Citizen

Today I became a British Citizen.  About a minute later, my beloved became one too.  I always suspected she wanted a British husband...

...and I got a commemorative mug too.

God save the Queen!

Job 2014

My current job is in an acute setting, which means I am working with people immediately after their injury. All of my previous experience has been with people who have moved beyond the acute stage. I have of course always been aware of acute settings, but awareness is very different from experience, and this experience has filled a huge gap in my professional life that has forever changed me for the better.

I am working in the Occupational Therapy for Neurosciences department, which sees people with neurological conditions such as Motor Neurone Disease and Parkinson's Disease as well as people requiring brain or spinal surgery such as to remove tumours, after a fall, or after a road traffic collision. It is shocking to see the sheer volume of falls and accidents leading to devastating brain and spinal injuries that are alcohol related. I feel like if ordinary people saw what I see everyday, they would be much more cautious about how much alcohol they consume.

In an acute setting, medical stability is the foremost priority. Once the clients are stable, they are discharged and then a new client comes in. So my interaction with most people is fairly brief. Occasionally, I even get to go to people's homes and set up equipment. And if the person is heading for rehab, I might get to have a session or two to get them ready for the more intense rehab they will get later.

I am often seeing people before they have had a chance to adjust to their new circumstances. And I saw more post traumatic amnesia in the first month of this job than I have seen in previous ten years. The work is fast paced and I rarely see the end result. But I can see the benefit of what I am doing in a more abstract sense, and I am pleased for the opportunity to contribute to my community in this way.

Photo Credits

Surgical Videos of the Brian and Nerves

Bath Aids

The Me I Wish I Was

My recent NHS post is completely true, but part of me wanted to moan about the challenges I am facing. I usually wait to write about struggles until I have had time to digest it and see the bigger picture.   But I thought it might be useful to admit in this very public space that I do in fact struggle with things.  So I am going to give it a try.

It has been helpful to reflect back on how I initially saw going full time in the technology service post as a negative, and it turned out to be the most professionally productive I have ever been.


It is completely unfair to compare my current job, which I have only had for a few months, to the longest job I ever had. A more fair comparison is the current job to when I was just a few months into the old job. But that memory of the start of that job is cloudy. Much clearer is my memory of working at my peak performance at the end.

I am writing this post to remind myself that I need to be brave, and I need to be patient. It took years to get my footing in the old job, and it all happened very gradually. But even when reflecting, I cannot help missing the most amazing team that anyone could hope to work in. It was so much easier to become a better version of myself when I was surrounded by an inspiring team whose members were constantly nurturing each other's potential. I wish I had the strength be the kind of person I was with them, now.

Photo Credit

Foothold

The Panicwich of 2015

A couple days ago there was only half the usual amount of chicken left for my wife's lunch sandwich so I made it half chicken and half ham. Before the sandwich making was over, we were both running around the kitchen with arms waving wildly overhead to match the apparent gravity of the situation. I really had no idea of the enormity of this abomination.

Photo Credit

Sugar Mountain Farm

Journey Interru... oh wait, never mind

Yesterday, my beloved and I were driving to meet up with friends.  We were on a dual carriageway, and on the other side, my beloved spotted a grey haired man getting up off the ground.  He had a little tiny dog on a leash.  Presumably he fell whilst walking the dog.  We were coming up to a roundabout, so we turned back to go see if the man was alright.  We were there in less than two minutes.  In the time that it took to get there, three other drivers had already pulled up to check on the man.  I decided not to stop as there was more than enough help there already.  By the time we got back to the other side to resume our journey, the man was walking his dog resuming his.  I am so glad I live in a place were people will stop to help a stranger.

Photo Credit

Shire of Chittering

Three Hours at the Cross, Yorkminster

All three of my regular readers will know by now that Good Friday is my favourite holy day. This year I attended Three Hours at the Cross in Yorkminster. The service split Chapter 15 of The Book of Mark into six sections, and six clergy preached on the section s/he read. After each sermon, an organ improvisation was played followed by mediative silence, after which the preacher offered a prayer, and we sung a hymn accompanied by the organ.

