So to pick up where I left off. This has
been (so far) a beaut summer in Gizzy.
We’re drinking heaps of Gizzy Fizzy and Sweet
As (local bubbly at £5 a bottle – we’re now addicted, possibly in the strict
medicolegal sense), and going surfing as often as humanly possible. We’ve been
put off by a cold (joint) over the last weekend but before that the most number
of surfs we racked up was 3 days in a row, followed by a 1 day break and then
another outing. It’s just so much fun! Our surfboard is so big it’s basically a
boat, so standing up is easy. Have graduated from watching endless snowboarding
videos to watching endless surfing videos, along with looking up all-inclusivesurf holidays in Costa Rica. If anyone wins the lottery and fancies buying me
an early birthday present, this would be just fine.
(basically a pro surfer)
Despite this inhuman amount of exercise I
have eaten so many Christmas pralines, pudding, cake, panettone, stollen, mince
pies, and then in a fit of insanity, an entire batch of pretzels which I made
last week, that I am still sporting a post Christmas paunch which, handily,
makes me quite buoyant in the water. Tim
rearranged our cupboard when I was out so I returned to the spectre of an
entire SHELF of Christmas related snacks which I’d hidden away cunningly in
other parts of the cupboard. When displayed like that all at once it was
somewhat shaming.
Climbing up the wharf in Tolaga Bay with a belly constructed entirely from Christmas carbs.
We’ve met up and made friends with the
Gizzy RMOs who are no longer disconcertingly shy around us. In my first
conversation with one of the first years, she replied to everything I said
with, “that’s so fascinating”, which I know for a fact is a lie. This is a
first year who was interested in ophth and therefore devastatingly polite and
interested in everything I said. Luckily she has now got over it and we have
normal human conversations.
The lead-up to Christmas was manic in the
eye department (and by eye department I mean, me, Graham, Debbie). Graham did 4
extra lists, we came in at all hours to see post ops. The good thing was that
with all these extra lists I’ve progressed in the theatre stakes. Yes, I have
now completed my first INTRAOCULAR procedure, which was a highly tame IA
(removing the viscoelastic from the anterior chamber after intraocular lens
insertion - don’t ask, I tried explaining this to Tim, it took 15 minutes and 3
diagrams and Tim had to go and have a lie down in the middle) using a little
hoover I was operating with my feet. My feelings about this: the eye –
surprisingly roomy. I also did my first intraop Avastin . My feelings about
this: the eye – can be surprisingly soft. I also chose the day that Graham
chose to teach me to do IA to forget to bring socks to the operating theatre –
embarrassing. A good ophthalmologist remembers their socks. My feelings about
this: OT floors – surprisingly sticky. Also, moment of huge awkwardness as
Graham tried to get me to jump on his chair (fully scrubbed) and manoeuvre
myself towards the patient. Me: “Graham, this chair is far too high” Graham:
“no you just need to move forwards.” (Graham repeatedly attempts to push me
forward) Graham: “something’s in the way, it keeps hitting the table.” Me:
“Graham, that’s my legs.” Graham: (long pause) “you’re shorter than I
imagined.”
Otherwise, great fun. Easier than I’d thought
(and worried about) and I enjoyed wiggling the little probe about doing as
Graham suggested (“tap the lens” “burp the capsule” “be brave with the
vacuum”). All too soon it was time to relinquish my throne. Boo hoo.
The next list was a set of lid surgeries –
also lots of fun, and I got to do a lateral canthoplasty and some extremely
agonised suturing with some 7/0 vicryl (“for God’s sake Connie I want to leave
this theatre before Christmas. It’s only skin and he’s completely wrinkled
anyway.” Patient: “I am quite wrinkly.”) And then it was HOLIDAY!
We had a lovely Christmas Day – neither of
us working, which was quite blissful, and obviously we celebrated by going out
surfing, having too much fun, and returning far too late and completely
ravenous. We ended up by having Christmas lunch around 4pm at home (roast pork
and crackling, the works), which, in hindsight, was an error as we’d been
invited round to have Christmas dinner with Tim’s GP supervisor at 6pm. Tim to
my shock and awe put away 2 helpings (roast pork and crackling redux). I ate
what can only be described as an unhealthily large portion but our hostess
still looked concerned and asked me if I was feeling unwell as I “didn’t seem
as hungry as usual.” Had to get Tim to
help me with dessert – the dear boy was indefatigable. This may have been the
first time in history that Tim has eaten more than me at dinner.
Tim got a ukulele for Christmas, by the
way, to add to the stock of things we were clear we would Not Buy in NZ since
we were NOT accumulating so much STUFF this year, including tennis racquets,
wet suits, and a bistro set.
