Two days into the week. I"m ready for the weekend.
As part of O&G, we"re expected to attend about eleven (11) clinics over the course of the rotation. Somehow, despite failing to sign up to things properly, I"ve managed to attend four (4) in the last two (2) days. I"m not sure how that even worked but dang, I"ve subsequently ended up with a long, long list of things I need to read up on.
Just looking at the list is tiring me out.
So I"ve managed to attend a high risk pregnancy clinic, a menopause clinic, an antenatal clinic and a colposcopy clinic. All in all, pretty educational, though I"m kind of getting over all this icky women stuff.
Haha. Kidding.
OR AM I?
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Market day
Its so good to have a sleep in.
I slept in until 8 o'clock which was amazing! I felt so rested...
Did my shopping then went to Central Market with a colleague. We spent way too much time looking for a parking space but managed to find one (ages away!) and did our shopping.
Juice was on special, so for some reason, I decided I needed 6 litres of fruit juice. Fun to carry. Then I found a 5kg bag of potatoes for very cheap. So I got that too. Then came the apples and tomatoes. I felt like a weightlifter...
After all that shopping, we were famished, so we decided Laksa would be the best choice to revitalise us. Oh it was good.
Picked up some Breadtop (custard bun and peanut twist) for dessert tonight (which I"ll have soon! Woohoo!) and finally headed home.
Exciting afternoon, I went for a run!
I"m so very unfit :(
Anyway, forget that for now.
I attempted to make gnocchi for dinner, which went atrociously the first attempt...
Ok, it wasn"t that bad. It held together, but it had no firmness to it. It was like eating a soggy lump of mashed potato.
Attempt number two went slightly better, but more of the same.
Attempt number three was better, not great, but significantly better as it had a bit of firmness to it. I decided that was good enough for today. So I cooked up a batch for dinner. I also fried it to give it a bit more firmness, which worked wonders.
The pasta sauce was fun. I had a few ideas which I wanted to try out. Mainly, a pasta sauce that didn"t need a ton of garlic/onion to actually be good. Not to say I don"t like garlic or onion, in fact, I love them. I eat way too much of them in fact. But I had to test this out...
I browned some thin strips of chicken breast and added diced tomatoes, pineapple juice, orange juice and diced mushrooms. I prefer my mushrooms a little on the mushier side, which is why I added them so early. I let it cook well with some salt and pepper to season and turned down the heat a little to let it simmer and reduce down. Once the sauce was thickened, I added my fried gnocchi, threw in some baby spinach, and took it off the heat.
The verdict? It was delicious! I"ll have to work on my gnocchi, but I"m going to try this sauce again later this week with perhaps a linguine.
Hmmm, I hope this doesn"t turn into a food blog... There are way too many of those already...
I slept in until 8 o'clock which was amazing! I felt so rested...
Did my shopping then went to Central Market with a colleague. We spent way too much time looking for a parking space but managed to find one (ages away!) and did our shopping.
Juice was on special, so for some reason, I decided I needed 6 litres of fruit juice. Fun to carry. Then I found a 5kg bag of potatoes for very cheap. So I got that too. Then came the apples and tomatoes. I felt like a weightlifter...
After all that shopping, we were famished, so we decided Laksa would be the best choice to revitalise us. Oh it was good.
Picked up some Breadtop (custard bun and peanut twist) for dessert tonight (which I"ll have soon! Woohoo!) and finally headed home.
Exciting afternoon, I went for a run!
I"m so very unfit :(
Anyway, forget that for now.
I attempted to make gnocchi for dinner, which went atrociously the first attempt...
Ok, it wasn"t that bad. It held together, but it had no firmness to it. It was like eating a soggy lump of mashed potato.
Attempt number two went slightly better, but more of the same.
Attempt number three was better, not great, but significantly better as it had a bit of firmness to it. I decided that was good enough for today. So I cooked up a batch for dinner. I also fried it to give it a bit more firmness, which worked wonders.
