Another life saved...

So, Ewing bought a new boat. Not like we really need an excuse to go out on the water but, new kayaks help. It was a bit of a brisk day, and the water was lower than usual making me wish that kopapa was equipped with a rock-crusher of some sort. Rocks on a shallow river not only get you stuck, sending you into a fit of rage, they also sometimes jump out in front of you. They should know that kayaks have the river right of way, but no. They’ll pop up when you least expect, causing you to be tossed one way or another, scraping the crap out of the hull, or in the case of Ewing and the new kayak, cause you to capsize. A particularly large rock jumped out of the water and grabbed the new kayak, forcing it underwater like a possessed marine animal, or something like that.
After my initial shock, I grabbed his now rogue paddle and made my way to where he had finally emerged from the roughly 38 degree water. I had a towel so he could dry off a bit, and out of the kindness of my heart I gave him my jacket, as he was left in a soaking wet t-shirt. So there we were; him wet with a jacket, me dry in a t-shirt (and fantastic new PFD) with 20 minutes of river ahead of us. Neither of us could feel our fingers or toes, so I decided to book it, and use the cardio workout to warm me up. Needless to say, we both survived, but I’m afraid Ewing has sworn off cold-weather kayaking until he has a suitable dry top. I keep reminding him that I saved his life by sacrificing my jacket and he owes me big.

I’ve had a clinical in the illustrious city of Baltimore. Par for the course, nothing exciting happened, but it was an entertaining day. I got to visit a methadone clinic, where our only potentially serious patient ran away. That was new. Her pressure was in the dumps, she was sweating like crazy, and about coughed up a lung in front of us. But she felt well enough to have a little snack. She may have put me off snack pack pudding cups for life after eating an entire cup using some cookies, and when the cookies ran out, her finger. I knew I should have been keeping silverware in my EMS pants. So much for always being prepared.

After spending 10 minutes convincing her to go (and suffering through her utensil-less eating), and after her social worker gave her bus fare, she said okay. I walked to the ambo to open the door for her and when I looked back, my preceptor was following her up the street. (stop. don’t. police.) It quickly became a futile chase and an unsigned refusal.

Pretty much the rest of our patients just needed a good nap. One after drinking a huge bottle of gin, another after taking a little too much methadone, and the last who learned that having nothing to eat for a few days except for booze, isn’t the greatest idea.

I now realize that I have been tweaking this post, surfing the net for paddling accessories, daydreaming, looking for vacation spots, staring into space, and eating chips for quite some time. I may have reached the bottom of the procrastination barrel for today, and will get started on my history take-home exam. Unless the roomies want to watch a movie...