It's lunch time and I'm in the computer room surrounded by 1st years as they all get bussed into Langford on a Thursday for lectures and practicals. It's a bit weird because I can vividly remember being in their situation and looking up in awe at final years in their shirts and ties thinking I'm a million miles away from their position. But anyway I've made it this far and am now only a few vivas away from becoming MRCVS, crazy and scary but also cool as I'd quite like to have a go at the job and more importantly actually earn some money.
Ok work stuff over the past week has been ICU nights and the canine medicine rotation. ICU nights were 3shifts of 8pm-8am stuck in ICU. Thankfully all my nights were fine and apart from checks taking a fair time and Skeps getting bitten by an aborting cat all went well. I brought my guitar to keep entertained and Skeps got multiple Lost episodes in.
Canine medicine has so far been an incredible rotation. Time is spent taking histories, working up cases, having tutorials and looking after in patients. I currently have a chronic renal failure and a haematuria/carpal trouble case. The rotation is especially good because the clinicians actually take the time to talk through the cases and ensure we actually understand what the rationale is behind decisions ensuring we get the most out of it (and to be honest I doubt I've really gotten anywhere near the most out of any rotation as I somewhat lack the slightly keen/geeky drive required). The tutorials are most useful as a clinician spends the last half hr of each day talking through all the cases with us and if there's nothing knew to discuss conducting a talk on a subject of the 4 of ours choice.
Next week it's onto ICU days (not so ideal in anyway).
Social events over the past week have been fairly minimal mainly thanks to ICU nights though we did have one big night out on Tuesday when Dave, JP, John and me went to the nme indie tour and then me and Dave went to The Lounge. The gig was awesome as The View and The Automatic headlined and we’re all appreciating The View a lot at the mo as the album was listened to excessively in Glasgow. However the support acts weren’t quite so ideal (The horrors were comedy to watch though I especially liked the keyboardists cape). After the gig we got some drinks in (including our annual salt intake) then headed to Lounge for mad dancing and nose blowing (a recently remembered insult were one gets their nasal passages aerated by a friend/foe, not pleasant and my cousin Lemonie is to blame for it). Somehow me and Dave got left in Bristol as we got lost in Lounge and then decided to walk the 14miles back to Congresbury, obviously we failed but thankfully her majesty’s free taxis picked us up, and as the officer owned falcons he appreciated the conversation and decided to drop us off at Dave’s door…an ideal end to the evening though not sure the clothing challenged road run celebration was necessary.
Other social fun has included some games of risk and on the exercise front I’ve got a fair bit of swimming in.
Organising type stuff is fairly slack at the mo… Levator is practising hard for VetAid2, I’m playing 4acoustic songs for another band night this Sat and I’m trying to get all my songs recorded (badly) and put on cd.
Tonight I’ m relaxing and have checks at 8:00, and tomorrow I’ve a highly unusual meeting with a girl called Claire I met at Glasgow AVS.
xx
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
For the first time in as long as I can remember I’ve had a completely chilled out day… Got up late, read book, watched tv, played guitar, did some exercise and now I’m in the library which is where I’ve been for past hour and half thinking about doing some work. Haven’t really got any work done but the fact I’m here means the balls rolling on the revision front.
Since I last wrote work wise I’ve done pretty much nothing as I’ve started my ICU night week with the 3 days on call. Basically I worked Monday morning 3am till 11am, and then every night up till Thursday night I’m just on call and cross fingers I shouldn’t get called out. However once Thursday night is reached it’s 8pm till 8am shifts for three nights in a row. These shifts constitute living in ICU for 12hrs sleeping, watching youtube movies and hopefully playing guitar if I can smuggle it in. Obviously there is some work to be done and this consists of 12am and 4am checks which can take anything from 1-4hrs each (should only be about 1hr though unless very busy). The big disaster when on ICU nights occurs if a constant monitoring presents, when someone has to sit with an animal for the entire night (which is when the on call get brought in).
