Branding

I've just noticed how much product placement is in this blog.  Sorry about that folks.

They only come once a year

Another birthday has passed and I have to say it was a good one.  I usually try and drag the celebrations out as long as possible and this year was no exception.  

It started out with a dive of Robb St Jetty.  It was the first time I've done that site and I have to say that it was a very easy dive though the walk leading up to it is not...especially with what's probably about an extra 25kg of weight with tanks and lead.  It's one of those walks when I think to myself that I should really give up smoking yet I remember that I don't smoke and so can't use it as an excuse for how totally unfit I feel.  Go the boat dive!  There were loads of nudibranchs and I did see a lionfish (I think), and for the UWAUC people out there, yes, there was also a turtle and snowflake moray, I promise!  The dive is a total of about 6.4m (with my puter buried in the sand) and I averaged about 4.8m.  Barely a snorkel really but still.  

The dive was followed by a wee BBQ back at a fellow divers place with salads and naked saussages provided by yours truly.  A generally pleasant affair, especially with the beer drinking that accompanies any good BBQ.

The main event however was dinner and dancing, preceeded by champers.  Dinner was at a favourite of mine in Subiaco.  The food was good and company even better.  Dancing was also done in Subi despite perhaps the location not being known to have a dance floor.  Midnight was seen with more bubbly and the end of the night saw me walking the three ks home with heels in hand.  I'm a very classy bird, don't you all know.  A word of advice though: after a night out drinking, watching Donnie Darko at 2am is not a good idea, even if it may seem so at the time.

Then comes my actual birthday.  Breakfast with family and me holding my head.  Actually, the whole day was spent with me holding my head.  Me holding my head in bed praying for the swift arm of death to relieve my suffering.  Me holding my head while trying  to watch Pirates of the Caribbean.  Me holding my head as I ate a delicious fish n chips.  And me holding my head as I watch more TV.  Despite all the head-holding it was a nicely relaxing day and the pampering was good too.  All in all a great weekend was had.

Full of Grace

I was walking to work the other day when suddenly I was face down on the pavement. I don't have any idea how it happened. One minute I was strolling along happy as Larry and the next I wasn't. And for all you medicos out there, I had no loss of consciousness, no dizziness, no lightheadedness, palpitations or any warning signs whatsoever. I can not however say that it was definitely a mechanical fall either. The pavement was perfectly flat without a single obvious raised area I could have tripped on and despite one friends suggestion, I don't recall tripping over my other foot. Anyway, this is the result of this graceful event:

How stupid can you be?

I thought I'd write a quick note on how stupid people can be. Now the fact that these examples are thoughtfully provided by nurses in no way means that I think nurses are stupid. I will perhaps provide them the excuse that they are over worked, under paid and working nights.

These are a couple of pages that have been received by myself and other doctors over the last few days:

1. (9.30pm) Pls review patient with tender lump below sturnum (breast bone for you non-medicos). Patient thinks lump may have been there yesterday also.

An innocent bystander who has never worked nights before might see this as completely reasonable. I ask though that if the lump had been there for probably two days, why does it need to be delt with at 9.30pm tonight? Is this urgent? Is it lifethreatening? NO. Then, on review of this patient, this lump turned out to be the xiphoid process. A part of the breast bone that EVERY SINGLE PERSON HAS! Something tells me then that this would have been there for maybe 60 years!!! And perhaps if it was no longer played with it wouldn't be tender?

2. Pls prescribe sleeping tablet for patient XY.

Again, this might seem a reasonable request but on seeing the patient, they were asleep!!!

A little wary

I had a phone call from the ex the other day and these always make me a bit apprehensive. For a few reasons really. These phone calls are always out of the blue and I'm never really sure why he's calling. (This one was straight forward though: advice about what to see in The Pilbara). He also calls when he's at work, never from home. And I guess there are trust issues. Don't get me wrong though, the conversations are pleasant enough and we stay away from The Past. Despite the wariness, his parents will be in town soon and I'd really like to catch up with them. With a little luck, this will happen.

Killing time...not patients (warning: serious product placement!)

Well here I am at 4.30am in Man's Best and waiting for 6am to roll around. In the meantime I thought why not update my virtual life.

Tonight has been a good night for work. Not too many admissions and the ward seems to be looking after itself. Nothing too drastic being done. Kinda surprising given it's a Friday night. ED itself is not looking too bad either. With any luck, the next four weekends will be like this as I'm working all of them. Pooh for me but someone has to do it. Monday being a public holiday at least I get good rates at a time when I'm feeling so poor.