The pasta sauce was fun. I had a few ideas which I wanted to try out. Mainly, a pasta sauce that didn"t need a ton of garlic/onion to actually be good. Not to say I don"t like garlic or onion, in fact, I love them. I eat way too much of them in fact. But I had to test this out...
I browned some thin strips of chicken breast and added diced tomatoes, pineapple juice, orange juice and diced mushrooms. I prefer my mushrooms a little on the mushier side, which is why I added them so early. I let it cook well with some salt and pepper to season and turned down the heat a little to let it simmer and reduce down. Once the sauce was thickened, I added my fried gnocchi, threw in some baby spinach, and took it off the heat.
The verdict? It was delicious! I"ll have to work on my gnocchi, but I"m going to try this sauce again later this week with perhaps a linguine.
Hmmm, I hope this doesn"t turn into a food blog... There are way too many of those already...
Friday, May 21, 2010
Fridaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
7am starts are bad.
So very bad.
Finally getting to scrub into an operation though? So good.
I"m sure I"ve mentioned before that I"ve been through 8 weeks of Surgery without having the chance to scrub in to assist with an operation, its a pet peeve of mine.
Today, I happily got to scrub up and assist the doctor on a caesarean section. It was all I imagined it to be. Well getting sprayed and being soaked from the waist down in amniotic fluid was a surprise, but otherwise, it was great!
This time it was a baby boy. He was so cute!
So very bad.
Finally getting to scrub into an operation though? So good.
I"m sure I"ve mentioned before that I"ve been through 8 weeks of Surgery without having the chance to scrub in to assist with an operation, its a pet peeve of mine.
Today, I happily got to scrub up and assist the doctor on a caesarean section. It was all I imagined it to be. Well getting sprayed and being soaked from the waist down in amniotic fluid was a surprise, but otherwise, it was great!
This time it was a baby boy. He was so cute!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Post-hump day
Hump day was big.
Basically spent the morning organising our own timetables for O&G.
This involved organising changes in PBL dates/times and booking in with clinics and GP placements, though some of us didn"t have our GP placement dates/locations yet, which made things really annoying as we tried to keep the afternoons free in case our GP placement was on one of those days.
Worst organised rotation ever.
I ended up spending the afternoon trying to chase up my GP placement and finally managed to.
Today I had swapped with a fellow student to be on the Birthing and Assessment Suite for the day.
I wasn"t expecting much to happen, as many previous students had mentioned that they had gone through all of O&G without seeing a NVB (or normal vaginal birth for those that aren"t up to date with the TLAs).
So I showed up at 7am, totally awake and ready for a long day of sitting around (I wasn"t really). The midwifery handover was as to be expected, lots of names and things I hadn"t heard of before. The medical handover at 8am was the same.
Soon afterwards though, following the medical team around, we checked on a woman who had her membranes rupture 2 weeks ago (PPROM) when she was about 31+2.
Apparently the thing to do in this case is just to chill out and balance the risks of infection vs the problems of prematurity. So they chilled.
Flashforwards to today and the expectant mother is at 34+3, over the majority of problems and probably more at risk with infections, so it was decided that it was time.
The registrar introduced me to the husband and wife and asked if it was alright for me to tag along with her for her birth. She was quite non-committal (apparently she had been hounded by medical students for the 2 or so weeks she"s been in hospital), but I got a vague consent.
Approximately 10:30am, I went in to properly introduce myself and ask again for consent, and she was quite agreeable. I think it was partly due to the NO gas.
Not long after, her contractions got stronger and more frequent. Action time!
Long story short:
At 10:57am on Thursday the 20th of May, 2010, a beautiful little girl weighing 4.2 pounds was born as a normal vaginal birth. Apgar scores were 8 and 9 for the healthy pink looking baby, though there was slight nasal flaring.
That was the pretty part.
What came next was the placenta. Not so pretty.
Did you know that they keep the placenta (double bagged) in a fridge in case the parents want to take it home? Not weird at all. Totally not weird at all.
Basically spent the morning organising our own timetables for O&G.
This involved organising changes in PBL dates/times and booking in with clinics and GP placements, though some of us didn"t have our GP placement dates/locations yet, which made things really annoying as we tried to keep the afternoons free in case our GP placement was on one of those days.
