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In the spirit of trying to post more on LJ, I thought I'd do this 20 questions meme that's been floating around. The questions are ( here below the cut: )
I'll try to post every day, or at least most days, starting with question 1....
( Introduction and a recent photo: )
I'll try to post every day, or at least most days, starting with question 1....
( Introduction and a recent photo: )
I have passed my Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP), which means I am a real independent doctor and can work anywhere I like, including outside hospital or general practice. I feel that passing ARCP deserves ARC-Pizza, but alas, Alan is on call tonight so celebrating will have to wait until tomorrow. But soon!
My email has been hacked - sorry to anyone who got a spam message. I think I'm going to change accounts - I'll need to change to my married name next year anyway (yay!) so I may as well do it now, as Yahoo is increasingly annoying with its faily security and its homepage full of bigoted comments on the news. Watch this space.... but for now, I'm changing my password to a more secure one, and apologies again for spamming you all. Thanks to Robin, Rach and Rebecca (why all the Rs, I wonder?) who spotted it and texted me ♥
I have just baked chocolate chip cookies and am nomming one (well, maybe two) with a glass of milk. All is therefore right with the world.
My lungs continue to fail at lung-ing - two courses of steroids later and I'm still coughing and wheezing all over the place. I have noticed, however, that when I've been ill like this before I've got a lot better when I've been to the seaside, so Alan and I have booked to go to Whitby for a couple of days later this month, when our days off finally coincide. Hopefully this will fix me, and even if it doesn't, yay seaside.
Work remains hard but enjoyable, for the most part. I did have the horrible job of telling a lovely lady she only had a couple of months to live the other day. She was only a few years older than Alan, and it was so sad. I overheard one of the nurses saying that I was the best doctor she could have hoped for to have that conversation, though, so that was nice.
House decorating continues - well, not apace, exactly, but we have painted the hall and will start on the spare room soon. JJ (kitty) does not like painting at all; he sits at the top of the stairs and goes RRRROWWWWW until we stop doing it. Meanwhile, we have a gardener coming on Saturday to help us fix the jungle that is our garden! I am excited :-D
I have not yet seen Iron Man 3. If you spoil me, I keel you. I know where you live.
My lungs continue to fail at lung-ing - two courses of steroids later and I'm still coughing and wheezing all over the place. I have noticed, however, that when I've been ill like this before I've got a lot better when I've been to the seaside, so Alan and I have booked to go to Whitby for a couple of days later this month, when our days off finally coincide. Hopefully this will fix me, and even if it doesn't, yay seaside.
Work remains hard but enjoyable, for the most part. I did have the horrible job of telling a lovely lady she only had a couple of months to live the other day. She was only a few years older than Alan, and it was so sad. I overheard one of the nurses saying that I was the best doctor she could have hoped for to have that conversation, though, so that was nice.
House decorating continues - well, not apace, exactly, but we have painted the hall and will start on the spare room soon. JJ (kitty) does not like painting at all; he sits at the top of the stairs and goes RRRROWWWWW until we stop doing it. Meanwhile, we have a gardener coming on Saturday to help us fix the jungle that is our garden! I am excited :-D
I have not yet seen Iron Man 3. If you spoil me, I keel you. I know where you live.
I am a poorly bunny. I've had the sniffles for a few days - nothing major, just your average cold. But last night my throat started to get really, really sore, to the point where I could barely swallow. My lovely mum brought round some ice lollies so I could at least get a bit of liquid into me, and I went to bed.
At 5am I woke up with rigors - violent shaking that usually comes with a high temperature - and indeed, my temperature was 39.3 C (about 103 F) and my heart rate was twice what it should be at rest. I also couldn't swallow at all.
I made an appointment with the local GP, who I've never seen before, and he was lovely and fitted me in this morning. It turns out I have an abscess (quinsy) on my tonsil, with accompanying sepsis (infection in the bloodstream). He has dispatched me home with antibiotics and strict instructions to go back if I get any worse.
Needless to say, I can't really talk at the moment, so please don't be offended if you call me and I don't pick up. I'm communicating with Alan mostly via squeaks, hand gestures and the occasional whisper.