Part of the reason for this is that I've finally joined pop culture and bought myself a new ipod (classic 80G). It's just so pretty and shiny. I went for the black option cause everyone knows black is the new black. I ended up getting it off the Apple web site and was very impressed with the ease of purchase. At a time when there were waiting lists at all the major and minor stores, I was able to have my product within 48hrs of payment with free shipping and free engraving (name and phone number on the back...perhaps I should lose it in the company of hot men). Now I'm just saving for my MacBook Pro. With salary packaging and tax deducting, why wouldn't I get one?

The other reason I'm feeling broke is that I'm a loser. Went out on Saturday night after an awful four days at work and decided that a big night was going to be had. I think the first mistake I made was not having dinner. A friend was coming to mine before hand and I just didn't get home in time to eat. And then there was the mixing of beer and wine. Needless to say I was rather unwell and left my phone in the taxi. Stupid. I tried calling it and the driver did answer and then promptly hung up. The taxi company was no help whatsoever. Even if you give the time of pick-up and drop off location (given all pick-ups are logged), they still couldn't help me. It's just so dishonest and useless to boot. I cancelled my phone straight away and had a block put on the handset so it can never be used. I guess there are some techies out there who know how to unblock them but still. Grr. So I ended up getting the Nokia E65. Would have preferred a Sony Ericsson but there aren't that many nice ones out there. And I have to say, my phone is sexy. Having a bit of trouble finding my way around it but I'll get there. I'm a smart girl after all.

On Monday I'm having a tupperware party. I think tupperware is pretty awesome as it's leak free and has a lifetime warranty but it's just so expensive. Now people generally think that the reason I'm having a tupperware party is that I want them to subsidise my own purchases. This is partly true but I'd buy the stuff anyway. I just figure it's an excuse to get people together for drinks and cheap food that someone else cooks (the tupperware woman does a cooking demonstration for us and I've opted for the chicken curry...mmm). The disappointing thing is that I've had friends say that they aren't really into tupperware or in the tupperware market and so won't be coming. THIS IS THE WRONG ATTITUDE PEOPLE!!! It's really about supporting friends and spending time. It's like when people invite me for a dvd night or what-not. I don't say sorry not coming cause I've seen the movie. That's not what it's about. For me, it's more the time spent with friends and it doesn't really matter what's being done. That's one thing in life that shits me. Believe me though, there are others!

Last sightings

I just wanted to make a note about seeing people for the last time. I don't know necessarily if it makes a difference if you know that it's the last time you're going to see them. In hindsight I always wonder though if I would have told that person something different or behaved in a different manner or not. There does come a point though where contact between the two of you becomes so difficult or apathetic that you then turn around and say to yourself...that night was the last time I will probably see that person. It just makes me wonder.

It also brings to question the value of a one-sided friendship. But that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

Lots of news

Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything and that's mostly been cause I've been unusually busy. I posted in my anaesthesia training application and there was palava that ended up going on with that. It sorted itself out thankfully. And it's been a long and what's felt like extremely drawn out waiting process.

While I was waiting I managed to head over to Melbourne for five days to hang out with a good friend, and just get back to being cultured. The trip over there was less than impressive. My flight was almost three hours delayed and I'd just finished a ten hour ED shift so was none too impressed. Fortunately there was some nice eye candy at the service desk that I could feast my eyes upon to pass the time. The flight didn't leave until about 2am and when we landed, they somehow forgot to unload our bags. We were waiting at the carousel for an hour before they came out! Unbelievable. Needless to say I was exhausted. As for the trip, I'd never been to Melbourne before and I must say it was mostly like what I'd been told. I didn't do any shopping (shock horror!) but I did do lots of eating. No, lots of GOOD eating. Oh the restaurants! And what I must say is the best hot chocolate on this earth (and I think I have to clarify that and say Australian earth). The first night I was able to catch up with a long lost friend from the home land. It was really nice despite going to a restaurant that meant we had to shout at each other to be heard. No matter, it was the company that I'd gone for and it's just awesome when you can see a friend after so long without contact and it's like no time has passed at all with respect to the ease that you feel with each other. Hopefully now we'll stay in contact again but that's the problem with life and time I suppose. It waits for no one.

As far as activities go, I even got to go to the snow! Now I've seen snow before (not even a handful of times), but I've never done any snow sports...skiing or snowboarding. On this, my virgin snow sport experience, I chose to do the snowboarding option. I found it really fun and I'd love to do it again. I just don't know how people can enjoy queuing for hours on their holidays when you can spend time doing other things without this annoyance. And I have to say that the people who work in the snow are not happy people. I don't believe they understand the meaning of the term "customer service". Still, it was a good day despite spending much of it on my ass.

