It’s been a while since I felt this way, but I feel like a proper nurse this week! I’ve been back on the wards now for a couple of weeks with no distractions (apart from Matt, my mother and the never-ending saga that is Brexit), and it’s been really good to reconnect with my ladies on Eden Bay. We’ve had some right characters of late, which is fab because it helps me to get to know each person as an individual. I’m determined not to start talking about patients in terms of bed numbers or conditions – I learnt my lesson with that one last year! I know we’re not supposed to have favourites but Gloria and Claire are contenders for this title at the moment. They have such stories to tell about their lives, despite being poorly, that they keep the rest of the bay thoroughly entertained. Gloria was an army wife who travelled the world with her husband for a million years. She tells the most hilarious stories about what they used to get up to, including tales about how he used to go ...

My brain is officially frazzled! I have just finished the last of the courses that Carla booked me onto and I won’t lie, I’m knackered. I’d forgotten just how difficult it was to study, go to work AND service a love life! Let’s not even talk about the state of my house – something had to give! Don’t get me wrong; I’m not moaning (well, not in my usual way) and I know that I am a very, very lucky nurse to have the opportunity to further my knowledge. I know that there are loads of nurses who don’t have as much investment as I’ve had in the last few months and I really feel for them. I worked out how much the individual courses would have been if I’d had to fund them myself and it would easily be over a thousand quid – so I’m really grateful and not moaning!! The first course was the male catheterisation which I was itching to do. I couldn’t stop talking about it at home which made Matt alternate between green and pale. He made sure that he knew the exact dates of my course – and...

‘Weird’ is the word of the week. I’m wondering when I can step out of this soap opera of a life and just have a normal one? I mentioned it to my Mum when we went for Sunday dinner– I was probably feeling a bit sorry for myself and figured a little sympathy would go down a treat, but then I remembered too late that sympathy is not something that my Mother has ever heard of. The lecture about life and how we influence our own trials and tribulations lasted well into pudding, with her assessment being that I always failed to understand how irritating I could be and didn’t understand my ‘personal impact’. It turns out she’s been doing an online course in psychology to keep her up to date with the modern world. Unfortunately, she’s been doing it with Jeremy Kyle on in the background and I think she’s got her theories a bit mixed up.  Matt managed to keep a straight face through it all, although I heard a muffled snort at one point and I’m sure I saw him wiping gravy from his...