Meeting the Relatives

I have to say that this was probably the least exciting day at the hospital. This morning Aunty Jill drove me to Princess Margaret Hospital, which specialises in orthopedic care (hips, fractures, old people stuff) as well as some psychiatric care such as anorexia.

When I got there, Joanne was already there as usual. We were introduced to all the pharmacists. They then gave us the details of one patient’s case for one of our workbook activities where we had to analyse her situation, the drug medications she was on and come up with some questions we would ask her in an interview we would be having with her in an hour and a half’s time.

The supervising pharmacist came back just in time to lead us to the patient in another room where we had a bit of a conversation with her, asking her some questions about her medication. She was really nice! Due to patient confidentiality I can’t disclose any of it here.

After the interview we went back to the office where we were left to make sense of all the information and devise a care plan for her. Let’s just say the case was quite confusing and I don’t think the pharmacists knew what was required of us!

They sort of left us to our own devices for the rest of the day. They met up with us just before it was time for us to go though, just to see if we were on the right track. We left even more confused as to what we were meant to do!

Joanne and I waited at the bus stop just outside the front of the hospital until she caught her bus. Before her bus came though, some 12-13 year old Maori boy with a guitar came over to us and asked if we smoked. When Joanne said she didn’t smoke, he went over to the people beside us and asked if they had a cigarette he could exchange for a song. The lady told him she started smoking at his age and it

“F---d me up!”

While I was waiting for Aunty Sally (Aunty Jill’s sister) to pick me up from the hospital to take to Aunty Jill’s house, I had a little walk beside the river. It was quite chilly that afternoon outside! I was amazed at how it didn't stop many people from walking their dog, jogging or just cycling outside!

It eventually got too cold for me and I took shelter in the hospital foyer till my aunty, uncle and cousins Amanda, Samantha and their friend came.

We got to Aunty Jill’s house where I got to meet Richard (Aunty Jill’s son – I’m sleeping in his bedroom!), Alice, Aunty Gayle (Aunty Sally and Aunty Jill’s older sister), Uncle Warren and a few other relatives. We all had some really nice food that some of the relatives had cooked, including lasagne, roast pork and potatoes and vegetables. All of us younger relatives sat together eating while the aunties and uncles talked amongst themselves at the table.

Dessert was the second course that had been nicely cooked by Alice! There were chocolate brownies, ice-cream and feijoa crumble.

We ate that as we checked out some photos and videos of Alice’s recent holiday to Tahiti before we went to the lounge to play some cards. They taught me a new game called 500 which took quite a while to get my head around!

They all eventually had to leave and after they did, I went back into my bedroom to try finish off my care plan but I was so tired I just fell asleep!

A Unique Look at Hospital Pharmacy

I woke up early once again at 6am. While I thought I was getting faster at my morning routine of having a shower and getting dressed, I seemed to have spent more time than the morning before! Fortunately there was still plenty of time for me to have some toast and Milo, talk to Aunty Jill and then leave for Burwood Hospital.

Aunty Jill drove me to Burwood Hospital. We initially turned left into this road that had an arrow pointing to it saying Burwood, but after a while Aunty Jill thought we had gone the wrong way, so she did a U-turn and took the other turn. Luckily enough we somehow managed to arrive at Burwood Hospital! We drove around for a while looking for the main entrance before I ended up just getting out and asking someone at the Spinal Unit reception. Even after that I still had to wander around till I finally found the pharmacy department! Joanne was already there!

We were introduced to the three pharmacists and the pharmacy technician in the department, and told that we wouldn't be doing any work today, just following them around. We first followed one of the pharmacists to the admissions ward, but there weren’t any patients there to see! It was really quiet!

We then went to join another pharmacist at the spinal unit who told us all (and quizzed us!) about drug treatment for patients with spinal injuries. She was telling us how the patients in this ward were either paraplegic, tetraplegic, some were paralyzed and confined to wheelchairs, others were temporarily reliant on ventilators to breathe, while some other more unfortunate patients were permanently reliant on them. We didn't get to visit the patients, but we did see quite a few in wheelchairs going down the corridors. We also saw some equipment being transported that is used to lift patients up. The corridors are a lot wider than those at Christchurch Public Hospital too, and the spinal unit have their own resident cat!

One interesting thing we overheard while at that ward was that there was some sort of outbreak in a couple of the gastro wards back over at Christchurch Public Hospital! Hopefully it gets cleared up before we go back on Friday!

