First weekend on call

I had 6 calls over the first weekend varying from “I forgot to collect my essential meds on Friday afternoon, can I come and get them now?” 🙄 to “my child has anaphylaxis to prawns and they’ve just eaten scampi” 🙄🙄🙄… I was just sitting down to a fish and chip supper in the local community hall when this call came through! Thankfully this was headed off with a hefty dose of antihistamines and I managed to get back and finish my delicious fish and chip supper which had been kept warm for me. The cold onion rings weren’t quite so tasty. 

Every now and again a group of local people organise events such as the “Fish and Chip Night”  which are hugely popular with the local families. From what I could see, several generations of families attend together and there’s a real sense of community. Word obviously got round that I was the current doctor and a saw a few familiar faces (patients mainly!). A rumour was circulating generated by one of the receptionists Mum’s that my husband, John was famous and he came with me to Shetland, to escape the media spotlight. Obviously he thought this was hilarious and hasn’t done anything to end this rumour (incidentally he has been mistaken for Noel Gallagher and the actor Dennis Quaid in the past 😂). 

Earlier that afternoon I got a call to an acutely breathless man in his 70’s. He was in fast atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat). This same chap had been airlifted in the coastguard helicopter in the summer with similar symptoms but I felt confident managing this and just for my own peace of mind phoned the ED consultant for support and advice. I also have the great fortune to have an interventional cardiologist as a brother in law. Quite handy when you’ve got a dodgy ECG and the automated report says something awful that you don’t agree with. An instant, expert second opinion is always very reassuring!

In between calls I did manage a bit of “relaxation” (if you can call constantly being on edge for the phone to ring, relaxed). We joined the local leisure centre, which is a fantastic municipal run facility with a small gym, classes and a pool. I managed to go to a step class for the first time in 30 years, the instructor was covering for his wife who was on maternity leave and he was by his own admission, hilariously awful. One of the 5 other participants did damn him with faint praise by saying to him, “well, Matthew you’re better than you were.” Anyway it helped my stress levels so I went back for more awfulness the following week!

I have managed to go for a run, jogging backwards and forwards passed the house in case the phone went - which it did about 30 seconds after finishing. 

The highlight of the weekend was going to the superb Victoria’s Tea Rooms for a flat white, what a treat.

So I’m isolated and alone but actually I’m not. There’s a lot of appreciation and understanding from the medical community locally, that the GPs here are clinically isolated. There’s so much help available in terms of advice over the phone which seems genuinely supportive and easy to access. I’ve also had numerous offers from medical friends and colleagues saying I can phone for any urgent advice, which has been heartwarming and reassuring.

Anyway I survived my first weekend on call and was genuinely glad to be going back into work on Monday, to have the support of the team around me. 

That’s the first time I’ve ever said that 😉

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