So I've now finished ED at the peripheral hospital I was at and am now at Man's Best doing what is named the "Short Stay Medical Unit", but what is more like the "ED Dumping Ground" ward. It's not exactly conducive to learning but it does provide a steep learning curve with respect to time management. My first day in the unit had me doing 18! discharges!!! Welcome to hell.

Anyway, now for the real news. I did not get a training position for next year. This means I now opt for Plan A as per numero uno. This means no Sipadan, getting some kick-ass stuff behind me for the applications for next year (APLS and ATLS courses, audits, research maybe), reapplying and GETTING THE DAMN JOB and then taking three or four months off and travelling South America with E-Dog. I sincerely hope my place on the roof of his car has not been given away!

Bipolar?

On a lighter side...here's a photo of some intelligent graffiti that I pass on the way to work. When I say intelligent, it's cause it must mean something and I can't figure it out:

It's been a while

Applications closed yesterday and I have to say the last week was a little stressful. I discovered only days before the closing date that one of my referees was having a hard time writing about me and as such hadn't sent in their necessary responses. Panic. I couldn't understand though why he had to wait for me to remind him of applications imminent close before fessing up. I promptly sent him a copy of my application and set him in the direction of other consultants in the department who I'd had contact with (albeit LESS contact with...I'd asked him for a reason). Then I found out that one of my other referees has gone on leave so they didn't get the reminder. This one should have their own secretary so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

In all honesty though I did have hard time in picking the third referee. Not because I'm so useless but more because I'm still only half way through my second year and a number of the terms I've done have not had single consultants. The first two were easy: my ortho reg who is now a consultant (yay for him) who told me on a number of occasions he was glad to have me as an intern, and my general medicine consultant who I got along with really well and felt I didn't disappoint too much. The only terms left were emergency (many consultants, minimal contact with each), general surgery (I had my reasons for not picking him), leave relief (need I say more?) and intensive care (the field my third referee came from). I'm also doing ED now and in hindsight perhaps would have chosen one of these consultants but as the term had only just started, this wasn't really an option. Anyway, as I've said to a friend of mine...back to Plan A and he'd better leave me a spot on his South America trip next year!

Not giving up

People have been constantly saying to me that I'll meet someone when I stop looking. Why would I give up on myself?

Paying by the hour

Last night was the first time I've ever paid for a room by the hour. No, it's not what you think. It was all a part of a quite random evening but I guess what do I expect when I don't plan my Saturday night. It started very depressingly with me drinking at home (alone) and watching an even more depressing rugby game. I then found someone to go out with (yay) - a friend of my cousin (random event number one). I met up with him and some of his friends at an out of the way pub and listened to irish fiddling while jigging it up on the dance floor (random event number two). We then were kicked out of there as the place was closing and the boys, as they are, wanted food. Headed into Northbridge and ended up playing spacies (that's space invaders for those who don't know) at a random kebab place (random event number three). After that the five of us hired a room at a karaoke joint for an hour and sung (terribly) what was considered karaoke hits (final random event). If someone had asked me what I thought I'd be doing (and a couple of people had) I would never have thought that that's what I'd do. I can't say that I didn't have a good time cause I did.

On a different note, it's pissing down cats and dogs at the moment and I'm rather liking the sound it's making on my tin roof. Definately curling up in bed with a good book weather but equally I feel it's going out with the girls and having a boozy lunch weather...oh for weekends off and late starts on a Monday. Thanks Miles, I knew there'd be a way to make the shift swap advantageous.

What do you call this?

Last night, I had this intense feeling of sadness.

Almost done

I have spent the WHOLE of today looking at and composing really wanky responses to the anaesthetic college selection criteria and am almost done...whew. The only thing left (aside from sending the damn thing in) is to have it critiqued and basically ripped apart by my genius and expert-at-these-things cousin. Then, once I've re-written it for the third time (the complete one from today is part one), I'll be able to send it in. I have to say though, I hate doing this stuff. Needless to say that part of it is the whole "look at me, I'm so awesome" speel that has to be delivered, but also I just hate the whole competitive aspect that it implies. Over the 28 years I've lived on this earth, I've come to know that I really dislike competition...perhaps that's why I "thrived" so well in the GMP program.

On another note, further proof that I'm awesome (I don't mind the I'm so awesome stuff when it's all in fun) is that yesterday THREE residents called in sick. That's three out of five who were rostered on for the day. And guess who was on call...

