A Day in the OR

I am bit slow in updating the blog these days, with uni back on and assignments to be done, also being at the hospital can tire a girl out. Nothing real exciting has been happening at the hospital, except for people in recovering from car accidents and brain tunours. I have been enjoying working in neurosurgery at lot more than some other places I have worked. However the work is heavy, patient requiring a lot of care and attention, which is not one of my favuourite things, I prefer a lighter patient load etc.

Anyway on Tuesday last week however another student and myself got the chance to go into the operating room to see a patient have a craniotomy and revomval of cancer tumours from her brain. Crainotomy is one of the most dangerous types of brain surgery, only the most talented neurosurgens perform them, and they have a high mortalily rate. In a craniotomy the cut back the skin on the head and drill into the skull, they then remove a whole section of the skull to see the brain. They then use telescopes etc. to look into the brain and remove the tumours. It was such an awesome surgery to watch, the best bits a rekon was the cranio-drill and just seeing this persons brain pulsing away.

After seeing that last week, this week could been seen as very boring, but I guess we will just have to see!

The catch-up

Haven't written in ages...so here is what has gone down:

1. We all did leave Port Pirie, we left on the Tuesday
2. I did get to see theatre for one day, it was gynie day....I am def not a lesbian!
3. Got to spend the day with my boyfriend on his actual birthday
4. Had actual week and half of holidays

Now more recently, I started back at the my usual adelaide hospital, I am now in neurosurgery which has been great. I feel like I am back in a ward where it feels like they want me. I have so far in my two week there learnt heaps and actually feel part of the team.

In other more sadder news, a man that had huge impact on both mine and many others lives, especially my boyfriends family past away last monday morning. He was battling bowel cancer for the past year or so, and couple days before he pasted he got jaundice and went into liver family. This man was a at my school and was a brother, but not your usual kind of brother. He was a grumpy man yet strangly infectious and very funny man. In younger years you are afraid of him, or I was but now and when I was part of the senior school, you are just drawn to him. You are no longer afriad of him, but see him as someone from the school, a teacher of sort who you actually want to invite to 18th and 21st birthdays, see at the pub etc.

He was an amazing man, someone who will also be such a big part of my memories of high school. I thank god that I met him, got to know him better than others, and now I thank god that he's no longer in pain. I just hope st. peter has his socks pulled up and had a hair cut!

Day six

Well you would think that because its the start of week two things would be better, but no that thought is so far from the truth. There are now three of us up here and we were screwed around all day. As I said before I was meant to be in theatre but no theatre was cancelled again today, so yet again I had no ward to go to. The two other students also weren't told where their wards were going to be. We then got abused by various nurse managers as they thought we were trying to pull something, when really we actually tring to find out what we were meant to be doing today.

Next up I got told theatre was going to be cancelled again on Wednesday, but theatre would be open on Tuesday. Everything just got really confused, so I went to clarrify things with this lady who is meant to organise our placement. Well she just cut sick at me, calling me to comanding in my manner, when all I was saying was that I would like to say in theatre for Tuesday. So we got into an argument.

One of the girls got so sick of being treated like second class citizens she has decided that she is going home tomorrow. I think I might join here, same with other student in leaving early. We rang our course orridinator and he said it was ok if I left early cause really I should have had today off and I don't have to go to any ward on Wednesday.

Placement sucks and we all just wanna go home!

Day five....and the weekend

Day five did not last long, the staff in A&E let me leave at 11am so that I could get in the car and travel home before dark. It was also so quiet in A&E that day so it all got a bit boring really. With nothing much to report on really that day, the drive home was more eventful.

Driving home it was just bucketing down with rain, like the windscreen wippers could not wipe fast enough. It also got kind of scarey when like the huge trucks speed past and threw heaps and heaps of water up onto my car as well. I was like ahhhhh, but other than that it was an alright trip home.

