T-minus 5 Weeks

And we’ll be in Canada! How crazy is that? So it’s been almost 8 weeks since I last posted on this, but can I just say, a week has not gone by where I have not thought to myself, “I should write something on the ole blog…”, then haven’t.

The Grind

I am almost finished my probationary roster on 8hr shifts and am looking forward to starting the 12s. Although I will not really experience the extent of the days off I normally would since I tried to cram all of my shifts into the 3 weeks before we leave. Nevertheless, it will still yield more time off that I have now. I just do not suit the 5 day work week.

I am still really enjoying my ward. Not every shift is bliss, but the people I work with are awesome, and that makes a huge difference when stuff is crappy.

The Boy

Is crawling everywhere. Pulling himself up onto everything. Sprouting teeth left right and center. And eating everything he gets his hands on. I hope Westmeath is ready for my offspring.

Randomness

I will be attending the Cagefighting Championship tomorrow night.

I will be attempting my first grading for my Jiu-Jitsu sometime at the end of the month. I also attended a John Will seminar last weekend. I am enjoying rolling twice a week despite last night when I was smashed about 4 times. Good thing I have no ego… anymore.

It’s starting to get hot around these parts. Let the anti-chaffing campaign begin.

For the Future

I am going to try and take more pictures.
I am going to try and get to the beach more this summer.
I will be sorting out where I will be getting involved more around the community. After school kids program, homeless feeds/drop-in, or something completely new/or different.

Refugee Camp In Your City

After church this morning we headed out to the olympic park in Sydney, which as it turns out is only 10 minutes down the highway from us. Doctors Without Borders were running a Refugee Camp In Your City this weekend and we went to check it out.

The tours were led by field workers who had just returned. The tours ran for 45-60 mins and were very interesting. You can find out more about them on their website. We have met some people who have lived in refugee camps for years, and suffered incredible things. This was just another reminder of the incredible need and work that is going on in some of the most horrible situations in our world.

A Peek Into the Future

We are all set for the new hockey season.

Light At the End

I have only 3 weeks left until my program is done. Then I have 2 weeks holidays. Then I begin my new job as a EEN (Endorsed Enrolled Nurse, which is the equivalent to a Registered Practical Nurse in Ontario) on a medical ward (ages 0-11yrs old) at the children’s hospital. I am very much looking forward to beginning a position I can remain in for more than a few weeks. I am looking forward to the stability in that sense for a while. I will be starting off my first 2 months full time 8hr shifts. When we get back from Canada, I should be eligible to begin 12hr shifts, which will mean I am on 3 days a week, but still working full time hours… which is what I wanted… less time at work… more time for other things… zero cut in pay.

My next task is to complete my application for university. Which now only involves written a personal statement and sending in some documents, since the rest is already done. But it’ll be good to get it out of the way, and one less thing to worry about.

I have been working on an oncology ward the past 4 weeks, and while there isn’t heaps of clinical stuff I can do (chemo, bloods, total parenteral nutrition, and almost all patients have a CVL which I can’t access) it has been interesting.

And heartbreaking. One of my patients, an 8yr old girl passed away 2 weeks ago. She was alright on Friday when I left, and had deteriorated over the weekend, and was gone Sunday morning. Her family was great, and she was an awesome kid. I have another patient who just discovered he had relapsed and is getting worse every day. He’s 17. Another patient, a 15yr old boy just learned today that his sister and 2 of her 3 children were killed in a bus accident. His 3rd nephew is in hospital with injuries. I try not to focus on the details, because they make me weep. I try to focus on my patients, who are right there in front of me. It is only when I am away from them, and my mind drifts to their circumstances that I feel myself fighting back tears.

There are so many others whose stories are so positive and amazing. But it is the tragedy that clouds everything over. It is certainly not fair.

I am inspired by these little ones and their families. Inspired to live. To make the most out of the time I have with my own son. With Jo. With everything.

Spasm In The Place Where You Live, Now face North…

So somehow** I have pulled something in my upper back and Thursday and Friday night couldn’t sleep it was so bad. Went for some chiropractics. Some people don’t have any love for the chiros, but they have worked well for me over the years, and it would seem I am to be reacquainted with them once again. My hips are askew from left to right, but my skull is askew from right to left. My spine also doesn’t have that nice S-curve that people are supposed to have, so my shock absorption abilities are greatly decreased. Which makes sense to me because my back always aches when I run for any length of time. Yet another excuse for me not to run. I hate running.

On top of that, the lack of sleep contributed to my weakened system and I caught myself a nice cold, so I have been out of commission the last 3 days. I hate taking time off work. Well… I feel bad about taking time off work… but I spent the last couple of days on the couch trying to find a position where my back didn’t ache, but I could sleep. Fun.

I don’t go back into work until Thursday so I hope to be back to nearly 100% by then.

