Last Wednesday, when Brent was on his way to Sydney, Janice and Nick offered to keep me company for the evening so that the time would go by a little faster! We all went to a “Careers in Medicine talk" for a few hours and then out for some Mexican food. We also decided to go see a movie (“Sicko”) at about 9pm- which seemed like a good idea at the time, but it meant I only had about 3-4 hours of sleep before picking up Brent at the airport! 
Brent arrived on Thursday morning at 6am and his Lifesaving friend, Alphabet, offered to bring me to the airport and pick up Brent. Brent actually got through customs pretty fast, so we didn't wait long at all. It was very exciting to see him HERE! We went out for breakfast and then had a little nap (I was the one who needed it!). In the afternoon I showed Brent around campus and brought him to the grocery store. We had cheese and crackers for dinner that night since we were both too tired to eat much more! 
On Friday we took the ferry over to Manly. The weather was pretty awful, but I had planned the little trip a while ago, so we went anyway. When we got to Manly we ended up finding some REALLY great deals on some used surf boards- so we each got one!
We ended up surfing at Manly both Friday and Saturday!! We only had 1mL wetsuits (from home) which ended up being a little too thin, but we still stayed out for at least an hour each time. The waves were HUGE, but it was really fun and really good exercise (for me at least)! 
On Saturday afternoon we walked around Newtown and then went out for dinner with a group of my friends. That night I took Brent to the Med Revue play that we have been working on for months. It actually turned out pretty well and had some really funny skits in it. I also dragged Brent to the after party so that he could meet a bunch of my friends here. We were up really late that night and I was so surprised that Brent even stayed awake after falling asleep at 9pm the two nights before!
On Sunday we slept in really late and then headed out to Ikea to get some more things for my little studio. After only 3 days of eating our meals on the floor or the bed, we decided that we should probably get a small table. Alphabet also offered to pick us up at Ikea so we didn’t have to bring all our purchases back on the train with us!Monday was the first day of my hematology block at the hospital. It was a very full day, but Brent and I both got lots done. I left for the hospital before 7am and Brent got up with me, walked me across campus (to where I catch my ride) and then he went for run! At the hospital I saw two patients in the hematology ward- one lady in her 40’s with an autoimmune type of anemia and one man in his 60’s who had prostate cancer which had just spread to his bones :(. We also had a long hospital session on needlestick injuries and disposal of sharps and then a really long PBL session in the evening. I really like my new PBL group, but it is a much different format because we have a hematologist as out tutor! The doctor we have is actually the head of hematology in Western Sydney, which is exciting, but also slightly intimidating. I did find out that his cousin is working at McGill’s Dentistry School- which was quite a coincidence!
Luckily that night I got a ride home from the hospital and got home just before 8pm. Brent was home and had made a HUGE, nice dinner for me! Chicken (made in the toaster oven), rice (in our new rice cooker) and steamed broccoli and carrots! Plus he made a big FRESH fruit salad for desert. It was the best dinner I’ve had since I’ve been in Australia… and he made it without having a kitchen! He he he.
Tuesday I had lectures at the hospital from 8am till noon (which made for an early morning), but at least I was finished early too. Brent got up with me again and went for another run in the morning. I was home by about 1:30pm and Brent made us some really GREAT sandwiches for lunch. At 2pm it was about 27 degress outside so we decided to hop on a bus (with Janice too) and go to Bondi Beach for the afternoon. :) It was Brent’s first time there and I was so excited to go since it is my favourite beach here. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, I managed to forget my bathing suit!! Brent still went in the water for a little bit of body surfing, but apparently the water was freezing… so we’ll have to go back with our wetsuits another time. On our way home we stopped at the grocery store and made another really yummy meal for dinner! After dinner we went to a bar down the street (where there was a Unimed party happening) so that I could introduce Brent to my friend, Buck, who is the head of Unimed and who also JUST got a job with New South Wales Ambulance. Buck starts his training on Monday and offered to take Brent through the driving test before his interview in a few weeks! :)Today I have the day off, so we slept in and cleaned our little room in the morning. We also played badminton for a while in the afternoon, which was really fun! Badminton is really not very popular here so it was VERY easy to get a court here on campus… and it was only about a 5 minute walk from where we live! Tonight I am going to try to get some work done and Brent is going to relax and maybe plan something fun for the weekend!
Hope everyone is doing well at home! Miss you guys lots!
I’ve finally finished all the props and costumes that I was assigned to make for our Med Revue! I made a giant cartoon cow and a LOT of grass and flowers out of bristol board and cardboard. Janice and I have also been spending a lot of time hunting for costumes. The best ones we found were for 4 boys dressed as the Chinese National Women’s Swim Team. He he he. The Med Revue is running next Wednesday to Saturday- so I’ve decided to get tickets for Saturday to give Brent a few days to get over his jetlag before subjecting him to it! 
