Making the Best of a Difficult Year
16 December 2013
Spare time has continued to be in very short supply. The weeks have flown by since September and suddenly we're at Christmas. My private practice has been its busiest ever despite me putting hard limits on how much I'm able to work in order to be able to keep up family commitments and stay sane.
Our involvement with the Melbourne Argonauts rowing club has settled to a fairly low level row once a week. The club has been expanding significantly and has been more active in regattas. We went to the major fund raiser for the year, Trivia Night, in mid-September. For the first time in four years we were not part of the entertainment this year. It was pleasant to relax and just try to answer the questions. I also did not row in the Head of the Yarra this year as the club entered four full crews without difficulty.
At the end of September and start of October, we travelled to the US. At the start of the trip we visited Las Vegas for the Olympia Expo with friends from San Diego. Here we are with Frank McGrath (and PJ Braun). We stayed at the host hotel for a fascinating look at the menagerie of contestants and industry representatives. We also happened to run into the guy who runs the gym we train at in Melbourne.
We had not been to Folsom Street Fair since 2005, and we found that not much had changed. It was a fun and very social weekend, seeing a lot of friends in San Francisco. Our friend Beau from Melbourne came with us to the events. We stayed only for the weekend because we were coming back a week later.
Our red-eye flight to New York looked like it might be disrupted when the elderly lady in front of me developed vomiting and chest pain. We were doubly lucky that not only did she improve but there was another doctor sitting next to her, so I didn't have to get involved. We did mostly tourist things in New York: visiting the WTC memorial, the Met and other sightseeing destinations as well as seeing Book of Mormon. We also caught up with friends from our 2010 trip: Charles and Chris and were pleased to have dinner with Billy, whom we hadn't seen for a long time.
Jay's parents had moved house in Thunder Bay and we visited to see the new place. The house is opposite the one where they previously lived when Jay was a teenager. We both had colds from earlier in the trip but we did some sightseeing across the border into the US and had breakfast at the Hoito. We will see Jay's parents again in March when they are coming to stay with us in Melbourne.
From Thunder Bay we returned to the Bay Area to visit Jay's sister and her family in Palo Alto. We had a chance to get reacquainted with his nephews and his brother-in-law took us on a tour of his work at Google. I made an album of photos from the trip online.
Jay headed back to Australia while I stayed on another six days in San Francisco for the American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting. I stayed with our old friends Joel and Sam and despite attending most of the meeting, I still had time to see friends and former trainees as well as fellow Australians who were there for the meeting. The CME hours from the meeting help me in the renewal of my California Medical License.
The day I arrived back in Melbourne was the 20th anniversary reunion of my year of Medical School. I had prepared the slide show of old photos, which involved putting together a great collection of pictures from University sent in by other graduates. It was fascinating to see how little some people had changed.
At the start of November, Mum's dog Zoe died suddenly from a heart condition despite intensive treatment. She was about 12 years old. This was very distressing for Mum, but as the dog had become a focus for her anxiety when confused, there has been the minor benefit that she has one less thing to be anxious about. My sister and I have both been spending more time with Mum while my father is having outpatient treatment. He will need to be admitted to hospital for a few weeks in the New Year, so we have not made any plans to travel until March.
For Thanksgiving, we invited some American and other friends for dinner. Jay maintained his turkey and stuffing cooking skills and our friend Kerry made a most delightful pumpkin cheesecake. Troy (left, above), brought genuine Mid-Western side dishes.
Christmas is with my family this year, so we will be staying in Melbourne with a few trips to the beach during the quiet time between then and Australia Day.
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Our involvement with the Melbourne Argonauts rowing club has settled to a fairly low level row once a week. The club has been expanding significantly and has been more active in regattas. We went to the major fund raiser for the year, Trivia Night, in mid-September. For the first time in four years we were not part of the entertainment this year. It was pleasant to relax and just try to answer the questions. I also did not row in the Head of the Yarra this year as the club entered four full crews without difficulty.
At the end of September and start of October, we travelled to the US. At the start of the trip we visited Las Vegas for the Olympia Expo with friends from San Diego. Here we are with Frank McGrath (and PJ Braun). We stayed at the host hotel for a fascinating look at the menagerie of contestants and industry representatives. We also happened to run into the guy who runs the gym we train at in Melbourne.
We had not been to Folsom Street Fair since 2005, and we found that not much had changed. It was a fun and very social weekend, seeing a lot of friends in San Francisco. Our friend Beau from Melbourne came with us to the events. We stayed only for the weekend because we were coming back a week later.
Our red-eye flight to New York looked like it might be disrupted when the elderly lady in front of me developed vomiting and chest pain. We were doubly lucky that not only did she improve but there was another doctor sitting next to her, so I didn't have to get involved. We did mostly tourist things in New York: visiting the WTC memorial, the Met and other sightseeing destinations as well as seeing Book of Mormon. We also caught up with friends from our 2010 trip: Charles and Chris and were pleased to have dinner with Billy, whom we hadn't seen for a long time.
Jay's parents had moved house in Thunder Bay and we visited to see the new place. The house is opposite the one where they previously lived when Jay was a teenager. We both had colds from earlier in the trip but we did some sightseeing across the border into the US and had breakfast at the Hoito. We will see Jay's parents again in March when they are coming to stay with us in Melbourne.
From Thunder Bay we returned to the Bay Area to visit Jay's sister and her family in Palo Alto. We had a chance to get reacquainted with his nephews and his brother-in-law took us on a tour of his work at Google. I made an album of photos from the trip online.
Jay headed back to Australia while I stayed on another six days in San Francisco for the American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting. I stayed with our old friends Joel and Sam and despite attending most of the meeting, I still had time to see friends and former trainees as well as fellow Australians who were there for the meeting. The CME hours from the meeting help me in the renewal of my California Medical License.
The day I arrived back in Melbourne was the 20th anniversary reunion of my year of Medical School. I had prepared the slide show of old photos, which involved putting together a great collection of pictures from University sent in by other graduates. It was fascinating to see how little some people had changed.
At the start of November, Mum's dog Zoe died suddenly from a heart condition despite intensive treatment. She was about 12 years old. This was very distressing for Mum, but as the dog had become a focus for her anxiety when confused, there has been the minor benefit that she has one less thing to be anxious about. My sister and I have both been spending more time with Mum while my father is having outpatient treatment. He will need to be admitted to hospital for a few weeks in the New Year, so we have not made any plans to travel until March.
For Thanksgiving, we invited some American and other friends for dinner. Jay maintained his turkey and stuffing cooking skills and our friend Kerry made a most delightful pumpkin cheesecake. Troy (left, above), brought genuine Mid-Western side dishes.
Christmas is with my family this year, so we will be staying in Melbourne with a few trips to the beach during the quiet time between then and Australia Day.
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