not surprised...

New partner.  Just got cleared as a medic. We just returned from his very first call.  Unconscious subject, 69 y/o male.   I recognized the patient as a local preacher.  Started asking bystanders about meds, history, allergies, etc while setting up an IV and partner hooked up the 12-lead. No cardiac history. Blood sugar elevated at 280.  Respirations inadequate at 6/min.  BLS crew was assisting ventilations via BVM.  Sinus rhythm on the tachy side at 100.  Got him into the vollie ambulance and partner jumped in with them. I listened to consult as I followed in our unit to hospital.  Wondering could be the matter with this sweet old clergyman, no way his blood sugar could be the cause of this.  As I listened to my partner give vitals and interventions to the hospital over the radio, I heard : "administered Narcan with remarkable result. Patient is now coming around and beginning to talk to us."  Huh. So it was a drug overdose. Somehow, I wasn't surprised.  Guess I've been doing this too long.  At the hospital, a worried daughter confided to us that her dad has a habit of taking other people's pain medication.  So basically, what happened was nice old small town preacher offered to sit with a sick man while wife went out. Apparently, he uses his position with his parishioners to steal their pain meds.  I am not religious, but if there is a God, pretty sure He's pissed with this dude.

one of those days...

Sometimes i wonder why i volley. I have a full time job with a career department to fulfill my affiliation requirement for my certification.  Why, then, do i have to put up with arrogant small town chiefs, sexism, lack of professionalism, and blatant disregard of procedure?  All i want is do my job well.  if Mr "I'm the Chief and this is my station and my unit and what does incident command have to do with it" doesn't want to let me do my job, he can have it.  there's so only so many EMT's on this island, which is why he asked me to volley at his station to begin with.  these country fire dept boys should remember that just because i'm a girl doesn't mean i don't have twice the training and way more experience when it comes to EMS. i will gladly defer to them on any thing to do with the big red trucks but the band aid box is mine.

back in action (sort of)

i am happy to report that i am now pain free! incisions are a little sore, but i'm a country girl and we know how to deal!  went out on a brush fire yesterday.  day before, had a dude suffer stroke and cause miles of damage (a guardrail, a couple ditches, a mailbox or two, etc...) before finally pulling the vehicle over.  feels good to up and back out there. if nothing else, at least i have the time for my vollie unit now since the county won't let me on theirs yet.   see doc next week- hopefully get cleared to come back to work  by the end of the month.

ouch

so they found a bunch of cysts on my ovary and on appendix so bye-bye to those organs.  hopefully that was the source of the pain and once i recover from surgery i'll be all better again.  in the meantime, three cheers for percoset! 

fingers crossed

finally back to my home station after a stint on the north end of the county, just in time to go out on sick leave.  go for surgery on monday.  here's hoping they actually fix whatever's wrong so i can get back to my job as a glorified band aid dispenser.  

I overheard an acquaintance talking about her divorce the other day.  she complained that her husband's lawyer claimed she was "deliberately under-employed".  She listed all the volunteer work she does.  She gets some income from commissioned art work, but doesn't even make enough to have to file taxes.  she says "what do they expect- for me to get a job?"  uh, yeah.  If her husband is so unreliable, how can she count on him to make those alimony and child support payments? shouldn't she be securing a job to pay for food and health insurance for her children?  oh, wait, i get it.  she expects ME to hold a job, pay taxes, and thereby secure a source of income for Obama to spend on her food stamps and medicaid.  how interesting.  did i mention, i have a studio in the same gallery she does and i volunteer at least once a week, in ADDITION to my full time job and two part time jobs? 

