Alicia Keys Concert

hey i went to the Alicia Keys concert last friday and it was brilliant. we ended up in amazing seats, right beside the stage. she was so good. really versatile and generous. allowing her back up singers and band to really shine. they were excellent and so on point. i loved that she did so many different arrangements of her songs. it was very good... here are some clips....some of it may be a bit shaky but u understand







if u ever get a chance to go to one of her concerts... go!!

I'm Back

so i haven't posted in a while cause basically i didn't feel like it...:) i have been recovering well. it has taken time, as expected. i have simply been doing nothing but resting with the occasional excursion out of my house. up until the beginning of last week i was really still getting really tired quite quickly. but i feel a lot better now, not getting as tired too quickly and not as much pain, just a niggle here and there. so all in all, i am good. i go back to work next week. am i looking forward to it? not really, mainly cause its work, and its emergency, which i don't like...:) but oh well, just 1 more month.

Emergency Surgery

well i am 5 days now post emergency surgery last saturday. i was just released home yesterday and have been slowly recovering. so here is what happened:
last thurs night at work i developed some abdominal pain. i thought it was nothing but a little bit of abdominal colic and that it would wear off soon. it however continued throughout the night. even while asleep i was still aware of the pain. when i woke up it was still there. i thought, ok, all i need is some buscopan. so i ate, (this may be a bit nasty) but i opened my bowels and still had the pain. i made my way to work, which was quite difficult, not feeling right at all. when i got to the train station in Auburn, i decided to take a taxi cause i really would have been late if i had walked as walking was getting difficult for me. on my way in the taxi, i realised that every bump that i was going over, was causing me alot of pain. i thought to myself, that is not good, signs of peritonism. all night i had been ticking off in my head things it could not be. like, ok its not a small bowel obstruction cause of this and this and this.... neways i got to hospital, took a buscopan and it was not helping. i started to also develop a headache. so i decided to call in sick. i told my boss and she said to me well u really have 2 choices- get triaged here and get someone to examine you, orgo home, wait a bit and go to your GP. i decided to go home cause Auburn was just a bit too far from home for me and i knew i would have to be kept in if anything, and also i work with these people everyday, i didn't want to do that. so i went home..... well kinda

on my way home, the trip was just getting more difficult and the signs of peritonism more painful, so as i got off the bus, i decided to just go straight to the GP and not bother to go home. cause you know if i went home, it would have been harder for me to leave and who knows what would have happened. so i went to the GP, could hardly stand straight, still the pain was bearable. the GP saw me and agreed with me that something was going on and that he was not happy to sit on me and just to some blood test. he faxed a letter to RPA emergency room and i called my friend Kem to take me to the ED, since she was just across the road. we got there, got signed in, and they were like, just like a typical doctor to come in late, or oh a doctor, bad prognostic factor. neways they were very nice and pretty efficient. we all thought after examination that it was appendicitis. they took some blood, put a drip in and gave me morphine... that is a whole nother story, seriously. the surgeons saw me, they agreed, said that i would get the best treatment cause they have to get the doctors back to work quickly and i was admitted.

Surgery would have happened that night but there were 5 other emergency cases ahead of me and i was pretty stable. and the poor surgeon was operating all night. when he came to see me in the morning, he did look tired. neways someone else was on at that time and i was taken to theatre that afternoon. all this while the network of friends and church folk were at work and sat morning i had so many people coming to see me and pray with me, it was great. and yes my parents knew as well, so the majority of people that could be contacted were contacted. the church fam was great and i do remember a time when i wondered who would i call if something happened. who would come and see me, who would care and this really showed me that i do have a strong network here.

i'll have to continue this tomorrow, cause really i am tired now. i get tired in a snap now. after a shower even, it is pitiful. so stories of the post op and what the diagnosis was.... was it appendicitis like we all thought? was it something else? was it a combination?.... you'll just have to wait till later.

recovery is going ok, slow but ok...:) later

Mistaken Identity

so i have had a few days off which have been great. i haven't been doing anything spectacular, just relaxing. had breakfast and lunch with a couple of people. other than that, watching movies, the gym and doing housework. i just need to tell you all about a situation that i have encountered. i met this really great British chick at work, also a doctor. she is black, darker than i am with a totally different hairstyle. now it is beyond interesting to have 2 black people working at the same time. they some how can't tell us apart. i can't tell you how many times a nurse would come up to me and ask me about a patient and i have to tell her, that is Julia's patient, not mine. and visa versa with Julia. i mean seriously, do all black people look alike????? it just cracks me up. i have most of the time have been the only black doctor on, so this is my first time having to be mistaken for someone else. even though we have vastly different accents and look totally different. ahhh well what are ya gonna do bout it but laugh......lol

The Longest Sunday Ever

This sunday felt like it just went on forever. i was surviving on about 2 hours sleep.... here is the saga...

