Wednesday, October 19, 2011

BEWARE!

This is what happens if you work too much overtime. You pretty much end up freaking out all your patients...and yourself. I now give you permission to run screaming from your computer.

Friday, October 7, 2011

2 years....

So, I realized today that it has been two years (plus two days... I started on the 5th) since I started working at Boone. Time really flies because it doesn't seem like it's been that long. I've learned so much in the past year and I'm very grateful for my job. I remember when I first started and how nervous I was. It took me a long time to feel like I fit in with this group here. I felt like I was invading a close family. And we all know that is never fun. But that soon changed and I fit in pretty well now. At least I think. ;) I was very shy when I started and talking to my patients was really hard.  They don't exactly teach you what questions to ask in class and it's just something you learn on the job. Thankfully, I did learn it and I have no trouble talking with my patients now. :)
Two years ago, I had no idea how to get around in Columbia and had no clue what streets were what. I still get teased about the time when I couldn't find the address for a call, only to find out that it was very close to the base and on a main road so I should've known it. I felt like the biggest idiot ever! I was so upset with myself that it wasn't even funny. I don't think my boss could've punished me more than I did myself. I was upset for weeks about it! But when I'm teased about it now, I just laugh and call myself an idiot. ;) I learned from my mistake though and I now make sure I know exactly where I'm going before leaving the base.
One of the guy's from work has a party every year, and I was asked several times if I would come. So, I'm going to take my carrot cake (it was requested) and chocolate chip cookies, and have a good time. I think there's going to be a hayride, which is awesome cause I haven't been on one in forever! ;) I really have a fun time with the people I work with and so I'm sure it'll be fun. :)
Lol, I just remembered a shift I had a week or so ago where something was said and I ended up throwing ice at one of the guys. Who then decided to throw water on me but missed when I hit his hand and it went smack dab into my partner's face who was sitting looking through a magazine. I so wish we had a video tape of the expression on his face as the water is dripping from it. It was priceless! They later got me back when I was grabbed and they threw water all over me. I told them I looked totally unprofessional, but they really didn't seem to care. They happen to be two of my favorite people (I actually have lots of favorites;-) to work with....and don't worry, they're in their 40's. ;)

Well, now that I've completely bored you with work.... I'll change the subject. :) Ok, this may sound really silly, but I love listening to Disney songs. I even have a pandora station for it! My favorite (Disney song, that is) right now is "Colours of the Wind" and "Beauty and the Beast" :) If you haven't listened to them recently, you should. Oh, and listen to "Reflection" too. It's also really good. :) Tell me honestly, did you laugh when you read about the songs I like? I bet you at least smiled. =)

Anyway, that's all for now. :) I'm gonna go to bed soon since I have a long run in the morning and I need to get up early. Sleep well everyone and goodnight! :-)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

It's been awhile....like almost 3 weeks! I won't say that I'll try to do better at writing in the future, cause we all know that probably won't happen. I will try to not go over a month without posting though. ;)
Work is great, as always. I still very much enjoy it. Actually, I do have days that I hate it, but the good outweigh the bad. ;) This week is the first (in a couple months) that I've not had overtime! It feels really weird to only be working 40 hours. This week has been pretty insane though. For some reason I'm only working 8 hour shifts, which isn't much fun. I've worked the past three days and I have tomorrow off. Then I'll work Friday and then a night on Saturday. So, technically I have 2 full days off. My plan tomorrow is to run and then do something profitable besides laying around. Sounds good, right? =)
Okay, so I very rarely work serious calls at work. And if I do, it's only one a shift. Today, I had two serious calls and the potential of a third one. Our first guy was breathing ineffectively and we came really close to intubating him. He woke up pretty quick when my partner was about to stick a tube down and said he didn't want us sticking anything down him. My partner told the pt that if he started breathing better we wouldn't keep trying to stick a tube down. It actually worked, because by the time we got to the hospital he was breathing on his own. Before we were having to assist his breathing with a bag....and no, that would not be a brown paper bag. ;-)
Our second pt was a 2 y/o with Epiglottitis and croup that we were transporting to another hospital nearby. She really didn't look so great when we picked her up, but she did improve on the way to the hospital. We must have amazing skills cause our pt's keep improving in our care. ;)
Our third pt, decided to blow the tips of his fingers off. Thankfully, that was all he decided to blow off. I didn't know this but Silver and Azide is very explosive and you should definitely handle with care. This call was pretty insane. It was on the MU campus and so we went to where we thought the Chemistry building was. That's where fire personnel thought it was. Unfortunately, after looking around for a little bit we all found out that we were in the Physic's building and needed to be over next door. So, we drag all our stuff over to the next building and take the elevator to the second floor. Only to find out that we need to be on the other side of the elevators and the hallway doesn't wrap around. We finally find the room after taking the elevator back down to the first floor, walking around to the other side of the building and taking that elevator up. Oh, and did I mention that they had told us when we got on scene that this was going to be a trauma alert? That had us going crazy since we couldn't find the room. For those curious, a trauma alert basically means the pt is in bad shape. So, we're thinking at this time that this guy's face must've been half blown off or something. Turns out though that it was just the tips of a few of his fingers that had been blown off. He was conscious, alert, and had no breathing trouble, so he was actually doing fairly well considering it all. He said that he knew that the chemical's could explode but didn't think they would explode that much. I'm guessing he won't be messing too much with those chemical's anymore. We never did find his finger tips, so hopefully an unsuspecting student doesn't find them and get the scare of his or her life.
After that, we did an MCA flip. Which means we took a pt from the hospital to radiation and then back to the hospital.
And our last call was a stroke pt. We had her to the hospital 24 minutes after being dispatched for the call. Not bad! =)
And in a nutshell, that was how my day went. And now it's time for me to hit the sack because otherwise I will not want to get up in the morning for my run. :)

Btw, I totally just realized that all I do in life is: work, run, bake, eat and sleep. Yes, my life is boring. ;-)