Feet On Head

This is a yoga posture that I would NEVER have attempted, that is, until now. After my first week in the new job I reckon this would be a cinch, as I feel I've been in this position metaphorically speaking, for the past 5 days! Talk about being thrown in the deep end, I think I just managed to keep my head above water. With my new boss in London for the week, it was just me trying to do everything, & believe me there was more faking it than on the set of a XXX movie shoot!

There was only a short window of time each day where the boss was awake & I was in the office, so the phone ran red hot with everything I needed to ask him. Anyhoo, after a particularly difficult situation that I needed to wade into & resolve, he sent me a text saying I was worth my weight in gold. OK mate, at 75kg. (& no nasty comments please dear Hedgies, I'm dealing with it!), by my reckoning you owe me $3,854,400.00. Am I looking forward to seeing you pay up on that promise!

But at the end of the day you know what, I LOVE IT so far. Things may change on Tuesday when there's 2 of us working together, but I reckon it will be fine. So for everyone who's been emailing, FB'ing & tweeting me wondering how I'm going, you can all breathe a big sigh of relief. I was so stuffed last night I headed off to bed at 8.30p.m. much to puppy Lulu's disgust. She's been very neglected this week & was desperate for some play time, so after I've chucked this post up, it's off to the Puppy Park for at least 2 hrs.

MOTH's been given a Leave Pass to go to Melbourne to investigate a new business opportunity that may mean he can give his crook back a rest permanently (other than on our renos!). He's off to the MCG for lunch in the Long Room today with all his old mates to raise a glass or 6 to his very favourite Melbourne player Jim Stynes RIP. Then he reckons he'll see the Dee's absolutely crush the Lions at today's game. Only a long-suffering Melbourne supporter can have such optimism. He's having dinner with the Melbourne Sons 1, 2 & 3 tonight, which will be lovely. However Son 3 is doing the 20km. Tough Mudder race at Cowes on Philip Island today, so I'm not sure what shape he'll be in by dinner time. So there you have it, another week in the life of Miss Millie, I hope it's come up to everyone's expectations! I'm dedicating at least 3 hrs this weekend to Bloggie Wonderland, so you'll be hearing from me soon, that's a promise.

Image: Yoga for Veterans (what a hoot!)

Whisked Away

Well dear Hedgies, it's been a whirlwind ride this past week & I feel like Dutch supermodel Lara Stone in Alex Prager's very stylish interpretation of the Wizard of Oz. Add 30 years to the star & substitute the Merc. Roadster for the trusty Subaru Outback & I feel exactly like Lara does, being swept off her feet & sucked up into the vortex of a strong tornado with all her baggage! I finished at my old work late on Friday & start my new job tomorrow. However things are rather complicated as my new boss flew to London on Friday for a meeting & won't be back 'til Tuesday week. So we burnt the midnight oil late on Thursday night as he tried to cram all the stuff I need to know into my overloaded head so I can run things in his absence. It's just me in the office, so I'm just a leeeeetle bit concerned!!

For only the second time in 21 years I have a physical office to go to each day. I haven't needed to do the morning commute since 1997, so it feels very strange. Working remotely from HQ via a home office does have it's benefits, but I'm sure I'll adapt to the peak hour run down the Freeway with everyone else. So that's it, a new & very exciting chapter opens up in Miss Millie's life. I'm so happy, woo hoo bring it on!!! See you soon, I'm busting for a moment once the dust settles this coming week to call by & say hello to you all.

Simple Style

I'm still here dear Hedgies - thank you all so much for the fabulous comments left on the previous post. Everything you said perked me up no end. However, the follow-up visit with the Orthpod saw me shedding a few tears of frustration out in the car park afterwards, the news was even worse than I thought it was going to be. At only 56 I need a full knee replacement & much, much sooner rather than later....bugger. Anyhoo, there's lots happening here that I need to deal with before submitting my poor old left knee to the surgeon's scalpel again.