There was a cast and crew party for everyone involved in the Med Revue last Saturday- so Janice and I decided to go for a while.(This is a picture of all of the med revue people in our main lecture theatre.)
It was pretty fun and I finally witnessed the infamous Australian ‘spinning goonbag game’ that I’d heard so much about! They clip a giant bag of awful red wine (the goonbag) onto a circular clothes line… and then they spin the clothes line around and whoever it stops at has to drink as much as they can from the bag. It was very funny to watch, but I kinda felt like I was in high school again. He he he. It’s definitely a game that the beach lifeguards would like to play (if we had goonbags or circular clothing lines in Canada).
On Monday I got home from the hospital early, so I decided to go a yoga class on campus with one of the girls in med 1 (who also lives on my floor). I really liked it, but it was pretty expensive, so I’m not sure how often I’ll be going. Most days it is warm enough to be swimming outside again- so I’ll probably just spend some more time at the pool instead.
Hematology block is coming up next. I’m not particularly excited for that block either, but mostly because we have to be at the hospital EVERY day for 5 weeks straight. I don’t mind being at the hospital, but the 4 hours of commuting each day is going to kill me.
Monday and Tuesday, Brent and Juliann raced at the Ontario Provincial surf lifesaving championships which were actually held at Woodbine beach in Toronto (for the first time ever)!! It was very convenient for them and they both did really well! :) Brent won all 3 of his races- the surfski, the paddleboard and the international ironguard!! Jules did really well too! She came 5th in the 90m beach sprints, 8th in the 2km run and 2nd in a bunch of relays! I haven’t heard how beach flags went for Jules yet, but I’m sure she did well!! Between Jules and Brent, I think they scored points in just about all the events there! :)
Well, I better get back to my work! I have lots to get done before this time next week!
Things have been pretty busy here lately. I’ve been working hard trying to get lots of studying done, but unfortunately had a very unproductive weekend because of my ‘Medic One’ course with UniMed. The course ran all day Saturday and all day Sunday, so I didn’t really have time for ANYTHING else. The course itself was kind of useless for me since I was teaching most of the same stuff to the beach lifeguards for the last 3 years… but I needed to have my qualifications transferred over to Australian standards, so there was no way around it. Although, there are a few things that the Australians do differently- which was good to know (for example- if someone is choking, they hit them on the back instead of doing the Heimlich maneuver… so weird! Apparently the Americans have started doing that as well... but that's no surprise, cause we already knew that they were weird! he he he). The course was also a good way to meet people. There were about 8 people from my med class there as well- and I got to know the ones I hadn’t met already… so that made it worthwhile. Oh and I also talked to one of the paramedics who was teaching us… and he told me that he would be very surprised if Brent didn’t get the job here! So that’s great news too! :)
In the afternoon we had a tutorial on airway management. It was mostly on nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal airways, but we also learned to intubate patients (unofficially). It was pretty neat and we got to practice lots on our anatomically correct manikins. Some of the boys in the group also offered to have nasopharyngeal airways put up their noses. I really didn’t like watching that- especially because they made themselves tear up and bleed! I wouldn’t use that airway on anyone unless they were being a real jerk. 
We also had a radiology session in the evening- which was useful… but I was so sleepy and sitting in a dark room looking at chest x-rays over and over again didn’t help. 
Oh, I also forgot to write about last Monday’s patients too. There wasn’t much exciting to report- except for a pneumonia patient that we saw in the ER. The only thing that was really exciting about the patient (and his wife) was that they were from Vancouver! They were over in Australia for a 3 week holiday and were planning to go home the next day (until the husband got too sick to travel). They ended up asking us (me and Canadian Nick) more questions than we asked them!
It sounds like things have been busy at home too! Brent’s last shift was very eventful (and I’m sure some of you will have heard about it already). He had a stabbing at Pape and Dundas. The boy was only 15 years old and was stabbed right in the middle of the chest. He was conscious when Brent got there, but apparently had a cardiac tamponade (which is fluid – probably blood – that fills up the pericardial sac surrounding your heart). It does not have a good prognosis, but the boy got sent into surgery right away, so hopefully he will be ok. The media found out about it somehow and were all waiting at St. Mike’s emergency when Brent got there with the boy. I still haven’t heard if he lived or not. Brent’s last 4 shifts (before Australia) are all at the Marine Unit, so chances are he won’t have any more good work stories for me until October! :) 
There has been a lot going on at the beach lately as well! There was a suicide at the rocks off Woodbine 8 a few weeks ago and the man had shot himself in the head. He apparently still had a pulse when the paramedics arrived, but obviously didn’t live. I also heard that they had 9 pull-outs last Sunday alone! I guess they are earning their $$ this year. 
Well I think that’s all that’s new for now… My next two weeks are going to be really busy, so I’m not sure I’ll have a chance to write again for a while.
I took this picture for you, Betty! :)