Wow. I’m hopeless. I haven’t blogged in ages! Good news though – here’s a blog, and an update. I’ve successfully finished my first year of med! I barely held my camera through exams, had a week or so after exams to relax, and then headed south of the border for country NSW. Jas and I both managed to nab a position in the John Flynn Rural Placement Program. The program involves a two week stay in the same rural community each year until we graduate. I got teamed up with Tamworth (get your banjo’s out) and Jas got sent down to Mildura for an orange or two. This was also our longest period apart – but we managed to synchronise placements to minimise the depression.
I dropped Jas at the airport a few Wednesdays ago – she left the GC and flew down to Melbourne for a family wedding. It looked like it was heaps of fun – I hate missing extended family events – especially when they are a good excuse to travel interstate. I spent a few days cleaning up loose ends and organising my own life before heading to Tamworth on the following Sunday. As usual, everyone gave me bits of advice for the trip – “remember to pack my Akubra”, “stay away from locals”, and “don’t mention the State of Origin” – so I was more than prepared for a country-change. (Only kidding of course… no one told me to pack an Akubra). This was my first visit to Tamworth, and my first experience of QantasLink (lucky I like roller-coasters).
The flight was okay, but changing in Sydney is more than a hassle – especially when you have to collect your bag and re-check-in. However, I finally landed in Tamworth, wound my watch back 1 hour (actually, my watch is digital, so I pressed a few button combinations, wished my fingers were smaller, swore a few times… you get the picture), collected my suitcase from the 5 meter carousel, walked 15 steps to the outside and jumped in a cab. I got a bit of a tour through the city as I headed up towards the hospital – the taxi driver was nice enough to point out the new Bunnings that is being built, my closest Coles and his favourite pub before finally dropping me at my temporary house. I requested to stay in the old Nursing Quarters just inside hospital grounds as it was only meters away from the practice I was going to attend.
My temporary home.
This was the gutter as I walked between my practice and temporary home.
I ‘checked-in’, grabbed my key and found my room. I had about 2 hours to get some food from Coles and make dinner, so I headed out for a walk to the shops. On the way, it was a nice surprise to walk passed the hospital mental health unit, some temporary hospital accomodation and the Tamworth Correctional Facility. I felt safe.
I met some other students and physicians staying in the same accommodation – apparently I was a few weeks late to the party. During semester, the building is teeming with student doctors and nurses from Sydney and Newcastle – I was glad to miss that though, the older lady telling me about it made it sound a bit chaotic.
My placement was in Tamwell – which consists of a motel, surgery, practice, pathology and a really bad coffee-shop.
Monday came quite quickly and I was off to meet my mentor and the team at his practice. I was really nervous. I ran over some of the things I had learned in the past 12 months in my head, but I felt like I could remember nothing! It felt like the first day of grade 1 – except this time I didn’t have my Mum to hold my hand. I tried to smile as I walked in, but I’m sure it would have looked like an awkward grimace. I met my mentor and was introduced to a heap of staff – damn, why do I suck at remembering names! I was feeling really nervous – I wanted to make a good first impression. My mentor showed me to the tea-room – and once I saw the grinder and coffee machine sitting on the table, I knew I’d fit in quite nicely. I easily found conversation, I had a few people laughing with me/at me quite quickly and it didn’t take long to learn that I was teamed up with the best group of people possible.
Placement was amazing. Two weeks went by incredibly quickly. I keep trying to go over everything in my head to try and remember all of the stuff I saw or did. Not only did I get the chance to practice some of the skills and techniques I had learned in the safe, controlled environment of Med-School, I was doing things I hadn’t even dreamt of doing. I learned how to stitch and cut out skin lesions, aspirate fluids from joints, inject steroids, take blood from veins and arteries, assess joints for movement and injury, check moles and sun-spots, assess a range of presenting complaints and so much more! I was able to spend a lot of time with Sister and be involved in diabetes management, aboriginal health, vaccinations and injections, INRs and lifestyle management. What I really loved though, was spending 1-on-1 time with some amazing doctors and having the opportunity to talk about work, life and choices regarding their career. I am very grateful for everyone who gave up their time to help teach me, read me poetry, educate and inspire me and laugh with me. I am also very privaleged to have had met some amazing people through the practice – thank you all for your patience and your interest in my education. I had a lot of fun, and was very sad to leave. I hope I wasn’t too difficult – I look forward to heading back in 12 months.
Unfortunately, it rained most of the time I was in Tamworth, so I barely had my camera on me. I left the house most afternoons for a walk, but opted not to take my camera so I could get the heart rate up a little and not want to have to worry about the wet weather. A week went by quite quickly and before I knew it, I was flying back up to Brisbane for Matt and Em’s Engagement Party (will blog this soon guys). I flew home (to Tamworth) on the Sunday sporting a healthy hangover, and was back into it on Monday – Tamworth evaded my lens for another week.
I finally managed to head out with my camera on the final Saturday of my stay – even though it was still heavily raining. I caught a cab into town to get breakfast at Cafe 2340 – I had heard rumours that the girl making coffees had a score of pretty designs that got dished out, so I had to check for myself. I saw a number of cute animals on the top of coffees – I got a rabbit, I think. The food was quite nice, but didn’t take first place – I ordered a vego eggs Benny.
After breaky, I had to run over the road and get an umbrella from K-Mart so that I could explore the town more. $12 later, I was safe from the rain. I wandered around some of the parks and down to the river before criss-crossing the towns main streets.
I found some little guys who were enjoying the rain, and snapped a photo of the river – it got a lot higher than this (below) actually, and almost threatened my escape the next day.
I had a few streets that I intended to walk with my camera, but the Sun started to come out and Tamworth got hot. Hot and muggy. I walked through lunch, grabbed a quick coffee and soup from Adimi’s – which in my opinion, has the best coffee in Tamworth, and returned to my bed at the Nursing Quarters.
Just to note, I was recommended to go to Inland Cafe for breakfast – but it was Sleepy Monkey that won me over. Sleepy Monkey also does fine dining and cocktails at night – I will have to take Jas there next year.
I know the girls at the practice enjoyed my company (and coffees) while I was in Tamworth, as I was invited to join them all on Ladies Night just before I left. Thanks for inviting me out and showing me a fun night in Tamworth – I didn’t expect to get a present and I thank you all very much!
I didn’t stay out too late Saturday, as I didn’t want to fly again with a sore head. I had to get up early on Sunday to fly out of town, but I still beat my alarm by about 2 hours. I had my bags pre-packed and was the first person at the airport.
I had mixed emotions when I left Tamworth – I had an amazing 2 weeks and was sad to leave everyone, but I was finally, finally seeing Jas again. 2 weeks was far too long. I flew from Tamworth to Sydney, then on to Melbourne… I’ll blog Melbourne soon – here’s the rest of my visual diary from my walk around Tamworth.
I love the wide streets.
Didn’t think I’d find Campos coffee in Tamworth!
The Sun tried and tried to poke its head out – it finally succeeded.
