This is so bad...my last update was in September. I do apologise - a whole world of stuff has happened since then... Firstly, a friend of mine passed away from a heart attack. He wasn't an aged person who smoked 3 packs a day for years on end, or someone who let their body grow unfit and fat - "heart attack waiting to happen" situation...he was 19, fit, one of the First XV, and he was enjoying a beer at the bar with other Old Boys after playing tennis...he died before anyone could do anything, in the arms of his friends...when I found out what had happened when I did, the only way to describe it was quite unfair (I was in class learning about Sudden Cardiac Events, where the heart just gives out)...anyway, funeral was a testament to him, and that's all there is... Second semester of uni was interesting too, learned some new things about myself and about how to interact with people...also found some people that you could really rely on, and some that could use a decent jolt with a Taser...all in all, the lecturers are good, and things will get better I do believe...
I have moved out of Stannies! I have my own place now; three bedroom flat, close to town, work and uni, 150 pw…only problem is that the damned stove doesn’t work. Nevertheless, give me time, it should be good.
I am currently on attachment with the Panaga Health Centre, more specifically with the Brunei Shell Emergency Response Unit. I was supposed to be at RAAF Wagga Wagga doing a SGT's course, but decided against it since I only have 6 months left in my tenure with the AAFC. Apparently, they are just going to put me in as an Acting Sargent next year anyway. There is so many things that need to be changed - SOP's, what items need to be purchased and what needs to be retired...I was asked if I wanted to observe the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course that the Centre was holding at the end of the month - why not? Remember how I was saying that things would be getting better? There's even an option for me to attend this course called BOISET if I'm allowed back in the future (BOISET is the course where you have to save yourself from a rapidly sinking, upside down helicopter in the dark); I am kind of rocking the boat with radical ideas. Assisted in running an exercise on Thursday, where many things were identified as being substandard where they thought it was adequate. Should get interesting shortly too…
Major event this week: three car MVA on Tuesday. Seven casualties, one trapped. Final score: Two critical, two serious, three walking wounded. So many things went wrong then, but that’s another story.
Have to grab breakky, so I’ll post more later.
Who Is The Black Chinaman?
- Nick
- Kuala Belait, Brunei
- Saving someone's life is like falling in love. The best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterwards, you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see. Once, for a few weeks, I couldn't feel the earth - everything I touched became lighter. Horns played in my shoes. Flowers fell from my pockets. You wonder if you've become immortal, as if you've saved your own life as well. God has passed through you. Why deny it, that for a moment there - why deny that for a moment there, God was you? I realised that my training was useful in less than ten percent of the calls, and saving lives was rarer than that. After a while, I grew to understand that my role was less about saving lives than about bearing witness. I was a grief mop. It was enough that I simply turned up. Living and working back in Brunei, after a 14 year absence... Also known as: Brunei, NASA, Bruise-Eye, Bru, Cheesecake, Nick, BruNick, BruMedNick, Two Step etc etc etc
No comments:
Post a Comment