24/7

This has been my week:

Monday 19th February
Up at 6.30am
GP day cancelled, so was going to go see some elctroconvulsive therapy in Bolton, but after getting and getting ready I decided that I really had too much to do so decided to make the day a "work at home" day. Lots of LGBT Awareness Week planning (which is bascially a zillion emails, mucking about with my design skills on Word and Paint, and Facebooking to the max), lots of planning for the Peer-Assisted Learning workshop and lots of eating rubbish.
Then met Bev to go though some poster designs and the times of events in the JR Library.
Topped the day off with an LGBT Society meeting around the ridiculous Union foyer sofa, and then a 3 hour workshop planning session, where we laughed at our Yahoo! Avatars, came up with great visualisations such as the triangle pyramid for our PowerPoint! We also had some tasty Domino's Pizza with the help of buy one get one free vouchers!
Got home to have a chat with Steve then time re-check Googlemail for more LGBT things, then bed at 2.30am

Tuesday 20th February
Up at 7am
Drove to Charles House in Salford, a medium-secure psychiatric unit for a day's worth of sessions. Was really interesting seeing the patients and I obvioulsy loved the sessions on ethics and law within psychiatry.
Drove home looking forward to a night off before realising it was UMSU Union Council at 6pm.
Rang Bev and realised we needed paint for tomorrow so went on a wild goose chase to Stockport to come back largely empty-handed.
Council was always going to be a biggie what with the deadline for Constitutional changes due, so we were there until 8.30 when the last few selfish stragglers left and we dropped below the quorate regulations. There are a fair few changes which maybe should have been looked at but now never will be.
Then Bev and I raided B&Q Kingsway for paint. Thanks to Mike there - he was ace!
Got home shattered from the day, but then had to log on to upload AW posters for printing at U-Print. And then needed to do some work!
Bed at 2am

Wednesday 21st February
Up at 6am
Went to Bolton for a morning with the CRISIS team. Went with John to see a woman in the community and then was allowed to a proper assessment of an A&E referral for a woman with an alcoholic past and possible suicidal thoughts. It was pretty nerve racking but John made me feel really confident so that was ace. Then had a tasty RBH lunch (parmesan chicken, chips and carrots) before going to a ward round where there were some cases of injury-induced, drug-indued and idiopathic schizophrenia, anxiety-psychosis and hypermania.
Left Bolton for Student's Union to paint the Awareness Week banner. Ian had come up with a great design and Rachel had bought loads of snacks. I had a lot of fun with Ian, Bev, Rachel, Jon, James, Natalie, Devon, Jess, Felix, Tom and Stuart painting the amazing banner and the even better T-shirts and hoodies! It was a bit disappointing that people who'd said they'd come didn't, but the core people who've been really involved with Awareness Week were, as well as some new ones and it was a real bodning session (especially for girls at the end who were literally groped all over)
Got home to start work on the PAL workshop.
Bed at 3am.

Thursday 22nd February
Up at 6.30am
Drove to Bolton and it was a bit scary as my eyes started to go on the M61 - it was hard to keep them open.
Went out with the Dr Karl on visits: a man with reactive depression (and also a bizarre latent bipolar disorder probably as a result of a pituitary tumour in his brain). Got quizzed me on medial knowledge and it was odd how I kept getting the more obscure things before I got the more important (and obvious) ones.
Then went to see an interesting woman who had had an operation and was now convinced that pretty much any exertion would cause her damage. She was incredibly anxious and suspicious, but I really felt for her - her mood had totally changed in just a few months and I just willed her to be better so much. The Occupational Therapist taught her a relaxation exercise which I personally found useful! Karl was really good and the whole visit made me really quite sure that psychiatry is a likely career path for me.
Left Bolton after lunch (pesto chicken, chips and green beans - yum!) to run through PAL workshop with Milli, Kat and Foz. I was actually pretty exhausted by the time I arrived at Hope - there was an accident on M61 that delayed my journey and I was already pretty shattered from the previous two weeks of activity!
We did the workshop for Nasha and it went pretty well, although we realised that we actually had 90 minutes to fill instead of 45! This actually suits us better and allows for more interactivity so it's all good!
Got home at 8 and just did nothing. Had a bath and went to bed at 11pm - it was glorious!

Friday 23rd February
Spent the day at Hope as a student chaperone for GCSE students thinking of careers in healthcare. I really enjoyed it - from opening the day with a random introduction a largely-irrelevant video, to forcing a smile as I ended up working with Rosie Illingworth again and having my communication skills picked on (which was useful but also hard work!). Best bit of the day was leading a resus style session for the students with John Barber - I've never done anything like that before and it felt pretty good to know what I was doing!
Came home and watched 2 hours of Crystal Maze, ate fish and chips and peas!

This week, I have been mostly listening to:
I am literally obsessed with Anna Vissi, Call Me:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=algXWhcv3Ls

This week, I have mostly been saying:
"Vomidor", as in, the corridor where everyone vomited at Pangea. (c/o Natalie)

This week I have mostly been eating:
Aldi Maple and Pecan Crunch Cereal

This week, I have mostly been thinking:
I freaking love psychiatry.

This week, I have been mostly doing:
a shitload of typing

And so there you have it!