So i went to work on Sat night, my 7th and final night of the night shift. it was like all the others, pretty busy. earlier that week i had learned that i got the part in a commercial and the filming of it was on sunday am. so i had to cart all my clothes with me to work and thankfully my friend Cam was willing to help me out so that i could leave a bit early. what was really a blessing was that we had no major emergencies, so there was nothing really to hand over. i left a bit early but that was still a bit later than i wanted to, so i was late for my call. they did understand though, for which i was grateful.

it was good being a featured on the Ad cause it meant that they rushed me through and even fed me..:) the director and everyone were so nice. i met some really cool people and even the rep from the company for which the commercial was for. so hopefully i will be in the final cut. if i am i'll post it like i did the other one. neways, i thought i was gonna have to be there for around 10 hours, which would mean that i would miss church and the special function we were having. but after 3 hours of filming, we were wrapped. i was so surprised and very very happy.

so i left there, made it to church and then went home. i was able to get about 1hrs sleep before having to get up to head out to my church's 25th anniversary. it was held in darling harbour, with the stage on the water. to get to it we had to travel by boat. it was so cool, a weird feeling but cool to be singing on that stage. the night was amazing, and it was really great to hang with friends and see some people that i hadn't seen in a while. the fireworks at the end were great as well. i just love fireworks... my friends and i were just a bit crazy with the cameras, taking pics and videos before we sang, so here are some pics and videos...lol....more can be found on facebook...





After the program, i was on my way home when i passed my friend's store and saw all the lights on. i was like, that's weird... so i gave her a call. she was on her way back home and was like, hey we are going out for drinks at the Piano bar, wanna come. i thought about it, about the fact that i didn't have work on monday and was like, ok, sure..... we got there about 10:30ish and settled in. the place wasn't packed but once the band started to play, people materialized out of thin air...:) its a very cool venue. a place where one can sit, chat, listen to music, get up and dance if the mood strikes and just chill. it was so what i needed. the group gelled well and i had really good convos with people. the band was also very good. i was up dancing, singing and grooving. Brian Macfaden, a UK singer, was also there. he went up and sang Stevie Wonder's Superstitious, which was very cool. Neways, we ended up staying there till past 3 am....lol. i know, i am crazy considering the week i had, but hey this was worth it. i had a great time. when we left we went somewhere else, but didn't stay for long. i was home in time to watch the formula 1 race. well actually, i saw the beginning but i fell asleep, so really the race watched me. i did wake up at 6 just in time to see Lewis Hamilton make that pass on the last turn and get 5th position which sealed the championship for him, so that was good.

so that was my Sunday.... Monday was pretty chill, laundry and the gym pretty much. tomorrow is work, again......:(

Nights

man, it is so great to be finished with Medical nights. this week was a very long week. i worked out that in this one week i worked 84 hours....lol. well its over. i did realize a few things about myself this week.

1. i have a very, very short fuse... especially at 3 or 4 am in the morning. i have the lowest tolerance for foolishness and for people not thinking before the page me. honestly is it so hard to look at the trend on the bed chart before paging me for a person that is febrile, has been febrile the whole admission and was admitted for the same. they are on antibiotics, have had all the cultures taken and their temp is lower than it was yesterday, but still high. what am i gonna do bout it???? not a damn thing, so why does this warrant a page. it doesn't..... lord those things make me so mad

sigh... ok deep breath.... it's over
lord the stories i could tell you...

2. i can survive on very, very little sleep... and still function pretty well....

