The first shift back!

So was it good?

Yes

Was it what I had been waiting for?

Well of course, I love my work. But we did have some not common jobs.

We ended up being tasked further and further from our regular patch. Our last job out there nearly had us so far west that we would have been two radio channels from ours.

But we ended up back home with ten or so job sheets in the back of the folder and an hour or two to put some stores away and for the others to have a little rest.

Not me, I'm answering emails and blogging to you from the new phone.

Be careful out there and see you at the big one!

Taz

What a wonderful night.

Tracy and I have just arrived back from a trip up into the Blue Mountains, about an hour and half west of Sydney.

The purpose was to have a relaxed dinner at a resort hotel we often pass on our travels to visit relatives in Mudgee.

Well may I now recommend to you who may be here in NSW or may be intending to visit at some stage, please consider the Hydro Majestic Hotel in Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains.

While one of the main facilities is hydrotherapy and spa these don't operate on the day of our visit and as we are familiar with the area - we take visitors there to Katomba, we relaxed in wonderful decor and surroundings waiting for our dinner reservation time.

The room B&B rates was beautiful.




Our real wonder and surprise came with the Casino Lounge dining room

The alcove pictured centre is identical to the one in which we sat but on the opposite wall. The colours and textures are rich and from an era long past and we had thought to make our night more special by dressing formally and it was not lost on this excellent setting.

I apologies for the quality of the photographs they are from my phone as the camera decided to play up on Tracy.

I have no pictures of the meal and none would do it justice.

Tracy and I had three courses of culinary delights, each mouthful an explosion of tastes that made us linger over each plate to enjoy for as long as possible. Our table service was personal and engaging making the evening even more special.

We completed it with a stroll around the terrace to view the vista of stars above before returning to the main lobby and the large fireplace with deep inviting lounges and glasses of port before turning in for the night.

Some asleep faster than others (yep she really was asleep when I took this) and am I trouble for sticking it here!!!!!!

Well if you didn't quite pick it up, if you don't mind something a bit old world and special check this place out. This shaggy arsed Ambo is very pleased he did.

Second last day of holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

The Last Week!

Tracy just stood there and said to me without a moments hesitation

This was going to be a long week for her!!!

I think I've done very well thank you.

There's no cabin fever here, I might be a little hyperactive that's all!!!!

We're going away for a night up in the Blue Mountains this week as our original plan about driving out west never happened. My last remaining grandparent has not been well, severe Parkinsons and recurring chest infections so we remained close to the airport at home.

If you we to take this link http://www.ambulance.nsw.gov.au/ to the public access page for the Ambulance Service of New South Wales you might come across this story too.

Or you could just follow this link; http://www.ambulance.nsw.gov.au/media_publications/2008_pages/080825zoll.html

Shameless self promotion about a job from 16th of May this year and with a very emotional reunion between Rosalind and myself.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Outlook test

WMWMWMWMWMWMW

Nothing Much.

As I guess you would expect seeing as I'm on holiday.

Tracy met up with another old friend from Hobart on Friday who was here for a family wedding.

Me, well I slept some, constructed some more of the question booklets along with a flyer to send out to some Sydney stations spruking it up I might even slip off a copy of that to our educators to get the probationers to consider buying it before they hit the road.

I've never had anyone tel me it was a waste of time or not relevant to on-road. I've only had compliments and encouragement about it and some suggestions about content (that I have acted on) so I believe in it's worth as a tool.

And now I have been reading the 260 odd page instruction pdf for the new phone to learn the hidden capabilities of the device!!!

I'm pretty happy that I can make and receive phone calls and texts. I find the eMIMS quicker than the old phone and have even taken the time to familiarise myself with the MIMS Interact program.

But the 'Young peoples internet' stuff needs some work on it before I will really have a good grasp on it.


Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Well I went back to the Doctor!

I'm going to LIVE!

Oh I can hear the shouts of joy even from here,,,,,


Thank you, thank you...............

