Bad cars and dead cats

My car is pretty bad. It's had progressively worse trouble starting lately. I thought this was due to a failing starter, but after replacing the starter I'm still getting nothing. I've got a couple ideas to work on though. Hopefully something will work out with the monster.

I may have the worst car in the household, but if you include those in the family who have moved out, I only have the second worse vehicle. Berserk and Valkyrie's van had some trouble today, and by trouble, I mean it's mobile in the same way that a mobile home is mobile. I've pushed cars that didn't work before, but this thing is a beast. It seems to be something electrical, and my car fixing skills being what they are, I just drove Valkyrie and the kids where they were going. We did manage to push the car a bit, so it isn't sticking out into the street anymore, but that's all we managed.

In other news, school went well today. I cut up more cat. That's always a hoot. We found all of the blood vessels we were looking for without too much difficulty. When they do all of the preserving of these laboratory raised cats they inject the veins with blue latex, and the arteries with red. It's supposed to make them easy to find, but when they injected ours they seem to have had some major spilling out of the right carotid, so most of the arteries were just kind of fleshy colored, and not so easy to find. Still not too bad, but we had to get the instructor to let us know if we had a few of them correctly.

On and interesting side note regarding the cat, one of my lab partners keeps on trying to name the thing, but she always gives it dog's names. If anyone has any good names for a dead cat, let me know.

EMT Job Hunt

I completed the IV clinical last friday. I started ten IVs successfully that day for a lifetime total of twelve, and I failed four of them. I'm not too down about the ones that I missed though, the tech who I was following around tried them too, and also missed them. As soon as I got the eighth for the day (to meet the required total of ten) the tech I was following had to switch jobs with someone else so he could sit at the front desk for a while. He had some pretty intense lower back pain going on.

Things were boring for a little while, until I got sent around with a new tech. The new guy seemed much more into his job, and less angry at life altogether. It could have something to do with a lack of back pain. I started a couple more IVs under the new guy, he had some good pointers, and said that I was the best IV student he's seen. Very smooth and confident.

Anyway, as of two days ago I am officialy IV certified. Now I get to start on the whole get a job thing. Assuming the job hunt goes well enough I should be able to start paramedic school next fall semester.

Threats?

Okay, I don't want to keep anyone on the edge of their seat any longer. By the way, everyone's advice helped me sort out my own thoughts. Anyway, I had a bit of a talk with Myex last night, and I told her that I don't want to give things another try now. I told her that I didn't think she was lying to me, but that I didn't think she really knows what she wants.

She took that about as well as I thought she would. She got a bit angry/sad, and didn't want to talk much more. Then she sent text-messages to the demon tree girl. Not polite ones. Impressively, DT girl was not at all shaken or disturbed. She says she's had people hate her before and has learned not to take it personally.

I hope Myex cools down a bit. I suspect she will when this doesn't really have any effect. She has always been a bit big on the drama. Right now, I'm just enjoying the freedom of being unattached. I know I've been sans-girlfriend for a while now, but it hasn't really felt like it until now.

Old Things and New Things

I opened the envelope containing my Colorado EMT certification last weekend. It was good news. I was worried that it would be a notice saying that I forgot to sign or include some part of the application. That wouldn't be so great. I've got to get my IV clinicals set up soon or it will be too late, and I'll have to retake the class in order to get the IV add on to my certification. I tried to contact my teacher about that yesterday. I went down to the school, but he wasn't there. I left a voicemail, but I don't want to leave this all up to him for too long here. I'm on a deadline.

Things with the girl I was dating haven't been going so well. I think it's a little funny that I never could come up with a suitable alias for her here. I'll say one thing for her though, she's not boring. When things were going well with her they went really well. But, when things were going poorly they were painful. They're going poorly now.

She hasn't been my girlfriend for over a month, but we've still been hanging out with each other, more lately that when we first broke up. We've gone on a couple of dates, out to a movie, or lunch. For a long time I've been coming to terms with the fact that she didn't love me. I had even gotten used to it. Now though, she tells me that she really did. She was afraid to say it before.

I know it sounds like that would be a good thing, but what prompted all of this is that I started seeing someone else. I've only been on the one date with this new girl. My ex even told me I should. It made sense to me, since that was what we had decided when we broke up, but now she's not taking it so well.

I don't know what to think about this all. I loved her, I guess I still do in a different way, but I had gotten used to the fact that I needed to find someone else. I like this new girl to. She's a good nine years older than Myex, and about nine years more mature. She's got her problems and issues that she's working through of course, but to be honest I like that she's not perfect. I like that she's nice, and that she seems like a more normal person, less maintenance. I don't want to just drop things with her and try to fix things up with Myex. I'm not saying we've got a whole big relationship going here, seeing how we only ever really went out the once, but there's certainly a strong interest.

