The breakfast of champions

The thing I love most about work is the home part. 

I get to cycle home, which is really refreshing no matter what the weather is, followed by a bowl of cereal, a game of guitar hero this morning and a beautiful glass of red wine.

It really is the breakfast of champions.

Night shift syndrome

It's the easter holidays now, which can mean only one thing. With no OSCE looming after the vacation, and only one assignment and one piece of PBL to do, both of which are mostly done, it's time to work my little arse off at the hospital doing night shift after night shift.

I've also recommenced days at the outdoor pursuits centre, which raised some eyebrows as I think they thought I'd quit. Being unwell for nearly 6 months combined with very cold weather does not make for an amazingly good idea. 

Tonight is my first proper night shift on the ENT ward, and I'm not that fazed by it. I quite like the ward and the majority of the patients are independent and can get themselves out to the bathroom etc*

That being said, I'm quite looking forward to it. Tomorrow night may be completely different. I'm 'specialling' a patient who has falls from bed a lot, and I could spend a lot of my night fighting them. 

*expect a post later saying that all hell has let loose....

Slacker

I can't believe that March has been and gone, and this is only my third blogpost....

It's been a remarkably busy month with lots of assessment and stress. There's also been placement somewhere down the line and another bout of dubious health.

All in all, not an amazingly blogworthy month.

Siamese banana

Siamese banana
Originally uploaded by merysjones

Nice freaky food I got from Sainsbury's.

Still, even deformed bananas need our love, and I did so by eating them quickly. I was rather peckish.

the all important question

no, not 'what is the meaning of life?'

but.. do I cut my own fringe?

My hair is getting quite a bit longer, and was previously quite short and has a fringe. I've been cursed with tons and tons of hair, which most people are jealous of, but its a bitch to manage. It's also neither curly nor straight.

My dilemma is this; I can't afford a haircut and I look like an old English sheepdog.

I've cut my fringe in the past with mixed results. It usually comes out OK, but I have this horrible feeling that something horrifically bad is gonna happen this time. I'm not sure why....

Because I'm a good little girl.

I'm on my second nightshift in a row and my body is feeling it quite substantially.

Last night I was tired before I hit the ward. I'd been pulling late nights and early mornings to get coursework in, and doing a MAU shift wasn's the best choice in the world, but it was the only option available through the bank so I took it.

Tonight I'm on a more sedate ward. More leisurely and calm. I am avoiding the Q word as all hell will let loose if I so much as type it, let alone speak it.

So far I have started my PBL and am soon to do some reflective journally type stuff as well. I'm aiming to be productive tonight.

I'm also aiming to be up at around 3pm later today, but I'm not convinced that will happen. I have a new phone and keep sleeping through the alarms on it.

Space and time

I started taking them again.

2 a day, just like before. Nothing different yet, but no chance to kick in really.

I was starting to lose determination to leave bed. Just like before.

The thing I haven't done is make a doctors appointment. I'm horribly sure I'll put it off until I need more tablets, and then I'll probably try and get away with a repeat prescription.

The other thing concerning me is my recent ill health. I'm still not 100% healthy. Around 68% if I'm truthful.  More healthy than not. More good days than not.

The problem is that I recently failed an exam when I wasn't well. The med school will probably want to speak to me about it. It's been suggested I take the year out and intercalate etc. 

I don't want to intercalate. It's giving up for me. It's the right decision for some people, but not for me. The failing of an exam had more circumstances around it than I can talk about here, but I really don't want to sit on the bench until September and start over. 

Green and yellow, but definitely not blue.

Over christmas I made a rather subconscious decision to stop taking Fluoxetine. Not particularly wise given it was Christmas time, but as I say, it was subconscious.

I had them with me, I just didn't take them for no particular reason.

I've been managing fine from a drop of 40mg to 0mg, yet the last two weeks seem to have pushed me too far.

I'm starting to recognise where I was in the first year when I started them in the first place, and I'm not sure what to do.

Do I start taking them again or bear it out? Part of me wants to avoid my GP and the 'I told you so' face, not to mention I can't get an appointment for 12 days with my normal Prozac GP.

What would you do?

Merchant Bankers The Saga (it would appear)

Deary me. 

The aforementioned 'Falihax' has breached the Data Protection Act. 

Someone who isn't me, and is in fact my mother went into a branch this morning and was given information about one of my bank accounts.

She went to report a pass book missing that is for one of my accounts (without my permission, but hey-ho) and was told that someone had been making withdrawals against the book. 

My mother and myself do not have similar names. We are not of similar ages (my date of birth is written next to my name) and she did not have the passbook. 

It's nice to know that in the last two days I can make two complaints against the same bank for two entirely different reasons. 

I think I will be moving banks.

MERYS' OPINION: DO NOT BANK WITH THESE GUYS.

Merchant Bankers

*CAUTION: STRONG VERY RANTY PERSONAL OPINION COMING UP - may not in fact make any grammatical sense whatsoever because I'm tired, financially f**cked again and upset.

I bank with a bank based in the North of England. Somewhere in West Yorkshire in fact. Not far from Leeds. Begins with a H... Uses an annoying man with glasses singing crap covers for their advertising campaigns. Recently got bailed out by another large high street bank... Get my gist?

I use their online banking system. A system which has recently shown my accounts to be all fine and in the black, yet I have been charged £35 for a failed payment for something. Now I'm no genius but I consider myself reasonably intelligent. If I've tried to make a payment for £23 and my bank balance is showing as above that, then why the f**k have you charged me £35?!

Despite them arguing that it's not an administrative error I'm still bloody puzzled. I tried arguing my case, they argued back.

Problem being, the payment has bounced (for which I will be charged seperately), the bank will charge me £35, which I can't afford so then I will probably get charged another £28.

The reason for all of this, the particular bank has still not sorted out my new student account because, and I quote the regional manager 'no-one is a student for more than 6 years and you can't have a student account even if you are a medical student'. It took customer services and a lot of crying to get an account sorted, and if that account had yet been activated then the charge would have only been £25. Would they reverse the charge, would they bollocks.

Irritatingly I'd been in and deposited £40 later in the day so hadn't ever gone overdrawn (the account wouldn't let me). Had this been Lloyds TSB I'd've been charged nothing (they charge £6 per day overdrawn unauthorised. I would've been overdrawn by 3 hours.)

Moral of this story. This bank does not support students.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THEIR £3000 OVERDRAFT THEY WILL NOT SUPPORT YOU - ESPECIALLY IF YOU NEED TO EXTEND YOUR ACCOUNT TO POSTGRADUATE.