In fact to boost a little, the doctor, who is not my regular asked what I took for my cholesterol!


NOTHING!!!!!!



Everything was midway normal. I will be going back in six months to have a followup on the liver function but as there is nothing to compare these results too it is just a check.

I was more worried about the brain cells I must have killed as a BRASS BAND/ARMY musician in my early years.


The union sub-branch AGM and subsequent general meeting was interesting. While I do carry the weight of years well I haven't been at this game very long and listening to other officers who do know the history of Union & Service is eye opening.

The ACAP AGM today is just down the road and again I will sit back and listen to the wisdom at that meeting not to mention the catering. As an ACAP member I am entitled to attend education evenings for free. These events apart from being interesting, are also well catered with food and drink and seem to be always held on my night shifts?

So I may also enjoy myself at this AGM, within moderation....

I also noticed the ART & CRAFTS fair to be on in Sydney at the moment and heard they had included digital scrapbooking this year so Tracy and I will go and check that out seeing as Tracy spends as much time with that as I do with Ambulance stuff nearly.

And then we might drop the dog of at the kennels and take a long drive west for a few days to see what's over the next hill.

Have you checked out the new ASNSW intranet site, imagine that, I made it there in a photo, nice!


Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Well the Lindt shop survived,

Other shops have also be likewise assailed and also will recover.

Unfortunately Tracy and I will not be parents just yet?

The results from the last IVF cycle has come back negative..... Such is fate.

Perky and Rachel leave tomorrow, it has been nice having visitors and we do look forward to who ever next come.

A reminder if your in the East or South Sydney area of ASNSW that the union sub-branch AGM is on tomorrow at the Hurstville Area Office at 1900hrs.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Just read this.

http://randomreality.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2008/8/5/3824984.html

This is a blog of a London Ambulance Service officer.

I try to follow his example as much as I can when I post and don't get over to his blog anywhere near enough.

Tonight I did and came across this one,

Do we all sit here nodding our heads,
We all see or fear this happening to our own services,
If it hasn't happened to you yet, be strong and fight it.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

The girls have landed!

Perky and Rachel that is.

So picked them up from the airport and came home to a coffee and some catching up.

I had gone for a ride this morning to Eastgardens to firstly see how long it took and if it was suitable for Tracy to do, not riding as much as me she hates traffic and will avoid riding near it. Secondly to return my old phone for recycling.

We went out for dinner going to a different hotel to our local.

We tried the Moore Park View, all reported their meal good and filling although I did think that my New York Sirloin was a little small and therefore glad I had got a salad extra with it. Prices were good for the size of the other meals and nobody left feeling hungry.

I would rather go to the Newmarket, the meals are great and I can drink as much as I want as we walk there! My choice.

Looks like the Lindt chocolate shop in Martin Place Sydney is going to be ravaged by them tomorrow so I might get my first Sunday morning sleep in.

You never know.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Found the disk!

In the box for the old phone!

Where else!!!!!!

Good thing I kept it to return the phone for recycling.

Oh It's not Brett coming up with Perky it's Rachel her daughter and one of our wedding photographers.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

I got a new phone.

The contract had run out on the old one and it had been dropped, kicked and generally abused as they do in our job so I visited the Telstra shop to find out what was now available.

As a communication devise I don't really use a shoe phone too much.

Text message to the wife when I'm about to leave work because she wont start cooking dinner until then.

The odd work text maybe and a phone call made once or twice a week.

What I do use my phone for is the PDA side.

MIMS - to identify any prescription drugs I don't know along with all their side effects and interactions, etc.

Medical dictionary - there is always a term you don't know.

A page of useful stuff, codes to staff toilets at hospitals I don't visit much, codes to staff tea rooms that kind of thing.

So they have changed quite a bit in two years. The brand I have if anything have bulked up their new ones and all of them were on a more expensive plan.

