home from work on wednesday

Friday fish and chips

Oops

Finally caught up in clinic when the resident called about the induction: not getting into labour at all and now the foetal heart rate is too fast with deep decelerations, even on oxygen. I had hoped to finish the clinic but had to do a Caesarian Section. Furthermore I was holding up the surgeon's list.
The spinal anaesthetic was in, and patient on the table when labour ward called me to another emergency - slow foetal heart rate in the second stage. I hurried to the birthing room and quickly delivered the baby by vacuum extraction, in good condition.Then the bleeding started. I massaged the uterus and delivered the placenta, gave intravenous oxytocin, rectal misoprostol and direct uterine injection of ergometrine before the bleeding stopped then sutured the perineum and ran back to theatre to do a difficult Caesarian with a BMI above fifty.
On leaving, I apologised to the surgeon for the delay. He said if he'd known I was going to take so long he could have done another procekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Oops, I fell asleep again.

fragile x

Pregnant 18 weeks. Mother's half-sister has two boys with Fragile X Syndrome. She has a brother and two sisters, each with a different father, one violent, one schizophrenic and one a convicted paedophile. She has two healthy daughters and is now pregnant again to the same father, in a steady relationship.
She will have the carrier test but wouldn't terminate the pregnancy, regardless of the result.
Fragile X is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability. They are prone to ADHD, anxiety and aggression. It accounts for five percent of cases of autism.

happiness

reading a very insightful book by an experienced psychotherapist - I keep saying to myself,"Oh yes, that is so true" - but I don't want to appropriate his ideas. However, he started me thinking about happiness. You know, that thing people say about their children,"I don't care what they do - so long as they are happy," about themselves,"I wish I was happy," and about other people,"Money can't buy happiness," or at least so we hope. He says that happiness comes from something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to.
Happiness is really just a lack of anxiety, but those three things would seem helpful in getting there. Some people use religion, meditation or drugs to try to achieve happiness although the last one is bound to end in tears. They are all designed to make us less worried about ourselves. This is how love works - it focuses  on others rather than ourselves - especially if we can widen the pool of recipients.
The secret of happiness isn't a secret. It is a choice.

honestly

You should go to sleep too. Goodnight.

something to do at two

a.m. that is: identical twin girls still covered in vernix.

Quoting Gordon Livingston, I hope they are able "to find a satisfying way through life, this flicker of consciousness between two great silences."

Kate Miller-Heidke at the Famous Spiegeltent

Kate is a pop singer with operatic training who has been supporting Ben Folds. She has recently been performing with the English National Opera in John Adams "The Death of Klinghoffer." She can really sing but her songs are original and usually tell a story. She is a star in her home country. You Tube her: I like "Are You F*cking Kidding Me?" among others.

after the rain

facebook

my new facebook profile picture

conference

stayed with my older daughter and her partner in their flat in the suburbs, waking early after a night of rain

walked across the road to the train station with a public transport card I had been given by my wife but never used, a little anxious when I found it wouldn't work, but eventually was able to put money into it and use it successfully -  I felt proud of myself

train headlights in the distance

arrived in the city after changing trains 

walked in the wrong direction

trade presentations outside the conference room

an expert panel taking questions from the audience

morning tea in the middle of the trade exhibits - I took my cup away and read my book - I am trying to finish The Hunger Games before the film comes out next week

corporate art

back to the conference

leaving after a long day of lectures and reading 

walked through the city to get to the restaurant for the conference dinner - a long way on the other side of town but a good way to recover from the intense intellectual bombardment

giant bees - I don't know why

walking on but running late

caught a tram and was able to use the same card 

walked through typical graffiti-strewn inner suburbs

graffiti art

finally arrived at the restaurant

fancy men's room - toilet art

speeches

mainly set menu - the Syrah was very good

chose cheese plate over dessert

started out on long walk back to my daughter's place in an alcoholic haze

jewellery art

thank you for your support!

stencil art

symbolic art

sign art

advertising art

just leaning my head against the wall for a minute

 

art deco architecture

next morning brilliant sunshine

drove to a building of restaurants and shops along the river from the conference centre and walked past a Lindt chocolate shop

the river and the city, public art

abandoned chalk art

corporate sculpture art

back to the lectures - this one from a fistula clinic in India

decided to leave early

heart screening?

where are the exercise bikes?

now I see - Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard - scientology evangelists using E-meters: "electropsychometers", galvanometers used to assess mental state

a street performer saying to the passers-by,"Come and join us - I want to tell you about Jesus" - he was only joking

cake art

chocolate art

St Patrick's Day celebration by wearing funny hats and getting drunk on green beer in the early afternoon - nothing artistic here

decided not to celebrate, rang my wife and went home after two days of art, science and religion