AJ

didn't leave, just didn't feel like saying anything else and getting my head ripped off for my beliefs. besides, i was in the middle of a family emergency and couldn't read the board. and no, actually, i'm not way behind in school, i'm at the top of my class.

advice yes, degredation and insults no! i have enough people tearing me down right now, i don't need ya'lls doing that too. isn't it enough to have to deal with my co-workers? oh wait, that's right, i'm a paramedic student. that makes me fair game for anyone who wants to take pot shots at me. thanks for your help, and to those of you who actually offered non-judgemental advice it is much appreciated. for the rest of you, go kiss a truck, or why don't you go gargle about 9 pounds of concrete?

wow. guess i really opened up a can of worms with this. for those who actually offered decent advice, thank you, i appreciate it; we're working on setting aside 'us time' where we pretty much just disappear and hang out and talk and whatnot to keep from going crazy. for the rest of ya'll, methinks i need to set some things straight. #1 i am not dumping him. we're looking at marriage. adolescent crush?? i think not. #2 we're not new in this line of work. both of us have a few years under our belts - him in VA, me in PA. #3 cell phones - neither company has a problem with providers using personal cell phones for personal calls, so long as the provider is not on a call/with a pt, and has paperwork pretty well caught up and the truck is ready to go. we don't talk long, and NEVER with a pt. if i key him up and he doesn't answer me i know he's busy and he will get back to me when he gets the chance, and if he keys me up when i'm busy i don't answer. it's as simple as that. and as far as his preceptor complaining about it, he was in the back of the ambo, on the way back from the hospital, no pts, the two up front were talking, his mom called him with an update on his grandfather (who is in the hospital with some serious issues) and he passed it on to me. it's as simple as that. it's not like we spent an hour talking about stupid little stuff. #4 company vs company - most of the providers in our company love to hate their company. it's pretty much a big territorial war b/t the two (which i refuse to get into) and i wasn't working when i was helping him put his truck back together. i was doing ride time as a paramedic student. and even if i was working i still would have helped him put his truck back together, because it's rude to stand there and stare at someone who is trying to clean up their truck and get it back in service without offering to help. #5 ISLAND EMT - raging hormones??? where in the world do you get off saying that, i haven't met you, you havent' met me, so how would you know? some people do know what the words purity and abstinence and reserving physical relations for marriage mean. i do. do you? #6 NSMEDIC - thank you for a little bit of sanity. as for the rest of you who think we should break up, or will end up breaking up, see pt #1 again. then go find a corner to cry in because you can't have a relationship like we have. i didn't post any of that original post for ya'lls to tell me i'm screwed and have absolutely no chance to succeed. if it weren't for him i would have dropped out of medic school a while ago, not because i can't do it but because in those rough times where i've needed someone he's been the only one there for me. anyone else wants to bash us go ahead, just remember that not everyone fails at an EMS relationship. yes we've had our rough spots but we've come through each one stronger than ever. i don't need any of you to make things worse. now go away and leave us alone. stupid naysayers. oh yeah. have a nice day.

my bf and i (6 mo) met at work - he was a volly emt (3rd on MICU) for us and i was paid (BLS/MICU). a few months ago he went paid with us and was put on wheelchair vans because he "didn't" have hazmat ops or evoc (he's from VA and it's all rolled into the emt card, no separate certs). when he did get the certs they kept putting him off and telling him they couldn't do his prehire test (to move up to BLS) for a month or two. he went to a neighboring company and put in an application. short of the story, he got the job (got further with them in 3 days than in the 2 years he was with us - volunteer time included) and started his orientation last week; he'll be on BLS trucks when he gets out of orientation with no wcv, which makes him (and me!) happy. i'm really glad he got the job, esp since he wasn't getting anywhere with us, but i've been getting the flack from some of our providers about him leaving. yesterday (while i was doing medic student time on our hospital based unit) he brought a pt in and i was helping him and his partner put their truck back together and one of our emts walked past and made the comment of "you're in the wrong truck" to me. i've mostly been ignoring it bc it's really not worth answering and it's not worth making any of these people mad at me, since i have to work with them, but its getting frustrating and i can't vent to the bf because then he feels bad and feels like its his fault, etc. also, a couple ppl told him he spends too much time on his phone. we talked maybe 5 or 6 short times (5-10 min) in 16 hrs. i hardly get to talk to him, much less see him, between my schedule and his, and i don't like it. we'll be able to talk more once he gets off orientation but i still won't see him very much. anyone have any suggestions as to how to deal with not seeing him much or spending a lot of time with him? i don't want our relationship to suffer because of any of this....and i know he feels bad because he told me yesterday he feels like he's been neglecting me and then i feel bad because he feels bad and i don't know how to help him and i don't like it when i can't do anything. thx for letting me vent......

