| Kidneys and other stuff |
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Posted on November 24, 2009 @ 3:47 pm
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....are fine! I just rang my GP and my eGFR is >90 again, so all is well! I don't know what they were grumpy about before, but they seem to have got over it.
Also, I may have managed to get a placement shadowing a forensic physician (collecting the evidence after sexual assaults etc) next year. That's what I'd really like to do when (if!) I become a doctor, so it'll be great to get more involved with it and get some experience and networking.
And what's more, my consultant said 'well done' to me this morning! This is an event worth celebrating.
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| Weirdness |
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Posted on November 15, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
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This morning it was raining in the back garden but not in the front. Maybe my kitty has been right all these years when she meows at both doors, just in case.
In other news, things are mostly well with me, except that my kidneys seem to have fallen out with me. My kidney function is inexplicably falling, and I am having to have lots of tests and referrals to people who say 'hmm' a lot. I'm sure all will be well, though.
Also, I am on an outblock at the moment, which means living in doctors' accommodation in Kettering for most of the week. Expect lots of bored posts in the evenings.
Going Christmas shopping now! Yay!
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| Remember |
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Posted on November 11, 2009 @ 10:23 pm
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 contemplative |
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"Strange friend," I said, "here is no cause to mourn."
"None," said that other, "save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world,
Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,
But mocks the steady running of the hour,
And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.
For of my glee might many men have laughed
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
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| Please take a minute to watch and repost. |
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Posted on November 03, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
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hopeful |
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This is a short video showing how Madeleine McCann might look today, trying to keep her in the public consciousness and encourage people to keep searching for her. If any of you don't know (I know it's not such big news outside the UK), Madeleine went missing 2 years ago, aged four, from a holiday apartment in Portugal.
Madeleine's father is Gerry McCann, a consultant at the Glenfield hospital where I've been working for the past seven weeks, and a colleague of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) alan_mcleod's. He's a really decent guy and a very caring doctor, and if this video will help in any way to reunite Madeleine with her parents, then it's worth posting.
I know some of you have some negative opinions about Madeleine's parents. I'd ask that you keep them off my journal - this is about finding Madeleine, not about the rights and wrongs of what Gerry and Kate McCann have done. Also, on a personal level, I like Dr McCann and would appreciate it if people respected that.
I usually put any kind of media behind a cut, but I'm not going to do so today because I would really like everyone to see it.
Thanks for taking the time to look at this.
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| We're thirty years old and we've come for your candy |
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Posted on November 01, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
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Yay Hallowe'en! Lots of spooky stories and songs and poems, excitingly carved pumpkins, all the food in the world and a massive vat of punch, all enjoyed with some of my favourite people to spend an evening with. What more could a girl want?
There were some adorable trick or treaters, as well. My favourites were the two little boys with their mum who hovered nervously at the end of the garden path for ages in their cute costumes before they decided I was not so scary that they didn't want my sweets.
There is something a little unnerving about answering the door on Hallowe'en night dressed as Lily Evans, however. I kept expecting Voldemort at the door.
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| *snuggles under duvet* |
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Posted on October 29, 2009 @ 11:10 am
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I am a poorly bunny today, with a temperature and the shivers and feeling sick. I'm a little better than I was yesterday, but still in no state to inflict myself on patients, so I am having a duvet day. It is very nice, despite the poorliness.
My Halloween wig came - and alas, it is not the auburn cascade of loveliness it seemed to be on the net. It is, in fact, a tangle of orange with a big fringe. I think I may need to go at it with a comb and scissors, and failing that, go with some kind of glittery hairspray.
I have almost finished my Cardio-Respiratory block - was signed off with an Excellent for the respiratory component, hurrah! My cardio consultant has been away, so he hasn't signed me off yet, but hopefully he'll give me a reasonable grade. Now I just need to get my portfolios finished, which is, of course, why I am procrastinating on lj.
Barclays have messed up my professional studies loan again - I still have not had my payment from September. I need to go into the branch and sort it - but not today, lest I am sick on them. Thus, I also still have no stethoscope cos I can't afford it yet - but I think I am going to go with the plum one, as per the overwhelming consensus on my last post.
That's about it for the state of me at the moment. Hope you're all okay! xxx
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| Eep! |
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Posted on October 14, 2009 @ 11:40 pm
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You are The Tower
Ambition, fighting, war, courage. Destruction, danger, fall, ruin.