Having heard the gospels so many times over the decades, sometimes my ears no longer hear what is there. The Very Reverend Doctor Vivienne Faull preached on the soldiers mocking Jesus (Mark15:16-20), and she opened my mind to how this scene might speak to our time. My ears do hear news of war much too frequently, but on this Good Friday, Faull instead brought me stories told by individual soldiers.

One was from a soldier returning home to loving family and friends. Yet, he still felt alone trying to cope with the nightmare of war, separated from the only human beings who truly understood the experience he had suffered through. Another was by a soldier who after killing a deadly sniper was overcome with remorse, cried out for forgiveness, and vomited all over himself, not exactly the image of warfare shown in cinema. After hearing these and other stories, we reconsidered the Mark's scene from the Roman soldier's point of view: What parts of the empire were they from? How long had they been away from their loved ones? What had they witnessed that had perhaps challenged their perception of their role in humanity? Had any of them lost comrades-in-arms in the Judean revolts going on at the time? I came away struck by the contrast between the disconnected one-dimensional images that we project onto our soldiers and the individuals we trap behind these images of false bravado. I feel that Faull fostered an attitude of compassion toward our returning soldier's' plights and through the conduit of Mark 15:16-20 made that compassion a holy pursuit.

Then Reverend Canon Michael Smith preached the crucifixion (Mark 15:21-23). If Faull pried open my deaf ears, Smith fired a cannon. He used a powerful analogy that suggested we were crucifying God again and again whenever we place our small-minded limitations on God through doctrine, dogma, and especially when we used religion to reinforce our own bigotry and self-serving political aims.

My translation of Smith's reflection is that Christianity is meant to be a transformative and disruptive experience. Smith reminded me that no one, not me, not Smith, not the Archbishop, not the Pope, not the Bible can contain the infinite vastness of God and that it is a constant effort just to remember that. I ache to transcend the boundaries of my own limitations so that I can see all people in a way that I can only hope to imagine that God sees us. I fail every day, but Smith's reflection encourages me to try again tomorrow.

The image of a suffering deity is a powerful one, and much needed. Some of the preachers could not resist moving ahead to the victory of Easter in their sermons. It is no surprise because our culture is obsessed with victory and success. But for me, this one day is an opportunity to contemplate what we will do when in those inevitable times in our lives when victory is not possible. For me, this is the point of religious adherence. Art no doubt can shine a light here too, but not everyone lives with the privilege of ready access to art. And even when we do, we tend to self indulge rather than examine our own limitations.

Good Friday reminds me that there are harder things than the ones I am facing. It reminds me I live an abundant and luxurious life. It reminds me that when I soften my heart to the suffering of others, I am presented with the beautiful possibility of easing the burden of another like Simon of Cyrene did (Mark15:21), rather of just waiting for someone else to do relieve the burden (Mark15:36) or profiting from the burden (Mark15:24).

Photo Credit:

Arka Pana Crucifix

Working for the NHS

For a few months in 2008, I had the pleasure of working for the National Health Service (NHS) as a locum. For those who don't know, a locum is an agency worker, often covering a temporary staff shortage for a few weeks or months. But I have never worked directly for the NHS.

As with most British institutions, it is a simultaneously loved and the subject of harsh criticism for it's imperfections. As a foreigner who has much to be grateful for, I view my recent joining the ranks of the NHS as a way to say thank you to a country that has been so very good to me.

With the nearly constant stream of criticism that the press aims at the NHS, I was bracing myself for an atmosphere of carelessness and detachment , but I am happy to report that I am surrounded by extremely passionate and dedicated professionals who are working long and hard to provide a topnotch service despite being understaffed and under resourced. I am extremely proud to be in the NHS and hope my presence will contribute to people's lives in a positive way.

Photo Credit

NHS Logo: Basildon Healthcare

1948 Leaflet: Wikipedia