On Monday (March 13th, that is), I booked my dive medical, with the intention of being able to complete an Open Water scuba diving course before I left the island. You see, you can do a introductory 'Discover Scuba Diving' course without the medical, but if you want to be certified, you need to be checked out as you would for some jobs or other activities.
After working for the first two days of the week, I had Wednesday and Thursday off. I went to Gladstone to get the medical, at an occupational health specialist there. I passed everything that I needed to until the doctor said to me, "do you know that you have a heart murmur?" Needless to say, I was a bit surprised!
A heart murmur is an additional 'swooshing' sound in the heart, where blood is leaking from one of the vales. There are holes in your heart when you're born, but sometimes they don't close up properly. To be sure, I was recommended to have an echocardiogram (a heart X-ray) which cost about $370! Even though the resort nurse couldn't hear the murmur when I asked her to listen for it, I thought I'd stay on the safe side of things and book the scan.
I finished up the week with three split shifts, to be followed by another two at the start of the next week. They're okay on their own or in pairs, but when you get that many in a row, your free time ends up being reduced to a mere three hours every day. Hardly ideal, but you've got to do it sometimes.
