Snapshot

  Too tired to be coherent for long--too tired to let my fingers dance across the keys trying to peck out my thoughts. So here's a bullet list of things that form a snapshot of the past few weeks (they have gone by like they had wings of the wind!).

• Going on my first fire call--now that was cool! I know nothing as of yet concerning fire--I am a babe in this matter, yes, even with two fire classes under my belt. The barn is on fire--barn is burning down--firefighters come--firefighters put water on fire--fire goes out. That's about the best I can do at describing the fire right now. It was a hot day, and being in full bunker gear was a lot warmer, but ya know, ya kinda stop noticing it after a while. I was with my shift partners on the medic, so I was allowed to help collect everybody's passports and bring them back to command. I watched...and learned...my shift partner, bless his soul, let me take the hose, inadvertently spray him because the nozzle wasn't on the right setting, direct the water under the part of the roof that he pried up with a pike pole, showed me how the TIC (thermal imaging camera) worked and somehow managed to maintain his patience with my trademark blundering bewilderment and questions.
• Water fights--I've been in three so far (well, four if you count squirting a saline syringe at my shift supervisor and having a whole bottle of sterile water poured over my head--in the cab of the medic), and always end up on the losing end. The first was defensive--they had water bottles at the outset, which quickly upgraded to a hose. The second was retaliatory--I got them with the water bottles--they got me with the sink nozzle--then picked me up and threatened to take me to the Tender. Ah, but the third was sweet vengeance upon my dorm neighbor. He was just standing there while I washed the medic--such a perfect target--and it was all fun and games until he got his own hose and wrested mine away. Being sprayed in the face with two hoses is actually somewhat painful. He seemed pleased with himself.
• Baking my very first pie. It looked beautiful the first day, but I think my failure to remove the tin foil while it was still warm is the reason my crumb topping turned mushy. Fail.
• Class, class, class! I can't wait to be done! It's been an avalanche of skills--King airway, combitube, CPAP, nebulizers, bleeding control, CBG's, splinting, soft tissue injuries (man, there are some really graphic photos out there!), rapid extrication, more shock treatment, more CPR, more meds, the impending childbirth lab...can't say I'm looking forward to that lab day. But, ah, only 2 1/2 more weeks! I did my first scenario today--a single vehicle that hit a tree. It's a slow process for me, putting all the things we've learned together to actually simulate treating a patient--but, hey, it was a trauma patient, and for me trauma is waaaay easier than medical!
• Home. Home is two places now, and it must be said that I spend more time at the station than I do at my real home, but there's almost nothing so nice as going "home" home (except maybe a Delta level MVA--or a maple doughnut--or fruit loops for breakfast--but I digress...). Ya know what I mean? 
• Climbing 70 feet to the top of the ladder truck at drill. Now that was an experience!                          

   "Oh wow, that's a long way up there," thinks me to myself. 

"You're not afraid of heights are you?" asks Shane as he helps me with the belt that I will use to attach myself to the ladder after I climb to the top.

"No, not really."

-Begins climbing, slowly, carefully-

"Oh wow, that's a long drop," I think. "There is nothing keeping me from falling except my own hands and feet! What am I doing!? I'm terrified of heights!!"

-Continues to climb-

"Oh wow! It's gorgeous up here! They all look like little ants way down there!"

-Sings in her head, "A whole new world! A dazzling place I never knew, but when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear... -

-Stops singing inwardly, because the next part is that line about tumbling and freewheeling through some endless, diamond sky, and that's not exactly on tonight's agenda-

-Climbs slowly and carefully down, without assistance-

-Feels totally amazing for the remainder of the week-   :)

• Spending the night with some awesome friends! Man, what crazy girl times...traipsing about town in the heat like the crazies we are, going down to the river, parkour, eating a lot (A LOT), The Hunger Games, yoga at midnight...it must be said that our girl days don't exactly fit the stereotype.

 My posts are so disorganized, and I blatantly disregard just about every known rule of grammar and punctuation. Sorry if it drives you nuts! 

But there is my little nutshell of life this week. I could probably spend the entire evening telling stories about life at the fire station, but I'll stop here. If I even got started on the shaving cream on my doorknob, the doors being tied shut, the people jumping out at unexpected moments and scaring me, the racist speed-demon under a vow of silence (how I ended up as that is a story that will be buried and remain so forever henceforth)...

Shutting up.