We're Coming!

I know, I know - It has been WAY too long!! All sorts of things happening, and you wanting to hear about them, and us just sitting over here without posting any of it! Well, we've been bogged down in completing our "Flinders Site Profile" for OIT. Have no fear!! It is due this weekend, and then we will promptly return to blabber on about our time at Repat in no time!!

See you in a bit!!

Bloody Weekends, Zip By Too Fast!

We are constantly bombarded by the locals in incredulous disbelief that we aren’t traveling the country on the weekends. It seems like we are expected to be traveling cross-country constantly. Darwin the first weekend of October, Brisbane this Thursday for a 3 day weekend, maybe a quick jaunt to Sydney to catch a concert the last weekend of the month. It is often, for me anyways, a bit disheartening. It is hard to explain to those who are working and earning a paycheck, and driving around in their personal vehicles that we are STUDENTS, who are working 40-hour work weeks without a paycheck (and in fact PAYING to work via tuition) living in a foreign country and relying on public transportation. Not to mention that rather than getting the 4 weeks annual vacation leave that they are granted, we have but 20 lovely days (including holidays).

But this weekend, we were able to actually do something. No vacations or trips or anything real exotic, but at least I can say “YES!” to the question “Did you get up to anything over the weekend?”

Exhausted from our first week of re-learning at Repat, Chad and I decided to head to the city on Friday with a hankering for some Sushi Train (the first fantastic sushi we’ve had since arriving in Australia!) and hoping to finally make it to Willem Dafoe’s new movie “The Hunter”. We always forget what an overwhelming experience it is in the CBD on a Friday night – the only “late night” in the city besides Thursday. (Everything closes by 5 pm every other night, including Saturday and Sunday) The restaurants all smell scrumptious and the streets are brimming with people and clinking glasses of wine and beer. Teenage girls are showing off their hoo-haas in their ridiculously short skirts, and the boys are showing of their lack of, well, everything, in their shorty shorts and tight pink shirts and too-gelled hair.

We ended up seeing 13 assassins, who’s review promised: “It absolutely, undeniably delivers the goods. And those goods are soaked in blood. It's an incredibly violent, insanely entertaining movie that features scores of baddies getting killed by sword, arrow, knife, boiling oil, even a stampede of bulls. Wait, hold on. Not just bulls. Flaming bulls! How can you NOT see a movie with a review like that? It was all in subtitles, but there were, indeed, a couple of flaming bulls, and more blood than the things I discuss in a few more paragraphs…

Saturday we ventured into Port Adelaide for none other than the Port Adelaide Festival. For those of you who have not been to Port Adelaide, don’t feel bad. You really needn’t bother. It is a very country-bumpkin (or “Bogan”, as they say in these parts) town, with not a whole lot goin’ on. Old buildings, docks along the inlet, and a rather sorry looking little metal lighthouse about 2 storeys high. We’d never been though, and the festival was free, and it was sunny outside, and, mainly, there was a train that took us straight there.

We met a very informative beekeeper selling some yummy honey, a lot of weirdos, and went on a tour of Torrens Island – an island that was used as a an old quarantine center for smallpox and the like back in the early 1900’s. It was quite interesting, even more so because our tour guide was from – where else? – Oregon!! What a small world.

All was fine and dandy – a day well spent – until we arrived back in the city where we had to switch trains. There was a bit of a layover, so Chad and I sat on the benches outside the terminal, watching the interesting Adelaide folks… who were turning into zombies.

You think I’m kidding. Check this out: adelaidezombiewalk.weebly.com/ I used the bathroom at the station only to find myself tiptoeing around enormous puddles of blood, and trying to creatively find a way to use the faucet without getting my fingers coated in the stuff. Beside me, a herd of girls were giggling and getting ‘ready’ in torn stippers clothes, wedding gowns, prom dresses, and camo gear. All I could think was “those poor janitors”. We watched hoards alight from the incoming trains. All ages, all costumes, all sorts of makeup. We had no idea at the time what was going on, and only heard whispers of “Zombie Wars”. Talk about bizarre!

Sunday we found ourselves in Yoga, thinking somehow we would do some cardio and a quick workout after the 45 minute class. Let’s just say yoga may not be for us, and leave it at that shall we?

Repatriation General- Week 1

Our alarm went off at 5 am on Monday morning. It was hard to drag ourselves out of bed, but being that it was our first day at Repat (RGH), and we were relying on the bus system, we were able to convince ourselves. We were at the bus stop just after 7, and after stopping at the Marion Shopping Center and waiting for a second bus, we arrived a few blocks from Repat just before 8am.

