Where I Work

Just in case you haven't had a chance to look up where I'm working this year I thought I would include the link because on the homepage there is a nice video showing the different aspects of RCH.  Really it's an amazing place to work and I feel very fortunate to be able to learn here this year.

(Scroll down and bit and the video is on the left hand side).

Royal Children's Hospital

Aussie Easter Road Trip (aka Sydney or bust)

I had four days off over the Easter holiday so we decided we would rent a car and head out to Sydney as time in Australia is slowly slipping away.

Our kids LOVE road trips especially Cian.  In fact, he thought I had picked up the car on Wednesday night so when I returned from work he barely said hi to me before diving to the window to see the car.  He was highly disappointed when he realized the car was not there.  I had to promise I would bring it when we picked him up from school the next day. 

On Thursday I bravely picked up the car from downtown Melbourne.  This truly is a feat of bravery if anyone has been to downtown Melbourne as there are specific and complicated downtown driving rules in Melbourne CBD and they are terrifying.  However, I did manage to navigate my accidental detour through Queen Victoria market and back home.  We packed up the car and picked up Cian and were off to Canberra (pronounced Canbra) to spend Thursday night with our good friends Brent and Cassie in the nation’s capital.  Before we left my research assistant Marta said “Are you worried that Emily will vomit in the car again?” and I confidentally scoffed that of course she wouldn’t do that, that was a one-time thing and what happens in New Zealand stays in New Zealand.

We were barely an hour out of the city when Cian started yelling “EMILY IS CHOKING!!!” and I turned around to see pink vomit pouring out of Emily – a combination of the crackers and red juice her father had fed her before getting in the car.  We pulled over to the side of the road and this time at least we had extra clothes.  So thankful that Emily decided to christen our rental car with the smell of vomit for our 10 hour journey to Sydney.  Thanks kiddo.

The rest of the drive was mostly uneventful and we arrived at the Winter’s house in the mid-evening, carrying our sleeping kiddos through the dark night into the warmth of the awaiting bed.  I had brought three different Australian wines to share and the four of us stayed up until 2am chatting away, not missing a beat from when we saw each other at Christmas.  What a true gift – instant friendship.

We knew we would pay for the late night but didn’t think that the kids would wake up at 5am.  I woke up to the sounds of the children yelling “Mommy” and wandering around in the hallway together in the darkness having no idea where they were.  I went back into the bed with Emily and took Cian out to the couch where Keith was.  Emily was falling asleep quite quickly but I could hear Cian bashing around in the kitchen and was lying there silently shooting daggers at Keith in the other room for not keeping Cian quiet.  Finally when I realized that Cian was eating chocolate in the kitchen I came out and snapped at Keith and sat Cian on top of him, only then realizing that my sound sleeper of a husband had been asleep until that moment.  We paid dearly for that late night but it was worth it.

When the kids woke up again around 8am Brent made coffee (bless him for that) and a lovely breakfast and after that we checked out a bit of Canberra including the riverfront and Questacon – the Australian science museum.  A noisy kids hands-on science museum after a night of drinking and a restless night was too much for me and eventually I took Emily to have a nap out in the car.  Cian however was in heaven – he had heaps of fun trying all the stuff – great idea Winters!

In the afternoon we headed up to Sydney and with daylight savings here in Australia the sun is setting quite early (aroud 5pm) so we arrived in the dark again.  The Holiday Inn was nice but the kids were INSANE from their previous night and it was rough getting settled into the hotel and I was wired from driving in Sydney in the dark.  Keith told me to put my feet up on the bed and relax and the minute I did that I started to feel better…until I felt a tickle on my arm.  I thought it was the pillow but it happened again and I looked down to find a big black cockroach.  Both Keith and I jumped away from the bed and screamed.  He called reception and they were great – moved us to a new room, got us set up and gave us free breakfast.  We had a good night sleep and we were all in better spirits the next day.

In the morning we headed down to our complimentary breakfast buffet and the waitress brought me a latte and asked Cian if he wanted a hot chocolate.  You have not seen a more excited kid about his special drink.  He was not moving from his spot because his special hot chocolate with milk was coming.  We planned out our day and decided to head to Taronga zoo that day since the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were due the next day and the place would indeed be a zoo.  As we were leaving the hotel Emily said “Mommy are we going in the car…on an adventure?”  It’s clear who’s kid that one is.