I'm normally the Moon! What's with all the destruction? *is a bit scared*
In other news, someone stole my stethoscope. I'm really quite upset about it - I left it in the hospital library for an hour during a lecture, went straight back for it and it had gone. I've asked everywhere, and it hasn't been handed in. It was a present for getting into med school from alan_mcleod, so I'm extra sad. Also, the cardiology and respiratory medicine block is the worst time for this to happen. I keep having to borrow other people's stethoscopes, which is very inconvenient indeed.
I'm going to have to buy a replacement - but in plum or hunter green?? These are important decisions, when it's for something I'll (hopefully!) have for my whole career. (Also, I am a girl. Stethoscope colour is a serious fashion choice.)
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| Achoo! |
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Posted on September 10, 2009 @ 6:54 pm
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 sick |
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I have a cold, and am feeling very sorry for myself. I highly doubt it's swine flu - I don't have much of a temperature, and I'm just not sick enough - but I'm all bunged up and grumpy.
In other news, I am home, with my parents and my kitty! We have the rest of this week off through a miracle of med school scheduling. I have had fuzzy cuddles all afternoon.
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| All done! |
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Posted on September 08, 2009 @ 3:27 pm
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 accomplished |
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Well, we've finished our disease outbreak scenario - I think we did fairly well :-) We're about to go and get our feedback, so we'll find out just how well then, but my current focus is on the fact that I now have FIVE DAYS OFF YAY!
We're discovering the drawbacks of living so close to the hospital - we're in range for bleep transmission. The whole cardiology team get voice-bleeped in a cardiac arrest situation, with the intention that only the people in the hospital actually get called. But we're so close to the hospital that it gets through to Alan's bleep. The following conversation occurred at 4 o'clock this morning:
Bleep, very loudly from downstairs: CARDIAC ARREST, WARD 27! CARDIAC ARREST, WARD 27! CARDIAC ARREST, WARD 27! CARDIAC ARREST, WARD 27! CARDIAC ARREST, WARD 27! CARDIAC ARREST, WARD 27!
Alan and me, in unison: SHUT UP!!!!
You can't turn the bugger off, either. I think it may have to live under a cushion at night.
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| *hyperventilates* |
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Posted on September 07, 2009 @ 1:41 pm
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I just had to give a mock press conference about the (simulated) contamination of Leicestershire's water for our Infectious Disease block. It was deeply traumatic. I was prepared for most of the questions, but a couple of them caught me completely off guard.
"Would you give fish from this water to your children?"
"....I don't have children."
Also, there is a fake policeman around who I think is going to arrest me for something our team did wrong (with my name on) this morning. One of the seminar rooms now says "Detention Centre" on the door. Cakes containing files would be greatly appreciated.
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| Pretty! |
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Posted on September 02, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
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accomplished |
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I got home from uni feeling a bit frazzled (we're doing a simulation of trying to control a disease outbreak, which is great fun but fairly high pressure!) and went outside to water the plants. I spotted the tray of violas I bought at the weekend, and decided there was no better therapy than gardening. So, I have just spent the last hour weeding the bed at the front of the house, digging it over with compost, and then planting lots of spring bulbs and a row of little violas in various shades of purple. Now I feel satisfyingly muddy and very smug, particularly since my landlord drove past and waved as I was doing my good-tenant bit and looking after the garden.
Need to get dinner on in a minute. But first, a nap!
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| Ow. |
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Posted on August 30, 2009 @ 10:46 pm
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My hand hurts. It's been doing that a lot recently, in a rather worryingly arthritic pattern.
Off to the doctor with me, I think, when I get time.
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| Beware! |
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Posted on August 27, 2009 @ 11:54 pm
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Apparently icanhazcheezburger has got a virus thing, where a programme tries to get you to download some sort of Trojan thingy. I r computer expert, yo.
Anyway, advice from more knowledgeable people than me seems to be to stay away until they've fixed it. I can not has kitties :-(
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| Calling brides and jewellery lovers! |
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Posted on August 27, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
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Hail, oh wise and wonderful friends list!
I've been making jewellery for a while, and I'm hoping to get a stall at a craft fair around Christmas time where I can sell my creations. I'm actually getting pretty good at it now, enough that I think the things I make are marketable. I'm just having trouble setting prices for some items. The necklaces, earrings etc are not too bad, because I have experience of buying those myself, but the thing that's really stumping me is the tiaras and hair combs.
I make the tiaras with silver plated wire (or, in one case, two shades of copper wire) and an assortment of freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals and some glass beads, on a silver or gold plated tiara base. The hair combs are the same design, but on a small comb that can be worn as a more understated accessory or for bridesmaids where the bride is wearing the large tiara. I've also made a couple of children's tiaras, using the same beads in a simpler design.
