December Deliveries, Disappointments and Delights

The final week of term was just awesome. Ok, there was snow, now there are relaxing holidays, but even more awesome was when our PBL tutor let us look around the maternity ward he works at (a couple of days after taking us out to dinner). Not only that, we went on a ward round and sat in on a meeting with all the healthcare workers, talking about the different problems faced with particular women giving birth. It was like a PBL session but with real professional people, and real lives at risk. With this speciality, two lives are at stake; the mother's and the baby's, which is why there probably is a greater emphasis on the teamwork aspect of the job. The consultants were discussing so passionately about guidelines and practice, while I just sat at the back with the junior doctors, trying to decipher the complex medical terms they were so casually throwing around.

After the ward round, my friend and I were given the chance to watch an actual live caesarean birth! An experience not even upper years have been through yet, we took the opportunity with open arms and asked as many questions as possible and felt so grateful for being there; witnessing a new life come into the world. The doctors were so preoccupied talking to us, they forgot to properly check if the anaesthetic was working or not, and cut straight into the woman's abdomen, with her feeling it! There was a point where each doctor took an edge of the hole in the uterus they had cut, and started to pull in opposite directions, and you could hear the rip as the amniotic fluid began to gush out, with them finally fumbling inside for the baby before pulling its head out with a pair of forceps. The stitching up of the three layers took some time, and the lady also wanted a sterilisation, meaning she wanted no more kids, so they tied off and cut her fallopian tubes (the tubes from the ovaries to the womb area- meaning eggs can't get to where they're supposed to). I found that quite puzzling, since she wasn't exactly old and now had three children, she may change her mind in the future. We actually walked in at the beginning when they were getting consent for the sterilisation, and since she spoke little English, the doctors had to make extra sure that she knew what a sterilisation was.

Anyway, with every new life that comes into the world, another one is lost, and probably through an unjust cause. I was actually incensed at the recent execution of a British man in China, convicted for carrying 4kg of heroin into the country; I would usually ignore these things when reading the news, but this guy had a history of mental illness, and it was clear, even to me, that he'd been tricked into carrying it. Having bipolar disorder and delusional psychosis, a person can dupe themselves into believing fantastic stories, let alone have other people do it to them. I know that there are people around the world in a similar situation but don't carry a British passport and haven't got the media attention this guy has had, but the injustice he has faced just leaves me lost for words, especially as there were reports of the judges at his trial openly laughing at his rambled speech begging for his life. So this year ends pretty much the same way last year did; injustice, death and a scarcity of common sense.

But ending on a positive note, I've learnt so much from this year, thankful for all the people and opportunities I have all around me. I've learnt that it can be difficult trying to keep a monthly diary thing, but hopefully I can look back in years to come and see myself develop in one of the most critical stages of my life, and just laugh at the petty things I used to worry myself with. I might actually continue with it, maybe, but vlogging is definitely easier! Today I spent my day at the BMA library with a friend going through the PBLs of the upcoming module which we actually managed to do, and I think it is the main lesson I can draw from this year (although implementing it slightly late); when you've got time to get something done and be ahead, just do it!