Scuba diving

This weekend and last, my dad and I completed an Open Water Scuba Diving course. This is something we've both wanted to do for a long time, but I've kept putting it off because of time constraints, plus I had an inkling of reservation about the (lack of) sense and sensibility involved in plunging oneself deep into the vast, vast sea....

Anyway, at the end of last year, while on holiday in Jordan's coastal town of Aqaba (on the Red Sea), we took an excursion on a submarine boat with a glass hull that allows you to have a sneak peak at what lies beneath in the comfort of a dry and controlled environment. The submarine boat passed by a group of scuba divers on its course and I remember thinking to myself, "Far out, that's where the real fun and adventure are!!". It looked so free and liberating that I resolved to get my diving licence the first chance I got.

Watching divers from inside our submarine boat in the Red Sea, Aqaba Jordan

We booked with ProvDive in Coogee literally the week before starting the course as they had a one-off half-price offer. We were given a book and dvd to work through before starting the course - I found it really quite useful and informative learning about some of the theory of diving principles before even trying it; and the prac components made sense quite easily after that. We hit the local swimming pool for our first session in scuba gear to familiarise ourselves with some important safety elements like how to breathe using the scuba system; finding your regulator (breathing device) if it falls out of your mouth; sharing air with someone using the second regulator if you or they run out of air; clearing your mask if it fills up with water while you're under, etc. It was weird at first, that's for sure! Nothing was difficult per se, just a matter of adjusting your body, equalising pressures, and the number one rule: remembering to never stop breathing!!

Our first open water dive was out at Gordon's Bay last Sunday - I couldn't have picked a better day or site for the occasion. The weather was absolutely gorgeous both in the water and out; and the visbility was a fair 20 metres or so. It's difficult to describe the sensation in terms other than "like flying through water". I was warned by the guy who booked our places in the course that it's an addictive hobby - I can vouch for that! It was just as I imagined it would be and better. The silence, tranquility, and sheer beauty of the underwater world made me feel so calm and at peace; corny as it is, I kept humming Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" in my head.

Gordon's Bay, Sydney

The other thing that I loved was the commraderie among our team and enthusiasm of our dive instructor. There were nine of us in total: my dad and I; a law student about my age and her mum; a cute young Ukrainian couple; a cool surfy couple and a guy of New Zealander Maori background who wanted to learn to spear fishing while diving. We all came from different backgrounds; but between us a common desire to travel and explore the world around us, epitomised by our dive instructor - a young, hip Danish guy who left home in his twenties to travel, got his diving instructor's qualifications, and never made it back to Denmark. Le sigh! The life of the young and free! I mean, I'm young right (turning 25 this year); but by God, let me just say that the further along medical training I go, the more restrained and tied down I feel. Once upon a lifetime a ago before starting medical school, I just wanted to travel, drifting from place to place - taking my skills with me wherever I went. I was always going to be either a teacher, doctor or nurse for this vision to work; as these professions would equip me with portable skills that are universal across all borders. Fast-forward to the reality that is medical training and my prospects of continental drifting any time in the next 10-20 years are looking quite grim. I'll leave a complete and unabridged rant on this topic for another day; but let's just say, although I thought I could rise above and conquer this long-held silly dream of mine, it's getting the better of me and I am presently giving a lot of thought to what I'd like to specialise in based on it. Anyway, another thing I was also quite surprised by, was the inclusiveness and unpreteniousness of the diving community and their culture. They genuinely want people to learn to dive and be excited about the underwater world - and it's not financially driven either. When the costs of equipment, staff, insurance, licencing, etc are factored in, I doubt much if anything at all is made on leading a diving trip or teaching a "learn to dive" course. I could explicitly spell out a comparison to the culture of the medical community at times; but you all know where I'll go with that one. Hmmm...

So after our first weekend of diving, this weekend couldn't come sooner. We had another geat couple of dives, this time out at Camp Cove. The weather this weekend was a bit miserable, but when you're underwater, you're going to get wet anyway! We finished our course and I have to say I was sad at having to say good-bye to my diving buddies. Le sigh, such is the nature of transient friendships; but who knows, it's a small world and our paths may cross again on day, on land or in the sea.

