Sola ("All by myself")

Had a really good day today.

In order to get ready for my nights I stayed up till 4am last night watching dodgy payTV and reading books. Earlier that evening we had our communal dinner where Dr V reconstructed the "Hanging Gardens of Babylon" (ie he made Nachos which are comparable to an ancient wonder of the world)... they certainly lived up to their name and we even had a ortho reg and an ICU resi come to feast with us and drink beer too. We had some bizarre conversations about pregnant bellies (I'm having a competition with Dr E, who is pregnant, to see who has the bigger belly... I think she's almost beating me!) and surgical prefernces (Dr M wants to have a thyroidectomy so she doesn't get a catheter inserted... which given a certain pseudo-ex-mistresses prowess with female catheter insertion, is probably a good thing)... it's very cool just chilling with the rest of the terns after a hard days work.

And what a hard day it was!

After running the dungeon by myself for a day I was relieved to have 2 registrars yesterday to lighten the load. However it was magistrate day so they spent all morning in the hearings, trying to keep our patients locked up for another 2 weeks under the Mental Health Act. So meanwhile i had to run the ward on a semi-supervised basis. Then in the afternoon I got conned by the reg into filling out a huge set of documents about this pt's 'pain' history so he could get a referral to the pain clinic. It was more complex than the new industrial relations laws I tell you! Then as I was about to bolt out the door at 5pm I thought I'd just sign off the lab results sitting in my pigeon hole. As I got to the last page, my jaw dropped and my heart sank.

It was a potassium of 6.0!

One of our new pt's had been turfed from the surgical ward and that morning they had sent off his EUC's but forgot to tell us they needed to be checked. So only by chance did I actually see that this pt was HYPERKALAEMIC and no one had done anything about it. Like surely the lab could have a least given us a courtesy call saying "Oh hey by the way your pt is at high risk of dying sometime from a fatal arrythmia if you don't treat him"

So then instead of leaving I had to check the pt to make sure he wasn't indeed symptomatic, then run off another urgent set of bloods to recheck his potassium and then hand him over to the evening RMO. It was pretty scary cos sometimes I don't always sign off the bloods on the actual day and if I hadn't he may have been a lot worse off. But then again that's the crumbling system for you... it's bad!

Anyways, I have digressed form the main topic for today (what a long post this shall be... take a coffe break now if you're feeling bored)

Today I got up at midday and drove to Byron Bay for the day. Cos no one else was free (they were at hospital) I went by myself and had an amazing time.

Bought some fish and chips and ate them on the beach. Then dug out a book (C.H. Spurgeon's Autobiography which my grandfather lent to me) and read under a tree overlooking the sand and surf. It was so calm and tranquil.

The waves lapping at the shore...

The sun diffusing through the scant clouds...

The seagulls pooping everywhere and stalking the naive tourists...

The cool ocean breeze enveloping me as the day turned into evening...

As the sun set, I walked along the beach by myself enjoying the peacefulness that comes from being alone.

Time for just me.

It's nice to be living with everyone, but sometimes what you really need is a day like today. A day to be alone with your Maker and enjoy life.

A day to reflect on all the good stuff that's happening in your life and deal with the crap that's going on as well.

Once night had fallen, I went and had dinner (again alone) at Hogsbreath Cafe overlooking the water. Ate a massive steak, drank my favourite caffienated beverage then drove home in my nice new baby car listening to my favourite CDs.

When I got home... I found Dr S watching the "fashion channel" on TV. he claims it helps him bond with Dr M... but I think he just watched it for the chick's parading around in their underwear. Oh well!

Next post will be written during my night shifts... mehhhh!