I'm much more on time with Week 2's update :)
This past week has been great fun- we've done loads and it was my birthday! (Though I did get a bit homesick this week too). Up at the hospital I have been properly with the Paeds Dr, Dr Dawn who is lovely and is letting me help out as much as I can which is great. Mostly it has been little kids with chest infections/ bronchiolitis but we also look after the neonates and do all the post natal checks so there are plenty of cute little Cook Island babies for me to coo at! We even had a couple of C sections last week.
At the backpackers we've had a few new additions- some Kiwi surfers who have been a number of times before and have taught us how to pick the best coconuts and get into them! We all headed out to town on Thursday for an Island Night at one of the restaurants and it was amazing, drum music and trbal dancing from little kids right up to the adults. They even got Ali and Alex up on stage so I have some pretty good photos of them making a fool of themselves. We then headed out for a drink and a dance and were quickly over run with guys off the Kiwi Navy boat which was stationed here on tour. One of them tried the chat up line "Do you watch League?" meaning rugby league and got very offended when I told him I prefered rugby union. Another asked Ali and one of the other guys if they could please dace with their girlfriends which got them laughed at too.
For my birthday I finally opened the cards I had brought with me from David and Pam and found some great photos of DH and I inside to keep with me for my trip. After an afternoon getting a tan we went to one of the beachside bars and had cocktails at sunset before heading back for some (very) cheap fizz, dinner and crispy cake. All in all a pretty good birthday for being so far from home.
This weekend we have been adventurous and hired snorkels and gone snorkelling over at one of the posh hotels and we saw lots and lots of fish there. Sunday we decided to take a hike up one of the hills here and headed up the one behind the backpackers. Its only 300 odd m high but coming from sea level that is plenty to give you some incredible views. The track was pretty overgrown and steep in places but it comes out on a high plateau with just bracken on it and you can see all around.
We've booked to do our PADI Scuba cert for next weekend (at a big discount on the advertised price) for much less than it would cost in the UK and have the option to go on to do the PADI openwater if we enjoy it by just paying the difference. We're also planning a trip to Aitutaki one of the outer islands as we've been told about so $100 flights and told we can stay at the hospital accomodation for free so hopefully we can arrange that.
Love J xxxx
p.s. my postcard offer still stands!
Monday, 25 June 2012
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Week 1
Sunday 10th Ali and I boarded the plane in Heathrow and 26hrs later stumbled out into dawn in Rarotonga. We had a stop in the worlds most confusing and underwhelming airport LAX on the way but had otherwise been looked after by the lovely people of AirNZ. The flights were as good as such long flghts ever could be.
Monday saw us confusedly get our bearings on Rarotonga, hiring bikes, buying food and tackling the incredbly steep hill up to the hospital for the first time. Only to come straight back down again to spend the afternoon on the beach- Dr Voi our contact at the hospital told us we could have the afternoon off.
The hostel- Rarotonga backpackers is nice and clean enough though you can't keep the bugs and geckos out and the place cool so we share it with a lot of mozzies come evening. Luckily none in our room- I have been bitten plenty sat out on the deck in the evenings.One of the doctors told me to put toothpaste on itchy bites and though I look pretty mad it seems to work! We're on the southwestern corner of the island and right on the beach so the sunsets are beautiful and right outside our door. The people staying have been great, we met two med students Alex and Cat who are here on elective. Cat has headed home now but Alex will be here the whole time we are and is great fun. There are plenty of other travellers here too, mostly people in their late 20s taking time to travel the world and our evenings are spent telling tales on the deck.
The hospital itself sits high up the side of a hill on the Northwestern corner, about 20 mins of cycling and walking uphill from the hostel. It consists of a number of long low buildings and the wards have been newly refurbished and are modern despite the old outpatients clinc areas. They have most of the basics, but still rely on sending patients to New Zealand for anything complex. There are very few doctors here, one surgeon, one paedatrician, one O&G specialist, and they are on call 24/7 as they are the only ones on the island. Outpatients is staffed by a number of doctors so there is one there 24/7 and people come up to be seen on a first come first served basis, mostly with complaints we'd go to the GP for. Ali is working with the surgeon and I have split my time between the Outpatients and Paeds departments. I think I'll spend a couple of weeks with Paeds before trying to move on to Medicine. Everything is quiet here though so we have had most afternoons off to sun ourselves!
