Smoking ban blows across Europe

The Turkey-smoking ban came in today

I don't see all the fuss myself; I never craved the idea of lighting up a turkey.

Bit of a paltry (poultry...eh? eh?) blog entry, I'm afraid.

Oh, and obviously: I guess they'll have to quite cold turkey.

Lost in Space. And Time

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I must admit, I've missed blogging lately, yet every time I sat to write something, I'd inevitably get tired of what I was writing, and simply give up!

It's been over 2 weeks since I got my results, and it has been an unnerving experience since:  I have felt completely lost, with all this new free time.  Not having a cause to leave the apartment daily has resulted in me just staying in.  Now this isn't all bad; our recent purchase of a new 32 inch LCD and NTL:Chorus (UPC) delivering lots of digital channels, a Digital Video Recorder and 12MB Broadband has cushioned somewhat the "stay at home" lifestyle.  The new Wii and XBox 360 games helped too!  But there's only so much couch-potatoing one can stand.

But all is not lost.  I just got a call from a private clinic in Dundrum, who had called me yesterday asking me to attend an interview on Thursday.  They no longer want to interview me, but said I can just start on Thursday!  It's very exciting, and will certainly make the summer less dull.  It's an ideal summer job inasmuch as it's "temp" work, and so there's no obligation to sign some lengthy contract; an issue I was facing with other applications I had made.  I'm assisting their Well At Work clinic, which sounds easy enough, and Dundrum isn't that far (the LUAS being only 15mins or so from the apartment).  Better still, the clinic is quite literally at the Balally LUAS stop, so there's no annoying trek once off the LUAS.  And, I can lunch at Dundrum Shopping Centre!  Nothing like an overpriced coffee and panino.

Other than that, have you heard all the aul' goss' about the 3G iPhone??  Next week, mayhaps?

Bring it on!

Finals finished. Finally

It's done!  At last!

Had medicine clinicals yesterday, and surgery today.  And now it's over!  They put up a list at the end of each day for the Vivas (oral exams).  It works like this: if you haven't passed based on your written and clinicals, you do a Viva.  For some, it means they'll get the extra few percent to push them up.  For others (who were way off), it's a chance for the examiners to ask them what went wrong.  The short of it is, that, if you're not on the list, you passed.  I wasn't on either the medicine or surgery Viva list, so....YAY!!!!!

So what did I get?  Well:

Medicine Long Case: Ulcerative Colitis.

Medicine Short Case 1: Splenomegaly

Medicine Short Case 2: Mitral Valve Stenosis, complicated by Congestive Cardiac Failure

Medicine Short Case 3: Psoriasis

Surgery Long Case: Incisional Hernia

Surgery Short Case 1: Post Left Hemicolectomy (at least, I assume it was!), with colostomy, urinary catheter, surgical drain, and subcutaneous porta-cath.  Probably had colon cancer.

Surgery Short Case 2: Right leg in traction; externally rotated limb, shorter than the left.  Hip fracture was the obvious problem here.  Was asked about the TED stocking he had.  Prevents DVT.  Blah blah..

All-in-all, it was all quite nice.  Never been so stressed in my life though.  Still can't quite believe that my time at medical school (and Trinity) is now over!  Oh my God, I'm actually finished!  THAT'S IT!  And I passed!

Shall start blogging again soon, once I've caught up on sleep and remember how to form non-medical sentences.

(Dr.) Trefusis Madding

Going mad

Had medicine final on Monday.  It was alright.  Had surgery this morning.  It was super.  Have more surgery this afternoon.  Not so super.  Haven't slept.  Pulled an all-nighter.  It was worth it.  Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism came up; only really learned EXACTLY how to treat that last night.  Had the most detailed work-up to diagnose it committed to my head too.  Pure chance; pure luck; pure swell.  

Oh, pre-operative management of Phaeochromocytoma was there too.  Most of the class cried.  I (assuming they'd be fucking ass holes) learned it.  Phew.  They also put in a bitch of a question at the end.  Probably for the kids who want a Gold Medal; I winged it.  I won't be getting a medal!  It was all to do with some bloke who had unilateral visual loss.  The only other thing they mentioned was his age and that he smoked.  That was it.  Nothing else.  Needless to say the differential diagnosis was as long as one's imagination.  Mine listed 18 conditions, which meant I had to formulate tests/investigations to decide the cause.  Bitch of a question.  I'm still not totally convinced that my one suggestion of "vertebro-basilar insufficiency" actually exists.  But if it does, it would likely cause the problem!  Ah maybe it does, and maybe there's an obscure NEJM article all about it, and I'll impress someone; or more likely, I'll loose marks for faking it and being a dumb-ass.  Meh!

Anyway.  Must dash.  More exams in an hour.

Erk - can't wait to finish.

Going mad.

Listen Up O2 Ireland! iPhone Plan is a Rip Off

You've all heard my ranting about the rip off cost of buying an iPhone in Ireland and the awful plans being offered by O2.  If you haven't, this is a good start.

Well, so far, over 400 people have come to my blog by searching for "iPhone overpriced Ireland", "O2 Ireland Rip Off", and similar.

And that's just my silly blog.

Come on O2 Ireland; time to listen up!