Last night myself and Skeps where very close to getting called in for an over the door check on a dog in isolation at both 12 and 4. One clinician wanted us both in to peer over the door of its kennel and clean up any excrement (something tells me our time isn’t highly valued)… Thankfully another clinician came up with the plan of: ICU night team (already in) looks over the isolation door at the dog and if it needs crap removing we get called in. Mercifully the dog refrained from crapping over night.
Once the week of ICU nights is over it’s onto dog medicine.
The main item on Pete’s social agenda over the past week was the Glasgow vetball. Myself, John and Dave drove up on Friday, I shared the driving with John which was horrendous. I only had to deal with rain driving but John got all the snow of the Midlands which severely hampered our efforts. I’ve strong memories of John talking to his Mum on the phone while the car tried to skid side ways down the motorway at about 5miles an hour. Though thankfully John ate plenty of strawbs to keep his energy levels and concentration at maximum (don’t stick them down your ear).
Friday night Sue, Sam, the 3of us and some of Sue’s house mates made it to Glasgow’s union for a few drinks which was great fun though lasted only about an hour.
Saturday the 5 of us went to a Loch which was nice. We took photos, drank some tea, went for a walk and Dave tried to drown me. My driving of John’s car was awesome though not all agreed.
Saturday night was the ball and the highlights were:
- The bag pipe impression (involving us 3 hitting a screeching cord and Claire freestyling over the top… probably one of the most horrendous noises a human could ever hear).
- Nose blowing in general especially on Claire.
- Dancing to the crazy Scottish folk music with an attractive Scottish girl who lead me though the crazy dance routines (including the Gay Gordon).
- The tackling of the giant jenka tower.
Sunday we had breakfast near Sue’s then set off on the epic journey back to Bristol stopping at DD’s on route for Sunday lunch.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I went to the Glasgow vetball I returned with bagpipes/ bucket smashed crabs/ candelabra/ Haggis/ drunk American man/ Chesney Hawks cd/ Gay Gordon dance routine/ coconut cake/ std/ ginger merkin/phlegm on the car/ lead lined sporran/ ability to Scottish dance/ bagpipe impression/ a DB9/ a broken leg/ the same jeans/ a muppet called Phil/ fire drill/crazy chinese man/ legend called Graham/ a back massage from the imaging team/ the archaic sign from outside the common room.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other social stuff this week included going out for dinner and visiting wildwalk with Sarah yesterday and hopefully tonight a load of us are heading to the pub to celebrate being single.
As far as organising stuff is concerned.
VetAid2 is sorted, just need to get the practicing in.
Levator album is making little progress though I’ve got a feeling that will have to wait till after exams.
There’s talk of us going travelling in Aug but will have to was.
Now I’m going to get another 2hrs work done before ICU rounds.
xx
Since I last wrote work wise I’ve done pretty much nothing as I’ve started my ICU night week with the 3 days on call. Basically I worked Monday morning 3am till 11am, and then every night up till Thursday night I’m just on call and cross fingers I shouldn’t get called out. However once Thursday night is reached it’s 8pm till 8am shifts for three nights in a row. These shifts constitute living in ICU for 12hrs sleeping, watching youtube movies and hopefully playing guitar if I can smuggle it in. Obviously there is some work to be done and this consists of 12am and 4am checks which can take anything from 1-4hrs each (should only be about 1hr though unless very busy). The big disaster when on ICU nights occurs if a constant monitoring presents, when someone has to sit with an animal for the entire night (which is when the on call get brought in).
Last night myself and Skeps where very close to getting called in for an over the door check on a dog in isolation at both 12 and 4. One clinician wanted us both in to peer over the door of its kennel and clean up any excrement (something tells me our time isn’t highly valued)… Thankfully another clinician came up with the plan of: ICU night team (already in) looks over the isolation door at the dog and if it needs crap removing we get called in. Mercifully the dog refrained from crapping over night.
Once the week of ICU nights is over it’s onto dog medicine.
The main item on Pete’s social agenda over the past week was the Glasgow vetball. Myself, John and Dave drove up on Friday, I shared the driving with John which was horrendous. I only had to deal with rain driving but John got all the snow of the Midlands which severely hampered our efforts. I’ve strong memories of John talking to his Mum on the phone while the car tried to skid side ways down the motorway at about 5miles an hour. Though thankfully John ate plenty of strawbs to keep his energy levels and concentration at maximum (don’t stick them down your ear).
