Flowers never bend with the rainfall

These are the flowers my classmates brought me in hospital last week (surrounded by work). I'm actually fine - they thought I had appendicitis and I didn't, although I did get as far as the anaesthetic induction room! It was interesting to experience a hospital from the other side of the curtain, and the head of Phase One medicine pointed out to me she had yet to meet a medical student whose education hadn't benefited greatly from time spent in hospital. On Thursday morning I was reading about the patient experience of hospital care in my medical sociology text book on the tube, and that evening I was lying awake trying not to roll onto my IV line, watching the shadows of the night nurses on the ceiling, thinking about my own experience of anxiety and lack of information.

I still have some tests coming up and in the light of all this happening the week before my end-of-year exams, the dean recommended that I withdraw from the May session and take them instead with the resits in July. This is both a blessing (I have more time to revise, and have put off the inevitable for a little while!) and a perfect reminder to be careful what you wish for. I've lost count of the number of times I've wished, in the weeks coming up to an exam, that someone would suddenly turn around and say, 'Actually, you've got an extra two weeks!' - and unexpectedly I've been given a six-week reprieve and it feels decidedly odd. Not only do I feel strangely like I've cheated somehow, it's also turned my summer on its head. I was really looking forward to doing a 9-5 again for a little while, earning a bit of money, and having evenings and weekends with nothing to do but go to the park, read novels and knit!

To keep things on the straight and narrow I've promised myself to treat the library like an office (or keep office hours there at least - I don't mean eating cake at my desk and eavesdropping on the most interesting conversation in the room!) and hopefully that will mean I still get to knit in the park and go to Sunday Jazz at the Princess of Wales. I realised when I was in hospital how much I've missed knitting (there's nothing like being stuck in bed with a canula sticking out of your arm to make you want to use your hands!), and how much I've missed not blogging this year. I miss being part of the wonderful warm community of knitblggers that I valued so much last year, I miss my friends, and I feel like I've forgotten how to write in full sentences.

So, bear with me please! I'm really hoping that the underside of these new leaves means more knitting and blogging time, as well as more time to revise. I'm visiting Deri's parents this weekend and will be taking my needles along with an embryology text book. By the time I come back I should have... ooh, a swatch! In the meantime, be well.