Going for the record... hitchhiking style!

So the plan today is to drive from London to Penzance (318 miles) then probably bus it down to Land's End and from there the epic adventure begins for real. Hitchhiking from Land's End (the extreme southwestward point of Great Britain) to John o' Groats (extreme northern point of mainland Scotland). The current record was made in a little over 17 hours.. can my friends Loren, Zaria, and I beat this record? Probably not, but we're going to give it a run for its money. An epic 874 miles by road... braving the ever pleasant and sunny English & Scottish weather, rolling the dice with each passing vehicle.. Here we go!

Here it begins.

I want to do something. Something great. Something monumentous. Something inspiring. Something different. It all starts with an idea. Baby steps. Let's do it.

Lonely is a Freedom

Based on the poem by Tanya Davis.

Indomitable

I don't know how many of you have been following the performance of the U.S. soccer team at the World Cup this year in South Africa. To be honest, I've never followed it like I have this year. But this year, in part thanks to the enthusiasm of my flatmate, Lua, I've really gotten into it.

Those of you who've known me for a while, know that I'm a big soccer fan... but not really so much of the sitting in front of the telly and watching the sport as the getting into the grit of it on the pitch kind. I love this sport. Have loved and played it since grade school, all the way through into medical school. I love how you can just get on the field and go all out. Get down and dirty, fighting and tearing up the field. The aggressive physical and mental spirit of it is invigorating and liberating.

Maybe this year it's because I'm in England and not in my home country and we ended up in the same group as England. Maybe it's because I'm tired of taking all the BS I have to deal with being an American abroad. Maybe it's just because football/soccer is such a big deal here and it's hard not to be swept up in the excitement. But regardless of the cause, I have a keen interest in our performance at this World Cup. I feel invested. Similarly during the Olympics, but even more so. And being in England it's so much easier to really get into watching the game a the pub because everyone else is yelling at the screen so you feel liberated to do likewise. It's quite fun actually.

But I digress... I must say that I am so proud of our Team. We've performed above and beyond expectations. The first match against England was a HUGE deal here. Lua, Tiffany, and I were the only Americans at a pub jammed to the max with fans wearing their white and reds. At first we thought it best to keep a low profile... Especially when even just during the pregame show every time a commercial or commentary came on with the U.S. team showing there was much booing and jeering, which only escalated during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. We went out in our blues to represent, since this was such a key game! Def not the time to be diplomatic and dress neutral.

I found that my cheers where largely overwhelmed by the groans of despair of the crowd, so I could pretty much cheer to my hearts content. It was a nerve wracking game, especially with England scoring only 4 min in. But watching soccer is so much more entertaining in England than it would have been Stateside. The crowd is much more involved and vocal. Every 5 minutes would be a round of singing and chanting with the lulls filled in with random berating or yelling at the screen. I remember sometime near the end of the second half, a woman screamed, "KILL THEM!!!!" To be sure, there's never a dull moment. I was so nervous during the first game, I was shaking. I wanted us to do well and represent ourselves before a world who thought we were just a bunch of pretty boys that didn't even know the name of the game.

I think that we've been playing solid games thus far. We've done a great job personifying what it means to be American. Our indomitable spirit and our sportsmanship have consistently stood out. Despite being plagued by injuries, ridiculously bad calls and denied goals, we have come through at the top of our group. We fight, get back up, stand our ground, move forward, and never give up. We are ready to take on the next stage. Inspirational.

Come what may, we're still number ONE! Bring it on!

When Money Fails

Sometimes I'm almost persuaded that national health care is the way to go. Working in the NHS has given me some insight to how great it can be when it works, and just how completely horrific it can be when it falls short. Getting my MPH really opened me to the idea of universal health care... health care for all regardless of your social or economic status, age, sex, orientation, race, religion, etc. It seems so right and just, this free and equal access... But this world we live in, though at times fueled and inspired by such dreams and hopes, is not always this fair or merciful. It's too practical, rational, pragmatic. Universal health care cannot just be wished into existence with a light dusting of pixie dust. It comes at the price of cold, hard, unyielding cash.

In the A&E there was an elderly gentleman who came in because he had tripped, fallen, and hit his head. He was slightly dazed from the fall, but only had mild abrasions on his head to show for it. His son brought him to the A&E and on arrival he was grand, GCS 15/15. Very pleasant chap. About an hour or two after the initial incident, he started sluring and couldn't remember his last name or the date. Five minutes later, he could barely speak. An emergency CT was ordered but had to wait 30 minutes because there was another pt being scanned at the time. By this time, he was seizing and it was fairly difficult to gather a clear CT, but what came through clearly showed large bilateral subdural hematomoas. Now most even junior medical students could have told you from the just the initial history that his man most likely was at high risk of having a subdural hematoma. Many junior doctors would probably also be able to tell you that this situation could be treated and alleviated by boring a hole(s) in the pt's skull to relieve the pressure. While this procedure comes with considerable risk, not doing anything was even worse. True, 20% or so will recover without any intervention... but, come on... this is an old guy with 2 large hematomas. Really, what are his chances? No way, any moral, ethical, or humane person would just leave him as his brain slowly gets squeezed by the increasing pressure within his skull til it herniates or he suffocates, or however the end result is the same. Death.

But that's just what happened. Because of his age and the fact that he had a few comorbidities, the procedure that could have saved his life was not NHS approved. It is deemed a waste of money. Instead, his son must call the rest of the family to quickly come to the hospital because their husband/father was not long for this world even though just a few hours prior he had been fit and well. Would he also have to tell them that one of the reasons why their loved one was dying was because the NHS didn't have the money to allocate to a potentially lifesaving procedure? The doctors' hands were tied. They couldn't do anything because it wouldn't be paid for...

I was flabbergasted at this. I can't imagine that this would happen in the States. Even though our health care system had been far from perfect, we never denied life saving emergency treatment based on a person's ability to pay. Maybe I'm being naive and ignorant. And now our health care system is one step closer to maybe even the government dictating who gets to live, and who will have to die.. because frankly, you're just not worth the copper.

Scotland cont.

So I made it to Scotland Thursday morning... later than intended, but hey, I'm here :)

Toured Edinburgh for the day. Free walking tour that was pretty great and "ghost" tour that was highly recommended that I have to say I was quite disappointed with. A friend of mine's boyfriend lent me the keys to his apartment while he's in England.

Anywho, I'm in Fort Augustus right at the moment at the foot of Loch Ness... no luck thus far on spotting Nessie, but there's still Sunday :)

Scotland

Headed up north to the land of William Wallace, Nessie, Sean Connery, golf, Scotch whiskey, haggis, bagpipes and kilts. Be back next week :)