Pink Warm and Dry

365 Project 1/8/10 and 1/9/10

My 1/8/10 submission may possibly break the rules. No picture today, but a very blurry video.

You remember the post I did about my Rockstar Partner?

Yeah, this guy.

There was a comment and a few emails about video being needed.

It took me awhile, but I managed to catch another one of Rockstar Partner’s shows, and while the video quality is craptastic (totally my fault), the audio is decent… If not a little loud.  So without further ado, I present RP.

This is a guy who I have barely known a year who has been there for me from day one.  I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to get to know not only him, but his ridiculously beautiful and sweet wife and their even more dazzling baby girl.

Working in private EMS, particularly in my area, well, it’s kind of thankless. It’s nice to have someone you can trust completely who will listen to you vent.  Venting is a good thing.

That’s where RP and I are. I’m grateful to have him around.  As a partner and as a fellow classmate.

By the way, when he’s singing at the top of his lungs at three in the morning, he doesn’t sound anything like this. And the lyrics don’t make much sense. Again, my apologies for the video quality.

***********

Lying in Wait.

Date:  01/09/10

Time:  1350ish

Subject:  My Dashboard, five minutes before a CCU clinical.

I know, this is some captivating stuff, yeah?  The truth is that I had my camera on me and knew that I needed to take a picture for today, and this was the only thing that caught my attention.

Medic school is stressful.  Anyone who’s done it once (or twice, or three times) will tell you that.    Even more so if you work full time and/or have smaller children while you’re going through it.  You work your ass off and try to be a good parent and a good spouse.  You are constantly buried in a big red book, or drug cards, or ACLS algorithms, or trying to remember what cranial nerve controls what.   When you aren’t fighting like hell to be a good parent for your little ones, you’re listening to a lecture.  When you aren’t fighting to stay awake during a lecture, you’re at work.  When you aren’t at work, you’re at a clinical. When you aren’t doing clinical time you’re fighting off nerves (at least I am) during a lab.  Every once in awhile you get to sleep.

It’s not fun, ya’ll. Not by a long shot.

That being said, becoming a Paramedic is something that is just in me.  I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

Some Days are Easier…

0630:  Wake up late.  Shake fist at alarm clock, run around house like maniac getting ready.

0652:  Emerge from house.  It’s 24 degrees outside.  Where did fall go????  Thank God for Under Armor.

0657:  Arrive at station, carry in computer bag, book bag, purse, comforter, 2nd blanket, pillow and lunch bag.  Visibly absent is my cup of coffee.  Not a good start to the day.

0700:  Stare at ambulance with Rockstar Partner.  Ponder washing it.  Immediately decide to do it later.

0716:  Lay down on couch, cover up with comforter.

0717:  Start snoring. (Hey, I’m sick, cut a girl some slack.)

0825:  Phone rings.  Dispatch has a private Hospice run for us.  Of we go!

0840:  Patient is DOA.

0843:  Consider a body bag as patient is now a body donation.  Informed that we don’t carry them.  Grab a sheet and head back into house, hanging back while family members say their goodbyes.  Try not to get misty eyed.

0850:  Patient loaded, heading to local medical hospital.

0922 :  Am greeted at morgue with this sign:

Well, that’s not good.

0930:  Informed that our patient will be remaining our patient until we find an alternate home for him.

Dear Management,

While I understand the importance of the entire management staff leaving the state to go prepare your hunting site for the upcoming season, you might want to consider giving us a way to contact you while you are gone.  Just in case two of your EMT’s are sitting around out of service with a patient who has ceased to be.   Just sayin.

Much Love,

Epi

1023:  Thanks to some foot stomping on my part and the dashing good looks and silver tongue that Rockstar Partner possesses, our patient has a new home.

1100ish:  Back at the station.

1200:  No runs.  Nothing on the board with dispatch.  Take boots off and sit on couch.

1400:  I wake up and am informed that I’ve been “Snoring like a chain saw”.  Not surprising, considering that the “Plague” has now settled in my sinuses and chest.

1600:  Still no runs.  Start to feel very much UN-like Paramedic Dan.  (My apologies to those who don’t get the reference.)

1700:  Go outside long enough to make a phone call.  Rockstar Partner emerges from our comfy lair to remind me that we need to wash the truck.

1705:  We wash our ambulance.  Crowds cheer.  My fingers are numb.

1740ish:  We’re done washing the truck, inside and out, and cleaning out the station.  Still nothing on the board.

2000:  The stars are out.  I realize I’m running a fever in addition to feeling like “hammered shit” (credit to Ambulance Driver).  No one will come in to work for me.  I curl up on the couch wrapped in my comforter and watch Family Guy with RP.

2300:  My eyes close.

2348 – 0520ish:  I toss and turn, waking up every hour or so coughing and shivering and staring at the clock.

0645:  The alarm on my phone wakes me up.  No runs pending.  Paramedic Dan rolls over in his proverbial grave.

0705:  Our relief shows up.

Well, half of our relief show up anyway.  The other half shows up a few minutes later.

**********

24 hours and five minutes at the station.

One run.

And he was a DOA.

Friends and neighbors, some days are easier than others.  This was clearly one of the easier days.