June 2012
73 posts
Thoughts from a person that might be going crazy
I wonder if when I’m dying I’ll look back on these moments, when I lay and did nothing, and regret them. And then I already feel bad about them which makes me feel worse so I just keep on lying here until I fall asleep. And I become ever more convinced that this isn’t the real world because everything seems so fake and it turns out there was a great designer after all but he just...
3 tags
“By the turn of the century, a split had occurred , into a soulless neurology and...”
– The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Hyponatraemia lecture →
I might one day go back and look at this. Probably not. If I put it here though I can close the tab.
8 tags
Our favourite delirious patient
SHO: Mrs Thomson, why do you keep pressing the alert buzzer?
Mrs Thomson: I'm hoping the Lord might intervene
Summer 2012 Reading List
Farenheit 451
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Gathering Storm
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
15 tags
Brainy people, enlist!
So for my current block one of our tasks is to come up with a screening programme. Basically this takes place in a hypothetical future NHS that is privatised and so everything has to be paid for with insurance. They’ve come up with a new scheme where everyone who works for the NHS gets a screening test for free, and the various groups have to try and compete and come up with the best one. It...
11 tags
HLA 1-1-2 Mismatch
Whut?
So when we’re looking at transplanted organs (most commonly kidney transplants in my case) we need to see how similar the tissue type is. And to compare this we use HLA’s, and look specifically HLA A, B and DR.
Each person has 2 of each HLA gene, one from Mum and one from Dad. And they’re numbered. Certain HLA’s predispose to certain conditions (HLA B-27 is linked...
4 tags
21 things to do before you're 21
It’s my 21st birthday in, like, a week. So I googled things to do before you’re 21 and found a fanpop page with this list on. I’m going to let you know which ones I’ve done. It’s kind of a long list so they’re after the cut.
[[MORE]]
1. Take a road trip. 2. Learn to play a musical instrument. 3. Go skinny-dipping! 4. Save $1,000. And then lose it all when...
7 tags
“England lose at penalties. For more of our cultures and traditions please visit...”
– Heart radio, 25/6/12
4 tags
Got 92% on the Psychiatry end of block exam
We went and got our results today.
HAH. Suck on that psych block! Suck on that consultant that ignored us for the entire block and the ward that didn’t want us there. Thank you all the patients that agreed to speak to me and the few clinical staff that made sense and helped us to get involved.
Lol. 92%. I’m probably never going to beat that.
medical acronyms you should all totally know →
6 tags
Pseudohyponatraemia
Hyponatraemia is a state of decreased serum sodium (normal range 133-146 mmol/l). It is usually caused by an increase in water rather than a decrease in sodium itself.
Pseudohyponatraemia usually occurs in diabetics when they are hyperglycaemic. The increased glucose in their blood (which can be up to an insane 50mmol/l in HONK) increases it’s osmolality. An increase in osmolality...
5 tags
2 tags
More reasons to love The Weekenders
Tino: Okay, I've come up with a clever plan to get some alone time with my Dad.
Tish: Can't you just ask him?
Tino: Um, hi? Wake up and smell the latte! I hardly ever get to see him as it is. If I start bugging him about stuff he'll never want to see me!
Tish: Tino, I think you're wrong about th-
Tino: Ah, but you also thought I was wrong about bats being able to breathe underwater
Tish: You were!
Tino: Exactly!
Tish: ...what?
3 tags
The Perfect House Officer Guide →
This is from Malta, but I think it’s pretty similar to the UK (except that the blood bottles are different colours) and a lot of the stuff I’m reading is making a lot of sense.
2 tags
about-hortense replied to your post: Red Notebook Tag
I’ll be REDy.
10 tags
BK Virus
When I wrote this down I thought it was an initialisation. Actually it’s just called BK, and is named after the initials of the renal patient in whom it was first identified.
It’s incredibly common. When donor blood was screened for it a massive 82% came out positive. Once the virus enters the body it heads straight for the kidneys where it sits, latent, and waits for said person...
1 tag
Red Notebook Tag
When I’m on the wards I carry a notebook, and in this notebook I write down things. There are two types of things I write. Some are facts that people say that I know I will forget. Like the fact that the parathyroid glands are “ochre” in colour. The rest are things I need to look up. And once I’ve looked them up and written something about them, I cross them out.
ANYWAY...
4 tags
“Life is life, dreams are dreams
And I’m floating somewhere in between”
– Life Slash Dreams, Dan Black
7 tags
So, Today.