On our way to our apartment in Chippendale we stopped at Bondi Beach.  It’s not surprising this is one of the nicest beaches in the world.  It was beautiful.  Cian and I spent some time with our pants rolled up to our knee trying to outrun the surf – it was great fun.  Emily decided it was too cold for her and she preferred to play in the sand up by her dad.

We then tried to find our apartment and I drove through downtown Sydney which is comprised of 100% one-way streets.  There was one entrance into our neighbourhood and it took us 3 tries to find it.  Needless to say that once we parked there we didn’t move our car until we left Sydney. 

Once we dropped off our stuff we headed to Darling Harbour.  We thought a Hop-on Hop-off Harbour cruise would be perfect for the attention span of our kids and we were right.  They loved going on the boat, especially Cian.  In a head-to-head comparison of boats and planes – boats are the recent winner in his mind.  A harbour cruise is a great way to see the highlights of Sydney.  The weather was beautiful – warm enough to sit in the open air part of the boat.  We saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge (where Cian though the people climbing it looked like ants) to the famous Opera House (Emily: “I like that opera house!”  “I like it.” – glad you like one of the most famous buildings in the world Em).  When we stopped at Taronga Zoo we didn’t have a lot of time but had a chance to see the seals and elephants.  Taronga Zoo is built on a hill so there are lots of ramps, stairs and lifts.  The best part though is the Sky Safari that goes from the ferry dock to the top of the zoo.  We did that with the kids as the zoo was closing and the sun was setting and it was pretty spectacular.  By this time though Emily looked really rough.  Her fair complexion shows every remnant of illness and by this point she looked like a zombie.  Again I was thankful we hadn’t attended the zoo on the day the royals were going since I suspect the Duchess would have felt obligated to stop and talk to our terminally-ill appearing child. 

We headed back on our boat to the Circular Quay and the Opera House.  The Opera House is as stunning as it looks in pictures.  It was nice just to take an evening stroll around it.  We were hoping to stay up until 830pm to see the Saturday night fireworks but we couldn’t justify that with the zombie in the stroller so we headed back to the apartment.

The next morning the Easter bunny came and Cian found all the eggs before Emily even really knew what was going on.  He was very good though and shared the eggs (pink and yellow for her and orange and blue for him).  We headed back out to spend the morning on the boat since we had 24 hour tickets and the kids were keen to hang out on the harbour again.  The walk to the harbour was really nice – Sydney is a very walkable city.  We walked by a very busy-appearing Anglican church and realized that the royals were attending Easter service there – that was as close as we got to the royal family.  We took the boat out to Watsons Bay and spent some time in the beautiful park full of large fig trees and looking out on the ocean on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  We got takeaway fish and chips from Doyle’s which is famous for a reason and that reason is deliciousness – it was fantastic.  After we got back to Circular Quay we found the Sydney tower and enjoyed the view after the 4D movie.  It was a full day and the kids were certainly ready for bed that evening. 

After the kids were settled my friend Ian Choy from medical school picked me up to go out for dinner.  Ian is doing his fellowship in Sydney and I haven’t seen him since medical school and was excited to see him and meet his new wife Jen.  I always love it when you haven’t seen someone for a while and it’s instantly easy – with that first big hug it was like there had been no time between us.  We had a great time at a dumpling restaurant catching up and learning about each other’s lives.  A great way to top off our trip.

The next morning we got out of Sydney early because my boss had told me that it was a beautiful drive to head back to Melbourne through the coastal highway.  My rudimentary math skills should have kicked in to say hmmm it took 10 hours to get here in a straight line perhaps it will take significantly longer via the coast…but it didn’t.  The first few hours of the drive were stunning.  If you have time it really is a spectacular drive through coastal New South Wales.  You travel over hills into these beautiful green valleys, peaceful bays and expansive ocean views.  We traveled through several forests of gum trees and it was unbelievably beautiful.  Around 2pm I asked how long we had left and that’s where we realized that “slightly longer” to my boss meant 4 hours longer.  The beauty of the drive slowly evaporated with the sunset as driving through the Snowy Mountains in the dark was not that enjoyable.   Especially because the frequent towns we encountered at the start of our drive started to become more and more sparse in frequency and habitation.  I suspect this is a hardship that never befell the Duchess of Cambridge.  We passed several towns without a gas station until in Lakes Entrance we were desperate and asked a hole-in-the-wall pizza place if there was a gas station in town to which they replied “At this hour?” – it was 826pm.  Thankfully there was a station open in town so we could make it to Melbourne.  Just another affirmation of my motto: How can someone have an adventure if everything is planned out?  As we finally made it home I silently thanked my children for being so exceptionally good because we got in the car in Sydney at 8am and Keith and I carried them out at 1230am.   Despite the unforeseen length of this drive I still love roadtrips with our little family of four.  The sense of adventure, the appreciation of the beauty of the scenery and the warm cocoon of time spent as our little family.  

