Relax, dammit!

Oh I feel so naughty...this must be illegal, to be lying here in my Cosmo featured bikini,on this heavenly stretch of Atlantic Seaboard, mercury at 40 degrees centigrade...IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK!

Ha ha suckers, I'm on leave.

You can't get me now you stubborn sugar-munching diabetics!
Take THAT you tik-smoking teenagers!
Eat THIS you alcoholic epilieptics with your three-in-the-morning-defaulted-treatment-alcohol-binge induced seizures!
I'm on the other side of the world , and you can't get me here...



I really, truly am on the other side of the world to my patients. I'm surrounded by the wealthiest piece of real estate in Cape Town...those that live in this area have no idea what life is like on the Cape Flats. A bottle of water sold on this beach goes for a whopping 20 bucks. I have patient's who struggle to find the R6.00 taxi fare every month to make it to the hospital for their medication. I can't tell you the number of times I've emptied out my wallet after hearing these stories...here's one from last year:

The story of the abused and battered woman.
She was terrified that her drug-abusing husband would burst through the door and start beating her. She had gained some courage, made the impossible decision of leaving her kids behind, packed her small bag and made a run for it. The only way to get away, she explained, was for him to think that she was at the clinic collecting her monthly meds. She asked me for some small change to call her pastor who would come to fetch her and take her to a safe place. I gave her the R100.00 note I had in my wallet.

Argh...seems like they're always in my mind, no matter where I am. Sometimes I have a secret wish to be a vacuous airhead with no clue that people are suffering. Sometimes, I have a secret wish to have my memory erased by Will Smith in the Men in Black movie.

It's hard to selfishly enjoy the luxuries when you've had an education in people's suffering. But dammit, I'm going to try! At least for the three days of precious leave I have taken.
Not all of them have sad stories. Usually, they're ok. And sometimes they're just bloody fools who never take the advice you give them, default on their medication,continue to abuse drugs and stab their friends.

Yes, thinking of THOSE patients makes me feel slightly less guilty...

I think I'll continue sipping on my icy cold beverage...

what's wrong with you lady,this is your fifth abortion in three years

and watch the seagulls slip across the blue sky...

Being looked at funny is not a reason to knife someone in the eye, sir

And marinate in my spf 40 under this glorious sun...

Don't lie, I know you smoke cigarettes because I saw you puffing away outside my consulting room!

dozing in and out of my vacation induced semi-consciousness...mmmmm.......they can't get me here...