Auf Wiedersehen, Orthopaedics

How hard were these past two months? Together with one other intern, I looked after a firm of up to eighty patients. We did ward rounds with our senior colleagues only once a week. The rest of the time it was up to us to manage our patients and keep them alive (and know when to call for help).

But I Don’t Want To Have Surgery | On Children and Consent

The little girl cried while the nurse removed her dressings so that we could inspect her wound. Hidden underneath a hip spica cast, her skin graft donor site had gone horribly septic, and we were trying to remedy it.

How To Run A Clinic Without A Voice

When I was asked by Figure 1 which one piece of medical equipment I valued above all others, I said “my hearing”. We were taught from the very beginning that a good history was our first step to an accurate diagnosis, and I have always valued a physician who LISTENS: to their patients, their students, their allies and their contemporaries.

I Left My Voice In Cape Town

Cape Town has a bug going around.

Couldn’t I at least get sick any other time, like a normal human being?! So, I pretended I wasn’t sick.

Another Disability Grant Request

“But who else is going to pay me R1,400 for doing nothing?”

Doing nothing! Why do you want to do nothing? You don’t want to do nothing. You don’t want to be bored. You are too intelligent to be bored.

Land of the Disability Grant

I won’t be one of the voices that claims that social grants are inherently bad, because I certainly agree that they have their place. But I know that MANY doctors around the country do fill out Disability Grant applications for patients who don’t qualify for them, and many patients have come to expect that. I don’t entirely blame them.

Doctoring in Heels

GeekBoy is really good at foot massages. You know that good-painful type where one squeezes all the knots from a persons feet. I discovered this because I needed a foot massage after work today. For some reason I thought it wise to work in heels for close on ten hours.

Three Things You Can’t Do With A Broken Middle Finger

1. Write neat patient notes (my OT-sister says that means my pencil grip isn’t great. But it is functional. When I have a functioning hand.) 2. Draw blood on a neonate (because of the crab-grip required. Those little premies can be quite powerful when you bring a needle their way.) 3. Carry a heavy textbook

When Supervisors Encourage Unwellness

Allow me to just rant about this AGAIN. Different story, same outcome. (I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, but I wanted to be sure that I passed my exams first. Hah.)

Reflections on Orthopaedics

I’m really just looking for an excuse to post this awesome picture. This giraffe is an educational model. It’s big and fluffy and beautiful – I have an affinity for giraffes in part due to my great-grandmother – and also it has a real spine that the orthopods used to teach the students on rotation