Ugh…

This last semester of lectures seems to be dragging on forever! Not only are we learning about equine AND exotics (who came up with that pairing?), we are also doing our public health module. Doesn’t help that being cooped up in the same lecture theatre for hours every day makes us very prone to getting sick. And it REALLY doesn’t help when you have to set up EMS on a different continent with a five hour time difference! I cannot wait for spring break since that signals the end of lectures.

All of the EMS has made me anxious, so I’ve come up with a plan of sorts to help me organise myself. If I can get 10 weeks done through the summer, then I’ll only have to do 3-4 weeks (depending if I can squeeze in another conference) during my externship period, hurray! Hopefully I’ll hear back from my cousin soon so that I can plan (or not plan) some equine EMS. I also need to get in touch with the Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach to hopefully get two weeks out of them. After that, I’m hoping to do two weeks of exotics work for fun (and practice for next year’s exotics rotation). Vacation in the US? What vacation? At least there’ll be sun.

Then is back to the UK to hopefully not take any resits, have a bit of a breather, and then (cross my fingers) three more weeks of EMS at RAF Feltwell. That is, if they’ll take me back after my two weeks with this this spring break.  The CPT seems keen to have me on but is a bit concerned with housing and transportation. I’ve managed to find a nearby B&B, and the owner mentioned using a bike to get to the base. I’ll have to ask her if she’s got one to loan me, or if there is a place to hire one in town. Feltwell, by the way, is this tiny town outside of Cambridge. After several tries at using a Journey Planner, I’ve figured out a route that will get me there for about £55 return, not including a short taxi ride.

Some time during all of this, I also need to write up my SSC2 (student selected component 2). My project is a literary review on campylobacter in the poultry food chain (probably just in the EU), from ‘farm to fork’. It’s got to be a bajillion words long (I think) AND I have to design a research project. Funny thing about that… I went for a lit review to avoid coming up with a research project. And yet, there it is. I have to design one.  Sad.face.

Things I have learned since quite possibly, maybe, breaking my foot

 

• Horse shoes leave interesting bruise patterns.
• Do not walk 4 miles on your injure foot. It won’t end well.
• Your trainers/sneakers are a lot tighter than you had imagined.
• Your foot may no longer look swollen, but you are very very wrong. Do not try wearing steel toe boots.
• A&E doctors do not like radiographing your foot/toe because even if there is a break, ‘there is not a lot [they] can do about it’.
• Ibuprofen + paracetamol will NOT take away the pain, contrary to what the A&E doctor tells you.
• Your GP will give you a stronger NSAID, but will still not radiograph your foot because ‘it will heal in another 4-6 weeks if it is broken. wear good walking boots if you can tolerate it.’
• Just because your foot feels better in the morning doesn’t mean you should stop wearing the elastotube.
• Shower water falls with a lot of force…
• … and so do ping pong balls dropped from waist level.
• You will have to stand like a rock star to wash dishes. You will look stupid, just deal with it.
• Your feet carry a lot of weight when you sit on the toilet. Be careful how you position yourself.
• Do not massage your foot to make it feel better. The delayed pressure/pain will be a whole lot worse than the initial injury.

Foot, evening it was stomped on. Bruise not fully developed.