A Work in Progress

Today and Friday I went cross country skiing in for the first time. I pretty much kept to our yard, and a little into the trail in the woods out back. It was good fun and I only fell down once! When I did, I laid there and l thought to myself “In a few seconds this is all going to make sense” And I waited, and a few seconds later I figured out how to get up with two 190cm planks stuck to my feet. I think I did about 5 minutes of actual skiing today, and about 55 minutes of walking with style. I am definitely afraid of going down hills and not being able to stop without throwing myself on the ground. Friday was the coldest day I ever lived through. Of course, it was the day I decided to start my skiing career. The high was 7 degrees, and during the day it even dipped into –1. I’ve learned a few things from this. Firstly, even with 2 pairs of gloves on, my hands were numb in about 20 minutes. Although the skiing kept the rest of me fairly warm. Secondly, when you have a sca...

During the day shift last week we had three calls. Two of those calls were for people who fell over, one of which fell down on the slippery snow, and the other fell over the pattern in the carpet. They were both fine, but we brought them in because either they wanted to go, or because their daughter insisted. The third call was maybe on of the most blatant misuse of the 911 system I have seen. The pt. called for a rash. She claimed it was all over her body and itchy. She hadn’t put any creams on the rash at all. She wasn’t having trouble breathing, hadn’t eaten anything unusual or new, hadn’t changed soaps lately. Also, upon assessment, she had no discernable rash. She also had her travel bag all packed up and her two kids ready to go. She lived about 3 blocks from the hospital. It was a nice sunny day. We begrudgingly drove her 2 minutes to the hospital. I want to help people, I really do, but sometimes its hard not to get mad. Maybe this person legitimately didn’t know ...

Winter has come to the forest, finally. After a nice ice storm at the beginning of last week, we had a couple more inches on top of that. So, still not seasonably snowy, but at least the ground is white! Oh yeah, and its really cold. On Tuesday when I woke up, it was 2 degrees! I went on a call that evening, and I think that my ears froze off. My hands were also in need of serious help. After I got the refusal, I hid in Andy’s car and wrote my report. I learned one thing you don’t want to hear as your heading toward the nurses station, about to pick up a patient: “Smell that? Yeah, that’s your patient.” So, today I had my pottery class which was great. I don’t know what it is, there’s something very visceral about pottery that I love. Plus, it’s a good way to fill up time until I move back to the home state. Then, I got new brakes for the truck. It had been making this horrible noise and one of my wheels may be coated in a permanent layer of brake dust and other crap. Bu...

Okay, so some details: actual engagement happened just before thanksgiving, but we kept it a secret, mostly so that over Christmas I could tell pretty much my entire family at once. That was fun as they were all surprised and excited. As for plans: there is a date, a venue, a dress, honeymoon flights, and a guest list. That’s about as far as we’ve gotten. I’ll be going home in a few weeks, hopefully to iron out the rest of the big things, caterer, flowers, photographer, bridesmaids dresses…the list of things to do is scary. Most of my time at home was spent catching up with old friends, and introducing them to my fiancé. Then we both came back up to NH, and enjoyed a few days together. We went up north to Kittery and Freeport Maine, and fantasized about kayaks and kayak gear. It was here that I procured my new paddle which is still patiently waiting to meet water. We took full advantage of LL Beans 24/7 hours, and stayed until about 1am trying out tents and sleeping bags. W...

One thing can change your life, one thing has changed mine recently. It has caused me to laugh and cry and be overwhelmed. One thing caused me to drink half a bottle of champagne and laugh a laugh of pure happiness. A small thing that will make big changes, it will change where I live, change where I work, change my bank accounts. Because of it I’ll need a new passport, a new license, a new library card. I’ve gone into stores because it needed good lighting. It has prompted unsolicited advice, surprised, hidden in a pocket. It has caught the eye of strangers, gone unnoticed, attracted a crowd. It has caused me to willingly buy a dress, to set a date, to stress. It has caused me untold joy, made me marvel at human emotion, to prioritize. It encompasses a love, two lives, two families. It came with a question, it prompted an answer. It is that one thing: a ring.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that the flatwater kayaking season is basically over. Although it’s warmish during the days, all of the lakes are currently sporting a nice layer of ice. Also, I don’t yet own a proper dry top, or wet suit. In celebration of the kayak season ending, I bought a new Werner paddle. It is awesome, made of carbon, 210cm long, two pieces, beautiful, and weighs about a pound and a half. I don’t want to wait until spring to use it, oh well. Until then, I’ll just admire it, and pet it, and air-paddle with it. I should mount it on the wall, or above the fireplace like a prized rifle. By the way, a new paddle is not the most exciting thing to go on as of late, just the simpler entry to write. Ooh, according to my counter, the ole blog has received more than 10,000 hits, sweet! That's also not the most exciting thing to go on as of late, but a close second! Tomorrow is my one year anniversary with the truck! I think I'll take it out to dinner, o...

