Nearly a new year

It's hard to believe 2006 is near its end. New chances and new goals abound.

Focus

Over the past month I have regained my focus on my future and put into motion things that will help me achieve my goals. It's exciting to think that in nine of ten months we will be making a decision on where we will be moving. I have enjoyed the area we live in now but I look forward to another fresh start somewhere else. Every day is another opportunity to excel and make the right decisions. Currently, I am sitting at a coffee house drinking green tea trying to delay my house cleaning duties. It's my last day off and I still have to get many things together so tommorow's shift will be a smooth as possible. Anyway, I sit down to type this blog out and my mind goes blank. I type things that do not have any substance or meaning. Oh well, good thing this my personal blog and I really don't give a crap. Well I do but I just don't know what to write at times. Oh well...

Shift work

I enjoy ems. I enjoy the adrenalin and the periodic triumphs of life saving skills. But, I am so ready to put on my school hat and get ready for medical school. I have been looking through Student doc network and reading about the trials that applicants have been through. I am ready for it, let's get it on! I just have to stick to my plan and it will be all butter.

"Get-R-Done"

Goals

Sitting, thinking and wondering what my most important goals should be over the next few years. What kinds of things will benefit and fulfill me the most? Gosh, so much time wasted and so many things I could do. I want to play my guitar much better. I've had it for 10 years but just can't put everything together and play it. I want to read the entire bible and solidify my faith becoming a better christian. I want to learn another language in the next couple of years. I want to run a marathon and maybe even a triathalon next year. I could stand to loose about thirty pounds before that can happen though. I gained quite a bit sense January's half marathon. It's been a very tough year so far and who knows, every year could be just as challenging. I'll just have to commit and adapt as things come my way. I feel that I am at a crux in my life and it's time for me to step up to the plate and bat instead of standing in the crowd! No better time than the present.

It's been a while.

Time goes by fast, so fast that it's been a couple of months since I blogged anything. Work is going well, that's what this blog is about. Many odd, sick or needy patient's have been through the comit vomit since we last spoke. Anyway, things are really going well. My wife and I are gearing up to sell our house. That means lots of little projects that I have put off over the past couple of years. One of the biggest now is all of the leaves. Unbelievable, how many leaves are there on a tree. I have blown and blown and blown but they just keep falling. It's driving me nearly insane. Red ones, yellow ones even green ones fall and fall and fall. As soon as I get all of them up it happens again. I will be very glad to be back in an apartment or condo so someone else can fight this battle. Change is good, but change can be frightening. Odd pardox isn't it?

Change is good

I am now working exclusively on an ambulance for the next couple of years. I have found an excellent service that is progressive as well as practical. This is a welcome change from the ER. No more moody nurses to deal with and at least a lower amount of bullshit to take. More to come.

I made it.

My usual seven nights in a row have finally ended and after nearly 16 hours of well deserved sleep I am ready to enjoy my seven nights off. Shift work is tough but I really can't complain all that much because I work opposite of another medic in the ED and we can make our own schedule. I only have myself to blame for long stretches of tiresome work but it does come with some rewards, seven days in a row off is certainly one of them.

It was very busy in the ED this week. Saturday night we held several CCU patients because the hospital was full, we even admitted men to the OB ward. I am sure the OB nurses were surprised when they changed shift and their patients' anatomy was dramtically different then what they were used to. All was well buy Monday though, and the night rode by pretty quickly with the usual idiots with coughs, colds, broken bones and cardiac arrests. Nothing stands out in my mind at the present because it seems to be much of a blur. Patient after patient, bed after bed. A NFD medic sumed it up pretty well on his 10th call in 8 hours when he said "I had eveything ready to treat this patient and I thought 'I have done this so many times tonight I don't want to do it again'". Tell me that's not scarry. NFD is full of idiots lke that that think they have tenure and can just neglect there patients whenever they want to just because they "have done it so many times." Idiots. But that is true medicine, unfortunately. I have read so many books about medical students and aspiring medical students who bullshit about how almost spiritual medicine is and how important the whole "patient-doctor" relationship can be but they miss the concept of medicine completely. One fine example is a doctor entering an examing room proclaiming "I am doctor so and so, why are you here?" to each patient he speaks to. However confrontational that seems, it sums up true medicine. From doctors to techs, no one really cares about the countless patients unless the caregiver can relate to the persons situation. If they can't they are just another test, just another disposition and risk analysis prior to discharging them and hoping they don't litigate you.

Intro to my blog

Careful, that medication could cause very severe reactions in certain populations or man you can't just perform a Rapid Sequence Induction without more than one medic with you. Hell, in the ER there are 4 nurses, six doctors and a who knows how many respiratory therapists who can "assist" in the event that something goes wrong.

Anyway, I am fairly content with my current employment. It's somewhat different for me. The ED has offered many chances to learn, but for the remainder of our time in Nashville I think I would much rather ride around on an ambulance and make a decision once in a while. If I do in fact make it on a truck it will be bitter-sweet because we may only be here for a couple more years. Then it will be time to pick up and move somewhere where my wife can further her education and I can begin my long and drudging quest through school and a futile attempt at medical school. I'll be an old fart but ..hey I would rather be an old fart MD than just an old fart Paramedic. At least that's my plan and it sounds good on paper.

Other than that I plan on ranting about past patients and trashing co-workers, anonimously of course ,and venting periodically. Enjoy.