I can honestly say I did one of those things. Just one. I had time off from school for three whole days. I, along with my wonderful boyfriend, drove home Friday after class (with the rest of Boone) only to get on a rig Friday night for 36 hours. I was so excited and ready to get back to work, though -- I really was! I miss work when I'm not there. I was greeted with a rough night. Ended up being awake most all night for a combination of tough calls. The worst was for a patient who had been stabbed and had the whole posse around her. Then, to top it off, the patient's very angry father showed up and insisted on hopping up into the rig. However, my friend the deputy pulled him out before he could get too close. He shut the doors and stood guard (thank you, sir!). (I like my police officers.)
In the morning, I went to another truck for the rest of the shift (24 hours) -- it was also on the south side of the county which is probably one of my favorite areas to work because I know it so well. We were pretty busy there, as well. The first call on that rig was the toughest one there: an elderly gentleman fell and his wife called us because she couldn't get him up (his legs just went out from under him...no injury, thankfully). We arrive to find him on the floor, unharmed. We pick him up and get him settled in his chair. We come to find out the story from his wife that he has been having increasing problems such that she really is having a very difficult time caring for him. She hands us paperwork from the patient's physician and we look over it to discover that the patient has a debilitating disease that will soon take him from her. However, as his wife, she wants to do everything she can to care for him at home as long as possible. On a personal note, it was like watching my grandmother telling this to me about my grandfather as he suffered from the same disease. We were able to call in some help to get them set up with some assistance to help make that possible, at least for awhile longer. That's what she wants...to be able to do it for at least awhile longer.
I got off shift on Sunday morning at 0800 and went home, showered and went to church where I "played" paramedic during the services. I was needed once and that was it, thankfully. I played around town for a bit afterward, went home, gathered my things and went in to work on a truck just outside of downtown at 2000.
We had a few interesting calls. A gentleman and his "girl" (as he referred to her) got into an argument over food stamps. She slashed him and, as we found out 20 minutes later (because he didn't offer the information, was in no visible distress from the injury and was not bleeding from it), received an abdominal puncture wound. He also slapped her around a bit. This was the first call of the night. Easy enough. Another call, and the last one I will mention, was a lady who was having abdominal pain. She had run out of her medications. She told me that the last time she had this happen was about a month ago, also when she ran out of her medications. She said she is in the process of switching primary care doctors -- and that she started that process about 5 months ago. I explained that she needs to get on that now because the ER is not equipped to handle patients in this manner. It is for emergencies, not for things like this. They give you a month's prescription so that you can make an appointment with your primary care doctor and get them to give you the refills. Not sure I got through to her. Some people just don't understand.
So, I got off at 0800, went home, showered and left to pick up my wonderful boyfriend who's sole reason for coming home was so he could drive back to school so I didn't have to (not after working 48 hours). About 15 minutes after getting in the car, I was out like a light. Woke up about half way back to school, stopped for lunch and repeated the process. So glad he came.
Weekends are rough to work. Holiday weekends are rougher. I can count on two hands and one toe how many hours I slept from the time I got up on Friday morning until the time I went to bed on Monday night. But, you know what? It was worth it. I got to help people. I love my job. It'll be tough to give it up...but I'll be able to because the rewards of the family life I want to have will be worth it.
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