Feb Update

Apologies for that little December rant - not very seasonal!

Well, we've been through lots of stress over the last couple of months. Once again I have been revising for an exam (which, thank God, I passed!), but the strain its put on Lorna and me has made me realise that there is more to life. I think that God has taught me that my career has become too central to my self identity, and He and some of my new friends here up north helped me come to terms with the prospect of failing this one (probably the hardest I've done so far). I also had a lot of doubts about my career choice but I do feel called to be an anaesthetist and much more excited by it now I've lept this most recent hurdle!

Having been enmeshed in a rather negative couple of months, where the most I could manage was to get up, go to work, come home and sleep, I'm now noticing my creativity returning - once again I'm feeling the urge to write music! I'll be uploading them soon at Myspace.

I'm also in the process of putting some of my better photos online at Flickr, so please feel free to look at those and I'd love to hear you comments.

Lorna is doing well, starting her new job next week. I think at the moment she feels that strange combination of trepidatious and excited! I know she'll do brilliantly though.

We've also managed to complete on our house, which is very exciting! We picked up the keys yesterday, and while I am at work typing this (very busy today you know!), the furniture is busy arriving in our 3 bed semi in Timperley. I'm not quite sure how its all going to fit in at the moment, so keep watching ebay for some Sandbach Seconds!

Thanks for all your support and prayers, God bless...

Lost Data (again!)

Yet more data seems to have been lost recently, and apparently private firms (in addition to government departments) are coming forward admitting to losing customers data! Of course this can't all be a coincidence that we are hearing all about these loses at the same time - my interpretation is that loses of personl data happen all the time, and we are hearing about so many because the press are baying about it all! I have to say I'm not encouraged to apply for an ID card!

What's even more galling is that recently a doctor was struck off by the GMC for amongst other things taking patient details around with him - at least he didn't lose them! I wonder if the government will suffer such consequences?

Do Doctors get paid too much?

A brilliant quote from a GP in the Telegraph...

"Per patient, per year, I am paid approximately £50, regardless of how many times I see them. That's a year's unlimited cover. The cheapest policy I could find for pet insurance - for a hamster - was £65 a year, plus £50 excess. So your health care costs less than your pet rodent's. GPs are excellent value for money."

Suck on that, Patsy!

Sometimes it rains

Well, regarding the job thing - the government have delayed telling us whether we have a job or not, to try and rejig the computer applications system so it's fairer. Actually what they're ending up doing is changing it so that it's equally unfair for everyone! Therefore, we now have to wait until June for a final answer. Whether they'll fill the posts in time for the 1st Augsut when every junior doctor's contract runs out at the same time remains to be seen!

In life, we find that sometimes it really does rain - burdens seem to pour onto our already soaked backs, weighing us down and dampening our spirits. I want to share our last couple of weeks with you (if you don't mind being shared with!)

It started when our Nissan Micra boot clamped shut - it wouldn't open no matter what we did! Lorna had some important documents in there so we had to weasle our way past the back seats. Then I found out that the Mazda's coolant was still leaking despite having paid for a new radiator to supposedly sort out this problem at the beginning of the year. Then the shower broke...

We've just had a new kitchen fitted. Two days after it was put in the brand-new tap busted and wouldn't turn off. In the process of purchasing a new one at B&Q, I got a punctured tyre on the way home and in the process of fitting it, I put my neck into spasm which took me out of work for three days and was agonisingly painful. To finish off last week, Lorna got one of her worst migraines for years, which laid her out for Friday and half of today.

Whilst none of these things really are particularly disastrous, they add up to generate a pretty horrible time, especially when you're trying to revise for exams, worry about job security and work full time! Without the support of our family, friends and most of all God, we'd be in even worse states than we are. Jesus says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"  (Matthew 11:28)  The Bible also said of Jesus: "And he will be called...Wonderful Counselor..." (Isaiah 9:6)

He wants to help us with our problems, to be there with us in our pain, and to hold us when we're going through turmoil. We just have to let Him, and to learn to let Him in...

Interested?  Have a look at Rob Bell's short films at Nooma.com particularly at his title "Rain".

Doctors training system falling apart

I wrote recently about the new system for applying to training posts for junior doctors. Well, it has been unveiled, and failed on every level! I won't bore you with too many details, but the computer program crashed repeatedly, lost peoples' applications, the shortlisting process was deeply shoddy with no firm guidelines on how points should be awarded to candidates, and some applications not even being read properly. It now seems that the media (finally) are listening to doctors, and kicking up a fuss. The Telegraph has been especially supportive.

With this weight on its shoulders, the DOH has announced a review and slowly this evening details of the conclusions are coming out. I'm not sure of the details currently but hopefully the process should be fairer. However, the fairest way to sort it all out is to scrap the current process and start again. I have got shortlisted for several interviews but I would happily give them up to undergo a fairer system.

I'd urge you to support us by signing the petition at The Telegraph. Don't do it because you feel sorry for junior doctors - if you do, thanks for the support, but if you don't, consider the issue - thousands of the best doctors are being excluded from working in this country and are likely to go abroad. You've paid for their training in taxes. Some doctors employed by this new system may be unfit to practise. If you care about your family's and your own health, then you owe it to yourself to harrangue the government as much as possible.

Over and out...

Labels

Well, you'll be excited to know I have updated all of my bloggings so far with labels, which was no end of fun!

Looking through my old posts, I realised I never updated the blog about my exam progress. I passed the whole of my MRCP (hooray!) and I'm now planning to start the anaesthetics exams (FRCA) in June 2007. Must be some kind of lunatic to sit all these tests...

Exam!

Sorry about the distinct lack of posts for the past few weeks...

I passed my exam!

This is the second part of the "Membership of the Royal College of Physicians". One more to go and I will have MRCP after my name!

Praise God for that - He leads me through these things again and again, regardless of how holy I am feeling! That's His Grace, I guess. The question now is where is He leading me? I am becoming more and more convinced that intensive care medicine is the way forward for me. Having worked in the ITU for the past few weeks, I feel that it is the place for me - where I feel most useful, and where my gifts are best used. Now its just a case of convincing the rest of the world that that's the case...