27/2/2013

This gorgeous view on the way to the hospital almost made the ride home in the rain worth it. We got to do hydrotherapy today which is super cool. Generally I like life. Training is refreshing, the hospital is fun and I get to be creative, the work is fun yet thought provoking. I'm a happy Maddie. Just a little tired. ^_^zzzzxxx

2/26/2013

I think we may be headed into Autumn.   It rained today most of the day.  This wouldn't be a problem for most people but since my main mode of transport is bike it kinda stunk.  Not only did I get soaking wet I also got a flat.  Actually I got gravel in my tire and when I tried to patch it at lunch I found at least 5 holes.  I finally gave up and took it to a bike shop where I looked like a whiny girl and had them replace my tire....Cause I didn't want to.  I had more balance assessments today in the clinic.  My patient has multifactorial falls risks and I'm trying to assess all of them and come up with the most effective comprehensive treatment for her.  We also had a case conference, it was exciting when I knew the patients and terribly boring when I didn't.
I had 2 fantastic workouts today. Both my bike and my swim went really well.  I also got my official race booklet today.  If you are as obsessed as I am you can read all 44 pages.
I made it home surprisingly early and made brownies for our meeting tomorrow.  Then a bit of homework and off to bed.

2/25/2013

First day at the Repatriation hospital today.  It is much slower paced than the liver unit had been.  Today I saw 1 patient, did a balance assessment, and participated in an exercise class.  We got done early which gave me time to go ironman shopping before going to footie training.  I got more drink powder and salt tabs.  I'm not a huge fan but I hear that I will need them.  The man at the store was a jerk and gave my bike disapproving looks.  Footie training was fun.  I thought that I was going to get to evaluate an ACL tear but instead I only got to see a tight quad and a shin splint.  At this point in the season training is actually a little more exciting I get to evaluate more and not deal with as many whiny complaints.  A little homework and I'm off to bed earlier start tomorrow.

2/24/2013

One month from now I'll be running in the Melbourne Ironman.  I am starting to get quite nervous.  The training has been hard yet fun but I'm getting nervous that I'm not ready.  Hopefully this month everything will fall into place and I will do well.

White night last night was fun.  I went with some friends that i've barely gotten to see this semester.  It was fun and cultural until about 1. We went to a couple galleries and concerts Then it became a drunken mob. There were people everywhere and concerts almost every block.  By the time I shoved my way to the tram and got back home it was 3:30am. Sigh.  

Needless to say today was rather relaxed.  I did school work till 5pm when I went on a fantastic 10mile run followed by a bike ride.  After dinner I had time to do a bit more work before packing my bag and heading to bed.  I have a new clinic tomorrow.  Let's hope it's as fun as the liver transplant unit was.  

2/23/2013

I started my day by Skyping with Gillie for some hair styling.  Then I went on a short fast bike ride 55 miles in 3:30.  Swimming was going really well until I ran into some jelly fish.  As I was getting close to the end I was seeing them regularly.  I was dealing with them alright until one touched me.  I only touched the cap so I didn't get  stung but I freaked out and bolted for shore.

The Jellies are called blue blubbers and are not poisonous but they do give you a rash. 

I went for a quick run and did some work before Katie(my former homestay lady) came over for tea.  I made a delicious cheesecake and she insulted my house.

She complained about most of it, about how it was cheaply built, etc.  Luckily I'm renting so I don't care.  She had another function so only stayed for too long and did give me the money that she had owed me.

Tonight is white night Melbourne where locals can rediscover their city with free events in tons of locations between 7pm-7am.  Whitenightmelbourne.com.au  I'm going with some friends from Uni.  Pictures tomorrow:)

2/22/2013

Big shout out to my friends Christie and Doug who had a beautiful baby boy named Connor Douglas today(well 2/21 US time) congrats!
I also had a wonderful day off. I took full advantage by running at 6am then swimming at 7:15 so that after going out to breakfast I was home and showered by 10am.
Then I cooked and cleaned all day and went out for the physio pub crawl at 6. I was back and forth between not wanting to drink but still wanting to be social. I guess that's how most of my class felt as well because we were all home by 9pm. It was a terrific day all around. Hopefully more fun and productivity to come this weekend

2/21/2013

Today was my last day in the liver ward.  I also got to see PT in ICU today.  Pretty cool stuff.  We had our feedback session today since I am in a different hospital next week.  They ranked me as competent to work in most areas.  I find that quite scary since I do not feel that I have had anywhere near enough training for them to allow me to practice.  Still I am flattered and know what I need to work on.
The training today was much like yesterday except I had an after dinner bike ride.  It was again quite beautiful and there have been storms outside the city so I saw fantastic lightning while I was riding.  Luckily(and safely) the storm was far enough off that we didn't even have rain.  All the views none of the  side effects.  I get the day off tomorrow so once I finish my chores I'll be completely  free.

