A Work in Progress

The other day we went for a medical alert call.  The good ol' "I've fallen and I can't get up." call.  These are some of my favorites.  Sometimes they are over fast.  The patient is embarrassed, we pick them up, put them in a chair and they thank us but want us to leave before the neighbors see the ambulance outside.  Sometimes we get to break stuff.  If all the doors are locked and the patient can't get to them to open them, things get broken which is always good fun. And, sometimes we get to stay a while. In the last year I've picked people off the ground many times, but one lady about four times alone.  I don't mind going to her house because she is fiery, funny, and likes to talk.  Boy does she like to talk.  The last time we were there we picked her up, cleared away the mess she had inadvertently made, took trash out and whistled at her new pet bird.  On this occasion, one of our volunteers who works in a big town was...

Yeah, I haven't written since June.  Not here at least.  Yeah, I don't really know why.  Yeah, I've kind of waited to get over my crisis of hating the job before I wrote again.  Yeah, sometimes I hate the best job in the world. It's kind of my biennial problem of getting a little burned out, working a little too much, and encountering a few too many people that just make me wonder where the world is heading.  Although, now I've feeling far more Zen about it  than I ever have.  Because, for the first time, I talked to people about my problem.  Not a professional (maybe next time) but I felt other people out about my misgivings and low and behold, it worked.  I found that I am certainly not alone in my feelings.  Also, if I need to benchmark myself against the best people, I have a few in mind. It's easy to lose sight of hope in this business of EMS.  At least I think so.  We do see a lot of sil...

My bricks came in.

James River birds.

Update on the patio. Getting closer, I guess.

Fancy pants new ambo. Maybe one day I'll get to ride it it.

Fixed the problem of the offending screw/metal bit/whatever cut me. Take that, air filter!

My first stitches...aw.

View from the ambo. Parked, of course. I think.

Lunch of a champion.

The world knows when I am running late.

Lucky me!

Community!

Like a nerd, I had always wanted to re-take Anatomy and Physiology.  This is an incredible class.  I took it first in 2003 and to be a qualified PA applicant, this class must be within ten years.  So, I am getting my wish.  I felt like I remembered a lot from that class.  I remember it being fascinating and overwhelming.  An entire lexicon I had never heard before.  Amazing, amazing things going on inside my actual body at all times.  I distinctly remember that after hearing the lecture about muscle function I could barely move, now knowing how complex even the smallest motion was.  I guess what I remember most about A&P was that it was hard. Now, a few weeks and several quizzes in, I am shocked by what I forgot.  I am horrified by what I never knew.  Or, maybe I did know it, but who knows?  Looking through my flash cards (which I did find and will prove useful) I must have known a lot of stuff.  But most of that's go...

13 Today.