Christmas....backwards!

Christmas pictures are up! Unfortunately I posted them backwards, so we'll start with Christmas Day....

My mom had to work. Therefore, Christmas dinner rested on my shoulders (and Whitney's shoulders too!) I made brisket, scalloped potatoes, and deviled eggs while Whitney made green bean casserole, spinach artichoke dip and honey biscuits. It was all so yummy.

Our big surprise present this year...... (can you tell by our faces how excited we were?!?!?!)

My dad in his sassy new robe! Lookin good!

The surprise presents were Electra Townie Bicycles!!! Mine is pink pearl and Whitney's is a white pearl. Both bokes have baskets and my mom even made the liners for the baskets. I remember the Christmas I turned 8 years old Whitney and I got bikes and mine was pink and Whitney's was purple.

A fancy pair of Brighton earrings. These match my Brighton necklace I got for my birthday!

Christmas Eve....

Whitney and I got my parents matching OU and Nebraska garden gnomes. Since our parents love to garden, we thought we'd bring a little rivalry to the garden this year. I'm just waiting to see which gnome ends up upside down at some point.

A gift from Aunt Mimi. It's a pillow she made with our family's picture on it. So cute!

A Brighton necklace from Whitney.

Hey! Cool digital camera mom! Ironically, Santa left me a matching one. So, now we both have out own digital cameras!

Our shop just isn't complete without a Craftsman work chair.

'Twas the Night before Christmas....

...and Holly decided to post pictures from her birthday!

I should probably let you know the background story. When I was a kid I LOVED playing "tea party". Well for my 24th birthday my mom took me to a tea room for a real tea party. It was a lot of fun! She's so awesome, seriously the best mom ever. And what is a tea party without fancy hats?

The pictures are a little bright/fuzzy. Blame my camera phone.

2 more days

Only 2 more days until Christmas! Can you believe it?

I finished Day 5 at work yesterday. 60 hours. Whew! I'm so glad to have 3 days off. I've been picking up an extra shift a week for overtime which will be a really really nice paycheck.


On Sunday when I worked with Chad we were dispatched to a house fire. The woman was trapped in her house because she had burglar bars on the windows and doors. It was my first fire.

Gary and I are officially partners now. Our shifts together start on Jan 4th. Our new shift is Friday-Monday 1:15pm to 1:15am. We are SO happy.

Birthday Girl

Today I'm 24. 24! Ahh, glad to be en even number again. (Have I mentioned that even numbers are my favorties?)

I worked last night. Had a firefighter as my partner. Pretty cool guy. My friend Chad is a paramedic and was on another truck last night. He called dispatch and had a birthday page sent out for me. Everyone in the company got it. It said, "If you see Holly, wish her a happy birthday. She's over the hill and got some trauma!"

Over the hill? Who, me? Nah.

But about the trauma....

25 year old male was fighting with his wife/girlfriend in the car. Pulls over to the side of the interstate and walks into traffic. Yup, that'll show her buddy, right? Some people! Seriously. We got there and he was bleeding pretty bad. I got him naked in the truck and blood was just shooting out of his groin area (sorry, for being so graphic) my partner intubated him and off we went to the ER. They say he has a shattered pelvis and some other injuries. Hope he makes it. Oh, by the way....did I mention that he's HIV positive? Yea, no good. I'm always careful when there's blood and body fluids involved, but tonight I was EXTRA SUPER careful.

That's it my friends. I just got home and I'm going to go to bed and then wake up around 3:30 or 4:00 and go to work again.....yes.....on my birthday.

That's how I know I'm officially a grown up....I have never worked on my birthday. ever. YUCK!

3...2....1....liftoff.....

One of the cool parts of my job is definitely this. Some crews hate heli-pad transfers. I, on the other hand, love them. We park by the heli-pad and the helicopters lands. The propellers literally shake the entire truck, they are SOOOO powerful. A few minutes later they cut the engine and the blades slow down. We don't get out until they're completely stopped. Then we take our stretcher to the chopper and load the patient and the crew into our truck and drive them to the hospital. Pretty neat stuff.