i've been dealing with tendonitis in my wrist/arm for the past few weeks, pretty much by just ignoring it - i thought it was getting better and then this am when i woke up for work it was worse again. it hasn't interfered with my job, it's just annoying and my arm aches. splints don't fit me right and i reacted to tape the last time i tried that. anyone have any suggestions as to how to deal with this?

as someone who had the *privilege* of being employed at an amusement park as a rides operator, and whos EMS company staffs the First Aid room at that same park with an EMT while the park is open, I can tell you it's a lot of bandaids, some diabetic, some heat, and every so often you get something really good - i had a 19 y/o/m employee stop breathing on me (dehydrated, vagal'd when we moved him from the chair he had collapsed into over to the bed - a foot away) - that was loads of fun. also we have had children go into sz, usually from the heat and them not drinking enough. beestings and slideburn are our other common calls (we have a giant slide that if you hang on to it while you are going down you will get what we call slide burn - basically its a friction burn but it is incredibly painful). i also had applied to hersheypark at one time for their first aid room, which is in-house not contracted out, but did not get the job (something like 40ish applicants for 2-4 spots) and couldn't re-apply this year because of paramagic school. pay is not the best for an in-house operation but if your company staffs it you are paid your normal wages. i would love to work at cedar point, good luck and have fun! ps try not to let the eye candy make you wreck your golf cart (unless they make you walk everywhere).....LOL

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word "SIKE" 2. You watched the Pound Puppies. - not watched but i did have some and i knew what/who they were 4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy. 5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own. 9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock" - fraggle rock is awesome...just saw a dvd of it yesterday at the firehouse, haha 10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars..."spokey-dokes" or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect. 11. "Duck Tales" 12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons. 13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head. 14. You saw the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" on the big screen...and still know the turtles names. - didn't see it but i know the names 15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school. the original is still the best! 16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side. nope, just tied my shirts in a knot....anybody else remember taking the front of it and pulling it up through the neck and down?? 17. You played the game "MASH" (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House) 18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it. 19. L.A. Gear....need I say more? 21. You remember reading "Tales of a fourth grade nothing" and all the Ramona books. 22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF" 24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (Some of us...head-to-toe) 26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf. 27. You took plastic lunch boxes to school 28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets. 29. You still get the urge to say “NOT†after every sentence. 33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets. 34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (And like ..24, probably in neon colors, too) 37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates. 39. You have ever played with a Skip-It. 40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds with an outdoor playground. 41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement. 42. You remember Popples. 44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks. 45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do...getting yelled at by "younger hip" members of the family) 46. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that. 48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!" 49. You remember watching "Rainbow Bright" and "My Little Pony Tales" 50. You thought Doogie Howser was hot. he is! 51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac. 52. You remember New Kids on the Block… when they were cool... 61. You tight rolled your jeans. the tiny wax soda bottles with a little colored sugar water in them Quisp and Quake cereals - vaguely....i think GI Joe Tang Schwin bicycle 5 speeds with a bannana seat and sissy bar 8 tracks "Dickeys mock turtles" The candy dots that were stuck to paper, they never came completely off, you had to spit the paper out while eating them, The little fuzzy balls on the back of socks that went with the high-top reeboks When gas was like $0.89 a gallon( i think i was 15 or 16) Prayer in school Pixy stix The purses that looked like stuffed animals...i had a frog and a bear What about Transformers?????? Anyone remember those? The were a robot and a 18wheeler all in one RLStine books Nightmare on Elm Street Beastie Boys Merrie Melodies/ Luney Tunes Smurfs Rainbow Brite the pink Power Wheels Barbie Corvette. Sweet Tom and Jerry Sylvester and Tweety Pink Panther Pippi Longstocking Scooby Doo Magnum PI Richie Rich Yogi and Boo Boo Atari - my grandparents had one that we used to have pacman tournaments on, until my cousin broke it...and we had one that my dad sold at a yard sale when i was little (pbbt!):x sit-n-spin wax lips My Little Pony Care Bears Popples Does anyone remember the Fisher Price toys? They had the houses and the people figures that are no bigger then my thumb..I still have them all stored in the attic (for my kids some day). I also have the ambulance, fire truck and fire station..I used to fight over them with my little sister! -FP little people are the coolest - esp the wooden ones my grandmom has - she has the town that folds in half and has a jail and a dentist office and a post office and a couple of houses and a garage and a fire house with a really cool wind up siren and i think there was another 'shop' or something in there....and that traffic light/bridge to connect the two blocks....*sigh* Sneakers with Velcro and those socks with the stripes at the tops? The white leather Keds Animainiacs - Yakko, Wakko and Dot! RECORDS MASH Gilligans Island Bonkers the cat/cop CABBAGE PATCH KIDS - the first time around! barbie - before they started making so many versions.... ahh i'm getting old....

