These last weeks have been pretty quiet.  It seemed like we took a few weeks to ease back into the rhythm of school, and there are no longer some of the practical sessions.  Microbiology has ceased entirely, which is great, since many of us had previous experience with microbiology, and seeing it again doesn’t really do anything to advance the awareness of it.  It seemed pretty distant from the actual tasks we’ll be asked for in a clinical setting.  With an exception of actually visualizing the need for sterile technique.  If you’d never seen how much bacteria can grow from your breath, then I guess it was good for that.

Our PBL topics have taken a turn towards the less definable parts of medicine, recently including teenage pregnancy, abortion and cancer treatments.  It seems as though these topics are huge and we are just starting to get into them.  It has been a little frustrating to not be able to learn a bunch of really useful things about one topic, since things like teenage pregnancy cover everything from competence to embryology.  I suppose that’s the nature of these problems, and why this process is so long.  A lot of these topics have required much personal thought and searching.  It’s mental preparation to be able to act from strength in the future, I suppose.

On a totally different topic, it has been winter here lately, and while these weeks are some of the sweetest weeks in Canada, it has been cold and rainy here.  It’s a different raiiny than I’m used to; it’s not the gloom of Vancouver.  Even on the days that it is a bit gloomy, there is hope in knowing that in just a few days it will be glorious again.  It has been really good for the last few days.  Hopefully that’s the sign that things are starting to turn around.  I’m trying to enjoy it now, before it’s unbearably hot again. (Which is kinda cool too.)

Tags: Australia, Life, Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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Welcome to the world Isaac Jeffrey.  I’m excited to get to know you.

Tags: Life, Photos by David Graff
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Actually I’ve been back for a few weeks now.  This is the end of the second week back.  I took a break from writing that just seemed to get longer and longer.  Initially it was cause I was tired and nothing was really going on, then it sort of morphed into because I was lazy and nothing was really going on.  Now, with class back in session the ball gets rolling again.  Got my scores from the mid year exam, by the way, and I’m happy.  Hopefully I can keep it up.

My break was good and interesting, and I should have really written it all down as it was happening, since it’s harder to recall and write out now.  I took a few trips to the Sunshine Coast, once to visit Steve Reny at his university housing, once to climb a mountain, and once to see Steve again with Brian.  We went to Caloundra that time and just took it easy playing frisbee on the beach.  At sundown by the mouth of the river we saw a dolphin jumping right out of the water around some boats that were coming in.  The sun had already gone, so it was basically black and yellow outside and the sillouette looked really cool.

I will put up some pictures up here in an entry that predates this one for the trip to the Glasshouse mountains.

Tags: Australia, Life by David Graff
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I took a trip with a few second year students in the break.  One of the guys I went with is the older brother of a classmate of my younger brother.  I met his younger brother first, at UBC… Small world.  Anyway, it was great.  we decided to try get up Mount Beerwah in the Glasshouse mountains, which are really strange rock formations sticking out of the otherwise nearly flat surroundings.  They say that the mountains are the remnants of volcanic plugs, and the cinder cones have long disappeared.  Makes for some funny hills, anyways.  We drove to Mount Beerwah, but after parking and hiking up the path to the start of the mountain (despite the path being closed) we got to the base of the rock to find it a little slippery because it had been raining.  We didn’t know what it would be like to come down if we got up, so we decided not to risk it… we were told by some others on the path that a few people had to recently be airlifted off, and didn’t want to add our names to the list (apparently it happens often enough).

This is what Mount Beerwah looks like on a clear day… That day it wasn’t this clear though!

So we went to another mountain, the name of which always slips my mind.  We made the climb in a bit of rain and fog, but it made it feel pretty cool.  Despite being soaking wet, I was pretty happy to be there.

Tags: Australia, Life, Photos by David Graff
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I am, as they say, 12.5% finished med school, with my first exam and semester under my belt.  It feels great to have it out of my hands, and on the paper.  And not hanging over me, like it as seemed to be for the last three months, progressively getting more and more real/scary.

