Docs Diary

**kittykatty** · 15-03-2004, 04:32 AM

Hair update = Looks OK, getting used to it.

I am in SOooooooo much debt! I was thinking about entering some clinical trials but something is stopping me i dont know what i suppose its the fear of stuff going wrong and messing around with my body. I need the money though. The shop i work in pays so craply but then again im not the worlds best salesperson. Im no good at lying and im not at all motivated by the fact that the company will make more money so if someone says to me do you think white will go with cream ill say no rather than BS my way round it like the others do. Plus theres the store cards. rip off scheme more like at 29% APR. I REFUSE to talk anyone into opening one ive opened 2 in 2 years and thats only cos the customers specifically asked for them.
Well my weekend was taken up by said shop anyway. What a weekend! Ive got the next few days off though to recover from the sheer hell of it all. What upsets me about the place is that there are so many young a-level/degree students there and they get used to the money and drop out to work there full time. its stupid of them really cos they dont enjoy the job and arent particularly talented in the field of selling - they should look at the people who have been there 10 years or more who still havent been promoted beyond getting paid about £1 more cos you need a degree to make it to management. If they did enjoy it then fair enough but theyre always moaning about it just like i am and they think 4.70 an hour is a lot of money now cos theyre still living at home with their parents and havent got any bills to pay. Once they get in the real world and are wanting rent and mortgages and bills theyll realise they should have never wasted their education no matter how boring they find it youve just got to stick with it and in the end itll pay off.

Thats what i keep telling myself about this BORING degree im doing now! In the end ill have a job for life and ill be able to try and get in to do medicine but if i dont (which is the likely scenario judging by this forums reports on med schools and accepting existing health care professions - plus the fact im not the brightest tool in the box) then i still have a semi-interesting job that pays semi-well.

Having said all that ive got loads of assignments all due in around the same time and i havent started any of them. I hate being a putter offer. How do you change? Does hypnotherapy work?

**kittykatty** · 19-03-2004, 03:24 AM

Hey! Im just watching that documentary on that liver surgeon i taped on monday. Livers are big arent they! I wish we did more proper anatomy on this course cos i have no idea what anything looks like in real.

I think I have a problem with food - i eat too much of it. Im not overweight but i have got an excess of it in my opinion. You know when you buy trousers a size too big so they dont dig in and create that flab hanging over top thing or when you take them off you get a big mark.

Im back on placement V soon so hopefully will lose some with all the running around and keeping busy.

Not kidding though i eat WAY too much. Bourbons it is at the moment. I get 4 at a time and then go back for more straight after. Im forever planning my next snack or meal and looking forward to it. Im obsessed. I eat even when im not full just for the taste of it and NEVER healthy stuff.

Oh no! Lizzie died off that program thats awful after all the build up of the operations for her . Ill shut up about my insignificant weight issues cos it could be a lot worse! :cry:

**kittykatty** · 20-03-2004, 06:19 AM

What would you do if your boyfriend went bald??

The issue arose today. The father went bald fairly young but the boyfriend has his mums hair colour/type/

Will he go bald?

It will be strange. Is it so gradual i wont even notice? I like his hair. Please dont leave me hair. Stay upon the head of my beloved one. Its only fair.

Anyway other that that I managed to go shopping today and buy nothing at all although my mum managed to spend over £200 on clothes for herself. She offered to buy me stuff but i refused cos i know she cant afford it really its all on credit.

I read an article today about credit and storecards and how debt is becoming a big problem.

I honestly dont think ill be able to say OK when im asked at the weekend if i'll try to open a store card. I looked on my contract and cos im a concession within a store it doesnt actually mention opening storecards on the job description, but it does say i must also adhere to the rules of the host store so i guess that covers it.

I REALLY dont want to but when i first started all those years ago i remember them saying some woman kept refusing to open them on principle and they had her up for her own special training session and managed to talk her round.

If that happened to me they wouldnt talk me round as id have an answer back for everything they said.

I really dont think its fair its irresponsible of us to push a credit card with 29% apr that can only be used in one chain of stores on vulnerable people who could just use and use it and get themselves into real trouble.

