Friday 23rd September - Gastroenteriris

Last night Min and Suzie came to stay for the night before heading to Fraser island. It was nice to meet familiar faces and compare stories of our experiences in Aus so far. Min has been attacked by a 'swooping magpie' but she claims 'swopping' isnt the right word to describe the magpies actions as it was more 'assaulted'. It is nesting season for the magpies and they become very territorial, so if you are to walk by their nesting tree, they will attack you. Gaz and i, when we first arrived in Hervey Bay, thought there were mentalists riding bikes with helmets on that had big long spikes coming out of it...we now find out it is to stop the magpies attacking them...these people are no longer viewed as crazy fasion victims but more...smart people.

I dropped Min and Suzie down the road to be picked up by their tour bus. Today i was being sent half hour away to Maryborough as they were in need of a dentist. All the other dentists in Hervey Bay and Maryborough had been invited to an orthodontic lecture but me being the 'locum' (which isnt what my job title states on the contract), i wasnt invited. I picked up a government car which was very lovely to drive and i found a CD labeled 'kellys songs'. I dont know who kelly is but she had good taste! I managed to find Maryborough hospital easily but the trickey part was finding the dental clinic amongst the grounds. I was so lost, i wondered aimlessly over the lawns and ended up in the blood bank! the lady looked so pleased to see someone who she thought was here to donate blood that her eyes lit up expectantly. Her face dropped a little when i said i was looking for the dental clinic leaving me feeling a little bit guilty.


At the dental clinic i got on really well with all the staff and they said they would take me on any time there (which is flattering but no bloody way will i be heading to Maryborough). Their patients are a special breed...more so than the ones in Hervey Bay. For instance, i had a gentleman with a hole in his back tooth. He was moaning to me that he already had a filling put in the tooth in Gympie and it had since come out. I look at the tooth and no wonder the filling had come out, the parallel walls of the hole would not be sufficient to hold the filling in place. I took an x ray to make sure the tooth didnt warrent extraction and explained i will fill the hole but to allow the filling to lock in to place, i will remove the existing amalgam present next to where the hole was. He agreed and i successfully carried out treatment. the gentleman even signed the consent sticker to say he agrees to the work i was carrying out. Half hour later he demanded to see me again. He was angry and very aggitated. He came in to the surgery, guns blazing (not literally) and wanted answers. "Tell me, why on earth have you removed so much of my tooth? you said you were filling in the hole and the next thing i know, i have a great big filling! you didnt have to put this big filling in!" I calmly replied, "i have not removed any of your natural tooth, i have merely replaced the existing filling you had." He snapped, "I had no existing filling, it fell out!!!". "Please let me show you the x ray i took before we commenced treatment." I offered.
"Pfft, an x ray." He shrugged, rolling his eyes at me. The beauty of amalgam fillings is they show up on radiographs so i pulled out the x ray i had taken prior to drilling out the EXISTING amalgam and there it was....a nice bold white object shown on the tooth NEXT to the hole. I pointed out this is amalgam and was there before. I pointed out the filling he had before was flat and lifeless, it felt different now because i had carved a work of art with anatomy to the tooth structure, giving it fissures and all the morphology a natural tooth would have. He couldnt understand when the previous amalgam filling was done and started blaming his dentist in Alice Springs from 2006 who put the filling in originally, stating she didnt tell him she was putting a filling that size into the tooth! He left the surgery feeling happy i had explained it to him and hopefully a little bit stupid. Patients are interesting creatures.

I was glad to get back to Hervey Bay and get home as for the past 2 days i have had a very sore stomach with painful cramps and diarrhea. I battled through the day trying not to think too much about it but Gaz and I went for dinner at the Hervey Bay boat club and i couldnt eat all my food and the cramps got worse. When we left i was in so much pain walking to the car it brought tears to my eyes....and i have a pretty high pain threshold and am NEVER ill so i knew something must be wrong. Gaz rushed me home, breaking all the speed limits to get me back in record timing. He should be an ambulance driver! He insisted i skype my parents so thats just what i did....dad gave me an over the internet diagnosis of what it could be and from my description and symptoms weve concluded possibly gastroenteritis. Gaz hasnt got any symptoms so i dont know what has caused it...hes drugged me up with paracetamol and gaviscon now and is nursing me in bed (i should make the most of this).

Gaz has had a long phone call from his cousin John in Canberra and we have been invited down there and vice versa. John has never managed to make it to fraser island so we have offered to take them over there for a long weekend..

ps. i have just asked gaz if there is anything he would like me to add to the blog about his day and his reply was..."tell them i correctly diagnosed your illness." Thats as interesting as his day has got.