Nearing the end...sort of

So today is the last day of Easter break before we start our final module tomorrow: Human Development. I've particularly been looking forward to this one as it contains lots of baby-related things! It has a reputation of being a bit of a nightmare though so we shall see how it is! We have 5 weeks of HD then 2 of study leave and then it's 4 days of final exams. So of course I spent the last 2 weeks revising and doing lots of work didn't I? Of course not!! We had the most pointless essay ever to do on Interprofessional Education that I bashed out in a few days (it's so rubbish I'll be surprised if they even bother marking it!) and I wrote up some lecture notes that I ran out of time to do earlier in the year. But other than that I've been taking some much-needed R&R and done a few night shifts at the children's hospice.

Night shifts are a bizarre thing. Before working at the hospice I'd done nightshifts in a hospital where there was lots to be done and patients often woke several times during the night so it was rare that you got to sit down for more than an hour at a time. In the hospice however, there are 4 members of staff (2 nurses, 2 care assistants) for 6 children (usually 8 but 2 bedrooms are closed for renovation work) and on the 3 shifts I did, all 6 children slept all night. There were a few things that needed doing, like a ton of laundry, which I found surprisingly therapeutic, and some filing but apart from that I was just paid to try and stay awake! Although the nightshifts were rediculously easy, I think I much prefer day shifts where you actually get to play with the children rather than spending a couple of sleepy hours with them before and after bed.

Most of the children I've looked after in my time there have been long-term disabled children that stay at the hospice to give their parents/carers some respite; I haven't actually yet looked after any there for end of life care. However, the other night I spent time with a child who was recently diagnosed terminally ill but didn't know (the staff had all been told but the parents hadn't yet told the child); they looked and sounded perfectly healthy which made it difficult to think of them as someone that is dying. The child wasn't particularly young and the way they spoke showed they felt in-control of their condition and had accepted it as long-term; I can't imagine how they're going to take their prognosis. On a happier note though, I looked through the notes of the first little child I looked after and it seems they're in remisison, yay!

I'm off now to go finish unpacking and then enjoy my last day of freedom (well technically it isn't freedom as I have muchos work I should be doing, but we'll forget about that) before I start on the downward spiral towards final exams!

Faye
xxx