Becoming a doctor...

Quite a few days have passed since when I last posted on here...

I have been quite busy with studying for tests... so many tests in so little time!

Cell Biology, DNA structure and function, Maths, Human Body... even awful Health & Safety!

Mind you, all very interesting, but it feels like I don't have much time to do anything else but studying...
Even my beloved Red Cross has fallen a bit in the reserve tank of "things-to-do-when-I'll-have-a-bit-more-time" kind of activity, and it feels so strange since that has been my priority for so long!

We're on a week off from studying, a week where I could indeed sit in front of the TV and do absolutely nothing since the tests are done, the lessons don't begin again until the 21st and there is nothing outside my door that really attracts me...

But I don't seem to be able to rest... probably because if I did take time off from studying I'd end up thinking about all the other millions of things that need to be dealt with and I feel slightly overwhelmed at the moment...

So I study...

Becoming a doctor (a good, responsible doctor, that is...) requests much effort even from these early stages.
So I open my book and properly keep my nose into it...

Can you see me?!?

A new breed of heroes

Yesterday was quite a day… and I mean QUITE a day!
We started by getting up at 2.30am, some of us even slightly earlier.

We met in town and got divided into 2 cars to drive down from Edinburgh to South Shields to help out the 1st aiders for the Great North Run. As the event's website says, this is the world’s biggest, most prestigious half-marathon!

Fact is, we expected about 50,000 runners, we had a full field hospital operational plus several other 1st aid posts scattered along the route.

For those coming down from Edinburgh the tradition is to stop kind of half way there at the Purdy Inn (though we still call it Greasy Joe's from the previous owners!) and have breakfast all together before the long day begins.

All in all this year was good... a few hiccups here and there but nothing related to us who mostly
dealt with grazes, blisters, friction burns (yes, we did hand out quite a lot of Vaseline!), exhaustion, dehydration and some strains and sprains…

In a quiet moment I even went for a walk and befriended the most amazing guide dog ever...

... while the Red Arrows were painting in the sky!

What we did was hardly exciting for some of the best 1st aiders in the UK (...and sorry if I keep on reminding you guys that we did win the national 1st aid competition!) but after all, what needs to be done needs to be done and so we took care of it… after all it’s about the people and not about us!

But yeah, we were indeed complaining about boredom on the way back up to Edinburgh and do you know how much time for complaining there is in a 3 hours drive?!?

Except… someone had some other plans for us instead of letting us wasting such a long time.

Just about 10 minutes after we had left the race we came to a roundabout and we noticed a car shooting towards the lights, glass on the floor, a man from another vehicle running inside the hit car and we just knew it was time for us to spring into action!

Dan, Rachel, Scott and I jumped out of our car and ran across the road to assist at the crash site.
A bus had just rear ended the car whose back windscreen had literally exploded.
Dan and I started taking care of the car driver while Scott and Rachel ran to the bus to make sure the driver was ok too.

For those who imagine ER rescuing it really was nothing of that sort... but in a certain sense it was better!

All of our equipment was on another vehicle, we were just going home and happened to come across someone who needed help and what made it special was the way we all worked together as a team.

No rehearsal, no warning, no time to panic!

The ambulance was called, so were the fire brigades…
Fluorescent jackets on, we made the are safe, hazard lights on, hand break pulled, ignition key out of the panel, briefing ready for the emergency services, reassuring words for the two casualties and all of this done looking after each other as well as looking after the 2 people in need!

I have rarely seen such coordination in a team without the need of a leader, we all knew what we had to do and swapped positions around to make sure that everything was done in the best way…

When we left the scene of the accident the atmosphere in the car was very different from the one there was when we came across the crash.
Our spirits were high, we did what we have been training for a long time to do and we did it well… how rewarding! And how wonderful to be able to help people when they need it…

We were so high from the experience that we decided we had to celebrate and ended up going to the movies together and getting a massive ice-cream…

When the movie finished I innocently said: “So, hand up if you didn’t fall asleep at least 10 minutes during the show”… Nobody actually lifted the hand and we just started laughing…

Apparently being the new breed of heroes can be quite tyring!

Me and my chocolate-truffle wellies...

Perth College organised an adventure day out for our class today.
After 3 days of almost solid rain, today was absolutely gorgeous… too bad it was freezing!

Anyway, after getting out of bed at silly o’clock, I had breakfast, played a bit with the kitties and then dragged my sleepy face back to the bedroom to decide what to wear since I knew we were going to climb up trees and stuff like that…
Not like I have many ‘lumberjack–like’ attires, and you know me, I am a girlie girl so I had to think hard at what I wanted to wear.

Jeans? Hm, maybe…
A long sleeve top? Yeah but it’s so cold outside…
Trainers? Would be the ideal choice but what if they get tree sap or mud on them? They’re pink!!!

So after much consideration I wore a pair of black jeans, a nice woolen jumper, a warm jacket and I pulled out of the cupboard my wellies.
See, my wellies are not normal, boring wellies… They are decorated with a picture of chocolate truffles which makes them perfect for a girl to wear.
They are comfortable, keep your feet dry and warm and they are so über cool!

So off I went, drove for an hour from Edinburgh to Perth and got on the minibus driven by our lecturer to Dunolly Park with the rest of my classmates.

Today turned out to be a day of great achievements.

I managed to climb to the top of a 60-foot tree and to beat the record of crate stacking in my group… Not bad for someone who doesn’t like to be higher than 1 foot off the ground!
When I got to the top of the tree I was so elated I could hardly breathe.My arms and legs were quite sore and shaking from the climb and looking down wasn’t exactly an option!

I staid up there for a minute and in this short time a few thoughts went through my head…

If you put your mind to it you can achieve anything…
If you fail the first time why not try a second one?
If you can’t do a particular thing it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to do other ones…

As I let myself slide down, hanging on for dear life to the rope, I felt so good!

As the morning progressed I tried a few more things with my friends which turned out to be so much fun as we got to know each other better.

At the end of the challenges we all gathered in the garden for a nice BBQ before going back home and almost asleep on the bus, with my head about to fall on Simon’s shoulder, I did think my chocolate-truffle wellies and I had a great day!