I, as the knowledgeable reader of the blog will know come from a retail background and I always prefer to got to the shop rather than online or over the phone because there is the personal touch and I'm keeping someone in a job.

I was very impressed with the sales man who served me. No push, just the info and in fact when I appeared to be struggling he just told me to take the brochures and go grab a coffee and read it for myself. Well done, that was just what I, as the customer needed.

Any how, now have this slim black looking thing that I'm learning to drive and have transferred over all the data from the old one except for the dictionary. That needed to be reloaded from the disk and do you think I can find the disk!

Does anyone out there know of some shareware or freeware that might help me with a dictionary???

I have the presentation of a ZOLL watch tomorrow to a patient that was successfully shocked during VT arrest, interestingly the CEO of the service will be in attendance, not usual but the patient rang him direct a month after the event and commended mine and my partners actions.

On the Home front we will have visitors from Saturday, Perky(Jo)

(That's her in the middle at our wedding)

and Brett from Hobart are stopping over for a few days on their way to warmer climates for their holidays.

So some activity for the next few days and then the Union and ACAP AGM for those local again.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

My visit to the Doctor.

As I have said in the early posts of my holidays I have been suffering from lots of aches and pains, I think from the body relaxing from work mode.

And as we can't raise Tracy's body temp too high while we wait to see if the last implant takes, I haven't been riding for a full week. Yesterday while Tracy was at Weight Watches I geared up and took of on a ride out to Homebush, the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

It was a good long ride, it is a route I haven't ridden before and most of it is bike track but sometimes it divides of to separate bike and walking so you have to circle around to get the right one.

I felt tired and muscle sore when I got home some three hours later and had a few twinges last night. I was in top shape when I rode to the doctors this morning. My doctor has seen action in my local hospital A&E and so we talk a little shop before we get into it.

So some blood was given, he accepted that as a blood donor and because I hang around hospitals that I do know my haemoglobin, 12 hrs fasted BGL, BP and I have had a twelve lead ECG done recently all being good.

Return for the results next week before the ACAP AGM for any locals who may have forgotten. And hopefully no surprises with any of the results.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

This really did happen!

At 1830hrs tonight my shoe phone rang.

It was the DI (District Inspector).

DI; - 'Why hasn't your name been on the (overtime) lists Taz?'
Taz; - 'Um'
DI; - 'Are you on holidays?'
Taz; - 'Yeah'

Silence

DI; - Oh, sorry, I needed someone to work tonight at your favourite station,,,,, enjoy your holidays'

Taz; - 'Thanks _ _ _ _'

Hang up.

There is a GOD.

I am missed.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well that's another one gone,

I haven't really celebrated a birthday since the big ones of;

16 years - I can now by smokes
18 years - I can now drive without P plates and can enter and stay in a licenced premises
21 years - your a legal adult, on your own now!

Tracy did do a really nice and special cake for my 41st birthday,

That's a photo of me in the Tasmanian version of a K.E.D. or R.E.D. or whatever you call it, a short spine extraction device to stabilise the spine of a patient.

But birthdays are just a way of keeping count and I've met some very clever and smart young people and some very un-clever, dumb older people in my time so age does not mean much to me.

So that's the second day of my holidays, a few phone calls from family and friends and the body relaxing a little more.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Holidays.

Back in the other life - B.A. (Before Ambulance) I worked for the one company for twenty three and a half years. Eighteen months short of getting my twenty five year gold watch.

After two odd years they made me take my first ever employed/paid holidays.

I managed to find a completely legitimate reason to be at work no less than five minutes after opening time of my first day of holidays and did so to varying degrees for the next ten years.

A.A. (After Ambulance) for the benefit of those readers who aren't employed by ASNSW we don't get holidays until we have completed a full year. I believe that it is so we can complete our probation year without the distraction of holidaying.

When I first took holidays A.A. I managed to stay away for a full day before finding myself back at work to 'just pick something up'. My recollection of the incident was that I may have been chased out of the station by pitch fork and flaming brand wielding colleagues and told not to return until my three weeks were up,,, or something like that!

