The Adventures of Medic Meg and Andy Pets

Giveaways!

2011-12-11T02:32:00.001Z

So I'm way overdue for another post, but it's not going to be today, but soon! Today I'm posting links for a couple giveaways on my friend's blogs, I participated in the blog Scavenger Hunt and had some good fun doing it. Tonight is the last chance to enter on these two book giveaways.

Jen's Writing Desk Stephen King's On Writing
JenniferJensen.com The Goodbye Quilt

Good Luck!

Halloween

2011-11-03T19:41:00.000Z

Waiting for bus back from the Trunk-or-Treat, there were 4 cars and our stroller!

Since Avery was a polar bear we decided to do our stroller up as the North Pole, took ages to do...

London

2011-11-03T19:34:00.002Z

We spent a few days in London last week, Andrew's brother Jared got his mission call to Perth, Australia. So we all headed over to the London temple with Jared. It was a good experience for all involved and we had a good couple of days. It was also Avery's first trip and she was amazing on the plane, slept both ways, didn't cry at all and was great overall. On our way back to Stansted we stopped in Greenwich and visited the market there. Greenwich is a district of South London and is most famous for giving its name to Greenwich Mean Time. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were both born there. There has been a market in Greenwich since the 14th Century, but the present market dates from 1700. A picturesque little town but we only stayed a couple hours.

Dual Citizenship

2011-10-20T20:21:00.000+01:00

Just in time for our trip to London next week, Avery Kate is a Dual-Citizen of Ireland and the United States. Pretty cool. She's 7 months old today and ready to rock. Now she can work anywhere in the US and Europe when she's older. But for now she's satisfied with sitting up on her own, and getting up on all fours but not quite crawling yet. She's loved all the food I've given her so far except papaya, she had 4 spoons of that and then refused to eat any more, but I think I might have scraped too close to the rind so I think she could still like it, but for now it's too expensive to buy papayas anyway so no big loss. Other than that, this is a pretty happy, content baby.

Amazing Maize Maze

2011-10-03T22:39:00.001+01:00

I discovered this gem on the internet and decided it would be a great thing to take Andrew's brothers to. Something outdoors, fun, and different from the norm. So just outside Kilbrittain in West Cork exists McCarthy's Maze Trail, well, existed, it was harvested over the weekend so we got there just in time! We'd been planning it for a while but since our car broke down we had to plan it to be sometime when Andrew could take the mini-bus from work. We decided on a Thursday after school because it seemed to be the only free day. The days leading up the Thursday we'd chosen (which also happened to be the last possible Thursday before they harvested) were pretty dire weather wise. Rain, rain, and more rain. Weather reports said mostly cloudy for our chosen day and it was definitely overcast on the day, and of course started to rain on the way there. We picked up Dean and James and Jared came too because we had the mini-bus. We decided to go the back roads, but the back roads in Ireland in a mini-bus may not have been the best idea, however, we made it only having to U-turn a few times. The closer we got the foggier it got, but we decided it was cooler that way. Since it had been raining all week including that day, we had the maze all to ourselves. We pulled into the field/parking, and saw that no one was there. Luckily a guy in a tractor passed by not 5 minutes later and he stopped and said he'd send someone right up. A lovely lady showed up and brought us to the entrance and explained what we were looking for in the maze. There were 2 mazes right next to each other, a smaller, 1-acre, warm-up one, in which we were to find 6 animal statues and then find and ring the bell once we've found all of them. The larger maze was 5 acres, and there were 12 signposts with symbols on them which corresponded to letters on a sheet of paper she'd given to us which we then had to rearrange to spell two words.

So we set out and blitzed through the smaller one fairly quickly and were already muddy and soaked. But we had fun, and then set out into the bigger one, which again we had all to ourselves so it was pretty fun. After a few comparisons to the movies Signs and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and some shouted Avada Kedavra's, we split up and found the 12 signposts and helped each other out. We then found the bell, rang it a few times and headed back to the entrance. When we got there we started to look at the letters we'd gathered (A L E M R E Y S A E C M) and the same man in the tractor came by again, stopped and asked how we got on. We told him we'd just finished and were starting to look at the letters. He said he'd give us a clue: "Áras an Uachtaráin" Which made it super easy. Well, maybe not easy if you're not Irish or live in Ireland. Nevertheless, James, the 9-year-old was the first of the brothers to get it. Overall it was a good experience, the boys had fun, and I'd definitely do it again. Here are some pics (only had the cell phone):

6 Months Old

2011-09-26T21:55:00.000+01:00

Ok, so kept meaning to update the blog, but nothing super exciting has happened, and then I said I'd do it next week and so on until it's now been 6 weeks...has is it really been 6 weeks? Guess so, well Avery hit 6 months last week, but it seems like that went way too fast.

