24 posts tagged “emt”
I know it's been an obnoxiously long time. Very sorry. Lots has happened! Last Friday I made the decision to have Lasik surgery. My appointment is for tomorrow morning at 9am. I'm utterly terrified and totally excited all at the same time. I think I just need to mentally get through the two or so hours that I'm going to be there. Everyone that I've talked to that's had it says it's the best decision they've made and that they wouldn't go back. I can't wait to open my eyes Saturday morning and not need to put glasses on or contacts in! More details later this weekend, but think happy thoughts for me tomorrow!
Last weekend was pretty insane. On Saturday night Kati, Brigitte, Amber, Kristine and I went to see Britney Spears. I was pretty disappointed in the show. The Pussycat Dolls opened for her and were pretty good (I've seen them before). In between, they had circus performers come out and do their thing, which was pretty cool (the title of Britney's latest CD is "Circus"). I was really disappointed in her actual performance - she was clearly lipsynching, which I had expected. But if she was gonna lipsynch, I wanted to see some serious dancing and all of her moves were halfhearted. I honestly don't know if she'll be able to pull off another tour.
We got up bright and early Sunday morning to head to the Bay Area for Easter and to celebrate Oma's 80th birthday. On the way there, we saw a terrible car accident happen... a lady clipped the car in front of her while changing lanes and they went spinning and flipping off the road. Mom pulled over and her, Kati and I went over to help. The lady's car had landed on it's side in a ditch with the other car on top. We were able to get the couple in the top car out but the lady and her passenger were stuck in the sideways car. I could tell that the passenger wasn't breathing, but couldn't safely get to her. It was beyond frustrating. All I could do was talk to the driver, tell her help was coming and try to keep her calm. She told me that the passenger was her sister. When we got home, we found out that the passenger had died.
The rest of Easter was fun - we spent time with the whole family at Oma's house, including the much loved "throw eggs over the house" tradition. I have some great pictures posted on Facebook (I'm too lazy to upload them here today).
Friday was a pretty nifty day... I ran seven miles, which for some reason (along with 26.2) just sounded like a lot to me. The mileage went really well... the legs are holding up and so far I haven't had any repeat performances of the disaster from last Monday. The best part of my run (besides it being lucky number seven) was that I discovered the wonder that is GU. Let me preface this with the fact that I suck at eating and drinking while I'm running. I'm getting better with water, but I have a very hard time with sweet stuff, such as sports drinks. The problem with that is once you're doing this kind of physical activity, you need to replenish your carbohydrates, electrolytes, and calcium levels (along with a ton of other stuff that helps with recovery). I was terrifed that this stuff was going to make me barf... it's pretty much got the consitancy of snot. The good news is that it comes in like a zillion flavors (I picked up Chocolate Outrage, Vanilla Bean, Tri-Berry, Espresso Love and Strawberry Banana as testers). I decided that my inaugural run should be something I would think I would like, so I went with the safe choice of Chocolate Outrage. Around mile 3.5, I popped the packet open and sqeezed it into my mouth. It was like eating chocolate frosting... and seriously, after about 3.5 miles, who on earth doesn't want chocolate frosting? A few minutes later, I no longer focused on my legs hurting and focused more on how I could squish that last little bit of GU out of the packet. And sure enough, little energy boost. I spent the rest of my run pondering whether it would be safe to have Mike hook up a GU IV.
Saturday I did some EMT work in the morning - there was a kids duathlon out at Folsom Lake. It was a blast - some of these kids were so tiny that their bikes got stuck when they tried to go off curbs. Fortunately, I had no patients and just had to deal with the chilly wind. After the race I headed out to Back Wine Bar for Jessica's surprise party. It was loads of fun - in fact, Andrea brought her twin boys out (they're six months old) and we got to play with them! Then Mike and I headed out to see "Gran Torino" starring Clint Eastwood. Now, I'm not a huge Clint fan, but I have to say, this was an awesome movie. Until the very end when he sings for the ending credits. Imagine his rough sounding voice talking. Now imagine that same voice singing. Yeah. But seriously good movie... I think it's going to win awards!