At around 10.30am we went to the café to meet up with the other pharmacists. Some drug rep was meeting up with them to tell them about some new drug that is used for prophylaxis of hip injuries…I think. She says it has better efficacy than enoxaparin (a low molecular weight heparin), and came prepared with all these brochures, journal articles, guides with graphs and statistics and even samples of the medication for the pharmacy to stock if they wanted to! Oh but don’t forget the most exciting thing, she paid for our drinks! I had a mocha! Flash!! She also brought all this merchandise, such as branded pens, diaries, note pads, bags, and even a figurine of some character called ‘Clot Man’! She gave Joanne and me a note pad each which was cool!

After the drug rep was finished with us, or should I say we were finished with her (asking a thousand questions), Joanne and I went to watch a pharmacist do a medication history review with a patient with rheumatoid arthritis coming in for surgery. I can’t really say much due to patient confidentiality and I don’t want to get into trouble but it was interesting watching that.

Finally it was lunch at 1pm! We just ate at the café. I ate the lunch Aunty Jill once again made for me before we went over to the brain injury rehabilitation unit to follow another pharmacist. This time there was a lot for her to do! It wasn’t too exciting for us though, just watching her do paperwork.

We did follow her into one of those rooms populated with nurses, and one of the nurses turned around and when she saw us asked sharply

“What are you doing here?!”

Then she realised we were pharmacy students following the pharmacist!

We did get to watch the pharmacist talk to a patient about which medication they had been taking upon arrival to hospital, and it seemed as though he was non-compliant.

After that, we just stood around for a lot longer in the ward drug room watching the pharmacist try to complete her paperwork while being distracted and pulled away by nurses!

We were supposed to finish by 4pm but finished half an hour later. We went to the nearest bus stop and Joanne showed me this little box that is on a pole at the bus stop. You push a button and a light next to the amount of time the next bus will be showing up brightens!

The bus ride back to the Bus Exchange in the centre of the city took about half an hour. Once we got into the city, Joanne and I went our own ways and I went to find the Dollar Store 123 to buy a ‘Thank You’ card for my relatives to give to them this Thursday when I leave them! After that, I went to the food court above the Bus Exchange to wait for Uncle John to meet me.

When he arrived, we had to walk to (what felt like) the other side of the city to reach his car. We just talked and I got to check out the sights as I walked so it was all good.

When we got home, Alice had cooked dinner for us! It was fish wrapped with ham or bacon, and some chips with some lemon sauce I think! Anyway it looked and tasted really good! This family likes cooking!

We spent the evening watching a couple of food shows on TV before the women went off to bed and left Uncle John and I to watch Spooks.

After that I finally went to bed! 

A Hospital Visit and an Interview

I woke up at about 6am, just before Uncle John came over to wake me up! I had a shower and went upstairs to have a bit of breakfast before Aunty Jill dropped me off down the road at her friend Jean’s place. Jean was already waiting in her car for us on the side of the road, so I quickly jumped in her car and we were off! We travelled across the city and she parked outside her work, which was just on the other side of the intersection that was adjacent to Christchurch Hospital. Fortunately the weather in the morning was only slightly cold and foggy, but not rainy! In fact it didn’t rain at all today! I even caught a glimpse of the sun through the window during lunch!

I got to the hospital half an hour early, so I just wandered around the ground floor amongst the shops which sort of looked like a little village. Eventually by 8.30 I went to the pharmacy department where I had to wait a while before the staff meeting was over. As I was waiting, Joanne, the University of Otago pharmacy student I would be working with for the week arrived. She’s a Malaysian and she is pretty friendly and easy to get along with so that’s good.

We first met Nigel, one of the pharmacists who first took us on a tour around the pharmacy department. They have around 30 pharmacists in the department! I’ve never seen so many pharmacists in one area!

We got to see the dispensary area, the cytotoxic room, the sterile room, the compounding area, the controlled drugs room and the office.

Nigel then took us up to the gastro ward where he showed us what he usually does when he reviews a patient’s notes. He looked through them to check that all the doses were correct, the legal stuff was there (like dates etc) before we followed him to watch him check some medication with a patient.

That was about all the time there was for that ward before I had to get back to the pharmacy department at 10am for…my pharmacy intern job interview!

There were three pharmacists interviewing me. One of them was going to be taking us to the paediatric ward straight after! They started off by telling me all about the pharmacy department and the intern programme. Then they each took turns asking me questions!

