I met one of my soon-to-be colleagues for a coffee this morning: she also interviewed me for my job (starting 1 September). She was giving me some insider information on the law school, nothing I didn't know already but good to hear that what I thought was true. I had to see the occupational health doctor before I start and I saw him last week, a complete idiot if ever there was one! He really does not have a clue. I got lectures on the difference between full and part time, lectures on why my laptop really slowed down when I used voice recognition software and what I should do when I have a flare up of the arthritic condition. Completely condescending towards me. The best of it is that I have never heard a good word from anyone about him!
Anyway I'm to speak to my line manager about an office with lift access (um, there is no lift in the law school!), voice recognition software and sitting if necessary during lectures. Also going to make sure I have a proper chair, with armrests and a super light laptop so I can work at home and also carry it with me if I head off to research elsewhere: after all no point in giving me a laptop that weighs a ton!
Tuesday 29 July 2008
Thursday 24 July 2008
Bad news
I've been reading the medical blogs today and see that GPs have been in the news again. And again it's not complimentary. Actually it's been a long time since I've read anything in the papers that is complimentary doctors in general. But that's the news in general.
I mentioned in my first post that I've just had a hip replacement. I cannot speak highly enough of my surgeon who has given me back some semblance of a normal life. Already I can walk and shop for longer than I could before without that awful grinding pain, I can wear flat ballet pumps and dresses without my pelvis tilting so much that my bum sticks out even more than it does normally. I will never be perfect but my new hip is better than the original was. Perhaps I'll blog more about my hip, limitations as a result of it and how life has improved tenfold since I got my metal and ceramic one. My point here is that my surgeon has changed my life and the hip is only part of it. The other part was his time and his explanations. I read somewhere recently that orthopaedic surgeons have the worst bed manner: bollocks. My surgeon is getting a thank you card next week.
As for GPs, again, my GP has been instrumental in helping me over the last few years to cope with chronic pain, self-harming and depression. Words aren't enough in this situation but I hope that mentioning her in my PhD thesis acknowledgements (and showing her it) is indicative of how grateful I am.
I mentioned in my first post that I've just had a hip replacement. I cannot speak highly enough of my surgeon who has given me back some semblance of a normal life. Already I can walk and shop for longer than I could before without that awful grinding pain, I can wear flat ballet pumps and dresses without my pelvis tilting so much that my bum sticks out even more than it does normally. I will never be perfect but my new hip is better than the original was. Perhaps I'll blog more about my hip, limitations as a result of it and how life has improved tenfold since I got my metal and ceramic one. My point here is that my surgeon has changed my life and the hip is only part of it. The other part was his time and his explanations. I read somewhere recently that orthopaedic surgeons have the worst bed manner: bollocks. My surgeon is getting a thank you card next week.
As for GPs, again, my GP has been instrumental in helping me over the last few years to cope with chronic pain, self-harming and depression. Words aren't enough in this situation but I hope that mentioning her in my PhD thesis acknowledgements (and showing her it) is indicative of how grateful I am.
Wednesday 23 July 2008
First post: an introduction
I'm hoping this blog will survive for longer than the first one, or at least have more than the solitary post that I managed for that one!
Where to start? I've recently been appointed to my first post as lecturer in law in a UK university (start in September). By chance, it is also the university I attended for my undergraduate degree and part of my PhD. I've mixed feelings about that, which I may go into in future posts: it wasn't what I intended but it is what is right for me at this stage in my life as I have just had a hip replacement (at the tender age of 30). The university is in the same city where I had the operation and friends and family are all within close proximity should I need them. The 'new' hip is 9 weeks old today and I've been in love with it since day one. No regrets whatsoever and I would advise any 30 year old who needs one and whose life is constrained by a dodgy hip to go for it. My surgeon has joined my list of "People I would do anything for".
Who knows if I will attract any readers: expect ramblings on my job, my desire to have done medicine, my hip and how it's going (and also how the other one is!), the occasional rants, ahem, and the trials and tribulations that have made up my life so far and how I should deal with them (not always how I do actually deal with them!). I hope any readers get as much out of it as I get out of the blogs I love to read.
Where to start? I've recently been appointed to my first post as lecturer in law in a UK university (start in September). By chance, it is also the university I attended for my undergraduate degree and part of my PhD. I've mixed feelings about that, which I may go into in future posts: it wasn't what I intended but it is what is right for me at this stage in my life as I have just had a hip replacement (at the tender age of 30). The university is in the same city where I had the operation and friends and family are all within close proximity should I need them. The 'new' hip is 9 weeks old today and I've been in love with it since day one. No regrets whatsoever and I would advise any 30 year old who needs one and whose life is constrained by a dodgy hip to go for it. My surgeon has joined my list of "People I would do anything for".
Who knows if I will attract any readers: expect ramblings on my job, my desire to have done medicine, my hip and how it's going (and also how the other one is!), the occasional rants, ahem, and the trials and tribulations that have made up my life so far and how I should deal with them (not always how I do actually deal with them!). I hope any readers get as much out of it as I get out of the blogs I love to read.
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