Work is still great. I worked with my pal Levi last night. He's such a looney toon. We had a great night.

I'm off tonight and working with Levi again on Wednesday.

Brrr! Stay warm!

Back to Work...

Heading back to work tonight to work for my friend Shelley. She had a Dr. appointment today and they're drugging her up, so she can't drive the ambulance tonight. I'm working with her partner, Lucas. I've never met the guy before, so I hope he's cool.

Tomorrow it's back to work with Sherry, if she's there. Her boyfriend has a nasty staph infection in his leg and now has MRSA. They did surgery yesterday and hopefully he'll be able to keep his leg.

My friend Levi called me last night to see if I wanted to work with him on Wednesday becuase his partner, Morgan needed the day off. Heck yes. I did my training with Levi and Morgan and I had a blast. This is going to be great.

No time for crafting lately. Just some shopping here and there and sleeping. When you're at work for 12 hours, as soon as you come home all you want to do is sleep.

With that, I'm off to do some laundry and hop in the shower and possibly get a hair cut. Probably no time for that, but it's wishful thinking, right?

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

snowy and cold weather.

Did I mention that I used to looove snow? I'd pray each night for a snow day, maybe a thin coating of ice on the roads....just enough where the school busses couldn't get down the streets so school would be canceled. Oh yea, THOSE were the good 'ol days.

Now, I'm the person driving the 5 ton vehicle and the thought of snow or ice makes me cringe. Yesterday it rained and all hell broke loose. Luckily, I had just gotten to work and I was still checking off my truck and I could hear the calls dropping around me.....

"472. 4-7-2 out of post 17. Start Emergency for the area of Penn and Memorial...."

"289. 2-8-9 out of post 23. Start Emergency for the area of I-240 and I-35..."

"455. 4-5-5 out of post 14. Start Emergency for the 4000 block of SE 44th Street..."

The trucks get started on the way to their calls, lights flashing, sirens blaring as more information follows.

"Unit 472, your call will be at Penn and Memorial. Map page 23. Priority 2 MVA. Called in by OCPD."

"289, your call will be at I-240 and I-35 northbound, priority 1 rollover, OHP on scene. I have medi-flight standing by"

And so the night went on. I ran 4 calls. Not too bad. I was partnered with the Supervisor last night because my partner called in becuase her boyfriend has a staph infection in his leg after he broke it in October. *yuck!*

I'm off today and tomorrow. I picked up my friend Shelley's shift on Thursday because she has a doctor's appointment and can't make it in. The cool part, is that I'll go in that day at 4:15pm and I'll get off at 4:15am. I love that shift. That way, when I come home, it's still dark out. I hate coming home when the sun is beginning to come up....it's too bard for me to fall asleep like that.

Well kiddos, I'm going to start getting ready I suppose. I might run to Target. I need to get some giftwrap and a few treats for Christmas.

December - finally!

Wow. It's December! I am so pumped. I love the holidays. There's just some magical about Christmas that the other holidays don't have. Maybe it's the twinkling lights, the smell of baking, the tree, or the stockings carefully lined up on the fireplace. Personally, I think it's the twinkling lights.

I still have so much shopping to do. I absolutely hate the mall this time of year. Everything looks so.....generic. I've been a few times and nothing just screams "(insert name here) would LOVE this!" My sister asked for a toaster for her new house. Really? A toaster. Okay, whatever you want sis, off to Target I went. I came back with a pretty toaster....hope she likes it. As for what else to get her, I'm completely stumped. I'll head to the Cloverleaf this afternoon and hopefully I can find something special for her there.

For my mom, the quilter, a new set of rulers and cutting mat and an OU garden gnome. http://www.amazon.com/Oklahoma-Sooners-Lucky-Garden-Gnome/dp/B000VS41HO and for my dad..... the matching Nebraska garden gnome, of course.

