Chapter Nine - "The Last Two Weeks"

It's been a while since my last entry, so it seems timely to write something now, particularly as a lot has happened recently.

Firstly, I've now finished my clinical placement at the hospital before the summer. Term's not completely over yet though; two more weeks to go, but for me they're both based at the university campus - meaning I won't have to wake up quite so early. Perhaps 5:30 is a tad excessive however, but an early start seems to ensure I get out of the house on time.

Now you're probably all wondering what the situation is with my bike. I left you last time with the determination to conquer it one day. And alas, that day is still to come.

A few weeks ago I'd made up my mind (on a very wet Thursday morning) to cycle to work again, figuring it would not only give me the necessary experience, but due to the weather the cycle path was likely to be quieter. After umming and erring, and texting one of my coursemates to find out his opinion -to which he said "Your choice" (gee, thanks!) - I unlocked the shed and began to pull my bike out... only to find to my (partial) disappointment that the front tyre had gone down again. This raised the question of whether the puncture I'd tried to fix previously had been there all along, causing the wheel to deflate slowly, or whether I'd somehow obtained a completely new one. Well, the decision had been made.

With a pang of annoyance I left the house without it. It's ironic how my journey goes a lot quicker without the bike, as I don't have to think about specific train carriages or getting it past the barriers, let alone riding it. Anyway, enough said.

I spent my last two weeks in the hospital in the angiography department, and then the operating theatres. With regards to angio I was finally allowed to take an active role, being able to control the machine (with supervision, of course) on the Friday. As I wrote in my reflection of the week, "I appreciated the opportunity to get involved - the first chance I have had over the past four weeks in specialist areas!" It was beginning to get a bit dull simply watching.

Theatres has probably been my favourite week of them all so far, mainly because it's a familiar area and I'm actually able to get stuck in right from the start. Using the Image Intensifier was like greeting an old friend. Another perk of the week was that one of my colleagues offered to give me a lift back to the train station each evening, meaning I'd get home a lot sooner than usual.

It was hugely encouraging to be able to image so many procedures, more or less independantly, and it gave me a boost. I got a lot of positive feedback from my supervisors, one of whom had experienced placements at both my sites during her time at uni, which meant she knew exactly what I was going through.

Now a little bit of an irrelevance. On the train home on Thursday evening I had an interesting conversation with DCT*, who was suggesting that things would make much more sense if we had a six day week (four work days, and two at the weekend - effectively removing Fridays). It would mean introducing two extra months in order to keep the 365 days, but apart from that he could see no problem. However, I tried to find flaws, referring to the Bible, tides and the fact that the position of the planet seemed to fit so perfectly already. Anyway, I'll leave those thoughts with him.

Friday signalled the end of the week (d'uh) and the start of Revive - our annual church weekend away in Portsmouth. This years theme was 'Servant Saviour'. We had an amazing time and the teaching was so encouraging and refreshing, reminding me exactly what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, and how we need to reflect that in our lives. Feel free to talk to me directly about it, but time is getting on now so I'll round off. You can view my photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=434045&id=777915320&l=242f66d009

I almost forgot, I also attended a Student Ambassadors' focus group for student radiographers, which had the aim of promoting the course. It meant I was to be recorded for another short clip talking about my experiences, followed by a short discussion about the good (or not so good) parts of the course. My previous recording for the Online Open Day on June 10th is now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgwxzdS4dKQ

What about my week ahead? This is my first week back at university for various lectures, but as I don't need to go in today I have more reading up to do in preparation.

I've also booked my train ticket home, so I'll be back in Devon in a couple of weeks, to relax and work on my project. I knew time would pass quickly!

Must dash!

(*Okay, I need your opinion on the whole initials thing; should I give first names of friends or not? Mark?)