Common things are common

Notes from a 20-something medical student in the UK. Lover of music, tech & medicine. Any questions, go ahead, as long as it's not "what do you want to specialise in?" – right now I've no idea.

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Why don't you live in Falmouth?

Because, Liz, I have to study in Leicester. Why aren't you here having a BBQ eh?

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TSK: That'll learn him!

Cranquis: Are you still taking the Plavix? (anti-clot-forming med often given to people who have had a stent placed in a heart coronary artery, in order to keep the stent from getting blocked and causing another heart attack)

Patient with a coronary stent and now having chest pain: NO I AM NOT, I GOT PISSED OFF AT THE CARDIOLOGIST SO I STOPPED TAKING ANYTHING HE PRESCRIBED TO ME.

(Cranquis: Niccccce.)

[cranquis]

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cranquis:

Excellent article about recognizing the DRASTIC differences in appearance/behavior between people who are drowning in real-life versus how people “drown” on TV. Be safe on and in the water this summer, people!

[forriademorest]

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assumingdirectcontrol:

MITOSIS!!!

I would like these, please.

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So yeah, I've let this stagnate a bit, haven't I?

Sorry about the lack of posts, I've been useless lately. So I've finished my orthopaedic rotation now -- it was good fun being in surgery but I'm just not sure it's for me -- once I'd seen a couple of knee and hip replacements they just weren't exciting any more. It all feels a bit too much like carpentry at times -- put this jig here, drill here, saw here, not that it's actually that simple but the real bread-and-butter of orthopaedic surgery (joint replacement, especially hips & knees) just lost its magic fairly quickly.

So now I'm on my Cardiorespiratory placement. I spent the first week in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU). I saw a lot in that first week, and it's gonna go in some separate posts when I have the time and inclination. There may be a fairly big one on my first cardiac arrest call and a fairly science-y one on Adenosine Challenge and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Oh I had my first Cardiology clinic today. With the supposedly very strict and harsh consultant. He was lovely -- he let me have my own clinic and taught me anything I didn't know instead of destroying me when I presented the patients to him.

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There is nothing but chemistry here.

Chemistry -- Tall Ships

Only thing getting me through rheumatology revision.

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My birthday cake, made for me by my lovely and talented friend Hannah. I was grinning for the rest of the night.

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[Citation needed]

I've looked far and wide for a reference for the trampoline statistic I posted earlier and I can't find a thing. So yeah, sorry to anyone who threw away their trampolines...

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Best acronym ever?

Mangled Extremity Severity Score.

Yes, MESS. For a classification that counts a pistol gunshot wound as "low energy".

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Open fractures. Couldn't find a CC picture, so imagine a leg with bone sticking out and be shocked.

Gustillo-Anderson Classification of Open Fractures: I -- Wound <1cm. Low energy injury. II -- Wound >1cm. Moderate soft tissue damage. III -- High energy wound >1cm. Extensive soft tissue damage. -- IIIa -- Adequate soft tissue cover. -- IIIb -- Inadequate soft tissue cover. -- IIIc -- Associated with vascular injury.

Having to learn some classifications for exam tomorrow so I thought I might share the excitement.

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Happy birthday! Have a great day :)

Thanks, it was yesterday, I'm just really slow at replying to stuff sometimes :D

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OHHHHHHHHHH IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY?!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D

Yay thanks :D

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Happy Birthday!I'm messaging you on every platform I can to make up for not being able to come visit.Hope you have a wonderful day.LOVE YOU xx

Thanks Jen, your wide spread of birthday goodwill has been awesome :D love you too my dear, party times soon yeah?xxx

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Thank you, oh mnemonic fairy.

(mnemonic's for club foot - INversion, ADduction & Equinus of the foot)

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Trampolines cause more orthopaedic referrals in children than all other activities COMBINED.

Orthopaedic reg.

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Plate for periprosthetic femur fracture. £800.

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scipsy:

- A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson

- Darwin by Adrian Desmond & James Moore 

- DNA: the secret of life by Jim Watson

- Fragile Science: The reality behind the headlines by Robin Baker

- Genome by Matt Ridley

- I wish I’d made you angry earlier by Max Perutz

- Language of the genes by Steve Jones

- Microbes and man by John Postgate

- Oxygen - The molecule that made the world by Nick Lane

- Prometheans in the lab - Chemistry and the meaning of the modern world by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne

- Stories of the Invisible - A guided tour of molecules by Philip Bail

- The beak of the finch by Jonathan Weiner

- The common thread - Science, politics, ethics and the human genome by John Sulston & Georgina Ferry

- The double helix by Jim Watson

- The eighth day of creation by Horace Judson

- The man who mistook his wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks

- The rise and fall of the third chimpanzee by Jared Diamond

- The sciences good study guide by Open University Worldwide

- Wonderful life by Stephen J. Gould

- Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

Haha I'm working alongside the son of one of those authors in the orthopaedic department.