I'll be heading to Sears' Craftsman section next week to pick up some toys for my dad. He's requesting a shop chair, some new box cutters, a dolly, and some other tool (I can't remember what it's called).

I'm on a really weird sleep/awake schedule right now. I work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 6:30pm to 6:30am, so on those days I get home around 7:00am and I sleep until 3:00-ish. Then, I'm up all night! So, on days like today when I don't work, I can't sleep. It's bad news, really. But for some good news, my friend Sherry (who I call Sher-Bear) is working with me on Friday, Saturday, Monday and next Friday. I am SOO excited. Sherry is so great. We're going to have a great night, I just know it. Who knows, if Gary and I don't work out, then Sherry and I might shift-bid together in January. My other paramedic friend, Levi picked up 2 shifts with me too. I can't wait to work with him. He's a bucket of fun!

Well, I should get going. I'm still in my pajamas and if I'm going to do some shopping I should probably get dressed and ready to go.

Happy Thursday -new Grey's AND Survivor tonight! Whee!

Big XII

So, we're Big VII bound. Ha ha! Sweet! So excited about that.

Boomer Sooner Baby.

Pictures from Work.

Work has been great these past 4 days. Morgan and Levi are amazing. I love those guys! They are such goofballs. It was nothing but life saving and schenanigans for us.

Here I am being silly in my truck after dropping a patient off at the ER.

Levi decided to break out the Mass Casualty kit. Aren't the goggles and hard hat sexy? Ha ha ha.

After dropping a patient off, I ran into my good friend Chad while he was dropping off a patient too. Then I made him help me clean up my truck. Gotta make him work, right?

Happy Thanksgiving

So many things to be thankful for this year....my cup runneth over.

I got released from orientation last night/this morning. So, I'm officially a real EMT and no longer a student. Sweetness.

I work again tonight and I get paid double *thank you, holiday pay!*

Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving.

New places, new faces

My new partners, Levi (pmed) and Morgan (EMT) are awesome. Morgan is hilarious! Levi is so darn funny and sweet. These are 2 guys that I am definitely looking forward to working with more. I'm running hot to a call and Morgan is in the passenger seat screaming "Yee Haw! Let's git r' done!" Uh, yea.....this is going to be a LONG week.

We bonded later though, after we realized we both went to the same high school and had a lot of the same friends. So, then I decided to put the obnoxious-ness aside and embrace him for all that he is. I think that's when we became friends. :-)

Levi is as sweet as can be. He's 23 too and is so excited about becoming a daddy in 7 months. We ran a pediatric call and he was so sweet to that little girl.

Both the guys were great about answering my questions and breaking things out of the truck and showing me how things work. We pulled out the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) and hooked it up and each tried it out. Kinda wierd, but it gets the job done. The patients don't like it, but it helps them breathe, so too bad. :-)

I can't wait to get to work today and learn from these two guys. It's gonna be great.

New Layout!

Yay! What do you think of the new layout? I, personally, am LOVING it. So new and fun. Yay!

I'm back to work today, with 2 new partners, Morgan and Levi. Should be interesting, I've heard they're big goofballs.

I got a new phone, it's a red Blackjack and it's freakin awesome. Seriously. I can't stop playing with it. It's awesome.

I suppose I should go take a quick nap before I have to be at work.

Christmas Book: The Beginnings

I decided to make a Christmas Memory Book leading up to the big day. The album is a 6" x 6" Maya Road Chipboard album and I looove it.

These pictures are terribly out of order, so please forgive me.

First things first, the front cover. Not quite done yet, but will have a red sparkly "08" on the cover. Paper by Basic Grey and the gaffer tape is by 7 Gypsies.
Pages 1-3 of the book. Page 1 is a transparency with the word "one" in rub ons on the bottom right corner. Page 2 is Bazill cardstock and I hand stitched 2 snowflakes and the number 2. Page 3 is white cardstock with red paint brushed around the edges, a brown circle punch and a number 3 sticker.