Jo will be working for the next 4 days as well, for the next 2 days I will be the single parent for the first time as Jo will be unavailable except for a lunch time feed. I think it will be fine, but we’ll see. I m planning lots of distraction for the wee one. Try and play him out so he’ll sleep for longer than 40minutes (which is his default setting).

Speaking of which, the little weasel is up already… 40 minutes on the dot. He doesn’t do this for his mom!

And 1 Makes 10

Since I am doing such a fantastic job at updating this site (9 other posts since the new year) I thought I’d at least get into double digits and try to keep it at at least a post a month. Try being the operative word.

Work/Study/Nursing/This Thing I am Doing
So I have completed my stint at the adult hospital and came out relatively unscathed. I was very nervous going in, and wasn’t really looking forward to it. But a couple Enrolled Nurses helped me out the first few days and the rest of the staff were quite helpful. However, they did put me on evening shifts for the entire month I was there. 1:30pm-10pm for a month straight. I was over it. Highlights included: dealing with my first couple of patient deaths (they have a much more fancy name for it like, “end life care” or something like that.) complete with preparing the body for the morgue etc. , not having an educator on the ward, not getting TB, and feeling like I kinda knew what was going on by the time left. It was a much better experience than I had anticipated, but needless to say I am glad to be back at the Children’s hospital.

The Fight Game
Have not been able to get to as many jujitsu classes as I would have liked, but go to at least one a week. I really need to add some supplemental exercise to my regime. I mean no one wants to get puked on during a wrestle do they? I don’t know if I am getting any better, but I am loving it. It may even drive to actually use some of the health cover I pay for. Some physio and a massage may be in order for my neck. It go worked over very well last week and it still is stiff. So just so we’re clear, I pay to have bigger guys try to hurt me enough for me to say uncle. As far as I know I don’t suffer from any mental illness. But maybe I should talk to someone about that.

Fatherhood and God
As I type this I am listening to my wee son cry for what I think has been 30minutes (every 10 or so we go in and give him a pat, but he IS persistent!). I have been a bit overwhelmed lately with this whole father/parenting thing which has made me a bit emotional. Lately in the news here we have had horrible stories of tragedy involving children. I have struggled a bit with the world I have brought my son into. I fear for his future. I fear for my inability to control things that would keep him safe. I am beginning to understand what all our parents must have experienced when they let us venture out for the first time. That day is still far away for us… but I think about it.

I have been remembering my first week in Brockville when I started working with youth. I met the long haired guy gardening in his front yard who was to be my mentor for the summer. I was wearing this hat that said “Fear Not” and had a bible verse on it… a little play on the “No Fear” label that was popular at the time. Oh those were different times. I would not be wearing thing like that these days. But whatever. He asked me if I believed it. That began a 7 year journey of fighting for control. Of admitting I wanted it. Of realizing I didn’t really trust this God who I had pledged allegiance to. I think what I am realizing is that I can’t really trust myself either. Things happen. Horrible things. To good people. To innocent people. To children. I don’t have a good answer as to why. I also don’t see why I should be exempt from these things. Why do I, or the people I care about, deserve special treatment? We are not any better or worse than anyone else.

The thought of anything happening to my family is the worst thing I can think of. It would devastate me in so many ways. I love my son and my wife in a way I thought not possible. How am I to protect them when random and some not so random craziness happens to people every day? I can’t. And that sucks in so many varieties.

What I decided on my drive home from jujitsu tonight was this: my hope doesn’t end with this life. My hope does not end here. I will work to make this world a better place for my son. I will work to teach him how to be a good person, to have passion for life, to have passion for people, to have compassion and mercy. I will do my best to give him the tools he will need to change this world for the better. I will teach him about faith. I will teach him about doubt. And all that goes in between. And I will teach him about hope. As I remind myself about it.

So It’s Been A Month

There has been little energy for much else these days. Some highlights would include:
- the boy has cut 2 teeth

- my Fully Stoked hoodie that I wear every night and morning when I come home from the hospital

- The 10 Best Lightsaber Mashups

- training Jujitsu here. I come home after training and limp into the shower, but I love it. And I AM improving… I think. My larynx is actually just starting to let me swallow without pain, as Sunday we were working on some pretty brutal chokes. Apparently I didn’t tap out fast enough.

- graphs like this from GraphJam:

more graph humor and song chart memes

- being over halfway done my adult placement at the hospital. the respiratory ward has been good to me. i have a good bunch to work with, but i prefer my children. i can’t wait to get back to them. i actually had my first patient die tonight. i helped bag the body. the experience was not how i thought it would be. i don’t really know how to explain it, but it was all just different. i have been rostered on for nothing but afternoon shifts for a month. 1:30pm-10pm. Guess what time of day perfectly fine people go “pear shaped”? 9pm. Almost without fail. Every night. On the upside, I do get to sleep in every morning… I just can’t do anything with anyone who has a regular 9-5. Almost done though.

