First Week on the Job

Many people out there will be thinking, "thank goodness he now has a job; he'll be less busy wasting time on the blog, spending a student loan, and will finally be supporting his family!"

To which I would heartily agree! But what a shame that a whole week has gone by without updating the blog on how this momentous time has gone. No time like the present, I guess:

Perhaps I am unfortunate in that I have had almost the busiest schedule possible as a first week FY1 (foundation year 1) junior doctor. While everyone else were getting used to the day-to-day running of their ward, with their duties and responsibilities; I was launched into the deep end with a weekend of nights on-call. I really shouldn't complain, since the hours used to be much more antisocial. But even now that they are EWTD (European Working Time Directives) compliant, working 66 hours over the last 7 days has been a bit of a shock to the system. 12-hour shifts are a strange species, especially when embarked upon overnight.

The good news is that I have thoroughly enjoyed the work. Seeing patients, being given responsibility, and realising I know slightly more than I thought, have all been a welcome change to the days of medical school. But by far the best thing about working life, as many fathers will testify to, is getting home and seeing the happy smiles on my family's faces! My little one beams and shrieks with delight when I pull up onto the drive, in an almost ecstatic outpouring of love! I never realised being a Dad would be quite so overwhelming!

So now, after only a week, I appreciate three things much more:

• 1) My family
• 2) Normal 8 hour working days
• 3) Sleep

Although I have always been good at appreciating that last one. Maybe I should also appreciate the European Union more, for passing laws that makes it illegal for my employer to work me any harder than they currently do...

And of course I should also appreciate the Lord God Almighty, who has made my success possible by all the gifts he has bestowed upon me. I will certainly need continual divine help to meet and conquer the many challenges that being a doctor entails... Hopefully I will be able to write more at length about these in due course.