Can we all just breathe a big collective sigh of relief? My first three Monthly Moments for the year all started off exactly the same way (I AM SO BUSY) but finally, finally things have slowed down a bit!
It's been so lovely to be back home in familiar surroundings, catching up with friends and getting back into some sort of routine! In my earlier post I talked about all the goals I had for April, and happily I think I've slowly but surely been achieving most of them.
A big goal for this month was to get back into exercise after two months of overeating my way around India, and that got off to a good start with myself and a a friend re-joining my old gym and going to a few classes together. Unfortunately, however, I've ended up with a nasty lingering cold for the last week and a half which has completely ruined that tiny bit of progress I had made! I'm feeling quite frustrated with this and really hoping to feel better and get back into it as soon as possible.
Another new goal was in regards to my mindset about placement and trying to actively encourage myself to be more positive and put 110% effort in. Again, I was doing pretty well with this until my nasty cold came along and drained all my energy! However, overall I have definitely felt so much more positive about placement in the last few weeks than I ever did last year. Being able to stay with the same team for a whole five weeks and really get to know each other is so much nicer than being in a new place each week, and they've been getting me to do some work which I'm actually more than happy about-I need practice for next year!
I've also been making a conscious effort to recognise and celebrate the little wins and how I am feeling just a tiny bit more competent with every day that goes by. The other day I was asked to take bloods for the first time in months and got it first go with no hassles-a small but satisfying achievement.
On the subject of all things placement, I thought I'd share this sign I saw on the wall in one of our wards which made me giggle. How is it even possible for this many of the TV's to be broken at once?!
If you've happened to read my previous Monthly Moments this year, you will remember me talking about feverishly working on my CV and job application whilst travelling around India, then my interview the day after I got home. Well, good news- I was accepted onto the pathway!
Soon after I found out, we had to put in preferences for where we'd like to work next year. It's a bit of a complicated system, made more so by the fact that I was trying to strategise it so that my partner and I will end up in the same place! Despite having always pictured myself staying in Cairns as an intern, unfortunately it was oversubscribed with applications this year meaning it wasn't an option for me. It's been quite bittersweet walking around the hospital, running into so many doctors I know and just starting to feel confident, then knowing that I'll be having to start over in a brand new place next year!
The place I ended up applying for had equal numbers of positions available with the amount of people who applied, so I should definitely be going there- but I won't tell you until official offers are released as I don't want to jinx myself!
The image below is of the view from one of our surgical wards that I'm oh-so-familiar with after many early morning ward rounds last year. With me going to Thursday Island for the second half of the year, I'm just getting my head around the fact that this is my last 5 weeks working in Cairns Hospital for quite a long time. I'm going to miss this view!
With the sudden realisation that this is our last few weeks in Cairns, we've been trying to make the best use of our weekends and do all the things that we always said we wanted to do and haven't got around to yet. We've done lots of exploring of beaches and waterfalls and are planning a trip to Fitzroy Island tomorrow. It's been really lovely to make sure we get up to something fun on our weekends!
So, April has been a satisfying month from the perspective of working towards my goals, and the path ahead for next year is slowly becoming clearer! It definitely feels like change is in the air.
How was April for you? Are things changing in your life as well?
Kate x
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