A Work in Progress

Graduation went as expected. In the morning we had our departmental precommencement which was nice, as it was a little more intimate than actual commencement with 1300 other people we don’t know. As for graduation, thankfully, we got a parking place downtown, and Mom and Dad found the perfect seats. Other than that the afternoon was filled with mixed emotions and classic activities: crossing the stage in a haze, shaking hands of people I don’t know, adding “BS” to the end of my name, and moving the tassel from right to left. Afterwards, we had a great dinner in little Italy, and moved the first of the boxes out of my room. In the evening, a few people came over to enjoy refreshment and each others’ company. Today has been a leisurely day of packing and stripping the walls. I have a feeling this moving thing will get harder before it gets easier. Now that it’s come to an end, I made a list of ‘UMBC in review’. It grew as I gave it more thought, remembering all of the things ...

I am overjoyed to report that I am one huge step closer to being a paramedic. Today was the practical exam, and I can hardly believe that it’s over. I was so stressed this morning, I don’t remember ever being that freaked out. But all was fine. I never have to face the bane of my existence, Trauma Assessment, ever again, and in fact, I never have to do any of it ever again. Now, only the results of my written stand between me and the disco patch. Let the merriment begin, and maybe the consumption of a particular class of drink (who am I kidding?) Bring on the blender and the pina colada mix!

Work last weekend was the greatest. 20+ hours and only 2 patients, beautiful. On Saturday I was unwillingly sent to our sister company, based out of a local hospital. I don’t like it there. I have to get my narcs out of a pyxis, run calls with people I don’t know, hang out in a cramped team room, use equipment I’m not familiar with, and socialize with people who don’t like outsiders. But all was not lost. I knew my partner, who is awesome, and soon after our arrival we were detailed to standby for a lacrosse game. Nothing happened there, and one of my dad’s alma maters won the game. When we returned to our hospital base, we had one long, uneventful call that brought us to the end of the day. The next day, I was indoctrinated into becoming a driver as my partner for the day was not old enough to drive, and there was no one else. It ended up that my partner never showed up and I was sent again to our sister company to help them out. So, I drove there, got my drugs out, did one...

I hate long posts, (short attention span) so, here’s some more to give the illusion of a short read. Work was interesting, we had two what we call “superstats” which are the 911 calls of critical care ambulances. They are the only time we get to go lights and sirens, justifiably so, as the person is usually suffering from an acute heart attack or some other serious ailment. I usually like these calls, as I can use some of my critical care skills, have a patient who is suffering from something that is pretty interesting, and well, the lights and siren thing. The problem was that were in an upgraded BLS van and squeezing all the necessary equipment and people in there was difficult. Yesterday Ewing and I went on a little kayaking trip to celebrate his purchase of a fine new paddle, and my purchase of his old one. To try out our recent acquisitions we went to a section where we could park one car and paddle around freely. Just up the river from this area is a section that the local ...

Last week, because I have completed a certain amount of clinical hours and competencies, I was suspended from clinicals and forced to give the rest up to other students. “Okay,” I said to this, “I’ll just go anyway.” but I decided to be a good student and clarify the consequences (if any). When I inquired, the department resorted to threatening us with a failing grade or pulling our national registry application. Needless to say, I’ve been pretty bored recently, and mad. Although, my suspension has given me more time to participate in some fun activities, kayak more than usual, freak out about entering the real world, hang out and do absolutely nothing, and go to work. My last clinical, which will serve as my last clinical ever, aside from the ambulance getting hit by a train and having a drunk fall on me, I got looked up on a police “Should I be afraid of the person I’ve pulled over?” computer. While we were hanging out with some local cops, my preceptor commandeered one of thei...

At my last clinical we had what I will call the “light rail incident.” It started out with a call that went out as “unconscious in a wheelchair.” We decided to find out what this meant exactly and squirreled the call. The patient was on the sidewalk, indeed in a wheelchair, wide awake, and the first thing she said to us was something to the effect of “You ain’t givin’ me any of that (expletive) Narcan!” That’s fine, but you may want to consider going to the hospital anyway. Mid conversation, the light rail train came down the road we were parked on, and all of a sudden we were all distracted by a loud scraping noise as the train tried to pass the ambulance. A well meaning firefighter then climbed in the passenger side and attempted to move the ambulance, but actually made it worse, as more scraping noises ensued, and the pieces of a light fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the patient wheeled away why we were watching this literal train wreck that we couldn’t tear ourselves away from...