This is the last week at my current work & I can hardly wait until I start my new job the following week. My sweet colleagues are taking me out to lunch tomorrow which is lovely of them, they're all disappointed that I'm going, but so supportive of my decision to leave, bless them. I've decided that I need to really simplify my life as I'm going back to lots of travel again for work, so MOTH had better watch out, the winds of change are just about to blow briskly around The Hedge. And I just adore this simple farmhouse in upstate New York, just gazing at it is prompting the catalyst for the changes.

Now I just need to get through the next 5 days, wish me luck.

Image: Hottenroth + Joseph

Disembarking

Most of us start a new job anticipating a positive outcome.....that all our expectations will be met in a role we enjoy doing. I entered the work force as a young 17 year old 39 years ago & have been so lucky to have had a career that has given me great satisfaction & fulfilment each & every step of the way. That is, until the middle of last year. As Hedgies you know that when MOTH's back conked out suddenly in May I needed to move from part-time to full-time work for all the obvious reasons. At that time I was approached by a Company who wanted me to come work for them. However for the first time in 21 years I was moving away from the area of work & client group I love the most. Being the eternal optimist I thought I could manage the change OK, & I did for a while. The sales process is the same whatever you're selling, & I started to win some business where there'd previously been none. They were happy, but I wasn't.

It wasn't a technical sell, & I desperately missed the intellectual stimulation of spending all day in a fast paced clinical environment. I lost my mojo in most areas of my life, it showed & you & my family & friends told me so. But I'm happy to report today that I've changed trains & am about to disembark at a most familiar & loved station.

I resigned on Wednesday & I'm heading back to the specialist area that rings all my bells - Cardiology. A long-time friend in the industry has asked me to join his business as the Southern Regional Sales Manager. That means Western Australia, South Australia & the Northern Territory, effectively half of this great country. I'm not going back to interventional work in a Cath Lab setting, but instead will be doing external cardiac defibrillators, in all their varied & wonderful forms. I've sold defibs in the past & really enjoyed it (once I got my head around the longer capital sale). The business is going through a huge expansion due to my friend's expertise & hard work. The product is #1 globally, so it will be great to have a winner to sell. From the small 'shock boxes' for the local Tennis Club to the highly parametered, fully loaded devices for Intensive Care & Retrieval work. Yep, it's pretty obvious.....I'm drooling.

There will be lots of travel, climbing in & out of rescue helicopters, intensive care ambulances, installing & training out on remote mining platforms, never a dull moment I reckon. Just pray that my dodgy knee can take the pace! I've got another 3 weeks to run where I am & then it's straight onto the Happiness Express. Thank you dear Hedgies for hanging in with me for the past 10 months, I promise you the old Millie is almost back. It's the weekend, so go enjoy!

Image: Paradizo

Cloud Cuckoo Land

What was I thinking when I thought this exploratory procedure would be a cinch?! What a nightmare couple of days I've had. My left knee's been replaced by a something I don't recognize in size & colour.....& as for the pain, how come no-one warned me! As expected the stairs at home have proved to be my nemesis & MOTH's had to drag me up & down them on his back. Can't add much except to Squeak the lovely Hedgie who left this comment 'Hi Millie, I've had the same surgery twice. There's very little pain. As a matter of fact, I didn't take any of the painkillers the doctor prescribed.' I'll have what you're on mate.

To complete my misery, the procedure was an abject failure. The smart young Gen Y whizz kid of an Orthopaedic Surgeon fessed up that things were a lot worse than he expected once he shoved his camera into me poor old knee. Not a bit of remedial good could he do. So that's it, my Season's over, I'm stuffed. Excuse me but I hear the drug trolley being pushed my way, time for another hit of whatever I can get. It's the weekend dear Hedgies, so go enjoy!

Image: Many Rivers To Cross

X Marks The Spot

Tomorrow's the day I hope I'm removed from the Players Injury List for quite some time. My smart young Gen Y whizz kid of an Orthopaedic Surgeon is going to get off his iPhone long enough to shove an arthroscope into my left knee. He tells me he'll be fossicking around in there for some time, as he needs to repair a torn meniscus, suss out an ACL problem & get rid of a whole heap of osteophytes for me. I'd say I'm breathless with excitement but I'd be fibbing. I'm actually very tetchy today & just want it over with.