When I got home I got to see my mum and my boyfriend which was great! Then on Saturday I went up to the Murray with my boyfriends family and relatives for the day. It was a great day even though it was raining. We played american board games and cards, drank some great wine and ate awesome food. Some of the jokes that were told were just so funny, it was like the best night out, I was so glad that I decided to go. But I had to come home early cause they are all staying up there for the weekend, but my boyfriend came on with me.

He went back up to the Murray today so today I am getting my washing today and then leaving for Port Pirie again...yuck!

Day four - calm before the storm

Well I definately know that the word quiet is a jinx in A&E. We had another student there today, and she said at about 9am "boy its so quiet", we all just looked at her and said "don't say the 'Q' word down here". Low and behold 30mins later we had two emergency come in, both little kids 3 and 4 in respiratory distress. Both of the kids required intensive care and constant monitoring and there was no where near enough staff!

The first to come in was a little girl who was 4 and was having her first ever asthma attack as she wasn't previously known to be asthmatic. And well things weren't great for her, we put her on nebulizers to help her breath but it wasn't helping at all. Things got so bad, she was getting so tired and looked like it was getting harder and harder for her to breath. We had to call for a retreval team to come and get her and in the mean time while waiting for them, get her a bed in the high dependency unit in the hospital. When I last heard she still wasn't improving.

The second was a little 3 yr old boy, who was actually in respiratory distress from suscepted RSV and asthma. This boy was also an epileptic and has a history of bleeding PR. He wasn't good and got so bad they had to call theatre and get the anaestist to look at him. When he got there he took one look and said, "he needs to go to theatre for intubation NOW". On the way the theatre he stoped breathing, it was one big race to get tube in, so we could get him breathing again. We did get tube in and he stabilized sort of, we then found out from blood tests that he is aneamic, with a haemoglobin level 1/3 of what it should be. We called the women's and children's hosptial for immediate retrival. Things are not looking good for this little guy. I guess I will have to wait and hear whats happened to him, last I saw was him getting on a plane to go to Adelaide.

While I was in theatre there were two more emergency's another asthmatic and another little kid, with really high temperature who had collaspsed. But I don't know whats happened to them as it was way past the end of my shift and well I was buggered and needed to go home and rest.

Hopefully tomorrow no one will say its quiet!

Day three - all quiet on the front

Calling today quiet would have been an understatement. In my entire 8hr shift we had a total of 4 people come in, just 4! Two of them only required basic care, one needed a bandage for a cut and another just needed some pain killers for severe back pain. The other two just required admitting to the ward for further investigation, because the on-call doctor could not make definate diagnosis.

So it was quiet, things down here are quiet and I can't wait to get in the car on Friday and drive home. There are things such as my 2 years with my boyfriend, which is tomorrow. Also missing seeing my Dad and brother leave for Kokoda. Looking forward to coming home for weekend.

Day two

Accident and emergnecy wasn't all that busy today but I did get to see something. Also it was nice having a quieter day because I got to know my way around the department a bit better. So far I have enjoyed A & E because I actually have been able to get exposure to paedatrics.

Today there was this little nine year old boy who came in, he fell of his grandpa's boat which was in the shed onto a sticking out piece of metal. His arm and clothes got caught on it. He ripped at 7cm whole in his arm that was about 3cm deep and he lost a lot of fat tissue and you could see his muscle. I thought I would feel bit sick from this cause it was little kid but I was surpirsingly calm and I just focused on keeping the boy happy and calm. He was brave little kid he didn't cry at all. He ended up having 5 internal stiches and 10 external. We made a deal, cause it was hurting when the doc was injecting the local anaesthic that he would squeeze my hand but I promised I wouldn't tell his grandpa or his friends so they would think he was really brave. I think he was brave even though he was squeezing my hand.

Other that little boy there was a lot of chest pain, and shortness of breath (SOB) which I am told is really usual for A&E. Other than that there was a ex-nurse who fell off a ladder even though he wasn't meant to be climbing ladders cause he had heart attack just four weeks ago.

