This has been a long stretch of working this last month. After working most every day for the past 30 either at UCLA in the Cardiothoracic ICU or in the Acute Dialysis Unit, I AM TIRED! Sorry to all of you that were growled at these last couple of days, it should be better when my eye-balls don’t stick to the inside of my head like they have been these last couple of days.

Traveling to Japan

My wife Jennifer and I will be “leaving on a jet plan, don’t know when we’ll be coming back again, Oh babe I’ve got to go.” Japan Airlines is a partner of American Airlines and all of those frequent flyer miles will add up. By tomorrow evening we will be in Tokyo enjoying a hot tube and sake with a little sushi. How does that sound! We have never been in Japan and this is going to be very interesting. After visiting most of the Asian countries these past couple of years the largest industrial country has only been flown over. Last year when I visited Thailand and China we flew over Japan. From the air the Japanese islands are amazingly mountainous with densely populated small delta areas on the coast. For the most part the Japan Islands look like very open nonpopulated forested mountains. That is quite a different picture most of us have of the country. My experience is from the air and to think of it flying over the United States is interesting too. Most of the South West looks pretty God forsaken desert you know. Pretty bleak stuff. But Japan is amazingly green from the air and mostly steep mountains. It seems that the only habitable regions are the relatively small deltas formed between the mountains where streams and rivers collect all that rain water and flow to the sea. The coast in these deltas are very heavily populated even if they comprise a small area in comparison with all of the Japanese islands. Well that is just what it looks like from the air. Now we get to see the cities and the people.

Friends at UCLA

These are the faces of people that I will miss while we are away. I will think of all of you and remember the compassion and care that you provide on a daily basis to the sick and defenseless people that you serve.

I will try and keep this log going while we are away and keep updating regularly. This will depend on computer access while traveling. For the most part I will be able to do this. As far as uploading pictures I will try. At any rate I will have them and be able to fill them in when able. To all of my friends please keep in touch and stop by from time to time to catch up with me. I answer all e-mail regularly at davidgodden @ hotmail. Talk to you soon and farewell for now.

The new hospital that will be the UCLA Medical Center is located on Westwood Blvd just east of Le Conte Ave. When the hospital will be up and functioning is still a question but rumor has it that the new hospital will be open sometime next year. We’ll see.

4EI The Cardiothoracic Unit at the old UCLA medical center

Today I was able to catch a few of the staff off guard while we were taking report. Here are a couple of photos.

UCLA Cardiothoracic ICU

As many of you know I have had the privilege to work in one of the most dynamic intensive care units in the country here at the UCLA medical center. The Cardiothoracic ICU at UCLA is world famous for its doctors and nurses for the care that patients receive under their watchful eyes. It has been a tremendous privilege to part of this great group.

The support staff here play an important role in the overall wellbeing of our patients. Without these dedicated folks none of the doctors or nurses would be able to do their jobs as well as they do. Our support staff are really talented being able to comfort families when they are stressed as well as assist the caregivers and lighten their load. Thank you.

Administrative Assistant Day at UCLA

Friends at UCLA

I have so many great friends here at UCLA. Here are just a few of them.

Vacation and trip to Japan and China coming up

My wife Jennifer and I will be taking a long over due vacation at the end of this month. We will be traveling to Japan for week and then to Shanghai, China to visit her parents. We will be traveling in South China for several weeks visiting some of my favorite spots in the middle of the greatest Green Tea growing areas. I will try to keep the Daily Blog going while in China. Jennifer’s brother has on-line access and I will be able to make regular posts to keep this up to date.

USC Anesthesia School

Oh my God! School will start very soon. After this trip to China it will be all business from now on out. This will become the major theme of these posts. I plan on developing an on-line resource for CRNA students and welcome any input. Some of the topics that I will provide research and data on will assist potential students in their quest on becoming nurse anesthetists. Wish me luck. See you all soon.

After a short nap, traveling takes it out of OLD people, we went to a fabulous Thai restaurant in San Gabriel. Mom had the better part of a nice bottle of wine and enjoyed herself fabulously.

The owner of the Paradise Restaurant in San Gabriel, Ca is originally from Chiang mai, Thailand in the Northern part of Thailand. Mom and I had a wonderful meal there at the Paradise and caught up on so many old stories. Only a few days and we will be off on our trip to Japan and China. My wife Jennifer and I are so glad that she is coming along with us. This trip is going to be a blast.

Picking mom up from LAX after she arrived from Denver, we took a leisurely drive home passing through the sweet little town of Sierra Madre up in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. A must see stop is the world famous Bean Town and Expresso Bar, a happening place on Friday and Saturday nights let me tell you!!

Inside the Bean Town Expresso Bar you will find the nicest people, especially if you want something out of the fresh pastry shelf. Bean Town has its own bakery on the premises and I promise you if you are ready to come off of your low carbohydrate diet this is the place to do it. To top it off, their coffee isn’t bad either.

Just watch out for the help. They really get into their work. After hours on Fridays at the local theatre they stage act during the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” just for fun.

Just another pleasant day in southern California.