She had a few firsts during the past 6 weeks so I will record them here for posterity:

On 29th of August she rolled from her back to her front and became an ambi-roller. She can now roll from front to back and back to front, she just hasn't figured out that if she linked them up she'd become mobile.
August 31st, we took her swimming at the Mardyke for the first time. She seemed overwhelmed at first but was soon kicking away.
September 10, first solid food, baby rice. Since then she has had banana, carrot, butternut squash, and a jar of Sunday Chicken Dinner, apple and banana breakfast, and fruit medley custard. She loves food, and so far has not disagreed with anything we've given her.
September 18th the bottom two teeth have broken through.
September 20th, 6 months old today and she was weighed and measured as part of a study we're involved in. She is 15 lbs 3 oz (6.9 kg), just below the 25th centile. 25.5 inches (64.8 cm), just above the 25th centile. Head circumference is 16.6 inches (42.1 cm), which is between the 9th and 25th centile. All of which means she is growing at the correct rates as she was 25th centile in all three things at birth.

Other than Avery news, Andrew graduated from college, with a BA in Economics and Politics. Nothing exciting has happened for me yet but I'm hoping I'll have a job soon, but in the meantime I'm studying for the boards so we can make the move to the States. And I can't find the charger to my camera so I haven't been able to take many good photos lately, but I'm on the search...

The first solid food--baby rice.

First swim

Corcaigh Abu

The Great Outdoors

2011-08-16T23:30:00.000+01:00

My brother recently told me that he thought my blog was of made up people, like comic book characters or something, Medic Meg and Andy Pets...so, guess he's never read the blog then, ha. I admit our adventuring of late has not exactly been crazy, but hopefully soon we'll live up to our blog title.

Until then I'm just going to have to fill the space with pictures of Avery. If there's one thing we know she likes, it's being outdoors, she loves it. If she's at all fussy indoors, it's insta-calm as soon as we step out the door. So when it's sunny, off we go. One favorite spot nearby is Fitzgerald's Park, there's a fountain, ducks, loads of grass, and a playground. And we also took her first trip to the beach. She loved putting her feet in the sand, didn't throw her in the ocean this time, but next time she's definitely going in.

Fitzgerald's Park

Avery's discovered she can grab her feet

Her first swing ride, look of pure delight on her

Inchydoney Beach

Tapas for 2

2011-07-29T00:45:00.000+01:00

So recently Ireland has caught on to the Groupon craze, there are several different companies out there doing the mass buying deals. GrabOne is one such company and recently were recruiting people who were passionate about deals and liked to write, and they'd let you in on the free stuff. So I of course answered the call, and was rewarded with that day's deal, Tapas for Two at Amicus, with wine and Affogato's for dessert. Only thing I had to do was take pictures and write up a short review. Sounded pretty easy to me and hey, who doesn't like free stuff?

I've been to Amicus a few times, but I believe the tapas menu is new, well, I have no idea, but I don't remember there being tapas before...the deal was for an antipasti platter, which was filled with different meats, olives, hummus, crostini, salads, chicken liver pate, and loads of bread. It also came with 2 glasses of house wine and we asked if we could have something else and they said no problem, so we had Cokes instead. And for dessert was an Affogato, which is vanilla ice cream with an espresso. I was a bit dubious that a platter full of appetizers would satisfy us for dinner, but by the time the last bit of ice cream slipped down our throats, we were definitely sated. Overall, not bad, that would normally set you back 36 euro, the GrabOne deal was for 17 euro, so nearly a 50% saving. But I must admit, I would never pay 36 euro for that, and I might be tempted for 17, but still probably wouldn't do it again. But we definitely enjoyed the night out and the food.

And now for what you all came for, an update on Avery Kate, who happens to now be 4 months old. She has made some developmental progress, which brings joy to the doctor in me, since it seems like that's all we learned in Pediatrics, at what stage should they be doing such and such. She can now roll from her front to her back and nearly from her back to her front. And she can push up with her arms when she's on her stomach. She started laughing a couple weeks ago, she'd giggle and smile before, but now we can get her laughing. She's now starting to reach and bat her toys and puts everything she can grab in her mouth. She's doing her best impression of a vampire since her two top incisors have decided to come in over the weekend, which is why she's producing copious amounts of slobber. She loves being outdoors and being held facing out so that she can see what's going on. So that's about it for now!

