Seconds

So, another day, another something-or-other. 1% of my bursary earned, maybe.

Yesterday was awesome. I teamed up with a senior sister (Do I get to be called a sister when I'm promoted that high, I wonder?) after attending a very useful MDT (multi-disciplinary team) Meeting and nodding along for a while. In typical 'That's the kind of man I am' style I spoke up as an advocate for some of my patients. I either looked like a dickhead or quite brave, but I'll settle for looking like a brave dickhead.

The rest of the day just got better. I haven't met anyone on placement who didn't mind my constant curiosity, but the nurse I was working under yesterday revelled in it, so I plugged her for a lot of information. As something of a payback, I think, she encouraged me to get involved in the form of subcutaneous injections.

For the uninformed of you out there, a subcutaneous injection is a piece of piss, really. It goes to the deepest layer of the skin, rather than the quite difficult to hit vein or muscle. It's a superficial injection which means I can simply disperse itself around the body at it's leisure. More urgent treatments need the aforementioned vessel or muscle entry which means they act more quickly.

My first one was bizzare. You squeeze a roll of fat on a person and then push a sharp thing into their body. A singular experience. But after the hump of the first one, which apparently wasn't too painful, I went from strength to strength. Which pleases me.

So why am I posting now and not at work? Well. My shift has been moved from an early to a late. Which means I don't get to go out and get drunk tonight. But on the plus side, lates are more relaxed than earlies and I get to work with my mentor. Which is the whole point of this placement, so I can live with missing a few pints.

What else? Some of the stories of patients on my ward bring a tear to the eye of this cynic, I can tell you that much without revealing anything confidential. Really puts life into a new light - probably why I'm more willing to switch shifts and miss going out on the ale, I reckon. Something to think about.