Seatbelts fastened......

Hi all, it has been a very last time since my last entry to this.So much to fill you all in on!!Where do i begin!!!??I literally could write a book!!!

However, currently I am after eating a beautiful dinner, drinking some amazing wine and I have a smile on my face that no possible Louboutin Shoes could ever buy. Today, i had thheeee most amazing experience.
I really did spend an awful lot of time reflecting on how lucky I am and i also thought about what I had really done to deserve all of this good fortune.

Today, I spent the morning with the rapid response cars in Joburg and then spent an afternoon flying with the media helicopter.

The shift started at 6.30am ....which imediately started with a call to a road traffic accident. It was crazy!!There were cars and people everywhere!!We brought the patient to Joburg General hospital which was unbelievably crazy for 6.30am on a monday morning.We went to resus with the patient which had at least another 3 seriously ill patients getting tubed. It was an eye opener into the reality of Joburg. What really stood out though was the doctors comment as he approaced our patient. "okay guys, is this the gunsghot victim?". I mean 6.30am on a monday morning and he comes strolling in with those words falling off his tongue!
We then travelled around Joburg at a speed that was unreal. 180km/hr at one point!!OH MY GOD!!

But the highlight was still to come...

At 4am I was dropped at the airport to be greeted by two pilots and one paramedic. This was the "media" flight. Basically at 4am they do a flight for 2 hours over Pretoria and Joburg and do a traffic report. ON the other hand the paramedic also looks for accidents..and if there is anything then we land!However, unfortunately today there were no accidents visible from the air. So here we were up in the air, with the pilot flying over all of the parliment building etc...just for my sake!! In the middle of it all, the paramedic does a live traffic report for one of the radio stations. I just sat there pinching myself!!I just could not believe that this was really happening.

When we landed, the man who has gone far beyond his call of duty to organise this for me...was there to meet me. He came over, shook my hand and said, "Pleasure to meet you Laura. You are the first ever international person that I have managed to pull stings for...and I really hope you have enjoyed it". I mean...I was speechless. It was unbelieveable. He had everything sorted down to a tee for me. Organised lifts etc.

He came the whole way out to that airport just to meet me, have coffee and then drop me back at my hotel which is at least an hour away.

When we spoke, I realised that i have somehow managed to manouvere my way into a sort of elite group of "flying doctors". We know Zane Perkins (his best friend) from London HEMS, Brian Carlin (who he worked with for a year) who basically is the guy who has propelled me into all of this pre hosptital care malaracy, Patrick McGoey, an Irish doctor who actually works in Glasgow who also worked in South africa with Dr Hattingh and finally the trauma surgeon that was my supervisor in Cape Town. What a small small world.

To be fair to Brian Carlin, I owe him more then I will ever be able to repay. He has truly helped me and really gone out of his way to pull a lot of tough strings for me and has always always remained true to his word despite being constantly busy with his affairs as director of BASICS UK and now with his new Professor job in UCD. I owe him one big Irish whiskey.

In addition this doctr here has really also gone out of his way. HONESTLY!All of the paramedics today, who have worked with this company for years have never ever been given the oppurtunity to fly!Even Dr MacGoey didnt get the chance; the strings were never pulled. I have no idea how or why i have been blessed with such good fortune this year, but i will be truly grateful for all the experiences I have had!!(For some strange reason....they have all randomly involved helicpoters!??)

Anyhow, my day tomorrow begins at 6am. Working on the air ambulance tomorrow for the day. How unreal is that???Joburg HEMS??A flying shift!I am honestly sitting here pinching myself.

I have such a smile and just so much excitement that I dont know where to vent it ....and all I can do is sit here at type and drink wine to try and rid myself of it so i can sleep tonight!!

Honestly, I have just been truly priviliged for the summer that I have had. Utterly amazing.

In brief, i have just changed my fights to an aisle seat; sitting next to two sleepy fat americans on the way, who fell asleep at the sound of the airoplanes engines...was disasterous for my bladder.

Botswana and Zimbabwe are unreal. What a once in a life time trip!Will properly give a full account of that trip soon.

To add to my ,"what i will never do again list". Well, as I suspected the cheap sunglassses finally gave in and packed it all up. They just suddenly decided to break one day..and fell to a sandy grave in Namibia. Of course this left me desperately searching for a pair of sunglasses in Namibia. Typically......all i found was a pair of glasses that looked like something worn in the front row of Milan fashion week!!They covered half my face....and really did not fit the whole safari look!!i can only imagine how stupid i looked heading deep into the wilderness of the okovango delta using them as eye shields so they bushes we passed on the way didnt take my eyes out!!!They did they trick though, even if i did look like a right eeijit!!

I could keeping typing to fill you all in on the last two weeks, but i shall leave you with this amount now.

In conclusion, I am happy to be back in south africa. A hot shower, carpet on my feet, no sand, no whinging, no french, no more washing dishes with water from a river....just some peace and quiet. However, despite really looking forward to seeing everyone, Ger was right. I am very sad to leave. I am not finished here, and I think I know i will be back. The world is your oyster here. If you want to learn...they will teach. If you want to see, they will show. I want to come back here....see some more, learn some more, and drink some more wine of course. I have seen the likes of Patrick return to work in a&e in Glasgow and his skills and confidence are second to none. The exposure to trauma and the oppurtunities that you are presented with here shape you into an excellent well rounded doctor with a perfect balance of practical skills and academic back up. I certainly aspire to that.

For now I say slaaplekker! (goodnight in dutch! i have spent a month learning it now.cool langauage!). Heading for a bath and also to pack away my ridiculous collection of wooden elephants and family!

Talk to you all from the other side of the equator very soon.

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