I was a model for a thing where they train GP’s how to do musculoskeletal examinations and histories better. Basically they pay medical students £50 to come along and get poked at for the day. It was quite fun. Mostly they commented on my flexibility (got Beighton scored at 9 and told I probably had some femoral anteversion) and how much easier it is to do stuff on a thin person.
One of...
about-hortense replied to your post: about-hortense replied to your post: Took blood…
Ouch. I lost you on the way between psych ward and renal one! This tumblr heavily affecting my re(n)ality testing! ;)
Haha! Yeah, I escaped Psych and moved on to renal. My three placements have been so different. Surgical. Psychiatric. Medical. MADNESS. Half the time even I don’t know where I...
about-hortense replied to your post: Took blood today!
Dear. The reNal patient? This typo is soooooo glomeruly cool! XD
Heh. It wasn’t actually a typo! I’m currently based on a renal ward, and after their years of dialysis renal patients are typically hard to access (whether it be for bloods, cannulas, etc.) So I guess it could be swung both ways, she was both a real patient AND a...
6 tags
Took blood today!
Admittedly I only got about a ml and the INR we were doing demands 4 mls so the FY1 had to go back int and get more. And the reason we were doing an INR was because her INR was 9.1 this morning and this was only about 4 hours later. So I don’t know if the giant bruise she got was because she has no coagulation still or because I suck at taking blood.
After I’d stabbed her a bit and...
7 tags
My aunt who is divorcing my uncle has changed her surname on facebook back to her maiden name. Which, seeing as she is my Dad’s sister, is the same as my surname. It’s REALLY weird. The only people that I know with my surname are my immediate family and my grandparents. And by my mother not having any boys we have pretty much killed it off (unless one of us is pretentious and double...
12 tags
Good things
Sat in on an endocrinology clinic today with the mean consultant endocrinologist. He’s mean to patients too apparently, but I sort of warmed to him during the clinic. I think he honestly means well for his patients, and he seemed to like me enough which is good. I have a feeling he’s the sort of guy you don’t want to make an enemy of. There was a first year in the clinic as well...
I am going to start work. I am going to start work. I am going to start work. I am going to start work. I am going to start work. I am going to start work.
5 tags
Detected a mitral regurgitation today :)
It radiated to the axilla and everything!
Of course then I had a brain melt and mixed up regurgitation and stenosis so I said it was mitral stenosis so that was dumb. But there were six students, one consultant and one patient all crammed into the one tiny bay and I was under a certain amount of pressure. It’s not even like I volunteered to do the cardiovascular examination anyway, I got...
10 tags
The time I made the consultant's day
Consultant: So, do any of you know what disease Anti-Rho and Anti-La are associated with?
Med students: *look around blankly*
Me: Errrmmm...
Consultant: ...
Me: I don't know.
Consultant: It's actually lupus.
Med students: Ohhhh
Consultant: now, this lady doesn't have any children, but if she was pregnant, say, what do you think we would be concerned about?
Me: The antibodies could cross the placenta and go into the foetus?
Consultant: Yes! And what would that cause?
Me: It could... umm... affect the foetus' Rho?
*ten minutes of laughing later*
Consultant: It actually causes congenital heart block.
3 tags
Naptime
Today, after I’d eaten dinner and done 3 days worth of washing up I felt sleepy so thought I’d have a nap. This was at about 7.30 or maybe 8pm, can’t remember exactly.
I just woke up from that nap expecting it to be about 11pm. It’s half past three in the morning. I just slept for eight hours straight, still with my blouse on and a scarf on and I haven’t had a...
6 tags
8 tags
BBC Food: Cheddar Scones →
Intend to make these later on in the week.
1 tag
I Won’t Give Up — Jason Mraz
4 tags
Twitches and too much work
Am currently on one of the big blocks, attached to a renal ward and I don’t know anything about kidneys. Consultant ward round on Monday and I need to look intelligent. I need to get a good mark on this block. It feels like one that might actually get marked fairly and so I care about what they think of me. Do not want to appear stupid.
My housemate has been having weird muscle spasms and...
4 tags
Clubbing sober is *really* boring
I’m just really aware of how my feet hurt and my back hurts and people in clubs are really fucking inconsiderate when they’re trying to get past you. And something like 5 separate guys have expressed interest in my housemate this evening and my ex keeps popping up and everything is a reminder of how I will be alone forever. Forever alone. That’s me.
