Modern Marriage by Filip Vukašin

Author:Filip Vukašin [Vukašin, Filip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Published by Affirm Press in 2021
Published: 2021-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

49

Tomas

Yesterday Tomas was still buzzing with the excitement of his second day volunteering, being paraded around departments to the nurses and doctors and social workers, answering questions about his heritage, his life in Melbourne, what books and music he likes, between participating in caesareans and vaginal deliveries. Now the party has ended; Tomas feels like he’s been dropped into reality since the team told him they needed him to help a bit more.

He feels a little hesitant around the rest of the obstetric team today because it feels like they trust his knowledge more than he does, like there’s a misunderstanding and he was hoping to just continue observing and answering personal questions for another day before finishing up and being able to tell people he volunteered back home.

But at the morning handover, the four fast-talking obstetricians tell him they’re glad to have an extra pair of hands. Ana, one of the trainees, with mild acne scarring and long natural lashes, takes him down a long, high-ceilinged hallway past a cleaner scrubbing the linoleum by hand.

Ana talks rapidly about the process of managing the antenatal outpatients – her accent hints of coastal Colombian – before she shows him to his own consulting room. He wants to check that she has got it right – they want him to see patients individually, without her oversight.

Really?

Couldn’t he observe some deliveries and maybe cuddle some babies for a few more days? He couldn’t possibly see patients unaccompanied. But Ana promptly closes the door before he has a chance to speak.

Tomas looks around the room. It could be a room in any medical clinic or hospital in the world, with its bare white walls, small plain window looking onto a brick facade, and two straight fluorescent tubes nailed to the ceiling. There’s a stack of histories already waiting for him, a cupboard full of medications he is allowed to dispense, a doppler machine he hasn’t used since 2010 and an examination bed with stethoscope, blood pressure machine, speculums and other tools he hasn’t touched in years.

He tries to trick his mind. He has a medical degree – this will be like muscle memory. He hasn’t done a pap smear in years, though, and the thought of doing one triggers a sweat over his neck.

I can do this.

He tells himself it’s refreshing to be away from Melbourne, away from the politics of the plebiscite, away from the Dante issue and in a new work environment, flexing his brainpower. He’ll greatly appreciate being back at the Brighton Cosmedical Institute, recounting the interesting stories and experiences he had in his homeland to Klara and Afida. He can’t screw it up too much and if he does, he’ll be on a plane in a matter of days.

Tomas picks up the first paper file. It’s thick, with reams of ultrasound pictures, blood tests and clinical notes, each added to the folder with subsequent consultations.

He checks the label in the top corner, and winces. It can’t possibly be for the next patient.

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