As for my dad and I; our holidays have just gotten all the more exciting and fun!! Our first chance to put to practice some of our newly acquired aquatic skills will be this upcoming week. My mum, dad and I are off to Phuket for a week over the Easter long weekend and I can't wait to get into the water and check out some of the amazing tropical reef and sealife up there. Hopefully will get a chance to take some photos while down there too! In closing, I'm going to highly recommend y'all get out into the water and try diving for yourselves. You'll be amazed, I promise!

Long-lost friend

I haven't blogged in a long time. I haven't even read other people's blogs in the time being :-S Of late, I've had a bout of avolition where I've just found it hard to get on with the easiest and simplest of tasks. It hasn't helped that I've had deadlines to submit various forms coming at me left, right and centre. It's paper-warfare I tell ya! So, since November, here's what I've been up to (in a nut-shell):

- Sat and passed end of 3rd year exams (phew!). Actually did aright, I got an overall mark of 76% which is the highest I have ever gotten in med-school so far as an end of year grade.

- Travelled for 2 months to Jordan, Syria and England over the summer break (although it was actually winter in all of these destinations). I had an amazing time and definitely could've kept going with my continental drifting had I not had to come back to start 4th year in late January (I actually missed first week back, so go figure). I did some hospital placements while I was oversees (O&G in Jordan, ED in England) but have nothing remarkable to report on those execpt that they were pretty boring, uninvolved and student-unfriendly. This turned out to be a good thing as it meant that I was okay not being at the hospital and actually doing some travel.

- Returned in late January to commence my 4th and final year of medical school (*squeal!*). I'm so excited to be on the home-stretch run. This has been a long time acoming! I will have plenty more to write about this as the year progresses, so it's definitely going to be an overriding theme throughout my posts this year. As for what I have been up to rotations wise, I am half-way through my 2nd rotation (Neurology). My first rotation was Cardiothoracic Surgery (this is something I plan to write more about as well in the near future) - but suffice to say for now that it turned out to be the highlight rotation of my med school career so far. Bloody mind-blowing, complex, intensely emotional cases - the grand dame of surgical specialties did not fail to impress! Neurology has been quite cruisy but enjoyable as well. Kind of my niche area if I had to pick a medical speciality as I did my undergraduate degree in Neuroscience.

- What else? I was made redundant from my long-held (9 years!) job before going overseas. This is something that stressed me out a great deal, especially since I have a maasive loan (~ $20 000) that I took out to buy my car last year... and also because I was just about to go on holiday and the last thing I wanted was to do things on a shoe-string while travelling. Anyway, I dug deep into my savings and managed to budget what I had quite well while on holiday. As for my car, I lent it out to my parents (who sold their car at the end of last year and didn't yet get a new one), while I was o/seas and they paid my fortnightly loan repayments in return. So then when I returned from overseas for the first month I just made do with what I had and brought lunch from home and didn't go out at all, etc. Then I found a tutoring job which was advertised on Gumtree, basically just helping a mature-age "return to uni after having kids" student from a non-English speaking background with her assignments for a Bachelor in Early Childhood Teaching (very random, I know!). It's a few hours work so it's not too bad and it's cash-in-hand. But get this right, in a fortunate twist of fate, my ex-work contacted me last Sunday about getting my job back because they'd culled too many people and were in desperate need of staff that they wouldn't have to retrain. SO now I've got my old job back (on a Sunday too - so extra pay!) AND I have this random tutoring job, which means I've gone from just Youth Allowance income, to > double that every fortnight (and all is well with the world!). This is has been a big relief, especially since I would like to save up to travel at again the end of this year.

- Lastly, my sister is now about 21 weeks preggers and getting quite big. Her and her hubby want to keep the gender of Little Bambi (as I call It) a surprise. But I'm very much looking forward to meeting it and forming an awesome friendship with it later down the track!

So, that's it from me. I have a few things I want to reflect on, which I will do gradually. One thing I was thinking of doing is switching to a different blog as I feel like this blog was started in a time and place that I am far removed from now, and everytime I log in I think of all the crazy shit that was happening at the time, so it's not always a happy place to come back to. Still, it feels like a long-lost friend that knows all your secrets; but not in a snide way either. Anyway, I will give forwarning of a change if it does happen as I don't want to drop off the blogosphere and have people wondering if I got hit by a car or something :-S

Toodles!

Big dreams, little one...

So I'm not supposed to tell anyone yet, but since none of you actually know who I am, I figured it'd be okay to spill the beans here:

I'm going to be an aunt!!

