The Serious, the Fun, the Chance and the Challenge

It's not very often we (my flatmate Emma and I) make it to college for lunch, so i am happily resting and digesting a nice tuna sandwich i was fortunate enough to have today! (its the simple things in life that count ;)) We are half way through our psychiatry rotation now with another 4 weeks to go and had some feedback/midterm lectures at Charlies hospital this morning. It was interesting to hear how the other placements are going, i discovered Graylands was the place where you have to be the most aware! We had a little discussion about procedures at Graylands and how we are put in situations which are not regarded as the safest particularly since we have no debriefing as to what to do in situations where patients may become aggressive. But so long as we keep our eyes open and instincts switched on we can follow our own logic. I am looking forward to going back to Graylands and finishing this week up at Osborne park, i might actually be able to talk to patients!! I went out a community visit with a Nurse Specialist from Osborne Park on Friday to catch up with patients who have previously been admitted to the hospital. We saw a lady with chronic schizophrenia who is doing well and dropped in on a man in a nice looking nursing home. It was good to see the patients in the comforts of their own home where you can often get a better idea of how the patient is functioning also. This next half of psych is the one of assessments, i am a little worried about them, they are observed interviews where we take the history and formulate a diagnosis and present the patient to an examiner... i would feel alot better if i had had the chance to talk to more patients but the plan is to be more proactive and pressuring to find patients well enough to talk to. If not i may have to ask family and friends to role play for me :)

I had a wonderful time at Radiolollipop last night. I have not been in a month as it is getting hard to find enough time to fit it in but everytime i make it i really enjoy it. I don't think i have mentioned it before but it is a volunteer-run organisation where everyday people (after a selection process) are able to go to childrens hospitals such as Princess Margaret Hospital and provide children with the best medicine - laughter. I have been going to Sunday Funday teams for on and off for over 2 years now. Last night i had a great time making a little girl laugh with an emu puppet chasing her around the ward. It is so nice to hear their laughter particularly when the mum says to you, 'thank you that is the first laugh she has had all day!' We smothered another little girl in bubbles much to her delight an had a great game of Uno with another who even sang a song for us :)

At the Radiolollipop station PMH level 7 dressed ready for some fun!
(I have the pink Umbrella)

An update on the HBF fun run training.... I can run 10km quite comfortably in around 50 minutes (12km/hr pace) with a drink stop so i am pretty sure i can make the 14km its just a matter of how fast i can go. I will aim to run 13km/hr so i can break 1 hour and 10 minutes! I have been focusing a little more on my upper body weights too and am slowly increasing weights both in Pump classes and doing isolated weights in the gym myself. I think i can see a difference in my arms now which is exciting! It will be even more exciting when it gets to the point where another person might see a change and make a comment :) So i will keep slowly and steadily working on my upper body strength, i could get some more motivation when it is needed from this site my sister really likes http://www.bodyrock.tv/

Another reason for some excitement, I have met a lovely girl in 6th year medicine at Osborne park who has a lot in common with me! She use to do track athletics and has told me about a great group she use to train with. After contacting them again it looks like we are going to be joining them for some sessions - Yay!! I have missed training with other people and needed another group since my last one i joined, the coach was good but i didn't like the dynamics in the group which made running not as enjoyable as it should be. But i have really missed training with people and running training in general. I had a good session at Kings park by myself on Sunday running up and down the Synergy hill but it is just not the same. Who knows maybe this winter training will help me reach the goal i have always wanted to do and make it to an Australian competition next year. I have qualified before but only by gaining a bronze medal but not getting the actual qualifying time in the state 1500m. I want to qualify and gain the experience no matter what the outcome, it has been a goal i have wanted for years and i feel that i just have to reach it and only then i will feel complete with my track running :) I'm 22 and getting into deeper medicine so i wont waste these chances! Maybe it is a sign, getting the chance to be at OP with this particular 6th year and coming across this other chance to train with her in another group, it is an opportunity i can't miss! The training is with a really good sprinter and hurdler Shannon McCann who is close to the speed of Sally Pearson! If that doesn't give extra motivation i don't know what does. There training schedule is