We've had one taste of the night life here- on our first Weds we went to Coco-putt a mini golf and bar place. The guy came to pick us up from the hostel and gave us a drink for the road. We had a burger and then went on to play mini golf in our random teams, my team came 4th but Ali and Cat came 2nd and they gave us all a drink as a prize. After dancing at the bar we got a lift round to town and spent an hour or two in the club with the locals before being brought back. It was a great night- and really cheap as the host at the mini golf seemed to take a liking to our group and bought us a couple of rounds and got us into the club for free.
If anyone would like a postcard, drop me an email with your address!
Jess xx
Monday saw us confusedly get our bearings on Rarotonga, hiring bikes, buying food and tackling the incredbly steep hill up to the hospital for the first time. Only to come straight back down again to spend the afternoon on the beach- Dr Voi our contact at the hospital told us we could have the afternoon off.
The hostel- Rarotonga backpackers is nice and clean enough though you can't keep the bugs and geckos out and the place cool so we share it with a lot of mozzies come evening. Luckily none in our room- I have been bitten plenty sat out on the deck in the evenings.One of the doctors told me to put toothpaste on itchy bites and though I look pretty mad it seems to work! We're on the southwestern corner of the island and right on the beach so the sunsets are beautiful and right outside our door. The people staying have been great, we met two med students Alex and Cat who are here on elective. Cat has headed home now but Alex will be here the whole time we are and is great fun. There are plenty of other travellers here too, mostly people in their late 20s taking time to travel the world and our evenings are spent telling tales on the deck.
The hospital itself sits high up the side of a hill on the Northwestern corner, about 20 mins of cycling and walking uphill from the hostel. It consists of a number of long low buildings and the wards have been newly refurbished and are modern despite the old outpatients clinc areas. They have most of the basics, but still rely on sending patients to New Zealand for anything complex. There are very few doctors here, one surgeon, one paedatrician, one O&G specialist, and they are on call 24/7 as they are the only ones on the island. Outpatients is staffed by a number of doctors so there is one there 24/7 and people come up to be seen on a first come first served basis, mostly with complaints we'd go to the GP for. Ali is working with the surgeon and I have split my time between the Outpatients and Paeds departments. I think I'll spend a couple of weeks with Paeds before trying to move on to Medicine. Everything is quiet here though so we have had most afternoons off to sun ourselves!
We've had one taste of the night life here- on our first Weds we went to Coco-putt a mini golf and bar place. The guy came to pick us up from the hostel and gave us a drink for the road. We had a burger and then went on to play mini golf in our random teams, my team came 4th but Ali and Cat came 2nd and they gave us all a drink as a prize. After dancing at the bar we got a lift round to town and spent an hour or two in the club with the locals before being brought back. It was a great night- and really cheap as the host at the mini golf seemed to take a liking to our group and bought us a couple of rounds and got us into the club for free.
If anyone would like a postcard, drop me an email with your address!
Jess xx
Friday, 15 June 2012
Minty Green Medic goes on Elective
Hello Folks!
An awful lot has happened since I unceremoniously stopped blogging 6 weeks before my boat race last year. For one I stroked the Lwts to victory and now count my boat as some of my closest friends- we still enjoy meeting up to eat. A whole year of clinical school has been and gone and I write to you now as a final year medical student!
I'm resurrecting the blog because on the 10th of June I left David, Cambridge and the UK far behind and got on a flight to the Cook Islands for my medical elective. We are given 10 weeks and told we must do 7 weeks of work, and that we can go anywhere in the world to do it. The idea is we experience medicine being practised in its many varied forms across the world, and can bring new experience back to our final year.
It's now coming to the end of Week 1 here on Rarotonga (the largest and main Cook Island) and I am writing in a spare moment before the Paeds clinic really gets going. I hope to write once a week, but sadly I'll have to save my pictures for when I return- the internet is still dial up here and can't really cope with pictures being uploaded!
With sunny thoughts for you all,
Jess x
An awful lot has happened since I unceremoniously stopped blogging 6 weeks before my boat race last year. For one I stroked the Lwts to victory and now count my boat as some of my closest friends- we still enjoy meeting up to eat. A whole year of clinical school has been and gone and I write to you now as a final year medical student!
