#44 - Camping with a glass half full

#44 – Camping with a half full glass.

I passed a comment in yesterday’s blog that being here for 3 weeks with no TV would be like camping.  Well that would be closer to the truth if there was only luke warm water, the sound of gentle waves lapping at the shore and the constant hum of some blokes generator off in the distance.  Well after a restless night, my reflections have confirmed that I must be camping.

If the ambient temperature was less than 27 degrees, I might have been a little annoyed that my shower rose was not yielding to the scalding temperatures to which I have been come accustomed to at home. But I’m not.  It is rather refreshing.  My glass is half full.

To sit in the silence of the evening devoid of mind rotting television was an adjustment, but also quite novel.  I was able to get into my Bible, and do a bit of other reading.  It represents a departure from my metropolitan life but again, rather refreshing.  You see, my glass is still half full.

Now, I would like to have been able to report that the sounds made by gentle waves was hypnotic and sedative but for that bloody generator.  On retiring to bed last night my glass started to empty a little.  Just 50 metres from my unit there is a generator.  Not just any generator, but a massive one with four engines, that run 24/7 fueled by massive 5000 gallon diesel tanks.  This is no ordinary generator.  This sucker sounds like a Mack Truck with a head cold, coughing and spluttering in its slumber, all the while, snoring it’s big old head off!!   The Island power plant is the generator, sending electricity to some 70 homes, for a 300 strong population, all no doubt enjoying TV with an aerial in relative quiet!!  My glass is not quite half full.

So the decision makers decided to locate the clinic on the airstrip, next to a massive generator.  White noise??  I understand the concept of white noise, but after only one day and one night here on Yam Island, I am wondering when the noise will become white.

I have decided that giving up beer this month was not such a good idea.  The island however is a dry island, meaning that there is no canteen (pub) like the other two islands that I have worked on.  There is nowhere on the island that alcohol can be bought.  Bummer!  It might have been nice to slurp a cold one after the day I have had.  But unless I brought it with me (which I didn’t), or I “get to know some local boys who make their own” (Shhhhh), sobriety will have to pave my perceptions….Did I mention that my glass is getting empty?

 Those issues aside, the Day was ok.  A bit slow for a trauma junkie like me, but I had enough to busy myself with the task of opening and closing every door and cupboard with the express intent of finding the stuff that I might need in a hurry.  The Defibrillator here is an old school Paddles style, of ER fame.  You know the ones that the Doctor pushes onto the chest of the chest and yells " Clear !!!... now get me 10 CCs of Lidocaine (aside: what ever that is), STAT, (aside: what ever that means)".

They are cool and those who know me, know I just want to give them a test run!!!

There is no Oxylog, but then that is not so bad, because there is no one here really "authorized (aside:what ever that means)" to intubate, so nothing ventured , nothing gained.  Bag-Valve-Mask...chest go up chest go down.  Pink is good Blue is bad!  The Emergency retrieval bag, a kit we call a "Thomas Pack"  had stuff in it that expired in 2009, and there is not a pink IV cannula to be found in the place!  I love my 20 G pink.  Needless to say, I have made a few adjustments to my new sandpit.  If I am going to play, I need my toys.

I met many of the locals today.  Fishing tonight on the jetty, I must have had a sign on my back advertising that I wanted to be asked by 300 people "Have you caught anything?", "No mate I just got here";  " Oh well you will have to come in the morning tide, that is when you catch fish."

..." Um...Yep, thanks!!"  Have you ever cringed from being asked the same question over and over?

I am spray paining in big yellow letters a T-Shirt that says "NO, I haven't caught anything!!"

I wandered back to my unit, Empty bucket in hand, and as I am climbing my stairs, a voice yells out, " Hey my Namu, yu Ketch anything?"  I was torn.  I hated the question , but loved the way he asked it.

Namu, is an old word meaning "Big Brother"  a term of endearment.  A sign that after just 24 hours here, I have gained some acceptance....My Glass is definitely half full!!