The Smell

As I scurried into the main entrance of the Zoo, it hit me in full force. That olfactory sensation I had not noticed in many years.

That's right, the 'hospital smell'.

To be perfectly honest with you, I have not noticed the 'smell' of hospital for many years now. Perhaps due to the years of clinical placements or the dulling of my neurons; either way I've been semi-immune to what most lay people refer to as the 'hospital smell'.

That is... until tonight!

Having been on annual leave for 2 whole weeks has somehow turned me back into a semi-normal kind of person and not having set foot in hospital for an entire 17 days had allowed me to relax and even start growing a rather untidy crop of facial hair*. And so I have begun to experience the little joys in life once more, like the stench of industrial power anti-septic agents that characterise hospitals worldwide. Some people appreciate being able to stop and smell the roses... I like to be able to stop and smell the hospital.

And it's not just me! The other doctor on nights with me also commented that she too noticed the hospital smell this evening after she had been on holidays too.

I wonder if one could bottle this smell and put it into a Lynx fragrance? I'm sure it'd sell well! Hehe!

So anyways, I'm back on the wards again once more doing night shift but this time at a nice big hospital (instead of old Whoop Whoop) and I've noticed the following:

a) it's sooo much better when there's a resident around to keep you company and talk to.
b) it's really really cool to ALWAYS have a med reg on call and even better to actually have them soley on nights and on site rather than having to drag them out of bed.
c) having a common room with Foxtel, Xbox and coffee machine makes nights so much easier

I think this week will be fun!

* yeah I know it looks bad etc etc but cos I don't HAVE to shave for the next few weeks I wont. I hate having to cut my face every day... it requires me to wake up a whole 2 minutes earlier than normal.