Somerville on monday at 4.45pm

len shearer tuesday at 4.45pm

boxing class in freo on wednesday at 5.30

Somerville on thursday at 4.45pm

At the track on friday at 5pm

Saturday is recovery day and sunday is either a beach or track session at 9am

So i am looking at starting with the boxing session in Freo with the other girl (Bernie) to meet the group and will look at joining them for Friday and Sunday sessions. It would be hard to do the training with hospital rotations on week days but we'll see how it goes. But i MUST be careful of my foot!! It gets quite sore running these days which is why i alternate running with cycling/weights so i am learning to play it safe :)

I also went to the Global Poverty Project talk last Thursday and heard about the Global Poverty Project and their work towards the millennium development goals to end poverty in 2015. They had a medical student speak who did an elective in Tanzania, i would love to do that one day! The founder of the End of Polio Campaign talked about the experience he had and how they are getting other countries to make a stand and get their governments to put funds to eradicate Polio like Australia did - India is now Polio free so we only have 3 more countries which are endemic left!! I had a talk to him afterwards and he said they will be running an Anti-malaria campaign throughout the year to participate in so i look forward to supporting that :)

Live Below the Line has started today where people live off $2 a day of food for a week to see what it is like to eat like those in poverty - except we have the benefit of choosing between a range of foods and cooking it to utilize every cent! I didn't do it this year due to hospitals and training but i did it last year as part of the C&E events at Trinity. We had a small bowel of cereal for breakfast, a toastie for lunch and lentils for dinner. I wasn't too hungry (not exercising too!) but i was really craving fresh fruits and vegetables!! I worked with the kitchen staff and made this menu...

Proposed Menu

Living below the line = $2 worth of food per day for 5 days

*not recommended is you are currently taking medication frequently with food or require a special diet

Breakfast, choose between:

1.     2x pieces of toast 36c with a serve of butter 8c OR

2.     35g (3/4 dining hall coffee cup) just right 40c with 100ml (3/4 dining hall coffee cup) of milk 15c

*Tea bag (no milk unless reserved from cereal) 5c

2 piece toast	44c
Just right and milk	55c

Lunch, choose between:

1.     Ham, cheese and tomato sandwich/toasty; 2 slices bread 36c, 2 slices ham (50g) 6c, 40g grated cheese 4c, 3 slices of tomato (50g) 4c  OR

2.     Normal serve of vegetarian noodles/stir-fry available on that day 70c

Ham, cheese, tomato sandwich	50c
Vegetarian stir-fry/noodles	70c

           

Dinner, choose between:

1.     1 cup rice 15c with 1 cup lentil dish 30c (or similar especially made by Chris), plus a cereal bowl size of mixed salad 30c (lettuce, carrot, tomato, capsicum etc) OR

2.     1 cup rice 15c with 1 cup lentils 30c (or similar especially made by Chris) as above, plus ½ cup (30g) of the ‘wet meat’ dish 35c available on the night e.g. chicken curry, beef stroganoff etc This option is only if the ham, cheese and tomato sandwich was chosen for lunch.

Rice, lentils and salad	75c
Rice, lentils and meat dish	80c

Adding it altogether

	Minimum	Maximum
Breakfast	2 piece toast + butter and tea	¾ coffee cup Just right and milk
	50c	55c
Lunch	Ham, cheese, tomato sandwich	Vegetarian stir-fry/noodles*
	50c	70c
Dinner	Rice, lentils and salad	Rice, lentils and ½ cup meat dish*
	75c	80c
Total	$1.75	$2.05

*cannot have both on same day

NOTE: snacks are not permitted unless they meet the $2 a day budget i.e. if taking the minimum option and eating one extra slice of bread (13c) between meals

Fruit is too expensive; an average apple of 150g costs 85c by itself; even 150g of grapes costs $1.05!

We even made shirts to wear as a group and had a night eating on the floor with no furniture, it was a good experience and a challenge for most! I have donated to a friend doing it this year and wish everyone luck for the week :) 

Anyway that is enough from me for now i better get back to study!