They asked the standard questions such as why I chose to study pharmacy, why I wanted to work at Christchurch Hospital and what is my long term career goal. However, I also got asked a few questions I hadn’t thought much about before then, such as what was my most and least favourite subject (to which I said most favourite = pharmacotherapy…obviously! Haha and least favourite=law! Just because it’s annoying having to find the right page with the right law on it!). I also got asked if I could remember an example of a stressful time during which I had to communicate clear information. I couldn’t think of one off the top of my head, except for my oral exam! That wasn’t a particularly good example. Another question they asked me was if they were to ask my friends about me, how would they describe me? I just said they’d think I was loyal, hard-working and trustworthy! What would be the bad things they’d say about me? I was trying to think of an answer that wouldn’t make me sound too bad and all I could come up with was…that I sleep too late!

At the end when they asked if I had any questions, I asked when we’d be notified of the outcome, to which they said by the end of the week. I’m just hoping it’s after I’ve left Christchurch so I can have time to discuss it with my family if I do get in, or so I don’t embarrass myself if I don’t!

After the interview, one of the pharmacists who interviewed me took Joanne and me up to the paediatric ward. We didn’t get to interact with any of the patients unfortunately. We just mainly watched the pharmacist review the charts before we came back down to the pharmacy department to fill out our workbooks a bit more before going to lunch. Joanne was going to have lunch with one of the interns originally from Otago Uni, so I joined them as they went to the staff cafeteria. We just ate some lunch, and I ate the lunch Aunty Jill had kindly prepared for me!

We had to be back at 1pm (an hour later). Our next activity was to visit the sterile lab, where we just had a look around as the pharmacist told us all about it. After that, we checked out the cytotoxic room which would soon be decommissioned by the end of the week which was a little sad for some of the pharmacists working there.

After those two tours, we got to meet Cherry our proper preceptor, who took us on another tour of the department before taking us up to her ‘baby’, the ACAU – Acute Care Assessment Unit! She asked us a lot of questions. Fortunately she wasn’t too strict, nor did she mind my crazy answers which turned out to be correct half the time!

She helped us look at bus timetables to get to the other hospitals in Christchurch over the next few days before we went back to the department to finish for the day. Joanne and I just did a bit more work in our workbooks before walking to the Bus Exchange together. We had a little walk around the streets nearby where all the shops were located. We also checked out Cathedral Square with the iconic cathedral. That was pretty cool! By not it wasn’t too sunny but it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t too cold either which was good. Joanne showed me the bus to take – route 3 to Sumner.

I was told to get off the bus outside the New World Supermarket in Redcliff. It was amongst the second lot of shops after Countdown. However, I came across Countdown and thought I’d get off at the bus stop there, and walk to New World! I couldn’t find New World though so walked back to Countdown and waited for Uncle John to pick me up from there! It turns out New World was a lot further away from Countdown than I had realised! Oops!

When I got home, I met Alice for the first time which was pretty cool. We ended up talking a bit throughout the night. We had lasagne for dinner which Aunty Jill had cooked (nice as usual! She even offered me seconds!). Alice let me try some of the carrot cake she had baked for her dad’s birthday which was on the exact same day as my dad’s birthday last Wednesday!

After dinner we watched a bit of TV before starting to watch a movie that Alice had randomly chosen. Aunty Jill and Alice ended up going to bed halfway through the movie, before I left not too long after. 

Leaving for Christchurch

I didn’t go to church this morning but instead spent the morning finishing off packing for Christchurch. My dad was probably more anxious than I was, as he constantly kept reminding me to get things sorted!

I could only just fit everything in my bag, but surprisingly it only weighed 13kgs (with the maximum of 23 kgs!). My school bag was about 6kg though! I’d have to empty it when I got to my aunty and uncle’s house in Christchurch before taking it to the hospital tomorrow.

My mum gave me a bit of a haircut before she went off to pick Aonghas and Hamish up from church and drop Aonghas off at work. I had finished my shower and my dad and I were waiting anxiously for my mum to come back, as the flight was going to depart at 3pm and my dad had wanted to leave by 1.30pm!

Finally she came home, and we quickly got in the car and headed for the airport. We got there with about 10 minutes before the half hour close-off time. The airport had changed quite a bit! They have these new self-check-in kiosks! All I needed to do was scan the barcode (my dad tried shoving the piece of paper into the slot!) and then the luggage label printed! As soon as that was done, I dropped my luggage on the conveyor belt and made my way to the departure gate.