2/20/2013

I have been really tired this week and every activity has been an effort. I felt a bit better this morning and was riding pretty quickly to the hospital when my friend caught up with me.  It was her first day riding to the hospital so I was motivational and helped her get to the hospital.  By the end of the work day I was back to being tired.  After I got home and went for a bike ride I had to have the following conversation with myself:

Maddie-go run

self- I'm tired

Maddie-Come-on go run lazy

self-so tired want ice cream

Maddie- no ice cream until you come back from 9 miles

Kat-Maddie I'm kicking your lazy self out of the house for the next 1:20:00 go run or I'll lock you out.

self- stop ganging up on me you guys are mean!

Luckily I had a good run and got left over chocolate cake when I got back.  It was a lovely run with a beautiful sunset.

2/19/2012

Today I did physiotherapy home visits. It was pretty cruise-y. The First lady no showed in her own home. Then we had a delay so we had time for coffee. The patients I did see were varied and it gave me a good feel for the home setting. I was a bit sad to learn that PT in the home does not treat all PT related problems and that our patient with back pain had to be referred to another physio since we couldn't help.
I was really tired so I skipped my bike workout in favour of a nap. While I was sleeping Billy cooked dinner for me and Kat. We are so spoiled! And it was delicious. I'm back to bed before 11pm so maybe I will wake up in time to bike before work.

2/17/2013

I was supposed to get up early and run so that I could bike with my friend at 8:30. Yeah that didn't happen. This weekend is the most intense of the ironman training and I needed my sleep. Yesterday I biked 130km swam 1km and ran 10km. Today(when I finally woke up) I ran 20km, took a break to bike 20km and then ran 10km further. So I'm a bit more tan and tired than i was on friday. I am diligent with my sun screen but i still get horrid tan lines. As a reward for all of my hard work today I made peach pie ice cream. Yum!
The evening ended with some studying and getting ready for the week back in the liver transplant unit.

2/18/2013

Sorry for the discontinuity in my Blogs sometimes(too much recently) I'll leave without getting a confirmation message and the Blog won't go up.  Sorry I'll do better.
Back to the liver transplant unit today.  I had some grumpy patients today but my supervisor calmed them down.  My favorite guy got to go home today but he's still pretty sick so we hope he doesn't come back.  It's really warm today 35C(95F) at 9pm. It's actually so hot that I started sweating while brushing my teeth. All the heat is also causing fires, so it smells like smoke everywhere.  I was also able to answer Gillie's age old question today: How much Mac&Cheese is too much? .... If you make this recipe than somewhere between bowls 3&4 will give you a stomach ache.  But it is super tasty!

2/15/2013

Back to the classroom for our Friday seminars today. It wasn't as exciting as clinic but at least we were done at 11am. I had a great track workout today with a little birdie friend. Then I went climbing and Kat had a dinner party with home made pizza and chocolate cake. Yum!
Happy discount chocolate day to everyone. Eat plenary of dark chocolate hearts for half price!

2/14/2013

Happy Valentine's day!
I hope that everyone has a safe and happy valentines day unlike Oscar Pistorious who accidentally shot his girlfriend.....scary!
http://m.smh.com.au/sport/oscar-pistorius-shot-girlfriend-dead-report-20130214-2efj6.html

I had a lovely day in clinic except that I got a flat on my way in and had to spend my lunch break buying a new bike tire. We concluded our first week. It was fun and educational. I can't wait for more fun next week! I had a romantic valentines day dinner with Kat and her boyfriend. I would have felt awkward and left but they forbid me from leaving and we all watch evolution. It's really funny "science" but kinda gross right before bed. I feel like there are bugs everywhere now. Tomorrow I am definitely running, swimming, and climbing and may be giving a presentation. We'll see. Too bad out group is super unorganised:)

