the rolling donut

contains a source of phenylalanine

Tuesday, April 27, 2004
 
long day today for what was my final day shift on the unit. odd feeling. left work at around 2330 cuz stuck around after shift to follow an organ harvest. not seen one before. guess you dont unless you work in transplantation.

earlier in the day, we had pronounced brainstem death on a type a thoracic aortic dissection repair patient that had suffered subarachnoid haemorrhage with extensive swelling and tonsillar herniation. i got hold of the transplant coordinator after a long talk with next of kin. only the liver was harvested in the end, kidneys deemed unsuitable.

strange way to end my last formal day shift on the unit. =|

food of the day:

doner and chips from some dodgy late opening kebab house near the hospital on way home. nowhere else open at midnight during the week.

finally managed to get my friday night covered, so looking forward to the big sesh... \o/

listened to:

would you believe it, another manufactured pop band springs to life, a clone from the steps stable, called (ironically)... "pop!". their debut single is "heaven and earth", uk release 24/5/04.

Saturday, April 24, 2004
 
ok, so finally managed to make it back home from dinner with the boss.

from what his wife was saying, it seems that tonight was indeed a significant landmark for our boss, instigator of this new staffing system for a brand new, state of the art unit that saw the introduction of clinical fellows for the first time in the units history.

of the seven clinical fellows past and present from the units inaugural year, five had made it. niven, nina, vanessa, adrian and myself were there; tony was on nights and argy had gone back to greece after leaving the unit.

not the slickest of journeys home. left with vanessa, going same direction. got delayed in vauxhall looking for somewhere to take a slash (both of us!). then took a while to hail a cab to get vanessa home. taxis dont go "south of the river" in the middle of the night and all that. anyhow, after that, rest of journey home was fine.

always remember to use the bathroom before leaving a dinner party. hmm...

listened to:

"hey papi", alex cartana. uk release 26/4/04. shes good.

food of the day:

starter - courgette farfalle, freshly grated parmesan
main - lemon mustard chicken, saffron rice, cherry tomato & avocado salad
dessert - tarte au citron, fresh whipped cream
spring water (sparkling & still), green tea

Thursday, April 22, 2004
 
thank god/christ/tim berners-lee/linus torvalds/all that is good on this earth...

the donor patient tested negative for hep b, hep c and hiv-1 & hiv-2. what a fucking relief. still cant believe how stupid i was to stick myself. only thing left to worry about now is a sore deltoid from yesterdays hep b booster.

managed to sort out the venue for the leaving party. poster is up now. have booked my fav karaoke place in chinatown. the manager knows me, so should be a good deal again.

news:

- two trains carrying dodgy material have collided and exploded at a station in ryongchon, north korea, near the chinese border. no official comment about the incident from the government, despite 3000 injured/killed, a state of emergency being declared and the president passing through that same station earlier in the day. hmm...
- the organization of the islamic conference, meeting early (arafat had called for the original date next month to be brought forward) in putrajaya, malaysia, has denounced the latest dubya policies on israel and iraq. surprise surprise...
- not much else going on in the world today really. oh well...

food of the day:

lamb shawarma kebab with chips (no bread) and salad, topped with house chilli, garlic and (extra of) sesame sauces

Wednesday, April 21, 2004
 
so i came out of the second worst part of the rota cycle, the bit where we work long days on fri/sat/sun/tue in a row, second only to the week of nights.

tiring, but not so bad. got in some good procedures over these four shifts. couple of central lines, floated a swan, sited a haemofiltration catheter, downsized one of our two trache patients to a mini, gave bronch visual for adrian while he tracheed the one remaining pneumonectomy lady from earlier in the week. off now for another couple days, using up more annual leave. got an invite to dinner with the boss on friday, all clinical fellows, past and present (there have only been 7 of us since this new staffing system started last august!).