Here's where my pictures are backwards. Oh well, you're smart enough to figure out how it looks in order....and if you're not, then scroll down to the bottom of this post and read it backwards.

Page 16 (my last page completed so far) is just brown bazill carstock with number stickers.

Page 14 is a transparency with a green border around it. The border is from 7 Gypsies 97% complete christmas sheet of stickers. Page 15 is Basic Grey paper with a tea dyed tag.

Page 8 is a library pocket card. I'll do some journaling on a tag and slide it in once it's finished. Page 9 is strips of BG paper layered and I left room for a photo and journaling. The 9 number is from Heidi Swapp.

Page 7 is more BG paper *gasp! Are you seeing a trend here?!* with some red ric rac

That's what I've got so far. I'm missing some numbers here and there, but it's coming along nicely. Hopefully I can work on it this week some.

Party of 1

I brought my camera to work with me last week and was able to snap a picture. Well, I didn't take the picture, obviously, but my partner did. How awesome do I look behind the wheel?


My sweet friend Kim gave me the idea for Journal Jars for Christmas. I started making my prototype this afternoon and I am so pleased with how it turned out. Cutting the strips was the most time consuming part! Whew! I als had to take out a few of the journaling prompts because she's not married or a parent and a few of the prompts refer to that. I'm going to make a composition book to accompany the Journal Jar. I'll keep you updated on it.

Lastly, I must inform you that I am once again a single lady. Unfortunately since taking this job my time with Brian has been extremely limited (I haven't seen him for the past month!) He is now working for 2 ambulance services (1 full time and 1 part time) which leaves us no time to see eachother. Like most girls, I require attention *gasp* and that's something which he can not give me at this time. The separation was mutual and I'm sure we'll remain good friends.

On that note, have a lovely weekend.

Hello there.

Well, my days off haven't been quite what I've hoped for. At work on Tuesday we were running constantly. We were SO busy. We didn't have time to get food so we ran into a 7-11 and got hotdogs. BIG MISTAKE. I woke up yesterday feeling terrible and throwing up. Yup, you guessed it, food poisoning. I was throwing up all day. So gross.

I have a team meeting at work this afternoon at 3:00. It's my first one, so I'm interested to see how it works. From what Laura said it's basically just a chance for us to get together to go over things that need improvement or new protocols, etc.

I'm going Christmas shopping with my mom tomorrow. I'm excited. I love girl's days.

I have a few pictures from work that I'm going to post this afternoon. But for now, I need to finish getting ready for the team meeting.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go....

Back to work this afternoon. It's been really nice having the past 3 days off. I've been spoiled. Wednesday I slept in until 1:00 and stayed in my pajamas all day. Thursday I got my hair cut and colored (see previous post) and yesterday I taught 8th grade english.

The past 2 nights I went to Jeremy's house. He was in academy with me and moved here for this job. Can you imagine packing up your life and moving to a whole new state and not knowing anybody? I couldn't do it. Anyway, I've been trying to spend time with him and get him acquainted with the city and such. He's my sister's age and just a really cool, funny guy. I'm sure he'll settle in here nicely and make lots of friends soon.

It's supposed to be cool and windy again here today. I'll make sure to bundle up at work and stay toasty. I'm bringing my camera to work today so I can show you my big pimpin' ride. Ha ha ha. I should get one of those stickers that says, "My other car is an ambulance".

Take care!

Weekend Time

It's the weekend! Well, for me it is anyway. My "weekend" begins at 4:15am on Wednesday and lasts until 3:25pm on Saturday when I get back to work.

Today was slightly productive. I got my hair cut and colored. Although, you can barely tell. I went darker, and it seems like she just put in some low-lights and trimmed off less than an inch. I got home and my mom said, "What did she do?" Yes, my thoughts exactly. Alas, I'm trying to make the best of it though.

Tomorrow I'm subbing. I have nothing else to do, so why not? The coolest part, my neighbor Erica will be in my class and I am so excited to see her. She's in 8th grade and is mighty cool. Can't wait.