Worst organised rotation ever.
I ended up spending the afternoon trying to chase up my GP placement and finally managed to.
Today I had swapped with a fellow student to be on the Birthing and Assessment Suite for the day.
I wasn"t expecting much to happen, as many previous students had mentioned that they had gone through all of O&G without seeing a NVB (or normal vaginal birth for those that aren"t up to date with the TLAs).
So I showed up at 7am, totally awake and ready for a long day of sitting around (I wasn"t really). The midwifery handover was as to be expected, lots of names and things I hadn"t heard of before. The medical handover at 8am was the same.
Soon afterwards though, following the medical team around, we checked on a woman who had her membranes rupture 2 weeks ago (PPROM) when she was about 31+2.
Apparently the thing to do in this case is just to chill out and balance the risks of infection vs the problems of prematurity. So they chilled.
Flashforwards to today and the expectant mother is at 34+3, over the majority of problems and probably more at risk with infections, so it was decided that it was time.
The registrar introduced me to the husband and wife and asked if it was alright for me to tag along with her for her birth. She was quite non-committal (apparently she had been hounded by medical students for the 2 or so weeks she"s been in hospital), but I got a vague consent.
Approximately 10:30am, I went in to properly introduce myself and ask again for consent, and she was quite agreeable. I think it was partly due to the NO gas.
Not long after, her contractions got stronger and more frequent. Action time!
Long story short:
At 10:57am on Thursday the 20th of May, 2010, a beautiful little girl weighing 4.2 pounds was born as a normal vaginal birth. Apgar scores were 8 and 9 for the healthy pink looking baby, though there was slight nasal flaring.
That was the pretty part.
What came next was the placenta. Not so pretty.
Did you know that they keep the placenta (double bagged) in a fridge in case the parents want to take it home? Not weird at all. Totally not weird at all.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Back to it...
So it seems I haven"t blogged in so long, I don"t even know where I"m up to.
Quick summary of the last week or so (if you want more info, you"ll have to ask for it...)
Tuesday, 11th of May: Handover. Wards. JMO teaching - A visiting ophthalmologist gave a quick spiel regarding outreach clinics - I jumped up as soon as he was finished to talk to him and spent the afternoon making the necessary arrangements.
Wednesday, 12th of May: Handover. Journal Club. Wards. Bedside Teaching. Tried to get a miniCEX done, consultant was busy. Went out to the Beachfront for drinks at trivia night.
Thursday, 13th of May: Woke up at 5ish to catch a taxi at 5:45am to the airport. Flight was slightly delayed but had a nice chat with the ophthalmologist during the wait and eventually got into a little 2-engine (pressurised) 9-seater plane that carried the pilot, the ophthalmologist and myself. I felt like I had my very own private plane. Continued chatting with the ophthalmologist about life, the universe and medicine, while the pilot did his thing. A short flight later (20 minutes or so), we arrived in Daly River and got into the 4WD to take us to the clinic. The little town was cute and quite developed, though we learned that it had a very high suicide rate. A little sad there. The morning was spent waiting for patients to come in (which they didn"t until 10:30 or so) so during that time, I learnt the basics of ophthalmology, how to do visual acuities, how to take intraocular pressures, how to visualise the optic disc using the indirect method, and the basics of the slit lamp. It was fun. Over the course of the day, I proceeded to assess each of the patients in these things, with the ophthalmologist giving them the slit lamping and calling me over to look at things. We ran late as is the norm with these things, finally getting into the plane and getting back home around 6:30pm. It was a fun day and the ophthalmologist was amazing. Total mancrush.
Friday, 14th of May - Handover. Teaching rounds with miniCEX, did well. Finished up on paperwork and went to chat to the ophthalmologist again. Learnt to spell ophthalmology (you think I"m kidding...). Renewed mancrush. Finished up with the NTCS and handed in all my ID and pager. Went out for drinks at the Trailer Boat Club and Ski Club. Managed to get to the airport way too early. Checked in. Napped.