On a positive note, this means I'm not going to work this weekend and can stay in bed with my kitty.
At 5am I woke up with rigors - violent shaking that usually comes with a high temperature - and indeed, my temperature was 39.3 C (about 103 F) and my heart rate was twice what it should be at rest. I also couldn't swallow at all.
I made an appointment with the local GP, who I've never seen before, and he was lovely and fitted me in this morning. It turns out I have an abscess (quinsy) on my tonsil, with accompanying sepsis (infection in the bloodstream). He has dispatched me home with antibiotics and strict instructions to go back if I get any worse.
Needless to say, I can't really talk at the moment, so please don't be offended if you call me and I don't pick up. I'm communicating with Alan mostly via squeaks, hand gestures and the occasional whisper.
On a positive note, this means I'm not going to work this weekend and can stay in bed with my kitty.
Project Level Up
Mar. 30th, 2013 09:32 amOkay, so it's a cheesy name. But I have had an idea!
I have so many friends with so many different skills and talents and so much knowledge about things I haven't the faintest idea about. Lots of us have our skills in different areas, and I thought, wouldn't it be fun to share our expertise and learn a few things from each other? Let's spend our XP on something new!
This is roughly what I was thinking: If you'd like to be part of the project, leave a comment here. It doesn't matter what you have to share - it can be anything from how to bake a cake to an introduction to programming to an art class or an introductory lesson in a foreign language. I plan to do a session on basic life support and first aid, if anyone's interested.
I can't offer certificates because I'm not a certified trainer, but you might just learn something that'll help you save someone's life one day....
So, when we have a list of interested people and things they'd like to teach, we can come up with a list of sessions and people who are interested in a particular subject can sign up for that session. You don't have to go to everything, or even anything, and if you really want to come to something but don't want to teach, that's okay too. The idea is to pool our various experiences and learn from each other!
Anyone fancy joining in?
I have so many friends with so many different skills and talents and so much knowledge about things I haven't the faintest idea about. Lots of us have our skills in different areas, and I thought, wouldn't it be fun to share our expertise and learn a few things from each other? Let's spend our XP on something new!
This is roughly what I was thinking: If you'd like to be part of the project, leave a comment here. It doesn't matter what you have to share - it can be anything from how to bake a cake to an introduction to programming to an art class or an introductory lesson in a foreign language. I plan to do a session on basic life support and first aid, if anyone's interested.
I can't offer certificates because I'm not a certified trainer, but you might just learn something that'll help you save someone's life one day....
So, when we have a list of interested people and things they'd like to teach, we can come up with a list of sessions and people who are interested in a particular subject can sign up for that session. You don't have to go to everything, or even anything, and if you really want to come to something but don't want to teach, that's okay too. The idea is to pool our various experiences and learn from each other!
Anyone fancy joining in?
The State Of The Nats
Mar. 1st, 2013 10:01 pmHi everyone! I haven't updated in forever, largely because I have been DEAD OF WORK. I adore A&E, I really do, but the hours and the commute are a bit of a killer. Still, it's only until August, and then hopefully I'll be working as a FME (forensic medical examiner) in Nottinghamshire.
Nottinghamshire being the location of our new house! We have settled in really well, it's so lovely here with the countryside all around and the chickens and the geese and Darwin the duck, and we have a kitty now too! Heidi, my pretty little stripey girl, still lives with my mum and dad - she hates change, so I could never move her - but I get to see her really often now I live closer. But not long after we'd moved in, a little face appeared at the door going MRAAA - it was the neighbours' kitty, who was pretty much an outdoor cat since their daughter left home. The neighbours are lovely, but they're not really cat people, so they just tolerated him. Of course I let him in, and one thing led to another and he was spending more time with us than at his own house. So I spoke to J, the neighbour, and she was more than happy to let him live with us permanently! He's 14, so no spring chicken, but I love him to bits and he is so friendly and cuddly and talkative! His name is Josh (I have no idea why) but we usually call him Jossley-Jo (short, of course, for Jingly Jangly Jossley Jo) or Jangles (see above) or JJ. He is ridiculous and bit Alan's nose yesterday and I love him.
