Hannah Elizabeth

The last week has been a little hectic between doctors appointments and holiday prep!  Click here for the vlog or watch below.  After almost a month of feeling absolutely terrible, I was finally starting to feel better and with the all clear from the GP and consultants, it was time to focus on my travels. I bought a whole bunch of clothes and things from Amazon so a try on was much needed to ensure I had some nice clothes that fit. With a few hours at the salon for hair and nails being done.  The weather took a turn for the worse. The last time I left the house it was lovely and hot. We've had a few days of rain and storms, even with thunder and lightning! The temperature well and truly dropped so it was defintely time for a thick jacket weather. I did have to go to the GP to get another blood test but the healthcare assistant was lovely.  I spent the rest of that day trying to charge all my devices and the most frustrating thing was my GoPro. It worked, it recorded, it took pictu

In the middle of the scariest week of my life, whilst in the hospital I also got my final Master's module results back for the Major Project. Of course, I couldn't really celebrate at the time because I was in the hospital, but nevertheless I am so pleased with my grade and happy it's the final result I needed. I got the highest grade for the duration of the degree...71%! I really felt like I put my heart and soul into this submission and I felt like I hit the mark scheme and wrote a really good piece of research so I am happy that the mark reflects that. Of course, I am a little disappointed that I didn't get the extra 3 marks that I needed to get my Distinction overall (yet to be confirmed) but nevertheless, the feedback was thorough.  Overall, the markers commented that it was a very interesting project and that it was completely thoroughly. They hoped that the findings will be taken back to the practice setting to help improve preceptorship programmes at my trust.

On Sunday 8th September, I went to A+E really struggling to breathe and catch my breath. I'd been poorly for a while but just about making it through the days, but over the last few days it had gotten worse and worse and then suddenly peaked. I'd originally called for an ambulance, but then I got called back to say that there was going to be a 2 hour wait so I decided to get a taxi instead.  When I got to A+E, I was really struggling and crying and scared. I had to register at reception and was shocked they made me sit down and wait. My initial observations were through the roof: oxygen saturations 89%, heart rate 159bpm, respirations 35. My blood pressure and temperature were normal throughout.  They did a first set of observations in the first 10 minutes and then took me to a separate area to be assessed. The observations weren't improving so then I moved somewhere else and very quickly had an ECG done, a cannula inserted and bloods taken, including 2 sets of 2 cultures t

I've had the scariest week of my life. I couldn’t breathe, my oxygen saturations dropped to 90% (reducing further to 89% in hospital), and after more observations, x-rays, CT scans, cannulas, bloods and samples, I was diagnosed with pneumonia!  Click here to watch the vlog or see below.  I've shared all the details on my Bilateral Community Aquired Pneumonia over the last few weeks, with the background, symptoms and my recovery so be sure to read those posts if you're more interested! I've had quite a few questions asked, so I may do a question and answer post full recovery. I have a chest x-ray after 6 weeks so I will share the end of the journey after that hopefully.  I did film a little room tour of the last ward I was on. I ended up being moved to 4 different wards in the space of 3 days and the last was defintely the nicest. 

My final Master's assessment, the big dissertation has finally been completed and submitted! I cannot believe it's finally finished and I don't think reality has quite hit yet. I've shared quite a few posts regarding the last big Major Project module, with my thoughts before , of the teaching and starting writing . I also shared some thoughts throughout the experience in a dissertation diary ( Part 1 ,  Part 2  and  Part 3 ) format from the end of May to the end of July and it's taken a lot of time and effort to complete.  It took me a long time to get started writing and of course, once I started I very much regretted not starting. I used some of the information I had already used in my Research Methodology  as I specifically picked the same topic. This meant for Chapter 2 I could just rewrite the section to begin, before adding a lot more information. Chapter 1 ended up being fairly easy and enjoyable to write as I was able to adapt small sections from Chapter 2 a

I shared last year that I had big travel plans for this year. Well, this year isn't quite going to plan and there has been so many changes and rearrangements along the way which has been very frustrating. As I've mentioned, I've been incredibly poorly with a week long hospital admission so actually going on holiday is up in the air as I write this. My plan is to reassess the week before and hopefully rest as much as humanely possible in the meantime.  It's all made it very difficult to be excited and prepare to travel but I thought I would share the new travel itinerary as I hope to still go. I have written posts for each city / state with my plans for each location, which I will share and fingers crossed it will follow on my return with all the vlogs, pictures and reviews!  I'm starting off in London, then travelling to New York, Washington DC and Niagara Falls. The original plan was to then head to Toronto and Vancouver for a couple of days each before getting on