Today Mom and I headed out to the Home and Landscape Expo... it was a blast! They basically had all sorts of contractors, vendors and demonstrations on how to improve your home. Of course, I love all of the little gadgets! I did buy some awesome flowers - they're plumerias (the ones that they use in Hawaii to make leis) - this San Diego based company was selling a bunch of different varieties. They smell great - so I got the yellow and the fuschia. They are bare root right now, but should bloom in 8-12 weeks. I can't wait! We also found what I've been looking for since I moved into my house... a key rack that makes sense:
For those of you that don't know, I have these great little frogs that live in my backyard almost all year. They jump up and stick to the screen door and all over the side of the house. Shadow loves to chase them and tries to eat them. They sound beautiful - my own personal symphony - when it rains!
You might notice that that's a very clear and crisp picture of the frog key rack. Well, that's because I finally got my new camera today! It's the Canon PowerShot SD790 IS. I absolutely love it... I still have some reading through the manual to do, but it's super easy to use and takes amazing pictures:
I'm so excited to have a new camera - my old Sony was good, but it's been fading over the last couple months. The picture quality definitely hasn't been there and the battery hasn't really been holding the charge. This new camera also takes video, which is something I wanted again (it came in handy in Europe!).
I plan to spend the rest of tonight totally relaxing... I've done all of my running for the week, all of my blog/Facebook updating and am going to take some time to just chill and watch TV!
Marathon Update
Miles This Week: 16
Total Miles: 48
Ok, I know it's a few days late, but apparently I've been really bad at blogging lately! Here's the 2008 recap:
January
- January 1st: Shadow breaks my nose. Happy New Years!
- January 13th: I get smacked in the nose again at a CERT drill and realize that my nose really is broken.
- January 17th: I started EMT school - so exciting!
February
- February 28th: My first of many encounters with the neighborhood turkies.
March
- March 8th: Houseboat weekend with Brigitte and Amber!
- March 15th: Mather Air Show Day One: lots of patients to practice on!
- March 16th: Mather Air Show Day Two: more patients!
- March 26th: My hospital rotation - a life changing experience!
April
- April 18th: Rivercats baseball game with Dad, Brigitte and Amber
- April 19-20th: CERT Mobex - disaster drill in Clovis
May
- May 10th: Kati graduates from UGA - Mom, Dad and I flew back for a fantastic weekend in Georgia!
- May 13th: NREMT exam - I passed and am officially an EMT!
- May 24th: EMT party - absolutely hilarious - everyone came dressed as some sort of victim... it was great!
June
- June 10th: Metro's CERT team is called up to help out with the local grass fires
- June 21st: Saved my first patient at a CERT event
July
- July 14th: Visited my customer in Houston. Hot and sticky. Ate more steak than a girl should!
- July 20th: Kati moves home from Georgia!
August
- August 8th: Joanna and Chris come to visit!
- The rest of August - Kati and I go to Germany, France, Italy and Greece... it's the trip of a lifetime!
September
- September 14th: Met Mike! :)
- September 24th: Had a close encounter with a tomato hornworm. Had to call Julie in for backup.
- September 26th: Went to the Neil Diamond concert with Kati!
October
- October 9th: Went to the New Kids On The Block concert with Julie, Mindy, Amanda and Chris.
- October 16th: Selected for the Sarah Weeden jury - little did I know it would last two months!
- October 31st: Halloween party!
November
- November 1st: Went to the Madonna concert with Adam and Eva!
- November 4th: Barak Obama is elected president
- November 26th: Thanksgiving vacation at Lake Almanor
- November 15th: Second Annual Friends Thanksgiving!
December
- December 11th: Sarah Weeden trial ends
- December 30th: Kings game with Mike
- December 31st: Mike's New Years Eve Party - LOTS of pig!
All in all, I'd say it was a fantastic year! Who can complain?!
Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! Mike's party was a blast - they roasted 120 pounds of pig! It took four of them just a few minutes to cut it all up (lots of practice apparently!). Here's a picture of the pig on the spit:
It was insanely delicious! The party was a blast!
As you probably know, today is my birthday. It's been fantastic... it's 2:30pm and I'm still in my jammies! I've watched a bunch of episodes of "ER" (thanks Mike!) and some "Friends" reruns. It's been wonderfully relaxing!
