North Wales, again.

This placement got off to a rather less than auspicious start when, upon arriving at Glan Clwyd hospital I discovered that they weren't expecting me, and didn't know who I was. I did eventually get a room in a flat with the other obs & gynae girls, and did feel a bit better when I received a text message from an anonymous housemate standing on Newport station...

Monday morning dawned...they still weren't expecting me, expecially my consultant who now believes he's been dumped with the medical school's prize idiot student, with some justification. He keeps telling me to do things eg, take a history whilst the patient is in with the midwife, hang around with the registrar on call who is in a small cosy world of her own and disappears into thin air all the time. These things should be simple for me, I normally manage them very well, however, for this placement, I appear to have turned into an idiot.

Take today:

The midwife was so busy chatting to the patients that I couldn't ask any questions, the ladies felt so sorry for me when the consultant was quizzing me that one said in in my position she would have cried. I nearly cried.

Having been in at 0830 to consent patients for that afternoon's theatre by lunchtime (15 minutes) I was quite tired and the day was about to get worse... I had to do internal examinations on all three ladies, then scrub in. The theatre nurses have started speaking slowly and nicely to me as they realise I'm a fool, ditto the SHO, ditto the A&E reg who was practising intubation (before my speculum mong-ness in case you were wondering.) We started the last procedure at 1645, I had scrubbed in but forgotten to put on my mask, I wouldn't recommend it, holding the uterus out of the way at arm's length and trying not to breathe isn't that much fun, in fact, by 1645 being in the hospital isn't that much fun; after leaving theatre (1820) I got lost trying to find the locker room where I had left my clothes, and nearly got lost leaving the hospital.

The day has been better since, at least my consultant gave me a lift back from our clinic in Holywell (it was hit and miss for a while, he threatened not to unless I remembered something, anything...) Eleri appeared at 2100 having last been seen leaving the hospital at 0930 in the presence of her consultant and his SHO on a day to Deeside clinic. At 1630 the consultant announced that he wouldn't be finished for a while (finished at 1730) and then would be staying on after that. The SHO was picked up by his girlfriend- they live near Deeside- Eleri was left to fend for herself. She eventually got a lift off her very jet-lagged aunt. Suddenly 1830 doesn't seem so bad after all...

Pancakes were fun...until the smoke from the butter frying set the fire alarm off and we had to evacuate the building. Someone else set it off this evening, maybe we can make it a nightly ritual...

This tale of woe has been brought to you by Fran - I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than become a gynaecologist-Cain
xx
Fran
xx