2/13/2013

First I'd like to say that the date is much more fun when I write it in charts since it's 13/2/13 here.
I was into clinics at 8 today. I treated 3 patients this morning then we had a tutorial this afternoon. It was informational but the best part was that I was done an hour early meaning that I had time for a 9mile run before my bike ride at 6pm. Yay! The hospital is fun but I'm enjoying my training because it reminds me that I'm not sick.
Fact of the day: since it's cricket season let me introduce you to the positions. Short leg, long leg, silly mid-off, silly mid-on, slip, long-on, long-off, mid wicket , point, square leg,and back stop. Nope I'm not kidding but I really can't tell you who does what they all look like outfielders to me:)

2/12/2013

Good second day in clinics. I like both of my supervisors and I definitely like working with patients.
I am a bit tired from working all day especially since I work out before and after clinic. A little nap and I'm all set.
Fun stuff. We meet to discuss tomorrow so I'm sure to have some fun stories

2/11/2013

First day of Clinics and first day back with Richmond Central.  My clinic looks like it might be really fun.  I am working on a liver transplant ward for the next two weeks.  Pretty sweet except for the ridiculously high incidents of VRE and Hepatitis C. It was a really good day except for my dyslexia fail. I spelled Auscultation so badly that my supervisor told me to stop trying to spell and just use abbreviations.  Otherwise it was fabulous.  After the hospital I went to Richmond for training.  It was pretty chill and I got paid to apply 1 piece of tape in 2 1/2 hours:) Ahh! good day!

2/9/2013

I had a lazy Saturday. I really didn't want to go on my scheduled ride so I ran instead today. After considerable amounts of motivation and plenty of sitting around reading. I also did some homework, made meatballs and watched "ps I love you" exciting Saturday if I've ever seen one. Just getting ready to start my placement on Monday:)

2/8/2013

Happy birthday grandma, Gillie and Rachel! I hope everyone had a fabulous day. I celebrated by having a house inspection. We passed though our house may not have. They were talking about several things that need to be replaced. I also swam, biked, and did some banking. For dinner Kat and I crashed a party at the children's hospital. It was fantastic. They have wonderful facilities and I got to talk ironman with someone else that is racing with me. Pretty cool.

2/6/2013

It was a lazy day for cohort A. We didn't have class until 11am. I used my extra time to bike. It was super hot today. Most everyone was desperate for shade but I enjoyed the warmth and some ice cream. When I ran at 6pm it was still 37C I was rather sweaty but it was a fantastic run. Our landlords are inspecting out house on Friday so I cleaned up a bit tonight. We are trying to look presentable so that maybe they will fix the things that have been broken since we moved in.

2/5/2013

Today's workouts were biking and swimming. I did swimming before class and biked at lunch. On my lunch time bike ride I got my police check so that I can legally work at the hospital and went bike shopping. I needed new tires because I keep getting flats and cages for the fin that dad got me for my birthday. I found a triathlon specific store and got a new flavour of gel as well. I was lucky to go into the city because I got to see the tree sweaters. I don't quite know why the trees are wearing sweaters since it's been 38 C all week but they are cute anyway.

2/3/2013

Another day full of training today. I ran then biked then ran. I took all the training time to do some errands. I ran to lunch and met with the other Richmond central trainers. Then I biked to the store to get some gels and sports drinks. I have been getting quite dehydrated but I think these will really help. I finished my last run at 6pm with enough time to get ready for the week ahead. The bad news is there were no cute birds on my run. The good news is that my sun burn didn't get any worse. I'm starting to get a bit nervous about the race. Hopefully those are just nerves and I'll calm down soon.
This weekend I biked a total of 82miles and ran 17. I feel surprisingly good. Hopefully it doesn't hit me tomorrow.

2/1/2013

End of the week yay! It's felt so long and I had Monday off. My lectures were so boring and pointless that I re-read an entire book while I was in class and didn't even miss anything. I know this because Kat and I reviewed this evening and there were no gaps in my knowledge. The entire week has pretty much been a scolding on how we should read more papers, how America is worse at medicine than Brazil and how we need to study before clinic. Not what to study just that we need to do it. Sigh.
I have been quite good with my training this week. It has been exhausting but it's the longest one 18.5 hours. Yikes! Tomorrow I have a long bike ride and a swim. I will try my very best to get good pictures.