3. i dislike it very, very much when nurses leave things to the last minute. just as i finish a round, the last one and i am heading to the RMO room so i can finally have a break, the morning staff call me for a cannula. now this patient was in the ward the whole night, yet it is 7 in the morning, u are paging me to put a cannula in because she needs to go to CT. why was this not on the list from in the night, so that i could put in in when i was there just a little while ago. you wait till i am finished everything, go and sit down and then page me..... not to mention paging me for insulin orders... it just drives me insane..... and they wonder why i get pissed off....

ok i sound like i am always upset and annoyed, which isn't true. some of the nurses really have it together and i never have any problems with their wards. we have very good raport and i am happy to do their things, because they never page me for foolishness. i know when they call, it is really for something serious. they feed me and we got along.....:) they made the nights go a bit better. this time i also had Cammy on the same shift, but doing the surgical side, so i got to spend some time with him which was cool. the other doctors on were nice and we got along, so that always helps.....

so now i'm on to Emergency again... i really don't know if i can stand shift work, so be warned it will probably not be my end specialty....:)

Weekend Off

i did promise to write about my weekend off so here it is. ...

it started off on Fri with a trip to the beach. at the moment there is an exhibition on along the Bondi to Tamarrama walk, called sculptures by the sea. some really cool artwork. so i strolled and took pics, met my friend Bass there, who also had a day off from work. it was just cool and chill. he actually has the camera that i want, the nikon D80, so i got to play a bit. he chastised me for not buying it already since i am now working...lol. i told him all in good time...:) i also met some of his friends who were younger than me but who thought i was 22....lol... the looks on their faces when they learned my age was priceless. they were 19 and 23 so it was funny.

the next day was really ruthie time, and i decided that i would BBQ for the week. i actually went to the grocery store, the first time that i actually did a real shop since i have been back. can you believe that? it has taken 3 weeks. i don't even know what i was eating that whole time. mostly what i was doing was sleeping and working...lol. NEWAYS, i decided to do Jaime oliver's BBQ recipie. it was magnificent. i cooked leg of lamb on the bone and chicken. then on the spur of the moment, i called my friend Sharon to come and partake, which she graciously accepted. with the meat i also did a roast veggie salad of pumpkin, sweet potato, potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus and spinach with a kind of morrocan and cumin seasoning. that was my own recipie or rather my own chuck stuff together and it was brilliant if i do say so myself. it was a very goog meal, topped off with a glass of moscato, lovely. it also meant that i had lunch/dinner for the rest of the week.

my sunday was spent at church and chilling at sharon's house for lunch which turned into kind of dinner. she had people around and tons of food. it was great. i met some really interesting and fun people. it was really great to hang like that, cause it is so rare for me to have the time. i don't get to meet many new people and to solidify acquaintances. so all in all it was a really great weekend...... oh my goodness i forgot to tell you one of the best parts. on friday night i ended up going out with my friend Kemella and her husband Stephen to one of those VIP parties at Hugo bar. Stephen is a model/actor and so it was one of his agency parties. it was great fun. we were all looking hot, i think hotter than some of the models. i had a good time, but it wasn't a late night for me...:) you know how it goes, everything in moderation....

This Sucks

today has not started out as a great day. plans have fallen through, plans that i have been looking f0rward to for weeks. a situation which could really have been avoided, and my hopes not dashed. under other circumstances this would not even have caused me to bat an eyelid, but this failure of plans comes on the back of a very isolating week, where i was working in emergency. apart from seeing sick people and colleagues, i have seen no friends. don't get me wrong, some of my colleagues are my friends, but in a work setting, it doesn't count. i have seen no friends outside and the reality is that i only have 2 days off before i head into 7 night shifts, which is an even more isolating week than this one. i am lonely. i feel like i have no friends and i feel like i make so much effort, to rearrange things and use my precious day off to be prepared to travel to go and see people and they forget that they have all this stuff to do therefore can't meet up. seriously.... i cancel training sessions so that i can have this time and its like, where is the effort on your part. of course i'm all understanding and i know that people have family responsibilities etc, but in one sense i feel like here in Australia, where i have no immediate family, my friends are my family and right now i feel like i have none. no one to talk to anymore when i get off late, cause that set of friends have gone back to the states. no one to hang out with cause everyone, including me is too busy. .... ahhhh bway, this sucks.

as i said, the situation is probably not that bad, but just feels that way right now cause i am disappointed, isolated, lonely and most of my friends are away. sometimes there is only so much that i can do by myself. last weekend wasn't like this. it was warm outside, not cold like it is now and i went to the beach.... last weekend was great.... i'll share that with you in the next post.... but right this minute i'm pissed and sad.... i think i'll call my friends in the states, i know i have them there, then i'm gonna get a pedicure. i gotta do something to cheer me up. i'll write about the great weekend when i get back. the pick at the top is of one of the scultures by the sea, part of the great weekend. this one kind of represents my mood....

The Final Leg of my Journey

part 2...

