Looking forward to watching this!
Loved Surgery School and all the discussions it generated on this forum, particularly about the surgeon who told the female actress dying with cancer that was life during his osce type exam.
I did the mmi at SGUL and found the hardest station the breaking bad news to an actor. So having experienced something similar as an applicant it was interesting to see how a guy who had not only got into med school & completed it but had also done F1, F2 and was in a top surgical training post deal with the an osce style breaking bad news scenario.
I came across this article the other day about the Sky News woman Paula Middlehurst, basically her son was born with talipes (club foot) and on being told that her 6 day old babys foot needed to be amputated a nurse told her ´this is life´
her reaction to me was quite surprising, but goes to show it´s how you put things across that counts.
We were just about prepared for a year of club-foot treatment when we were dealt another devastating blow. As well as the club foot in his right leg, James's left leg, which had been tucked up underneath his bottom, hadn't grown properly, and never would.
He had a short thighbone (a condition called proximal femoral focal deficiency, or PFFD), no kneecap and was missing one of the two bones of the lower leg (known as fibular hemimelia). The remaining bone was bowed and too short and his foot was sticking out at right angles to his lower leg. This was a one-in-100,000 deformity and it was a totally useless limb. As a result, as James grows, this leg will not grow with him.
I fell into the arms of a nurse as I left the consulting room. I was desolate and felt myself crumple in front of her.
'This is life,' she said, with kindness and understanding. Those three words have stayed with me. In one instant she seemed to say: 'It is not your fault, face up to this and accept it. And you are not the only one.'
I have seen her since and thanked her for that moment of support. She was right there when I needed her and yet she was just doing her job.
As the hours at the hospital passed, we realised our little man might not even be able to walk. It was even more critical that his 'good' leg - the right one with the club foot - was treated expertly. This would be his primary leg - the left one would have to be reconstructed, including the removal of his foot, in order for him to wear a prosthesis.
We were distraught. I remember seeing my husband with his forehead against the hospital consulting room wall trying to take it all in. Nothing prepares you for hearing doctors talk about amputating your six-day-old baby's foot.