Anyway i REALLY hope it isnt mentioned at work cos i dont want to cause trouble. If i lose this job i wont be able to afford to run my car and i wouldnt be able to get another cos i doubt theyd give a reference. Plus id only be able to work sundays cos of the new placement starting in nov.

Hey i just had a great idea! Why the hell dont i try to get another job doing something good?? Like a care home or something?? Trouble is i work 9-5 everyday on placement and i need one weekend day to catch up on work so i can only work one day in the week and one weekend day. Are these places flexible?? Surely theyre crying out for people?

I think Ill enquire to see if i can just work sundays in such a place.

Well thats that sorted then!

**kittykatty** · 22-03-2004, 02:08 AM

mmmm my meal out last night was nice nice nice all made better by the fact my boyfriend paid which is quite out of character as we usually pay half and half (even though he has a decently paid job and lots of savings and i am a student who is in debt by a ridiculous amount) but he has started paying a lot more recently.

The waitor was having a bad day though. He spilt wine down this woman and then brought us our bill when we'd asked for the desert menu.

Id feel sorry for him but he didnt look too bothered really.

No storecards were opened by me this weekend im pleased to say.

**NEW FEATURE ALERT***

Medical fact of the day - a fact to do with medicine that i learnt and i have no doubt that a lot of you will already know these facts as youre at med school but as far as i go if it doesnt show up on an x-ray and isnt fairly common then i dont learn about it ok. Todays fact DOES show up on an x-ray but in the words of vicky off little britain EW SHAT EP
Todays Fact was spurred on by Emmerdale (those of you who watch will understand)

Necrotizing entercolitis = when the lining of the intestine/bowel/gut whatever you like to call it - starts to die because its weak and the bacteria from the food start to attack it. Its not known what causes it but cos its so common in premature babies its probably cos of a weak gut and a lack of blood supply to it. Survival is usually 75%

**kittykatty** · 26-03-2004, 01:42 AM

COOL!
I bought some new coffee today cos im finding it REALLY hard on placement cos suddenly i am really tired all the time and look like crap and fall asleep when i get home. Im not even up THAT early really i get up at 6.45ish , get to the hospital usually 8.30ish and finish at 4.30. Its not exactly a gruelling schedule is it - especially since there arent many patients at the mo i spend a lot of time just sat down reading mags or talking really. I think i must either be a naturally very idle person or ive got a mild case of ME (can you have a mild case of ME??)

Anyway the coffee is great its got guarana in and ive just had a cup and im wide awake!

Im just watching that about the boy whose skin fell off. Hes a character.

Today was OK. I did some lovely x-rays - and some crap ones too! Its amazing how varied knees are - you think youre getting a good sideways view and it comes out looking all wonky. Its especially hard with obese people you cant really tell where they are at all.

MEDICAL FACT OF THE DAY

The most common solid abnormal abdominal mass in young children is a neuroblastoma. The symptoms are pain and fever, a mass that can be felt in the abdomen, a limp, spasm of muscles (trunk/extremities) cerebellar ataxia, spontaneous + chaotic eye movements, diarrhea and hypertension.

(didnt learn anything this week really so i just picked a random page out of a book i have! Sorry!)

**kittykatty** · 26-03-2004, 01:58 AM

Well - did anyone watch the boy whose skin fell off and manage not to cry?? Or was it just my brain messed up by that guarana coffee. He was such a great person.

**kittykatty** · 27-03-2004, 04:20 AM

nothing interesting happened today at all it was very uneventful.

MEDICAL FACT OF THE DAY

There are over 300 different cancers.

(a boring one to match my day)

**kittykatty** · 28-03-2004, 04:21 AM

I saw school of rock today and it was good even if i was the oldest non-parent in there. There was this annoying 12-13 year old couple sat next to us who knew EVERY word and were sort of quietly saying the words along with the film which was SO annoying. If theyd have been just a slight bit older i would have told them off but cos they seemed so small i didnt like to say anything.

