Leaving the desert

Ahh, gloomy old day in Alice Springs. I have no contingency plans for inclement weather here! The fact that our house is at least half packed up isn't helping.

Last night one of our friends reflected that it wouldn't be "so bad" moving back to Melbourne. After all, she said, "You can walk along Merri Creek and pretend that you're in nature!" Which, from a Central Australian point of view, is simply hilarious. In this town, you can ride a bike for fifteen minutes in any direction and end up in proper, unadultered BUSH.

I will definitely miss the sky- 360 degree horizons!! The feeling that the sky is so big and round above me that I am actually a tiny figure in a snow-dome.

It is going to take some getting used to the plush environs of a big city ED. In the department here I can sit at the main doctor's work desk, and, if I reach my hand behind me, tickle a patient's toes as they lie on their trolley.

I also suspect that the Melbourne patients will be not so easily placated with a bandage. Many of our patients are *fixated* on getting a bandage. It doesn't matter how severe the injury, the patient's top priority is getting a good bandage. I remember one night assessing a patient with a depressed skull fracture- ie organising their CT, making sure they weren't about to die, arranging an interstate transfer. The patient had a dressing over the wound, so that I could show the surgical registrar. Menawhile, the patient kept asking for a bandage. I imagined her watching all my apparent pfaffing around, thinking, "When will I get my BANDAGE??" I've only recently discovered a likely explanation for this phenomenon: the spilling of blood is considered very bad luck in local indigenous cultures.

I am thinking of setting up a Bandage Clinic down the road from the hospital.

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