Saturday, 15th of May - Caught the flight at 2:40ish am. Got to Adelaide at 6:15ish am. Got home and accompanied a friend to the airport and to Ikea for breakfast. Went shopping. Came home and decided not to sleep, but to clean up my room. For some reason, it looked like someone had broken in and messed everything up. I realised I had left it like this when I left, a month ago. Oops. Went to a friend"s house for dinner. Slept, wonderful, wonderful sleep.
Sunday, 16th of May - A blur of sleep and nothingness.
Monday, 17th of May - O&G begins. Long day, lots of bajingo. Giggling at naughty words.
Tuesday, 18th of May - O&G continues. Still giggling at naughty words.
Tired. Sleep.
Quick summary of the last week or so (if you want more info, you"ll have to ask for it...)
Tuesday, 11th of May: Handover. Wards. JMO teaching - A visiting ophthalmologist gave a quick spiel regarding outreach clinics - I jumped up as soon as he was finished to talk to him and spent the afternoon making the necessary arrangements.
Wednesday, 12th of May: Handover. Journal Club. Wards. Bedside Teaching. Tried to get a miniCEX done, consultant was busy. Went out to the Beachfront for drinks at trivia night.
Thursday, 13th of May: Woke up at 5ish to catch a taxi at 5:45am to the airport. Flight was slightly delayed but had a nice chat with the ophthalmologist during the wait and eventually got into a little 2-engine (pressurised) 9-seater plane that carried the pilot, the ophthalmologist and myself. I felt like I had my very own private plane. Continued chatting with the ophthalmologist about life, the universe and medicine, while the pilot did his thing. A short flight later (20 minutes or so), we arrived in Daly River and got into the 4WD to take us to the clinic. The little town was cute and quite developed, though we learned that it had a very high suicide rate. A little sad there. The morning was spent waiting for patients to come in (which they didn"t until 10:30 or so) so during that time, I learnt the basics of ophthalmology, how to do visual acuities, how to take intraocular pressures, how to visualise the optic disc using the indirect method, and the basics of the slit lamp. It was fun. Over the course of the day, I proceeded to assess each of the patients in these things, with the ophthalmologist giving them the slit lamping and calling me over to look at things. We ran late as is the norm with these things, finally getting into the plane and getting back home around 6:30pm. It was a fun day and the ophthalmologist was amazing. Total mancrush.
Friday, 14th of May - Handover. Teaching rounds with miniCEX, did well. Finished up on paperwork and went to chat to the ophthalmologist again. Learnt to spell ophthalmology (you think I"m kidding...). Renewed mancrush. Finished up with the NTCS and handed in all my ID and pager. Went out for drinks at the Trailer Boat Club and Ski Club. Managed to get to the airport way too early. Checked in. Napped.
Saturday, 15th of May - Caught the flight at 2:40ish am. Got to Adelaide at 6:15ish am. Got home and accompanied a friend to the airport and to Ikea for breakfast. Went shopping. Came home and decided not to sleep, but to clean up my room. For some reason, it looked like someone had broken in and messed everything up. I realised I had left it like this when I left, a month ago. Oops. Went to a friend"s house for dinner. Slept, wonderful, wonderful sleep.
Sunday, 16th of May - A blur of sleep and nothingness.
Monday, 17th of May - O&G begins. Long day, lots of bajingo. Giggling at naughty words.
Tuesday, 18th of May - O&G continues. Still giggling at naughty words.
Tired. Sleep.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Science!
Ok, I realise that it seems that this blog is starting to be more of a collection of websites I like, but I"ll get to real blogging at some point when I have something real to blog about...
Fake Science!
A very amusing website. Well, to me at least :p
Another: Canucklehead
Fake Science!
A very amusing website. Well, to me at least :p
Another: Canucklehead
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Hilarity.
Best. Site. Ever.
Ellicia, you"ll love this.
Asian teens, you"ll love this.
Racist people, you"ll love this.
Asian parents, you"ll wonder whats so good about this site.
Funny because its true.
Ellicia, you"ll love this.