The Plague

The kids and Keith had the rumblings of a cold for a couple days before Thursday night when I started getting sick.  It came on suddenly and all at once with fever and chills - out of nowhere like being smacked up the side of the head with illness.  I shivered most of Thursday night and come the morning on Friday it was apparent that going to work at a Children's Hospital with fever and chills and a headache that did not permit vertical motion was probably a bad idea.  Good thing it worked out that I could miss clinic that day.  Doctors are notorious for going to work when they are sick but I am trying to get out of that "no one else could possibly do my job"-type of career-narcissism because there are indeed people that can do my job and they covered for me so that I would not infect them with my disease (a fair trade I would say).  I did not leave the bed for over 24 hours and I can't actually remember the last time I've done that so I think that puts this illness in the "very bad" category. Keith (aka husband who doesn't take a pill) and I have been popping Panadol (Tylenol) and Nurofen (Advil) regularly over the last few days just to keep up with the children.  Why is it that our children are just as active, if not more active, when they are sick?  I hear about these children that become lethargic and quiet when they are ill and I dream of them in the type of fondness that some people reserve for 1950s nostalgia of white-picket fences and soda shops.  Our children ramp UP when they are sick and they spend most of their regular time at a clear 10/10 so maxing into overdrive is not ideal when parents are sick.  Thank God for Netflix - we would not have won any parenting awards this weekend...kids would you like to watch another movie?

On Saturday night after yet another day mostly in bed (I believe I sat up on the couch for 20-30 minutes) I decided I would sleep downstairs on a different mattress because I much prefer sleeping alone when I am sick.  I don't want to feel bad that I'm clammy or coughing and I like my own space.  Keith does not share these feelings but he is respectful of my need for sickness solitude.  So after I declared I was going downstairs I decided to take my laptop, my phone (I was on call), my blanket, my pillow and a MATTRESS down the winding stairs to the main floor.  Clearly the illness had affected my ability to reason.  Keith did offer to help me carry stuff which in retrospect was his way of saying "You are a crazy person that is clearly too much stuff but if I directly call you a crazy person you will try to carry all of it just to prove a point."  I said I was fine and obviously me and my perfectly capable ape arms and clear reasoning skills could navigate all my belongings down the 180 degree turn in the stairs at midnight.  I made it about 6 steps down before I slipped and fell the rest of the way.  As I was falling I thought 1) Don't scream you will wake up the children and then they will be up and you will have to deal with them again, 2) why is Keith always right it's so annoying and 3) Keith is always right I should have listened this was stupid - Ow!  I got rug burn on my left elbow and bruised my right hip so now my incessant need to lie down was hindered by the fact that I had pain when lying on my right or left side.  This was not my finest moment.  

Sunday was better - I disinfected the entire house and we washed everything.  The environmentalist fortitude I felt about not having a dryer here lost it's allure when we have tried to do multiple loads of laundry but ran out of drying space and I now long for our dryer at home (I am sure that Keith missed it from the first load since he does all the laundry).  Dryers are marvels of human invention.  

Monday has been better.  The kids have really only had the occasional cough since Keith and I got sick so they are a lot better.  I woke up this morning and was really stuffed up and Emily got in the shower with me then ran out and as I got out I hear "I pooped on the floor over there".  "Over there" turned out to be her bedroom.  So the fact that today started with shit on the floor and that was "better" can give you a sense of how things have been over here. Also side note: potty training and illness do not go well together.  Keith and I seem to be on the mend although at dinner he started coughing like an 80 year old man with emphysema and I decided that I would attempt my old nemesis the paska recipe.  This again demonstrates my terrible decision-making skills.  I love paska (Easter bread) and would love to be able to make it like my mother and grandmother however yeast-based recipes do not work for me.  This time however the yeast worked and I thought I would be victorious and my missing link must have been terrible illness and 2 gin and tonics (why had I not thought of that earlier!) But alas, the paska turned out flat- still tasty but not what I was hoping for.  It hasn't risen - it hasn't risen indeed. 