*250 bag NSS just under the tire and the tubing run to above the drivers seat....they try to go and they get wet. *glove as a water ballon and set it up so that a metal hanger pops the glove when the door is opened and they get wet *ask them who wrote gullible all over the ceiling - see how many people you can get to look *speaking of which, did you know that the word gullible is not in the dictionary? *take the top off the salt/pepper shakers and put a piece of tissue on top, put a tiny pinch of whichever it is on top and then replace the top of the shaker - make sure you cut off any tissue so none is showing - watch the expressions when they try to use it. works best if the shaker is semi-clear so the level can be seen. *tone test just after your partner goes into the bathroom *turn on the lights/windshield wipers/etc. while the crew is in the hospital - then when they come back out and turn on their batteries everything goes off

welcome back woody!!

EDP is actually an approved definition....some of the others we have here *unapproved for PCRs!!!!!* HH - hispanicus hystericus EEE or triple E - ethnic emotional episode urban outdoorsman - homeless person dx: stupidity - 'nuff said! taxi ride - ambulance txpt of a pt who doesn't even need to go to the dr, let alone a hospital

"I believe in the big bang theory. God spoke, and *BANG!* it was." I believe what the Bible says about creation.

sure, i'll try it....

had back in feb, all the hospitals in the county were packed....and on divert....so of course they were all open, we had a crew took a pt in for an assault (bls)...get sent to triage/aka waiting room, they went to sit the pt up off the litter and she started complaining of nausea/dizziness/worsening symptoms, the medic went back and talked to the doc then spent an hour treating the pt (upgraded to als, got MS, and i think phenergan too) in the waiting room with her on their litter till a bed opened up. worst part was it was the end of their shift when they got to the hospital....

most of our transport times are less than 10 minutes....it gets annoying sometimes, bc we can't finish treatment, but on the other hand, it's nice, bc if the pt is going downhill really really fast we don't have to worry about them crashing on us as long. i remember one call for a child struck (lower budget) - total call time from time of dispatch to time of arrival at hospital was 11 or 12 minutes....that was fun. my other company our times are a little longer....more like 15-20 at the shortest....

we are "required" to have ops to be hired. awareness is a good start.... recently our bosses started pushing for HazMat for EMS class instead of HazMatOps - still fulfilles the requirements for the state but its a 16 hr class instead of 24.