Life As Usual

Hello to All! We've been a bit out of touch with the posts lately because we haven't done anything extraordinary. You see, Evan is actually working now, the kids are busy with home schooling, and I'm keeping up with the schooling and household. In other words, life as usual...except that we're in Australia, in summer, minutes away from the beach! (I had to throw that one in!)

We celebrated the holidays Aussie style. Although we had the traditional American turkey, we did try plum pudding, Aussie rum balls, and mincemeat pie. After opening our presents Christmas morning, we headed for Lighthouse Beach, another “down under” tradition! Overall, Christmas is a bit more low key down here, and definitely warmer. We missed friends and family dearly, but I must admit that this was my least stressful Christmas ever!

We celebrated the New Year with the Ross Family, our ex-pat friends. The fireworks in Sydney were spectacular lighting up the Opera House and Harbor Bridge. Only 1.5 million people were clustered around the harbor to see them!

Usually we're planning our annual ski trip right now, but instead, we're diving into water sports. The kids are taking swim lessons at the local pool and working hard on their frog kicks and back strokes. (The Aussies are very “in” to swimming and the lessons have been great! I kind of wish I had taken them to brush up on my strokes.) The water at the beach has gotten warmer and is just right perfect for wave jumping (a family favorite) and body boarding. We have plans for a family surf lesson on one of Evan's days off.

Ever heard of Vanuatu? The Museum in Auckland, New Zealand, has an amazing Polynesian exhibit. After ogling all the cultural artifacts, we became determined to visit a South Pacific island nation while we were here. As it just so happens, Evan has earned some time off, so we'll take a trip to Vanuatu later this month. Why Vanuatu? It's close for one thing....meaning cheaper airfare. It is listed as one of the Lonely Planet's top 10 nation destinations for 2011 because it culturally rich and still off the beaten track. (Who are we to go against the Lonely Planet?) The islands have a history of cannibalism and head-taking, which is a sure draw for 11 year old boys! I have been assured that that is no longer a common practice, though! There was a season of “Survivor” recorded there, you might recall if you're a fan of that show.

The whole family has gotten into researching the trip, especially Brendan. He's planned more for us than we could do in one week, including excursions to active volcanoes and swimming with dugongs!

We may be based in the capitol of Port Vila, but it sounds like we'll be seeing the entire nation. I am more than happy to share the trip planning with him! (Do you think I can count our discussions on malaria and the prophylaxis we have to take as part of my home schooling science?)

Evan has been working—and it has started to feel like work. He's seen some cool things, like a stone fish envenomation. But all in all it's the same type of patients with the same type of illness as at home. The patients are more understanding and appreciative, in general which makes the work more pleasant. The consultants are, as everywhere, sometimes easy to work with and sometimes a pain in the rear. He's getting used to the lack of some medicatons we take for granted at home like Benadryl and Neosporin—neither of which exist here. Working as the sole “consultant” with several other doctors at various levels of training and experience under him is different, and a reminder of his days in residency—only as the attending instead of as a resident. It is nice to not have to work any night shifts—apparently nobody can get ill or injured enough between 11pm and 7am to require a board certified ED physician in Australia!?

We will be leaving Australia in mid-February to begin our trip home around the world and we are busy trying to finalize travel plans for that right now, but we'll blog more on that later. Thanks to everyone for the holiday cards, wishes, and care packages (you rock, Bakers and Aunt Sharon)! We miss you all!

Cheers,

Tamara and the rest of the gang

Clearing more hurdles....

I just dropped 2 more big brown envelopes in the mail today packed full of enough personal information to create a brand new Evan E. Fusco, MD from scratch. This time it was to the Australasian Medical Council and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine for my temporary licensure and specialty certification. On first glance, the paperwork for this looked quite simple, online application, pay a few, done.....well, it 'twasn't quite so easy. I had to also submit 4 "certified" passport type photos and copies of every diploma I've gotten, every license, my passport, a credit card, letters from my ER section chair, residency program, and 3 hairs off of each of my dogs and children.... (just checking to see if you're paying attention....it was just one hair with follicle from each).

By "certified", I had to have a notary public write the following on the back of every photo and photocopy of the paperwork...the stamp and signature wasn't enough, had to be hand written:

"I certify that this is a true photograph/copy of the original sighted by me of Evan E. Fusco", then they had to sign, put their title, license number and the date."

