OK, so I haven't really kept things up to date here, but I plan to rectify that just now. After arriving in Mackay completely knackered, George and I met Zoe in the airport, and she kindly took us to the hospital to pick up the keys to our accomodation. This was all very exciting, and I was quickly dropped off at a lovely big house, Mackay style! This means that it's a one storey house with sliding doors, a verandah, fans in every room, and ants everywhere! And naturally, being British, because I've just said that it's a lovely house, I'm going to spend the next paragraph complaining about it. The front door has an air cylinder attached which hisses every time is closes, which has me looking around for a snake every time I leave. I've also noticed that there are cockroaches in the house (I find their dead bodies every few days, which I promptly hoover up), and as everyone knows I hate cockroaches; they make me scream and run around like a little girl (trust me I look so masculine when it happens, it's no wonder I haven't got a girlfriend). It also took me ages to find the air conditioning, which was a bit of a problem intially!
The job itself is pretty good - I'm in CCU where I am technically considered a registrar, or PHO as they are called out here. This is a bit worrying as I am really a fairly junior SHO, and quite indolent, lazy, lethargic, whatever you want to call it. This does mean that the consultants get called a lot more than a real reg would call them, but it's good fun. I've got to do a couple of cardioversions, and I also have to do stress testing every day. The first time is pretty exciting, but after that they get a bit routine, although the patient I saw yesterday who developed an SVT during the test was maybe a bit too exciting. However, I do enjoy introducing myself as "Dr Anthony Baird, CCU registrar!" OK, I admit it - I'm on a power trip!
The weekends have been the best bit though. It's always so warm and sunny, that the other PHOs and I have been up to all sorts of shenaningans. The first weekend Zoe drove George and I up to Cape Hillsborough where we saw wallabies jumping around on the beach, and we paddled in the surf. The next day we went to Eungella National Park, where a little walk through the rainforest was in order. We saw some native turkeys before deciding it was time to head off to see some playpuses. Sadly the platypuses (platypi?) were not playing that game, and steadfastly refused to come out to play. There were plenty of turtles and kingfishers, but those damn platypuses just would not come out! I'm convinced that as soon as we left they immediately came out and did a Busby Berkeley synchronised swimming routine.
We also had a wee trip to Finch Hatton Gorge. Now Finch Hatton has these bugs that produce noxious substances the way allergy sufferers produce snot. Just touching someone's skin causes it to come out in sores. They are imaginatively titled Finch Hatton Beetles, and are best known for flying into Cat's eye and causing her to get conjunctivitis, keratitis and uveitis. Her eye was so bad that she couldn't see for a week and had to wear sunglasses at work because her red, swollen, pussy eye was so bad that she was freaking out patients! However, this trip was fine, there were no eye incidents and we ended up in a gorge with a waterfall where crazy American tourists were diving into the pool under the waterfall.
So that brings us up to date with all the events that have occurred so far. Future installments will include a little cast of characters of everyone who is in Mackay, and hopefully even some photos if I manage to wake up early enough tomorrow to get to the shops, before heading to the Whitsundays for a wee cruise and a bit of sunbathing on a white sand beach. Ah, bliss.
The job itself is pretty good - I'm in CCU where I am technically considered a registrar, or PHO as they are called out here. This is a bit worrying as I am really a fairly junior SHO, and quite indolent, lazy, lethargic, whatever you want to call it. This does mean that the consultants get called a lot more than a real reg would call them, but it's good fun. I've got to do a couple of cardioversions, and I also have to do stress testing every day. The first time is pretty exciting, but after that they get a bit routine, although the patient I saw yesterday who developed an SVT during the test was maybe a bit too exciting. However, I do enjoy introducing myself as "Dr Anthony Baird, CCU registrar!" OK, I admit it - I'm on a power trip!
The weekends have been the best bit though. It's always so warm and sunny, that the other PHOs and I have been up to all sorts of shenaningans. The first weekend Zoe drove George and I up to Cape Hillsborough where we saw wallabies jumping around on the beach, and we paddled in the surf. The next day we went to Eungella National Park, where a little walk through the rainforest was in order. We saw some native turkeys before deciding it was time to head off to see some playpuses. Sadly the platypuses (platypi?) were not playing that game, and steadfastly refused to come out to play. There were plenty of turtles and kingfishers, but those damn platypuses just would not come out! I'm convinced that as soon as we left they immediately came out and did a Busby Berkeley synchronised swimming routine.
We also had a wee trip to Finch Hatton Gorge. Now Finch Hatton has these bugs that produce noxious substances the way allergy sufferers produce snot. Just touching someone's skin causes it to come out in sores. They are imaginatively titled Finch Hatton Beetles, and are best known for flying into Cat's eye and causing her to get conjunctivitis, keratitis and uveitis. Her eye was so bad that she couldn't see for a week and had to wear sunglasses at work because her red, swollen, pussy eye was so bad that she was freaking out patients! However, this trip was fine, there were no eye incidents and we ended up in a gorge with a waterfall where crazy American tourists were diving into the pool under the waterfall.
So that brings us up to date with all the events that have occurred so far. Future installments will include a little cast of characters of everyone who is in Mackay, and hopefully even some photos if I manage to wake up early enough tomorrow to get to the shops, before heading to the Whitsundays for a wee cruise and a bit of sunbathing on a white sand beach. Ah, bliss.
No comments:
Post a Comment