That's it for news around here my friends. I'm bringing my camera to work on Saturday so I'll take some pictures of my ambulance to share. I'll give you the grand tour. :-)

It's Thursday....off to watch Survivor and Grey's!

One Week Later

Feeling a little bit overwhelmed right now with work.

Today is day 3 of 4. Half way there. I need a little break.

Hitting the Streets

Last night was my first night out on the streets. It was quite interesting. We had 7 calls and stayed pretty busy.

1st call: Assault on a woman. Apparently she got in a fight with another gal. She definitely had a broken collar bone and a nasty abrasion to her back.

2nd call: Seizure.

3rd call: The patient and his friends were in a church parking lot. The patient puked and gasped while he was puking which made his friends think that he couldn't breathe. Upon arrival patient appeared to be fine. Patient did not want to be transported and signed a refusal.

4th call: Patient was released from the hospital on Friday. Pt was supposed to get his pain meds filled but "didn't have a ride". Therefore he called 911 because he needed a ride to the hospital to get his meds filled.

5th call: Elderly man complaining of dizziness. Let me just say that I have a soft spot for old people. Really, I do. This man was the most precious thing I've seen. He lives alone and has a little dog. He didn't want to leave until his friend came to pick up the dog. So cute!

6th call: Nastiest, grossest place I've ever been at. Chief complaint: seizure. Upon arrival we entered the residence to find food all over the floor, roaches on the walls and bugs everywhere. The patient was sitting on the floor and had just had a "seizure". However, he was not post ictal. Which made us immediately question the validity of the seizure. His wife was also at the residence and couldn't keep her mouth shut. Finally she said, "Look! He's about to have another seizure" and right on cue, the man farts, puffs out his cheeks to hold his breath and then shakes his fists. However, his core isn't shaking and neither are his legs. His pupils are equal, round and reactive. This was the funniest fake seizure I've ever seen. Then the wife proceeds to tell us exactly how much valium it takes for his seizures to stop and *gasp* it's an insanely high dose. Nice try. We transported him to the hospital and they told us to take him to triage instead of straight back to the treatment area. Five minutes later they were walking out the door and flipping us off for not giving them the meds. Thought you could pull a fast one on us, huh? Next time why don't you do some research on seizures and then maybe we'll believe you.

7th call: Gunshot wound to the upper thigh/hip area. Drive by. Upon arrival, she was cool, clammy and diaphoretic. Once we got her calmed down and into the truck she seemed to get better. I had to stabilize her leg and straddled the cot sitting on the foot of it the entire way to the hospital.

All in all, I had a great day. I got to do a little bit of driving and today I'll be driving all day. Yes, WITH the lights and sirens. Woo hoo! I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm sure I'll make it.

T Minus 4 Hours....

I start work today. Well, actually I've been at work since the beginning of October, but today is my first day out and about on the truck. I am so excited.

I've got my new flashlight they gave us at graduation, my pager, watch, stethoscope, goggles, hand sanitizer, EMS field guide and tylenol. I'm ready to rock and roll.

My uniform is all ready to go with a shiny name tag and caduceus pins.

Let's get to work!

Lightning the Load

I have a confession.

I have too much stuff.

Therefore today will be spent clearing out my excess and driving to Goodwill with clothes.

There's a party on election night at my house and since I have to work that night I will not be in attendance! (Sucks, doesn't it?!?) Anyway, I need to get my room in "party mode" which means all nice and tidy, straighten up the desk and clothes and shoes up off the floor so it's presentable.

Much to do.

I think the people from my academy class are going to get together and do something fun today. Maybe drinks? Who knows. We have a quick meeting at work at 12:00 and then maybe we'll make battle plans.

Off to start my day....the shower is beckoning me.

All done!

I finished the academy today! The ceremony was sweet. We all had our family members there. It was so nice to meet the family members of the people we work with. Chad's wife and mom were so sweet. Kris' wife and kids were precious. My mom and dad came and since my uncle was in town he tagged along too. We had a nice lunch catered by City Bites and they even got us a GIANT cake.