Asian teens, you"ll love this.
Racist people, you"ll love this.
Asian parents, you"ll wonder whats so good about this site.
Funny because its true.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy brithday Ellicia!
Dearest Ellicia,
Hope you have a great day with lots of presents!
Best wishes and lots of love,
Me
Hope you have a great day with lots of presents!
Best wishes and lots of love,
Me
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A long day
Well, yesterday was the long day, with today really being quite a short one. Actually now that I think about it, yesterday only felt long while today felt short. In fact, today was the longer day but it went easier than yesterday which was the shorter one.
Get it?
Anyway, a colleague and I went for a massive ride (on pushbikes) around Darwin, starting from home we rode out towards the beach and down the coast to reach the Museum.
I was quite surprised by the amount on display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. The displays were very pretty and the exhibit on Cyclone Tracy was quite moving. Sweetheart the crocodile was massive and a good, but sad little tale. They had displays on the wildlife from the aquatic life to the amphibious to the terrestrial. From ages long past to the modern era. They also had a massive exhibit on crocodiles which discussed how things changed since time began. All in all, a great way to spend a few hours and I kind of wish I had a few more hours to spend there as it felt like we rushed through a lot. Did I mention that it was free? Darwin seems to be great on my wallet... Well, apart from the food part.
After the Museum we decided that lunch was in order. This made sense as it was about 1:30pm and we had done a lot of riding in the morning. So we got on our bikes and went searching for food. Unfortunately, due to it being a public holiday (May Day), most shops were closed. We rode into the city (or is it "town"?) and after much cruising around with a few stops (such as one of the 2nd hand bookstores), we finally decided to stop into a pub (amusingly, Shenanigans) for a fine pub meal of a burger and chips. I, feeling like I was lacking blood, had a beef burger with chili jam which was really good (of course I would say that, I say that about just about anything with chili in it...) and my colleague had himself a barramundi burger.
After that we went for a short tour of the Esplanade and then started the long ride back home.
The ride turned out to be approximately 35km. We were very impressed by that until our hosts mentioned that they used to ride more than that in a much, much shorter time.
Well, my legs feel impressed by the distance we rode, as does my behind. My legs are very... Happy.
Topped the day off with a big meal and a bigger dessert of banana cake, chocolate icecream and home made peanut butter and chocolate chip biscuit crumbs. Yum!
Also, *big hugs* to my favouritest person in the whole world, Ellicia. Just thought everyone would like to know that she"s the best! (P.S. Love you lots!)
Get it?
Anyway, a colleague and I went for a massive ride (on pushbikes) around Darwin, starting from home we rode out towards the beach and down the coast to reach the Museum.
I was quite surprised by the amount on display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. The displays were very pretty and the exhibit on Cyclone Tracy was quite moving. Sweetheart the crocodile was massive and a good, but sad little tale. They had displays on the wildlife from the aquatic life to the amphibious to the terrestrial. From ages long past to the modern era. They also had a massive exhibit on crocodiles which discussed how things changed since time began. All in all, a great way to spend a few hours and I kind of wish I had a few more hours to spend there as it felt like we rushed through a lot. Did I mention that it was free? Darwin seems to be great on my wallet... Well, apart from the food part.
After the Museum we decided that lunch was in order. This made sense as it was about 1:30pm and we had done a lot of riding in the morning. So we got on our bikes and went searching for food. Unfortunately, due to it being a public holiday (May Day), most shops were closed. We rode into the city (or is it "town"?) and after much cruising around with a few stops (such as one of the 2nd hand bookstores), we finally decided to stop into a pub (amusingly, Shenanigans) for a fine pub meal of a burger and chips. I, feeling like I was lacking blood, had a beef burger with chili jam which was really good (of course I would say that, I say that about just about anything with chili in it...) and my colleague had himself a barramundi burger.
After that we went for a short tour of the Esplanade and then started the long ride back home.
The ride turned out to be approximately 35km. We were very impressed by that until our hosts mentioned that they used to ride more than that in a much, much shorter time.