As I was lining up to have my bags x-rayed and my body scanned, my mum and dad kept constantly reminding me not to leave anything behind, to make sure I did this and that!

I managed to get through the barrier all right, except there was a beep that made me jump! I started heading to the gate before realising I was going the wrong way and ended up having to walk back the other way to get to Gate 28! I could hear the woman’s voice on the intercom announcing that Flight 535 to Christchurch was about to close and so I started running! I was out of breath by the time I got to the lady at the gate! She scanned her ticket and I walked out onto the tarmac to line up to board the plane.

I was seated at 10D which was an aisle seat, right next to two guys. I have to say I was probably the tensest person on the plane! I was praying before take-off, whenever I heard some weird sound and before landing that we’d be safe! The last time I had been on a plane was when I was younger and our family flew to Wellington for a holiday. That was over ten years ago! Since then I’ve watched numerous disaster movies and the Mayday documentary series on air crashes which have freaked me out! Oh and don’t forget 9/11…

The flight was actually non-eventful. Just after take-off the safety video was played with the flight attendants showing us the emergency exits. After that, the only thing on the video screens were some random trivia questions! Half-way during our flight we were served a drink (I chose water!), and a snack, which I chose the vege chips. There was very little in it but I suppose you can’t expect much! As we flew over the northern part of the South Island, the weather was great! It was sunny! The pilot however announced that Christchurch’s weather would be a lot more miserable than that!

The little girl soon walked down the aisle handing out the lollies before the plane started lowering for landing. I was gripping the armrest with my heart beating. I was so relieved when the plane landed!

When I got off the plane, I followed all the people out, as I had no idea where to go. It was not too long before Aunty Jill spotted me! She and my uncle went over to the luggage carousel to find my suitcase, which was one of the very last. After we grabbed it we headed to their car and they took me past Christchurch Hospital to show me where it was, and then to the Bus Exchange, where Aunty Jill and I got out to have a walk around and grab some bus timetables. She doesn’t catch the bus that often so she had to make some enquiries at the help-desk as well. The Bus Exchange is sort-of like Auckland’s Britomart. It’s right in the middle of the city, and it’s surrounded by shops! Hopefully I get a chance to check them out.

The weather was miserable as the pilot had earlier claimed, and so we quickly got back into the car and they took me to their home, which turns out to be at the top of a dormant volcano! They have great views of the bay and their house is quite new! I am sleeping in their son’s old bedroom as he is now flatting. It’s right next to a toilet and bathroom and mini-lounge which they said I could watch TV whenever I like! According to my uncle, they had been living in this house for the past five years or so. They had it built themselves, so that the parents could have upstairs and the two kids (one who has moved out) could do everything they need to downstairs.

I didn’t isolate myself downstairs in the bedroom for too long though, as I went back upstairs to watch the news with Uncle John and Aunty Jill before Aunty Jill’s friend Jean had come over. She was going to give me a ride to Christchurch Hospital in the morning so it was a good opportunity to meet her in advance.

Aunty Jill had cooked some (I think) Satay chicken and rice and made some homemade buns for dinner which was really nice!

After dinner we watched a bit more TV before we all decided to go to sleep, and I just spent some time in the bedroom reviewing my job application and CV, and thinking of possible answers I could give at the interview the next morning!

A Musical Farewell

The big day had finally come - today was the day we'd be performing the musical our youth group had been trying to secretly prepare for Karvin (our youth group leader and church pastor who will be leaving for China next Monday) over the past few weeks!


Aonghas and I went to Harvey Norman to pick up a large-size photo of our youth group that we would be giving to Karvin. I had to Photoshop in Fiona, one of the youth group leaders since she left early and missed the photo! 


We arrived at church early so that we could sort things out. Jireh had brought a white jumper with the NZ silver fern on it for all of us to sign to give as a present to Karvin so we tried to track down everyone to sign the shirt.


During the service, we all did last minute practices in the group songs we would be singing and dancing. The main actors also had make-up put on them. James and Angie, who were playing Karvin's dad and mum respectively had to put talcum powder in their hair to make them look older, as well as have wrinkles drawn on their face! It looked pretty freaky!


Once the service was over, it was time for Karvin's Ordination/Farewell Ceremony. It started off with some mass singing, before Karvin's family took to the stage to sing us a song. Some people gave speeches dedicated to Karvin before some of the children's Sunday School teachers came up to perform a song.


Finally finally...it was our time to perform!


The musical goes like this...


