St Johns, Voluntery work and uni

I originally stared this blog to chart my progress hopefully to medical school but it seems to have got well a little bit side tracked so a little post that is on topic.

Voluntary work

I went back after having shingles on Monday and was volunteering as a meet and greater in outpatients. Now this would have been fine at the hospital I used to volunteer at last year however where I am now, I have no idea what department is located where or anything. As you can imagine the shift was hard work to say the least but I now know my basic way round the hospital. Also a Asian couple came down looking for a taxi home no problem for me it was only when the guy I was with pointed out that I had responded in Chinese to them that I actually realised I had! See I have usefull for some things!

St Johns

Hmm where to start
Induction – Apparently I was meant to be on a induction course last weekend which I could have gone had they bothered to tell me I was meant to be going.
Hopefully will be going on the course shortly so should have more to post on after that.

That’s about it really its my 1st week back at uni so haven’t got much work to do thank god! Every introductory lecture so far has stressed to us how much work is involved this year to the point im actually beginning to get scared.

Doing a degree you dont want to do!

I really intended to write this when Alevel results came out but never got round to it so here goes.

For some you this week will have been the 1st of many at medical school for some it will be the start of a gap year and for others it will be the start of a degree that you really don’t want to do. This time last year I was in the later group, I had drastically missed my medical school offer and was faced with giving up medicine or trying for graduate entry.

As anyone who actually read this blog know I decided on graduate entry and got a place at Sunderland University on Biomedical Science Bsc through clearing. A year today I was sat in my halls flat looking forward to Monday my 1st day of lectures. A year later im sat at home still looking forward to Monday. Its been a difficult but successful year to be 100% honest I haven’t really done much to benefit my application but have a lot lined up for the coming year. Im now a HCA and a volunteer with St Johns ambulance.

I guess what im trying to say is that bad Alevel results aren’t the end of the world and if you are starting a degree that you don’t really want to do still go into it with your heart set on getting a 1st and try to enjoy yourself.

I have an uncle who is a doctor and he had already bought me a stethoscope for results day last year sadly i havent got to use it yet but when I found it the other day it reminded me why I work so hard at my degree.

Update - uni has begun again

Well its finally hit me how soon lectures start ie Monday! So at 2.35am im sat printing 300 pages that when stapled will form my copy of the lecture slide for the next month. Yup just a month.

It’s the sport and society fare on the 30th of September so I need to try and think of something interesting for the taekwondo club to do – suggestions in a comment!

Don’t know what else to write about really so just a quick ill be back with more regular updating now I actually have something to blog about.

My long to do list also includes an essay on taekwondo if I ever want to grade oh boy fun times. Training tomorrow and Friday whoot actually looking forward to it for the 1st time in a long while which is reassuring.

No uni accomodation

Well im a sunderland university student, now from past years most second years have lived in halls of residence however this year due to the huge demand for university places the uni has took on way to many people.

Guess who no longer has a flat yup me – house hunting tomorrow. More than a days notice would have been nice.

Thanks sunderland university!

Bah bad mood

I know know i intended to post but im in the worest premenstral mood ever. Spent 4 hours in A&E with the mother, after driving for an hour as she wouldnt listen to me about our local A&E having closed. Felt like batting a bouncer in the face.

Not happy going to bed before i kill someone. Also in a very jelous mood about some medics i meet today that are arses. Why do grades mean everything now!

ITS NOT MOTHER FUCKING FAIR!! I HATE THIS FUCKING COUNTRY

Bit and bobs - proper post tomorrow

Work

Well im loving my job so far, got puked on by a drunken teenager at 11am today like WTF. Strangely it made me smile and feel like a medical applicant again not just a failure which to be honest is what ive been feeling for the last year. Yes ill admit im slightly weired!

Taekwondo

Preparation going well grading is getting closer and im getting more nervous.

Hmm what else

I haven’t been up to much really went to St Johns on Monday other than that been decorating my step parents house. Kinda boring roll on the start of uni in a few weeks!