Tomorrow it will all start again

First Day

Today was my first day here in Port Pirie, and boy was a confusing day it was. I got to the house and let myself in with Mum to find that there is only one other student down here this week, however there will be more next week. We both headed over to the hospital for my orientation and it turned out that the lady in charge of me for my time here is a friend from high school aunty. So we will have to see how that goes due to issues with this friends mother! After orientation I learnt that the operating theatre where I am meant to be spending this week is closed due to the nursing strike. So they have to find me somewhere else to go.

My new ward is now accident and emergency, and well today it wasn't all that exciting, and I am a bit nervous and don't really know what I can do in there yet. Today in emergency there weren't that many people, just a guy with broken ankle waiting for plaster and few people who came in for get cuts and blisters "fixed" when just getting a bandaid would have done the job! But oh well it kept me from becoming too bored.

I get to sleep in tomorrow as all the crazies come in emergency after 4pm so I will have to see how I go!

Bags all packed

Well things are all ready for me to travel up to Port Pirie tomorrow. I know its a bit early but I have big day of events tomorrow, 50th birthday lunch with my boyfriends family and then a fairwell mass and headmaster dinner for my brother and dad who are going to Koakoda. So I am leaving late at night with Mum for company so things have to be ready now. So the bags are all packed up.

Last night I had just the most mouth watering dinner ever. We went to this place for my birthday as well, but boy did I have such a good feed. I was really hungry so I think everything just tasted better. It was Japanese food, so like sushi and teppaynki...they cook such good beef. It was all just like oh my god! Then for desert we had chocolate fondu with fruit and marshmellows. It was all so very good, it just all melted in your mouth even the meat did. Cause everything was so good it just made me sooo happy. I was giggling all night and I hadn't even had anything to drink!

The mood however went a bit funny when I got home and got accidently got pushed down the stairs at my house. Dad and my brother where fighting to get the key in the door and my brother pushed dad who stubled back into me. But the hero in my life actually caught me, I thought I was going to get really hurt, but no my boyfriend caught me. MY HERO!

Oh my God!

Well I don't know about anyone else but we I heard the news last night I was oh so excited in a year 6 screaming girl kind of way. The SPICE GIRLS the band of like the 90's who brought about girl power in the weirdest of ways is having a reunion tour. I mean if you aren't excited about that I don't know what will get you excited. I still remember like all the words to their songs and I am even thinking about putting their CD on and dancing/singing around my room to it! In fact I think I will, I think I may even take the CD down to Port Pirie and sing along to in the car. Yay for Spice Girls!

In other less exciting news, I rang up and got my roster for next week in theatre. I start every moring at 7.30am which sounds bad, but its actually not cause I usually start shifts at 7am so the extra half hour is deeply appreciated. The nurse who I spoke to on the phone sounded so nice, so my out look on the week has improved. Plus I am looking forward to seeing different surgeries, even though I am not helping cause I am not allowed, can't wait to observe and see if I can hack in there. But my over ridding thought at the moment is still SPICE GIRLS!

SPICE GIRLS, SPICE GIRLS, SPICE GIRLS!!!

Being Sick Sucks

Turns out according to the medical profession I am sick, or as the doctor said "I'm a sick little puppy". I have to go to Pirie on Monday and at the moment I don't want to go cause I feel so crappy and I don't want to be away from my mum.

I had lunch today which I did not feeling like going to but it was still worth it. I had lunch with some of the first and second year nurses. So bizzar what we get to talking about over lunch, over people would just be turned off. Lots of the conversation was around exams and we telling the first years what to expect and telling them not to worry things will click eventually. While at lunch I saw one of the nurses I worked with on cardiothorasics (my favourite ward and area). Good to see him, he said they are missing me on the ward and look forward to having me back there. Hopefully I get placed back there in third year!

After lunch I came home and slept and I am still craving French toast!

A lazy day that turned into something else

I felt crusty this morning my cold/cough thing has reared its ugly ugly head so I thought nope there is no way I am getting up today. So I slept, however Mum did bring me in a cup of tea and baggle at some point, which was nice of her. So today I slept.

