I was going to start this entry with a term of endearment directed at an old-fashioned paper appointment book, but I elected not to. That said:

It’s now day three of my surgical rotation ‘back home’ and so far, so fun, so good. I left the hospital at half past three this afternoon, and spent a brief moment feeling guilty about leaving early - until I recalled that I had started at seven am so I was in fact, not early at all. Better than yesterday, where I was there from seven in the morning until half-past five. Bleh.

Apart from the hours, the actual rotation is so far interesting enough. Today was mostly taken up with ward rounds - three different ward rounds - and then Lisa & I examined a few patients and took a few histories, as well as did some independent study. Little ‘hands on’ surgical/procedural stuff yet, though that m ay well change - tomorrow is our first full day in theatre, and I imagine we’ll have opportunities to get our hands dirty in there. Or at least if not dirty, involved. Our list tomorrow includes a biopsy lymph node, a couple of hernias, a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. So, hopefully, that will be fun.

Also it doesn’t start at 7am, which is nice. Though I’ll still get up fairly early, in order to stay in the habit. Bah.

In other news, I drove into Nowra to find a post office and send off my broken penlight today, which I did, and then decided to wander, so I had a stroll of a couple of klicks around the town. Impressions are that there isn’t much variety, really… I found one chinese place, one thai place, no italian places, and maybe four cafés. I actually sampled two of the cafés - I had a chai latte at the Tea House (and was disappointed as it was a chai tea latté, but hey) and a mocha from a place called the Cocoa Café - which I’ll be honest about and say I chose because the name made me chortle slightly. The mocha wasn’t bad, easily the best coffee I’ve had in Nowra (excepting maybe one time at River Deli), but I’d only rate it a 3/5.

For the interested, a 5/5 is a coffee from Swell in Wollongong, Elephant Boy or Gastronome in Bowral, and… I can’t remember the name of the place in Melbourne. Sad. A 4/5, well, Lee & Me in the ‘Gong is about there. :)

Right now, having consumed a microwaved indian meal, I’m planning on a small rest and maybe 20 minutes of reading about pancreatitis, as per the idea by Dr. Jones. Otherwise I imagine there will be Internetting, some iPadding, and perhaps some writing, though maybe not tonight as my muse isn’t here and quite frankly, she’s probably sleeping, poor thing. It’s hard working for me in a creative sense, and she’s had at least three poems written about her recently, so she needs her break.

I’ll write again soon, legion of adoring fans. I promise.

rn-A