Well, what a week this has been! Thursday, Jon proposed. Friday, he left for Canada. Saturday, I had a wedding and a bridal show to attend (yes, I move fast). Sunday, I went to church. Monday, I worked a 12-hour shift. Tuesday, I worked a 24-hour shift. Wednesday I went dress shopping and Jon got back from Canada. And, today, I made a trip to the dentist and then went to see my wonderful fiancé. (Tomorrow, we're meeting with the church to try and set a wedding date before we head back to Boone.) I have kept myself busy, that's for sure...but it's been a good busy (aside from work...that was a bit rough).
Since Jon was in Canada over the weekend and throughout most of the week, he had little idea what I was up to (we didn't chat as much as we usually do). Saturday evening, I got a chance to talk with him and explained everything I had been up to in the previous 48 hours. I think I scared him a little bit...but he promised he would come back home and not run away to Canada (if we were swapped, I probably would have been worried/scared...). I told him about the bridal show that took place on Saturday and having an appointment to go try on some wedding gowns on Wednesday (and actually got one!). Today, I went to see him because a) I had missed him so very much while he was away and b) to look at some of the things I had come up with for wedding planning. He knew I had been working on it...and seemed to like what I had come up with. I'm quite glad he liked what I had done.
Work was a bit trying this week. As much as I love it, it's tough. On Monday, we were constantly running. For the majority of the day, we hovered around 7-10 units left in the county (i.e.: not on a call or otherwise out of service). This makes it rough on the other units who are desperately trying to get to key points in the county to provide coverage (so that if/when someone does call 9-1-1, we have a unit that's within 20 miles...instead of 30 for 40 miles away). The only things our dispatchers were doing all day was "EMS X, I need you to cover here...wait, never mind, you're getting a call. EMS H, I need you to proceed to ____ for coverage and EMS E, I need you to head up towards _____ for coverage. Um, EMS E, you're getting a call. EMS N, I need you to proceed to ____(name an intersection)____ and sit there for me. You'll be covering ______, ________, _______ and ______ areas until I can get some trucks freed up." Our alert channel was squawking all day: "EMS U, (name a type of call), at (name an address)," "EMS W, (name a type of call), at (name an address)"...you get the point. It was crazy. We run between 35 and 40 ambulance (rough approximation) during the daytime everyday. To say we're getting down to 7 units is a problem. The one consolation of the day was that everyone that I transported to the hospital needed to go (not the same case on Tuesday). There weren't any that could have a) taken themselves (if they really felt it was that important to go to the ER), b) called their primary care doctor to schedule an appointment because the ER wouldn't do anything for them anyway or c) just plain didn't need medical care (yes, there are lots people like that who call us).
So, Tuesday, I worked 24 hours...and it was still pretty busy. We ran 8 or 10 calls (I stopped counting after 5). On the rig I was on, if you run a call, it will take 2 hours to turn it around (i.e.: run the call, transport to the hospital and get back home). On city trucks, you can turn a call around in under an hour in some places. So, when I say we ran "8 (to 10)" calls, it took up most of our day. Most of these people did not need an ambulance. They didn't need to go to the ER...and really, a few of them didn't need to call their doctor to schedule an appointment. Their problem was a bug. And it just needed a day or so to clear up. All they needed was compassion. Everything on my truck can be restocked...except that. I have compassion for people...lots of it. But there is a point where the tank is dry and the only way to fill it up is to have a bit of time off. (Now, by no stretch of the imagination do I get mean with these people. I just have a harder time justifying getting up at 2 or 3 in the morning for stuff like that.)
After a few hours of sleep on Tuesday, it was Wednesday! There are two things that I really liked about this day: I went to try on wedding gowns and Jon was coming back home! :) The gown I found it pretty. But no pictures for a few months. Jon's not allowed to see it.
Tomorrow, we are meeting with our church to try and solidify a date for the wedding. Then things will seriously start moving, I think. And then...it's off to Boone for school! (We'll be greeted by snow. Yay.)
(And now, I'm tired from just thinking about the last week. Because of that, I think bedtime will be quite soon. Haha.)
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