Geri's week 3

It's amazing how much one week can differ from another. I feel so much brighter and alert and happier this week. It's so good to find out what is causing you to feel flat and see results when you work to fixing it! This week is thankfully not as busy as the past 2 for Geriatrics which means we have more time to get to know our patients and learn from our doctors.

Inside Santis Cafe - a must visit! 

Monday we followed our consultant for a ward round and got to know some new patients. We went to a memory clinic meeting and followed up on a patient we saw last week. Then had a tutorial on osteoporosis in the afternoon. Tuesday we followed our registrar for the ward round and had a teaching session learning about chest X-rays and did a couple of case presentations. The day was looking to be a long one with a visit to Shenton park Alzheimer's clinic in the afternoon, alas the irony was they forgot we were coming and the 15 or so of us left after 10 minutes with a couple of pamphlets and set out for a nice coffee catch up!! It was a perfect sunny afternoon to sit in the new Santis cafe along Hampden road with a few other medicine students and have a little catch up :) I enjoyed the sun and extra time more and went for a lovely walk along Matilda Bay, it was so peaceful and relaxing, just what i needed!

Wednesday we had more new patients and set out to talk to them, my lady was lovely and willingly answered my questions which she had answered many times since being in hospital!! I feel sorry for the amount of times they repeat answers to our same questions, it is always a bonus to find a patient willing to answer them yet again! Unfortunately she had fractured her femur after a fall while on holiday from New Zealand possibly due to an overdose of osteoporosis medication causing her bones to become too brittle but is well on the mend :) I was a little nervous for the afternoon i was to visit a 97 year old lady i had met in hospital and was doing my case report on. They require us to do a follow up home visit but it feels awkward to go to a patients house after only knowing them for a short while! Thankfully i found a lovely lady who only lived up the road in a really nice unit by herself. I was a little unsure as to what i would ask her after following up how she was doing after discharge but she showed me around her house and we had a lovely conversation about cooking, dogs and university and many things in life including her health. She told me a salmon recipe i must try - rub lemon pepper over the salmon with a teaspoon of white wine and a little butter on top and cook in a microwave for a minute, it seems too short but she said it works! So i must try it :) Her house looked like a typical elderly persons with memoirs and clutter which add character and style. I was fortunate enough to watch her make a cup of coffee which she made for me... i don't actually drink coffee but managed to drink this one as i didn't want to offend her! And we sat on her patio in the sun with a biscuit. I gave her a little flower plant to add to her garden which she insisted wasn't necessary but i had to give some sort of thanks for letting a strange medical student into her house! I was glad to visit her all the same and see how she was coping, while it is a shame to not keep in contact the only time i would probably see her again would be if she were to go back to hospital... so i hope not to see her and wish her well into her 100's.

Don't ask me why i put this in :P

Thursday was rather full with ward round with our consultant, a multi-disciplinary meeting... although interesting i found myself writing poems! and a lunch meeting. Then after a quick tea in the lovely sun (trying to make the most of this lovely weather!) we had an afternoon of lectures. Friday was another long morning with a dementia 'tutorial' that was more of a 3.5 hour seminar! I actually woke up and decided to bake and made the peanut butter-banana oat slice which i really liked!! I didn't have any dates so put in an extra teaspoon of vanilla essence but i really like the result and had the bonus of Kyle eating it too! I took it to the tutorial and most people didn't mind the no sugar or butter... baking is always good no matter what in most people's eyes :) This was followed by case presentations to our consultant and a trip to population health to meet a lady who is helping us fix our literature review for publication (yes it is still going!!!) and write a better results section for our report. I was feeling rather drained and flat by the end of it and the weather seemed to mimic it. We left the building finding it pouring with rain but it was refreshing at least even if we looked a little drowned by the time we got home!

I had a lovely time date night with Kyle to look forward too though, it was just what i needed! He cooked us a yum dinner of chicken with roasted vege's and cous cous and we watched a comedian for a while but the weeks exhaustion caught up with us we couldn't stay awake! It was so nice to spend some good quality time with him though, its hard to beat waking up to warm cuddles with someone you love! :)

And now after a day of case report writing i am looking forward to spending a night with Nicole and her friend Danika at.... Lady Gaga!!! I don't really know what to expect but i know it is going to be good! :)