My sister just found out she's pregnant :-D I've just made room in my heart for some big-time love! In my collective culture, a new baby in the family is everyone's child and responsibility. So my sister having a kid, is like me having a kid. Wow! Totally unprepared for this but gosh, I'm so excited!! She's only 6 weeks, so plenty of time to start planning all the fantabulous things we're going to get up to.

Little one, you don't know it yet, but Aunt Purple Steth has some big dreams for you. You're going to be awesome, I just know it!

Things are pretty good at the moment :-)

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry I abandoned you. I have so much to say and yet time - as it always and forever will be - is against me. I've finished O&G, general surgery, paeds and am now on the home-stretch with 4 weeks left of general medicine.

O&G was amazing, but very tiring! I have so much admiration for the registrars who continue to pull through restlessly, day and night. It's an incredibly rewarding speciality and I wish I had the energy to pursue it, but I honestly think that the long hours and exhausting on-call roster would get the better of me. The other thing - more than ever, I've renewed my resolve to work in medical aid work (I'm counting down the years until I'm capable of being able to stand on my own and contribute productively in the field)- and I have a feeling that gaining a fellowship in O&G from here would equip me with more skills that what I would need in a developing world setting. Seems a bit redundant being able to perform IVF and high-tech laparoscopic gynae surgery when what I essentially need to know is how to deliver a baby safely and do an emergency hysterectomy (as a last option to resolve PPH). So I've reset my aspirations and have rechanneled my plans towards becoming an Emergency Physician with a Dip of O&G. I'll write more about it later on, as things progress, and especially during/after my ED term next year, but for now, I'm excited once again. Excited about being in medicine and where it's going to take me. Hip hip hooray!

The other thing I'll mention is how much I enjoyed Paeds! Absolutely loved it and the characters along the way. The Paeds registrar in particular was so enthusiastic and inspiring; her work-ethic really came through and she went out of her way to make sure we (the students) were included in the team.

So 4 weeks left (then 1 week of stuvac and 1 week of exams). I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by! I'm on the homestretch folks! In 6 months I'll be applying for a job; then 6 months after that I will be on my final elective rotation, a few weeks off from finishing. I hope it's come through in this post, but if it hasn't I'll spell it out: I'm really happy, I feel at peace. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and feel less like an aimless wanderer than I did when I first started almost 3 years ago. I've learnt a thing or two along the way, and I have a sense of direction of where I'd like to go with this knowledge. If you're reading this and you're still at the beginning of the journey: keep at it. It's seemingly long and endless, but oneday you will reach a point where you can not only look back and marvel and how far you've come; but also look ahead and feel that the road ahead isn't as daunting as it seemed when you first started and that there's no where else you'd rather be than where you are at that point.

My clinical year ahead...

Happy belated New Year to everyone! Haven't got any resolutions for this year - I just want some peace and quiet (haha I sound like Oscar the Grouch!)...

So, as everyone who has been through med school is aware, I finally start my clinical placements this year! Woot! My placements will be in a variety of settings but my home base where the majority of my rotations will take place is a busy secondary hospital in one of Sydney's (many!) multicultural communities. It was my first preference hospital, as I come from a similar part of the world as the predominant ethnic group in that community (and speak the same language --> no need for an interpreter!). The other settings that I'll be working in is a specialist children's hospital for paediatrics; a mental health institute and a psych ward in a tertiary hospital for psychiatry; the same tertiary hospital for orthopedic surgery; and a medical centre in an affluent area of Sydney for my GP placement. We got sent our rosters and groups last week - I will be working with two very lovely guys, one of whom I am good friends with, the other I don't know all that well but he sent me an email when he found out that we were in the same group, saying that he was looking forward to working with me this year. As for placements, my roster is as follows (each rotation is 5 weeks long):

- Psychiatry
- Surgery 1
- General Practice
- Medicine 1
- O&G
- Surgery 2
- Paediatrics
- Medicine 2

So, I'm starting with Psych... This is one of the rotations I'm looking forward to, even though I haven't really considered it, as a career. I borrowed two books from the library yesterday to try and start answering questions for the psych short-cases that we will go through on our back-to-base theory days (which will be every Monday). I borrowed Psychiatry At a Glance as I am a big fan of the At a Glance series, particularly Medicine At a Glance and Medical Pharmacology At a Glance; and also borrowed General Practice Psychiatry, which is our core textbook for the rotation but I don't plan on purchasing it as it is quite expensive (> $100) and there are about five copies in the library (plus a couple of copies in our clinical school library).

