Tue. 19th June. WESLEY RESEARCH INSTITUTE.

To a lecture by Australian Nobel Prize Winner ELIZABETH BLACKBURN (Medicine 2009). She works in San Francisco and won the prize for her work on Telomeres and the discovery of the role of Telomerase.


This was a fabulous lecture. She is very enthusiastic and spoke mainly about her work over the last few years so it was bang up to date.


Also present - and looking as glamorous as usual - was Her Excellency the Governor General of Australia, QUINTIN BRYCE.


A splendid evening.

Wed. 2nd May To LHASA

In the morning, a quick look at Tashilunpo monastery. This is the seat of the Panchen Lama. Many locals were prostrating themselves but were closely watched by the police.

It was a few hours drive to Lhasa but as soon as we arrived we went into the old part of town - here the moslem butcher with his yak meat.

The Jhokang Temple, holiest place in Tibet. There were very few western tourists and I was amazed at the military and police presence.

Essentially there is a massive clampdown going on because of recent protests by Tibetans. This has taken the form of self immolation by monks and nuns. So far this year 29 have burnt themselves to death. It was therefore a little 'in your face' to see squads of soldiers patrolling the Barkhor (in the wrong direction) armed with sticks and fire extinguishers!

I was on the look out for these things. They are the medicinal 'caterpillar fungus', Cordyseps Sinensis. These little fellows cost $375 per gram. Almost 7 times more expensive than the current gold price!

Rounded off the afternoon with some Yak Butter Tea - an aquired taste.

Wed. 22nd Feb. Wesley Research Institute Awards.

To the Brisbane Sofitel for the Annual WRI 'Researcher of the Year' awards and cocktails. An excellent evening .

Check the WRI website - click 'Wed. 22nd Feb. Wesley Research Institute Awards.' above - to see what they get up to. Some very good quality research comes out of this organisation.

22nd Oct. DAY 3 Trekking

From	To	Distance	Start Elev	Finish Elev	Gain	Total Ascent	Total Descent
Thangthangka	Soe	7.0	3622	3900	276	417	141

My GPS data can be transferred to Google Earth to plot these 3D maps. (Clicking on it makes it bigger.)

This 3rd day started with a beautiful snowy morning.

However, after lunch Mary became seriously unwell. She went from eating lunch to being unconscious in less than an hour. We made her comfortable by the side of the trail and sent for help. It was clear that she had a Cerebral Oedema and was in trouble.

We were taken in by a family of yak herders. We got Mary up to their hut about 100 m. up the hill. There we gave her some Dexamethasone and the little oxygen we had ( one tank - less than 2 hours!)

Fortunately we had a PAC - pressurised Air Chamber - better known as a Gamow Bag. We put Mary in it overnight and took turns pumping. Joe and I were helped by Sonam, Tensing and Sonam's cousin. One of our team, Jigme, did our cooking. All we had to do now was get her evacuated by helicopter.

Sydney ASA meeting.

To Sydney to the Australian Society of Anaesthetists National Scientific Congress.

I gave a 50 minute talk entitled 'High Altitude Medicine and Physiology. The perils of getting high.'

It seemed to go down rather well so will keep it up to date and keep spreading the word - it's about Genetics and HIF 1 alpha!

Thur. 12th Aug. Arequipa.

Last full day of conference. One of the keynote speakers was Dr. John B. West, doyen of respiratory physiology texts. Still going strong at 82!

In the afternoon, a walk around the old convent of Santa Catalina - venue for the conference banquet in the evening.

Great fun at the dinner. I sat with Neeraj and David Hillebrandt. John brought along a fine bottle of 20 year old scotch to celebrate the end of proceedings. Spot of trouble finding my way back to the hotel!

Tue. 10th Aug.

The conference was going well. Met up with Neeraj Shah, a medical student from Kings in London who had a poster presentation.

Dropped into a museum in the centre of town to visit Juanita the Ice Maiden. She is a 500 year old Inca mummy whose body was discovered at 5,000 m. on Ampato a nearby volcano in 1995.

Lunch in a French restaurant had been arranged with John McCall my Glaswegian/Canadian/Orthopod friend from the Annapurna trip. We settled in for the afternoon.