In work news - I love A&E far more than I ever thought I would, enough that I'm considering a career in it. I'm still going to do the FME thing at least for a while, but I think I may go back into ACCS (acute care core stem) training in a couple of years. The hours get a bit better the more senior you get, and I just find the whole thing so rewarding.
Health wise, I've been a bit low for the last couple of months - my depression is always worse in the winter, and being so tired hasn't helped. I've also been worried about my (biological) dad - he's currently in hospital in Spain, where he lives, having had a series of small strokes. I've managed to speak to him and he seems to be okay, but I hate being so far away. In general, though, I'm feeling better as the sun is shining more, and hopefully things will continue to improve. Also, I've been to the gym tonight for the first time in ages, which has made me feel all healthy :-)
And now I'm going to have a great big yummy dinner :-)
Nottinghamshire being the location of our new house! We have settled in really well, it's so lovely here with the countryside all around and the chickens and the geese and Darwin the duck, and we have a kitty now too! Heidi, my pretty little stripey girl, still lives with my mum and dad - she hates change, so I could never move her - but I get to see her really often now I live closer. But not long after we'd moved in, a little face appeared at the door going MRAAA - it was the neighbours' kitty, who was pretty much an outdoor cat since their daughter left home. The neighbours are lovely, but they're not really cat people, so they just tolerated him. Of course I let him in, and one thing led to another and he was spending more time with us than at his own house. So I spoke to J, the neighbour, and she was more than happy to let him live with us permanently! He's 14, so no spring chicken, but I love him to bits and he is so friendly and cuddly and talkative! His name is Josh (I have no idea why) but we usually call him Jossley-Jo (short, of course, for Jingly Jangly Jossley Jo) or Jangles (see above) or JJ. He is ridiculous and bit Alan's nose yesterday and I love him.
In work news - I love A&E far more than I ever thought I would, enough that I'm considering a career in it. I'm still going to do the FME thing at least for a while, but I think I may go back into ACCS (acute care core stem) training in a couple of years. The hours get a bit better the more senior you get, and I just find the whole thing so rewarding.
Health wise, I've been a bit low for the last couple of months - my depression is always worse in the winter, and being so tired hasn't helped. I've also been worried about my (biological) dad - he's currently in hospital in Spain, where he lives, having had a series of small strokes. I've managed to speak to him and he seems to be okay, but I hate being so far away. In general, though, I'm feeling better as the sun is shining more, and hopefully things will continue to improve. Also, I've been to the gym tonight for the first time in ages, which has made me feel all healthy :-)
And now I'm going to have a great big yummy dinner :-)
Job description meme
Jan. 22nd, 2013 07:37 pmThe lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
callylevy posted a challenge to describe your job using only the most frequently used 1000 words. It's harder than you might think!
My attempt is below, made using http://splasho.com/upgoer5/
( Read more... )
callylevy posted a challenge to describe your job using only the most frequently used 1000 words. It's harder than you might think!My attempt is below, made using http://splasho.com/upgoer5/
( Read more... )
Wow, I'm exhausted. Had a work pattern of doom over the last couple of weeks - we work 12 days straight in our rota, although my lovely administrator gave me a couple of days off after Christmas and said I could pay her them back with locums another time, so I've only worked 10 days this time. It's been a weird run; I had a day where everything I touched went wrong - things that looked straightforward on the screen turned into complex social issues, a man who came in with a vomiting bug where he couldn't keep fluids down turned out to be dependent on alcohol and was in withdrawal and had a seizure right on top of me, and a little old lady with Alzheimer's wandered off out of the department when I was dealing with the seizure and then it turned out she was already listed as a missing person (it's okay, we found her, but I embarrassingly burst into tears all over my registrar imagining her lost and cold in the city centre). Then the next day, everything I did went bizarrely right - e.g., the consultant in charge brought a lady having a psychotic break into resus and handed me a syringe and told me to sedate her. I tried talking to her instead, and five minutes later she was asleep with her head in my lap, and things just got better from there - success at difficult procedures, being praised by my registrar (the same one I cried all over) for being good at communication when referring, and generally having a really good day. I have no idea whether I'm a terrible doctor, a good doctor, or just incredibly dependent on luck, but either way it's been a rollercoaster of shifts.
