(Unimaginative) update...

It's been a while since my last blog - time for some sort of update! Lately, have been semi-busy with my surgery rotation at RMH, but in this time I've been concentrating on the day-to-day looking after patients on the ward, still haven't visited operating theatre this rotation! Must visit sometime soon, so I know where all my patients are disappearing to and returning from, nasty scars and all. Am attached to the trauma team at the moment, but far from being the rushed, hectic, heroic scenarios second after second, it's been quite laid back. That's not to say they don't do heroic things. It was quite exciting and frightening at the same time being with the team this morning, trying to salvage (against huge odds) the life of a man whose head had been run over by a forklift - mashed, essentially. He's surviving for the moment, which is good. But it'll be a touch-and-go matter, whether he can recover from the injury, and how the brain will come out of it all. Unfortunately, the eyes are all but gone. To imagine that all these patients are in hospital because of things that could happen to anyone at any time - motor vehicle crashes, falls etc. It's such a strong reminder that we ought to be thankful for each moment of life we have!

What else has been going on? Did UMO for first time ever yesterday! UMO = university maths olympics. It's more-or-less a running relay race (up and down stairs) and whirlwind maths competition combined. I was a last-second (almost literally) addition to the team (the other members being Sally, Nick, Andrew and Zhihong)! I think I was far more valuable for my running skill than any mathematical ability I have, which pales in comparison with the others in the team. For most of the race, amidst all the chaos, we were winning. That is, until one question, where amidst all the chaos, brains shut down and refused to work. Having solved all the questions up til that one, we doggedly (and perhaps foolishly) persevered, still arriving at no result after a few minutes. After Nick ran down several answers, we finally decided to pass, and in frustration, realised that we'd just relinquished our lead to teams that weren't so foolish. In the end, if we had passed that question, we could have added the next question (which proved to be far friendlier) to our points - and given us a better chance. Nevertheless, a team full of amazing talent (myself being the exception) ended up third - a good result. Although disappointing after being in the lead for almost the whole thing (we would have won had the competition finished only a few minutes earlier), and doubly infuriating losing to a team that proclaimed its team description "we're here to beat Sally".

Enough ramble from thilly me for now, looking forward to med ball tomorrow night! Perhaps there will be some photos in my next blog! It promises to be a great night!

God bless!

~Dave ;p