My personal favorite

Tales of Travels: Trivia Friday

2011-07-22T20:18:00.000+01:00

Here's a quick post, I guest posted for my friend's new travel blog, check it out. This is to tide you rabid readers over until I can get a post of my own up! Go on and have a guess, for getting it right you could have the privilege of the Trivia Friday title and could get to do next Friday's post! Proof of your intellectual superiority, who could ask for anything more?

Tales of Travels: Trivia Friday: "A big thank you for the guest post this week for our Trivia Friday! She sent in to me the clues as follows: 1. It has a colorful and varied..."

What's more American....

2011-07-05T15:40:00.000+01:00

Just in time for the 4th of July, Avery Kate is now an American citizen. We travelled up to Dublin last week and got it all done, the appointment was surprisingly fast, maybe 15-20 minutes and it was all over, dual-citizenship obtained. Now we just need to get her Irish passport.

For the Fourth we went to the Peters' house for a BBQ. We also played a bit of baseball this weekend so all things American. I provided a cake for the BBQ and also had the stuff for S'mores, however, we are in Ireland so of course the day ended with rain and we did not get to do the S'mores. Next time...

Whipped cream frosting topped with strawberries and blueberries

Red, white, and blue!

Mmmm, cake...

Whatchu looking at?

Memories

2011-06-13T03:13:00.000+01:00

I have many, many amazing memories from my time as a missionary in Germany. But there's one particular memory that keeps popping into my brain since Avery's arrival. Really it was such a small thing I witnessed, processed and filed away. I had no idea that nearly 10 years later this memory would surface. But surfaced it has and I'm glad.

My favorite photo of the Rodgers' Family from the mish

It happened one night at the Rodgers' home. Either the Rodgers' or the Halverson's would invite us over nearly every week, and often both in the same week, and we loved going the 30 minute train ride from Regensburg to Parsberg. Great families, great kids, great food, so it was always a highlight of the week. On this particular night, it was the usual bustling household, filled with lighthearted banter and laughter. The youngest at the time, Sarah, happened to be a little fussy. She'd been crying and other people had tried to calm and soothe her but nothing seemed to be working. After a few minutes, Rachel put down what she was doing (I can't recall what she was doing but probably preparing one of her mouth-watering meals) walked over and picked up her daughter, and simply held her close. It was like magic, she instantly stopped crying and they just remained there, mother and daughter, gently swaying back and forth. At the time I remember trying to look away, it seemed such an intimate, private moment, but at the same time I was mesmerized by the powerful bond so evident between them. I could not fathom having such an influence on someone.

Tonight I witnessed another such tender moment when Avery became distressed and began to heartily cry, something that really hasn't happened very often in her 12 weeks on the earth so far. Andrew picked her up and held her close and she calmed down straight away and fell asleep. It's amazing how having a daughter changes you, how your capacity for love increases so much you never thought it was possible. All you want to do is protect the little life that you've brought into the world, while knowing full well that she's not going to stay this size forever. But for now all we can do is to do our best for her and treasure up these memories.

And for Rachel, for me to remember such a seemingly insignificant moment, one that was no doubt played out hundreds of times in your home with each of your children, is a tribute to you. I'm sure you can't remember this specific time that I'm recalling, but as you can see it made an impact. You're an incredible mother and person. And thanks again for your example and for all the great dinners!

Discovered

2011-06-01T17:32:00.001+01:00

Someone's discovered her thumbs and it's driving Andrew crazy. He keeps trying to stop her. I'm in two minds about it, on the one hand I think it can be a hard habit to break but on the other she's pretty good at self-soothing herself with it. Anyway, she's a happy baby and seems to be growing like a weed.

Smiling

2011-05-23T16:36:00.000+01:00

We couldn't get on the internet for the past 2 weeks for long periods of time so I'm now updating.

Avery Kate started real smiles on Easter Sunday at 5 weeks old. She's now 2 months old and had her first immunizations today. She's still really good at sleeping at night, although she prefers our bed to hers. She's a good-tempered baby and is very fun to interact with now that she smiles and is attempting to laugh. She's still very squirmy and if you put her down she'll kick and squirm non-stop, but she's now a lot better about being put in her bouncer or on the couch, she can chill for a lot longer now.