Today is a day off, yay, and then it's back to work tomorrow. Alan has the day off too, so we're going shopping in the sales and out to the pub for dinner later.
Oh, and my chickens have started laying again! Spring must be on the way.
Today is a day off, yay, and then it's back to work tomorrow. Alan has the day off too, so we're going shopping in the sales and out to the pub for dinner later.
Oh, and my chickens have started laying again! Spring must be on the way.
The Oxen, Thomas Hardy
Dec. 25th, 2012 01:25 amLong-time readers of my journal will know that I always post this poem on Christmas Eve. It's my favourite, as it sums up beautufully how I feel about Christmas.
Merry Christmas, all of you. I hope you have a wonderful day.
( The Oxen )
Merry Christmas, all of you. I hope you have a wonderful day.
( The Oxen )
Merry Christmas!
Dec. 24th, 2012 02:26 pmMerry Christmas, everybody, and wtf is with this new LJ posting page? Am not at all sure I approve.
Anyway! Life is good here - in some miracle of NHS scheduling, Alan and I have two whole days off together over Christmas, and we are going to spend Christmas Day being very lazy indeed in our new house. Well, I'm cooking dinner for us and my parents, but after that there will be laziness, oh yes.
The new house is fabulous - we seem to have acquired next door's kitty - they informed us he was an outdoor cat and we were welcome to take him in if we wanted, but 'you won't see him, he's never around'. Well, he spends 90% of his time upside down sleeping on the sofa, 9% eating his new-found supply of kitty food, and 1% eating things he shouldn't (such as the cobs I bought for Christmas day, and part of a packet of Stilton cheese, the disgusting item). His name is, inexplicably, Josh, and he is very old and very cute.
We also have alpacas - they're not ours, they belong to the farm park next door, but they are hilarious. There were initially two, which I named Steve and Tony because I am a geek, but the other day I woke up to discover that they had been joined by two more who were promptly christened Bruce and Thor. I woke up to a racket outside yesterday and went out to find that Thor and Tony were having a fight (which seemed to involve wrapping their necks around each other and stomping a lot) whilst Steve looked on trumpeting anxiously at them. My fandom alpacas, they are in character. ♥
Right, I'd better go and make the mince pies or there will be family protests after Midnight Mass when there is nothing to eat with the traditional Baileys. And what will I leave for Santa if I don't bake? I'd better get on with it :-) Merry Christmas to all of you! xxx
Anyway! Life is good here - in some miracle of NHS scheduling, Alan and I have two whole days off together over Christmas, and we are going to spend Christmas Day being very lazy indeed in our new house. Well, I'm cooking dinner for us and my parents, but after that there will be laziness, oh yes.
The new house is fabulous - we seem to have acquired next door's kitty - they informed us he was an outdoor cat and we were welcome to take him in if we wanted, but 'you won't see him, he's never around'. Well, he spends 90% of his time upside down sleeping on the sofa, 9% eating his new-found supply of kitty food, and 1% eating things he shouldn't (such as the cobs I bought for Christmas day, and part of a packet of Stilton cheese, the disgusting item). His name is, inexplicably, Josh, and he is very old and very cute.
We also have alpacas - they're not ours, they belong to the farm park next door, but they are hilarious. There were initially two, which I named Steve and Tony because I am a geek, but the other day I woke up to discover that they had been joined by two more who were promptly christened Bruce and Thor. I woke up to a racket outside yesterday and went out to find that Thor and Tony were having a fight (which seemed to involve wrapping their necks around each other and stomping a lot) whilst Steve looked on trumpeting anxiously at them. My fandom alpacas, they are in character. ♥
Right, I'd better go and make the mince pies or there will be family protests after Midnight Mass when there is nothing to eat with the traditional Baileys. And what will I leave for Santa if I don't bake? I'd better get on with it :-) Merry Christmas to all of you! xxx
I Aten't Dead
Dec. 5th, 2012 04:14 pmHello everyone! I'm still alive and everything! I'm sorry for the lengthy radio silence; we have no internet in our new house until 11th January at least (OMG NO INTERNET) and I'm catching up with the outside world at my mum's house. I'm really sorry if I've missed something important - please tell me about it if I have!
