II.IV.VI JOURNAL ENTRIES Journal entries from my rotation in emergency medicine: I go in to see a patient with a fever, headache, generalised muscle aches and a cough. She’s Ukrainian and doesn’t know a single word of English. Luckily enough, her husband is a Ukrainian doctor who boasts that he speaks five languages fluently, including English. Unluckily enough, he can’t […]
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Foundation Year 2 , Emergency Medicine
London Calling
II.IV.III LONDON CALLING My newfound existential crisis had to take a back seat. Regardless of my new love for emergency medicine, it had to come second – at least for the time being. Surgery was all I could think about now that the MRCS Part B exam was right around the corner. This exam is usually taken by basic specialist […]
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Foundation Year 2 , Geriatric Medicine
Graduation
II.III.V GRADUATION By early 2022, most COVID-19 restrictions had lifted and, for most people, the pandemic was old news. In hospital, it was anything but. That said, our class was finally given the go-ahead to have a proper, traditional graduation. Over a year before this, we’d had a pretty unofficial and unceremonious graduation – if one could even call it […]
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Foundation Year 1 , General Medicine
Alchemy
I.III.III ALCHEMY Alchemy can be defined as the esoteric, magical means by which an object is brought to its original, divine form or, alternatively, the exoteric, proto-scientific process of transmuting one thing into another. This was all the rage a few eons ago. Alchemy was believed to lead the way to infinite riches, knowledge, and even immortality. It was said […]
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Foundation Year 1 , Neurology
Festivities
I.II.V FESTIVITIES My time in neuro was a breath of fresh air. We had fewer patients and fewer commitments. No boring endoscopy lists, no tedious pre-op assessments, and, though not quite to my liking, no surgeries. Even so, I relished it way more than I had expected to. I got to manage really interesting cases and learn as much as […]
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Foundation Year 1 , Neurology
Desensitised
I.II.II DESENSITISED It was during my time in neuro that I realised I was not the same person I had been at the start. I never thought I could end up so jaded, so robotic, so heartless. At one point, I found myself almost intolerant and oblivious to other people’s woes. It comes with the job, most people would say. […]
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Foundation Year 1 , Emergency Surgery
Unravelling
I.I.VI UNRAVELLING By the end of those three months, I genuinely felt like I was finally a full-fledged doctor. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still realised I knew nothing and that I was still an idiot on the grand scheme of things. Be that as it may, over those three months not only had I survived such a […]
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Foundation Year 1 , Emergency Surgery
Transition
I.I.V TRANSITION As much as the work varied, days started to blend in. What at the very beginning seemed so out of reach had become somewhat routine as time went by. In fact, by the time I got used to this routine, my rotation in emergency surgery was about to be over. And by the end? Let’s just say that […]