Healing

II.III.VI BELONGING Despite my initial reluctance and the many trials and tribulations I had to deal with during those three months, I have to admit that geriatric medicine was, by far, my favourite rotation. I don’t think there will ever be another time in my career where I’ll experience the same firm dynamic I had with Dr Pops, Rosaline, and […]

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 […]

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 […]

START OF FY 2

START OF FY II One year over and done with, another one to go. I was looking forward to this year more than the previous one – for many reasons. First of all, I had managed to get most of the rotations I wanted, which included my two favourite specialties: neurosurgery and emergency medicine. You see, whilst neurosurgery was always […]

Stability

I.IV.III STABILITY In a study carried out in 2019 by Ridout et al, it was suggested that a doctor’s biological age may accelerate dramatically during their first year of practice – in some measures, by several years within a single calendar year. You’d think that’s an excellent excuse to celebrate a few birthdays at once, only you quickly realise you’re […]

Ex-Mother

I.IV.II EX-MOTHER Much like my time in neurology, this rotation proved to be a relatively easy-going one. I mean, yeah, sure, we did have our busy days, but I don’t ever recall staying later than my normal working hours – except for those pesky on-call shifts that would have us taking care of all orthopaedic patients and their medical issues. […]

Good Doctor

I.III.V GOOD DOCTOR It was during that rotation that I realised I wasn’t as good a doctor as I thought I was. And that was all thanks to Dr Sugar. In fact, what follows is something akin to a love letter to her. From now on, whenever I mention her, I want you to picture my eyes all teary with […]

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 […]

Humbled

I.II.IV HUMBLED Neurology was shaping up to be the best rotation – for more reasons than one. But above all, I would say that the three months spent in this department helped me reconnect and become more human, as it were. Here, I got the chance to start taking care of my patients in a more holistic manner as I […]