Apart from doing some readings for Pysch before I start uni (on Friday!), I'm going to spend what's left of my holidays just relaxing, catching up with people and cleaning my room. I have work tomorrow and on Tuesday (public holiday = double pay!); I've got a Dentist's appointment on Monday to get braces because I am vain and don't like my crooked teeth; I'm finally going to go watch Avatar on Wednesday, at the Imax, with one of my best friends who has returned from overseas; and yeah, just get ready to do it all again.

Before I get going, it's been one year since I started this blog! I know it's not exciting, but I started it to vent about life and the world around me at a time when it felt like no one was listening. Things are a bit different now, but I won't forget the favour that you have done for me dear readers, you who have read and listened - thank you!

Post Script. I've decided to change my blog name to Miss Purple Stethoscope, because:
a) My name isn't really Sascha Fierce (my first name isn't even Sascha :-/), I just chose it as a random name for my blog because I'd watched an episode of Oprah the day before starting my blog and Beyonce was talking about her new album I am... Sasha Fierce and I thought it sounded cool and trendy and would therefore make my blog (and me) look/sound cool and trendy.
b) I love my purple stethoscope, it goes with all my clinical/hospital clothes! and
c) A new year should bring exciting new changes with it, like a new name, for example :-D

Lately...

Sorry about the absence - guess I never really left, I was still sheepishly reading all your posts.. but had nothing much to say myself. All is well, I promise. Returned from Fiji 10 days ago, where I spent 3 weeks at the CWM Hospital on a purely optional "elective" rotation. Words cannot adequately portray my gratitude to the patients and doctors who so humbly accommodated me during my time there. It is always with mixed feelings that I undertake placements in communities where I take away much much more than what I give in return. I am yet to reconcile with this morally-questionable predicament and am resting slightly with the hope that one day I can return as a qualified hot-shot and offer my services voluntarily (or at a substantially lower wage than I would be earning here anyway).

That aside, a reflection or two regarding my experiences. In light of my sway towards anaesthetics as a speciality, I decided to hang out with the dopers for a fair portion of my time. Having more faith in my abilities than I do myself, my supervisors allowed me to do spinal and regional blocks on pretty much anyone who walked through the OT doors. I also got lots of pratice in cannulating, intubating and inserting LMAs. There was a lot of in-between teaching and general chit-chat as well, which I loved because I got a chance to ask about anaesthetics as a specialty and exchange details about our differing health-care systems. The experience was great for all the obvious reasons, but particularly so in helping me realise that I don't think I'm very well suited to a career in anaesthetics. The challenges are still challenging, don't get me wrong - I've haven't mastered the Art by any means, I guess some part of me is just looking for something else. That's the real value of these experiences - among other things - crossing potential specialties off the list, sort of. I have an official anaesthetics terms in 4th year (if I make it that far!!) which will span for 8 weeks, so hopefully that will shed more light either way... but for better or worse, I'm quite content to be going into my clinical years a little less set on the path I want to pursue. The rest of my time in Fiji was spent scrubbing in on surgeries (mainly gen surg, plastics and obs/gynae). Obs/gynae is starting to grow on me - interesting mixture of medicine and surgery, but still, I'm not setting it in stone like I did anaesthetics! Anyway, Fiji has given me a lot to think about and despite my ethical dilemma, I'm not ruling out another placement there next year.

Back on the home-front, I have two exams awaiting me in about 4 weeks' time (haven't been given the precise dates yet). I'm doing a bit of study here and there, but just waiting for the new year to really get into it. I feel like I'm in limbo land, it's pretty scary because with the exam date being so close to the start of semester date, I don't know if I'll even be offered a supplementary exam if, Heaven forbid, I should fail. Of course I'm having slight regrets now about not just getting them out of the way at the time.. but, sunny-side up, my brain might be slightly less rusty than everyone elses' going into third year. Maybe.. hopefully :-S

M.C. everyone - hope you have a beautiful day with your family+friends tomorrow!

