Monday
The final week of block two! I can’t say I haven’t been looking forward to this, it’s been a stressful block for many reasons and we are all shattered. We had a lecture by the GMC today and it was different from what I was expecting. We talked about professionalism in social media and messaging and highlighted the importance of professionalism. In the afternoon we had our final CBL of 2018 which meant secret Santa presents. I still don’t know who got me but I arrived to find a bumblebee note book on my desk which was amazing! Whoever got me nailed it so thank you!
The case was hard and again the dreaded ECG reared its head and we spent a good half an hour trying to get our heads around it. However, after the session ended and we said goodbye to our facilitator (who was lovely and it felt like we had less time with her than our last one !) we all headed to the lecture theatre. The cardiac society had put on an ECG masterclass of which I think a good 75% of the year group had attended. This session was brilliant and I can’t be more grateful for it, I now know what the squiggly lines mean a lot better than I did before.
Tuesday
Today we had our final student seminar of 2018 and of block two. We had a special Christmas themed session where we played pin the ECG on Santa and I diagnosed Santa with an MI STEMI. Thankfully he survived to live another Christmas. It felt sad to finish these sessions because they have been really helpful and with only two of us in the sessions, it’s been like having 1:1 teaching 🙂
We also unintentionally matched Christmas jumpers!
I got back to the flat on a high because I had finally got my head around ECG’s. It was nice to go to bed and feel accomplished!
Wednesday
Today we had a day off so I trecked back up to the MTC (Suprise Suprise) and spent the day getting my head around cardiac veins which I nearly managed to do but it’s a lot to take in so I am not too fussed. I am a lot clearer now than I was at the beginning of the week so I suppose that’s progress!
Thursday
We had our final block round up today which was not as painful as the last block. After I hung around in the MTC to do some work. Sheryl and I grabbed some beanbags from the MTC common room and made a den in the computer room which made doing the work so much more comfortable!
We also had clinical skills society in the evening in which I practised cardiac exams. My medic dad was my patient and decided to be the most uncooperative patient on the planet (family love right ?) I went home that evening with a bit of a smile on my face as it went well (even though I turn into a bag of nerves whenever I do anything observed) and with any song that mentioned being 21 in it because ………
Friday – Feeling 22
….. It’s my birthday! Warwick had treated us to a half an hour lie in as our lecture did not start until 08:30 instead of 08:00. We had a lecture to tell us about our upcoming MOSCES (Mock OSCE exams) and then we had what was the most productive clinical skills session of the term. We started out in Dr Gill’s station and he congratulated me on my birthday and then quickly corrected himself by congratulating the planet on another trip around the sun with me just holding on for the ride. I corrected him as this was a pretty hard year to hold on through (dissertation, med school interviews etc) so I still deserved a well done 😀
I feel a bit more confident about OSCE’s now but I am going to need to go over it all this weekend as I get confused about what I am meant to be looking for on the hands as there is a lot of overlap.
We then had an incredible afternoon in the anatomy lab of which I waffled on about on my Instagram page. We were privileged to see some fresh tissue specimens. The station which I will never forget was the thorax station. We were shown how the lungs inflate and what the chest looks like in reality instead of just the chest x-rays we are used to seeing. It was incredible and I got to inflate the lungs using the bag and it was amazing to see how much force you need to initially inflate the lungs (which also explains some of my lecture content this block). It took a minute for me to initially come up close to the table as seeing all the organs within the thorax was a lot to get my head around and I felt extremely mortal in that instance.
I hung around at the end to experience some of the thorax even more and was eventually dragged out of the lab by my friends who were waiting for my to get the bus home.
I also had the discovery of having weird hands. I was discussing with one of our clinical fellows about how I was investigated for Horners Syndrome as I had headaches every day during a summer a couple of years ago. My pupils are slightly different sizes so I had an MRI scan on my brain (the most amazing thing for a Neuro nerd). She also explained how her hands are weird so that she can’t move her thumb without the index finger moving also, something which I discovered I also have…… Bodies are weird.
I headed back home on friday expecting to drag some of my friends up to my room to watch love actually. Laura and I had stopped off at Tescos on the way to grab some food and we walked back to campus. I got up to the flat and went to drop my shopping off in the kitchen expect there was the addition of some new decorations. I thought my flatmates had gone further to decorate the flat except when I went in I noticed the light did not turn on as usual and then a huge scream of “surprise” took me back. My block had arranged a surprise party for me. I was tearful as this was one of the nicest things anyone had done for me. There was so much food on the table and Taylor swifts 22 playing in the background.
I am so grateful to everyone here who made my birthday amazing and it was nice celebrating the end of block 2 – bee style 😀
Saturday
We had a day of OCSE prep up at the med school today which was really useful. I now know my friend’s hands back to front. It was nice to go over everything and get feedback. I now ready for next week….. The mock OSCES.
