Gigglemonster

For a week now, she has struggled to breath. Her lung is full of muck, so much that it has leaked out and is filling her pleural space with a cheesy crust. We’ve put a chest drain in – the underwater seal nearly as big as she is and it hasn’t really helped – she needs surgery.
So we take her in, and perform a ‘mini’ thoracotomy a massive operation for anyone, let alone our spunky little kid. I stayed with her till daddy came. The next day, she was still quiet and subdued, but the day after, she was all smiles giggling and playing with her many balloons and stuffed toys without a hint of the sickness and hurt of only a couple of days ago.

Sometimes my job is pretty awesome.

Unrelated photo

Eyre Penninsula

Last year I did a placement in Port Lincoln where I gorged myself on tuna, oyster and crayfish. It was pretty awesome and a beautiful place to visit. Unfortunately the shark cage diving was a bit quiet, which is a good enough excuse to go back.

Eyre Penninsula, Near Elliston

Coffin Bay

Cape Bauer, South Australia

Cape Bauer, South Australia

Bones

Not my story, but a good one nonetheless

About 9pm, orthopaedic ward

A Mr Jones has had a hip replacement which went smoothly, however has been vomiting enthusiastically for a few hours.
Bonnie, the intern, has been trying her best to sort it out, but running of of ideas and her Reg in theatre and the med reg uninterested, decides to call her boss known only as Prof, a very english professor of Orthopaedics.

Prof: Yes?
Bonnie : Hellow, excuse me Professor, its Bonnie, your intern. I have Mr Jones here who you performed a total hip replacement on earlier today. He’s been vomitting since 5pm, I’ve given him Metoclopramide and tropisitron, and xray didn’t show obstruction and
Prof :sorry, I’m going to interrupt you here
Bonnie : yes?
Prof : is he vomiting bones?
Bonnie : excuse me?
Prof : its a simple question, is he vomiting bones?
Bonnie : bones?
Prof : yes. Those white calcified structural things that I operate on.
Bonnie : uhh, no.
Prof : well then. Its not my problem. I suggest you call someone else. I dont care who.
Click

Red Mark

The things people come into hospital emergency departments boggles the mind. The finest one of last week
‘Patient has concerns about mild red mark on arm. ? slept on it’

Arch bars

Arch bars are painful.

Arch Bars

They’re often used in maxillofacial surgery to fix busted up mandibles (of which we see an awful lot of)
They are not comfortable with sharp metally bits sticking into gums.

A patient of ours was recently rediscovered from the wild, as it were, with arch bars half on. 8 years after having them placed and subsequently lost to follow up.
8 years. More interesting is that he had come into hospital on several occasions and no-one had noticed them
Crazy

More unrelated photos

Libibing Village, Lesotho

Sunrise over Kibo Crater, Killimanjaro

heggs

‘Have you got any allergies?’
‘Heggs’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Heggs’
‘Oh, Eggs?’
‘Yup, I luv baked beans though…’
‘Ok, beans huh? what happens when you have eggs?’
‘See I need somfin wif ma bacon…love baked beans. Heggs though…’
‘What happens when you have eggs?’
‘I dunno doc, when i see ‘em, i jus feel sick. But I gotta have somefin wif ma bacon, beans are good… Say, can you get me a sandwich and a drink doc?’

*abbreviated from an amusing 10 minute conversation discussing his dietary preferences for beans.

and now for something completely unrelated
This is a picture from my recent Africa trip, which I haven’t blogged about, cause, well its been busy. This 4th year medicine palava was supposed to be a bludge but its been anything but. I”ll try to blog here and there, but it’s gonna be sporadic…

Rainbow Valley & Palm Valley

I feel really lucky that I’ve had this time in Alice Springs – the weather has been unusually cool and wet, and the result is that the countryside is just speactacular, and apparently hasn’t been like this in recent memory
And i’m rather pleased to say that Fatty (my subaru outback) made it all the way out to palm valley fully loaded and didn’t die a horrible death as predicted by the sour lady at glen helen. I did lose the sump guard though, but i’ll be replacing that with a super butch metal one (because subaru inexplicably thought 2mm vinyl was adequate). And also a bullbar to prevent scraping his nose in rocks and things. ANd maybe giant lights to avoid cows and hoppies.
But yes. good fun.

Palm Valley

palm valley

palm valley