Departing Oxford

The day is finally here, I am leaving Oxford. I  must admit that it is a bittersweet feeling. I have really grown to love this little town and I think it's wonderful. I'm excited to head home and see my family and friends but I know that a little piece of my heart will stay here in Oxford. I know I griped a lot about it in my blogs over the last 3 months but it has really grown on me and I am truly going to miss it. Oh and please excuse any typos because it is 6:30AM and I haven't slept very much at all. :)

The experience here has been delightful. I am so lucky to have had this experience and I have such a sense of accomplishment and success that I have never experienced before. I made it through the term which was my main goal. I'm truly going to miss the friends that I have made here and hope that I can keep in touch with them once I'm back in the States. I can't wait to be home! Of course, as my luck would have it, they are calling for snow in DC today but I am hoping that the flight will be unaffected by the weather.

I can't wait to be back home in the comfort and warmth of my family and friends. I feel that I have been away for so long when I know it has only been 3 months. I'm truly appreciative for the experience and for having parents that were capable of sending me :) Thank you! I hope you all enjoyed reading about my adventures and I appreciate the time you took to do so. I'm signing off now this will be the last update. Thank you again and see you around!!

Quote:
When one teaches, two learn.
Robert Half

I DID IT!!!!!!

WAHOOOOOOOO 

I did it! I survived the term at Oxford. Yes it was hard and yes it was long but I did it! I have such a sense of accomplishment and pride like never before. It has been a life changing experience and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to do it. I have realized how lucky I am to have such awesome friends and family back home. I truly appreciate them and I've realized how much they all mean to me. I couldn't have gotten through my time at Oxford without you guys! 

It has been a wonderful experience to be here. I have so many great memories to take home with me and hundreds of wonderful pictures. I can't wait to get home and share them with everyone! I know this is short but I will do one last entry on the way to the airport Saturday morning. I hope everyone is well! 

Quote:

One part at a time, one day at a time, we can accomplish any goal we set for ourselves."
Karen Casey, from Achievement of a Life Goal

The Beginning of the End

Good morning, afternoon or evening! Today is Monday November 30 and I am only 5 days away from home!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am! I have completed my paper for Wednesday and just have a few revisions to change and today I am going to complete my paper for Thursday! It feels so good to be almost done with my tutorials! When I look at the calendar I can actually see December 5th at the end of the week!

So, this week I am having my normal Wednesday tutorial at 3:30 and then we (the other girl my tutor is teaching and me) are having dinner at our tutor's college. Although she hasn't told me exactly what time, I assume that it will be after my tutorial. And then I have moved my Friday tutorial up to Thursday at noon, just so I can get it out of the way and not have to worry about it all week. I plan on a doing a little shopping this week as well and pick up a few last minute gifts for my family :) And then at some point I want to just walk around for the day and take some last pictures of Oxford. Unfortunately the weather says its supposed to rain all week so we will have to see if the weather will hold out for me to take pictures.

Well, that is all for now! My last blog entry will probably be on Saturday morning on the way to the airport. I can't wait to get home!!!

Quote
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Vince Lombardi

7th Week

7th week is now drawing to a close and I'm so excited! Tomorrow is Thursday, where has this week gone?! I'm so excited to be home in 10 days!

I have 2 papers left to write and I have attempted to complete one today but I am struggling. I'm so anxious for this to be done and to be on my way home, but I know that I need to focus and still do my last 2 essays well. I hung out at Starbucks for most of the day with my friend and people watched for a good portion of the time. I did a little bit of reading but that was unsuccessful, I'm not very good at focusing when I'm in public.

I saw someone playing a musical saw. Yes, really it's a real thing, but I wouldn't call it an instrument exactly, but you should look it up! Well, I should probably try to get something done today so I am going to go do some reading. I hope you are all well!

Quote:
Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.
Bertolt Brecht

A&E Drama

Well A&E-2 Me-0

After Wednesday's visit I am slightly discouraged about universal healthcare. Sure it seems like a great idea, let's help those who don't have insurance or can't afford it. BUT, and this is a big but folks, at the expense of proper medical care? Really?

On the second visit I went through triage. Estimated waiting time was 2 hours. I was seen in about an hour and a half. The doctor I was seen by was probably one of the rudest people I have ever met. I told him what happened Monday and what Dr. Tuten (one of mom's friends) said, and he asked me why I questioned the doctor's judgment. I responded with what Dr. Tuten said and that I needed a boot for my foot and that I wanted an x-ray. After asking me a few other questions very exasperatedly he said "Fine, we can do the x-ray but you should know that it increases your risk of cancer and infertility. I guarantee your x-ray will be 100% normal."

"Really? Cancer & infertility!?? Are you sure you're a doctor and not Captain Obvious??!" is what I wanted to shout at him at the top of my lungs. But instead of stooping to his "cheeky" level I took the little pink form and crutched over to x-ray like a decent human being would do. I was x-rayed and returned to the exam room with my flatmate Sasha so that I could be sure I wasn't crazy about this man's rudeness. He, after sitting at the nurse's station for 5 minutes finally told me to go back to the exam room I was in and he followed us in. He said there is no fracture on the x-ray like I told you there wouldn't be. I responded with "Not all stress fractures show up on x-ray right away." He didn't seem to care for what I had to say, so I finally told him that my doctor said I should get a boot. He said "we only give boots to people with fractures." He repeated this probably 5 times, as if I was hard of hearing, and then walked out of the room with no good bye or good luck or any kind of closing remark.