need to get out of the following fridays night shift too (back on nights in my final week of this rotation; started with nights, finishing with nights. *sigh*), cuz thats the night that denise and michelle have chosen for their leaving party, which i was gonna make the combined leaving party for me and five other residents on the unit too. gonna see if i can find one of the flexible trainees to cover. heres hoping...

food of the day:

had a cornish pasty for lunch from the west cornwall pasty co today. cheese & mushroom. had a walnut layer cake later.

listened to:

"i like it", narcotic thrust. check it out.

oh, one stupid thing however yesterday. stuck myself. havent done so for YEARS. man, what a stupid STUPID thing to do. i never approach a needle from the tip end, always from behind the hub end... dunno why the fuck i decided that it would be easier to pick this one up with my palm over the tip. did all the standard things. went to occupational health today to report the incident. STUPID STUPID STUPID.

not in the mood for news. loads of kids killed in basra. just gonna go watch er.

Monday, April 12, 2004
 
so its easter monday today and i was back at work for the first time after my exam break. bank holiday... should be fine. always strange to be back after being away for a while. on the one hand, it gets boring without the stimulation of being in the hospital. yet as soon as you set foot in, all the reasons why you need a break away become immediately apparent again. anyhow, as far as skills go, youd think youd be somewhat rusty after a gap, but its like riding a bike, it all just comes back straight away.

the unit has been fairly efficient while ive been away it looks like. productivity has got to such a level that elective waiting times have come right down, with a standard cabg or valve only waiting a couple weeks now! impressive or what! means that there have only been like 4 cases or less a day for the last couple weeks, which is great from the units point of view... less patients for us! woohoo!

so i come back to only 6 patients on the unit, 3 of which were new admissions from overnight, which meant that there had only been 3 patients over the weekend! furthermore, 2 of those had been there from when i went on my break! good to see both of them are now on tracheostomy weaning programs. so went round for the morning, pretty benign, just a couple repeat chest xrays to order. watched a couple of the new admissions quite closely, both pneumonectomy patients going on only one good lung. somewhat concerned about the young cabg guy who had a 20% ejection fraction beforehand. still underfilled imho.

anyhow, day went ok until, just my luck, started to feel feverish. only suffered a bad cold about a month ago, surely not coming down with another?

noone on dnuk chat tonight.

food of the day:

was so hungry on the way home from work tonight that i had to pop into a chippy near the hospital. saveloy and chips. lots of vinegar, no salt. then penne with veggies at home.

Thursday, April 08, 2004
 
so its been a couple days since the exam and yet more stuff that i flunked at each station keeps popping into my head without even thinking about it. was i supposed to perform the whole mental state exam or just make a risk assessment (as i did) at the paracetamol od station? why the fuck did i tug on that chest drain suture so hard? ive done loads and have NEVER snapped a suture like that. and i deliberately looked for scars on that chest exam mans chest... i swear i saw none! man, how do you stop these thoughts from appearing? =|

watched a new show on bbc tonight called "trauma". filmed at my old unit, the ed at the royal london hospital in whitechapel, with a focus on the london hems* service. both my old bosses appeared on the series opener, a full article on gareth davies sticking a chest tube into a young traumatic haemothorax and a fleeting glimpse of alastair wilson in action on the floor. brings back memories, both good and bad. some of my best days and my most bleak days were worked in that whitechapel resus room...

food of the day:

roast leg of lamb, peas, carrots, mushrooms, roast potatoes, gravy

----
* helicopter emergency medical service

Tuesday, April 06, 2004
 
right, thats it. flunked the gillick competence station. suture snapped while trying to fix chest tube. nuff sed. oh well... *sigh*

went to a talk by alain de botton afterwards. interesting guy. philosopher and writer/broadcaster. looks like someone else thinks this current obsession with fame and celebrity and all this hello! magazine lifestyle is totally lame. someone with sense at last! its true... hair straighteners, the downfall of society as we know it. bleak. oh well... *sigh*

so i come home to see if arsenal are through to the semis... and i find that chelsea score with 3 minutes to go! *sigh*

and to top it all, after going to all that trouble... no plaster station! argh!!

there is no hope...

food of the day:

grabbed lunch in a branch of subway that happened to be next to st marys after the osce. a footlong seafood & crab on parmesan oregano with extra sweet onion sauce.

