I’m planning on making Thanksgiving for my Aussie hubby and a few American friends. I know that I seem to miss home so much during October and November.

Since Australia doesn’t celebrate Halloween like America does and the lack of fall stuff; no fall foliage and no pumpkin spice lattes, I found myself feeling homesick during this time of year. So as I’m starting to plan the typical American Thanksgiving, I realise that I have no idea where to buy a Turkey. Most grocery shops have some frozen turkey breast, usually no more than 2 kg. This would be fine if it were just me and my husband, but I need something bigger this year. So, I went search online for turkeys and I nearly lost it at the cost for a 8kg turkey.

Are you kidding me?! I’d never thought I had to pay so much for a turkey. Luckily, I found a butcher and I should be able to get a turkey for around $80 (still ridiculous!),

But finding a turkey isn’t the only challenge. They don’t have fresh cranberries here. Few if any stores have pumpkin purée and there is no such thing as pumpkin spice in this county. I found USA foods last year and I was able to purchase a tin of pumpkin in off seasons, but it was always sold out for months before the holidays. So this year, I got it early.

I’m going to be ready for Thanksgiving this year.

For the past three months, I have been working on a project with my boss, educator, and several other employees at my hospital. We are getting close to our go-live date for implementing our new charting system. I’m glad that I’ve gotten to shine a little bit over the past few months, but I’ve been in the spotlight more and more as the training has started. I love teaching and educating. It’s my ultimate goal for my career. The one thing I’ve been heading towards since I got my Masters degrees. I’ve done the manager thing and I hated it. I’ve been in middle management and in truth, it’s where I have always been most comfortable. It’s always been just the right amount of responsibility for me. As a newly-wed, the last thing I want to do is have 24 hour accountability. But I am ready to step out of my comfort zone. I was offered an opportunity and I really want to change it, but I also know other changes are on the way. What if I make the wrong decision? Can I make this work for me?

I’m very excited and nervous, but so ready for what might be.

It’s a long weekend and I am so happy to have a few days off. Work has been keeping me very busy. I’ve been working at least 12-14 hours extra over the past few weeks and it has been exhausting. As we get ready to ready to launch our new charting system, I’m drowning in computer work. But I’m so excited because I’m finally becoming involved. It’s has been years since I have truly worked with a team like I am now. As a traveller, I’ve always been on the fringe of things; not having to get worked up over workplace politics, but now I’m dived in the deep end and I’m okay with that idea.

Now it’s Labour Day weekend and I have FOUR days off. I’m not doing anything, but enjoying the time off with my husband.

It’s been a very busy few weeks. At work, I was added to a team and we are preparing to train for our new charting system. I have to say it has been rather exhausting. It’s a very different system and while I can understand that in the future there will be benefits to this system, in the now…it is a very frustrating one to work with.

On Monday I start training with a few of my co-workers. Over the next three weeks, we will be training over 400 nurses. Should be an interesting experience.

In other news, this last month has been fraught with worry. Starting a few days after 9/11, Australian news programs began discussing the rise in the terror level and the number of Australians that may be fighting against their own countrymen. A few days ago, there was a police raid in several Sydney suburbs. The government had incepted chatter about a possible terrorist attack. There was supposed to be a random beheading in Sydney…just a random citizen pulled from the street and beheaded for all the world to see.

These news broadcasts brought the feelings I had around 9/11 back in full force. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the news. I’ve been more anxious if I don’t hear from my husband when I normally do, but I also need to focus on the now and move past these thoughts. The police and military here are well prepared for this and I know this.

Just my thoughts as I relax on my day off. Australia isn’t all rainbows and puppies, but I still love it here.

As I am all cuddled up in my very comfortable bed; with an excellent view of Sydney, I feel so at peace and so happy. My husband and I are celebrating 100 days married today. Whilst it is a silly little celebration, it reminds me of how thrilled and scared I was to come to Australia. I chose to leave the US behind and move to Australia to be with my husband. It was a hard decision because Australia is so far from everything. It’s a little joke that has frequently appeared in our relationship.

Not only is the flight long, the time change is exhausting. Currently, it is a 14 hour time change. If I plan to phone home, I have to get up at a decent time or make plans for Skype calls well in advance. Daylights Savings Time occurs here in less than a month and then it will be a 15 hour difference. Eventually when DST happens in the US, it will be 16 hours.

