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As a young and healthy anaesthetic registrar preparing for his final specialist exams, Dr Steven never imagined he could become a patient.

Unexpectedly, a colonoscopy revealed a large tumour and he was diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer, which resulted in a year of intensive chemotherapy, surgery and significant complications.

Despite being given a prognosis of only a few years, Steven achieved the impossible is now cancer free and a full-time anaesthetic consultant at Caboolture Hospital. 👊

"My journey as the patient has taught me innumerable practice-changing lessons, from how I manage a pain crisis to advice I give before major surgery, it grants a level of empathy few can match," Steven said.

"Of the seven hospitals I rotated through, the Caboolture team were so friendly, collegiate and caring. My plan is to work as an anaesthetist in Caboolture for the foreseeable future.

"The threat of my cancer coming back is always present, but I am living as much of my life now and really appreciating my wife and kids." 🫶 ...

The "Glenda and Annie team" is a hard act to follow, having spent 40 years together helping patients in RBWH surgical theatres. 👯‍♀️

This bestie duo has been working together since 1984 but have an even longer friendship dating back to high school, before they together did their nursing studies and worked at Metro North.

When Glenda was left short-staffed at RBWH one evening, she called on her trusted sidekick Annie who was based at TPCH, and they`ve been inseparable ever since.

"One night we only had three registered nurses on, but everyone was sick except me. We had this huge case come in, and I said, `Annie I some need extra hands; I`m going to give you a lesson in 10 minutes on how to scout in an operating room` and it went from there," Glenda explains.

"I eventually got into theatre, and I`ve been there ever since. We’ve been very fortunate to work together, it`s been an absolute privilege which I think is why we’ve stayed as long as we have," Annie said.

"In surgery, you are only as good as your scout nurse and I had the best one in Annie," Glenda added.

👏 A big #ShoutoutSaturday to Glenda and Annie, showing us what the power of two can do! ...

Death isn`t always an easy topic to discuss, but it doesn`t have to be a taboo one.

With tea and cake on the menu and death and dying on the discussion board, the Death Cafe held at the Brighton Wellness Hub invites the community to have open discussions around their own experiences and wishes when it comes to death.

One Death Cafe attendee Kim who travelled from Maryborough to attend and is training to be a death doula says that anyone who is contemplating attending a session should give it a go.

"I`d absolutely say go in with an open mind; it’s a fact of life that we are all going to die at some point. It’s not morbid and you’ll probably have a laugh, we certainly did. We need to make it less scary," she said.

"It was really interesting as there were a few healthcare professionals in the room as well, I learnt that everyone is different and has a different take on the death cafe, however everyone had the same interest at heart to attend.

"A friend of mine from New Zealand planted the seed in my head, I’ve had lots of death in my life, and I`ve read a bit about death cafes. I was looking for one closer but found the one at Brighton and I`m glad I did." ...