Health Check, January 26, 2007

We have had a quiet few weeks here - getting back into the time zone and getting geared up for school to start on Monday. Elliott went to a daily swim camp last week and started guitar lessons. We went to the the Brisbane Planetarium and learned about the night sky in Australia. It was interesting to see how much astronomers have learned in the past 30 years since my school day visits to the Planetarium.

Since we don't have too much excitement, I have to resort to telling you my medical adventures. When we were in the US, I found out I had a Vitamin D deficiency. I could not believe that because Queensland is the sunniest place in the world and I play so much tennis outside. But I guess my obsessive use of sunscreen may save me from skin cancer, but it is now causing other problems! The upshot is I had to go for a blood test yesterday to follow this up. When I arrived at the Pathology lab, I had to wait outside for a few minutes while the ladies finished cleaning up. It turns out the cleaner was also the receptionist. Then it became obvious that the cleaner/receptionist was also the blood technician.

It seemed to me very Australian that one person should do all those jobs. Just because you have had some medical training, don't think you are above mopping the floors and taking out the trash! Don't get "up yourself", you tall poppy. The other interesting thing was there was no privacy for the patient. The door was left open and I was left to hear about the man's Warfarin dose and the woman's operation. The door was only closed when a patient fainted and hit the floor. At that point, there was a flurry of activity and the door finally shut. I will have to go and do this again in another 4 weeks, so I hope it goes a bit more smoothly next time.

The whole medical issue in a foreign country raises some issues. In England, we qualified for the National Health Service and did not have any out of pocket expense for medical care. In Australia, there is access to free health care - but we don't qualify. So having a minor medical issue is going to be a slight inconvience to figure out insurance and deductables and all that. Someone we know is going in for surgery on Tuesday, and that is even more difficult as the cash needs to paid up front. It does make me appreciate the old National Health Service or even having an HMO.

Back in Brisbane January 12, 2007

We have returned to Brisbane after being in the US for a month. Now, that was a bloggable trip! We went to St. Louis, Indianapolis and then to Tucson. It was great to see so many people in our family and also so many friends. I really felt I needed to see everyone after feeling so far away this year.

Some highlights of our trip were seeing the Gees Bend Quilting Exhibit in Indy, the Chihuly Glass Exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. It was great to act like tourists this trip and see a lot of museums and exhibitions.

Also, we really enjoyed the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. After Elliott's term long project on Lincoln last year, it was good to see how much we had learned!

In Tucson, we enjoyed seeing our piece of "desert scrub land" that we purchased last year. After exploring it with Laura and Dave, we have learned to call it "succulent desert" instead. It is a fabulous piece of land with lots of cactus and a nice view of the mountains. It was fun to dream of projects for the place and make plans for a future home. However, all of it seems rather far away in the future. Tim and Elliott have decided they really like Australia and don't seem to be in any hurry to return to the US.

After a gruelling 13.5 hour flight from Los Angeles, we arrived back in Brisbane. It is nice to back in our own beds and in our own house, but we will miss all the family and friends we have left behind. We have some jet-lag, but there is no rest for the weary here. Quickly, we went to work for you and planned our first outing: The Crocodile Hunter's Australian Zoo. The zoo is about and hour and half from our house up towards the Blue Mountains. We saw the crocodile show and wandered around the zoo. The show seemed a bit tamer than I would have expected. I guess I thought the show would be a bit crazier with Steve Irwin's reputation, but it is a very slick presentation. The show finishes right at noon and you exit into the food court. Fun day out with friends, but a pretty expensive day. We will probably continue to be happy visiting our local Lone Pine Sanctuary which is much smaller, but much more low key. We stopped by there today between 4 and 5 pm. The nocturnal animals were just getting started and it was full of activity. We saw some cute baby koalas! I'll try and master posting pictures and really get this thing going properly - but I think that sounds familiar...

Happy New Year to Everyone!