- watching old episodes of Human Weapon. I find the history of some of the martial arts interesting (see Marine Corps Martial Arts and Krav Maga) but I watch for statements like, “Now that we have mastered sword techniques…” after a days worth of training. Yep, you’ve mastered that in a day. Tell that guy who has been at it for 60 years who you learned from that. Hilarious. But I have found it interesting.

- re-watching the BBC Office.

- my kick ass mother’s day presents for jo… a nose piercing AND a new hair straightener.

- drinking more tea.

- matty b. joining us in the land down under for a few days.

- my hockey team winning the stanley cup!

- mornings with my son

- finding it hard to connect with our community working the hours I am at the moment

- making a mix tape for mr. hurd

- having kirk and jo’s wedding present fall through… stupid deceptive marketing… on to plan b… and yes I know they got married ages ago… i SAID i was busy!

- bob and gina got married

- waiting for my own copy of “spaced” to arrive in the mail (if you have enjoyed simon pegg and nick frost i think you’ll like this mini series they did back when…)

- random emails/chats from my brother

(skip to the end)
done

Gone, gone, gone, so long!

Well, we haven’t heard anything, but I am assuming little brother has made it back home alright. I was sad to see him go, however, there was talk of him returning sometime in the future. So we’ll see. We had a farewell cigar/pipe and dropped him off Tuesday afternoon. His friends will miss him here too.

The wee one has begun the journey into solids which is both exciting and slimy. Definitely a tag team effort when possible isn’t it? Now that he has tasted the mush anything we eat he watches very closely and if it ends up within arms reach its in the mouth. Or all over the face.

I have now experienced the harsh slap of night shifts at the hospital. I will be signing up for my local nurses association this week. Whatever the penalty rates are for night duty is not nearly enough. My body hates me. When it hits at 4am… buh. Sucks. One more night to go. Til next week. I don’t like having no patients to interact with for 10hrs either. But whatever. It’s almost done. Tomorrow’s sleep will be a glorious one.

If I make it. Head ache. Check. Nausea. Check. Should be a banner night.

Jujitsu has been getting better. I can now wrestle for 3 rounds of 5 minutes without feeling like I should puke. The facial bruising is still pretty harsh. But I am learning. Bit by bit.

I Have Sortof Been Published!

One of my pictures was selected to be used for Schmap!! Australia. My picture of the echidna looking for food in his hill as selected to be one picture featured for the Featherdale Wildlife Park entry. So you can click here and check it out! Coolio.

The Rest Of April

My folks have come and gone, and work has started up again, our son has been dedicated, and a new expansion of Settlers has been experienced. I’ll elaborate.

Folks in Town

Mom and Dad were down for 2 weeks to visit and see the boy. It was good. It was good to have some time off, and good to get away for a few days. We rented a place up in Coff’s Harbour, home of the “big banana“. Pfft! It’s a medium sized banana at best. Impressed I wasn’t. Maybe it’s better in sunshine. We didn’t have great weather (again when someone was visiting) but it was alright. We would go out and do what we could when the sun did poke through (i.e. a nice hike into a rainforest, the Clog barn (snicker), and some shopping (a guitar strap). We then headed home for the weekend when we dedicated the boy and played some GnR in church and hung our with the rest of the rellies for lunch. Really it was just good for the folks to hang out with the boy. They have landed back at home with a dvd or 2 of some footage and some pics and will now be waiting for our arrival in December.

Settlers
I received the Seafarers of Catan (an expansion game for Settlers of Catan) for my birthday. We only just got to play a game when we were away with the ‘rents. I think it is a great addition. You basically have 7 new scenarios, so it is like you have 7 new games to play. They all have different set ups, different ways to gain points, and different ways to win. We have only played a couple of them, but they are different and fun. For those of you who enjoy the original, I recommend this one. It’s a good one.

Hospital
I started on my new ward this week. Adolescents. It has been good. Again, another totally different routine, but it will be good to learn there. I also get to do my first night shifts at the end of the month, so we’ll see how that goes.

Flight Of The Conchords
I had heard about the FotC on youtube, but didn’t realize they had a tv series in the states on HBO. The day after finding this out I received season 1 in the mail. A birthday gift. If Kirk gets around to reading this, this would be another one to pick up my friend. Comedy folk-electric duo. Song integrated with the show. Beauty.

Jujitsu
A friend of mine currently in New Zealand took up Brazilian Jujitsu last September. Sent me a link to some video of his first tournament wins. I had been looking for a place to train… maybe join a gym, but was inspired by Andrew to try BJJ again. I used to do some grappling in my Karate classes a few years ago, but this is BJJ. Went to my first training night last night. And basically got beat up. I got bruises on the back of my head, and my face and my chest and arms are sore. But it was great. All the guys compete and it shows with their intensity. I will be tossed around for a while I am guessing, but the guys seem to be keen to teach and hopefully I’ll pick it up quick. It’s tough to get out of an arm bar when you can barely breathe.