Keith had a Gin and Tonic tonight in hopes it's malaria-fighting properties would work against this dreadful cold.  Interestingly, I had also thought about malaria today.  Not because this was as bad but because it reminded me of the importance of having a true partner in a marriage.  This weekend we have had the amazing ability to come to the end of our rope just as the other person is rallying with their second or third wind and able to take over for a while.  We play to each other's strengths and we care about the other person's health more than we care about our own.  I realized that Keith had all those features when I had malaria.  I was so sick and didn't want to see the doctor (I think it's clear with all my examples that I make bad decisions when sick - agreed?) and Keith forced me to go to the doctor because I had told him that a fever in sub-Saharan Africa meant you had malaria.  He was right and I got treatment and pain killers and was significantly better because of him.  But the moment I really knew he had all the qualities I was looking for, indeed the moment I think I knew I would marry him was the next day.  We had traveled from Livingstone to Lusaka on a bus and were staying in a hostel overnight in bunk beds.  My friend Paul Neufeldt was on the top bunk and I was on the bottom bunk and Keith was next to me. I remember waking up in the night and being sick and mostly scared of how sick I had been and I got out of my bunk and took the few steps over to Keith and stood over his bed...despite my usual preference for sickness solitude.  He woke up, did not freak out or consider the implications of allowing a malaria-ridden girl into his bunk and without word or hesitation opened up his blanket.  With that simple act I was home and I knew he would be the kind of man that would make pancakes to let you sleep in, would take the kids to the park to let you disinfect the house and would run upstairs and grab the garbage when you have to clean shit off the floor.  These are not the stereotypical romantic parts in movies (and I have watched a lot of movies this weekend) but these are truly the romantic parts of life. 

P.S. When I told Keith I was writing about our illness he said "in case we don't make it?"  - don't worry we're not that bad.  

Rainy Day

It's a rainy day here in Melbourne - the start of a rainy week.  I love the rain.  It reminds me of times cuddled under blankets and rushing to the warmth of indoor spaces with family and friends.  It reminds me of my dad dancing around lamposts and my son dancing on our stoop - both trying to emulate Gene Kelly's iconic song and dance - singing and dancing in the rain.  I love the rain.

I associate rain with safety and cosy pockets of space and I wonder if people who's lives have walked vastly different paths than mine find the rain as comforting.  Maybe rain reminds them of their own tears and the darkness of the world.  I think of that sometimes when I care for patients with such horrible stories that there is no appropriate emotional response in which to react to them.  Their horrors are so unimaginable that I literally cannot comprehend it.  They probably never had a safe doorway to run to in the rain.  Maybe they found their safety in the raindrops, maybe a torrential downpour was a release.   Maybe they love the rain for different reasons.

I love this song (and Peter Gabriel) and on days like this it finds a soft spot in my heart.


Think It's Going to Rain Today

Zoovie

Last night members of the Melbourne Zoo got to go to the zoo after hours to watch a "Zoovie".  They had a large screening of the Jungle Book in the middle courtyard of the zoo.  It's a great idea.  It makes zoo members feel special to go to an "exclusive" event and at $15 a ticket it raises some extra money for the zoo.  Basically if you haven't gotten the impression I am extremely impressed with the zoos in Melbourne.

Reuben and Amy (my fellow fellow) had invited us to come and Cian was very excited to get to go out at night with his friend.  The zoo had mentioned you could dress up and when I asked what Cian wanted to dress up as the answer was clear...Pirates of course!

This time I realized we could use Crayola washable markers to make tattoos - that was a pretty spectacular realization....

Reuben and Amy picked us up and we brought the little beach chairs from our house for the boys to sit on.  This was Reuben's first public screening of a movie so he was pretty excited.  Emily was unimpressed she could not go along (you will grow up soon enough little one!).  We set up our blankets and chairs and while we waited for the movie to start there were some epic dance moves from both boys, a bit of a run and we also hunted for a sighting of the elusive giant turtle (he was not in his enclosure - I suspect the old guy was asleep).  Then it was time for the movie to start.  The boys were as excited about the movie as they were about the fact that they could now have the popcorn I had brought :)

The Jungle Book at the Melbourne Zoo - what a pretty fun memory.  "Bare Necessities" is one of Cian's favourite songs and "I want to be like you" is one of mine and so in general it was a pretty fun time.  Cian also was on his BEST behaviour which was sooooo good to see.  It was a great night that showcased his amazing gift of kindness: he made sure his friend was warm enough and had enough snacks and could see the show and had something to drink.  Not only was it a good night for him but it was a good night for me to be reminded of just how kind a kid he is.  We piled the kids in the car after the movie and they were both exhausted as it was way past their bedtimes.  A wonderful night was had by all under the lights of fireflies and the Southern cross.