Adapting

After about 6-7 years being in a few district postings, I am finding myself slowly adapting to being in a tertiary centre.

As I said to a friend, I will be receiving cases of spinal shock and polytraumas rather than referring them. It will be quite a different kettle of fish.

On top of that, I found that I have forgotten the politics that are involved in a large department. You find that one says one thing yet means another. Being at the bottom of the rung, we found ourselves bearing the brunt of many dissatisfaction. Many times we were thrown the deep end of the pool with no one to tell us what to do. We found ourselves doing ward rounds and then rushing to the clinic and still get told off for being late yet the seniors get away with murder.

After many years of being the reliable one, the right hand woman - it takes a while to be the person everyone trusts the least simply because you are new.

I find solace in my fellow Masters Programme-mates; despite all this we can still find reason to laugh it off and make each other promise that we won't be 'that way' once we are at 'that stage'. Classes offer a short reprieve from the sometimes confusing rounds - yet I am sometimes reminded why I had deferred from applying in the past years.

Not having Abg around after work was a little weird as well. There were only a handful of times we were apart (exception of course when I am oncall because that counts as being at work) since we got married so it was weird being 'single' again.

It will take time but I am adapting.