My mom gave me a gorgeous necklace this morning. It's absolutely stunning. I love it so much.

I officially start work on Sunday and let me tell you, I am SO excited.

Today we were given "gifts". Well.....sort of. Pagers. We all thought they were pretty cool to carry around for a while......until they started beeping and vibrating every 15 minutes with shift information, post changes, schedule stuff, etc.

This way, "the man" can keep track of us. Gee, thanks.

Worn Out

Whew! I am worn out!

Today was a long, grueling day. Emergency Vehicle Operations Course. Basically, it's a cone driving course. You have to go through it without knocking over a single cone. IT's extremely difficult. You demonstrate brake and evade, straight driving, lane changes, 3 point turns, weaving between cones and then weaving between cones backwards. You can't drive at a snail's pace either. You have to be going at least 20mpg. It took me about 8 or 9 times to finally nail it, but once I did it, victory was sweet.

The driving was the easy part, the hard part was being outside all day and waiting your turn to drive again. Patience. I'm sure I'll sleep really well tonight.

Hazmat training was pretty much the worst thing ever. We spent most of the day learning what the colors of placards, pipes, warning labels, etc. Yuck. Never again.

I also got my shift assignment today. 1545 - 0345 on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The FTO I have is supposed to be great. Jason had her as an FTO and loved her. Plus, she lets you kinda do your own thing. She had Jason driving on his 2nd day! Sweet!

Well, that's it. I'm off to bed for an early day of mapping and geography tomorrow.

Night.

This week....

This time next week I'll be out of the academy and in the field on the truck. I am SO excited. However, I'm a little bit nervous! I'll be paired up with two partners and they'll teach me everything I need to know to be successful on my own. I'm ready to get out of the classroom and into the field. It will be very exciting.

I got my jacket on Friday just in time since it's been sooo cold in the morning!

What's on the schedule this week? Hazmat training? Maybe. Mapping and geography of the city. EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations Course) which means.....learning to drive the ambulance! Wow!

Stay tuned.

People Care

We were given a book on the first day of work and they told us to read it. I finally sat down and read it yesterday. It's called "People Care" and it's basically about how people who have been in EMS after a number of years are calloused. They're harsh and they're (sometimes) mean. We meet people on the worst days of their lives and for EMS people to come in to their homes and be calloused is unacceptable.

A few things I learned....

• It's not intellectual power that will turn you into a top-notch EMT. It takes something more, you must love helping people. It's ALL about helping others, reaching out to them as friends and having them trust us to help them as much as we can on the worst days of their lives.
• What you (EMT's) do with your life is take care of people who are mostly poor, mostly anonymous and mostly uncared about by anyone at all. You will rarely get thanked when you deserve to be. And you'll never get rich. Aside from that, some people aren't very nice on the worst days of their lives. They cuss at you, they spit at you, they hit you and bite you and they say terrible things about your mom. However, you still have to be nice and tolerate them. It's part of the caregiver's job.
• Every EMT class should discuss the meaning of EMS in the following way:

The E in EMS stands for Emergency. Not ours, but someone elses. As a result, the emergencies we face will always be defined by their owners, and not by us.

The M in EMS stands for Medical. It doesn't stand for Me, and it has nothign to do with More Money for fire trucks, More political power or More public recognition. EMS is not just a public service, it is medicine. It needs to be driven by MDs and not MBAs.

The S in EMS stands for Service. It has nothing to do with self-esteem or any other kind of selfishness.