Reading

Brilliant book – you should all check it out



That’s I for tonight I promise ill write a proper post soon – thanks to a certain reader for getting into contact with me makes me keep blogging when I realise I aren’t just talking to myself. Double promise on the relevant post tomorrow it may be something on my dissertation plan!

The joys of kids

Bloody kids
I got landed looking after the neighbours twins today, now although this is fun they are so picky when it comes to food it’s a nightmare!

The convocation went something like this

Me- You want fish and noodles
Them – Yuk
Me – Fish and chips
Them – Yuk
Me – Pizza
Them – Yuk
Me – Mc Donald’s just don’t tell your dad
Them – Nah
Me- well what do you guys want
Them – Shrugged their shoulders
Me- Arghhhhhhhhh storms into the kitchen.

Here was my idea – mini jacket potatoes



Thank god they ate it. Ive recently done my 1st shift as a HCA so will write something to do with that shortly after I find the floor in the games room again. St John’s tomorrow so might try and write something about that. My CRB that was sent off for them should have come back by now as the one I sent after that has. Thank god they don’t show up speeding tickets was really worried about that.

By the looks of that photo I need to invest in a new phone, shame it has to be orange…I wonder when my upgrades due.

Why medicine the dreaded question and for me why not a paramedic?

The question most applicants dread at a medicine is “Why do YOU want to be a Doctor?”. Now to most people this seems a simple question to me it so isn’t. To be honest I don’t have a hard fast answer, medicine for me is just something I really really really want to do.

When I think back part of the reason for this is the fact I nearly died from a nose bleed (More on that later) and the fact my mam had a stroke when I was 10. Both these events made me realise that I want to be a doctor and help to heal the complex human body. (I should be revising anatomy right now). Now this reason for admission tutors wouldn’t get me an offer not even close.

I did quite abit of work experience in year 12 and loved it, the time I spent in GPs and hospital confirmed for me medicine was what I really wanted to do but shall I tell you something I still didn’t have a hard fast answer for the question. Why medicine or the worse one Why not nursing.

If im going to be honest my answer for the why not nursing question is easier,


-Increased responsibility of a doctor – I enjoy leading teams and being able to find the answer
-Prescribing right
-Im a big geek at heart and love science the limits of the nursing course would have me constantly asking why I need details I need to know the tiny details i.e that equation that’s going to be no use in clinical practice.

Now im going to have to work on that again if im hoping for grad entry!!!!

Why not a paramedic?

This is the big one for me, when I missed my medicine offer and was faced with clearing I did nearly go to Hertfordshire to do Paramedic sciences. If I hadn’t come home that day to cry that I was never going to be a doctor id likely be writing a very different blog right now.

Yes my interest in medicine is pre-hospital care and trauma, but as my dissertation is going to reflex im interested in what role a doctor has in this! As paramedics get more and more qualified they are creeping on doctors knowledge and are in emergency situation more useful that medics (More on that in the nose bleed post!). So what changed my mind – Again I want that vast medical knowledge and the big bag of tricks. Oh yeah and if I don’t get into A&E, ICU will be my next choice.

Im posting this up mainly for my benefit so I can come back to it over the next two years up to application and see how my views change! Hopefully ill be able to answer that question more confidently soon if not im fucked!

Shame just knowing deep down its what you want to isn’t enough!

Application - GEM

Well its time I started to think about where I want to go for my med degree or more realistically where im likely to get a place considering my Alevels grades!

Over the next few months we will be travelling to a lot of the universities that offer GEM (Graduate entry to medicine). Ill try and write up a small bit on each one as I go along. For now ive looked through all the prospectuses and am thinking long the lines of

Newcastle GEM
Newcastle 5Year
Nottingham GEM
Warwick GEM

Im a northern lass born and bred so would love to stay up here shame our local med school is so competitive. The 5year course is also an insurance grads are systically alot more likely to get an offer on the 5yr course than GEM due to their being alot more 5yr places.

In love with vission express

Well I managed to get these babies down from £80 to £20 bargin tho the total bill was £70 ouch bloody eye test and contact lense test cost. On the reassuring front my prescription the same as it was two years ago, so hopefully it ill remain the same for the next two years and i can get laser surgery after my 21st.