The Outcome

so here is the countdown of what has happened at home. thank goodness everyone is safe and sound. sadly one of our friends lost their roof so, he is bunking by the house for now. our roof and house is well but i regret to report that we lost 2 of our best mango trees, one of our sour sop trees and a bit of the apple tree. this loss is unfortunate, and as my brothers continue with the task of chopping down and clearing the carnage, there is hope. my mother was able to salvage one of the mangoes from the hybrid tree, so questions can be asked and the name of the tree recovered to facilitate the replanting of said tree. since it is a hybrid, it cannot reproduce from its seed so it has to be bought. we will also replace the other trees lost. my father thus warned me that there will be no mangoes from that side of the house for a couple of years.

the lord was merciful and Dean, though stronger than Gilbert, like Gilbert did not bring much rain, just wind mostly, which is ultimately better. this way there wasn't much flooding. my mom said that our house was packed as usual, since our house is the watering hole for the neighbourhood. the entertainment for the day and night was sitting on the veranda and watching the hurricane. which is what we do every time there is a hurricane. seriously, what else is there to do. they shut the electricity off to save the infrastructure, so there is no TV, no computer, so we talk, eat and watch the trees fall and roofs fly off. it is great fun....

Neways, that is that. everyone is good. i'll hear more about it later and what the outcome of the rest of the island is. pics will be coming soon as, my brothers and sisters took photos while things were going on and of our beloved fallen mango trees....

Hurricane Dean

well this weekend my concern was for my family as category 4 hurricane dean, hit Jamaica and has been doing some damage. i must say that prayer works, as i, my cousin, my church prayed, and so far my family have all been safe. we'll see what the damage is after the storm. but last night it was being reported that the storm would pass right over the country, eye and all, just like Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, a cat 3 hurricane (which i lived through). but instead, it has veered off and the eye is passing just beneath the south coast. that can sometimes be worse cause the wind and rain are constant, but some worse damage can be done when with the eye crosses as the wind changes direction in the latter part of the storm. but so far so good for my fam. the storm is bigger than texas and has winds of 225km /hr. the biggest thing is people losing their homes, roofs etc, plus with all the rain, mudslides, rivers rising and such. the last time the rivers rose it was crazy man. it swept houses away. this is not like the Mississippi rising, where even though it flooded the banks, the waters just rose, we are talking serious currents and waves as the rivers rush down from the mountains. think lord of the rings , fellowship of the rings, river horses devouring the death raiders. i've seen it first hand, it is a rather impressive sight, except the water isn't clean and pretty. its muddy and debris filled.....neways.. Jamaica always bounces back pretty quickly and i know god is faithful. so my family will be ok.

my only grievance is with the australian media, who didn't pick up on this story a long time ago. this storm has already ravished 2 other Caribbean islands, before heading to Jamaica and no one reported on it. the only time they picked up on it was when America was concerned that it would hit texas, since tropical storm Erin has already done some damage. i mean seriously people, u live in a country with a lot of people from different countries who care about world news, if it doesn't happen here or some australian tourist is not caught up in it, no one hears about it. until the last minute of course, when the death toll starts rising. i hate the media sometimes.

Delivery

it's been 2 weeks since i have been in delivery and i have no idea why i have been putting off writing this section of the blog. i think that there was too much going on in my head and i ended up talking to my mom about it so it wasn't so pressing to write about. ok let me go back and share a few feelings....

delivery.....

sigh....

was it what i expected?...... no, it wasn't. it was way more messy than i thought. they tell you it's messy but till you see it, you have no clue. there is absolutely no place for modesty. there is constantly something draining from the woman, be it blood or liquor (the water around the infant... that is what they refer to when they say her waters break, spontaneous rupture of membranes). i mean seriously, it was just messy. and i felt a bit icky watching these women constantly getting checked vaginally. i can understand how women who have been molested do not want anyone touching them and examining them. it really felt and looked like molestation. even though it is absolutely necessary, and there is no other way to learn it but to do it, it just wasn't an easy thing to get used to.

did i feel the elation?.... not when seeing my first one. it was interesting. it happened quickly. the babies are all purple when they just come out and the mothers and fathers feel elation and it's beautiful to see it on their faces, but for me it was a bit more clinical cause i was going over in my head what i had been taught. it is a beautiful thing to share. i do think that it would grow old to an extent as the doctor. and there is so much more to the training of obs and gynae for the doctors. they are essentially learning 2 specialties and both of them have a surgery component. so many things to think about and always have in the back of your mind when treating people.

i did feel elation with one woman though, i jumped and almost had tears, cause she was so happy that she was able to deliver vaginally after she had an emergency cesarean in her first pregnancy. that was on one hand , and then the other was the slight revulsion at seeing her given an episiotomy and vacuum birth. so there was that elation, then i had to go all clinical to lean, really watch the repair of the episiotomy.

i feel i was very lucky in that everyday that i was there, in the limited time i was there, i got to see a delivery. will i specialize in this?.....who knows? i like it so far. training is a bit long, 6 years post internship and RMO1 but hey this might be what i am called to do. i have a bit of senioritis. having trouble concentrating on the vast majority of work, but the aim is to nip it in the bud this week, which is week 5. i have 4 more weeks of this rotation, exams and OSCE at the end of that, so lots of studying to do. i need to get work done before my boss gets back and wants me to come into work, which is a task to do at the end of a very long day. to go in after hospital means that i don't leave till 7 sometimes 8. it sucks, and tires me out even more, so that i can't do any work when i go home. not to mention the early getting to hospital, which is 1 hr away, so i have to be up sometimes at 4:30..... lawd mi tiad.

neways.... thats my delivery spiel with a bit extra added in.......