Anyway, that's about enough of that. Too much drama all at once probably causes ulcers in your stomach and upper intestine. So, on a happier note, I know were a weird tree is that looks like a demon. I used to just say troll, or goblin, but was really freakin' scary last night. It's always back-lit by the city lights over the horizon, and there was the weirdest lightings storm ever. Lots of really bright flashes, with no sound. Anyway, this new girl thought the tree was as awesome as I did. I didn't drive past it later that night when I was going home though. It freaked me out too much. I've seen it once before but never during the day. I kind of want to, but I think that might ruin it for me. If any of you are interested, let me know I can show you where it is.

NREMT

For anyone who I have forgotten to tell, I am nationally registered as an EMT-B. State certification is pending. I'm hoping that that comes through a bit quicker than the first one did.

After that, I need to talk with my teachers and get set up for my IV clinicals to get that EMT-B changed to an EMT-B-IV. That is, assuming I get word back from the state before the deadline lapses for the IV class. I can also start looking for jobs once I've got the state certification.

Things fall apart

It's not like things don't ever happen, it's just that I don't write much. I'm still waiting to hear back on that last EMT test. I got a letter from them, but it was just a notice that I missed a line I was supposed to sign. I've taken care of that now.

The big thing going on now is with this girl I've been seeing. I say big, not good, although I think it's probably going to be good. She's been out of town for the last three weeks. She was visiting some friends. When I say friends, I mean her ex-fiance's family. He's off in Korea with the army. He cut things off with her a couple of months before we started seeing each other, and they had been apart for about half a year before that. She didn't take it very well.

I thought that she was pretty well over him. She told me that she was at one point. But, she's not as over him as she or I thought. I've known this for a while. I just didn't know what to do.

I told her the week before last Monday, while she was gone, that she had to figure out what she wanted. I was okay with giving it a shot if she would decide that she was done with him, but otherwise, I seem to be wasting my time. I'm not going to wait around until he comes back so she can see for herself if there is still anything there.

I was planning on giving her until she got back in town at the end of that week. I figure she should have a decision then, and if she didn't, then I had her decision. She got back to me on Thursday, and said she would be staying another week. I wasn't thrilled, I wanted resolution, but she said she had done some thinking.

What I got out of the conversation is that we're not really dating anymore. At least not in a boyfriend/girlfriend way. She wants to still see each other somewhat, but she's not ready to give up on her ex yet. She also said that she wants me to go for it if there is an opportunity with anyone else. She doesn't want me to miss anything because of her.

The week is over, she got home the night before last, and I still haven't seen her much. I ran into her at church, but we didn't say much. We still talk almost every night on the phone, but not for long, and not really about anything. I still want to make sure I've got all of this straight, and we're in agreement on it all, but I'm pretty sure I've got it.

So, that's it. Maybe we'll try this again some time later, but I honestly don't believe that we will. I know relationships take work, but it just seemed to take too much work, and it usually seemed like I was the only one who cared about it.

So, I guess here's to moving on, and I'll keep you all updated on whatever comes up next.

Utah

I did well on that test. Totally killed it. I took the second one though, and am a bit worried about it. Not too much, but still. I think I only need a 70% to pass it, and I didn't score less than 91% on any of the tests in the EMT class. There were a lot of questions though where it seemed there was plenty of room to argue between answers. I just hope I picked the ones they like best. The thing that really bothers me is that we don't get results back for 3-4 weeks. It seems that a test graded by computer should be graded a bit quicker than that. But, I guess there's really nothing I can do about that.

Other news, I'm going to Utah in a few hours. Always fun. Good people, good food. It's a short trip, I should be back Sunday about noon, but it's going to be good to see some friends there. Maybe do something to keep my mind off of the test results for a while too.

One Week

So, my girlfriend is out of town for the next week. It's not like she's too far away or anything, just up north where she goes to school, but she's staying up there at nights. There's an all day for a week summer class she's taking. By wednesday she will be taking her midterm, and her final is on saturday. Good fun. I'm not sure what the class is exactly, some forensic science thing. I wouldn't mind taking something like that, but it would be a bit outside of my current professional goals.