Dont spread my wealth..spread my work ethic Sti
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a reminder for americans

saw a great video today on lawdog's blog with a message important to remember in these dark days when people are looking to the government to solve all their problems. 

its a mans world...

having a hard time because of my matched x chromosomes is nothing new. after all i am the only girl in my fire company.  i am married to a type a personality.  i was raised in a conservative home where the man is the head of the house hold.  i make a living on a paramedic crew- in this area at least, its a male dominated field.  i run into a problem occasionally, but this time i am really pissed off.  am i angry because my chief hasn't learned to trust me to do my job?  am i concerned because the creepy guy who stays one step behind the harassment line was just made a shift supervisor? nope.  i have made peace with all that.  i am furious because my male gyn has been treating me with lupron for months.  this would have been a great idea if endometriosis was actually the source of the pain.  when it kept getting worse, i sought a second opinion.  this time from a female doctor who actually understood when i described the pain by relating it to menstrual pain, childbirth and other things men have no idea about. if the gyn had listened to me carefully the first time, he may have realized that the pain was affecting my job, my sex life, etc without assuming i was woman and therefore weak and intolerant to a little discomfort.  so now, nearly a year after all this started, i am facing the possibility of losing my job, seeing an oncologist, and having surgery soon.  

Supervisor Partner is out of town for her birthday, leaving me to work with a part timer.  I was a bit concerned when I didn't recognize the name on the schedule, but can I just say he is HOT!!!  I don't mean attractive or good-looking.  I mean My god, can we open a window because the room temperature just went ten degrees HOT.  and funny.  and he can cook and clean.  and sew.  and did i mention HOT!!  So anyway, not much going on in the marsh-dom today.  people just don;t seem to want to flip their cars, forget their insulin shot, get shot, or even slip and fall when I'm on call.  Nothing to do except try to not stare at the smoldering hot uniform on the other end of the couch.  At least it's a good distraction from the pain caused by my errant ovary and upcoming surgery  for same. :)  a girls' gotta have a little fun...

sounds like me...

looking for an evil, slightly frightening version of a personality test?  this one is littered with sociopathic comments and is even mildli interesting...

Your result for The Personality Defect Test...

Smartass

You are 86% Rational, 57% Extroverted, 100% Brutal, and 86% Arrogant.

You are the Smartass! You are rational, extroverted, brutal, and arrogant. In fact, you could very well be the anti-Christ, as you are almost the exact opposite of everything Jesus was supposed to be. While Jesus says love your enemy, you say love beating the crap out of your enemy. While Jesus raises the dead, you raise hell. While Jesus walks on water, you tend to sink. You probably consider people who are emotional and gentle to be big pussies who are obviously in lesser stature than you. You have many flaws, despite your seeming intelligence and cool-headedness. For instance, you aren't very nice. In fact, you're probably an asshole. And you are conceited and self-centered. Not only that, but you are very loud and vocal about all this, seeing as how you are extroverted. There is no better way to describe you than as a "smartass", I'm afraid. Perhaps just "ass" would do, too. But that's a little less literary and descriptive. At any rate, your main personality defect is the fact that you are self-centered, mean, uncaring, and brutally logical.

Take The Personality Defect Test at HelloQuizzy

My New Ride

After 3 years in a poor old ambulance that needed it's own life support and occasionally failed to start, the EMS fairy has bestowed on us a brand spanking new taxi, I mean, high-tech medical transport unit.  This baby is awesome- whereas we were lucky when the power steering worked in the old, this sweetheart turns on a dime, has a backup camera, lots of lights & lots of room.  Of course, now that it's here, I am being sent to another station for the next month, and, oh the irony, my old bus is there while theirs is out for repairs.  

Read It or Leave It

Hello, blog world...

An introduction is in order, I suppose, so here we go:

1: I am married to my high school sweetheart, seven years now, good days and bad, but always worth it

2: We have a Redhead, aged 5 years, scary smart, terrible temper

3: I am an emergency medical tech, paid and volunteer

4: I have a bunch of other ways to keep busy, including a photography studio and volunteering at my daughter's school library

5: Things I love-- impractical shoes, mint chocolate chip ice cream, music, the snooze button

6: Things I hate-- spiders, mornings, people who call the ambulance at 2am for a child with a fever and when you get there there's nothing wrong with the kid other being a little warm and no, they haven't given the rugrat any tylenol

Anyway, that's the quick and simple.  I tend to tell it as it I see it, which offends a lot of people, but there are the select (reasonable) few out there who realize I'm not totally insane.