Peta's B-day BBQ

yesterday was also Peta's b-day BBQ. Monday is really her B-day but a great party needs to be on the weekend. it was a really good time, with lots of yummy food, which our parties are known for, and good people and convo. my friends Hao and Neva came which was great. Cameron and Eric piked. i take it as a sign that they value their other friends over me. Eric, i forgive cause his other engagement invitation came before mine, and had to do with a childhood bestfriend etc. but Cameron is in the dog house for this one. it said to me that even though my invitation was first to arrive and be confirmed, he would rather be with vegan mates, non school friends than with me and the other school friends. i know he is gonna read this and be like 'shit', but at this moment, this is how i feel. when he sees me on Monday i may feel differently, but who knows i may not. by all rights he knew these people before me, but after 5 years you would think that that would not matter. even Hao and Simon were not surprised that Cammi didn't make it. Simon didn't get to come because he got the msg late and his brother had dibs on the car. A part from that, he would have been there, chillin, eating my amazing chocolate cake, which was the rage, and lots of Peta's great food. Neways, apart from that disappointment, the party was great. as stated before the highlight was frog story by a little boy that was just hilarious, Peta's penis breaking story and my chocolate cake topped with almonds and strawberries. ..... lovely

Cheesecake Day

yesterday was my cheesecake making date. my friend Sibon had told me that she wanted to learn how to bake cheesecakes, so yesterday was the day earmarked for me to facilitate this venture. it was really great. i love spending time with Sibon, plus i got to hang with Gerard and Leon their lovely bub. the baking went spectacularly and from all accounts was a great success. one very luscious cheesecake was made, a blog was set up and lots of pics taken. here are a few....

Update

man i'm so tired i can't even think straight. its been a very long week. not particularly bad, just really long. i have been on delivery this week and that means that i have to be up at 4:30 am, so that i can get to hospital before 7 am. its an hour on the train and my days are such that i don't leave the hospital till 4:30, sometimes 5:30 every evening. then its another hour till i get back to the city. by then i'm beat, but on most days this week i have had to go into work after i get back, work for 2 hours and not get home till after 8 pm. i tell you i really try to go to bed early so that i have energy, but alas, my body is so conditioned to stay up, that i can't sleep till 12 every night. so i'm running on a 1/4 - empty tank. i have my thoughts to share on my stint in delivery, but i'm gonna have to leave that for another day. im this current state i can't handle that. so this was just a little vent. later

The Columbian

so tonight i went out with my friends to the columbian, a gay bar on oxford street in sydeny. the crew was, myself, Jawad, Cameron, Eric, Adel, Kat and Mythili. we had such a good time. i wasn't drinking cause i have been sick and full of cold and flu medicine, but that didn't matter, i don't drink a lot neways. i, as u can see, was looking hot, hot, hot, H-O-T. and so was everyone else. we all scrub up good. including cameron, who had his hair straightened by Jawad. he looked very much like one of the 'Beatles'. it was very obvious, to me at least, that we were med students who didn't get out much. the reality is that we were just willing to be a little crazy. we sat and chatted and then we danced and danced and danced. every now and then you would see the cameras come out and loads of pics taken. what you see here is only a few. neways i went with the thought that apart from spending some fun time with my friends outside of school, that i should get some good stories to tell on here for whoever that choses to read my babble. well i did.

so we were all dancing and chilling, when this woman just appeared beside me. she tells me that i am looking hot. so naturally i said thanks. she then proceeds to justify why she said this to me, she said that she believes that one should be able to walk into a room, think someone is looking good and pay them a compliment. its a spiritual thing and she could tell i was a spiritual being, other worldly, and that it comes from my mother and grandmother. someone was spiritual. and it has nothing to do with being gay or straight, she knows that i am straight, but it's that connection......lol... she then proceeds to introduce herself to my other friends....lol... all the while i am just like uhuh, please don't go any further than talking to me.....lol all with a smile on my face of course. she then started to talk to mythili, who thought that i knew this woman from somewhere....lol. she tells mythili that all kinds of thing, including that she should be careful cause she is the kind of girl that is being targeted by people who are spiking drinks. then she comes back to me and tells me that she knows things and is friends with bikies and that people have been spiking drinks and she knows that i will take care of my friend.... so i thought this was the end of it..... she went on to do her thing, and i explained what she said to the group. we had a laugh and didn't think on it again.... then later in the night she appears by my side to tell me that she was going downstairs for a bit and she didn't want me to think that she had just up and left....LOLOLOLOL.... now i turned around and i was laughing so hard i couldn't even talk... my only thought was to wonder if she thought my eyes were following her around the room and that i would care or that it would matter to me where she went....lol. i mean seriously. the group consisted of 2 straight guys, 3 straight girls and 2 homosexuals. she knew i was straight, y would i care....lol....neways that was that, she never appeared again.

the other thing that happened was that this guy came up to me and asked my if i knew where he could get some pills...lol. at first i thought he was asking if i wanted some, so i was like no thanks... but no he thought i was in, and either was a drug dealer or knew them...lol. jawad said that at least he was straight up about it. that sometimes they come up to you and chat to you for 15 min, seeming to chat you up, only to want and ask you bout drugs. when they realize that you either don't have any nor know where u can get any, they disappear. that can be quite disheartening if u were beginning to get into them....unlikely for me in that setting.

all and all it was a great night, good clean, fun. no one got trashed, everyone could drive.. so a roaring success.