Speaking of which, my class is over and I am awaiting the first of two tests I need to take in order to get certified to work. I guess this is a pretty good week for her to be out of town. It gives me more opportunity to focus on my studying for the test. To be honest, I rarely study much for anything. It's not just laziness, it just seems irrelevant most of the time. I didn't study for my final, and got a 92.5. I could have put a lot of effort into it and gotten maybe a 97, but other things came up and I didn't really make it a priority. This test is a bit different though. It's all hands on, rotating through six stations. If you miss a key step on any station you fail the station. Also, if you miss too many normal steps at a station you fail the station. You can retake up to three stations one time, but if you miss any of those, or miss more than three stations the first time around, you have to retake the whole test at a different test location. Also, it costs about a hundred bucks each time you take it.

So, while I'm not usually too worried about tests, I think I should study up for this one. maybe just a bit.

That's about all I've got going on for now. That and a pain stabbing through the left side of my head from the temple back. I think I need to take some pills and get some sleep or something.

EMT part Deux

Okay, I missed a couple of things from that last post. Forgive me. I have since had almost two hours of sleep, and four hours of school.

First, don't eat too much meat and drink too little water. Gout is a bitch.

Second, if you remember that time when you were on your bike, and hit something smallish and racked yourself, remember also that you don't want to do this on a motorcycle. You will rupture a testicle. Good news is they try to repair it before they try to remove it, so you won't have to worry about running out of there half cocked.

Also, being old sucks. Bedsores suck. Stinking wounds suck. Sagging flesh sucks. Unexplained protrusions of flesh from one's abdomen suck.

And finally, being homeless sucks. Going to detox sucks. And, trying to kill a child, being arrested, strapped face down naked by the arms and legs to a gurney, and being rotated over onto your back while yelling obscene things at me and the nurses about sucking something or other really sucks. But then you probably deserve that last one and I don't feel sorry for you nearly as much as I feel sorry for the police officer who has to sit around outside your boring room while you sleep whatever it is off. Also, you pissed yourself.

EMT

So, I went on my second clinical today. For anyone who doesn't know, a clinical is like a one man field trip. We are scheduled at least two of them, one on an ambulance and one in an ER. The purpose is to get five patient contacts, with vitals and a narrative. My first clinical was on an ambulance, and I got four contacts. None of the calls were very urgent. The most impressive one was a guy who swallowed the tab off of a pop can. Not inhaled, just swallowed. Also, there was a kid with one of those bad croup coughs. The other two were sick with nothing in particular.

This clinical was in an ER, and I got one patient contact. One documented patient contact anyway. To start off with we were quite busy. Once things calmed down a bit it seems almost everyone was either discharged or sent upstairs. There were a few people left, all of which were sleeping (it was about 03:00). With two of them, I knew what they were in for and had helped treat them. One of them I got documented before they left. I should have started with the other one, but I didn't know she was about to be discharged, while the one I was documenting was still there when I left. It doesn't really matter too much though I guess. I got my five necessary patient contacts so I'm pretty much good.

I saw a lot of things tonight. I put EKG pads on few people, two of which were old women. I helped turn a combative patient over, along with two EMTs, a couple of police officers, and some hospital security. I helped with bloodwork and patient transport. I helped a nurse put a tube up a womans nose and into her stomach so we could force feed her some activated charcoal to absorb some of the vallium she had swallowed. Her arms were in restraints, but she didn't really resist anymore after she was restrained. I helped put a catheter into a woman who was unconcious. I'm not sure why she was there. The common opinion among the nurses seemed to be that she was a drama queen, but that seems a bit cold and illogical to me.

The first I saw of her she was hyperventilating. Her roommate had found her not well and brought her in. I'm not sure at what point she started hyperventilating, but she looked panicked. After she was done with that she became apneic (not breathing). Then she went to breathing normally. A sternum scrub did not wake her. Smelling salts did not wake her. Pushing a catheter into her urethra did not wake her. If that's just drama, I'm impressed by her determination to stick with it. Eventually she woke up and wanted to go to the bathroom so we took the catheter out and walked her down the hall. She was able to walk back by herself, and then she crashed on the bed again. I found that one to be a bit disturbing, especially since while she was hyperventilating all I saw was her eyes, and with the makeup she had on her eyes looked just like my girlfriends. It startled me until I noticed that her ears were pierced differently.

The valium OD was a bit disturbing too, but I saw her the next morning and she seemed pretty much better. She was still waiting a psych checkup, but her husband was there waiting with her. She got married last night, and her father didn't approve of her marrying a mexican. I think that she will be fine though.

Anyway, that was my day. It has now been about twenty one hours since I slept, and four hours until I have to be to school. I am thinking I will not sleep between now and then, but I'm not sure. I might get ready and have a bit of a nap just before I head out.