Only 4 more days of General Med rotation to go. I think i will miss it, it has gotten to a point where we are clicking with our Registrar more and developing more confidence in what we can do in the hospital. I would like to have more time to learn about conditions and tests rather than trying to focus on assignments, Maybe i will be back interviewing patients throughout other rotations looking at general medicine aspects when i have time :) Our new intern is scaring us with how much work she is doing and how tired she is doing her surgical and now gen med rotation, something to look forward to in the future! But she appears to stress herself to go the extra mile which while good to take the challenge can be an extra challenge in medicine!
It was the first time i saw someone who had passed away the other day. It was a man we had been treating with dementia and other comorbidities and he was deteriorating so it was kind of expected. I watched our doctor check his signs and give the consent that he had passed away. He looked peaceful yet even though he was so still i was just waiting for him to jolt awake. I didn't really know what to think. I also saw my first lumbar puncture on Thursday! It was amazing to see such clear fluid coming out from the spine! Our reg was an expert although he was a little nervous having not done one is a while but you could only tell by a small shake in his hand, he sounded so calm and professional and got it first go :) I congratulated myself for not fainting although i did start to feel a little dizzy (it was a longer needle!) but i wasn't the only one. I also felt my first spleen in a patient with Chronic Lymphoid Leukaemia and did a cardiovascular exam on a man with a mechanical aortic heart valve, very cool hearing the click like a clock and realizing it was his heart beat! Unfortunately he was an intravenous drug user and had infective endocarditis, some people never learn.
We had a tutorial on how to look after ourselves as doctors and medical students on Wednesday. It is scary that we are in the profession with the highest rates of depression, suicide, divorce and basically stress! Why? If you are a brick layer and you lay the brick wrong, you can always knock the wall down and lay the bricks again. In medicine we are dealing with humans and life, if we do something wrong it is likely to be something we cannot take back and redo. The man talking to us was amazing and gave so many life experiences for us to learnt from :) Basically he was teaching us how to make medicine our friend and not our enemy and used a representation of a Pie chart for us to picture the proportion of our lives we should dedicate to each aspect. They were divided into Work, Self, partner, kids, family/friends and community where each aspect had an equal share in our emotional energy and should therefore have an equal share in life balance. He told a story about a doctor he knew who was so loving and kind to his patients and staff and everyone loved having him around. Then he met his daughter and told her how loving he was to everyone and always there for people, and her face tightened as she said 'yes but he was never there for us'. He neglected his family for his work, i never want to do that. He also gave us simple things to do in the future like take your children on conferences, have designated dates with your partner, just time for the two of you and make sure you have a hobbie or something you do for yourself that is not part of work. He mentioned how some people balance life through kids and work. But they are obsessed with both and still do not look after their partner or themself. It was interesting the man said that he would take his daughter to basketball and she would shoot a goal and always look to him to see if he was watching which he was. But then he realised he didn't want her to play for him, but to play for herself and the team, so although he loves to watch, one day he didn't and explained to her he wanted her to play for herself, her own enjoyment and her team, that would be a hard thing for a child to understand but is so important. Did you know that apparently if you have dinner with your family at least 4 times a week you reduce the chance of being an IV drug user? Family is so important, as is a balanced life.
I was very sneaky and took a picture of the corridor i walk to get to my ward (which looks the same!) luckily no one was around but i did not turn the flash off so may have scared a few patients into thinking they are seeing flashing lights! But i want to remember my first rotation in the hospital as much as i can :)
I met Lexi and her new puppy Tilly who is adorable! It was lovely to see the, Till absolutely loves Lex and follows her everywhere and Lex is in love with Tilly, i'm so glad she found her perfect little girl :) We made yum pizza's with Megan, Mel, Murph and Dim which was nice! I had to leave early to finish some online questions but was so glad to spend the evening with them. I will put up some photos of the night soon! I can't believe three years has gone to quickly and Lexi has graduated from psychology! I am so proud of her she has put in lots of work through ups and downs and is amazing, i never doubted she would graduate she will be an amazing psychologist!
Happy graduation Lex :)
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