This time I've put off writing for over a month, so that I could finally write 'hurray I've found my feet, second year is okay now!'
Yet this still this has not happened. Med is still doing my head in. It is a little like a kid waiting for Father Christmas to come, and yet he never does. Waiting day after day, with such eager hope and continually being disappointed is rather hard to deal with. So... I've decided to accept that second year will never be easy and will be borderline impossible.
I remember once when I was worn out and barely had the energy to walk to school. I would push myself to walk from one pretty flower to the next (or to another such highlight 5 metres ahead). All I had to do was keep walking and focus on the joy along the way. I did this for a few weeks and successfully made it to school every day. If I had focussed on the 1500 metres instead I never would have made it- I was just too tired.
This is how I'm going to treat second year. Each day I'll focus on the joy of what I'm learning. I will refuse to think about the massive pool of knowledge I must conquer.
There have been several highlights this year:
1. I have finally given injections! Unlike the movies I did not practice first on oranges- I went straight to an unsuspecting lady. Thankfully flu shots aren't too hard to give.
2. I have learnt to take blood. This is much harder to do, and I practised on a mannequin first. Under his plastic skin was a tube full of fake blood.
3. This is probably quite nerdy, but it is so nice to understand a little about medical conditions that I've heard bantered around for years. These include: COPD (bronchitis, emphysema), pneumonia, tuberculosis, inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), cirrhosis of the liver, GORD, DVT, infective endocarditis, rheumatic heart disease, arrhythmias, fibroids, endometriosis, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis.
4. I had lots of people over during the Easter break. It was so much fun to just take time out to cook real food and spend time with people. Perhaps it was even more special because 15 months ago I knew none of these people. Slowly Perth is becoming my other home.
5. Almost everyday I walk along the beach as the sun is setting. The sunsets almost rival those of Darwin.
Off to take a few more steps.... :)
