i'm trying to recall what i've done in the past while and it seriously seems like some sort of blurry mess of things all paramedic related.
um.... hm, okay. i'm trying to think of where to start! let's start at the start of the month. good a place as any, yeah?
Begining of October would have been a Communication class. Despite it being on communication, it really doesn't seem like i learn lots on communicating! It would have followed with Independant Study, or as I call it iStudy. ahahaaaa-lame.
those classes went by fairly quick, as they are wont to do. normally with iStudy we freak out and just study A&P (anatomy and phsiology) we had an exam later in the month, so of course we're going to be studying our collective asses off.
the second was filled with Health Systems and i think we had a guest speaker who didn't show. i think it was the cops...how fitting. the next day was Patient Assessment and LAB.
For labs, we have to wear our uniforms. We've been having issues with the supplier for our uniforms since day one in dealing with them. for the longest time we were waiting on getting our uniforms and contacting the supplier everyday. No word of a lie. we called every freaking day. and getting a hold of this man was harder to do than getting a greased pig from something who loves greased pigs.
nothing that friday from our supplier, despite the promises that "it'll be there on friday." whatever, i go home knowing full well that i have to be up at some godless time for my first ambulance ride-along.
so, i have to be at the base for my 7:30am shift. well, to be polite, you should be there anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes before incase a call comes in. that way the morning shift can take it and let the night shift start being "back up", which is understandable!
i'm there and oh dear gods, all i want to do is sleep. i have no clue how the hell i'm going to last 12 hours.
our first call was to a care home for a transfer. i swear the nurses there just...weren't on the ball as well as they could have been. she repeated herself a few times and the info changed every now and then. hmmm...whatever. we loaded our patient and brought him in.
the next was ...hm, i can't remember. i think a flight patient came in. we went out to the grace lake airport and picked them up and brought them in.
you know, lots is blurring together. i remember moments more than anything of the 4-12 hour shifts. lovely those shifts...2 days and 2 nights.
i know we did fall asleep for a bit. which was amusing.
we got a couple more calls. i know one was to pick up the flight nurse from the airport and bring him in to pick up the earlier transfer. the flight nurse was sorta creepy. but he asked me to hook up leads, which i've never done before and it was something we didn't learn. luckily the sticky pads were already on the patient.
it was weird. in the morning when we dropped the patient off, it was empty. when we came back to pick him up to bring him to the airport, his whole family was in the hallway. i swear there was around 20 people milling around and waiting for their turn to say good-bye.
mostly i carried paperwork and the bags for the paramedics. it was good though.
i got off of work at 7:30pm. and i'm sure i went home to sleep.
the second day was pretty much like the first, as in a blur. i don't really recall much of it.
the 3rd day, i started at 7:30pm. there was a Code on the morning shift. that was when one of my classmates started her ride-alongs. she knew the person who committed suicide.
sadly in a very twisted way, i wished that it was me, if anything for the simple knowledge of weither or not i can handle seeing a dead body.
they say seeing a MVA or being on a Code can change your views on things. It can actually turn you off of being a paramedic. I guess the practical side of me is thinking that i want to have this experience before the end of the course. I guess in a way, save money or not blow money on a career that's stopped short by a "life-altering experience."
somehow, despite the fact that i know i probably won't see something like that any time soon, i still think i'd be able to handle it and do my job as a paramedic.
so, that night we did inventory and stuff. make up bed rolls for the rigs and make sure it was supplied.
i got to take apart a trauma bag and i think i'm fairly comfortable on where things are in it. i learnt how to do hands on of emptying an O2 tank and then rehooking one up.
i don't recall any calls... i do know that i got my pylon jacket of doom and the other pair of pants. sadly, the jacket when worn with inner shell, is too small and i can't fit it. getting a hold of the supplier has been a bitch.
the next day...well, we fought to stay awake by watching movies. yeah... matty and i watched something called the last king of scotland or last kingdom of scotland. that was seriously messed up.
from there it brought me to wed morning and i slept for the majority of the day and packed for my week and a half in winnipeg. part pleasure and part for school. yay.
on the 9th, i was suppose to leave early, but i had a migraine so mum told me to sleep it off. i did. woke at 11am.
the majority of the trip down was boring. i started passing out, so i pulled over for 15 minutes for a nap. i kept driving and ended up getting some energy iced tea. it was yummy.
pulled into winnipeg and visited with jenn right off the hop as i waited for miss k to get off of work.
here's a pic of me taking Vitals in Lab Week!
lab week...not gonna lie to yah. that was fucking intimidating. seriously.
i felt out of place and lost and nervous.
most of the time, i felt as if all my skills and confidence were just squished. like a bug. a BUG i tell you!
i swore i felt so small and the more i went through things, the more nervous i got and it just went downhill. i got cranky and shit like that...which didn't help as that just made me feel so much smaller.
thursday we had an open house. that was more than a loaded gun and interesting. i had to watch my tongue with all the dignitaries there. i really didn't want to show any displeasure - yet. also, why oh why do they need to marinate themselves in perfume/cologne? do you really stink THAT much?
another place that has a scent free policy that's NOT enforced by the "management". Cam is totally cool in not wearing it and if he does wear anything - deoderant, hair stuff or detergent... barely smell anything. if i can, it's not a bad smell. i don't have an allergy attack.
speaking of allergies, im so very proud of myself. i'm slowly building up a tolerance to it. not as much as before, but i can handle most light stuff.
right... open house! we got to speak with bill younger about complaints we had. and from what i could tell - we, as in the pas, had a few!
funny side note - on the chat for class, everyone thought i was a guy. infact, Nish (a really awesome possum guy) thought i was some big burly bitter guy. one day ian (from dauphin) and myself were probably argueing or bantering or something about ...something and Nish said he turned to ian and said "what's up with this cyd character?"
i wound up sitting next to Nish during the first few days in winnipeg.
we had a laugh about it.
friday, i felt much better and in my game. i was able to go through my assessments and felt comfortable answering questions.
after the weekend, i ended up going home on saturday. had a med terminology exam on monday. i passed with a 65%. by the skin on my ass - or something like that.
the rest of the week was filled with guest speakers and class and labs. well, also this past bit of week.
we had an exam tuesday..er, yesterday. i got either a 83 or a 88. i seen the 8 part and was happy. period.
we read EKG's in lab. went over things in a nice dumbed down version. so freaking helpful! i understand it much more!
yesterday we started pharmacology.
oh. on the trip down to winnipeg, i got to use my HolyFreakingPylonJacket in a useful way.
A girl passed out and ended in the ditch - good job. well a huge truck - it was 4x4... tried to get her out. it failed. like here's your shipment of FAIL! it got stuck in the mud...half way up the tires. and this tiny ford ranger was trying to pull it out. it failed.
a broken tow rope later, and myself locked out of my own car - while it was running... it's a habit. i get out, lock the door. ... yeah... shut up.
one semi driver was gonna pull them out, but he fucked off. so, while the guys helping us broke into my car, the rest of us tried to figure out where would be good to stop traffic.
another semi stopped and helped! i drove a bit away and got out the blinding jacket of doom and stopped traffic while they hitched huge chains to get the truck and car out.
the girl was fine.
so, yay. jacket was useful, it's probably not going back to ross - the supplier of lame... but i'll wear it. i just can't wear the inner shell. boooo to that.
oh. found a picture of a truck that's not Ironhide (so want that truck) that totally made me INK.
and seriously, i think i'm done. ... yeah. night night all.
today, i also get to do ride alongs with the ems director for halloween. every year they drive around and make sure kids aren't being beaten up for their candy.
TPC
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