Docs Diary

**kittykatty** · 08-12-2003, 02:15 AM

Ok Ok im not a med student, or a prospective med student , im a radiography student so tell me to go and mind my own business if you will but i do have a place here as i am going to study medicine just as soon as this radiography degree is out of the way.

Ive ALWAYS ALWAYS wanted to be a doctor literally since i was a child and had an obsession with all things human body/disease related.

Had a bit of a prob with confidence and thought i wasnt good enough and wouldnt get in to med school so applied to something with a little less competition (rad) and got in. So im here studying the human body and how to take images of it.

When i got my a-level results there was a big dilemma - do i take a year out and do medicine or do i carry on and do radiography, I chose the 2nd option as the thought of not getting in to med school after a year out scared me and also i thought having 3 years learning about the human body would do me a lot of good and id have time to mature and think things over.

I must say im enjoying it a lot doing radiogaphy. We're sent pretty much straight to hospitals after learning a few basics. Were dealing with patients and a large cross section of society from broken phalanges to near fatal RTAs. Its brilliant but the work is very very easy, so easy i am suffering a few motivation problems especially as i know its not what i want to do in the long run.

So why bother being a doc if radiography lets me have contact with patients, learn about the body and pathology and gets me a guaranteed well paid job at the end??? Well you all want to be docs so im sure you understand taking an image of a person and then telling them to go and see the doctor is VERY frustrating. Were not even allowed to tell them what we thinks wrong, even if its blatently obvious we tell them to go see the doc for the results. I want to be the one who makes the decision whether that patient needs a medical image (many docs just send everyone regardless not thinking about the radiation dose) and i want to be the person who then goes on to treat that person.

So basically my plan is to do radiography and work in that field for a while and when i feel ready (financially, psychologically, academically) i will apply.

I dont feel an 18 year old school leaver will have this kind of advantage so in a way im glad it turned out this way. At least ill have a good knowledge of the medical field and ill know its what i want to do.

Anyway Im still living at home at the mo cos its way cheaper but im looking in to moving out a.s.a.p. As a typical student im suffering financial difficulties (im over £900 in debt already and ive only been there 4 months!)

Anyway i WILL start doing some work tonight i WILL NOT waste a perfectly empty sunday night just lazing around watching crap on TV. If i say that enough i might actually start believing it!

**kittykatty** · 30-12-2003, 05:36 AM

Bloody radiographys a pile of crap im doing absolutely crap in it cos ive got no motivation at all. Feel so damn thick but its not cos i dont know the stuff if i read the books its not hard at all i just dont put the work in at all.

Some essays (worth 20% of the module) took me about 45 mins the night before they were due in and other than that ive literally put no work in at all this semester (and did crap in the essays BTW)

Not going to get into med if i carry on like this ill end up failing my rad degree.

Got this semesters exam next week and the main assignment due in the same day.

**Revision done: NONE assignment status: UNSTARTED. **
Has anyone else noticed how crap the sales are i was really looking forward to them I love buying loads of cheap clothes but so far all ive bought are some jeans and a phone (how boring)

WILL start work on assignment tomorrow - exam revision can wait til next monday.

My new years resolution is definitely to lose weight (boring) and get from a size 12 to a 10 (which should be easy enough but i have been saying ill lose weight for about 6 months now)

Ill let you know how thats going when i start but for now ill eat eat eat til its 2004 and ill enjoy it too cos im not at work over xmas (placement) and dont feel guilty (for some reason when youre in an NHS uniform you feel a hypocrite eating cream buns so i never do whilst im at work which is probably the only thing between me being a size 12 and a size 26)

mmmm chocolate mmmmm icing off christmas cake (not the middle bit though thats too healthy)
Ill let you know how i get on anyway.

**kittykatty** · 31-12-2003, 05:59 AM

Well i was all planned to do my assignment today - spend all day on it and get a lot of it done. Well what did i do? I went shopping! got back at about 6.30 and then watched TV til 8 and started it about 8.30 - even then it was a halfhearted attempt you know when you think about what youre GOING to do but dont actually do very much of it. Finished about half an hour ago. Needless to say i didnt get much done at all but if all goes to plan ill spend all day thursday and friday til 4ish on it and all sunday night hopefully saving monday to revise for the exam on tuesday.

Im very angry with myself as this attitude worked OK with a-levels but its not going to work with my degree you only have to look at my marks so far to see putting no work in gets you nowhere no matter how brainy you THINK you are.

Oh well - little britains on in 5 mins (it BETTER not be one ive seen i swear i watch it all the time and its always the same 4 episodes - surely theyve made more than this!)

**kittykatty** · 04-01-2004, 11:27 PM

Little britain WAS one id seen by the way.

Worked today (in the department store of hell) theres some disgustingly old fashioned crap with 50% off and people go mad over it (its still not what id call cheap as our store overcharges by at least 70% in the first place). Its like it doesnt matter what it looks like just the fact its got 50% off makes it attractive. Theyre like flies around s**t i say - even though i do the same in other shops.

I never felt bad about hanging round the sale items til i started working in a shop 2 years ago and realised from the point of view of a shop worker - now i feel like very conspicuous like theyre looking at me thinking the same.

Its exam week next week but i only have them on tuesday so its like half a week off again and then i start back at the hospital the monday after. Im kind of looking forward to it ive missed everyone (the patients, not the staff - not that the staff arent OK of course)

Still holding hope and treating this degree as work experience for medicine but with a bigger more meaningful certificate at the end. Its not getting me anywhere though - with my current marks im only on a pass (thats lower than a 2:2 for those who dont know)

Im trying to think of an elaborate lie of what i could have done for 3 years whilst i was doing this degree so i can just apply on the merit of my a-levels.

