Terms and Conditions apply

As mentioned below/above, they have let me back into do Year 3, but on a few conditions!

• I do not have to do the SSM's (so term runs from end of October to mid-May)
• I do not have to do another Junior elective (so i have all next summer off)
• I do have to do the OSCE in May, but it will be formative
• No one is sure whether I have to do the coursework, but if I do, it will be formative.
• I only get one chance at the Year 3 written exam, next May.
• I have to meet regularly with my Adviser through the year
• I have to go and see the Effective Learning Adviser for advice.

None of which is too bad.

Resit results

Wednesday

I failed the resit.

4 little words, thats all it takes, anyway I am now off to see my tutor this afternoon, mentally numb, mind whirling and such like.

Friday
Well after a few days to settle in, I have now come to grips with the fact that i have failed and that my number one target is now to get through the Progress Committee and be allowed to retake year 3 of the course. There are several things I need to sort out, but first I am going home for a week to relax and recharge my batteries as I am exhausted.

I'll probably not post again until I am back.

Elective - Day 0

Hmm night before elective and the nerves are kicking in

• Can I find it?

I know where I am going - theatre X in building Y.

• Will he remember?

Well he sent an email confirming the details so i guess it is more about what else may come up tomorrow morning.

• What do I do with money keys phone etc?

I assume there will be lockers, else stuff it in a rucsac and hope. I could leave the phone and change at home and just take a ten pound note or something

• What money will I need for lockers?

This goes against the idea of just taking a ten pound note.

• What hours will I be doing?
• Where will I be working?
• Will i have time for revision?
• What do I need to take with me?

Textbook guide, notebook, pens, ?stethoscope?

Oh well I find out what the world of Anaesthetics is like in 8 hours, and I still haven't sorted most of my to do list from yesterday yet.

Minor panic

My head is a lovely mess of minor panics today, so as ever, readers, you can help me come up with some answers!

• My junior elective starts Tuesday morning - I need to buy some more shirts, wash and iron them so I have enough to last a full week
• I need a hair cut.
• The library book still hasn't gone back yet. I must remember to drop it in on my way to my elective.
• I have know idea what hours I will be doing as part of my elective.......which makes planning any more revision tricky.
• I need to tell my elective supervisor that on the last 2 mornings of the elective I have resit exams, and on the 3rd Wednesday there is a revision session 10-1 that I would like to go to.
• As well as being on elective at hospital A, I need to visit my advisor of studies over at the main Uni which is next to hospital B - a good 40 minutes away.
• I am behind on my revision plan to cover the whole course by tomorrow night. Thsi stresses me out a lot.
• Work have introduced new silly shifts, so I might not be going back once my leave ends as they are so silly it is unreal.
• I was meant to have started my driving lessons by now to fit with my plan to get a car by mid-October.
• I also need to resit my theory test as it has expired.
• A friend is getting married next Saturday back home (over the border) and I'm not sure if I will be in hospital on my elective, or if I have time to go to the wedding, i could only be there for the church bit and the start of the evening bit anyway, before I would need to catch a train back.

And finally, despite visiting tesco yesterday, there is nothing i want to eat in the freezer or fridge. Annoying!

Oh the Pain.,....

I must have gone mad.

All this revision for resits is causing me to be less active (not at work, fixed to desk, no need to head up to Uni etc) and I have a habit of grazing while working - nuts, fruit gums, polos, yoghurts, carrots, crisps, biscuits - all handy for tidying the cupboards, but it appears to have caused an imbalance in the energy intake = energy expenditure equation, leading to potential weight gain.

Also because I am not burning any energy I get to 1am, and I am wide awake..... I eventually fall asleep at 5 or 6, but then want to sleep to 12 or 1pm...a vicious circle.

So while the rest of the UK is now on Thursday morning, I am on Wednesday night. In an effort to sort the sleep pattern,Ii was up all night - reading, doing some work, and then at 6am i decided to go for a jog.

For those of you not aware, it was raining at 6am. But I pulled on my Edinburgh hoodie, t-shirt shorts n trainers n set off. A 5 minute walk to the nearest park then a 25 minute set of circuits - alternating 5 minutes running with 2 of walking (to keep my heart rate under 1000 and so I could breathe).

I am now sore all the way up my legs, have a stitch an am still sweating crazily an hour later......but I do feel better for it. i may even try it tomorrow, if my knees still work.

Oh well time to have a shower, grab some coffee and start revising again.

A mixed up day

Well my week of interspersed good and bad news continued. This is post 100 on my blog (what do you mean you weren't counting?!?!!)

SSM Presentation
Today was the last day of my SSM (I know it's only Tuesday) and today was essay deadline and a presentation to do. In typical me style this year, I started wroiting my essay on the PC about 10pm last night. I had done some of the reading and a fair of thinking about the essay, but hadn't really decided which aspect of "Severe hearing impairment and its management" I was going to address.

SSM Essay
About 2am, it hit me like a flash - kaboom - and I wrote about the communication strategies which are available for deaf children. I won't bore you with all the details suffice to say that it was stuff that was new to me and hence made a hopefully good essay. I finished editing the essay and inserting references about 9am (and had had a 40mins sleep) and then started the presentation, which only took me about 45 minutes to write, since it was fairly basic text and I had most of the essay facts in my head.

SSM Result
We went in at 2pm and did our presentations, and handed the essay in, At the end of the presentations, the consultant had a few questions for us and then told us that we had passed the SSM!!!!!! The actual SSM grade does depend on what he thought of the essay and presentation though. And that was before he had even looked at our essays. He then asked us a few more questions about the best/worst aspects of the SSM, and what we would like more of if he runs it in the future, and then we were free!!!! Third year finished*

* except for the elective and resists

Wednesday's travels
In a very typical move, I forgot to return my Hospital Library books and so, tomorrow before I go to see the Head of Year 3 to discuss my exam performance and see where I went wrong, I hav eto go in the opposite direction to drop the library book off, thus I get no lie in!!! I also need to collect a letter from the Uni to my elective supervisor and then meet Little miss P for Hot Chocolate on her day off (she doesn't do coffee or tea!), then I am through to Edinburgh for the start of a 4 and a bit day extravaganza of techie stuff in Glasgow, interspersed with some work shifts and a party on Friday night.

So my blogging may be a wee bit haphazard until Monday.

But first i am off to celebrate Cott's being open til 1 through the festival by sampling the Addlestones with Butcher boy!

Resuscitation

Oh well, I failed this station in the OSCE ( a stand alone station0 and thus have a retraining and re-assessment day in mid June.