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Can't believe it's nearly a month since my last post - apologies to my fans (both of you). Life has been busy, so I'll try and summarise it.
Independence day (known here as July 4th holiday by everyone - oddly no-one calls it Independence Day) came and went. I worked on the Saturday 3rd July (the weekend was staffed basically by the Brits - which is fair enough). It was busy. Really busy. We had 5 theatres running at one point - meaning I had to call in 2 back up faculty, and on top of that we had emergency airways on "The floor" (the wards). The done thing on July 4th holiday is apparently have a BBQ, drink lots of alcohol and then set off fireworks - usually resulting in a surge of emergency hospital admissions for burns, etc. However, all our emergency's were non-firework related. We had a couple of laparotomies, 2 simultaneous emergency craniotomies for extradural haematomas, a spinal emergency, an ENT emergency, a few fractures (but not as many as you'd expect) and other stuff that I've forgotten by now.
Some of the towns hold parades with marching bands, flag waving, etc., but we didn't get to go to any because most of them were on the Saturday when I was at work. On the Sunday the Chair of the Department held a July 4th party at his house / farm on the outskirts of Ann Arbor for the whole department plus families. It was a very pleasant evening with food, drinks, a volleyball competition and fireworks. Volleyball got added to my list of "Sports I'm crap at".
On independence day I made an effort to read the declaration of independence (online... not the actual one). I didn't make it all the way through. I have to say it starts really well, and if I was a colonist I would have been stirred into rebellion by it. Then it peters out somewhat.
This is the most quoted line in it:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
This is a great philosophy and a great national motto . Real nation building stuff. It was much quoted by the anti-slavery movement, the civil rights movement, Abraham Lincoln and even now by Obama. The only sad bit is that it took such a long time for people to actually take the "all men are created equal" bit to heart. Slaves were apparently excluded at the time - maybe it should have been a bit more "All men are created equal, but some are more equal than others". Still a good start anyway. Unfortunately the declaration of independence then turns into a long-winded whinge about King George III which gets a bit boring.
Anyway - after reading it I've tried to take it to heart and pursue "life, liberty and happiness" in true american style. After a while though it gets a bit expensive so I've downgraded a notch to "life, obedience and being content"... If Britain were to declare independence, I think that should be our motto.
We've also been entertaining visitors (The Ramoray family) for the last month. We've canoed down the Huron river, picnicked in the state parks, mountain biked on the Pottawatami trail, Played Golf on one of the local courses (and nearly got thrown off for being so crap), played baseball in the park (and basketball), taken a road trip to Canada, Niagara Falls, and Cedar Point theme park in Ohio, had a trip to Las Vegas, shopped till we dropped and had lots and lots of wholesome american food (Pizza, burgers, wings and Chilli Dogs). In short, we've been going for the full American experience. Baseball and Basketball also got added to my list of sports I'm crap at.
Niagara falls are about 5 hours drive from here. The Canadian side of the falls are by far the more impressive view. It's definitely worth a visit for anyone who comes here. They are spectacular - though I wouldn't spend too much time in the actual town of Niagara falls which makes Blackpool look classy. A trip on the "Maid of the Mist" boat at the bottom of the falls is a must.
Cedar Point theme park is a huge theme park about 2 hours from here with roller coasters that would impress the most seasoned adrenaline junkies.
Las Vegas is... well I'm sure you've seen the movies.
Work is going well. My list of new things I've done here keeps growing. I had one day where I had 5 of the most difficult airways I've ever managed in one day (maybe with the exception of 1 I had in Bangor once). I haven't had any disasters or any complaints, so I assume I'm doing OK. We're meant to get an evaluation in the next month. The residents and CRNAs fill out a daily online form scoring us on our supervision and teaching skills.
The newbies are settling in very quickly. They work very hard, and are given a lot of responsibility from the start. It's a quick learning curve and it must feel like sink or swim. I really feel for them, cos they look so scared half the time. I quite like teaching the new guys though cos they don't yet know any different, so they're quite happy to do everything my way.
And so life goes on... nearly a third of the way through our year here already. It's still living up to everything we hoped for and more. We've made great friends here, but we really miss our friends and family back at home, and hope we're going to have lots more visitors to entertain.
Until next time - live, be free, be happy.
Drake.