I'm resurrecting the blog because on the 10th of June I left David, Cambridge and the UK far behind and got on a flight to the Cook Islands for my medical elective. We are given 10 weeks and told we must do 7 weeks of work, and that we can go anywhere in the world to do it. The idea is we experience medicine being practised in its many varied forms across the world, and can bring new experience back to our final year.
It's now coming to the end of Week 1 here on Rarotonga (the largest and main Cook Island) and I am writing in a spare moment before the Paeds clinic really gets going. I hope to write once a week, but sadly I'll have to save my pictures for when I return- the internet is still dial up here and can't really cope with pictures being uploaded!
With sunny thoughts for you all,
Jess x
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Catch Up 3: Back to Cambridge
Back to the point, I've filled you in on the end of Mich term and the holidays so on to the first few weeks of this term...
Rowing:
The rest of CUWBC went to Soustons for training camp for ten days at the start of January. I bought flights to go out and join them for the weekend, and was all prepared to go, but then I had a difficult journey back down and ended up missing the first day back at Clinical School and so I couldn't go out to Soustons and miss another 4 days. Instead I did ALOT of classes at the gym and erged with the Clare girls, and once I went out rowing in a mixed Clare boat. The mixed boat was pretty entertaining, especially as I got to stroke it, Alice and I spent most of the time making sarcastic comments, and a boat with guys in it goes REALLY fast even if it is going badly.
Medicine:
Once I had got back to Clincal School, I was on Vascular Surgery for my first placement. Turns out vascular surgery is incredibly dull. There are three things that people in for vascular surgery have- an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), varicose veins, or necrotic feet. AAA can be very dramatic if they rupture in which case they are a surgical emergency, but mostly they are very slow to increase in size and after their incidental discovery they are left alone before being fixed a few months to a few years later. Varicose veins are very boring as there is nothing that can be done really on the NHS for most people. Necrotic tissues are kind of interesting, in that occasionally, very occasionally there are amputations. But turns out what is interesting is interventional radiology, mostly because there are lead suits to wear and a cool consultant called T.C.See and who likes to teach med students!
Social:
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Catch Up 2: The Holidays
Today was a good, but very very long day. I'll tell you all about it another time, for now I left you at Trial Eights dinner last night so it is time to continue and describe my lovely Christmas Holiday...
Despite the snow I got home with no delays or problems at all and settled in for a few weeks of rest and relaxation. Just being at home, able to sleep and sit around doing nothing but go to the gym (less than I should have) and eat (more than I should have) was amazing. I was so so surprised how much last term had taken out of me and it was a big relief to build back up some resilience and energy stores.
Apart from potter around snowy Kilmacolm, doing not very much and definitely no rowing or medicine, I had the chance to catch up with Emma, Kirsty, Ally and the rest of the St. Columban's at Elaine's Birthday in a lovely bar in Glasgow. The bar was great- I had a Mojito in a mug, and various other cocktails in a brown paper wrapped bottle, a jam jar and a tin can! Everyone looked stunning and for the first time in a really really long time I had a night out with the girls I went to school with.
Christmas was then suddenly upon us and we had a lovely chilled day at home eating food that we all helped to cook- I made (arranged) the anti-pasti type starter and made Cranachan for pudding. I got some awesome presents as well including some lovely clothes, a new ipod and the ridiculous if very warm and useful snow leopard hat with ears and a nose.
Heading up north on Boxing Day we dropped into see Eliot and Nicky (and Angus and Stella) before braving the snow and the dark on the A9 to make it to the cottage. Unfortunately as we turned on the water it became very clear something was not right... we had a burst pipe. Luckily it was in the bathroom and luckily we caught it about 10s after it started but still not the best of starts to a "DIY Free" holiday in the DIY hungry cottage, cue lots of plumbers over the next few days.