Today is also the visit of Barack O'Bama, as they call him here. It's funny to see how the Irish media portray him. "President Obama returns home" is one of the commercials they've been running. Penney's is selling shirts with "Nobody's more Irish than Barack O'Bama" on them. But unlike the Queen, he's not visiting Cork, and I'm not going up to Dublin to see him. Ireland's had a busy week.

Here are some photos of Avery:

I've been trying to get one of her smiling, this is the best one so far...

Having a nap in her favorite place.

The English Market

2011-05-23T16:24:00.001+01:00

The English Market got a makeover for the Queen's visit. Here are some photos.

HRH in CORK

2011-05-23T13:17:00.000+01:00

For Avery Kate's 2-month birthday, HRH Queen Elizabeth the II decided to visit Cork. It was the last day of her historic first visit to Ireland and the activities of the first three days had gone well, despite the protests and controversy. The atmosphere in Cork was way more relaxed and they were encouraging people to come out and see the Queen. Cork had been getting a bit of a makeover in preparation for her visit. Did you know Cork is the City of Welcomes?

Avery Kate was obviously impressed by the Queen's visit...

Anyway, there were so many people there I had to go back up and get a stool to stand on so I could see, and then I had to lift up my camera above my head as high as I could to get any pictures, and I think I ended up with some amazing shots of the Queen. Haha.

Grand Parade

Exiting the English Market

This one would've been perfect if I could've seen what I was shooting, this is when she waved to our crowd before getting into her car.

Getting into her car

Even the horses have eye shields.

The massive TV screen on Patrick Street.

Great Grannies

2011-05-18T19:56:00.000+01:00

Avery Kate got to meet her 2 Irish Great-Grannies a couple weeks ago.

4 Generations of McCahill's

Great Granny Peters

One Month Old

2011-04-20T10:47:00.000+01:00

Well it has been a month of this parenthood thing. One of my friends told me it's a steep learning curve but way more fun than school. I'll agree with that. Andrew said yesterday, as Avery was sleeping on his chest, he was thinking about how he was so worried before she was born about having a kid and now it's just like she's here and you can't remember any other way of life. Meanwhile, it seems that Babies R Us has relocated to our apartment. Our chic city-centre apartment has become a sea of pink and pastels, burp cloths and blankets, car seats and bouncers and thanks to the generosity of others, the kid already has a wardrobe bigger than mine. Course she has to wait to wear most of it but she's pretty well kitted out for her first year of life.

Avery Kate is doing well. Still sleeping a lot but getting more alert every day. In her first few days of life she did this little squeaking noise before going into an all out wail. Now she has graduated onto grunting noises, she's very good at them. And she's very squirmy, if she's getting agitated her arms and legs start waving and kicking all over the place. She really likes her arms free, if we swaddle her she will always work them free. She's putting on the weight and starting to fill out her clothes so we are starting to use some 0-3 months sizes now, mixed in with her newborn sized stuff.

She had her first adventure at 2 and a half weeks of life. We had an appointment at the US embassy in Dublin to report a foreign birth and get her US citizenship and her US passport and so we headed up to Dublin and a bit more than halfway there our car broke down, and I mean completely broke down, horrible noises from the engine...so we called roadside assistance and waited for like 2 hours for them to come, so I had to feed her in the car and I think she was too hot because after I fed her and just before the roadside assistance guy showed up she puked up everything on herself and my leg and the car seat. It had to be everything, usually she just spits up a bit but this was like the entire contents of her stomach. It was lovely. So then of course she was hungry again. Anyway, the guy checked the car and was like yeah, I'm gonna have to tow you to nearest garage, which was like 8 km away. So then we pile into the tow truck and Andrew holds her car seat on his lap as we drive through the Irish countryside to the nearest village where the mechanic there tells us our engine's ruined and we need to replace it for 600 euro. The car's not even worth that much so we had to scrap it. Stewy came and got us and we stayed overnight in Dublin and came back with Jenna next day. So, no car and no official US citizenship yet, but an adventure nonetheless...

Here are some more photos:

Example of squirmy arms.

2 Weeks Old

2011-04-04T00:24:00.001+01:00

Avery Kate Peters

2011-03-23T17:22:00.000Z

Here she is, born March 20, 2011, at 2:32 pm, 7 lbs 3 oz.

