Almost done at the specialist ward

Today I arrived at uni at 9am, as I planned. I elected to sleep in instead of going to the medical academic meeting. I spoke to one of the consultants en route to my ward, and then got crapped out by the reg for not being there at 8am. I tried to explain to him that I was only expected to be at the ward at 9am, but he wouldn’t hear reason.

The day was long and draining. We admitted 6 new patients for magnetic resonance imaging under general anaesthetic, replacement of gastrostomy or gastroscopy and sclerotherapy. I worked long and hard. My reg taught me a bit and then I got given a random tutorial which was really awesome. I then sat in my car for a while, then in traffic for another while.

2 days to go.

Today I didn’t arrive that late at the hospital. We saw our patients and then had tea. I left after we finished the discharges and the wardwork. I went to my podiatrist. I really appreciate how fucked up my feet are every time I see him. He just finds so many problems. My orthotics have been sent back to the workshop to get modified.

Last day at my ward at red cross tomorrow thank the good lord.

1 day to go.

Nearly Done with E2

I am not 3 days away from finishing my stint at the specialist ward at Red Cross children’s hospital. I have learned a lot in the ward. I felt quite frustrated at times. I found one of the consultants to be abrupt, cold and unpleasant to work with. I got shat on yesterday by quite a few different people for not following the appropriate hierarchy. In summery:
Never speak to a consultant unless they are speaking to you ever.
Never ask somebody who isn’t directly responsible for you for help unless it is for a resus
Never forget how low in the pecking order you are.

There are some very depressing patients in the ward. There have been two babies with spinal muscular atrophy type I. They pretty much stay in the ward on oral analgesia and antibiotics while we wait for them to die from chest infections. They can move their head a bit, and that’s it.

There’s a baby with opsoclonus myclonus. He just cannot stop moving at all. His mom dumped him and his elderly grandmother is worn out beyond words

There are others, kids with neuro-developmental problems that will never amount to anything and there parents.

It’s my formal this Saturday night. I will go, get drunk and enjoy myself with the few people that I like. Then we might go through to one of our houses in Simon’s Town where we will drink until we’re dead.

I’m struggling to fill the hours of the days.