• Your responsibility on every call you handle is not to take care of the public. It's to come home safe to those who love you.
• Next time you are writing a patient care report, do yuor best to make sure it tells the whole story of your care. Then when you get to the part where you sign your name, imagine yourself standing in front of your patient, face-to-face and saying the following, "I did my very best for you."
• EMS will take everything you have to give, it will chew you up and spit you out, and then come up asking for more. The reason is simple. Nobody gets out of here alive. Everybody dies some day, not matter how good their paramedics are their EMTs are, and no matter how great their nurses and surgeons.
• When you find yourself in a position of responsibility for a really bad call, remind yourself of this: this is not your emergency. You're just there to help as much as you can, and sometimes what you can do to help will not be enough.
• Humility is an important tool for any caregiver. Ther came too that makes it possible to wash the feces off a stranger's body, or control your feelings after someone spits in your face, can keep your grounded in the fact that no matter how brilliant you are, you're only a helper.

There are a few more, but I think I'll dave those for later.

Hope you have a great weekend!

I've been a slacker lately....

I've been so busy with work that I've been slacking here. So sorry. :-(

Let's see...we ran trauma codes on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday we just did boring administrative stuff....SSM, working the toughbooks, Public Relations and dealing with the media. Today.....drumroll please......hazmat. So not looking forward to that. I've been through SO many hazmat trainings....2 in the ER, another during EMT school, during the protocol test and now again. Lucky me....not.

Better get going. Have a great day.

Tiring

Let me tell you something.

When I first got into EMS I didn't realize how extensive the training is for Emergency Management of disasters, (April 19th, Sept 11th, etc). I have to take several tests from FEMA about emergency management. Plus, I have haz-mat training too. I worked on these test for 3 hours and you know how much I got done? 1 and a half tests. Yea. Seriously.

I need a nap.

Mega Code

We did mega codes for the past two days. Mega codes are full arrests, v-fib, asystole, pacing, etc. I was really nervous. We were working on dummies and all, but we were delivering actual shocks to them. Plus, I'd never worked a code before. My promary job? CPR and ventilation. I worked with Gary (paramedic) and Coty(EMT) yesterday and Gary had us to CPR for 30 minutes on a patient in asystole. I could have killed him once we were done. My knees hurt from leaning on the floor, my arms hurt from the compressions and my hands hurt from them being locked during compressions. I was worn out. Seriously. I came home and crashed on the couch at 5:30 and slept until 8:00-ish.

Today the paramedics got tested on the mega codes and we EMT's were the support roles since we can't push drugs or anything. The best part of my day? 3 of the paramedics asked me to be their partner. Totally flattering, which means that they obviously think I'm pretty good. I could only work with 2 of them though, so I worked with Gary and Sherry. (Sorry Chad!) Everything went smoothly and I was able to remind them of things they were forgetting.

Don't forget to log that drug dose. Where is the pulse ox? Don't forget to check the blood sugar. After you drop the tube and have it secure, apply the c-collar.

All in all, it was a great day. Tomorrow we're doing PEPP (Pediatric Education for pre-hospital professionals). Should be interesting!

A long day...

Today was a long day at work. We started mega codes (full arrests, pacing, asystole, chest pain). Our first run through was with Gary as our paramedic and Tammy and I as EMTs. My job was to begin CPR and switch with Tammy every 2 minutes and ventilate the patient. Our first run through was pretty rough, but we knocked it out. I did a code with Gavin, another with Gary, one with Chad, another with Gavin, one with Lisa, etc. All in all, I think I ran 6 of them. My last one was killer, I was with Gary and Coty was the other EMT. We did CPR on our patient in asystole for 30 minutes. Yes, you read that right, 30 minutes. That was with Coty and I switching roles every 2 minutes. My arms hurt.

I came home and crashed on the couch until 8:00. I will definitely be going to bed early tonight.

Passed!

Passed my protocol test today with an 80. Yee haw. So excited about that. Only 3 people failed, but they still have 2 opportunities to re-take it. I'm sure they'll pass next time.

Off to bed. I'm such an old lady lately. In bed by 9:30....but then again, I'm up super early.

Night!

Protocol test today. I'm ready for it. Well, I'm actually more ready for it to be over with.

