SO we have come to the end. I have been very lapse in updating this blog over the past few days but it’s all ended in a bit of a blur. Today (Day 44) doesn't technically count as I guess I've officially finished the Elective. But it's portrait number 44. So will probably just keep counting....
Thursday was technically my final day down in London. As usual it was a long oncology case but was set to be straight forward. Patient with previous SCC, previous maxillectomy and massive gaping hole left in the poor blighters face. So, the plan was to move a free flap to cover the defect and try to reconstruct some of the palate, helping with speech and potentially with regaining a swallow. The first thing to do was a neck dissection to discover the internal jugular vein and the common carotid artery to use for the anastomosis. Then all hell broke loose. The IJV was so friable that whenever the surgeon touched it a massive hole opened up. Three hours later, half the patient’s circulating volume either on the floor or in the suction tub, the surgeon had managed to repair countless little holes and regained control. It should have taken an hour. So we were already behind. Quick break for lunch and then planned the flap- anterolateral thigh (ALT). Raised the flap, almost freed it when the surgeons realised that the pedicle contained the vein but not the artery- the patient had a rare anatomical variation meaning that the artery had dove off somewhere else rather than going into the flap. So they had to bin it. And they re-started working on a latissimus dorsi (LD) flap. By this time the whole surgery should really have been finished but they had just started work on the anastomosis. The rest went without hitches (despite some difficulty doing the venous plumbing to a very bleedy IJV). All done and dusted at 10.30pm.
So, it being my last day I’d said to people, let’s go for a pint after the case to say bye-bye, thinking the case would be over around 5pm. When it ended in the middle of the night I thought we would all just slink off to bed. Nope. Consultant made sure we were in the pub before last orders and all the team had a well deserved drink. Or several. Then about half of us went on to a private members club with the consultant to carry on drinking over a bit of 2am pizza. It was so amazing. Being around these amazing people, at crazy o’clock in the morning, in a club that would normally not let me set foot on its front step. It was quite an experience. I arrived back at my place at I think a quarter past four, and managed to go to bed around 5. Between arriving home and going to bed I appear to have updated my facebook status, done my self portrait and made a general mess of the bathroom. And I don’t remember doing any of it. However, as the old adage goes: Worth it.
The next day I woke up sharply to an alarm which I also managed to set but don’t remember (I know my brain will always pull through for me in the darkest hour). Good job too as I had exactly an hour and a half before I was due to be collected by The Boy’s parents. But oh, oh the raging hangover. Fought through the hangover and managed to get away from London with all my belongings, then enjoyed a really lovely parent-in-law treat of a carvery. Carvery cures all. Got to my coach with one ikea bag (the rest left in parent-in-laws’ spare room), slept back to Nottingham and was greeted by a happy-looking Boy and a trip to the kebab shop. Sweet.
Saturday was mostly spent in bed. We decided to get up around lunchtime and I made us special brunch, then we head to a mate’s BBQ. All round a fab evening even though, having sworn never to touch alcohol ever again in my life, I ended up a little on the sozzled side and we managed to have a blazing row in the car in front of a very embarrassed friend. The next morning neither of us could work out what had happened as we’re not the raging screaming argument types. So, all forgotten and forgiven.
Sunday was another very lazy day. All in all I have barely achieved the basics of my little portraits... and have managed to leave the Friday night one in my little sketchbook in London. But no matter- I can upload it retrospectively in a couple of weeks when I go and collect all my stuff from London. And today I have spent all morning on the couch. A well deserved bank holiday weekend off. Afternoon up to my eyeballs in dust (The Boy can wash up but has no concept of surfaces and accumulated dirt)... and I think we’ll eat out tonight. Bliss.
A long few weeks ahead of me. I will continue to do my portraits but probably won’t update the blog everyday since my Elective is over. I have an awful lot of projects to be getting on with. Not to mention an exam to retake. Let’s see how it all goes.
Day 41
Day 42
Day 43
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