My issue post-operatively will be all the stairs at home. I told MOTH he'll have to do his best Rhett Butler impersonation & carry me Scarlett-like, up & down them for a couple of days. It's in the marriage contract I told him under Additional Responsibilities, but he didn't fall for it. And yes, before you ask, my train is just about to pull into a destination that I'll be jumping up & down with joy about. I can't say much until next week, so you've got to keep it a secret, shussssssh. I've got 5 days off work now, so I'll let you know how things go, with my iPad balanced on my good knee & MOTH & the boys tending to my every whim, NOT.

The Winds Of Change

Four weeks ago I pulled my metaphorical drawbridge up around me. I had to do some big-time soul searching & as is my way, had to do it alone. Today I've let it down again, & since early this morning, a lot of lovely people have been pounding across it for hugs & kisses!!

I received an approach by another Company when I was least expecting it. At first I wasn't interested, but they persisted. There were many things to consider:

• It was not with my traditional client base, a beautiful group of loyal & wonderful people who I have 21 years history with.
  


• It was not in the area of Interventional Radiology/Cardiology that I have an enduring & all encompassing passion for.
  


• It was back to full-time work after a glorious 4 years of part-time (read as 'How was MOTH going to cope with having to wield the vacuum cleaner again on weekends?!')
  


• At 55 did I want to subject myself to enormous change?
  


• Could I say goodbye to the best group of colleagues I've ever worked with?

So I've paced the floor many times at 3a.m. this past month, I've done my due diligence on the Company, I've researched the client group & the products & I've chewed my top lip to shreds.

Then over the Easter weekend I plonked down in front of the computer to enjoy a leisurely read of Janell's wonderful new ezine House Of Fifty. And there it was staring right at me on the 50 Ideas page - 'It is rarely too late to start something new.' It was about as close to an epiphany as I'll ever have.

So as the beautiful Catherine was walking down the aisle to meet her Prince on Friday evening, I was sitting in front of the fire at home fielding a zillion calls & negotiating my future. As the 'I do's' were said, the last offer came through. It was as they say, too good to refuse. I accepted & immediately summoned MOTH home from the Pub.

I resigned yesterday & it was just the hardest thing to do. I've spent all morning on the phone with my surprised colleagues. I've got time to finalize the things I need to, & time to say my goodbyes to my clients properly. MOTH & I then head off on our Big Vacation & I start my new job when we get back. I'm going to work in the field of Oncology cytotoxics & their associated therapeutic devices.

So there it is, all out in the open & I feel great relief. The impact of still being wanted so desperately in the work place at 55 is not lost on me & I'm grateful. I'm so glad I can now share it with you dear Hedgies.

Oops!!

As you can see something's up with the appearance of The Hedge. Dear old Photobucket is having a major issue that's affecting a small number of their users. 'Cos my border image & auto signature are stored on PB, I'm in that group. So all I can do is ask for your patience, as they reckon they'll have the problem resolved by the end of the day. So in the meantime, pass the Champers, there's nothing like a few bubbles to deaden the pain!

Handing Back The Crown

Yes dear Hedgies, its that time of the year again - my dear Company's Annual Sales Meeting, whoopee! I've had a lovely year milking my Sales Specialist of the Year Award for all its worth, but on Wednesday night I need to hand over my crown to the next sucker lucky Winner at the big dinner. If you missed the goss on what happened this time last year, you can read all about it here. After a huge argy-bargy intelligent discussion with MOTH, I've finally cashed in my Travel Voucher prize from last year & booked Millie & MOTH's Grand Vacation - more of that soon. So with the crown jauntily perched on my head, it's off to Sydney for me for the rest of the week. As you can tell, my excitement is palpable. Image: Neobeatificvision

Border Crossing

I'm off to wander the quirky laneways of Melbourne for the rest of the week. Ostensibly for work, which I will actually be doing some of.