From NYC i was headed to Africa, the motherland, once again. this time i was going to West Africa, namely Nigeria. this journey saw me going via London and stopping for 12 hrs. now i wasn't about to sit in the airport for that length of time. thank goodness for friends all over the world. my friend Jan met me at the airport and we went around London, to places i had been already, but was keen to see again. i also finally got to go on the London Eye. when i was living in England, i couldn't be bothered to go on it, but visiting again, this time it seemed like the perfect time. it was a really great ride, there is nothing spectacular about it, except the views. especially that of Parliament house. Jan also showed me around where she is working and where she lives. on my way back to Sydney i stopped again, and we pretty much did the same thing but in different places and for a shorter period of time.

my flight to Nigeria was uneventful, except i met a really great Nigerian/British chick, who laughed and joked with me about the antics we were seeing from some of the passengers. it was hilarious, and since she used to play netball for England, she has been all over, including the Caribbean, so we could compare black folk from all over. it was very interesting. we landed in Abuja at 4:30 am, i got through immigration and customs with out, my passport being stolen or myself being accosted. i had to wait about 30 min to 45min for the driver to turn up due to rain and mishaps on the road, but he found me and Chirag had arranged a flight from Abuja to Kano, where he lives. there is so much i could say about this first introduction to nigeria, but to do a full commentary would require much more mental capacity than i have at 4am this Tuesday morning at work. i'll just say i was fascinated by the people i met. in that short amount of time, i found the people i met really nice, very lovely and friendly.

Neways... i digress... so Chirag met me at the Airport in Kano, and man, it was great to see him. it was soooooooo surreal. both of us couldn't believe that i was actually there. everything was great, his house , my room, the food and it was so good to see first hand the things that he would always be telling me about. i must admit that before seeing their company and the new addition to it, i wasn't always sure i understood, but now its all good. when i saw his dad, who i had met previously, it was like coming home. he gave me the biggest hug and was like , oh darling its so good to have you here. i felt so welcomed. and i was so pampered. for 3 days i had to worry about nothing. they took care of everything. it was like Oprah always says, everyone wants to be valued. let me tell you i felt valued. i met some really amazing people. Chirag has really great and funny friends, and Aunt Aisha has to get special mention as the best price negotiator in the markets for souvenirs. i had the best day with her and Chirag getting stuff for myself and my family. like NYC, the trip was way too short but it was really quality. i think my friendship with Chirag has grown by leaps and bounds, just cause we could chat for hours on end. it reminded me of when we were in school together in lancaster. so it was great. and i miss them heaps....but, hopefully, unlike the last time, it won't be another 5 yrs before i see them again.

so that was my trip. i flew into Sydney sunday morning at 5 am and went to work that night. i am back into the swing of things sadly. a week of nights....:( i wish i didn't have to work.... oh well, i can only dream. one day.........

The Rest

so i know that i have been very naughty and left you all stranded on my vaccation. i'm sorry but i have been having too much fun. so here is my synopsis of the rest of the great Surprise trip.

so the rest of the time in JA was really good. i got to spend lots of time with the fam and fam friends. we had a great 3-4 family dinner get together on the weekend with lots of good food. when i left JA i went to NYC, to visit the friends and fam. i had a great time chillin with Maryun before she went on her Cayman vacay, and got to meet some of her really cool friends in NYC. big up to Darren, the lovely sweet guy who picked me up from the airport, chilled with me over pizza and wine and who is a world traveler like my self. nuff stories to swap. i also got to spend the Day with the lovely Mugash, who came up from Philly. we had grand moments in MOMA, the apple store and the Brooklyn bridge. we also had adventures, hunting down the $10 Chinatown bus back to Philly. that bus made me miss my train. i was so mad, but it worked out to be for the best, cause that meant that i got to spend more time with Cliff. and man, i appreciated that. Cliff who has been a great friend, who i haven't seen in over 5 yrs. it was crazy, and we jsut sat there and chatted, cracked up and caught up on everything that's been going on. it was really amazing. i then caught the train to Lancaster to see Opal and her fam. even though i came in at midnight, it was also awesome, cause we got to talking, and even after we got to the house, we sat in the car and chatted. we didn't get inside till close to 1:30am. the day i spent with them was great, my God son Wesley, remembered me ( which just made my week, cause the last time i saw him was when he was 6mnths old). we had the best time that morning, visiting my Alma Mater, me pulling him in his little red wagon. and to top this bad boy of a day off, i got some amazing sales in the stores. i love to shop in PA where there is no tax...BRILLIANT!!!!

when i went back to NYC, i spent the rest of my time with my fam in long island. my brother, his girlfriend and my 2 nieces came over, as well as my other fam. we had dinner at Uncle Ryan's fam's house, and i met the cutest little boy ever. the lovely Adam. so all in all it was a really great NYC/PA trip. it was filled with loads of quality time spent with people. it might not have been long, and i wish it could have been longer, but how i spent it was solid. ok so i was gonna fill you in on the other leg in this post, but i realize that it has gotten a bit long, so i'll split this as well... so more to come.

