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first year diary

From patient histories to baked beans, Marie Locke relates a week in her life at BSMS.

Monday

Got up at 7.45am, did my morning stretches and watched some woman on GMTV complaining about her neighbours. Walked to the Sussex side (I live on the Brighton campus) in time for a quick chat with friends about our eventful weekends and a general gossip before lectures. Today, we had two one-hour lectures on gut motility, followed by a module tutorial based on some of the previous weeks’ lectures.

My one-hour lunch break was spent with the girls talking about the ins-and-outs of our dream holiday before our final lecture of the day. It was an anatomy lecture with Prof Watt which I really enjoyed – learning about the origins of the gut using people, blankets and a little imagination – legendary!

Following this, I returned to the flat to start copying up lecture notes from the morning’s lectures. Dinner comprised of a jacket potato with cheese and BBQ beans (BBQ sauce added to cheap baked beans to hide the fact they’re not Heinz.)

After dinner, I continued with my lecture notes, showered and settled down with my flatmates to watch Big Brother – how ironic to be watching a group of random people living in a strange house for numerous weeks on a limited budget and minimal contact with the “outside world!”

Tuesday

Got up at 7.45am and went through my usual morning routine. Today, we’re based on the Brighton side so I don’t have to venture far from the flat. First, we had a lecture about performing an abdominal examination, which is a topic really relevant for practice in the future. After a half hour break (where my friend and I returned to our flat to catch up on exercise tips from ‘This Morning’), we had our seminar groups. Our topic today was based on the growing problem of obesity, where we discussed the different view points from health professionals, the general population and the media. I found it really interesting, especially as my Student Selected Component (SSC) is based on the effects of diet on health.

After lunch, I went on my final GP visit. First, I went with the doctor on a home visit to assess a patient with stomach cancer who was complaining of pain and a change in bowel habit. It was fascinating because the patient and his wife were deaf so the patient’s daughter was present to translate the conversation between the doctor and patient.

Back in the surgery, I took a history from a patient at her eight week post-pregnancy check-up in front of the GP. I was really nervous when the GP said I should take the history in front of him but I felt it went really well because I was able to raise issues with the patient about her attitude, mood and feelings since giving birth – quite difficult and emotive topics. The GP said I did really well and have progressed immensely over the year.

In the evening, I cooked rice with a sauce of kidney beans mixed with vegetables and cream of tomato soup topped with cheese, started my write-up from my last GP visit and caught up on the gossip from the Big Brother house.

Wednesday

Bit of a lie-in today because I don’t start until 10am. I did a few more paragraphs for my GP write-up then left for my SSC. Today, I was showing my presentation about the effects of salt on cardiovascular and respiratory health. I think it went quite well, especially as people looked as if they understood what I was saying, but it was really different from my first presentation at uni because I wasn’t nervous at all! It’s incredible to see how I’ve changed over the year.

I’ve found my SSC informative because I had to undertake a 48-hour energy input and output record – basically a food and exercise diary. It’s amazing to learn the energy content of foods, calories used in movement and compare my intake/expenditure to my cardiovascular and respiratory disease risk.

After my SSC, I rushed back to the flat, got changed and went to my weekly pilates class. I’d never done it before coming to uni but I really enjoy it.

After lunch, I continued with my GP write-up for a few hours before going for a walk with a couple of flatmates. We walked to a nearby field where there were loads of big yellow flowers and we really wanted to run through them like they do in the movies. It was so funny! After dinner (tuna and sweetcorn salad), I went round to another medic's house for a few drinks and we played Connect 4, Balderdash and Bingo – brilliant.

Thursday

I got up at 7.30am this morning for our weekly symposium at 9. Our topic was alcoholism, where we had four short lectures about issues regarding alcoholics, for example, psychological impacts on the alcoholic, their family and society, as well as the clinical symptoms, signs and consequences of alcohol abuse. This was followed by clinical scenarios in small groups about diagnosis, testing and treatment for alcoholic patients.

After lunch, I copied the lecture notes from the morning’s lectures and went for a walk in the afternoon to get some fresh air.

Dinner comprised of my own recipe baked bean and vegetable stew, and then I got ready for our night out in town. My flatmates and I went to an indie night, which cost just £1.50 to get in! It was above a pub in town called The Pavilion Taverns (or as it’s known in Brighton, the Pav Tav). We had such a great night dancing away to the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, The Kooks and Snow Patrol. It was a cheap night overall actually, because the drinks were cheap and the night bus is only £1 back to uni.

Friday

Bit of a lie in this morning (thank goodness!) as we didn’t start lectures until 11am. After I vacuumed my room and cleaned my bathroom, I went to our two lectures on the functioning of the urinary tract. I found I remembered quite a lot about the kidneys from covering some of the information at A level, which I was quite pleased about (especially as I was still tired from the night before.)

After lunch, we had dissection. This week’s session was based on the previous anatomy lectures (gut motility), which involved removing the abdominal muscles and examining the abdominal contents. I find anatomy absolutely fascinating because we learn so much from the lecture notes and demonstrators, as well as gaining precious surgical experience.

We finished today at 4.30pm and I went back to the flat to copy up lecture notes and dinner (tuna pasta bake). In the evening, I went to the cinema to watch Walk the Line and had a drink at Brighton marina with some of my flatmates. We had such a good time just chilling out. I love it in Brighton – there’s so much to do!