Well, my legs feel impressed by the distance we rode, as does my behind. My legs are very... Happy.
Topped the day off with a big meal and a bigger dessert of banana cake, chocolate icecream and home made peanut butter and chocolate chip biscuit crumbs. Yum!
Also, *big hugs* to my favouritest person in the whole world, Ellicia. Just thought everyone would like to know that she"s the best! (P.S. Love you lots!)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Big weekend
So another weekend come and just about gone.
I say "just about" because it seems that this weekend is yet again a long one.
Friday night was a bit of fun with a small group of us going to see Iron Man 2 at Casuarina.
It wasn"t too bad I guess. Incredibly cheesy lines though.
We went out afterwards into the city to meet others who decided that dancing had better appeal than a man in a robot suit breaking stuff. Crazy kids nowadays.
Got home preeeeeetty late, so Saturday was a very lazy morning and day. So lazy in fact that I felt that I needed to redeem myself and went into the hospital until midnight.
Actually it was a pretty quiet night too.
Sunday began a little late due to the late night before, but soon grew as a colleague and I decided to go visit some crocodiles. We made our way over to Crocodylus Park, just in time for a guided tour.
It was very impressive as we got to see some jumping crocodiles, violent territorial females, little tiny baby crocodiles (yearlings), turtles, monkeys, emus, lions, a tiger, a wombat and more. It was a lot of fun as I got to feed a crocodile (actually I was meant to yank the meat away but I failed and it got me) and also to hold a little tiny baby crocodile!
I have a heap of photos which I"ll do something with at some point.
The afternoon was spent in Leanyer Recreational Park, where there was a swimming area, a playground with water guns and the like (and a giant that slowly fills with water before tipping the lot out in a giant rush!) as well as 3 big water slides!
After a few hours on the slides, we decided it was time to go home and with a couple of colleagues, had a wonderful dinner of crocodile burgers, crocodile sausages and crocodile skewers.
Started and ended the day with crocodiles, delicious!
I say "just about" because it seems that this weekend is yet again a long one.
Friday night was a bit of fun with a small group of us going to see Iron Man 2 at Casuarina.
It wasn"t too bad I guess. Incredibly cheesy lines though.
We went out afterwards into the city to meet others who decided that dancing had better appeal than a man in a robot suit breaking stuff. Crazy kids nowadays.
Got home preeeeeetty late, so Saturday was a very lazy morning and day. So lazy in fact that I felt that I needed to redeem myself and went into the hospital until midnight.
Actually it was a pretty quiet night too.
Sunday began a little late due to the late night before, but soon grew as a colleague and I decided to go visit some crocodiles. We made our way over to Crocodylus Park, just in time for a guided tour.
It was very impressive as we got to see some jumping crocodiles, violent territorial females, little tiny baby crocodiles (yearlings), turtles, monkeys, emus, lions, a tiger, a wombat and more. It was a lot of fun as I got to feed a crocodile (actually I was meant to yank the meat away but I failed and it got me) and also to hold a little tiny baby crocodile!
I have a heap of photos which I"ll do something with at some point.
The afternoon was spent in Leanyer Recreational Park, where there was a swimming area, a playground with water guns and the like (and a giant that slowly fills with water before tipping the lot out in a giant rush!) as well as 3 big water slides!
After a few hours on the slides, we decided it was time to go home and with a couple of colleagues, had a wonderful dinner of crocodile burgers, crocodile sausages and crocodile skewers.
Started and ended the day with crocodiles, delicious!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Of lonely halls
It is late in the day, silence overcomes the sounds of activity.
The halls darken to close the long day, doors close.
A lone figure wanders on, footsteps echo into darkness, searching for signs of life.
There are few.
Hallways stretch on with minimal lighting and locked doors. A swipe of a card gives access, but what lays beyond?
Nothing. Always nothing.
The halls darken to close the long day, doors close.
A lone figure wanders on, footsteps echo into darkness, searching for signs of life.
There are few.
Hallways stretch on with minimal lighting and locked doors. A swipe of a card gives access, but what lays beyond?
Nothing. Always nothing.
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