I think the exam went well, and I hope everyone did well.  We won’t find out for three to six weeks, depending on who you talk to, which is going to drive me a bit crazy.

Last night we had some friends over to celebrate a fellow Canadian’s birthday and the end of semester,  and it was a really good time.  Today we are just hanging out and I’m headed up to Noosa with a friend.  Should be fun.

Tags: Australia, Life, Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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It’s Monday night here and I’m just chugging along.  We have our exam coming up on Thursday and fortunately have these next few days off to prepare for it, which is pretty handy.  There isn’t much exciting going on and it’s raining like crazy.  It feels a little like Vancouver in the winter, but it seems fitting to be studying while the weather is terrible.  Hopefully it will clear up shortly and we will have some good weather for our post exam break.

Tags: Australia, Life, Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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Last week there was a big rugby game on in Sydney.  It is called State of Origin and is a yearly best of three playoff between the best players from Queensland and New South Wales, according to where they are originally from.  It was actually really exciting play and I look forward to seeing the next games, when I can watch the whole thing and relax.  NSW won, and so did I, since Brian and I had a $2 bet… I figured I needed to go with NSW, since I have actually lived there before Queensland, and have lived in NSW for longer as of yet.  But it’s best of three so we will see, Queensland’s still in it.

While watching the first bit of the game, a Coke ad came on that struck me as really funny.  I have found it on YouTube and stolen it.  It’s after the link if you’d like to watch it and laugh with me. [Read more →]

Tags: Australia, Life, Video by David Graff
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Life is pretty boring lately, just hanging out at the apartment and studying.  It will be like this for the next two and  a half weeks.  Last night I took a break to play footy again, which was fun, but our team keeps getting crushed.  I don’t care though, I have fun, and it’s good to run around a bit.  The weather has a had a few changes lately, there was a big rainstorm on Saturday that came out of nowhere.  I took a few photos of it, below.  Now it’s just cold and windy.  I closed my sliding glass door at night for the first time because I was cold.  It was bound to happen.  But it’s still clear and bright most of the time, which I’m really enjoying.

Tags: Australia, Life, Medicine, Photos by David Graff
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Never thought I’d say that!  I had sushi for lunch yesterday and it was terrible.  Typical Australian sushi is so different than I am used to.  It’s dry, not very tasteful and has weird things in it.  They really shy away from the raw stuff, but then have weird stuff instead.  They put tuna in their rolls.  Ok… sounds normal, but I’m talking mashed up cooked tuna and mayonnaise, like a tuna salad sandwich.  With tofu.  It comes in a roll about 5 inches long, uncut.  People just bite pieces off like it’s a churro or something.  To top it all off, they make it all in the morning and let it sit there for hours till you walk along and submit yourself to eating the crap they hand out since there’s nothing better.  🙁

Oh well… I’ll have some of the good stuff at the end of the year. 🙂

Tags: Australia, Life by David Graff
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Last night we played footy again, but had a flat out terrible performance. It’s probably reflective of a couple weeks spent sitting behind the desk for all of us. A few of our players didn’t even come out because they were (purportedly) still behind their desk. So we got cranked, 10:1. I don’t know what those other guys have been doing to stay in shape… Anyways, this morning I am a bit stiff. I spent most of the weekend behind my desk and at least in my apartment. It’s basically time to do nothing but that until the June exam. Last week was a bit of cardio stuff, with our patient having an MI. I am a little lost still on the EKG stuff, and I don’t really have my head around the way the machine works, let alone what it’s readouts mean. That will be probably pretty odd to read in a few years, since it will hopefully become second nature. This week I have cheated and looked ahead. Our patient will be having acute renal failure. It’s starting to come together a bit, and at least I am getting used to the paradigm of school again, and the particulars of this one. Hopefully I’m able to focus appropriately to execute this exam the way it should be done.

Tags: Life, Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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