back from the coast

i would call myself a city girl, i grew up very close to the second biggest city in america-i lived for about 10 years near the biggest city in america and i don’t think i ever lived anywhere that i couldn’t thow a rock from my front door into my neighbors yard…so traveling to some of these remote ish country hospitals is kind of interesting.

it’s always the same, the view from train is progressively more fields of cows, sheep, pigs and horses and less houses and buildings. it’s not a bad thing and in fact it’s quite pretty. yesterday i went to great yarmouth, the end of the line in a lot of ways, this map was helpful for me to see where i’d been

i’m still trying to get past my first view of great yarmouth which was of trying to get off the train and get around the middle aged woman holding a can of strongbow (beer) at 10 in the morning…waving good by to the younger woman and baby as they were waiting to get on the train…sarah just whispered “i think this is a deprived area”.

we went to the hospital and were met by a really dedicated and friendly bunch of doctors and nurses. they seemed nervous to meet us but really gave us a warm welcome and shared alot about themselves, the area, and their patients. their equipment was as good or better as what we have at the “palace” (that’s what i call the new hospital in birmingham”.

sarah aked if the area was deprived and they said oh yes definitely, high unemployment, poor road access so no prospects of attracting industry, heavy smokers, drinker and druggies and obviously that impacts the kinds of patients you get…they had some unusual stories about some of the patients they get-people found unconscious and without ID laying on the beach…people falling off piers and ferries…people who try to get around traffic jams on the single lane road by driving in the ditch and then their car tips over and they drown because they didn’t realize they are in a marsh and the ditch is full of water…

they have a ferry to holland and we discussed a case in detail where a dutch man had to be winched off the ferry because he developed this dramatic swelling in his face that started to affect his airway…not something you see everyday…

sarah and i were supposed to do a presentation at 12.30-here’s where i learned the very important lesson about checking your equipment. we arrived rushed and late to a little room packed with doctors and a few nurses, their laptop was set up and we had their special encrypted memory stick but….big BUT here….i saved the presentation on my laptop in 2007 version and their laptop only had 97-2003…. big oops!

while all these people were waiting i had to set up my laptop, negotiate my 3 passwords and then finally when it came to life what picture on my screensaver comes up on the big screen for everyone to see??? this picture of me and james

mortified! the only thing worse would have been me in a bikini….

i was nervous and shaky and sarah didn’t know quite what to so it was a rocky start but  30 minutes later we had a long discussion and the staff themselves were lovely and very appreciative. a few thank us personally and said it as very informative…

i have been to this part of england once before, when the train went through ely i thought i need to stop at rosie and dolly’s on the way back-

but i got there 5 minutes after they closed…i really think i should plan a day trip for myself….