By the evening John was accompanying Bryan, the American guitar player, on the harmonica.

EN ROUTE TO PERU

Having a 7 hour sojourn at Santiago airport before flying up to Lima in Peru and on to Arequipa.

I'm attending the 8th World Congress on High Altitude Medicine & Physiology and then doing the tourist trip to Macchu Pichu. Many photos will be taken.

Hoping to meet up with John McCall who was on the Annapurna jaunt. It seems he wants us to climb a 6000 m. Volcano! Hot stuff.

Day 3. Thu. 6th May. Walk to Nagarjung

A stretch of the legs in a forest on the edge of Kathmandu. We ran the gauntlet of the Maoist blockades and had a great climb up to the rim of the Kathmandu valley.

This is Chris, Malcolm & Joe.
At the summit was a Buddhist temple where Chris got his first group photograph.
In the evening we had a lecture from Sir Chris on his Annapurna II summit of 50 years previously. He'd climbed with Malcolm's father, Dick Grant.
After the lecture we handed over an oxygen making machine which I'd transported out. Dave Curin had collected $2,000 worth of medical goods and I donated an oximeter - all to CAN, Community Action Nepal. Sir Chris is a patron and Ian Wall the Kathmandu representative.

'CROCS' - NOT the ideal footwear for operating in!

I spent my usual day in 'theatre' yesterday and had an oportunity to try out my new little camera - it's a 'Fujifilm - Finepix' which was cheap but has an underwater housing I can use when snorkelling.

Anyway! - a friend of mine who is a surgeon took it upon himself to try out those clog style shoes called 'Crocs'.

Comfortable, plastic, and with ventilation holes!
Could it be that the holes which let evil vapours out might also let evil fluids in?
Here's the result. If I were Janet I wouldn't wash these socks I'd chuck them.

Annual General Meeting - in the Rainforest!

The Wesley Anaesthetic group has an AGM. This year we decamped to O'Reilly's Rainforest Guesthouse for 2 days of chatting, voting, hug-fest.

Paula & I went up Friday night so we could get in a walk on Saturday morning - 17 km!

It took us 5 hours as the trail was awash in mud.

Came across this 'Lamington Spiny Crayfish' on the trail.

We walked past 20 or so waterfalls.

In the evening there were about 40 of us for drinks & dinner
Next morning view of Mt. Lindsay (on the left) and Mt. Barney (on right).

OUCH!!! Tue.18th March.

Tuesday evening George was asked to make up the numbers for Brady's Indoor Soccer Team.
After a collision he fell on his elbow - posterior dislocation, fractured head of radius and a chip off the anterior surface of the ulna.

This would have to hurt!

He had it popped back at the Wesley Emergency Centre and the next day had a CT scan.
It's a 'backslab' for only a week then gentle mobilisation.

Unlucky!

This summer has brought an end to our 7 year drought with some serious flooding in Queensland.
This girl was unlucky enough to be run over by a motor boat at a place 700 km. inland!
It could, of course, have been much more serious if it were her head, chest or abdomen that had been hit.

WHAT I DO ALL DAY!

It would seem that few people actually know what Anaesthetists do all day. They especially wonder when they see the size of the bill.
But, at last, all is revealed.
A couple of English doctors who 'entertain' on the side have written a little ditty called 'Anaesthetist's Hymn' which can be seen in it's total one and a half minute glory by following the link below;

Check it out on You Tube Here

The 'Amateur Transplants', as they call themselves. are also responsible for 'Titanic', about penis size, 'Beautiful', about a paedophile lover and, best of all, 'London Underground' which can be appreciated by anyone who has ever been on a subway system.

'Enjoy' as they say in America.

Work

I don't want to put too much medical stuff on the blog, but this case was exceptional as a photo opportunity!
I was on-call last night. This poor guy works in a saw-mill. He was by himself when this stick was driven through his arm. It was so long he had to saw it off with his left arm then get help. Luckily it was a 'low velocity injury' so the wood bounced off the bone without breaking it and also pushed it's way between muscles, nerves and arteries without tearing them. He will make a full recovery. Lucky guy.