Some originals had to go to the emergency medicine people, but some originals to the AMC, some paperwork to one, other to the other, and sorting it all out was nerve wracking....and, honestly, I'm not sure I've got it all correct. And, if I screwed up anything, the AMC will charge me another $110 to tell me I screwed up and for the privileged of fixing it! I still don't have a formal contract with the hospital, I presume they want to wait until all the licensing and Visa stuff goes through. I hope to start working immediately upon arrival so that we have more time for travel in and around Australia at the end of my 6 month contract, but before we start on our 'around the world' swing.

On the up side, we now have contacts in almost every country we'll be traveling to! It's kind of amazing, as word of our trip has gotten around friends of our have friends or family living in most of the places we'll be going. We haven't made direct contact with some of them yet, but it's nice to know that in a pinch we could probably find someone who knows the terrain.

Let's see...

We have pretty firm commitments from friends to come down for a visit at Christmas and from family (Tamara's side) for Thanksgiving. My parents have started saving up and hope to make the trip down for a visit while we're there as well. Another relative may be coming down with her girlfriend for New Years. Wonder if the Australian Tourism council is going to give us a kick-back?

Tamara and I have taken our Typhoid vaccine (4 pills in 7 days), we'll get the kids theirs in a few weeks. That's needed mostly just for the Asian portion of the trip--it's good for 5 years so it's good to get that out of the way.

We've decided to put copies of all our crucial documents on a thumb drive in case our originals get stolen, lost or damaged. I'll also burn a CD or two to leave here in case the thumb drive is lost stolen or damaged too.

So, maybe not the biggest update, but I haven't posted for a while. The kids get out of school soon, so I may start encouraging them to post some of their thoughts--for posterity sake if nothing else. It's an interesting time, we've moved from the excitement of the reality of the trip to the more intense planning. Trips to the bank for financial arrangements, figuring out how to cut back expenses and pay our bills and keep in touch. Most people at work have stopped asking "I heard a rumor you're moving to Australia." to "When do you leave for your trip? How long will you be gone?" questions.

*edit:B/C someone asked, we leave August 5th, will be in Oz until mid-February 2011, and return to the US late April 2011.

The Adventure Begins...sort of!

I had planned to start an Australia Blog so our friends and family could track our progress during our sabbatical, but it seems appropriate to begin it now since the first big hurdle has been crossed.

First, let me back up. The Fusco family has a huge sense of adventure and love of travel. Busy lives of work and school have a funny way of interfering with that travel experience and time. So, several years ago, Tamara and I began to toy with the idea of taking a prolonged working sabbatical....somewhere. While exotic locales like Spain seemed likely candidates early on, it became clear that most places finding work as a physician was nearly impossible due to their laws and requirements for training in that country. But it also became clear that there is a big need for physicians in Australia and New Zealand. I met with a recruiter from Australia about 4 years ago in New Orleans at a medical conference and we began making serious plans to take our family on just such an adventure.

But there were many obstacles to clear. No physicians at St. Johns had ever taken such a prolonged sabbatical before with plans to return...who was gonna pay, would they want us back, what about insurance and retirement and so many other administrative issues. We answered their questions, assured them we wanted little more than our tenure to remain and our jobs back when we returned. Both Tamara and my partners have been exceptionally agreeable and helpful and assured the "suits" at St.Johns that they want us back. Medical Executive Committee eventually OK'd it...so that may have been the first 'true' hurdle...but we were doing this with or without them...the experience was just too important to forgo.

While we'd expected to go to Hervey Bay, Queensland based upon my encounter with the recruiter in New Orleans, things slowly fell apart there and my position/opportunity there was lost. I started searching around and there were many other opportunities that came to light. One, in Port Macquarie, New South Wales percolated to the top because a fellow ER physician who'd worked as a Locum Tenens in my ER at St.Johns is currently working there and recommended the location and the job. After a series of emails and a few phone calls I was, finally, today formally offered a position there starting in late August 2010!!!


We're all quite excited to know where our 'home' for 6 months of the 9 month sabbatical will actually be. It really makes the trip feel "real" for the first time. There is a ton of paperwork for the job, an unbelievable amount of red tape to cut through, and lots of other planning (fun and otherwise). We'll have a house sitter while away and that needs to be nailed down as well. But the adventure is beginning and we could NOT be more thrilled.

And yes, we expect and want visitors...details will follow.

In the mean time, I highly recommend everyone install Skype on their computers who wants to talk with us while we're away and send us your skype name once you've done so. It'll be great to keep in touch, but phone calls are super expensive and skype, with video, is free!