, I was managing to juggle everything without so much as a hitch. I would sign up for two or three on-call shifts every week. Whilst I’d officially be working one-hundred-hour weeks, there’d be so little work to […]
Heaven
II.I.IV HEAVEN 2021 was quite the dark and grim year for me. Apart from the countless dead bodies I had certified on the job, entire branches of our family tree seemed to be dropping at any point in time. And somehow, throughout my three months in Gozo, this only seemed to escalate. Over the previous year, we had lost our […]
Freedom
II.I.III FREEDOM I expected to be overwhelmed once I was finally out of quarantine. And in a way, I kinda was. Turns out, Mr Vladimir had taken a week off and we barely had any patients. Of course, that meant we wouldn’t have any endoscopies or surgeries either. This proved to be the perfect way to transition back to normal […]
COVID Diaries
II.I.II COVID DIARIES Over the next week, I was somewhat busier. I’d have days where I’d be assigned to do pre-ops (the boring same old, same old), others where I’d be expected to assist in surgeries (jackpot!), and I’d have on-call shifts every four days. Only I didn’t quite get to do any of that. Just when I had started […]
General Surgery – First Day
II.I.I FIRST DAY The beginning of my second foundation year felt a bit like a fresh start. I’d be working in general surgery once again, but this time round I’d be doing it in a different hospital, on the island of Gozo. Gozo happens to be Malta’s quieter, greener, and more introspective sibling – an island that moves at its […]