The thing is, I've seen tiaras like this on sale in bridal shops and on Etsy for incredibly high prices, but I'm not sure whether anyone would really pay so much for an accessory they won't wear all that often. Do any of you have any experience of buying such things, or do you have an opinion on how much you would pay for something like that?
I wish I had a picture to show you, but I'm at uni at the moment. I might post one later, if I can get my camera to work!
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| A new member of the household |
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Posted on August 26, 2009 @ 9:44 am
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nurturing |
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I went to Tesco last night, and whilst I was browsing the fruit and veg section I came across an orchid on the bottom shelf of the reduced pile, for the princely sum of £1.25. It looked a bit forlorn and droopy, but it had several flower buds and some shiny leaves. The poor thing had grown too big for its pot, the bark compost was completely dry, and it was in danger of being squashed by some slightly bruised apples.
It clearly needed some serious TLC. I picked it up and nestled it in my trolley, and bought it some orchid food from the gardening section.
At home, I repotted it in a shiny new pot where all the roots fit in, watered it carefully (after some research on the net) and gave it ten drops of orchid food, as directed. I may also have spoken soothingly to it. It sat there all fragile-looking, on the windowsill in the dining room, as if it couldn't quite believe its luck. I have been carefully monitoring it for signs of improvement. There is a reason I became a medic, it seems.
Alan has named it Sirius. I shall keep you posted on its (or his, I suppose) progress. I'm sure you're all on tenterhooks....
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| Slightly creepy.... |
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Posted on August 24, 2009 @ 10:02 pm
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Alan's bleep is upstairs, with a tinny robotic voice coming from it saying "STEMI ALERT, STEMI ALERT".
Somewhere across the road, someone is having a serious heart attack.
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| Favourite recipes? |
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Posted on August 19, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
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Does anybody have a good recipe for green tomato chutney? We have six million unripe tomatoes in the greenhouse, and we've just had to prune the tomato plants because they were dragging on the floor, so now I have a big basket of them. The recipes online seem to be all rather similar, but I was wondering if anyone had a tried-and-tested recipe they'd like to share....
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| An Incident. |
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Posted on August 19, 2009 @ 1:06 am
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unbalanced |
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So, I thought. Keeping fit, I thought. Rollerblading! Doesn't that sound fun? I live on a nice quiet estate now, where I can zoom around to my heart's content, looking cool and burning calories.
You can see where this is going, can't you?
I stopped at Decathlon (big sports superstore) on my way home today, and met my mum there because we also wanted to go to Ikea. We found a pair of boots in my size, and I tried them on, and they were comfortable. And then I stood up.
'This isn't actually too bad,' I said. 'I think I can WAAAARGH!' And then I did an impression of Bambi on the ice, with legs going in more directions than I thought possible, and I landed in a heap as a nine-year-old laughed at me. To be fair, I was also giggling hysterically at this point.
Undeterred, I dusted myself down and had another go. Skating down the aisle of the shop was going really well, until I discovered I knew neither how to stop or how to turn corners. There was a rather spectacular crash as I made the acquaintance of a display rack, which miraculously did not fall on top of me.
And then I took the skates off and slunk away.
I do actually still want some, but now I know what size I need (6, apparently) I think I'll have a look on ebay to see if I can find anything cheaper. Hopefully I won't break too many limbs in the process of learning....
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| In need of advice |
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Posted on August 18, 2009 @ 1:28 pm
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I'm hoping some of you lovely people out there are a little more financially savvy than me.
I'm in need of advice on behalf of my lovely friend keep_warm. She is halfway through training to be a social worker, and assorted disasters along the way have meant she's going to have to take a little longer to finish than originally planned. She's also having problems with her benefits - she suffers from some health problems meaning that she gets some extra financial support, but that's being reassessed so it's not certain that she'll get that in the future (although we're very much hoping she will, it would be very unfair to withdraw it considering her circumstances).
She has tried to get a Career Development Loan from Barclays, but was rejected on grounds of poor credit. Investigation revealed that this was one returned direct debit of less than £30 from several years ago. There's still the Co-Op to try for the same loan, but she may run into the same problem there.
The upshot of this is that she's very worried she may not be able to finish the course because she can't afford the living expenses, which would be totally rubbish as I know she'd make a fabulous social worker. Does anybody know of any other loans for postgraduate students that might help her? I know it's not easy to get loans in the current climate, but I'd just hate to see her lose out on a career I know she'll be great at because she can't afford to live whilst doing the training. Any advice would be hugely appreciated xxx
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