... well, sort of. Ok, so apparently my welcome back to America gift was a cold. A cold that rapidly turned into a sinus infection that is really trying to defy all medical treatment. I went from feeling miserable to feeling miserable and taking antibiotics to still feeling miserable to taking a second dose of antibiotics and feeling nauseous. That's right, I'm midway through round two. And still not feeling 100%. Stupid sinus infection.
To top it all off, I worked an EMT shift this weekend. Normally I can push on through these, even not feeling well. But, of course, my headliner patient of the day was a sweet little old lady who was throwing up. Let me tell you, if there's one thing that's worse than feeling nauseous, it's feeling nauseous and having someone throw up in front of you. Into a paper bag. Note to all of you barfers out there: the preferred barf recepticle is a plastic bag. At one point, the bottom dropped out and I then helped her search for her false teeth that had gotten lost in the excitement.
Sometimes I love my life.
Once again, another super busy weekend.
On Friday night Brig, Amber and I went to see "Hancock". Absolutely hilarious movie. I love Will Smith - and he did not disappoint as a reluctant superhero. There was a pretty cool twist in the movie - I won't give it away, but I think they did a good job with it.
On Saturday I did some work with CERT - we taught a basic first aid class to the Sacramento Young Marines. They were all between the ages of 8-12 and were a lot of fun. I taught the airway management, choking and how/when to dial 911 sections. I worked with some of the younger kids and we had a blast splinting each other and learning head tilt/chin lifts (sounds a whole lot like my EMT skills class!).
Today I worked a 2am to 10am shift with CERT at the Citrus Heights Community Campout. My little body definitely doesn't like getting up that early (1am came way too soon!), but it was a lot of fun. I got to work with some new people and met a really cute little boy. His name was Bubba and he's 2 years old. I gave him a fire badge and as I got up to leave he yelled for me to come back for kisses... he gave me a great big wet kiss on the cheek followed by a high five. A little later in the morning he burned his little hand on the grill, so he came back over and I got to put some ice on him:
Moments after this picture was taken he leaned over, practically pulled my shirt off and asked where my badge was. Not awkward at all. :)
It was a great weekend, but I'm definitely ready for bed! I spent the afternoon taking a short nap and then heading to the gym so that I'm nice and tired for bed tonight as I have to leave early for Houston tomorrow. Hooray!
Today the CERT team worked an event at a local park. I was quite nervous that we were going to have a lot of heat related issues due to the fact that it was well into the 100's today. I packed my little ice chest with cold compresses and hauled myself out into the heat. The first few hours were not much of anything - some cuts, a bee sting... the normal. Towards the end of the day, we had someone come by telling us that we had a woman laying on the other side of the park that didn't look well. So we grabbed our stuff and headed over (why does the little girl always end up carrying the O2 tank?). As it turns out, this woman was in some serious trouble - heat, diabetes, a possible heart condition and shortness of breath. We started packing her with ice and called into the local fire dispatch to get someone over. I got her on the oxygen and we kept trying to cool her off. She was a large woman, so I had to cut her shirt to get to her armpits (we like to pack your neck, armpits and groin when you're overheated - it's the best way to safely cool you off quickly). When the paramedics arrived, they took her blood sugar and it was at 415, dangerously high (normal is 80-120). All a very bad combination. She was having a very hard time breathing and was not looking good when we got there. I'm fairly certain that without medical intervention, she would have been headed down a very bad road!
That said, we saved her. The paramedics packaged her up and took her off the the hospital.
Just as a refresher - here's my little list of things to do in my lifetime... one more checked off today!
Now, after all the fun and games today, I headed home to cook some dinner and relax. Long story short, I dropped a knife on the stove while adding some onions to my spaghetti sauce. Through some feat of phyics (I've since dubbed it "culinary acrobatics" the knife managed to bounce off the stovetop and slice me across my knuckle. The first thought that went through my head was "WHOA! How did THAT happen?!". The second was "Oh $&@!, I'm bleeding!". At this point, the EMT kicked in and I started working on myself one handed. Of course, the cut was on my right hand, so I had to practice being a leftie. After going through a bunch of gauze, three band-aids and 20 minutes of my time, I was finally able to get it to stop. Crazy!
What a great weekend!