That sickening feeling

I went to the supermarket today as one does when one needs groceries, and I was at the check-out, diligently packing my own shopping bag when the check-out lady informs me that the total comes to $68.00. I look into my wallet and to my complete horror, there's NO CREDIT CARD! Talk about one of my worst nightmares come true! You know that sick feeling you get when you have no idea where a really important item is? Well I had it. Multiplied by a million. I couldn't for the life of me think where it could be. I couldn't even remember the last time I used it. (Being a single girl, essentially living alone, I tend not to buy groceries very often). I had to go back and count day-by-day my activites. Now everyone, rest in peace cause I found it. It was in with my palm pilot which I take to the gym to listen to music. I'd paid for my personal training sessions the last time I went and had put my card in there. So I had to leave all my shopping at the supermarket, return home, pick up the card and head back to pick up and PAY for my shopping.

On another note, while I was waiting for the check-out girl to get to me, she was serving another customer (essentially what she gets paid for). But what I noticed was this: that other customer had purchased a packet of crumpets, and he had put said packet into one of those fruit and veg plastic bags! This I have never seen before. Mainly I think because most people realise that a packet of crumpets is already packaged. And in plastic too none the less. People, please. Now I know I'm not the most environmentally friendly person in the world but I do try. I mean, I don't even put my fruit and veg in those fruit and veg bags (as I'm ususally only buying one and really, I figure they're plastic, not good for the environment and I figure you don't need to bag a single item of fruit). That's my rant for the day.

Another non-dinner topic...sorry

Well after another hard day at work in the ED, I yet again leave feeling useless and it's all because of that last patient that sticks with you. I had a woman with an STD and I needed to do a pelvic examination. I don't like these at the best of times and tonight was no exception. I cannot do them. Not for not wanting to...if one could actually want to do one of these. Or should I say not for not trying to. I try. And I try. And I can never find the cervix. (If I was talking about the "G-Spot" perhaps one would mistake me for a man...just kidding blokes). But it's true, I can never find it. And I've tried. I spent three months in Port Hedland and up there spent time with the gynaecologist. She did everything INCLUDING draw me a map and still I came up short (don't even go there with that pun). And tonight was no exception. And it was the girls first PV exam as well. (I mean there's her first mistake...21, sexually active and never had a Pap Smear...is she stupid?!). Anyway, in the end my registrar saved me and I was left feeling deflated and useless. I guess these just aren't my thing but I will persevere.

Beware if weak stomached!

It's been about a week (I think) since I last posted and mostly that's because I have done nothing of interest worth posting about and nor have I thought anything particularly shareworthy. However, I can now inform people that I'm tough...at least tougher than some of my other ED counterparts, a lot of whom have called in sick the last few days but not me...despite a touch of gastro, chills, fevers, stomach cramps etc, I still turned up to work...partly out of guilt (I had agreed to cover the shift for someone) and partly cause I was hoping I'd be told to go home...silly rabbit, that never happens. So I turned up to work and felt awful the whole time I was there. And two other residents had called in unwell. Hence the conclusion that I'm tough. The culprit was either one of two things...I caught it off a patient. Very likely since that's been a majority of what I've seen the last week. Or I ate some dodgy double cream brie. It was tasty but I think that's what it was. Now on a more disgusting but rather fascinating note...I don't know about anyone else, but when I vomit, I seem to be able to separate things quite nicely as they come up. First came the pasta, then the tomato garnish, and finally the brie with crackers. I could tell not because they came up whole, but because of all the different and very pretty colours, resembling nicely the originals. Good thing I was feeling awful enough that I didn't get my camera out for a visual for this page. Anyway, I'm feeling better now. Still a little crampy in the stomach and still off my food, but I don't think I could any longer get away with calling in sick.

Coulda, Woulda But Didn't

It seems as though I'm destined to be single forever. And I think I've resigned myself to that fact now. There was a guy. I thought he liked me but I guess not. I dunno. I do think that I have to put this one in the coulda shoulda pile. So for now it's just me and my cat. You'll see me in a couple of years and I'll have half a dozen cats and hordes of newspapers lining the halls of my house. Oreo for now is my initiation into spinsterdom.

Welcome to psuedo-GP land

I've now finished intensive care as of last week and am proud to say that there were no deaths on my watch. As morbid and poor taste as it is though, I've never had to deal with the coroner and it's something I should know how to do. Unfortunately I think it's learnt practically. I did really enjoy the term. The nurses were really helpful and the registrars really keen on teaching. From what I hear, I think I was lucky in that respect. I had hoped that I would get to do more procedural stuff with respect to lines and such but c'est la vie.

