"Here for a Good Time, not for a Long Time" Trudy Foon 2009. Sadly your stay in the desert kingdom was cut short and we say a fond farewell to Trudy. But a little reminder that it was not all HR, visa and phone anguish. You were a great person to have around and able to get along with just about everyone. W3 the exception, but really, there are some needles you can never find in that haystack. So a bit of a Trudy dedication blog entry. Always one to...

It has been a weird week in Saudi. The reason I have picked a picture of the hospital bus stop for this entry is because buses go places, like out of Saudi Arabia. The week has not been all bad, but challenging. After watching a bunch of 'doctors' procrastinate for 5 hours at not becoming responsible for the care of a 3 year old who had her foot 1/3 removed from an accident, to watching an almost a full trauma series on a bloke who was hit in the head with a soc...

Al Ahsa (aka Al Hofuf, Al Hasa, Hassa). After several previously aborted attempts I finally got to Al Ahsa. I had the last two days off and am about to start a run of nights. Hence, no social life for a week. I caught the 12:15 inter hospital bus. It takes about 1 hour 30 mins to go south west across the desert to the oasis town of Al Ahsa. There is a larger National Guard hospital there. I thought I would use the free bus then take a taxi to the different sites...

Ma'asalama Kellie The Call of the Causeway draws another Expat out of Saudi Arabia. Some say it is the housing, some say it is the work, some say it is the food, but whatever it is, it struck again. Give me your tired, your weak, your hungry, yes Kellie is heading state side. To be met by her fiancé Steve. Good luck from us all. Even though your stint here was short you accomplished much. You had a very early introduction to Bathroom Punting at Dubai Internat...

For the last little while I have tried to avoid talking shop. Unless it was the extremely stupid, like the scorpions causing swine flu. But today was a stressful day and I am going to vent. Ramadan and EID have finished and the place is back to normal. It is getting busy through the day with 130 patients in 12 hours since 7AM. However this included only 2 Cat 2 patients and about a zillion Cat 6. (for the non nurse types a Cat 6 is healthier than me on a bad day...