Well I came home

so here is part two of the saga. i left Florida on a nice Sunday afternoon. the flight was only 1hr and 15min, which to me was like a hop, skip and a jump. not even a solid sleep....lol i was there in no time. i got through immigration and customs pretty quickly and then when outside to wait on my friend Dougie. he unfortunately had some car trouble, so i ended up waiting for 45 min to an hr. he did eventually come and took me home. my original plan was to call my mom when i was on my way, however, sadly my phone died....lol.. so i ended up just walking into the house and saying hey mom....lol.. her reaction was priceless, i wish i had a video camera. of course you know the question was what are you doing here. i sent my brother out to the car to get my luggage and then i walked into the darkened bedroom where my dad was watching TV.... i turned the lights on and his expression won the gold medal. his eyes were almost out of his head and his mouth was open. it was so good. after the first universal question of this situation, his next question was how come you get to be here. i was like, i am on leave.... it was brillinat.

so there you have it, i have since then gone on a rampage of surprising people. uncles, aunts, cousins, friends. its been really good. lovely to be home... the time is going so quickly, in no time i will be heading out. all went well with the British High Commission, and so i am all set to go to England and Nigeria. will be good times, but like everything else, too short a time.....

The Surprise

well well, some of you may know that i am not home at the moment. i hatched a plan a while ago to surprise my parents for their anniversary. it went brilliantly. only 2 of my aunts knew that i was coming so everyone else were surprised.

the first part of my trip had me going to LA, where i spent some time with my Aunt Marcia. we went to Hollywood and Beverly Hills, walked amongst the stars. i found Bob Marley's star on the walk of fame and i got to place myself in Will Smiths shoe and hand print. it was awesome. i also got to meet up with friends and visit Newport Church, which is the church that one of our pastors started 2 yrs ago in Orange county. that was very cool, to see all the peeps. there were people there that i didn't even know had moved to help build the church. so that was nice. i got to surprise them as well. i had lunch with Nicole (Nikki J), which was good Mexican food. i love Mexican, i miss the good stuff. so L of A was great and then i was off to MIA.

Florida was also a blast. mainly cause i basically surprised everyone and amazingly i got to see a large majority of my family. i have a huge family so that is a feat in itself. my sister was there at the same time and she had no clue that i was coming, so on the same day that i surprised my grandaunt, i also shocked her and my cousins. it was really good to see everyone and catch up. their reactions were priceless. a lot of them when they first saw me, thought it was my sister. everyone kept saying that we looked alike, which neither of us can see.... neways side note, i got my cousin to colour my hair, so now i have bronze/ red highlights. i like them....

so back to the surprise... i went up to west palm beach, where my grandmother lives.... my cuz Kathy took me up there and 15 mins before we arrived called grandma to tell her she had a surprise for her and that she was to stay put. then we got to the house and i just walked in... she said,' OH MY GOOD LORD!!!!' shocked and happy. lots of hugging etc...she was like, 'it is so good to see you, this is really a surprise'. then right after my aunt walked into the house, started to say what are you still doing here, cause she thought i was my sister. i said, you have no clue who this is...lol, then she got it. so in all this commotion, my cousin, Simone, was sleeping, she heard the noise and my voice and was thinking... NO... She Wouldn't....lol... at the same time she opened her door, i walked around the corner and all she could do was cover her mouth..... awwww it was priceless. soooo worth it. that weekend, i got to see my uncle Junior, uncle Willie and aunt Pauline..... it was like i had lucked out. cause uncle Junior lives in Orlando and he was only down to put on the shutters on Grandmas house in preparation for Hurricane Ike, just in case. so it was great we all got to chat and catch up, we went to the beach and of course the mall to catch the sales, that are always happening in the USA. when i went back down to ft. lauderdale i got to catch up with old school friends, which was amazing, and i also got to pass by another uncle Junior and meet his new wife. so i think all in all it was a very successful trip, and well worth the secrecy and the planning.

gosh this is a long one.... i'm gonna cut it here and write part 2, the trip to jamaica in another post