Walking the path

If you never know what you had, did you
loose out when it vanish?

That is a difficult question to answer;
but I knew what I had, and I am missing them more than I though I
would… my clique in Belfast and the few other old mates scatter
around the world.

We do take things for granted… Things
like the trust and understanding of our friends. This trust and
understanding is not something that can be built overnight.

I miss being able to speak my mind when
I am among my clique. Saying things that I believe is true, my
friends may not agree, some of them just laugh it off, the other
would just tell me off. After the argument, life goes on the same, we
still hang out together.

I suppose, among new friends, I would
need to be very mindful of my speech. Life is just not the same…

Don’t envy the view from my work place,  it is not as rosy as I first thought. 20 beds paediatrics unit,
how busy can you get?…

Well, it is very different working in a
small paediatrics unit, compare to the major tertiary center that I
used to worked in. Most of the day, I am the only paediatrics doctor
on the ground. The consultants are available on the phone 24 hours a
day, but there is usually no other help on site. It can be stressful,
when you have a sick child, and you are alone.

Not too long ago, I had a infant with
SVT, not responding to vagal stimulation or high dose adenosine.
Management of this patient, highlighted the difference compared to my
time in Belfast Children Hospital. In Belfast, there was cardiology
on site, we were able to send the child to the cardiology ward within
an hour and the child was started with beta blocker which managed to
control the SVT. In contrast, it took me 4 hours to arranged transfer
to a cardiology unit in another hospital in Sydney. The child was
well taken care of the whole time, the consultant came in to give us
a hand, but the whole process took 4 hours means that my other work
in the ward pile up.

Before I came to Aus, I had the
impression that I will be working a 38 hours week… Silly me… the
job description stated that my contracted hours is 38 hours. What I
did not understand was, I was expected to work more than the
contracted hours, with extra pay. The pay outside contracted hours
are pretty significant, which tempt me to request for extra swift.
End results, got a slightly fatter pay cheque, but can only enjoy the
view from the ward, hardly get down to the beach. (ie go to beach 3
times a week, instead of twice daily.)

The weekends, usually work about 56
hours alone, non-stop. Start on Saturday at 8am until 8pm, then
on-call from 8pm until 8am next morning, do the same on Sunday, then
work from Monday 8am to 4.30pm. Usually I am very relief to see my
colleague on Monday, the sign that home time is near. On-call is
usually not too bad, usually get to bed just after midnight, and get
good few hours uninterrupted sleep. However, some nights having just
slept 2 hours, and need to work the whole 12-36 hours alone the next
day is challenging. To overcome this, I usually have plenty of sleep
before starting my weekends.

BTW, working next long weekend alone,
(ie nearly 80hours alone…) will let you all know if I survived.

One of the first things I bought after
arriving in Australia is my bicycle. This is my 4^th bike,
and my best bike so far. It is a hybrid with nice fast road tyres. On
the flat, it is effortless to go 35km/h. Tanzeel, you will never
catch up with me on this bike! Not that you ever did…

Took a cycle to Ku-ring-gai Chase
National Park last week. Good to be back in nature, after all that is
partially why I chose to come to Australia.

Pic 1. My bike in Ku-ring-gai Chase
National Park, by one of the bays.

Pic 2. Galah, Eolophus Roseicapilla, a
common cockatoo in Australia.Feeding on ground.

Pic 3. Galah, hiding behind tree trunk.

Pic 4. Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo
Novaeguinae, belongs to the tree king fisher family.

Click Here for more pictures

In the UK, I was working for the NHS,
paying tax and national insurance, and automatically able to access
health care in NHS. Currently, even though I am part of the workforce
in Australian public health care system (Medicare), unfortunately I am not
covered by the public health care system. Therefore, I have to resort
to getting private medical insurance.

There are a few private medical
insurance company around, but only few provide cover to overseas
“visitors”. Medibank is one of those that provide this service.

Most insurance company would impose a
2-3 months periods initially, which you cannot access any funding. It
may be worthwhile getting the insurance before arriving in this
country, just in case you get run over by a car soon after touching
down.

Bottom line
The irony of life, many foreign health
care workers strive hard to support the smooth running of this health
care system, that will not even take care of us…

I had my first trip out to Sydney from
Mona Vale few days ago. Decided to visit the Chinese Garden of
Friendship in Darling Harbour.

Walking into the garden is like walking
into another world. It is like walking to ancient China, just need
some Chinese classical music and Rice Wine, I can imagine Li Bai
李白reciting
his poems in this garden.

I had a lovely time capturing the
scenic view on my camera. I was thinking that the scenery would be
enhance if there were some pretty girls in the photos. A pretty
Brazilian tourist,  made my day, she post for a few shots for me.
Having a nice dSLR hanging on me, definitely help me to persuade her
for the shots. Shall try that trick again and see if it works as an
icebreaker, on the pretty Chinese girls in Sydney!

dSLR Icebreaker®
is a registered trademark by Xian07

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