The most fun you can have with a cello.

I HAVE to post this. You just can't go skydiving with a piano.

Notes from the Emergency Department

Things I have learned in my two weeks of Emergency Medicine:

1. Four hours' sleep is not enough between two 10 hour shifts
2. there is a cupboard with sterilized bolt cutters, wire cutters and a grinder. Pray you never need them.
3. "Hold my beer and watch this" episodes never end well.
4. Scalp lacerations bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed.....
5. People often decide that the niggling problem that has been bothering them for 6 weeks gets scarier at 2 a.m. at home. Either that or they are bored.
6. metal and eyeballs are NOT friends
7. If you feel that you are dying, that may not be your imagination. That's what ED's are for.
8. the ED is halfway to a mental unit on most nights. The other half is Coronary Care Unit.
9. Be nice to nurses. They pick your cannula and catheter sizes.
10. Waiting at Emergency is good. Waiting means you are not dying RIGHT NOW. 
11. ED staff at the Prince Charles Hospital are wonderful, dedicated people who are fun to work with, even if they have short attention spans.

Animal Chiropractors?

Things you don't see in Deadwood.

Weekend Getaway

  Last weekend, Barb & I had a little getaway to the the Currumbin Valley Hinterland. Barb just finished her Specialization 1 rotation and wanted to take a break. She got a very lovely deal from Living Social for a B&B.
  We down to Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon. We stopped for lunch a the famous Yatala Pie Shop.It was good, but didn't quite live up to the hype.  Saturday night we went to the Springbrook Glow Worms Research Centre.  It was quite interesting to see.  The gentleman who gave us the tour is doing self-funded research in to bio-luminescent creatures native to Queensland.  He has a collection of glowing mushrooms, plus there is a colony of glow worms on the property.  He did tell the best stories.
  Sunday morning we slept in.  In the afternoon we down to the Currumbin Rock Pools.  We enjoyed splashing around in the water and watching teenagers jumping in.  (See my video of the day).  We also had a lovely walk around the National Park. 



  Monday we did nothing at all.  We just stayed in, listened to the Kookaburras sing and read.  Very relaxing.

10,000 blogs about blogs in our blog

 Today we reached the milestone of 10,000 page views on our blog.  It was a bit of a coincidence that I happened to look at the stats today.  (It is something that I do, maybe, 4-5 times a year).  We are also coming up on 200 blog posts (This will be number 198).
 
  Never really thought of myself as a "blogger" but apparently I am.  I really hope this is a way for our Canadian friends and family to see what we are up to half way round the world.  And to our new Aussie mates, we hope you find it interesting as well.  So as we start on the next 10,000 view, I will try to keep posting things that I found interesting and hope you do too.

Fun Android App

I found this fun camera application for my Android tablet.  It is called Paper Camera. Right now it is on sale for 25¢.

Procrastibaking

pro·cras·ti·bake
verb. pro·cras·ti·baked, pro·cras·ti·bak·ing, pro·cras·ti·bakes

v.intr.
To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness and choosing to utilize your time making baked goods.

v.tr.
To indulge in the art of baking delicious and delectable treats rather than studying/homeworking/finishing work/cleaning.

Exam time is here again.  I have just finished my Medical Specialties (or "Med Spec") block, and the exam is tomorrow.  THE HOUSE SMELLS AMAZING. Why? Because the more imminent the doom, the less motivation to study, and the more likely tasty baked goods will be produced.  It is actually a common phenomenon among students of all genres.  But I think students with some background in chemistry are particularly good at conducting reactions that involve flour and/or chocolate. There is an excellent blog dedicated to this art: http://procrastibaking.co.uk/, and of course, a facebook page. 

Tonight's delight is banana chocolate chip muffins (made from local produce. It's still weird to think I live in a place that grows bananas). And Lord, it's hard to be humble when they're perfect in every way!





My last 8 weeks have been divided between Oncology and Obstetric Medicine. Both have been very useful and interesting, sad and happy. I had the chance to explain scans to patients and inform them that treatment was working, and the chance to break the bad news that we were out of medical options available, and they needed to sort their affairs sooner rather than later. I also got to run my own room in clinic for women dealing with thyroid issues, gestational diabetes and other medical problems that can complicate pregnancy.  We lost two babies while I was with that team. It was encouraging to see the support that can be activated for these families in that shattering time. I was very lucky to have a registrar who is an excellent teacher and clinician. So now I just have to get past a 50 MCQ exam. Then a week's holiday before Surgical Specialties.

P.S. So, is this procrastablogging, then?

Sunshine Coast

Had a service call on the Sunshine Coast. Brad & I stopped for lunch at the surf club for lunch.