just moved into my new house. its nice and comfortable and the kids and wife really love it. mafeitz is having a wonderfull time here.

sometimes, i wonder if i bit off more than I can chew.....different country, new workplace, new home, formal project, exams.....

but then again, i have been struggling for such a long time, that if i get things my way i probably wont know what to do!

mafeitz landed in Australia yesterday. He's in Perth, technically, he much closer to KL than he is to Melbourne. getting somewhere with organizing stuff in my life. I think..my new ipad might help a bit.
Happy I got a five star rated review from my bosses during assessment time.
checking out for now.

the season is starting to change. the days are getting slightly longer and warmer, quite an interesting. studies are slow and i am not exactly in one of my most productive and progressive times. there are several important things to get done and i intend to get them organized soon. or maybe i just need a break....

new updates

for the first time in my life, I chickened out of an exam.....

went on a motor home tour with the family. we toured the great ocean road with the family, went to the grampians, halls gap, ballarat and back. took a whole week. wife and I were exhausted but it was a good experience and the kids loved it.

just came back from the mount baw-baw. it was snowing and we went toboganing. Shastri and Ardithya look like they had been born into the snow. Wife felt a little cold and retired to the heated for most of the trip....

BACK AT LAST

At last I managed to get my blog back! I had some major issues accessing it and never set down to resolve them.

Melbourne and my work has been treating me well. My consultants and supervisors and mentor had been very kind and accommodating. They were also happy that I seemed to settle down well.

I initially had a confidence issue. I am now out of my playground, in a developed country and clearly out of my comfort zone. I slowly learned that working in busy Malaysian hospitals has prepared well for working here. I am also more on my toes.

Workouts are fairly regular and I am nearly as strong as I was in early twenties!

The baby is a giant! Wife and I think he is even bigger than the oversize Shastri. He's only six months but is well the 15kg range, and he's not a chubby kid. Just a big, long guy. He's learning to cruise and can really scream! He screams and screams in anger whenever he doesn't get what he wants.

Shastri is still the tallest in his class, and sounding more and more like an Aussie everyday. Ardithya is his quiet self, he really smart and independent and really doesn't kick up a fuss or trouble anyone.

Wife is busy, but coping well and even started gym sessions.

All of us are into wildlife and we have visited the Melbourne Zoo, and two open range zoo's.

There was unexpected bad news, Dr.Maslina died suddenly. Shocker!

Some memories. Shukor's one year passing came and went....

Friends (except for good old Sam) made in through the finals. Sam will make it the next time. Happy for them. Well thats's not entirely true. One or two raise great concerns as future anaesthetist. I am kind of worried as most of my family is based in KL and should any need surgery, I really wouldn't want these odd characters floating around. Anyone reading this blog will have no trouble in listing them down....Well there are plenty of good up and coming anaesthetist amongs my friends and the odds of my family being anesthetized by these odd ones are as rare being struck by lightning, I think!

working in western

My first week is over, and if the work routine is a sign of things to come, guess I am gonna be okay.

I was basically doing all the non-ot work an anaesthetist does, reviewing pre-op patients, doing post op rounds on patients who had a spinal/epidural (yup, they are all followed up here), setting difficult iv lines, attending code blues, doing acute pain and chronic pain rounds and I did venture in OT to see how things are done.

The patients are are treated very well, given adequate explanation about whats to be done and followed up. This is by no means saying the patients back home are treated badly! Its just different. For example, we don't write 'language barrier' when communicating with a non- English speaking patient. The hospital provides interpreters on demand. Its simply not acceptable to shove things into a patient without them understanding completely and totally whats to done. Which is the way it should be.

Another thing is that patients are never referred to by their race/religion/colour/sexual preference.....their names are used each and every time.

The nurses are indeed territorial about their patients. And any patient they touch is their patient. Their attitude is commendable, but for a newcomer like me, things can get sticky....I need to build up a good reputation and prove myself before I am to be trusted fully. I am out of my comfort and have to work hard, which is one of the reasons I came here in the first place. I probably want to prove to myself more than anything that I am capable.

Speaking of hard work, what are the hours like? Well, the week for a non-OT schedule is a solid 8am to 6pm day, from Monday to Thursday, with a half day of work on Friday and academic sessions for the other half. Work is hard, and you have as quick. Imagine, answering a code then doing and epidural before going to the clinic to see a pre-op patient! Snapping at any of nurses is bad idea! We don't have too anyway, they went out of their way to help me on several occasions. At six sharp, we can hand over to the afternoon person, (who works till 10 pm), then go home. The consultants present cases and discuss mortalities on Friday.

Its obvious, that while we work hard, great emphasis is placed on rest, recovery and education, so that we can be even more productive at work. Its something that doctors in Malaysia should strive for instead of taking pride in how many hours they work without falling asleep!

Next week, its a different schedule...

In Melbourne

Life has been very, very hectic!

Psychiatrists' listed house moving as the second most significant stressor in a persons life. Try moving to another country and starting a new job at the same time!

There were numerous hurdles to overcome. Packing goods was backbreaking, tedious and painfull. Total damage; more than 800kg of goods sent...then there was financing to organize, visa's to chase....the list never seemed to stop

Upon landing, there was more fun and games to follow. Good thing, dad organized an apartment in the heart to Melbourne while waiting for our house in the suburbs to be settles.

Everything would have gone well if not for DHL's mess in delaying our goods! We managed to organize furniture(another nightmare! brand new self assemble furniture is not advisable when you a million things to settle-good second ones will do), a car. phones. internet.

Melbourne is indeed a very environmental conscious city, and all recycled garbage need to be recycled. Something we Malaysians should also take up seriously. Well, I don't have a recycle bin and had to take a car load of card board boxes to the recycling plant myself!

Mafeiftz had a baby during this time, congrats my friend!

We have been here for about two weeks now and things are falling in place. Tomorrow, I start work!