Friday night was my first paying gig with the event medical services company I joined. I worked a mountain bike race at the lake and it was quite an eventful shift! We saw the typical scrapes, cuts and bruises followed by some more serious injuries. The last one of the night was pretty bad - we ended up sending the patient to the hospital! It was definitely the right call - we checked on him the next day and he had a severe concussion and dehydration!
Yesterday we drove out to the Bay Area for the day - the Myers were having a party to celebrate everyone's graduations (Jake and Emily from college and Jared from high school). It was so good to see everyone again and to hang out with the family! I'm hoping to get pictures - I took my camera but then forgot to take pictures.
Today I went over to Mom and Dad's house to cook Dad a pfankuchen breakfast for Father's Day. Kati and I got him this really cool computer game, so the rest of my gift was to leave him alone for the day so he could play in peace and quiet (Mom is still in the Bay Area with Oma).
The scary news of the day happened this afternoon. I took a little nap and then Julie asked me if I wanted to go to the gym. I said yes (of course) and she said she'd come pick me up. When she knocked on the door, she asked if the snake in my yard was fake (to keep birds away). I said "what snake"? She said, "That one!":
Now, snakes don't really scare me, but I don't love them. Julie thought he was dead, but about three pictures into his photoshoot, he decided to take off. Let me tell you, that sucker is fast! I've identified him as a California Striped Racer, which happens to be a non-venemous snake. He was about three feet long and decided that a much better place to hang out would be the bushes. I'll let the gardeners discover him tomorrow. :)
P.S. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!
We've had some serious grass fires up here and on Tuesday night I was given the chance to help out. Our CERT team was called up to assist the firefighters who had been out on the lines for 6+ hours. Our team hadn't been used in this capacity before, but I'm proud to say we stepped up and really made a difference.
I arrived at the high school that was designated as our operations center at 6pm - over the next hour or so, 15 other CERT members showed up. We were tasked with setting up a center for the firefighters who were coming off the fire to eat, drink and rest. We had lots of donated water, Gatorade, soda and sandwiches to prepare and ice down before the first crews started coming in. A little later in the evening, the Salvation Army arrived and began cooking some delicious beef stew that was a real hit! I had a firefighter thank me at about 10:30pm - he said his crew hadn't had food since noon that day and they were not expecting to have a hot meal!
I worked until about 12:30am before finally having to go home (Wednesday was a work day after all!). I can't even begin to put into words what a wonderful feeling it was to be able to help in some small way!
One thing that amazes me is how little some people think of firefighters. Our local newspaper allows readers to leave comments about the stories online - and of course, these fires are pretty big news. I am blown away at how many people think that the firefighters are getting recognition they don't deserve or that they're not heros for doing what they do. These men (and a few women!) were dirty, exhausted, hungry, thirsty and still willing to put their lives on the line to save a perfect stranger or to save someone's home. Tell the captain that has second and third degree burns that he doesn't deserve recognition. I honestly can't believe how ignorant and selfish some people are.
Ok, off my soapbox. I'm super excited about tomorrow - for those of you who don't know, I took a job with a local ambulance company that does on scene standby medical. Tomorrow is my very first paying job! I'm really excited because it will get me a pretty broad range of trauma and medical experience!
Confession: I'm addicted to "Deadliest Catch". Holy crap. I love that show. Now back to your normally scheduled weekend wrapup.
This weekend was another awesome weekend - on Saturday I went to Amy's bridal shower, then Chasie's graduation party. This morning I worked a 4am to 10:30am EMT shift at the Relay for Life. I can't say that I love getting up that early, but it was for a really good cause, so I sucked it up. It was really inspiring to see all of the survivors and heartbreaking to see the illuminated paper bags that represented all of the people who lost their battles.
I pretty much spent the rest of the day sleeping. Followed by laying in the sun and reading. It was wonderful. Tonight I made a delicious parpadelle dinner and some brownies. I'm a happy girl!
I am extremely proud to announce that I am officially an EMT! I found out this morning that I passed the NREMT exam! Woo hoo! I was really worried that I hadn't - I felt so scared walking out of the exam! But I did! Woo hoo!!!
Now all I have to do is complete my live scan (fingerprinting/background check) and get my card from our local EMS agency!
WOO HOO!
I'm exhausted - between all of this excitement and learning a new job at work, I feel like I could have been in bed an hour ago!