Friday night Sue, Sam, the 3of us and some of Sue’s house mates made it to Glasgow’s union for a few drinks which was great fun though lasted only about an hour.
Saturday the 5 of us went to a Loch which was nice. We took photos, drank some tea, went for a walk and Dave tried to drown me. My driving of John’s car was awesome though not all agreed.
Saturday night was the ball and the highlights were:
- The bag pipe impression (involving us 3 hitting a screeching cord and Claire freestyling over the top… probably one of the most horrendous noises a human could ever hear).
- Nose blowing in general especially on Claire.
- Dancing to the crazy Scottish folk music with an attractive Scottish girl who lead me though the crazy dance routines (including the Gay Gordon).
- The tackling of the giant jenka tower.
Sunday we had breakfast near Sue’s then set off on the epic journey back to Bristol stopping at DD’s on route for Sunday lunch.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I went to the Glasgow vetball I returned with bagpipes/ bucket smashed crabs/ candelabra/ Haggis/ drunk American man/ Chesney Hawks cd/ Gay Gordon dance routine/ coconut cake/ std/ ginger merkin/phlegm on the car/ lead lined sporran/ ability to Scottish dance/ bagpipe impression/ a DB9/ a broken leg/ the same jeans/ a muppet called Phil/ fire drill/crazy chinese man/ legend called Graham/ a back massage from the imaging team/ the archaic sign from outside the common room.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other social stuff this week included going out for dinner and visiting wildwalk with Sarah yesterday and hopefully tonight a load of us are heading to the pub to celebrate being single.
As far as organising stuff is concerned.
VetAid2 is sorted, just need to get the practicing in.
Levator album is making little progress though I’ve got a feeling that will have to wait till after exams.
There’s talk of us going travelling in Aug but will have to was.
Now I’m going to get another 2hrs work done before ICU rounds.
xx
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
It’s that time of week again where I try to cram all I’ve been up to into 30mins of rampant typing (which I admit sounds like I’m trying to glorify my super busy life but these past coupe few weeks have been crazy busy even for me)…
Work wise I’m still seeing practice in Bridgewater which I’m thoroughly enjoying (excluding the 40min drive there and back). I don’t get to do a great deal but I’m well included in all goings on i.e. I scrub into ortho cases, talk through consults and generally chip in with most tasks which nurses always appreciate. Today I got involved in a cranial cruciate ligament surgical repair on a rotty which was really useful and interesting given that it was the first time the surgeon had done the technique used and as such was being talked through every step by another partner at the practice.
I’ve only the remainder of this week at my ems rotation placement and I’m surely going to miss it next week when I get thrown back into the surgery building starting my small animal medicine rotation on ICU night duty, definitely going to be a plunge back into the Langford deep end.
Over the evenings of the past week I’ve been doing a fair bit of exercise (swimming etc) and Levator have had a few jams which have gone really well. It’s nice to be able to have a band practice without a forth coming gig looming over us and as such jams have been chilled out and we’ve able to play some oldees and generally just mess about a bit. However, we’ll have to get a set list sorted soon and proper practicing started as VetAid2 isn’t that far off.
Over the weekend I went out Friday night to Zizzis then the Lounge for Claire’s birthday which was a very contrasting night to my normal alcohol fuelled mad clubbing antics as I decided to remain sober given that I wanted to drive home home afterwards. Thankfully my fun sans alcohol experiment was a success and I had a good night, though driving home at 2am was interesting, thank god for redbull.
Saturday I got a well needed haircut avec Rich and then went to the infamous Derby Assembly Rooms in order to observe my skin and blister dance. Hannah’s been dancing for the past 15yrs (which is quite impressive given that she’s 18) and every year the school puts on a big show for all members from babies to adults (not actually babies that’s just the group name). Han dances for the seniors whom are always impressive to watch, unfortunately the same can’t be said for many of the other groups and shoddy adult tab could kill a man through boredom in less than 5mins. As always Han’s dancing was awesome, I just hope she continues when she leaves for uni.