New Year

2011-01-04T15:47:00.000Z

Well, well, well, it's the New Year and I haven't updated the blog in 6 months...so I guess it's time to update the 2 of you who might read this blog. We just returned from Christmas in the States and a house full of nieces and nephews. It was a good time, a bit crazy, but it was fun, barely had time to do all that we wanted, visiting all the friends and family. We did a long layover in Philly so we could see the newest Nephew born, and lucky for us he was born the day we were meant to leave but we got pushed to the next day's flight and were able to see him.

But I suppose I should update on our latest adventure and that is the kid we're expecting on St. Patrick's Day...so that makes me 30 weeks along. We waited until 20 weeks to tell people just for fun. But all is going well and Lucy and Sugar threw a mini shower just before I left, so now we have our first baby clothes and even a stroller and car seat...crazy. We are working off the assumption that this is a girl, the doc said that he would've liked to have seen it clearer but his impression is that it's a girl...so that's what we're going on now, and of course we only have boy names that we both like. Andrew is vehemently anti Facebook announcements, so this will probably be the only venue for anything baby related to come...

Anyway, other things we were able to do was go to a Jazz game, Andrew's first NBA experience, visit a few friends with new babies and go sledding with the nephews, not to mention all the Christmas festivities. We also got to see Mark and Cat and fam including Maile who is now over a year old but we hadn't met her yet. So now we've officially met all the Nieces and Nephews. So now we're back in Ireland and back to the grind for now. Happy New Year!

Hahaha

2010-06-12T13:56:00.000+01:00

K, so my mom sent me this card recently, she thinks she's very funny and likes to sends cards that reflect how clever she is...

I'd like to know what she sent Mark...

The Floods of 2009

2009-11-23T20:22:00.000Z

Last week it rained so much that there were floods all over the south and west of Ireland. Cork got hit pretty hard and on Thursday night the rivers overflowed and parts of Cork were submerged. We live in the city centre and the floods came right up to our street but luckily did not go any further. UCC's lower campus was completely flooded and there was so much damage done to the buildings and to some of the student accommodation that they decided to close campus for the next week, everything was cancelled. Thank goodness, because my final year research project was due this week and I would've been ready but I will definitely use the next 3 weeks to make it even better! So while half the city has no clean drinking water (we do) and are not loving life right now, I'm so happy I don't have to present my project until Dec. 17! So I decided I have time to update the blog. Here are some pictures of the flooding.

This is Grand Parade, right by our apartment.

Another view of Grand Parade, entrance to the English Market is up on the left.

This is UCC's brand new Gateway Building and that's the bridge leading to it. Destroyed the building's ground floor, just opened up a couple months ago.

This is Washington St, right by the Courthouse. Also right by us, but our street was spared.

This Washington St., the road we walk on to get to UCC. Yes, those are floating cars.

Stand Up and Fight!

2009-11-23T19:59:00.000Z

For Andrew's birthday I took him to see a Heinekin Cup Rugby game, that's like the Champion's League of Rugby. It was Munster vs. Treviso, some french team at Thomond Park in Limerick. Munster killed them 41-10. Andrew loved it, it was his first time seeing Munster in person, now he wants to buy season tickets.

Here are the tickets.

This is Thomond Park. We were in the North Terrace, where there are no seats, you stand the whole time but we were lucky because all the action was down on our end.

And this is how they begin every game, Stand Up and Fight! With the 3 Irish Tenors.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

2009-09-12T14:56:00.000+01:00

Andrew and I went to a wedding of our friend's, Eric and Anne-Marie, a couple weeks ago. It was good fun and the reception was held here at Darby O'Gill's in Killarney. First time we'd ever been there. During the reception a great trad band showed up and everyone gathered round and sang Irish folk songs for a couple hours. There's just something about drunk Irish people singing. As they would say, the craic was mighty!

I'm gonna put some videos up but videos from a mobile phone are not the best...

The Wild Rover

Whiskey in a Jar

Fields of Athenry

Road Trippin'

2009-07-28T02:55:00.000+01:00

Andrew and I took off for a crazy weekend road trip to South Carolina to visit the Axtell family. I met Aimee and Michael in Regensburg, Germany on my mission. Michael was working for Siemens at the time and they'd moved there for a bit. We had some good times together and now's the first time in forever that I got to see them, and their 3 kids. Aimee was pregnant with the oldest one when she was in Germany, so it was good to finally meet the kids. We only got to spend a day with them before we had to drive back to Philly for work. But it was definitely worth the 1300-mile trip.