Other than that it was another uneventful day. Clocks go forward tonight so that means an hour less sleep. I hope the effect of this doesnt go on throughout next week but im well prepared with my energy coffee and these tablets i bought which are supposed to give you a boost of energy. I had one earlier cos i was falling asleep during a TV program but it didnt do anything other than make me very angry for no particular reason. I must pull amusing faces when im angry cos everyone laughs at me which makes me even more angry. I know i grind my teeth together cos when i do it now theyre quite sensitive at the bottoms of the incisors cos of all the grinding together, tee hee i do get angry a lot!

:lol: :lol:

Anyways im off to find out where i can do chemistry round here, I only have one day a week off and its a set day that changes in yr 2 and 3. Might be a bit difficult actually now i think about it. OK ill see if anyone does it at nights! NO i cant do nights cos im moving away next year to a hospital far away! weekends! NO I WORK!!

Here endeth my efforts to get into medicine. For now anyway! Ill have to wait til i graduate. What a pain in the arse ill have more time to do an a-level when ive got a full time job than i have now! Grrrrrrrrr.

WHY DO UNIS WANT AN A-LEVEL IN CHEMISTRY TO GET INTO MEDICINE??? WONT BIOLOGY DO?? IVE GOT THAT!! HOW ANNOYING. Anyone can go an a-level in chemistry yet its such an important thing that you have one - more important than biology even.

Well here i am glad and safe in the knowledge that my doctor is capable of memorising a load of crap to do with atoms and recalling it all in an exam.

(PS: I dont know whats on a chemistry a-level syllabus but im sure its a load of irrelevant crap)

MEDICAL FACT OF THE DAY:: 'kissing' ulcers = when theres an ulcer at both sides (anterior and posterior) of the duodenum at the same level.

**kittykatty** · 30-03-2004, 03:07 AM

Today was fall down day. Everyone seemed to have fallen down and needed xrays of many different areas at once. Of course the amount of times anything actually shows up is about 80% less than the actual number of requests. People do tend to exaggerate, especially men i think. They say they cant move their foot but as soon as you press the button they manage to move it just enough to cock the xray up.

Im getting VERY jealous of all the people on here who are off to do medicine this year. Stay out of my way or i might have to barge you with a patient in a wheelchair with their leg stuck out on a platform. I find they are very effectve barging devices and theres usually nothing wrong with the leg other than a bit of bruising anyway. NHS wheelchairs are crap.

MEDICAL FACT OF THE DAY:

90% of people have gallstones

**kittykatty** · 02-04-2004, 12:07 AM

Ok i was upset today by the treatment of patients. Its never really got to me before like it did today. How i didnt cry i dont know. Im probably not used to it yet ive only been there since november, but it still doesnt make it right. I know humans and humans and they cant be expected to care about everyone all the time but people just dont seem to care at all sometimes and it happens all too often.

It annoys me when weak, dying people are wheeled down for xrays in beds when there is quite obviously nothing that can be done and were just making their last hours that little bit more uncomfortable.

It annoys me when people are left in corridors for ages just because people are too lazy to hurry up a bit with the admin stuff or things go missing or people just are bothered enough to notice that someone has been out there for ages and havent moved.

It annoys me when people refer to the person as the disease or body part being xrayed rather than their names - theyre people.

It annoys me when people insist that people get into difficult positions when we could probably get round it if we thought about it for bit longer, this would reduce the patients pain, stop them from crying tears because of the agony of being in a position they havent been in for months because of their illness.

We just make ourselves feel better by saying - theyre putting it on a bit, there was no need for all that fuss.

The worst part is when you think of the fact that these people who are being treated like crap are peoples parents, siblings etc. They only see them at visting times and they dont realise.

Everything is crap. The hygiene is crap! Theres NOTHING i can do about it because a) Im a student and b) im only going to be qualified in an allied to health profession carrying out procedures because the doctor told me so - or the nurse practitioner told us to.

Anyway its all crap. If you have the money - GO PRIVATE! Ive never seen or worked in a private hospital but i can imagine it isnt any worse than NHS.

Please dont go into health care if you dont care about people. Just think about how YOU'D want to be treated and how you'd want your mum, dad, grandma or grandad to be treated - even when youre training and everyone is really scary and patients just seem like challenges rather than real people.

Anyway other than that today was OK

MEDICAL FACT OF THE DAY: Go private