Boxing Day was relaxed, though RUINED by
how rubbish Doctor Who was. Deeply disappointed. Skyped folks at home, was smug
about general niceness of weather here. Then we went away for the w/e to see
Sarah’s folks in Napier, who own a vineyard, like everyone else in Napier. We
ate an insanely large amount of food, drank a stupid amount of wine, and then
were generously loaded down with bottles to take home and consume. Fun tip for
everyone – do not go to a winery for breakfast. It’s just a bit too much.
Looking wan and interesting at a winery for breakfast. We did not have any wine.
Last week, I did some locums in ED, which
were unbelievably cushy. ED here is a dream. I also happened to be on with some
docs who really didn’t like kids, so I got to see all of the kids.
Them: “soo…..there’s 2 patients waiting,
one is an alcoholic, depressed 17 year old who’s just OD’d on some
methamphetamine and there’s also a 4 year old….with some kind of ear problem oh
god I hate looking in children’s ears, will you take it?”
Me: "SOLD”
I also got to do some suturing with 4/0
prolene which was SO MUCH FUN. HUGE NEEDLES!!!!!!! It’s like a child’s suturing
kit! Needles which you can see without a microscope! Everyone mocked me but I
maintain those needles are unnaturally large. Cannot really remember when I
used a 1/0 in O&G. 1/0 prolene! Madness.
ED was quiet despite R&V being on
(which I’ll get to, be patient) but there was a variety of minors (which I like
as an ED locum – fill my day up with minors and pay me) all beginning with,
“fell over in moshpit…”. My favourite R&V related injury is still the Listerine kid. Did you know that Listerine contains methylene
salicyclate – the most toxic form of salicyclates? It’s like drinking a bottle
of aspirin. Kid was fine, apart from the ignominy of everyone in the department
asking him if his breath was minty fresh.
SO.
R&V.
For those who don’t know, R&V or Rhythm
and Vines is NZ’s biggest music festival – the biggest thing on the NZ social
calendar basically. Last year over 30,000 people descended on Gizzy, which is
INSANE for a town of this tininess and general backwateryness. This year they
capped numbers at 25000 but town was still absolutely rammed. It’s a festival
amongst the vines with lots of international acts (none of whom I’ve heard of)
and general jollities.
Fun amongst the vines
Tim and I went for all 3 nights and danced our little
hearts out, drank a lot of red bull, dressed up briefly as a pirate (me – Tim
wore a frilly green shirt which I maintain was a mistake, it was not quite
obviously fancy dress enough to be taken as fancy dress but could instead have
just been quite a poor fashion choice – especially given he wore it with
completely normal other clothes. He got the gentlest heckle ever – “mate, this
isn’t ballroom dancing you know” and a lot of pitying looks), drank chai in the
chai tent, lay down in the hammocks, and generally had a wonderful time. So now
I can say I’ve done the whole Huge Party At New Year’s thing, and can happily
move on. Boy did I feel old.
a Very Young person, almost certainly under 21 and behaving like a 14 year old. One of many to be seen descending the Fruju slide.
New Year's Day itself is a big occasion in NZ and we enjoyed some riverside fireworks on our balcony. This photo was taken with a 15 second long exposure and I love it. I now understand fully why the Victorians looked so serious - their photos took minutes, and no one can hold a smile for that long. NO ONE.
This weekend we’ve had colds so the surfing
has been on hiatus (boo boo double boo) but today felt well enough to go to
Tolaga Bay and check out their historic wharf – the longest in…the Southern
hemisphere? Somewhere, anyway. It’s 660m long and was built in 1929 and when we
saw it we knew we had to jump off it.
So along with 1000 kids (we were by
far the oldest) we took the plunge. It was delicious.
look at that happy face
easily satisfied
I did it 3 times
and Tim
only did it once because he was a wimp.
Near us on the wharf was a little girl
who clearly really really wanted to do it but was too scared to and was
therefore extremely grumpy about it. She kept on lingering near the edge,
looking down, and then as soon as her parents suggested she might want to jump,
bursting into tears and hitting them – then looking down over the edge
hopefully as soon as they weren’t looking. She never did go for it, though her
older sister did.
After plunging, we did some boogie
boarding. Did I mention we bought some boogie boards? To add to the number of
things we weren’t going to buy this year. (Tim: “I’ve told Renee we’ll buy her
surfboard off her when she leaves.”)
Boogie boarding is like a gentle version of surfing – it’s easy to catch
green waves on a boogie board without nose diving and ride it all the way in to
shore. Bad things about boogie boarding – because you’re lying down in the
waves, the danger of your pants being pulled down and your top being pulled up
is shamingly high.
In summary, from New Zealand:
Chill out. Catch some fish.
Love
Connie
