I'm Not Dead...

If anyone still checks by - Sorry for the dead air of late.

What's Up?

EMS:
Worked my first code as the only ALS provider on scene (patient was a guy who I've met in professional capacity). Not fun.

Went mutual aid to a choking call. Unlike 99.99% of our choking calls, this gentleman was still choking when we got there and had gone pulseless. We didn't get him back. Nothing quite like having a restaurant full of people watch you try to tube a guy – NO PRESSURE HERE…

Taking a lot of shifts and feeling like I need to listen in all the time, as there are only two medics around (including myself). It does wear on me some days, but I still enjoy going on calls and really feel like the community benefits (yes, despite the two dead individuals above).


Life:
My family and myself are in the process of finalizing things getting ready for our trip to Australia (ee'll be there from Feb to June). A LOT of tiny things to think about and more forms to fill than I'd care to think about.

My mother has been diagnosed with "Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis", which, as far as I can tell, means her expected lifespan is now 4-6 years. As you might imagine, this has consumed much of my mental energy of late. She’s handling the news better than I would, but she is having bad days and I feel rather helpless about the whole thing.

Work:
Normal semesters are full enough, but add to this the task of making sure more than a dozen college kids are keeping up with their share of paperwork to go to Australia (which is like herding cats) and associated worries and I am overwhelmed.

So, in October I stopped blogging for a bit. And then I stopped reading blogs because it made me feel bad about not blogging, which led to no blogging… Insert downward spiral here.

I’m back, and I’ll try to update more often (and I have a lot of reading to do to catch up with all of you…).