Hannah Elizabeth

Sadly, this year is not my year for Christmas. It's being hosted with the family back in Wakefield, but sadly I'm working Christmas Day night shift which is a little disheartening. I had annual leave granted last year but of course, with grandma passing away and not spending it as a family altogether, it didn't really feel like Christmas so I was really hoping for a proper Christmas celebration this year instead. My plan is to go back to Wakefield of Christmas Eve morning because I'm working the day before, and then heading back to Nottingham on Christmas Day at 4pm. That gives me an hour and a half to drive back, then an hour to unload the care, unpack, get ready for work and drive to work.  The one good thing is possibly that I have been moved to the postnatal ward and I am coordinating, so hopefully I will be able to have a nice shift, with very few patients and a lovely break where I can have a quick nap. It'll be the first time I've ever had a night shift w...

Last month, I had my Master's Graduation! I started my Master's in September 2022 and finished in July 2024. It's been 2 years of working part-time alongside my full-time job, but even then I sometimes have ended up doing far more hours, depending on the workload, which had obviously been a little tricky at times.  I headed to Chelmsford for my graduation which was a unique experience. I was originally doing distance, online learning but had planned to attend for one of my modules and to go in once a term for the others. That never happened so I had never been to the campus before and the city neither. It was a long drive down but we made it with good timing, then drove to two different car parks looking for space and met my dad there; my mum had come in the car with me.  We had a lovely meal at Cote, then headed to the tents to collect graduation gowns and to take the official pictures, before heading to the cathedral for pictures in the grounds outside and then the ceremo...

After being on shift, I was shocked to come outside to all the snow which put me in a very festive mood and I decorated for Christmas in the middle of November. My mum and sister also visited for some family birthday celebrations.  Click here to watch the vlog or see below.  The vlog started with the first - potentially only - snow of the season. I was actually on a night shift when it started to come down and a lot of staff were really worried about driving home so ended up leaving early. I actually found the roads in the morning fine, and just thought the scenery was beautiful. It was a few days later it was a little more treacherous as the roads turned to ice. I heard the main roads were fine, but the one near me was awful and literally black ice around the estate. Luckily, I didn't have to leave the house and worked from home or was on days off.  I had a Shared Governance day and we had decided to do it on MS Teams but then everyone changed their mind last minute. Wel...

After a month in America, there are a number of things that specifically stood out to me and I thought I would share some of the biggest oddities to me. I often see this types of posts from the other perspective and it's so interesting to me.  The toilets are a little odd. They often look more like urinals but the more uncomfortable part to me is the lack of privacy. The toilets are super low to the floor, very short and then the cubicles have large gaps between the floor, rather than going all the way down, so much so that you can easily crawl underneath, and the gaps between the doors so you can see out...hence I'm sure people can also see in. Americans can really be quite rude. I was pushed down in the middle of New York, clearly in pain and bleeding. I've still got a scar there till this day and not a single person stopped to help, despite blood trickling down my leg.  New York especially felt very market central. There were so many knock off products and floor markets ...

I returned back from my trip abroad and the pneumonia recovery continued. Routine follow up following pneumonia includes a 6 week appointment for a chest x-ray, after treatment completion. My chest x-ray was booked for a few days after I got back and it was a very quick and easy appointment. I arrived 10 minutes before my appointment time and ended up being seen and back to the car within 30 minutes. It was great because I didn't even need to pay for parking!  The radiographer was lovely and the hardest part was that my hair was so long. If you have long hair, I would recommend bringing an extra bobble to tie up your hair and put it a bun for the picture. Apparently the hair can affect how the image looks. I managed to wedge it in one position, which she then very quickly ran to take the image before it fell back down.  She couldn't tell me anything about the results, but said that the image looked good quality. I was quite surprised by how long it took me to get the results....

As is annual tradition, I am sharing the gifts I've bought my family and close friends this year. I ended up pretty much finishing my Christmas shopping and wrapping everything in November this year, and it felt lovely being able to have them under the tree to enjoy for longer. I am also so pleased with the presents this year and really hope everyone enjoys them!  My mum has previously got a " Dear Mum " book to fill in and she claims she never got it but I have the receipt and I know I gave her it for her Mother's Day present. Nevertheless, I bought her the book again to fill in, alongside some gardening gloves for grandma's planters and a bookmark so she doesn't damage her books. I also bought the latter for some friends this year also.  I had bought my grandma the "Dear Grandma" book about 10 years ago as well but despite constant reminders, she never filled it in which makes me very sad. I've ended up buying my great aunt one that says "...