When we flew to Europe for our honeymoon, it was a LONG flight. We were in the air for 24 hours. Thank goodness for a stop Singapore. Australia is so far from everywhere, but it is so worth it.

My biggest fear wasn’t relocating to another country. Instead it was “how to be a nurse in a different country.” All of a sudden I was even more grateful for my experience as a travel nurse. If it weren’t for my travels back home, I might not be in the situation I am in today. It’s likely that I would have been far more stressed out and may not have been able to adjust to the differences.

I’m working at a Private Hospital in Sydney. The hospital has the same beds, monitors, IV pumps, and ventilators as I’ve used in the past. Those similarities made it easier to adjust, but what traveler hasn’t had to jump in with completely different equipment and just go for it after 12 hours of orientation. That was the easy part. The computer charting wasn’t difficult. Like most computer charting, it was just a matter of playing with it for a bit and remembering where to go to chart whatever needed charted.

The hardest thing has been and continues to be medications. There is not Tylenol here; Only Panadol (which is acetaminophen, but that is besides the point). If you ask for Tylenol, you’ll only get confused expressions. No Advil; The Ibuprofen is called Nurofen or Hedafen. You can buy Nurofen Plus over the counter and it contains codeine. If you want to buy medications at the Chemist, AKA Pharmacy, you will need to consult with the Chemist and he will decided what medication is best for you. I just go to Aldi and get Nurofen. Much easier.

I think the first few weeks I spent hours staring at medications and searching for them in the medication book only to find out that these are medications I’ve been giving for years and I have to say it was really frustrating. Dosing was a roadblock as well. Magnesium is administered in mmols instead of grams. So I administer 10 or 20 mmols. Just the little things that make you stop and think.

Lab values are yet another hurtle. Pathology was something I didn’t even consider. We keep our patient’s Blood Sugar Levels (BSL) between 5-10. It took months to not block that out.

But when I was working earlier this week, I realised how much I really love it here. I was with an agitated, intubated patient. We were planning to extubate which meant no propofol or sedation of any kind. It also meant frequent Inotrope tritration to maintain blood pressure parameters. Up and down on the Norad (Levophed) and SNP (Nipride). Back in the US, I would have had 2 intubated patients or 1 intubated patient and one easier patient (depending on the day and the Charge Nurse), but at my hospital; intubated patients are 1:1 no matter what. I felt very grateful to be working in this environment.

Our fresh open heart patients are 2:1 as is our large Neurosurgery cases for at least a few hours. In our Grade 5 AVMs, we’ll have one nurse just to titrate drips when they first arrive back because the blood pressure parameters are so tight.

I’m sitting in bed,on this beautiful Sunday morning, feeling blessed beyond belief.

It’s a beautiful day here in Sydney.

I spent my arvo hanging out at our rooftop pool. 

On 1 September, it was the first day of Spring and this is such a lovely day!

I may have been here for nearly two years, but I have yet to get used to pronunciation of certain words. Medications are pronounced differently; names are pronounced differently, and most of all, letters have different sounds. 

When discussing the letter “Z”, it’s called Zed. If you say the “H”, it is pronounced. “aitch”. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m very happy that I arrived months before I started my job. While I still say say huh quite often, I understand much more. 

Phrasing is so different as well.

If discussing is about the season finale of a show on television or telly, it will be the season Final. If a show is on next Monday, it’s on Monday week. 

We’re going to Hospital instead of going to the hospital. Crook equals sick. Chock is chicken. And an Esky is a cooler. 

Whilst it might take a while to get used to the sayings or pronunciations, it’s fun to learn new ways of saying things and it’s even more fun to argue with my husband about the proper way to say it and pash after play flighting. 

Two years ago, most of these statements would thrown me for a loop, but I’m finally getting the hang of it.

 

MUH is hiring. I’m so excited that MUH is willing to looking at overseas applications as the Nursing Unit Manager has posted job listings. We are expecting a Nurse from England to add to our very diverse workforce. So if you are an ICU nurse and have started the AHPRA application process, you should come to Sydney. 🙂

 

Today is the first day of spring and the first day it hasn’t rained in a few weeks. It is gorgeous!

Today is the first day of spring and the first day it hasn’t rained in a few weeks. It is gorgeous!