After an interesting time away, I am back in the practice in full swing.
I look forward to seeing you again.
Last weekend I attended my class reunion in Wellington - it is 40 years since we graduated. It was so good to catch up with old friends, and find out what they are up to now.
I gave a talk on the Christchurch Flower Essences, and they seemed to like it.
The Professor of Pharmacology said afterwards that there are psychological areas that drugs don't cover, and his wife has been looking at complementary medicine as part of management of cancer.
One of the wives (a ward sister from my junior doctor days) understood what I was saying, as she gardens and likes being out in nature. I gave her a set of Blended Essences to take back home.
She said I was very kind in my junior doctor days, and polite to the nurses and patients, so that is good.
Her husband says a lot of his patients in London go to Dr Mistry's shop down the road for remedies, and they seem to get better.
It was interesting hearing about the English National Health System.
Because of the European Working Time Directive doctors are only allowed to work 48 hours a week, so are rostered on in shifts.
This means that they don't get follow up about their patients.
Because they are not attached to a "Firm" they don't get the mentoring they need.
Other people are suggesting that surgeons in training may need to do 5 years of advanced training rather than 3, because they are not getting enough experience under the current system.
(Incidentally, I was in the first junior doctor's strike in the UK.
Normally I don't think I would take part in a strike, but I started a new job as a Medical Registrar, and was told that I couldn't work for the next 3 days, and wasn't given any orientation until then.
Then there was a very busy 24 hours, then more days off, then another 24 hours on, which made up our quota for the week.
This was particularly difficult, as it was in Essex, and they had closed one hospital and concentrated all their efforts on one other one. But there was freezing fog, and the others couldn't get in to work. I can't quite remember how that was managed.
It was over Christmas, and instead of the lovely Christmas dinner we had in hospitals in New Zealand they delivered some raw vegetables and an uncooked turkey. My husband had seen other members of the family preparing Christmas dinner, and he was the one who cooked Christmas dinner for the medical staff.
Remembering about Christmas in hospitals, the surgeons would always take their family into the ward and carve the turkey for the patients. I used to do that when I was a consultant too, but as it was a geriatric ward almost all of them had gone home to their family.)
Some of the UK people are coming back to New Zealand to retire, and others will stay because their children still live in England. Interestingly, a lot of the conversation was about what their children were doing, and about their grandchildren.
Interesting things, like one person whose son is a theoretical physicist at Cambridge, and is learning statistics to help him cope with the plethora of data.
We only had one member from the States, this time, a plastic surgeon from Miami Florida. On the boat trip to Kapiti Island he was telling us about his boat, which, as they do there, was fully equipped with a TV and a fridge.
There were some interesting talks in the "How I Changed the World" category.
One colleaguewas at the forefront of the discoveries about AIDS, as various pieces of information were put together, and was a UN advisor about HIV. He said that HIV is unique among epidemics because it has been brought under control.
One talked about the development and planning of mental health services in New Zealand. He had been in Ethiopia looking at mental health needs the week before.
In the Non Evidence Based Medicine session there were some fascinating presentations.
A neurologist talked about Rachmaninov, and postulated that he had a connective tissue disorder because of the span needed to play some of the chords.
A surgeon told about when he had a fractured neck and other people didn’t believe him until he had the XRays, and showed pre and post op films.
The oldest is a 74 year old rheumatologist from Townsville, and he pointed out that he had "rheumatologists’ knees" (bilateral replacements).
There were some sad stories, as well, of alcoholism, drug addiction and suicide.
We remembered our colleagues who have died, or developed major illnesses.
At the banquet at Te Papa, one of our colleagues proposed 3 toasts:
It all felt very significant.
Extra curricular activities were a trip to Somes Island, a wine trip to the Wairarapa, and a trip to Kapiti Island to look at and listen to the birds.
The Arts Festival was on as well, I got to a few exhibitions, and really enjoyed an installation which had 20 speakers in a circle, each one being from an individual singer in a Tallis motet.
But now it's very good to be back and home and back at work.
My dog Trixie spent the time I was away at an obedience school. She had a wonderful time, and has come back very polite.
I have arranged for my patients to have a discount for corporate membership at M1nt.
They are upstairs at 118 Victoria Street, just down from Vic’s café. There are two options:
With each option you will also get a free BIA (bio-impedance assessment), or a free PT (personal training) session, valued at $60.
They have an excellent personal trainer (Mike), and a very experienced nutritionist (Di), and also Pilates classes, massage therapy and reflexology.
They are a small gym, with personal service, and can cater for people of any size, shape or fitness level. There is more information at www.m1nt.co.nz. To qualify for this discount you will need to quote your chart number in my practice. You can find that on your last receipt, or you can email me at wisbell@thelighthouse.co.nz, and I can email you back with your chart number.