haematology hospital shizzle

****guest blog squatting here!!!! recipesonapostcard.com seems to have b0rked, so I have taken the liberty of posting my elective traveller type blog here for a bit while its home is fixed! so don't worry, the new activity does NOT mean I am having a lumpy relapse...touch wood ;) ****

Following on from my last post on recipesonapostcard.com......

If I'm honest, I'd kind of forgotten in the excitement/stress of all the travel that I was actually supposed to be doing some medicine at some point. Still slightly discombobulated, I started at the hospital on Monday - got the induction into the library, name badges, immunity checks etc, then was escorted to the Wellington Blood and Cancer Centre, which is v. similar to the Freeman Centre for Cancer Care, but with better weather (so far).

The hospital is in Newtown, about 20 mins walk from my hostel, maybe even less - I'm not sure yet as I tend to just wander along holding my coffee and marvelling at how not-cold it is for DEEPEST WINTER. (Seriously. I can get away with a shirt and cashmere cardigan. As IF you could walk to the RVI in that in December!!)I didn't manage to meet my supervisor (Prof John Carter) on Monday, but I did meet a fair few registrars and nice people on the ward. THe ward is just like any chemo ward - rather like my old one in fact, but with better views! On Tuesday there was a Bone Marrow Transplant clinic in the morning, general haematology in the afternoon. I mainly just hovered about smiling at patients...

My supervisor is a lovely chap but one of those incredibly busy people - however today he found time to buy me a coffee, and sit down with me and go over a timetable for me :D

It basically involves a fair few clinics, bone marrow biopsies (apparently I should be able to do some! because they're "easy, just a bit crunchy" :O!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eek!), time on the wards, journal clubs, lab work, etc. So I should be kept busy which I love! whooo.

This afternoon I was allowed to do whatever I wanted, even explore the coffee shops (my supervisor is a coffee aficionado like most Wellingtonians), so I skedaddled and located a shop very much like Waitrose but quintessentially Kiwi... ran around like a kid in a sweet shop again, buying wine and ingredients for dinner!

Dinner was NZ lamb with rosemary and thyme, roasted with a medley of veg (yams; unidentified squash, possibly kabocha; red peppers; onions) and salad. Mmmmmm managed to get the lamb perfectly pink and nommed it all down with salad and a fantastic Marlborough Pinot Noir. Life is good!

Loafing around in the lounge at present chatting to people - there's a good mix at this hostel: school trips, here to go to Te Papa (museum of NZ, very good); long term stay people who are travelling/working; and your regular travellers. And me. No idea what category I fall into - the long-stay people have normally been here for about 3 or 4 months! So I don't really count. But I do have my own bag in the fridge now...

(Oh, an update on the hostel situation: I stayed at Base Wellington for 3 nights, then decided that I couldn't hack the kitchen... no OVENS or GAS HOBS. or free wifi! How could I cope?! and it wasn't that social cos there were a lot of gap yahs and also it's affiliated with Kiwi Experience, so most people were just stopping off on their way through. So I upped sticks to Wellywood which has WAY better social areas and free wifi.)

Er that's about it so far - I get mega-tired in the evenings, probably a combo of lipreading the Kiwi accent, and remnants of jet lag, and just the travelling malarkey. So probably off to bed soon! Maybe a cuppa Earl Grey first.... I'm honestly starting to feel better the more ingredients/food stuff I accumulate!

much love and thanks for your facebook comments etc :) xxxx