Monday, April 05, 2004
 
rheumatic fever. RHEUMATIC FEVER. htf was i supposed to get that from a blurry lame pic of a baby with a diffuse erythematous maculopapular rash! i was thinking erythema multiforme, cuz there were a few that looked like they had the pale centre of target lesions... turns out it was erythema marginatum! and the way the subsequent questions were worded, should have known... they wanted "cutaneous and systemic complications". that could only mean subcutaneous nodules, pancarditis (with a new murmur), sydenhams chorea... man, i knew all that! just couldnt get it from that stupid baby pic! argh!!

so things are not going well... =|

ok, so the second paper (osce) is in the morning. went to see barry for some last minute advice on colles backslabs. i know this will come up.

"point break" is on. as good as keanu is in it, no, wont be watching this movie again. need to perfect that ultimate suture knot by 9am...

food of the day:

had an interesting lamb casserole at the hospital today, followed by a quite tart gooseberry crumble with custard.

listened to (again, cuz i really do like it a lot):

"stuck in the middle", clea

Saturday, April 03, 2004
 
well, its been a few weeks since the donut last rolled... busy busy busy and all that. nevertheless, must make more of an effort to return to the true and original donut flavour, that of a snapshot of life with and the accompanying turmoil consequent from the neverending quest for decent food. =)

the day of lots of things that shouldnt be asked...

so this weekend, i will be getting my hair cut and refreshing my memory on the finer aspects of sizing up hard collars and neonatal endotracheal tubes. dont ask why...

chloe came down last week. returned to norwich more enlightened about sushi. result. finally made contact with yvette too, after her disappearance to oz just before xmas. i wonder how much that call will actually cost... =/

spain has another terror threat discovered in time, a bomb similar to those used in the madrid train attacks last month was found under a high speed track near toledo on the line from madrid to seville. michael grade was appointed chairman of the bbc yesterday. hes a fellow old dunstonian, but i heard that he didnt leave at the end. something about being expelled for some trouser prank? i also see that dubya is now boring the pants off his conference delegates...

was doing a search on traditional chinese medicine and came across melissas london adventure. how the hell did that google itself into traditional chinese medicine?! again, dont ask... nevertheless, she seems to be having a great time over here. what id like to know is... how does she get into all those celebrity premieres and awards ceremonies? lucky bastard! take me next time! =P

listened to:

"you are alive", fragma feat damae

food of the day:

bounty® ice cream mango

oh yeah, various things at the end...

IDEA
"the rolling donut" was inspired by jen jens "its a zoo out there".
she really needs to cut down on reality tv. is seriously hazardous to her health! =)

INTERESTING
others worth checking out: alas, these are all people that either have had the misfortune to have stumbled over the donut, or have mysteriously been stumbled upon by the donut. still...

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
dont panic!
other stuff should appear here soon too, when i have the time. links to all kindsa diff things. watch this space!
and yeah, i know this layout is lame. gimme time! css takes a while to sort out! =(

CONTACT
well, if anyone wants to get hold of me, umm... please dont. unless its funny (and i mean haha funny, not weird funny!), in which case go ahead.
ill be at the usual place i guess.
NOTICE TO SPAMMERS: SUCK MY GUTS

DISCLAIMER
if anything described is inaccurate/is inappropriate/pisses you off, let me know and ill rectify immediately.

© psychotic banana 2003-2006
ask before stealing any material off here.




man, ive gotta put this in, is one of my alltime favs... mr abc and friends. joe dean is a genius!
finally, if you wanna see some funny shit, click here. =)

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