I am going to Katherine!!!

I have some really exciting news. I am going to Katherine in August! I have never been to the Northern Territory, so it will be a great experience. It won't be all fun and games though, I will be working. The previous owners of my hospital now have a charitable foundation - the John James Memorial Foundation. They have been doing some great work, they bought some new equipment for the theatres, and have donated money for good causes. One of those was to a program to encourage kids to exercise and eat healthy.

The major project that they are working on is providing much needed surgery to disadvantaged areas of the Northern Territory. There are a number of trips planned for this year, providing Orthopaedic, Obstets and Gynae, ENT and Dental. I am going in August on one of the dental trips, which is funny cos I hate going to the dentist. When I am in a dental theatre I can't look when they are pulling out teeth, and I don't like listening to the drill. I basically pretend that I am not in a dental theatre. Give me gut surgery anyday. The reason I volunteered to go is cos the patients need the surgery, and I like working with the teams that you get in dental - the Dentists and Anaesthetists are all really nice. I always have fun working in dental theatres.

I am not sure how much time will be spent working, but I believe that there will be some free time to see some of the sights. We leave on a Saturday at 6.30am and get back the next Sunday. The only down side? (besides the 6.30 am flight?) I miss the craft show. BOO HOO. I have been every year since 1996, so that will be very difficult. It was mentioned that I may be able to get an earlier flight so I can go to the show on the Sunday, but I am not sure if I will go that option. I might miss seeing something great in the Katherine area. I will miss seeing the quilts, and I won't get to see the new yarns and projects at Yarns Galore and Threads and More - my favourite two stands at the show. My other fave is Punch with Judy, I always go to her stand first and buy the gadgets that I need.

One of the Doctors at work laughed at me last year when I was talking about going to buy gadgets at the show, he thought I meant computer gadgets (apparently the only sort of gadgets that exist) at the computer fair. I tried to explain to him that there are all sorts of gadgets used in crafts, but he was very sceptical. He did concede that the instruments used in surgery are a sort of gadget. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that one of the instruments for arthroscopic shoulder surgery resembled a crochet hook, and I said the only time I have used one was to pick up dropped stitches in knitting. A little while after that they had the equivalent of a dropped stitch inside the shoulder, so Gus asked for the crochet hook! Finally, someone at work appreciated my obsession for crafts.

I had better get going, my sister and her family are coming back from a trip to South Australia in a couple of hours. I have really missed the girls. I can't wait to see them all. We have to ring my Granma (Mum's Mum) in hospital tonight. She went to Flinders in Adelaide yesterday with chest/arm pain, and is having an angiogram on Monday. If they are not able to put in a stent, they will do a bypass on Thursday. I am sure she will be OK, I hope. I am pleased that Granma decided to have the surgery, they told her that if she didn't she would have a heart attack. I will keep my fingers crossed that everything goes ok for her, April is not a good month for our family. Monday will be the 5th anniversary of my Dad's fathers death. Bamp was a great Grandad, and we miss him. I always think of him at Anzac time, not only because it is when he died, but because every year on Anzac Day he would go around Adelaide Oval at the footy in the cars with the other returned servicemen who had played for one of the Adelaide teams. Bamp played for Glenelg, I can't remember if it was before or after the war. He had one of their jumpers on his coffin at the funeral.

Tomorrow if I get to it, I will post with a little unpicking episode I had today. I hate dropped stitches, and really want to know how I can pick up knit stitches and end up with some purls in the mix.