Friday, December 23, 2005

the christmas of a disheartened doctor

it has been five extremely busy days. work has been punishing as always with insufferable late finishes.

the big plus was that my good old bro-seph from Vancouver has been in town so we have been schmoozing around london all week. it has also been quite heavy from a beer perspective and i have had to tolerate his insistence on drinking Newcastle Brown Ale which, for those uninitiated, tastes like tepid hard water. i on the other hand much prefer the gaseous slip of monsieur kronenberg.

but i have been trying to condense the best and worst of London into a few evenings and i certainly have a had an absolute ball. we were privvy to a performance by the worst singer-songwriter in the world at the 12 Bar on Denmark Street. there are photos and video footage which i shall endeavour to post.

needless to say i am shattered by 2am bedtimes and 6.30am wake ups, in addition to the sheer amount of crap at work such as the inability of a handover to be completed at 5.30pm, not because of sick patients but because people are too busy getting cups of tea, discussing their plans for the holidays etc.

ah yes holidays.

as mentioned before i am NOT going to be seeing any loved ones this year (excuse me, for the THIRD year in a row) but instead am getting ready to go into the hospital. it would of course be impossible to organise a rota where the holiday period shifts are equally divided amongst staff so that everyone gets at least one day off. no much easier to completely screw one doctor over (well two - the poor bastard who has to do the day shifts over xmas). so today after waving off my friend and then snatching a few hours with my special ladyfriend before also waving her off, i have been twiddling my thumbs at home. she has kindly left me loads of presents to open on christmas day and made a hamper for me to take in on christmas eve (she is the best!) but it's no way the same.

this christmas eve, santa will do his on call (1 in 365) whizz through london whilst i shall be on the ward trying to make the best of it. and then i shall return home on christmas morning (though i am not sure how because there is no public transport and hmmm of course the hospital has organised transport for its workers not) to my cold flat, maybe eat my turkey dinner for one or perhaps forgo it in favour of sleep. then, whilst families in the rest of england sits bloated in front of the telly, i shall begin my trudge again into work.

i love medicine. everyday i work as hard as possible and try to do the best for the patients even when my motivation levels are below zero.

but, i really did not sign up for this continual soul whipping.

anyway (this is sincere) wherever you are and whatever you are doing, have a great christmas everyone.

[i am listening to one of my favourite songs in the world: one of these things first by nick drake]

5 comments:

Dr Vegas said...

Solidarity. I spent 10 hours at work yesterday (a Bank Holiday). Don't know if that will make you feel better or worse.

Dazed And Confused said...

not exactly sure what the trackback facility is hence not present on the blog.

oh yes and i'm not a surgical trainee - general med (well nephrology currently) all the way.

and very flexible as it happens! as for cynical... i guess so. but i put it down to seeing what is going on around me and actually thinking about it as opposed to the majority who just seem to carry on with a "well i'm just here to get my wages" attitude.

i'm convinced that this is why the whole system is failing. people are happier plodding on with the view that "in x months/years time i shall be working somewhere else and what do i care then" than actually doing something.

to be honest all *i'm* doing about it is bitch on a blog which you could argue is ultimately pointless. it depends whether you believe that thinking about it is any different to ignoring.

but yes. depressing

Anonymous said...

why not come to Sri Lanka? ;)

insider said...

Wishing You a HAPPY New Year.

Look after yourself!

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