So I used to live in Virginia, but never really ventured further south, but we saw some great signs along the way and here are some of the best of them for your viewing pleasure.

Guess they come in all sizes in the Carolinas, big, tall, short, small, 12XL, size 84!!!! There aren't really any people that are size 84 are there?

Unfortunately we saw this one too late, but it says: It's your choice... and the tree's covering up a picture with clouds and the word HEAVEN, and you can see the other choice...

Pretty much any store called Booty Brothers is a store for me.

You know when you're in North Carolina tobacky country...

And my personal favorite, who wouldn't want to eat there!

Andrew's thoughts Part Deux

2009-07-28T02:40:00.000+01:00

Leaving New York, felt great to get outside the oven-like heat in the city.

The view from the boat, but why is it so famous?

Megan loves taking pictures of me...

Ya, saw the statue and it looks great. But tickets were sold out to go to the crown.

The madness trying to leave Liberty island, had people pushing their way onto the boat.

Spider Man does live in New York.

Megan really wanted another picture with the Late Show or Danny wanted to take a picture of us.

Danny picked a great place for desert, Serendipity3. It's possibly the only chocolate fudge ice- cream sundae I couldn't finish.

It rains worse in America than in Ireland!!!

What's in a blog?

2009-07-22T01:24:00.000+01:00

So after creating this blog I've gone through a dilemma of what to fill it with. Some people use their blogs to update friends and family about their lives with witty tales and amazing photographs, some use it as a cyber dumping ground for their thoughts, some use blogs to sell products or as infomercials or as opinion pieces, some write poetry or review things. I do not yet know what I want my blog to be. And so, I turn the time over to Andrew for his first ever blog entry...

Andrew's thoughts

2009-07-21T04:22:00.000+01:00

We went to a David Letterman show and could just about see him as we were put in the top corner seats. He was funny but we never watch his show when we visit here.

Alex says kids are a blessing. I was only playing with Nikki for a few minutes and was ready to sleep..think we are going to wait a few more years.

This is the only time Hersheys chocolate tastes good is when your making smores!!

Celebrating July Fourth weekend in Philly..but never celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

Sang along to all the Cheryl Crow songs that I know!!

This is the real reason why I wanted to go into the city..to check out the fireworks. They were class...

So we went to Washington...and found out that this tall pointy thing is there for no reason!! But had to get a picture anyway.

This site is for WW Two..America has more recent history to talk about than Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising.

Should I know this guy?

Yep that's about as close as they will let you get to the White House..and then they have 4 cops just standing by these gates!!

Summer

2009-06-06T23:48:00.000+01:00

Well, exams are finally over so I can update this blog. Andrew and I will be going to Pennsylvania for the summer. I have an elective at the University of Pennsylvania for a month. Andrew has his J1 Visa and is hoping to be able to work while we're there. My elective is in Pennsylvania Hospital and is in Neonatal ICU, so I will have to brush up on my neonatology.

Pennsylvania Hospital is the nation's first hospital founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond. It's in Center City Philadelphia.

Thursday night we decided to go up to Dublin and visit Cath and Stewy. We found out late Thursday night that Stewy had Friday off, and he easily convinced us to come to Dublin right then, so we left at midnight to head up to Dublin. Three hours later we made it there no problem. On Friday we decided to head to Glendalough. We'd never been there before so it was good to finally see it. It was a pretty nice day, cloudy, but no rain so perfect for a picnic near the upper lake.

Then we took the scenic route back to Dublin through Sally Gap and passed by this waterfall.

So it was a good trip and Saturday morning was back to the usual rain.

Ireland!

2009-04-29T00:03:00.000+01:00

This actually happened last Saturday. Where else would this happen? Ireland is the best.

And on another note, Andrew took his driving test on Friday and passed first time, which is good because in Ireland the fail rate is something like 60%. Driving tests are huge deals over here as opposed to doing Driver's Ed in High School and driving around the driving range and in the simulators a few times and they basically hand you your license. But man I loved that class. Good fun.

