(Cont. from previous post) I was a 2007 entrant, so right now I'm in the first year, for the second time around... which i will explain later in this post! So back in 2007, once the excitement of getting the place had set in, i got to work looking for accomodation, even though i was a local student, I wanted to embrace the full student life! I got the reading list and my parents took me out and literally bought me everything on the list (although I'm sure they couldn't afford to...!), something I now realise was a complete waste of money as i use about 20% of my books, plus I do most of my work in the library, of which has all the books anyway! So if you haven't yet done so, don't get excited like me and go out and buy everything they tell you to, just wait and see which you use, then buy those!
Turns out, because I'm a local student I was last on the list for accomodation, so I ended up renting a room in a house with some second year medics. It was nice, but I made friends with some freshers who lived in a flat and some who lived in the halls, so i ended up staying over in peoples rooms every night and never at the room i was renting. After a few weeks, i realised the rent money i was paying every week could go to alot better use i.e. drinking! And as i was only paying per week and had no contract, I decided to move back home and use the rent money on other things!
Once the course started, I was surprised at the lack of lectures which we had. And even to this day, we dont really spend that much time in uni, you are 'supposed' to do most of the work alone. There is usually 2 hours of lectures on four days of the week and generally one day would have 4 hours of lectures. Then there would be 2 hours of anatomy on one of the days, and every week there would be one hour of small group teaching. Theres a 2 hr practical session where you mess with ECGs and stuff and that is basically the week of a first year medic! I later found out that you are supposed to do 2 hours of private reading for every hour of lectures or teaching attended...but i reackon about 1% of the year group actually do that much at the start as that would add up to over 24hrs each week!
So I was going to my lectures, but spending ALOT of time going out, but thats what freshers do right?! I would be going out to the various union nights and then back to my friends rooms and halls for parties, getting to bed around 5 then getting up at 8 for lectures! This wasnt the most effective way to learn as theres only so much proplus tablets can do!
It was around november time (we start in september) that my grandparents both got really sick, my nan was confined to her bed, and my grandad who had really bad cancer and heart problems was left to care for her, which he wasn't physically fit to do. They had looked after me from a very young age and we were very close. So to cut a long story short, I started spending basically all my time looking after them, which was both time consuming and emotionally tiring, so my work was getting effected, quite badly. It was around january that they were both admitted to hospital, and lots of things started going wrong within my family. In february my nan had a really bad stroke. She knew her husband was dying, but she couldnt communicate with him or say the things she wanted to, It was such a heart breaking situation, she now needed 24hr care. Lots more things went wrong around then , so I decided to take a late gap year, I was aloud to return for the start of the next year (the year im now in), I now had time to spend time with my grandad during his last weeks, and then care for my nan untill we established what was going to happen for her. She now lives with us and taking the year out was the best thing i ever did.
So that was another set back in my progression to my dream career! I realised that progressing through medical school is alot more than just passing the exams, its about gaining the knowledge to be a good doctor. I could have probably passed the exams with a 3, you are scored either 5 being the best, down to a 3 being the worst, but you can progress through on 3's. However, the first year is the only time you get to learn about the CVS, respiratory and GI systems, and without that knowledge I was going to be hindered throughout med. school. I also treated myself to the medic ski trip, as i had spare money from my loan, on that trip I met my now partner, who I love to bits and is such a huge help to me both emotionally and by helping me learn (he is now a 5th year medic and about to start his F1 job) so by dropping out of the year I have not only gained more knowledge, I met my parntner and feel so much happier!
This year I have worked so hard, everything seems so much easier than last year and my mind is dedicated to the course! Up to now I have passed all my SSC's (We have assignments like performing a presentation about a certain type of drug to our small groups, or writing essays on certain medically related topics) and my understanding of the individual modules is clear! I might not pass with the highest grades but most of my assignments have been good (where the range is excellent, good, satisfactory, then borderline which is a fail) I have realised that the actual content of the course is pretty easy stuff if you sit and learn it properly, its just the quantity of the work that makes things difficult, having to remember everything as you go into such complex detail! But if I could give ny advice, it would be to learn things as you go along, I started my revision about a month ago and have found alot of the topics i am learning for the first time rather than revising it, as i didnt get round to doing it when the lecture was given.
After having a year off, my mind wasn't up to scratch but im still plodding on and trying my hardest to reach my goal! Iv recently done a mock paper and it scared me into realising I need to step up my game as it was VERY difficult, iv heard alot of people saying it was easy, which is slightly worrying to me! My exams are in 4 weeks time and tomorrow I return to uni after having 3 weeks off! Im starting to get worried about the exams but realise I can only do my best, and if i fail then i know iv put everything into it and it just wasnt meant to be!
Now iv got you all up to date with my medical 'career' so far, I can start the blog being about things that happen to me in the present tense! As iv said, I am possibly the least accademically able medic in the year group, but if i manage to pass these exams, Iv proved that anyone can do it with alot of work, effort and passion!
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