There are all these depressed and tired people wandering the streets. Karvin sees this and thinks something should be done about it! 


These angels suddenly appear and tell Karvin to go out there and let them know about God! Karvin isn't so sure, but the angels persuade him to go and he agrees to.


He breaks the news to his parents that he's going to China to be a missionary! They aren't too happy. When he meets his wife-to-be Christine, he has a new-found confidence and his parents now feel slightly better about it. 


Karvin, Christine and their children are then farewelled by the Oddfellows at the airport as they are about to leave for China.


It went quite well! I was proud of them all, especially the main characters who had to sing solo such as Andrew (as Karvin), James and Angie (as Karvin's dad and mum), Grace (as Karvin's wife) and Phillip (as Karvin's good friend).


After the performance we all had a shared lunch in the gym. It was probably one of the biggest shared lunches we've had! Everyone in the youth group were a little worried all the food would be gone by the time we finished taking all the group photos, but they had nothing to fear!


Fortunately it wouldn't be the last time we'd see Karvin, as he would still be in New Zealand for another week. He would be leaving on the Monday I'd be down in Christchurch, so I got to say goodbye to him on the following Friday night after youth group!


Farewell Karvin and family, may you have a great time in China and serve God well!

Musical Wonder

Today during my spare time I went to check out the Big Sing at the Town Hall. I didn't have class yesterday and because of the bad weather I wasn't able to go see my old school Rutherford College performing, but because I was going into the city today to talk to a university counsellor about Compassionate Consideration for my exams, I thought I'd drop by to have a listen to a few of the high school choirs performing.

I have to say it was awesome being able to watch and listen to the choirs perform. It made me forget about pharmacy for a short while, and regain my passion for music momentarily (my passion for music is always there but I have to suppress it most of the time to focus on other things like..pharmacy!).

One of the standout performances for me as by Dilworth Boys Choir who performed 'It Ain't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got that Swing)' which was a jazzy piece. There was a part of the performance when they were singing a capella which was brilliant!

I can't wait for KBB Music Festival now to watch the high school orchestras! They are always inspirational!

Farewelling Exams and my Uncle

I had my final exam this morning - PHARMACY407, which would be my hardest. I didn't think I'd have any chance of passing at all! I came to the exam wearing a shirt and black pants and people were asking me if I was going to a job interview afterwards, to which I told them I had a funeral to attend.

The exam went...so-so...I guess I'll find out when results come out. As soon as the exam was over though, I went to the gate to wait for my brother and mum to come pick me up. My uncle's funeral was to start in an hour and so we only had an hour to get back to Henderson to make it. Aonghas was also playing a video at the funeral too (as well as filming the funeral itself!) so he had to get there as soon as possible!

Aonghas's phone GPS wasn't working though and my mum and Aonghas got lost on the way! When they finally arrived they were quite stressed! We only had about half an hour to make it back to the funeral!

We arrived there slightly late, but fortunately we hadn't missed much. The church hall wasn't that large, so it was quite full with people even gathering outside around the door! We managed to sneak in. My dad and Hamish were up in the front with the rest of the family.

There were some really touching speeches given from my cousins as well as some of his close friends after the floor was open, all of them describing just what a great guy and how sociable and helpful he was. It was understandably quite emotional for my cousins.

The coffin was carried off as the service wound up. He was carried into the hearse and we all stood outside to watch him being taken away. His family and my dad and other aunty went with them to the cemetery to watch him being cremated while the rest of us remained at church to have some food.

I'm sure it's a hard time for my cousins but hopefully they know the rest of us will be there for them, and we won't ever forget Uncle David. He's definitely been a big part of all of our lives. He's been one of my biggest supporters and sources of encouragement, and has always been interested in what I've been up to in my life, especially my music.

He may be gone, but the memories of him will live on forever.

RIP Uncle David.

Doing the Best Under the Circumstances

It's been a difficult past few days ever since Uncle David passed away. I sat my PHARMACY409 mid-term test yesterday. I was trying to study for it at night but kept falling asleep and waking up again, and didn't end up getting to bed and getting some good sleep till 5am, which meant I was really tired during the test. I couldn't even focus properly and almost dozed off in the middle of it. I certainly won't be going into another exam again with little sleep.

I don't know how well I did in that test though. I tried to answer all the questions as best as I could, even though I had to make some stuff up. It's only 10% though so I suppose if the worst happens it won't make or break me.