Much has happened/been revealed since my last post. New updates to follow soon. I have been busy with various things since Christmas. I have a reverse 24 coming up tomorrow, I hope I'll have time to properly update then.

This year was totally weird. Not only because it was my first year away from home, but I worked Christmas eve and Christmas day also. It didn’t really feel like Christmas yesterday, especially as we had a surprising amount of calls. Also it’s been unseasonably warm here. I’m learning that there is no such thing as a traditional Christmas anymore, and I’m okay with that. Santa came to our house on Christmas eve morning as Andy and I both had to work Christmas day. And by ‘Santa’ I mean Santa, the big man, the real deal. He has an amazing network, and is always on top of things. He’s unpredictable, and always has a trick up his sleeve. He brought me a crock pot and a sleeping bag, and some salt and pepper shakers. I’m going to be trying out the sleeping bag at work tonight, I can’t wait. Speaking of not being able to wait…it’s only about 20 more hours now until I’m back in the old line state! And 14 of that will be taken up by work! After work on Christmas eve, I went to chu...

In less than five days I’ll be back in Maryland for a week. I have never been so excited to be going home! It’s really impossible to explain, so I won’t try. Maybe in the upcoming week I will. Sorry that was really uninformative. So, I’m working the next four days straight, I’m pretty excited. Why? Merely because the time at work will mark the passing of days, and might give me something to do. Oh, and the double time on Christmas day. Work was pretty much uneventful this week. One of my colleagues had a patient with a dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm last night. The patient coded when they walked in the hospital door, they were all freaked/excited. By the way, a dissecting AAA is where your aorta splits, and blood fills the cavity the dissection forms, and its basically really, really bad. Ooh, also, my roommates saw not one but two moose in the back yard! We were all very excited and there was much rejoicing. Hopefully they’ll make some more appearances throughout...

On Wednesday I had two interesting overriding thoughts in my day. After our first two calls which were kind of fun. I said “I can’t believe we get paid for this.” It’s just amazing, I can poke people with needles, chat with interesting patients, cheer people up, occasional save a life, or at least try, and they pay me. But, by the end of the day, I said “They’re not paying us enough!” I’ll spare the details of the most disgusting call I’ve ever been on. I pretty much hope that I never have a more revolting, horrid call. That’s all really. It’ll be a hard call to trump. I worked a whole 911 shift with Andy, it was totally weird, and totally cool. It’s hard to believe they’d let two UMBC graduates run an ALS truck. A scary day for the local citizens. We only had three calls which is fine by me for the night shift, one was an overdose. I almost said: “I’m sorry that you just want to sleep, but I’m afraid you’ll sleep, like, forever.” Other than that, I actually hung out with...

It’s amazing how familiar I’ve become with the city I work in. My partner and I were both from out of town when we started, and we have found our way to every call without assistance. Well, on Wednesday a call went out to Apple Ave. I looked it up in our map book, and there was no apple avenue, only apple street. “Oh, apple street, we know where that is!” So we headed on over to there, and couldn't find the correct address. We called our dispatch to inquire. They say, you know apple ave, near the airport. My partner and I looked at each other. We were nowhere near the airport. What the heck! I didn't even know where to look in the map book now. I called up dispatch again, and got the cross streets, which luckily were in the map book. We ended up with a 15+ minute response time, but at least we know where apple ave is now (other than not in the map book.) Luckily the patient wasn’t critical. On Thursday we were called for a car into a house. Whatever this call w...

Last week I worked six days in a row. The most interesting calls are already posted, I’m afraid. In three days, I did 38 hours in interfacility work. That yielded one call worth remembering. Have I mentioned recently I’m not a fan of transfers? Oh well. This patient had stepped on a low shelf in the grocery store and reached up to the top shelf to grab something. You know this story can’t end well! As she stepped down from the low shelf, she caught her ring in the lip of the top shelf. As her body kept going, her finger was stuck and her ring degloved, snapped, and twisted her finger nearly off. At the ER she was told they would amputate. Well, because that is a very frightening word, she wanted a second opinion. That’s how we got involved to take her to another hospital. It was good times as I got to a. give narcotics and b. see the x-ray. I must say it was probably the coolest x-ray I have ever seen. The rest of the weekend was the usual fare, none too exciting. Google...

I worked a shift on Tuesday to make up for having last Sunday off. It was interfacility transfers and we were pretty busy, but I got to work with my roommate which was good fun. I think that’s the most time we’ve spent together since I moved here. We have completely opposite schedules. On Wednesday we were pretty busy and had a few interesting things. We started with a woman who had a TIA (transient ischemic attack = mini stroke). I’ll admit she had me a little worried, but as soon as we got her in the bus, her symptoms began to subside. It was a relief for me, but I’m so glad she called us. Shortly after we had a lady with nothing wrong with her except for an overly concerned daughter. We did our old standby call and took yet another older lady to the hospital who thought we were all commies. I would call the seizure in the dentists' office the most entertaining of the day. The patient on the chair had a seizure, the dentist called and we spent 10-15 minutes convincing the patient...