Saturday night me, Rich and Chris (Han’s illegally stowed away boyfriend) hit some bars in Derby and got a lift back with one of Chris’s boyo friends (felt 17 again racing through the streets of Derby with some ridiculous bass cannon blowing holes in my ear drums).
Sunday was sort Pete out a job day as I set about the task of completing my cv and covering letter in order to apply for the Liverpool internship. Thankfully I recruited help in the style of Mr Borgeat, Mum, Dad and Rich (obviously Hannah and Alfred-Alfmeister were loitering in the side lines for general moral support). I almost got both of them done but unfortunately had to leave home before completion in order to make a band practice. However, alls sorted now and the plan is to get my application sent off tonight then cross fingers tightly for an interview.
Well that’s enough I feel, now it’s off to a crappy talk in order to get money off my final year dinner (they do like to bribe us), then it’s swimming with John and then the pub to celebrate Claire’s birthday.
This weekend I’m off to Glasgow for their vetball because I can’t go to mine because I’m on ICU nights.
xx
Work wise I’m still seeing practice in Bridgewater which I’m thoroughly enjoying (excluding the 40min drive there and back). I don’t get to do a great deal but I’m well included in all goings on i.e. I scrub into ortho cases, talk through consults and generally chip in with most tasks which nurses always appreciate. Today I got involved in a cranial cruciate ligament surgical repair on a rotty which was really useful and interesting given that it was the first time the surgeon had done the technique used and as such was being talked through every step by another partner at the practice.
I’ve only the remainder of this week at my ems rotation placement and I’m surely going to miss it next week when I get thrown back into the surgery building starting my small animal medicine rotation on ICU night duty, definitely going to be a plunge back into the Langford deep end.
Over the evenings of the past week I’ve been doing a fair bit of exercise (swimming etc) and Levator have had a few jams which have gone really well. It’s nice to be able to have a band practice without a forth coming gig looming over us and as such jams have been chilled out and we’ve able to play some oldees and generally just mess about a bit. However, we’ll have to get a set list sorted soon and proper practicing started as VetAid2 isn’t that far off.
Over the weekend I went out Friday night to Zizzis then the Lounge for Claire’s birthday which was a very contrasting night to my normal alcohol fuelled mad clubbing antics as I decided to remain sober given that I wanted to drive home home afterwards. Thankfully my fun sans alcohol experiment was a success and I had a good night, though driving home at 2am was interesting, thank god for redbull.
Saturday I got a well needed haircut avec Rich and then went to the infamous Derby Assembly Rooms in order to observe my skin and blister dance. Hannah’s been dancing for the past 15yrs (which is quite impressive given that she’s 18) and every year the school puts on a big show for all members from babies to adults (not actually babies that’s just the group name). Han dances for the seniors whom are always impressive to watch, unfortunately the same can’t be said for many of the other groups and shoddy adult tab could kill a man through boredom in less than 5mins. As always Han’s dancing was awesome, I just hope she continues when she leaves for uni.
Saturday night me, Rich and Chris (Han’s illegally stowed away boyfriend) hit some bars in Derby and got a lift back with one of Chris’s boyo friends (felt 17 again racing through the streets of Derby with some ridiculous bass cannon blowing holes in my ear drums).
Sunday was sort Pete out a job day as I set about the task of completing my cv and covering letter in order to apply for the Liverpool internship. Thankfully I recruited help in the style of Mr Borgeat, Mum, Dad and Rich (obviously Hannah and Alfred-Alfmeister were loitering in the side lines for general moral support). I almost got both of them done but unfortunately had to leave home before completion in order to make a band practice. However, alls sorted now and the plan is to get my application sent off tonight then cross fingers tightly for an interview.
Well that’s enough I feel, now it’s off to a crappy talk in order to get money off my final year dinner (they do like to bribe us), then it’s swimming with John and then the pub to celebrate Claire’s birthday.
This weekend I’m off to Glasgow for their vetball because I can’t go to mine because I’m on ICU nights.
xx
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