In general terms, things are good. We have settled in to the house, and although it is still greatly in need of decorating (the current decor was done by an elderly lady, and it shows) it has central heating and the fireplace works and it is cosy and lovely. The geese haven't tried to kill me either - they say 'O O O O O' to me a lot, but they're all talk, even when I go in to clean out their house. The chickens seem to have stopped laying, but I understand that this is due to the short days - apparently they need more hours of daylight to produce eggs. But they are fluffy and happy and demolishing corn and layers' pellets like little eating machines, so all seems to be well.
Work is.... mostly okay. A little while ago something happened that I can't really talk about, but was not a good thing, and shall henceforth be known as The Thing. The Thing has been categorically proven to be not my fault, and everyone says I did the right thing and don't need to worry at all about being blamed, but it is still a horrible Thing and has resulted in me bursting into tears at a lot of people and not being able to tell them why. If I have done this to you, thank you for the cuddles and for not asking. I have the best friends. Anyway, more on that, possibly, if anything further happens. Sorry to be so cryptic, but it's one of those.... well, one of those Things.
And now I have to go because it's getting dark and I need to put the geese to bed before Mr Fox comes calling. Ria and Michelle, I totally owe you both emails and will send them tomorrow!
Much love to all of you!
In general terms, things are good. We have settled in to the house, and although it is still greatly in need of decorating (the current decor was done by an elderly lady, and it shows) it has central heating and the fireplace works and it is cosy and lovely. The geese haven't tried to kill me either - they say 'O O O O O' to me a lot, but they're all talk, even when I go in to clean out their house. The chickens seem to have stopped laying, but I understand that this is due to the short days - apparently they need more hours of daylight to produce eggs. But they are fluffy and happy and demolishing corn and layers' pellets like little eating machines, so all seems to be well.
Work is.... mostly okay. A little while ago something happened that I can't really talk about, but was not a good thing, and shall henceforth be known as The Thing. The Thing has been categorically proven to be not my fault, and everyone says I did the right thing and don't need to worry at all about being blamed, but it is still a horrible Thing and has resulted in me bursting into tears at a lot of people and not being able to tell them why. If I have done this to you, thank you for the cuddles and for not asking. I have the best friends. Anyway, more on that, possibly, if anything further happens. Sorry to be so cryptic, but it's one of those.... well, one of those Things.
And now I have to go because it's getting dark and I need to put the geese to bed before Mr Fox comes calling. Ria and Michelle, I totally owe you both emails and will send them tomorrow!
Much love to all of you!
In remembrance
Nov. 11th, 2012 07:25 pmWhen you go home, tell them of us and say:
"For your tomorrow, we gave our today."
"For your tomorrow, we gave our today."
Election night
Nov. 6th, 2012 10:45 pmAnybody online watching? I am getting very nervous. First results out soon....
ETA: This map with live updates might be of interest. I am watching it obsessively.
ETA: This map with live updates might be of interest. I am watching it obsessively.
Happy Halloween, and a call for recipes
Oct. 31st, 2012 10:00 pmHappy Halloween, everyone! I hope you're having a good day. We only had one lot of trick-or-treaters - three tiny fuzzy animal costumes, with their older sister in a bloodstained apron with a rubber knife! Still, I haven't gone to much effort this year, on account of being mid house move.
Speaking of which - I need baking recipes! Our new chickens have laid ALL THE EGGS EVER and I need to find something to do with them. Any suggestions?
This will only become more imperative when the goose starts laying too.
Speaking of which - I need baking recipes! Our new chickens have laid ALL THE EGGS EVER and I need to find something to do with them. Any suggestions?
This will only become more imperative when the goose starts laying too.