So the point of this post is what was my first day of holidays like?

My brain seems to have successfully sent messages to every muscle and nerve fibre in the body telling them that they are now on holiday and can ache and be uncoordinated as they wish.

I am filled with aches and pain, nothing to severe just annoying.

I did manage to laminate the dividers of my A5 C.A.R.E. folder as they were getting dog-eared as well as reading a few pages of the current RESPONSE magazine from ACAP that arrived the day before.

But I did switch my phone off.

And I switched it back on today, but only to see if there were any messages,,,,, about my birthday which is today!

I am now more than half way to Ninety years of age!

So I fully expect to feel even better tomorrow and steadily more so the days after that.

I have laid out my plans for the rest of the holiday time so it is a matter of getting as many done as I can before I go back to work!

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

One more overtime shift.

That's before the holidays start.

I'm at Australia's best known beach today.
Not that you would catch me in the water.

I may hail from the Island state (Tasmania) but I'm not a water person and besides it's a bit wild and woolly up here today.

Constant breeze, grey overcast sky's and the odd shower.

But the extra shift will help pad out the basic holiday pay that will be the only income for the next three weeks and allow me to do stuff with Tracy.

I'll be posting the media article on the last cardiac arrest save that I got in a week or so. Ambulance Media have arranged the date for the ZOLL (makers of the defib) watch presentation for next week and local media are being invited (any publicity is usually good publicity).

Well better go make another coffee.

Night shift have not returned with the car yet so we're cooling our heels on station.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

Working in the suburbs!

Got a call for overtime this morning.

First two jobs were transports of patients under one year old.

The rest of the day was jobs for patients eighty years or older.

Very different from a normal shift in the city.

Nice to exercise different skills!

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

We have the IVF implant today.

One one of the eggs harvested fertilised normally so that's all we're getting.

If you were to research it, it is amazing that as a species humans have survived when compared to other birthrates and multiple birthing (litters) that other species use. At any given time there is only something like a 15% chance of conception.

Nice little job yesterday with a 'Nanna down'.

Simple mechanical fall, minor right forehead lac and contusion, pupils equal and reactive, complaining of pain in right wrist but she's waving it around and even supporting herself with it so I'm not concerned with it.

She keeps asking about her keys, what happened and was she bleeding!

Main Entry: perseveration-,

continuation of something (as repetition of a word) usually to an exceptional degree or beyond a desired point-

Concussion at the least, closed head injury at worst, so employed all the tools available, made a Bat call to the hospital and that's the only good job in a week or more.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz

With their eyes closed!

Well sometimes I think that some of my colleagues walk around the station with theirs shut.

I stopped by work today to drop off uniforms, my signature highly polished boots and other gear that I'll need for the coming last four shifts and I find stuff that was hung out to dry on my last night still on the clothes horse.

Now completely dry.

Could no-one find the energy to put them away?

It seems not!

So I did.

While I was doing this Tracy was undergoing the egg retrieval.

We got ten and a call to the lab this afternoon told us that seven of them had been suitable for fertilisation.

Another call tomorrow will tell us how many of that seven have divided enough for implant!

We are approved for two but wouldn't it be something special to have a couple extra to freeze if they were needed.

So what things do I think I'll do on holidays?????

I'm about to turn forty six, I don't recall ever having a full medical check-up, so there's one.
I still have more of my booklet to assemble so there's another.
I have never been further west than Mugee here in NSW so a couple of days away might be nice.
The experts say not to increase Tracy's core temp to extremes but some extra exercise might also be the go.
There are also two important AGM meetings to be held on the 19th and 20th of August so they both involve my professional development so I better attend them.

And if I chuck in some random study I should have the three weeks tucked away and be ready to return before I know it!

Or I can only hope.

Be careful out there and I'll see you at the Big One.

Taz