David arrived into Inverness on the 30th, and after much faff about my brother managing to leave with our only set of Golf keys, and the need for even more DIY plumbing; Mum, Angus and Phil left to spend Hogmanay in Kilmacolm. We had a lovely chilled couple of days in the cottage, going for walks in the surrounding areas and David taking amazing photos like the one above. On one such walk on New Year's Day we randomly bumped into Cat, Donald and Tom who were up staying at Donald's cottage not far from mine. It was by far the most coincidental meeting I have ever had, but nice to say Happy New Year to them all and it made me smile to think how small the world is!
Next Up I don't go on Training Camp...
Despite the snow I got home with no delays or problems at all and settled in for a few weeks of rest and relaxation. Just being at home, able to sleep and sit around doing nothing but go to the gym (less than I should have) and eat (more than I should have) was amazing. I was so so surprised how much last term had taken out of me and it was a big relief to build back up some resilience and energy stores.
Christmas was then suddenly upon us and we had a lovely chilled day at home eating food that we all helped to cook- I made (arranged) the anti-pasti type starter and made Cranachan for pudding. I got some awesome presents as well including some lovely clothes, a new ipod and the ridiculous if very warm and useful snow leopard hat with ears and a nose.
Heading up north on Boxing Day we dropped into see Eliot and Nicky (and Angus and Stella) before braving the snow and the dark on the A9 to make it to the cottage. Unfortunately as we turned on the water it became very clear something was not right... we had a burst pipe. Luckily it was in the bathroom and luckily we caught it about 10s after it started but still not the best of starts to a "DIY Free" holiday in the DIY hungry cottage, cue lots of plumbers over the next few days.
Next Up I don't go on Training Camp...
Monday, 7 February 2011
Catch Up 1
Everything up to the end of last term..... (which I wrote about once at the time and it didn't post)
Rowing:
Well the weather was horrible, so the Cam froze and the Ouse froze and my bike got frozen into the shed more than once- so actually not that much rowing happened in the last week or so of term. What did happen though is CUWBC had Trial Eights, or rather we tried. Lizzie does a fantastic job of explaining what actually happened over on the CUWBC website but for completeness sake I must add a couple of things. First of all a huge thanks to Esther and Kate for holding our feet down when we did realise foot straps were silly, I think they did as much work as we all did, if not more! (I wish I had a photo of the faces they were pulling) And of course I need to point out that we would have won if we hadn't fallen off the seat....
Medic:
I finished off last term with my last few weeks on the Diabetes and Endocrine firm, and generally found my enthusiasm for talking to little old men with diabetic neuropathic feet was waning. But I did have my most embarrassing moment of medicine so far- when one consultant looked me up and down and claimed that my boots were entirely inappropriate. I promptly spent the rest of clinic with my feet tucked right underneath the chair!
So after Trial Eights comes dinner! After the excitement of the day we all settled down to get ready for our early dinner at 6pm Cafe Rouge, I had a conversation with Mum about 4pm and told her that I would be fine to get my flight home the next day. By the time I tottered out to my taxi in a dress and heels (not worn them for a while...) there was six inches of snow on the ground. Luckily we had left plenty of time to get to dinner, which was lovely and involved some amazing secret santa presents. We all made it to Clare MCR for speeches and after dinner drinks, as far as I can remember Lizzie was inspirational and lovely and we gave her some utterly ridiculous hats, and Martyn was actually quite rude about what he expected us to be like... he did say we were nothing like that though...
Anyway it was great fun to see everyone all dressed up and get to dance and be silly. Even if we were all pissed by 10pm.
Sunday, 6 February 2011
*Sheepish Wave*
So I haven't posted anything for a really really long time. Sorry about that. Turns out my big post from before Christmas with the story of Trial Eights didn't even post so it has been even longer than I thought, apart from the little hello on Christmas. To make matters worse I managed to fail in my blogging duties before Christmas as well! Anyway to catch up I promise to write one blog post a day till we catch up and then the blog will resume regular Sunday Updates. (As an aside while I was looking for a cool enough sheep picture I found this which then distracted me for ten minutes)
To make things easier on myself I am going to split up the time I need to catch you all up on into these chunks:
- Up to Christmas
- The Holidays
- Mid Jan when training really kicked back in
- The present
And you are going to get just one entertaining story from at least 2 of the 3 things that I ever write about:
- Medicine
- Rowing
- Social Life
So that was kind of an admin-y type post but I will start posting properly tomorrow and then you will all be caught up on my life.
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