I'm doing my emergency term now out at one of the peripheral hospitals and so far it's ok. I'm not so sure how last night went though because in the wisdom of clinical administration, the 10pm til 8am person was on holidays and they didn't think it important enough to provide a leave reliever. That left ONE person to manage the 14 cubicle department. Crikey, I'm glad it wasn't me. And it's going to be like that for the next two nights again. The department itself seems pretty good though. Again the nurses are great but given that it was a little mad last night, there were basic things that didn't get done that should have...like obs. Fortunately there weren't any REAL emergencies. Believe it or not but most EDs tend to be used more as a GP service than an emergency service. It's all the people who feel that they don't want to pay for their healthcare as it's free. That's why I think that there should be a fee for any non-emergency services provided, but that's a whole can of worms right there. The one thing about this department in comparison to Man's Best is that it isn't on a public transport route so it makes people need to be a bit more determined and motivated to get there.

Now for an update on the last entry: it's got to the stage where I'm meeting one of the anaesthetic educational people this week to go over my cv and discuss any questions I might have. It seems option 2 is the way I'm tending.

Decisions, decisions

I've recently recieved my application for re-employment at the esteemed hospital for which I work and it's got me thinking about when exactly it is that I want to apply for the anaesthetic training program. Well to be honest, it's a combination of that and my cousin whispering in my ear that perhaps I should apply for next year. What's been stopping me is this: I'm keen to do a little travel before I start a training program and I kind of had my heart on doing a further nine months as a resident doing jobs that will provide me with experience but not necessarily add a great deal to my application when I get around to it, and then do South America for three months. Of course I'd apply for the program next year for the 2009 intake and come back for that with travel out of my system...for a while anyway. (The original-original plan was to move back to New Zealand and start my training there but that's taken a huge backseat given recent xperiences...a story perhaps for another time). So I suppose the pros are: 1) I get to travel, 2) I have a bit more experience (life and work) and 3) I don't yet feel ready to take on the responsibility of being a registrar, albeit a junior one. I think the major con here is that I'm delaying the inevitable and perhaps also I should give myself a little more credit as to my knowledge base.

Now the alternative is this: I apply for the program, get on it and start next year, sit for exams around mid 2009 and then travel after that (this time perhaps for four to six months). The pros for this are singular: I get started. (There are subsets of pros within this, in short being I'm 28 and the sooner I get on with life in general the better). I do feel that there are a couple of cons though, with these being: 1) Like I said, I don't feel "ready," 2) I'm not sure I necessarily want to be in Perth for the next 5 years (though again this can be negotiated), and 3) I want to travel some. Even in my head these are pretty soft cons, but they're cons none-the-less and I don't want to regret this decision. I guess I can still "holiday" while I'm on the program but it's not quite the same. I think, for today at least, I'm leaning towards this alternative but there is still some serious thinking to be done and some talking with various anaesthetic types. In the meantime, if anyone who had decided to read these entries has an opinion, I'd love to hear it.

On a lighter note. If I do decided to start the program next year, I've started picking out possible holiday destinations to break up the daily grind. The first is a weeks dive holiday in Sipadan followed by a week in Borneo. (A certain someone has been in my ear about this spot for a little while so thought I'd check it out and it turns out that they've been whispering for good reason). The second is the usual New Zealand holiday to see the north of the South Island. The third really is anywhere else. This is the exciting part of choosing the more dull alternative.

It's Personal

So I had my second session today with my personal trainer and I have to say I really quite enjoyed it. I'm only really going to be able to see him once a fortnight but I think that should be enough as we did completely different stuff this time as to last time. And it's stuff that I wouldn't think of doing otherwise....really different exercises using platforms, medicine balls, fitballs, etc...I like balls. I also got to vent some steam with the boxing stuff, though instead of boxing it was kneeing. (Imagining the ex at these moments is helps to keep one enthusiastic about the exercise). Very satisfying. Who says I'm bitter and twisted. I think it's quite a healthy attitude to have.

Numero Uno

I've decided to give this a go and link it up with my Facebook site. With any luck, no one outside the people I'm readily willing to embarrass myself in front of with my excessively boring life and terrible spelling will read it. I was never really any good with a diary and when I was it was just about boys. Perhaps this will give me some focus. But I doubt it. The trouble is, I'm an email fan albeit if they are usually group emails. Emails are not a fad and these possibly are...I mean I hardly ever remember to check the homepages of friends because they aren't, you know, DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO MY EMAIL as updates. (Yes, yes, shake your head at my blatant laziness).

Also, I feel kind of funny about posting photos on the www as who knows who might have access to them. At least with Picassa (a Google thing) the photos can only be viewed by those invited if I so choose. And I don't believe it's fair to put photos of friends et al up on a readily accessible site without their permission. So I guess for now, at least with respect to photos, Picassa it is.

Anyway, that's the hard part done with...starting. It should only get easier from here.