{"id":419,"date":"2018-12-04T21:20:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/carer\/?p=419"},"modified":"2018-12-04T21:20:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T21:20:00","slug":"november-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/carer\/november-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"November in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well met, reader! Not long until Christmas…<\/p>\n

We are further into Winter. My nose runs; the house freezes around us. In the mornings I drive to Mach wearing my coat and with the dashboard heater jets pointing at my numb hands on the steering wheel. I grew used to the darkness beating me home but on top of this a few days ago I had to defrost the back window before setting off home. Chest infections are on the rise in the surgery, and all the patients come in wrapped in every layer they own, gently unwinding scarves, coats, cardigans and fleeces as they sit themselves down.<\/p>\n

When will it snow? Will it flood? The sea has changed. In the twilight starlings flit in great swarms above the sea front and under the pier and even today driving North I saw a huge red kite twist in flight.<\/p>\n

If the weather is clear the scenery shines through. All the oaks long ago lost their foliage and now crooked arms weave up between the fields or covering the flanks of the hills \u2013 no more dense greenery. Six of us recently took up an invitation to climb Cadair Idris, or Idris\u2019s Chair, a steep volcanic formation looking North into Snowdonia Park. On the day we climbed the visibility was stunning and the wind ripped warmth away from everything and everyone. Down in the valley below the sun shone but on the peaks any heat was scattered as we fought not to be blown off our feet and dashed on the rocks. Most of the views as we walked were bare and uncluttered: no roads, no fields, no pylons or turbines. Just red and dun grass, bare heather and sharp broken rocks stretching out all around us in the bright light and cloudless air.<\/p>\n

\"\"
My thanks to Mark Lewis for sending this to me, along with several other images from the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
The site just below the peak where we had a freezing cold lunch break.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had a two week hospital placement at the start of November. I was given a pass, brought up to one of the wards and assigned to general surgery. In a hospital there is a lot of waiting. I was always waiting: waiting for a ward round, for a patient at theatre, for the rest of a team, for the anaesthetist, for anything\u2026 but there were rewards for this patience. I was allowed to watch as orthopaedic teams replaced knees and hips, or dragged metal plates away from old ankle fractures. Being taught about adhesions from Monday through to Thursday paid off when I was permitted to scrub in to a laparotomy on a patient with suspected adhesions from her hysterectomy a week previous, and when I held instruments and actually helped reclose the original incision using staples.<\/p>\n

As well as hospital placement we have of course been in with the GPs as usual. I have had a rare one or two consultations where I knew<\/em> what I was doing \u2013 not guessing, but actually sure of what was going on and what to do next. A patient recently thanked me, called me a very good listener \u2013 very flattering. Sometimes it\u2019s naturally been the right thing to check on a patient in a week or two and now myself and the GP are making sure they are booked in with me for their follow up. On the drive home I\u2019m filled with hope that the next time I see them things are on the mend.<\/p>\n

And finally where would we be without sport in Aberystwyth? The freezing temperatures haven\u2019t stopped me so far and I don\u2019t see why they should. At training with the university athletics club everyone stays in their layers a little longer every week, but they still keep coming and I\u2019m no different. The Aber 10k is coming up soon and hopefully it will be a clear day. I don\u2019t know why the region isn\u2019t marketed as a one-stop-shop for health and fitness: I\u2019ve never felt better in my life.<\/p>\n

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Again, my sincere thanks to Mark Lewis for sending me the photos featured here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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