Later that evening I went to my relatives' house for dinner with all the family. Uncle David was lying in the coffin in the middle of the lounge. The really spooky thing was that Rocky, their little dog kept running up to the coffin and barking at nothing! Anyway, Uncle David looked smartly dressed in a suit and a tie with a Pacific design. I don't think I'd ever seen him wearing a suit before! Never too late I guess.

We all had a bit of dinner, and some family and friends came by throughout the night to pay their respects. One of Aunty Noeline's work colleagues brought a giant banana cake! It was really yummy!

Greg was also back up in Auckland from Blenheim so it was good catching up with him. He's been training down there so he can eventually join the Air Force.

Once dinner was over, we got down to business discussing the funeral. It looked like time would be tight, since the crematorium would be closing at 4pm and the funeral would be starting at 1.30pm. I felt a little bad as they had initially suggested the funeral be held earlier in the day, but only pushed back the time because Hamish and I had an exam in the morning!

It was agreed upon that Aunty Noeline and my dad would give the eulogy at the funeral, while each of his immediate family would give a speech and Aonghas would do a little slideshow. Only the immediate family and Uncle David's brother and sister (my dad and aunty) would go with Uncle David to the crematorium to say goodbye.

When we got home it was back to study for my next exam...well not really exam but my aseptic dispensing broth test earlier today. All I had to do was transfer some broth from one container to another, and add water to the containers. It should've been quite easy, but it didn't start off too well when I dropped one of the needles on the ground as I was decontaminating it! I decontaminated it again before I put it into the still-air box though so hopefully I didn't introduce too much bacteria into it!

I finished the test in an hour and a half, so I was able to go home early and start preparing for the final exam tomorrow which I'm really really afraid of. If I fail tomorrow's exam I will have to repeat the paper next year which I want to avoid doing! It will also be Uncle David's funeral straight after the exam, so it will be a full-on day.

RIP Uncle David

This morning our dad woke us up really early and broke the news to us that Uncle David had died. We were all in a state of disbelief, as we couldn't believe it. We knew things were getting bad for him, but we didn't think this day would arrive so soon, especially since the doctors had given him six months to a year left to live.

We quickly got changed and went over to our cousins' house. There was a police car parked on the side of the road at the end of the driveway, with a policeman standing outside the house. Once we got to the house we went around the back where the policeman had been standing, and saw our uncle lying on the ground outside beside the parked cars. Our cousins had gathered around our uncle, holding his hand and looking on. My cousins were understandably quite upset.

Originally we didn't know why he was outside, but we were then told what had happened. Apparently our aunty woke up to give our uncle some medicine at 5am in the morning. About half an hour later, my cousin went in to check up on him, but he was missing from his bed. My cousin looked around for him, and finally found him sitting in one of the cars. He had swiped all the keys and had them in his pocket. He was slumped over, holding the wrong key. Unfortunately he had died.

Once the doctor had arrived to pronounce him dead and that nothing untoward had happened to him, we carried him inside and lay him on his bed. We all just had a bit of breakfast and sat around just looking at him, till the family's minister came over to have a prayer and talk about the funeral.

The funeral home people soon came to put him on one of those stretchers and take him away.

What made the day difficult was I had my first exam - an oral exam later that afternoon. I had no idea how I was going to get through it! Once my uncle had been taken away though, there was nothing much left we could do, so my brothers and I went home to have lunch. Aonghas then took Hamish and I to uni for our exams.

I pretty much screwed my oral exam. I couldn't detect the issue in the case until I got to the role-play station with the 'doctor'. After the exam, I was with my friend Natalie when I told her what had happened and when she asked me what my uncle was like I just broke down. I have no idea why! Throughout the morning I managed to maintain my composure, but then I just couldn't contain it. She took me to see a tutor to explain what had happened, as I was a bit reluctant to do so. I didn't want to use my uncle's passing as an excuse for my poor performance, plus I didn't think applying for compassionate consideration would be worth it anyway. Still though, I'm lucky to have a friend like Natalie who kept encouraging me to do so and supported me. I felt a lot better after talking to her!

I just can't help thinking that this was a fitting way for my uncle to go. He had a passion for cars, loved having friendly chats with anyone and always had interesting and amusing stories to tell, and remained independent till the end.

RIP Uncle David. You will be missed.

RIP Caramello

RIP our beloved rabbit Caramello. We've had her for many years, but she passed away this morning when our dad went outside to feed her and clean up her hutch, only to find her motionless. She has had a good run, managing to live longer than most would have predicted. Hopefully she is in a better place now!