I kind of have weird dreams that in some weird way come true or are symbolic in some way. So during my slumber today I had this weird dream where my cousin was a little girl lost in supermarket calling out for my mum and her mum and dad. I woke up and thought that was odd, then about 10 minutes later the door-bell rang. As I was walking down hallway I was like man I beat this is my cousin. So I answered and it was her and then I was like shit she looks really lost, something has happened. Like 30 seconds after I asked her if she was ok, she told me that one of her friends had been found dead this morning either from a car accident or shoot accident. I did not think about the dream really until she left...I am so odd! Just so I don't seem insensitive, she is ok and I spent afternoon chatting with her.

In other news I do want to put picture I took from the shoot up on here but I am confused on how to do it so I am waiting for my boyfriend to show me. They are going to go up though.

"Photos"....again

Who said I need to sleep in...not me! I got woken up early today by my boyfriend to do some finishing touching shots for the film. So there was a drive up the Princess Highway to the tunnels, which I thought was going to be scarey because I have never done it before but it really wasn't. Silly me for worrying about it! Then from there, there was a quick drive down into town for "photos" of city driving and corners. After that we had to wait until night to take "photos" of some stuff in my garage and guess what, I GOT TO BE CAMERA PERSON!

Things are going well, although it feels so weird not having any uni work or having to go to work at the hospital. I guess I am kind of itching to get back into things, looking after to people. But I tihnk I am coming down with a cold cough thing so I have to look after myself first I guess. Next stop in nursing is rural placement in an operating theatre for the first week at lease. But I have a week before then, so its time to just rest up I guess.

It's been awhile now

It has been so full on since my last post when I said that things had calmed down. Funny how things like that happen, it was definately the calm before the storm. I have now finished my exam and my structured clinical assessment which feels so good to have them down. My combined exam I actually think I did pretty damn well in, first time I have been happy with a exam in awhile. I passes my structured clinical assessment I got 70% which isn't great but hey it's pass and that's all that matters at the moment.


I have been on the set at same time as my exam week, the only time I wasn't on set was when I actually had an exam. Filming was full on for everyone I think due to the long hours and very very cold and wet weather, but I think its a HUGE credit to the whole crew for sticking it out and getting it down. I think it will be a great film and everyone will be proud of the work they did. Plus I think the 1st AD loved his job of being a bastard and keeping everyone on schedule just a little too much! I think now that its all over, the crew and myself just want to sleep for the next few days and I think we deserve it!


So its time for some zzzzz's as I have had very little sleep except for all the napping today!

An Update

Things have kind of slowed down a bit since a week of shooting and holter monitors. I got the monitor off the day after I got it on, which was what was scheduled. I am now just waiting until this Friday to get my results back, so its a waiting game. Trying not to think about it and so far I've been doing a damn good job of it.

Other than holter montiors and a week of shooting, I have to now begin studying for my exam next week on Monday. So I guess its to get my butt back into gear again and start studying once again. Feels like only yesterday that I stoped studying for my last test. On the note of the last test I got 75%...rather pleased with myself when I thought I would fail, and that mark isn't even moderated!

Last week by poor boyfriend got some cold/chest infection thing, and cause I looked after him and was around him. Well I guess you can guess what happened, now I am coughing and not feeling 100% and I fear the worst is still to come. But hey things could be worse...right!

Holter Monitor

I have been having a few issues with my heart recently. I have been getting chest pain and palpitations at random intervals, however they increase in frequency when I'm doing any form of excerise or become distressed. So I have gone to the doctors and she said I should get a 24 hour holter monitor just to check and see whats going on cause I have a very rapid heart rate at times.

So I have waited abut three weeks and today I got the holter montior put on and I feel tad riddiculus cause I have been walking around with all these elctrodes hanging off me and a huge chunky recording and battery pack attached to my jeans.

