And I’m pretty happy I did it.  I have long thought that it’s something I should do while I’m young and healthy, but have never got around to doing it.  I tried once back in Canada but fell ill on my appointment day.  This time however I was ok.  I felt great and I told them I was sick a week ago, but had been feeling better since then.   I was a little apprehensive about it, but it turned out to be not so bad.

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel a thing afterwards really, I didn’t feel lightheaded or out of breath at all, I never got woozy or anything, I just went on normally.  It was a little sick to see that big bag of my own blood outside of my body, and to feel the warmth of the tube as it rested on my arm.  Seeing that blood reminded me of the time I bled from my tonsil stumps when I was 21.  I had tonsillectomy and a day or so later started to bleed at night.  It poured out, probably half as much as I just donated.   It also coagulated really strangely in the cup as I recall… anyways, that’s a pretty gross memory.  This blood letting session was much cleaner.

Someone out there will get my blood and it will course through their body as it did mine, which I still think is a really disgusting idea.  Maybe I’ll get over that as time goes on.

Tags: Life, Medicine by David Graff
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Nowhere near as bad as I thought it could be.  Actually when I think about it rationally, it was precisely what I imagined.   I suppose it’s another example of the fear of the unknown.

Tags: Life, Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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Up until now it has been a lot of looking, but we will cross that divide today.  We all ahve different feelings on it, but hopefully it goes well.

Tags: Life, Medicine, UQ by David Graff
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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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Well, not mine really!  Brian and I got a chance to go into the surgical theatres in the Princess Alexandra over the break, thanks to some help from a family friend of Lisa, Brian’s girlfriend.  It was a great experience for exposure to the environment and seeing some really neat things happening.  Brian was able to attend a bunch more than I, including two open heart procedures for bypasses.  The day I went, we saw first up a man with a diabetic foot amputation, of his left toes, second and third, having already had his big toe taken off earlier.  That was really neat, and we were more involved in that one than I expected.  After that, I went and saw some other procedures, including being involved in a bunch of Electro Convulsive Therapy sessions.  I didn’t know stuff like that was routine, but it was happening, so I was in there.  After the first one I took on the role of ventilator, which was kinda fun.  Then we moved on to an abdominal hernia, a gastric bleed and a shoulder repair/bone plating.  What a good experience, I am really looking forward to being able to do more.  The doctors were amazingly willing to chat, even though we knew practically nothing, and they showed us what was going on.

Tags: Medicine 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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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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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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This last weekend we had May Ball.  It’s basically Medicine’s excuse to get dressed up and party.  It was like a wedding, where nobody got married and we all knew each other.  I have a few shots from around the tables.

Tags: Australia, Life, Medicine, Photos, UQ by David Graff
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