But also to pay a visit to these 3 characters. Melbourne sons #1, #2 & #3 would have been sprung with a 'surprise' interstate visit from their Mother. I've always found a quick unannounced sortie catches them unprepared, so I can get a more 'honest' appraisal of their current respective situations. But their younger brother Son #4 here in Adelaide used the BBT (Brothers Bush Telegraph) & blabbed to let them know I'm on my way. According to him it appears I have my work cut out for me. I have a couple of relationship issues to sort out, a somewhat impecunious state or 3 to deal with & a 'That's it I'm chucking it all in & moving to Queensland!' drama to diffuse. I'll be back here next week, wish me luck!

Disappearing Act

I've always had a soft spot for my eyebrows, they're one of the few things on my face that I actually like. They've been fairly low maintenance over the years & despite a few 'incidents' when I lost control with the tweezers, I've always managed to keep them looking fairly symetrical & OK via a very powerful mirror for my shocking eyesight! However something's been happening to my eyebrows of late, they are slowly but surely disappearing/fading from my face.

Over the years, the shade of my natural hair has been described by various Hairdresser's as Ash Blonde, Strawberry Blonde, Mousey Blonde & my all-time favourite, Dirty Blonde! For someone as conservative & boring as me, that was a HUGE compliment! And my eyebrows have always complied & matched whatever was happening to the colour of my hair as if by magic.

However as the grey in my hair has started to overtake the blonde, my eyebrows have gone paler & paler.

In fact as of yesterday, 2/3rd's of them are actually white!

That's making it almost impossible to see them, so I'm struggling to do what should be a normally easy task. So dear Hedgies, advice please. I've never been confident enough to use a little light pencil, as I loathe that 'drawn on' look you see some women sporting. I've thought about doing the waxing trick again, but I've just read what Meisha Wright, the Eyebrow Guru says about that. In her opinion she reckons that waxing stretches the skin too much & may create premature ageing - crickey! So any advice would be gratefully received. Maybe it's time I finally bit the bullet & enrolled myself in one of those Make-Up Workshops. I really enjoy playing around with it & wearing it, but I'd love to see if some professional wisdom would help me.

Line By Line

Joy of joys, my painstakingly prepared budget forecasts for FY11/12 have been rejected by management on the first round of negotiations, so back to hours of rejigging units again line by line. Which means I'll be a bad Blogger for a while longer. Note to Management: You can't continue to milk the old cash cow for all she's worth, as one day she'll just dry up completely!

Image: Conversations

Overloaded

I've put too many baskets on my metaphorical bicycle this week. With FY 11 budgets due to be locked down tomorrow, it's orderly chaos at work, but I'm struggling to keep it that way. Throw in a week of unrelenting cough, cough, cough at night with very disrupted sleep & I'm struggling. It will sort itself out, but in the meantime I'm a bad Blogger.....I know you'll understand.
Image: Travel Web

I'm Sorry

........I've neglected you. I've missed running my fingers over your beautiful white keys. Things will change, I promise.

Who's Coming To Dinner?

Thanks to Jane over @ Life On Planet Baby for the Who's Coming To Dinner? tag. The deal is to describe the setting, list the menu & then the 6 guests who you'd most like to invite. I thought about it & immediately names like George & Jon & Clive & Patrick came to mind. Then I got to thinking - while I do love those chaps, there are 6 other very special gentleman who are far more important to me. Although not household names, they are my idols. Of course, I would be far too excited to cook, so it would be off to the famed Le Cinq at the legendary Hotel George V in Paris for the evening - it would be heaven. And come to think of it, sadly that's where all these lovely men are these days.

My 6 guests have shaped my working life like no others. A day doesn't go past when I don't think of them & their pioneering courage & achievements all mixed with a high degree of chutzpah. And as today is the 115th Anniversary of the discovery of X-Rays, it's the perfect day for this post!