The holter monitor job is to record my heart rate and rhythm continously over the 24 hours, so when the results come in, my poor old doctor has to sift through 24 hours worth of recordings of my heart rhythms. However there is this small button on my recording pack that I can press when I'm having chest pain or as they call it an 'event' so she can look at specific times.

Now I just have to wait a week for my results!

Laughter and tears

Average day today, I was on set again today. Kids weren't needed on set until after lunch so it wasn't an awfully long shot for me, and also they didn't need to say any lines. So it was really an easy day for me today. But due to the late start I missed seeing the camera guy's apparent freak out about a brown snake being right on set where we were filming. Wish I could have seen that!

However the late start did have its positives, I randomly rang my oldest friend today, I hadn't spoken to her really since January. It's bloody awesome to have a friend who has been around through all the years of make believe. There are always such funny stories, stories from good old days. So we had big old laughs about what we did when we were much younger.

My boyfriend and myself just flicked onto the end of Armagedon, and I am bloody hopeless Istart crying I haven't even watched any of the film just see the end 10-15mins and I start crying. So my boyfriend rewinds (we have foxtel digital) to see what happens at a certain point and guess what at the same point I had just seen 10mins before I start crying again. Sometimes I am just a silly little girl.

One Muddy Day

Well it was day one on the set of my second student film for the year. It is my role for the week to be the kids who are the stars of the film their acting coach and general help out person. Help out person kind of meant holding umbrellas, clapper board person, making sure kids are warm and that NO ONE IS SMOKING AROUND THEM!

Swearing was banned on set, so instead we used to audio guys name as a substitue for every time we wanted to swear for example "Shut the Rowan up!" This susbstition kind of got turned into a bit of a joke by the end of the day.

The day wasn't all smooth sailing, it rained on and off all day which meant that the ground was all muddy and like wet clay. It was also cold, and the actors didn't have the warmest clothes on. I have also decided that I am cursed when it comes to film shoots, I brought the cops out again. Well not me personally but so far on both the two shoots so far the cops have been called out. This time they were called out cause some old pensioner couple with nothing better to do claimed we were starting bush fires, doing burn outs and nearly ran the over. Which is all such a laugh cause the only fire we were starting was at the end of peoples cigarettes which they are NOT ALLOWED TO SMOKE NEAR THE CHILDREN!

Common Sense

Well....the essay is done and swot week has started. And well I start working on as a personal safety officer on a film set tomorrow. So exciting really! Great way to spend first week of swot week. Maybe I will get some study done while they are shooting and I don't need to watch four little children. They aren't really little they are 11 to 12 but still, they are little to me because I am 19. It still seems weird to say I'm 19, I feel kind of old at times, but then I am young compared to most of my friend or my boyfriend.

The essay I just kind of proved to me why I shouldn't be hippy. My reasoning is that well all this herbal products that are meant to cure everything from the common cold to cancer, its all crap. Half of the products don't usually do what they claim they do, or they are so weak that they can't produce enough of whatever they produce to cause an effect. So I am going to stick with my conventional medical profession, because as I see it at the moment, although we still can't cure everything the drugs I give out are known to cause an effect.

So people can take those drugs or be vegiterian, even though everyone needs red meat. The best cure for most things is common medical problems is common medically prescribed drugs, go figure!

Times up and its starting again

Aged care is over, I walked out of that place and it felt soooo good. Well sort of, my favourite lady has asked me to go back and visit and I will. Just as long I don't have to work there ever again.

My pharmacology essay has been given an extension until Monday which should be good for me. Only problem is that I have to figure out a way to hand in it cause I'll be on another movie shoot from 8am til 5pm which is when I have to hand in the assignment. So thinking needs to be done.

I was on a movie shoot today, I got to play an attractive police woman recpetionist who gets hit on by the lead. It was fun, we almost got in trouble by the police cause we were using police uniforms and apparently thats illegal. So that was a very interesting conversation that was had with four pigs hehehe. It could have been very stressful for the producer and director, it still is really because they can still take away the footage. We will just have to wait and see.

All and all things are looking up!