Michael had brought us on a quick introductory tour of the Veteran’s Hospital the previous Friday, but it still felt as though we were approaching “Little Cuba” (Michael’s colorful descriptor) as we arrived. The Repat is an old military hospital, compiled of tiny little buildings all clumped together over the years. Over here is a sandy orange building with a rustic sign saying “Ward 17”, over there is an identical and equally archaic building with an equally bucolic sign reading “Wards 5-8”. Corrugated iron overhangs the narrow walkways between here and there, and as you wander around a bit you’ll stumble upon some lovely little gardens, rose bushes, pebble pathways, and lots of decks.

It is a sight to behold, and with green, gold, and white colored signs, and dusty orange bricks holding up the roof, it is easy to misjudge the place. It has an old-world, country-outback feel. Each time we go to theatre, we walk through the gardens between buildings, and all the in-patients get to have a “squiz” (Aussie slang for “a look around”) outside in the fresh air as they are brought around from their ward to the imaging building.

This Monday morning, we wound our way around the paths, trying to go from memory exactly how to get to the Imaging Building. After arriving, we got introduced to the staff and got a tour of all the different buildings where we might be working.

We heard more about the staff break room from Michael in our weeks leading up to this switch than I care to admit. The “espresso machine that makes fresh coffee, cappuccinos, and even froths milk” is legendary – and yes, I admit it’s been nice to get a quick cap in the mornings without shelling out a dollar! But they also have an x-ray room with a machine that it quite entirely “automated”. You simply select your patient, the exam is already programmed in, you press a button, and the machine will automatically set itself up for the position… angles and everything! While impressive, I am not too jazzed about this machine – not the best facilitator for learning.

It’s a different feel at Repat as well. It is a relatively small staff compared to Flinders, and you are working with the same people every day. I am quite fond of this idea after working with so many different shift groups for the past few months. It’s nice to have some uniformity! I must say that, for the most part, the staff are all quite delightful as well. And very welcoming to us newcomers!

We were happily thrown into the thick of it right away, and by the end of the week, I had seen some urology theatre work, some oblique spines (the first I’ve seen in the real world!) a barium swallow, AND my first barium enema! Woo-hoo! It’s still taking a bit of adjusting to the new machines (especially that darned automated one!) and for the better part of the week, I felt like a complete newbie all over again – not knowing how to work anything, being completely turned upside down, and having to constantly get assistance ): But… week 2 holds a lot of promise!

Michael had joked that he might not get us back at the end of our 4 weeks- reckoned he might get a call from us saying that we decided to just stick around for a while at Repat. Me? I reckon he might get a call from the staff saying they want us to stick around!

Red Dot, Red Meat, Red Sauce!

Now that we have completed our summer term here in South Australia, I am becoming more familiar with some of the practices and policies that guide the radiographers during day-to-day exams. One of the things that I really find interesting and inspiring is a program called “Red Dot”. I am not clear on the genesis of the program but the concept is interesting. For example, a radiographer images a left elbow and completes the necessary views without seeing anything obvious. The patient is escorted back to where they came from and the radiographer returns to finish the verification process. On closer inspection, the radiographer finds a hairline fracture through the anterior lip of the radial head. The fracture is subtle and offers no clinical signs that might lead to recognition. At this point the Red Dot system dictates that the radiographer would flag the images and let the requesting person know what they might have found. That’s just cool! I think the system is fantastic. It allows the radiographer a chance to exercise systems thinking and add to a patient’s clinical outcome, and it allows the radiologist to have yet another set of fresh eyes to help evaluate without taking anything away from his/her position. Most importantly, it allows the radiographer to continue learning and growing. I find that very inspiring! You can be in a position for 20 something years and still not know everything out there.

I would like to know if anyone in the United States has come across a similar mind set or similar program? Unfortunately my time in clinical settings back in the United States was limited to say the least, and the majority of my experience is now Australian based.

To change the topic completely, Melissa and I have been discussing some of the American things that we miss now that we have been away from home for a few months. Family, friends and our vehicles are all on the list but we do our best not to “winge” too much. That being said, I miss my cheap Dr. Pepper and good ole-fashion American BBQ! There is nothing in this massive world that can come close to the barbeque that we as Americans love. Whether the BBQ is from St Louis, Texas or Kentucky, it’s all fantastic (excluding that North Carolina apple-cider vinegar based garbage of course). And those of you who know me know that I have a bit of a problem with Dr. Pepper. Hello my name is Chad and I am a DP addict and I have been clean for too long! One of my favorite meals would be some good friends, good brisket dripping with a sweat homemade BBQ sauce, and an ice cold Dr. Pepper! The funny thing is that I know that sodas are the devil and I know what they do to a person’s health. But what good is life if you spend it deprived of the finer things! In Australia, I have to pay about three dollars for a DP fix. And that’s for a 12 ounce can, and I have only seen two places in Adelaide that have the things. It’s just wrong.

I better conclude this rambling at go hunt down a Dr. Pepper! Thanks for listening, hope you are all doing well and enjoying smoked meats!

Chad