Funny Patients

2009-04-25T15:11:00.000+01:00

Getting to do different specialties is great experience and so far it has helped me eliminate a lot of things I don't want to do, such as gynaecology, psychiatry, opthalmology, dermatology, radiology and urology. So I just finished an Ear, Nose, Throat attachment yesterday and I've decided I definitely don't want to do that either. That's not to say I don't find aspects of each specialty fascinating because there are interesting things in all of them, but to choose it for a career, I mean I can't imagine looking at pus filled waxy ears, sore throats and snotty noses every day all day long, I need a little variety.

Anyway, there was a great patient who came into the Casualty Clinic the other day. He was probably in his 50s, and he came in because of wax-buildup in his ears. He was incredibly entertaining. Like a toilet overflowing, nonsense just spewed from his mouth. It started off when the doctor asked him to sit on the examination table, he looked at the paper pulled over the table and said, "That must be for an elephant!" To which no one responded and he sat down. While the doctor was preparing things to look and clean out his ears, he started to wax nostalgic. "When I was 18 I worked in a theatre and they told me to go work in the out-patients department. So I went there all I did was take off two bandages. So you never know." Awkward silence.

So he'd come in basically to get the doctor to clean out his ears, so when the doctor put a speculum in his ears to look inside he grabbed the bars at the side of the bed and wouldn't let go, the doctor brought the overhead scope down to look in his ears and he said, "I'm building one of those in my spare time. That's the problem with having a big head, you know too much." To which the doctor completely ignored again but we medical students stifled snickers. Then the doc started the suction machine to try and clear out his ears, and you'd swear she was trying to pull out his appendix through his ears! The knuckles on his hands were white from grabbing the bars and he was moaning and writhing around. The nurse came in and asked him if he was in agony and he said he was ok, but continued to writhe and moan, so the doctor tried the other ear. She only got to the point where she puts the plastic cone in his ear to look inside when he grabs the bars again and starts moaning. So she stopped and told him to go home, put in a couple drops of olive oil every day into his ears to soften up the wax and come back in a week. He objected to that, said he didn't want to because it's harmful. The doctor insisted it wasn't harmful and he replied firmly, "No, no, I don't want to put olive oil in my ear it forms an air bubble and can damage your ear by osmosis!" By this time we were nearly dying from laughter yet trying to maintain decorum, medical students are not supposed to laugh at the patients!

Anyway, I did learn a lot from this attachment but I definitely don't see it as a career for me. And hopefully I'll gain some relief from my perennial allergic rhinitis, I've discovered sinus washes and I'm testing them out, I'll let you know how it goes!

Eddie Would Go

2009-04-16T17:26:00.000+01:00

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for some time now and it's taken a sunny Irish day and upcoming finals to drive me to it. My mind cannot stay focused on medicine for 8 hours a day, I'm lucky if I get 20 minutes, I just have to attack it from different angles, 20 minutes here 20 minutes there type of studying.

Anyway, last Friday Andrew and I decided to head down to Garretstown and go surfing. I was surprised because I discovered the icy waves of Ireland some time ago but every time I suggested Andrew try it he'd decline, saying that there were no waves in Ireland. But this time he said yes, so we went and got the gear and headed off, it was a perfect day for it. We got there and struggled into the wetsuits which are a must for the frigid temperatures of the Atlantic and headed out into the swell. After a brief lesson on the pop-up, we dove into the ocean. I told him to just try and catch the waves first. So after a few tries of paddling into waves, Andrew caught one and rushed in towards the shore. Needless to say, he loved it, and wants to do it again.

And so my blog begins, and we may not fighting 20 foot waves and saving lives but we should always remember that spirit and when faced with something new or challenging say to ourselves, "Eddie Would Go."

Story behind "Eddie Would Go"

Born May 4, 1946, Edward Ryon Aikau was the third of six children to a Hawaiian family. His life became one rooted deep within the ocean - a pioneering lifeguard, passionate big-wave rider, all around waterman and Hawaiian traditionalist. He was lost at sea during an epic voyage in 1978 when the double-hull voyaging canoe Hokule'a capsized in storm seas in the Molokai Channel, en-route to Tahiti. Aikau paddled away in a rescue attempt March 17, 1978. He was never seen again. His life is now legend.
In the 1980s, bumper stickers and T-shirts with the phrase "Eddie Would Go" spread around the Hawaiian Islands and to the rest of the world. According to maritime historian Mac Simpson, "Aikau was a legend on the North Shore, pulling people out of waves that no one else would dare to. That's where the saying came from -- Eddie would go, when no else would or could. Only Eddie dared."