They wont know ive done a degree will they?

Lets hope i can pull it up to at least a 2:1!

**kittykatty** · 13-01-2004, 06:01 AM

Will a day ever pass where there are NO people in who havent been in a fight. I had LOADS today with fractured metacarpals. The excuses they come out with too! They must think we were born yesterday!
They may aswell admit it i think more of the people who admit it than i do of the people who say they were 'playfighting' or they 'punched a wall' or even more elaborate stuff.
I like doing the minor injury stuff cos it can be very amusing and you dont have to feel guilty about being amused cos you know the worst theyll suffer is a few weeks with their fingers strapped together or whatever.

**kittykatty** · 19-01-2004, 06:00 AM

Drove all the way to the medical museum in Leeds which is supposed to be really good. It was around 3.30 when i got there. There was a big sign hung on the door LAST ADMISSION 3pm. How annoying? It looked way bigger than i thought it would be. I will have to go earlier some time.
Weekend = waste of time.

Uni = Waste of time

I wish i was awaiting replies from med school you dont know how lucky you are to actually have applied. (I probably wont be saying this at the time when i DO apply cos ill be so nervous)

Even if you dont get in at least youve tried and can try again next year and the year after that until they get fed up of you and let you in for the sake of their own sanity(thats my plan anyway). Ive got to wait 3 years and do well in a degree first.

Hope everything goes OK for you all. 2003 was just such a crap year for so many people and 2004 doesnt seem to be improving that much. Maybe next month will be brilliant and everything will rectify itself? I literally dont know anyone including myself who didnt have something bad happen in 2003 (and by bad i dont mean stubbing toes i mean tragic - deaths, bad news, failures etc.) Some guy on the TV said it was cos of something to do with the planets that it was a particularly bad luck year.

Been looking for furry boots but cant find any anywhere. If anyone knows where i can get any online or in major shops (that theyre likely to have up north) let me know. Im looking for the roxy/quiksilver type ones. Ive found a few good ones online but havent actually found any that are buy-able (theyre on USA sites that dont deliver/link doesnt work etc) E-bay have some too but i dont like the thought of wearing second hand boots. May have to resort to this though cos its nearing the end of january and winter will be over soon and i wont be able to wear them.

Anyone ordered anything off ebay USA before (UK ebay doesnt have any within reasonable price)

Maybe its an omen that i cant get any cos id look a fool in them anyway???

bye bye

**kittykatty** · 23-02-2004, 04:10 AM

Yay medicine is becoming attainable at least! Its like a dim speck of light at the end of a long long tunnel - like the channel tunnel only longer.

I did 'OK' in semester 1, I averaged at a high 2:2 which is more than i thought id get. Its not bad considering the method of examination (workbook) which ive never done before in my life and instructions on how to do such a thing were hazy to say the least. It doesnt really test how good you are at learning and retaining information which is what im used to - more a test of how original you are in putting certain learning outcomes across and how well you are at managing your time (they can tell when youve rushed it - which i did very much so)

Hopefully when i get it back i can see where i went wrong and push myself up to a 2:1 for the whole year (not that year 1 counts towards the degree at all)

Bought the book advertised at the top of this forum and its quite useful. I was quite surprised by the different types of doctor there are. Ive always thought I wanted to be a GP but the book didnt exactly recommend it! The only thing it scored highly on really was competitiveness (none at all!)

Im already imagining it but its all so far off!

**kittykatty** · 05-03-2004, 03:30 AM

oh no why does hair dying never go smoothly.

It was bleached blonde highlighted (a lot of highlights so it had the overall look of blonde) but today i was in boots and saw this special shampoo for brunettes and suddenly had the desire to have dark brown hair. I got some die, which was one of the more expensive permanent kinds and ive just rinsed it off and dried it.

It looks a mess! There are blackish bits and dark brown bits and my natural colour bits all interspersed in an uneven manner looks about as natural as bloody jordan.

everyone is laughing at me. Im feeling sorry for myself. Why did i bother? What do i do now? Ill have to go to the hairdressers tomorrow. Not a good thing for someone with absolutely NO money whatsoever.

:cry:

**kittykatty** · 05-03-2004, 04:26 AM

ok its brown with black 'highlights' aka black chunks.

dont mess with what nature gave you

**kittykatty** · 07-03-2004, 06:00 AM

died hair again the day after with a dye called 'light brown' with 'naturally harmonised blonde highlights' I wouldnt call it light brown at all.

Im getting used to it,

Went walking in the countryside today only me and my other half ended up in the biggest village in the whole peak district just so i had the civislisation aspect. It was too cold to go walking in all the baron bits and i need a sit down in a coffee shop every now and then or i get fed up. Anyway my pink shoes would have been ruined with all that sheep crap lining the floors.

My boyfriend was very much determined for me do medicine (which would require him playing the motrgage for a good 5 years) by the great houses we saw in the countryside. Even the little terraced ones were over £200k. I really dont know how we're going to afford anything decent. My boyfriend is looking at a pretty craply paid job for a few years til he becomes fully qualified and radiographers wages arent great.

I cant WAIT to move out though and have our own place even if its fairly crap itll still be MY crap house.

Yay im back at hospital soon - back to reality - back to irradiating the general public every day. What fun!