Monday, April 23, 2007

Sorry it has taken me a while to write this entry as well! The Fiji one took me forever and school has only been getting busier. I decided that I’m probably only going to write in my blog about once a week now- since I should probably start doing a little more school work. (I think my McGill friends will be shocked to hear me say that already! He he he) :)

Anyway, here’s how my last week has been…

Last Monday was a good day at the hospital, but it dragged a little since it was our first day back from holidays. In the morning we went to the orthopedic ward and got to see two patients who had been in motorcycle accidents and one patient who had recently broken his hip and had it replaced.

The first motorcycle accident was a 23 yr old male who had crushed his leg while racing on a motocross track. The other motorcycle accident was a 35 year old male (married with 2 kids), riding a Harley, who got thrown over his handlebars when a car turned in front of him. He broke both thumbs, both wrists, and both arms on impact (and has to get surgery to put it all back in place). He had a mild concussion (even with his helmet on) and he was covered in cuts and bruises. ALSO, he broke his neck in a motorcycle accident only 5 years ago! When we asked if he was going to get another Harley, he said: “I sure am!! The day I get out of here, in fact!”. We couldn’t believe him.

The hip replacement was pretty straight forward, but interesting because we got to see all the xrays (before and after) and talk to the patient for a while. The patient was 82 years old and had broken his hip just over a week ago. I was so surprised to see him walking around (with some assistance- but still!). Dad is getting his hip replaced soon (but a slightly different procedure), so I’m trying to learn as much as I can before he does. Next week we start our musculoskeletal (orthopedic) block- so I think I should get some good info then!

In the afternoon we went into surgery and learned scrubbing, gowning and gloving so that we can scrub into surgeries now. The process is long and seems over the top, but I guess they are doing it for a reason! I can’t help but think that it probably has a lot to do with not wanting to get sued…- cause they didn’t do ANY of this in India!! Here are a few pictures of the OR in India. Everyone was barefoot!

Back to the OR in Australia...
We had to get sized for gloves (you have to wear 2 pairs at all times in the OR), fit for safety glasses and taught how to put the gowns on. We had to wear scrubs (underneath our gowns), shoe covers, masks and hair covers. We washed our hands with iodine soap for over 5 minutes- cleaning everything from under our nails to above our elbows. You have to keep your hands above your elbows at all times (and if they go below, you have to start over). There is even a specific procedure for drying (making sure not to dry any part of your hand and arm with an already moist part of the sterile towel).

On Thursday night a bunch of the Canadians went to a North American Medical Students Association meeting that was being held on campus. Most of us decided to join the group (so that we could go to more meetings and events held by them in the future). The meeting was really interesting and useful. I realize that I’m going to have to make a decision pretty soon about where I want to practice and what I want to do. Right now I don’t think that I’m going to bother writing my USMLE (to practice in the States) cause they said that it is a HUGE waste of time and money if you don’t need to do it!- so it is kind of a relief!
I also really like the North American students that I’ve met so far here. They are all doing medicine for the right reasons (I guess you have to be if you’re doing to move across the world for it!) and they are all really nice people.

On Friday night, I went to the ‘end of block’ party held by the Medical Student Union. We are finishing up our ‘Foundation Block’ next week and apparently they have party at the end of each of the 9 blocks to celebrate. This one was downtown in an area called Paddington and the theme of the party was anything HOLLYWOOD. Here's a picture of Maverick, a ghostbuster, Patch Adams, and an Emmy award. Australians don't really celebrate Halloween ('because it is too American'), but I think they make up for it with a costume party every other week!Janice, Brooke and I decided to go as ‘Jem and the Holograms’ (one of Jamie’s suggestions, actually), but Brooke got the flu a few hours before so ended up not being able to come. Janice and I still decided to go as Jem (Janice) and the Hologram (me)- but hardly anyone knew who we were anyway. Maybe they didn’t have that cartoon in Australia? :(

Jem and the Hologram meet the Ghostbusters...

Here's a picture of me and Borat.

Today is Monday and I have the day off because Anzac Day is Wednesday (so all clinicals were cancelled this week). I’m spending the day trying to catch up on some school work- and it is raining outside, so wouldn’t be a good day for much else anyway.

Brent is in Mexico right now with his family for his cousin’s wedding… and just sent me a big pot of flowers!! I’m getting very spoiled- even from 15000 kms away!

Hope everyone is doing well at home! Thanks for all the emails, messages and letters :). Can’t wait to see you in June! xoxo