As it all started with Wilhelm Roentgen (1845-1923), he will have pride of place at my table. A mechanical engineer & physicist, his work on cathode rays led him to observe that objects of different thicknesses interposed in the path of these rays showed variable transparency to them when recorded on a photographic plate. On the evening of November 8, 1895 he immobilised the hand of his wife Anna in the path of the rays over a photographic plate, & observed after development of the plate, an image of the bones of her hand and that of a ring she was wearing. This was the first röntgenogram ever taken & because their nature was then unknown, he gave them the name X-rays (X=unknown). He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1901 for his achievement.

Seated next to Roentgen is Dr. Sven-Ivar Seldinger (1921-1998), the pioneer of angiography. No single technical contribution has impacted the development of angiography, as Seldinger's technique of introducing catheters percutaneously via a needle & guidewire into the vasculature. Every Interventional Radiologist & Cardiologist around the world uses this technique each day of their working life to gain access to the arteries of their patients. The technique's elegance and its usefulness lie in its very simplicity - 'Needle in—wire in—needle out—catheter in—wire out' is the mantra with which I & hundreds of thousands live by each day.

Next to join us will be Dr. Charles Dotter (1920 - 1985), the father of Interventional Radiology (& my great passion!), a brilliant innovator and Nobel Prize nominee. As a Radiologist he became fed up with receiving patient radiology request forms from his medical & surgical colleagues often with the same scribbled note on the bottom ' Look but do not fix.' So he modified the Seldinger technique for treatment/therapeutic purposes, where previously it was a diagnostic tool only. With Dr. Melvin Judkins, Dr. Dotter was also the inventor of percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty, using a balloon catheter to unclog peripheral arteries and to restore blood flow.

Seated next to his friend & mentor Dr. Dotter is Dr. Melvin Judkins (1922 -1985) a Radiologist with a special interest in Cardiology. He begun work in the mid-1970's on creating a technique of introducing catheters that were specially shaped to reach the coronary arteries, as the conventionally shaped peripheral catheter curves did not work for coronary vessels. Known as theJudkins technique, it's still used in Cardiac Cath. Labs. around the world today. He is pictured holding the 3 diagnostic catheters we call the Holy Trinity - a Judkins Right Heart, a Judkins Left Heart & Pigtail.

Then we'll be joined by Dr. Caesare Gianturco (1905 - 1995), a creative genius with a warm & inquring mind & prolific inventor who gave Interventionalists many tools of their trade.
These include embolization coils & vena cava filters, but most importantly of all, the expandable metallic stent. Whilst Drs. Dotter & Judkins had revolutionalized medicine with the use of arterial balloons to treat strictures & occlusions, once the balloon was used, the artery often closed off again. He designed a simple metal structure that could be deployed after balloon angioplasty that would 'tack' back the occlusion to the vessel wall, like a scaffold to prevent reocclusion.

Then lastly we would be joined by that bundle of bouncing energy, the brilliant Dr. Andreas Gruentzig (1930 - 1985). An eminent German cardiologist, Gruentzig built on the work of Charles Dotter, working hard to miniaturise the Dotter balloon catheters for use in coronary arteries. He presented the results of animal studies with the balloon at the American Heart Association (AHA) meeting in 1976 and was met with skepticism. However an opportunity to prove the skeptics wrong came the following year, when a 38-year-old insurance salesman with severe proximal stenosis (blockage) of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) and intractable angina agreed to undergo the procedure & Gruentzig successfully performed the first coronary angioplasty in the world. A year later, when he presented the results of his first four angioplasty cases to the 1977 AHA meeting, the audience burst into applause, acknowledging his breakthrough with a standing ovation.
Tragically, Dr. Gruentzig did not live to see his life's work come to fruition. In October 1985, the light plane he was piloting in stormy weather crashed near Macon, Georgia. Dr. Gruentzig was killed at the young age of 46, along with his new bride Margaret.

So what an evening we will have. There are so many questions I want to ask my gadget guys, my heroes. I hope my guest list has given you a look into my specialty area of work, & how we got to this point. While it's not everyone's thing, by golly it's mine!!!! Bon appetit.