More on life and its ironies

My mum is well. She is in her fourth day of an intensive physio and occupational therapy program at a rehab hospital. She is enjoying the sessions and has made some new friends who have helped her see things in a new perspective, especially her room-mate: a thirty-something year old woman who has just been diagnosed with MS. In a sad (yet slightly ironic) twist of fate, another event that has provoked much reflection among the family has been the death of one of the doctors who was looking after my mum during her time in hospital. A cardiologist, he died of a sudden heart attack last weekend - his wife sent a letter to all his patients informing us of what had happened. For some reason, it feels a little close to home for me. I do feel very sorry for her loss too, and sad that he was not able to be helped: in the way that he has helped so many others. C'est la vie..

And now I bore you with the logistics of my life. I have decided to take up the University's gracious offer of deferring my exams. Sort of. I actually have four exams - two written and two prac exams. I am going to do the prac exams next week with the rest of my cohort and am deferring the written ones, which are going to be held again at the end of January (!). I told my PBL group and couldn't believe the hostile reaction of one of my group members - she felt so personally threatened by the prospect of someone having that extra time to study! I felt like saying to her "oh grow up child, I'm not asking for you permission!". Le sigh. I'm still undecided as to what to do with the research project, but will probably contact the supervisor soon to decline it I think. As for Fiji, my dad suggested that I go for two weeks rather than four, straight after exams.. just to get away from things, if anything. I like the idea of compromise, but I don't want to tempt fate and leave because I feel like something may happen while I'm gone. Guess I'll give it a few more days before deciding for sure.

Don't know how to end this post, usually I'll add some lyrics, but there are no songs for my mood this evening. So instead, something a bit more sinister, that I feel captures a bit of my paranoia and cautiousness (it's a bit long, but fans of Alice in Wonderland will appreciate it):

'O Oysters, come and walk with us!'
The Walrus did beseech.
'A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each.

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head --
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat --
And this was odd, because, you know,
Thay hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And think and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more --
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And the they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

"The time has come,' the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes -- and ships -- and sealing wax --
Of cabbages -- and kings --
And why the sea is boiling hot --
And whether pigs have wings.'

'But wait a bit,' the Oysters cried,
'Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!'
'No hurry!' said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

'A loaf of bread,' the Walrus said,
'Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed --
Now, if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed.'

'But not on us!' the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue,
'After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!'
'The night is fine,' the Walrus said,
'Do you admire the view?

'It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!'
The Carpenter said nothing but
'Cut us another slice.
I wish you were not quite so deaf --
I've had to ask you twice!'

'It seems a shame,' the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!'
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread to thick!'

'I weep for you,' the Walrus said;
'I deeply sympathize.'
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

'O Oyster,' said the Carpenter,
'You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none --
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one."

~ "The Walrus and the Carpenter", C.S. Lewis

Above everything, I am...

A daughter? A sister? A distant relative? A best friend? A casual buddy? A medical student? A member of PBL study Group E? A first aid officer? An employee at a pharmacy? A research assistant? A traveller? A random member of society who has made a commitment to serve?

I'm not really sure right now, but my situation demands that I make a decision soon.

Last week, my mum had another stroke. She was taken to the hospital, where, amongst other things, an MRI was ordered. She never made it to the MRI though because out of no where, she started to feel an uncomfortable crushing tightness in her chest, before throwing up, and then suddenly losing consciousness. An ECG and some blood tests indicated a STEMI -- an angiogram further revealed an occluded left descending coronary artery. Two stents were put in, followed by a recovery period in ICU, where she had two episodes of tonic-clonic seizures that night.

We have a saying in Islam: "Alhamdulillah". It literally means "Thank God", but in actual fact the sayer is implying "Thank God, for and in spite of, everything". Alhamdulillah for the blessings and the misfortunes. Alhamdulillah she is still alive. We use this term to accept that which we've been granted and affirm our belief in there being greater wisdom in what happens to us, beyond that which we can foresee.

More imminently and practically (for yours truly, selfishly), I have my end of year exams in three weeks' time; after which, I have a month-long elective in Fiji, completely organised and paid for... then a very exciting research project that I was going to participate in and co-publish which, again, took a lot of time and energy to organise... and then, well you get the point. I won't lie - I'm greedy - I want to have my cake and eat it too. But, in light of the circumstances, this is becoming a seemingly impossible ambition. Furthermore, the University has kindly granted me the opportunity to defer my exams until a more suitable time. On the one hand, I just want to attempt these exams and get whatever mark I'm given, at the risk of failing altogether - but this will leave me with ample time in my holiday break to slot my various activities in. On the other hand, oh to not have to worry about exams for a little while later and just be able to concentrate on being with my family is such a wonderful relief - even if it means having to cancel my plans for Fiji and research in the holidays, as I will be studying for my deferred exams! The answer seems obvious, but that's the conundrum - what IS the right answer?!