I would give this thanksgiving weekend a rating of about 22.6 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best thanksgiving ever, 1 being no thanksgiving at all. Surprises, turkey, double time at work, Christmas presents, planning, frivolity, love, and general good times abounded. Not much really exciting or overly holiday related happened when I worked Thanksgiving night. Basically I was able to hang out with my baby for awhile at work, and I was woken up about every 3 hours after he left. We had a fall, 2 non cardiac chest pains, quasi choking, and some other stuff that I can’t even remember. The choking was real, but resolved by the time we arrived, it was also marginally holiday related. I guess the rest of the city was in a post thanksgiving stupor of some sort. We also had a guy who’s finger got twisted into a pneumatic drill. It pulled the skin a bit, but nothing horrible. Controlled bleeding and such. I patched it in to the hospital as I saw it (nothing to get excited about) an...

I am in love.

nurse: “Have you had any surgeries?” patient: “Apricot!” everyone in hearing distance: “Wha?!” pause: (pauses) nurse: (in her infinite wisdom) “Can you show me where the surgery was?” patient: (points) nurse: “Oh! Your appendix !” everyone in hearing distance: (stifles giggles) me: “We’re going to move you over to this bed, okay?” patient: “I’m gay?!” me: “What? Oh, no…” Google search term of the week, perhaps century: “society for the promotion of hubcaps.” You know what a philanthropist I am, especially when hubcaps are concerned. They really need all the help they can get. Support your local hubcap! All four of them! When you see a stray or abandoned one on the road, pick it up. Put them to good use. Oh yeah, this weekend we had yet another kid who swallowed a coin that didn't quite make it all the way down. Kids! Ow, my apricot!

The best call of the week was not even my call. If it had come out 5 minutes earlier, it would have been my call, but alas. It was a motorcycle versus car, and the trauma team was activated at our local hospital almost as soon as the ambulance was on scene. Partial leg amputation. We were at the hospital when it came in, and I got to do what anyone else wanted to do: see it. Ooh, it was gross! The patient was taken to a level 1 trauma center about 10 minutes later, although I don’t think there was any hope of saving the leg. Things were a little slow otherwise, but on almost every call I had a student with me. Still weird, but pretty sweet! Oddly, I’ve enjoyed giving away the few trade secrets I have to new people. Finally after many dreary days, I went back out on the water today. Since I came back from Maryland, it seems, it has been raining and miserable. Pisgah and I had a nice paddle and it felt really good to enjoy the sun again. Also, finally, I’ve added picture...

Twice now we’ve been called to the same corner for psych problems. We’ve arrived to find a lady in her late 50s-60s flanked by six or seven police officers. No matter what, this is a curious situation. The first time this happened 2 weeks ago, the lady looked harmless, but had probably consumed some alcohol containing beverages. There were bike police, at least 3 police cars, one with a very friendly dog in it, and the paddy wagon. One of the cops said to me “Good luck with this one.” My partner went up to the patient. partner: “Come on, let’s go.” patient: (refuses) cop who warned me: “You can either go to the hospital, or go to jail!!” patient: “Well then, I guess I’m going to jail!” everyone: (incredulously) “ What?! ” When people are given this choice, no one, and I mean no one chooses jail. I mean, why would you? Going to the hospital can sometimes be a get out of jail free card, as you are probably crazy. We were all justifiably shocked, but at this point, my partn...

Directly after my night shift last week, I flew down to visit my boyfriend. I’m pretty sure this trip is in the running for ‘greatest surprise pulled off ever in the history of surprises.’ My family knew, his family knew, and he was left completely in the dark, hilarious! His mom and I were in cahoots, and she convinced him that his father had a coworker coming over for dinner. Perfect motivation for him to clean his room, and leave his clinical on time. Predictably, he called me when he left his clinical, and I talked to him as he drove home, unbeknownst to him, closer to me. When he arrived, he said he’d better go as this coworker was there. Okay, I said, covering my excitement with mock disappointment. Within minutes he realized that the coworker was me, and I was greeted with a probably 10 second open mouthed stare while we all laughed at his expense. Ah… It was so hard to keep that secret! I feel weird disclosing it even now as it was shrouded in such secrecy. Well, aft...

Last weeks shift is pretty much a blur, but more on that later. Car accident with nasal injury. Unbelted, no airbag, a sharp stop, a pole, and something I’m not sure of caused our patient to have cut his nose from bridge to tip. The bleeding was more or less controlled before we arrived, we checked it out, took a collective yikes! and covered it back up. Wacky cardiac rhythm. It was so wacky that I actually sent it to the hospital using the wonders of technology before we got there. I was dead excited that they received it successfully. The doc pulled me aside to inquire, and I showed him all the 12 leads I had taken and he came to the conclusion that he didn’t know what to call it. It was like a sinus beat, then a couplet of sinus beats (that looked different from the first) followed by a pause of about 5 seconds. Then the pattern would continue. Sometimes with sinus beats, sometimes with possibly atrial beats, and sometimes with ventricular beats. That’s confusing! Well, ...