I returned back to the flat I spoke with my wonderfully awesome parents. They were a bit miffed, just as I was, but Mom took care of it and got a boot from Dr. Tuten. I am extremely grateful to both of my parents!! It was not cheap to send that boot over here, but it will be ridiculously nice to be able to walk on my feet again and not use those quite awful crutches!!! So a big THANK YOU!!!! to my parents! Taxis are expensive here and while I do still have money in my account I am trying to come home with some to save for the wedding!

This week has been pretty hectic and tiresome to say the least. Thank goodness it is Friday and I can relax. Next week I meet with my Wednesday tutor on Monday and then the Friday tutor as usual, on Friday. I have only 3 more papers to go and then I will be Oxford Alumna!!! 15 days to go before I take my airplane home :)

Quote:
Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.
~ W. Clement Stone

Wrong Diagnosis

Well, here it is Wednesday and my foot is still swollen and painful. I sent Mom some pictures and a description of what happened and how my foot was feeling and where. She works with an orthopedic surgeon so he looked at the pictures and checked out my little note and decided that it wasn't Morton's Neuroma, it was a stress fracture. Yes, he is 3,000 miles away and pictures aren't as helpful as seeing it in person but at the same time I think he probably took more time to look my letter and pictures over than the doctor here did looking at my foot! So I called the A & E (accident and emergency dept) of the hospital I went to on Monday. I told them that I had been there and diagnosed with Morton's Neuroma. I then told them that my orthopedic surgeon concluded that I didn't have Morton's Neuroma and that it was a stress fracture and that I needed a moon boot, which would take pressure off of the front of my foot and put it on my heel. Apparently here it is called a wedge boot. Anywho, I was told that I have to come back to the A & E and register again and wait again and then see a doctor again and that I can explain the circumstances to him/her. So after my tutorial at 3:30 I will be grabbing another cab and heading back to John Radcliffe Hospital and hopefully heading home with a moon boot. :sigh: I really hope that this is not the shining example of socialized healthcare, because to be honest I was quite optimistic about the whole thing. We'll see how tonight's visit goes and then I will make my decision as to whether or not I find it efficient and practical. I'll post again soon! :)

Quote:
"I think; therefore I am." ~Rene Descartes

Stonhenge, Bath, & a Bad Foot

Good afternoon!

This past Saturday I went to Stonehenge and Bath. It was a rather dismal day, it poured at Stonehenge, to the point that the wind was blowing the rain sideways and it stung as it hit you. It managed to clear up for a little while, just long enough so that we could snap a few photographs. Bath was nothing too impressing in my opinion. I think I am more of a nature girl. I'm not so interested in seeing ruins that lie in the middle of a city. But nonetheless the trip was worth it and I saw some interesting sights.

Sunday was basically a resting day I didn't do very much work. However, today I was supposed to be writing my paper but that didn't exactly happen. Last night I noticed that my foot was hurting a little bit and thought that maybe I had stepped funny or something and brushed it off. This morning I woke up to a stiff, swollen, and painful left foot. I decided to call my parents, although it was 4:30AM for them, and asked what I should do. The pain was quite severe and I couldn't even put my foot on the ground to walk. Luckily there was a pair of crutches in the basement and so I used those to go to the local health clinic with one of my flatmates.

Upon arrival at the clinic we were told that all the urgent care appointments were taken and that our best option was to visit the A & E (accident and emergency room). We called  a taxi and headed there. We got there I registered, which consisted of giving my name and addresses (both here and the US) and then answering what kind of ethnicity I was from a chart comprised of listings such as: Irish white, British white, other kind of white (me) and so on. It was quite surprising. We then sat down and watched another 10 people come in and register, one of which was a pair of girls. One girl said she had a rash and I believe I heard the nurse ask if she had taken any drugs and then the girl said LSD. I'm not positive I heard this correctly, but I did see her take something out of her pocket and give it to her friend.

Anyways, I got an internal viewpoint of the universal healthcare system here and can't complain too much. I was triaged within 10 minutes of arrival and waited about 2 1/2 hours to be seen. I was with the doctor for about 10 minutes I would say, and while he was rather nice I left questioning his diagnosis. I was originally told they would take blood work but then the doctor told me that this wasn't needed. I wasn't even given an x-ray because the doctor didn't think it was a break. So basically I went back sat on a bed and he looked at my foot and said I think it's Morton's Neuroma. Which he told me basically means that the nerve in between my bones is inflamed or crushed. They aren't sure what causes it but say that years of wearing high heels or excessive pressure can be linked to it. Well I don't wear high heels very often at all and I'm not fat so I don't think I put excessive pressure on it. I would have to say that on the bright side my visit was free (not that they actually did any tests or anything).

And so I am let uncomfortable and in pain. Tylenol is what I was told to take even though I said it didn't help. So now I must hobble around Oxford until my foot magically heals itself, I am a bit skeptical of this whole diagnosis but I will take it at face value and hope that my foot gets better soon so I can actually walk. I'm not thrilled about using the crutches but taking a taxi everywhere is going to get costly and pretty old.  But I guess if it's what I have to do then it's what I will have to do.

With that, I must say that it is nice to visit an ER and not pay a dime other than the cab fare to get there. However, I am left with the uneasy feeling that the diagnosis I got was rather unfounded. But, I have the reassurance of my mother that once I get home we will see a proper doctor and have it checked out. :) I hope that it won't still be swollen and painful by then though. I hope you are all well and I can't believe we are finally into the teens! Only 19 more days until I am home!

Quote:

Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance...is a celebration of that miracle.

~ Martha Washington

My reaction this quote: perhaps feet shouldn't be so small if they bear such great responsibility in keeping your entire body standing... Just a thought! :)