Above everything, I am... confused and unsure of what to do.

Life happens when you least expect it

Or so the saying goes...

Two weeks ago my mum had a stroke. My mum is a healthy 47 year old, non-smoker, non-drinker, health-food junkie, exercise-doer. As far as risk factors are concerned she has none. But her's wasn't a typical stroke - it was caused by a spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection, which affected the right side of her brain and manifested in speech disturbances and left upper body weakness. Just like that, so unannounced. One minute we were making plans for what to do on the weekend; come the weekend, we found ourselves confused and bewildered around a bed in the stroke unit of our local hospital. I've been meaning to blog for a while but I've just been so damn busy between hospital visits; my petty attempts to keep up with uni work; contribute what I can towards housework; answer the bloody phone with people (mostly family and friends from overseas) wanting to know what happened; etc, etc. And amongst all the kerfuffle, incredulously, my friends are demanding to know why I can't go out for dinner, attend the Med Ball, come to their farewell party, watch a movie, grab a coffee, reply to their text messages, phone calls, emails, blah, blah.. which makes me think, have I been all-consumed by this and wallowing too much in self-pity? Genuine empathy is a really hard thing to feel because, quite simply, unless you're there and it's happened to you - you don't know what it's like. And so I ask myself with this newly-found insight: is it reasonable to even expect it? People have such short attention spans anyway (either that or they weren't listening to you in the first place) - why even bother trying to explain things when they're going to miss the point anyway. Anyway, enough pulling my hair out.

From an educational point of view, this experience has been a combination of terribly interesting and terribly frightening. When the neurologist told my parents and I the diagnosis, my parents responded as though she'd announced "oh it's just a cold" whereas I gasped in horror. Morbid as this is, sometimes I think, "OmG just die already - get it over and done with and that way I don't have to spend the rest of my life worrying about all the terrible things that can happen to you!!". Clearly I'm a little tired and world-weary. But alas, life goes on. And, perhaps, that's the point that I'm missing, with everyone's reactions around me? Bah humbug!

10, 9, 8....

The count-down begins: we only have 10 more PBL weeks left for this year (out of 32). Oh my! I can't believe it's August already either :-O This month I farewell my beloved neuro block and welcome (half-heartedly) the upcoming musculoskeletal block. If I have one ambition, it's to remember the carpal bones without a bloody accompanying acronym!! I also hope we learn how to stabilise #ed limbs with a plaster cast - I've always wanted to learn that! One thing we learnt how to do during neuro block, which I thought was tres cool, was lumbar punctures :-S In my nerdy-neuro-obsessed mind, there's something creepy about gaining access to such a well-guarded area... as a body-fluid, CSF is so sacred; I feel like we shouldn't ever see it (and if we do it's either urgent - or ominous if it's coming out of the nose/ears post-head injury). *Shudder*.

Over the past week or so, I've reinitiated attempts to fulfill my New Year's resolutions - to exercise more and eat healthier foods. I was going very well until about April when, after my sister's wedding, I saw no need to try to fit into a size 8 dress. Now I'm back into it, for fitness and fun, more than anything else really. For now I'm just going to the gym and doing my own thing - treadmill, bike, cross-trainer - because whilst I like the idea of enrolling in an organised sport program, I think I'm too competitive to enjoy anything like that on its own merit :-S

What else has been happening? Not much really. I wish I had an exciting story to share with you about an epic adventure or the like. I guess I'm just quite content with the impeding end to what's been a long and mentally-draining year. If all goes well, it's my final year of full-time theoretical/didactic studies and I'm really looking forward to being in a practical learning environment. Closer to then, I guess I have a few exciting things coming up this month, with the City2Surf next Sunday (which I'm going to be on St John's First Aid duty for); completing the various first aid and life-support courses that I wrote about as part of my St John's training throughout this month; my sister's birthday on the 19th; and the beginning of the holy Islamic month of fasting, Ramadan, which will start on the 21st or 22nd (depending on the moon).

Anyway, hope the week is a good one! :-D