I felt nice last night and made home made chocolate chip cookies for the people at work. Yesterday was a funny day. Tim spilled ice water all over Chad's pants. Ice went in his back pack and all over the place. Since I'm such a great person I helped him clean up....then I made fun of him the rest of the day for peeing his pants. (See? I'm a nice girl, right?) Gary and I were in a weird/funny mood yesterday too. He loves to walk by me and scribble on my paper, or nudge my elbow while I'm writing. What he doesn't know is that I wrote "Holly is awesome" on about 15 of his flash cards while he was in the bathroom. I can't wait to go to work today and see if he says anything about that.

We talked about ECG's and more cardiology today. Heart blocks, bumdle branch blocks, reading 12-leads, etc.

Off to work. Wish me luck on my test!

Good Morning!

Academy Day 6: Back to work today....have I mentioned that I actually enjoy going to work now? Weird. *ha ha* Today we're learning 12-lead ECG's. I know how to do a 4 lead basic ECG, this is a more advanced one.

I bet we go over cardiology some more too. Tomorrow is the big protocol test. I read my protocols about 4 times this weekend. They are in a big thick binder and I'm guessing they have about 300 pages outlining patient care, radio communications, hazardous materials, mass casualty incidents, drugs, etc.

Brian is off today, Tuesday and Thursday and then Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday! Woo hoo! So excited to spend some time with him. I haven't seen him since Monday last week.

Well, I better finish getting ready for work. I need to grab my trauma shears and find my stethoscope.

In other news, we made pumpkin cookies this weekend and they are soooo yummy. I'll post the recipe on here if I can find it. Let me warn you, this is one cookie that you can't just eat one of.

I'm waiting for my paycheck to come from subbing. They mailed the checks on Wednesday and I still have not gotten my check yet. *Grrr!* Plus with today being Columbus Day, I won't get it until tomorrow at least!

Off to work.

A new look

Thought I'd change things up a little bit around here with a new image banner. I'm in the mood for fall, so I thought these pretty white pumpkins looked nice and classy.

Not much else for news or updates. Still reading protocols for work. There are a few funny ones in here, maybe I'll share those with you later today at some point.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Well hello there

The academy is great. So far at least. Wednesday we started going over our protocols and we finished those up on Thursday. Friday we started hitting cardiology.

Brian is sick. He didn't go to work last night or this morning. He was scheduled to work a double today but called in for the first shift and said he might make it for the second shift. I haven't spoken with him today so I don't know if he ended up going in or not. *poor thing*

OU/Texas was a giant dissappointment. We were robbed. The refs were making a lot of terrible calls against both teams. Boo. Texas sucks.

Off to enjoy my day and read some more protocols.

Day Two: Getting Personal

Before I started the academy yesterday I hadn't practiced EMS in 2 1/2 months. I felt like my skills were rusty. Well, today was the day for that. Skills Check Off Day. *eeeiiiikes!*

Car extrication using the KED.
Sling and swathe.
Long spine board.
Checking blood glucose.
Traction splinting for femur fractures.
OPA, NPA and suction.

I passed with flying colors, although, I was nervous. I skipped lunch today to stay in and go over my check sheets. I even had to call Brian for a little pep talk. "Rah rah rah, you can do it!" (Yes, those really were his exact words!)

And you know what? I did it. I was paired up with 3 guys in my group today. We were the "Mighty 4". They were all really great, have really fun personalities and are good people. I'm blessed to have such great people in class with me. We look out for each other.

We received our protocol books today. It's about 300+ pages of protocols and how the ambulance service operates. It's overwhelming. But I know I can do it.

I came home today and made dinner. The house was quiet (my parents went to see a movie). I read the protocols and studied hard. I had dinner ready for them when they came home.

The plan for tonight:
Read more protocols.
Watch the debate.
Bubble Bath.

First Day recap

The new job is great so far. There are 14 people in my academy class, 9 boys and 5 girls. We're pretty evenly split between Paramedics and EMTs.

Got all of my uniform stuff today. It's great. :-)

Did the usual first-day-of-work stuff.....finding the time clock, HR junk, benefits, 401K etc.

Tomorrow we get checked off on our skills.

As for tonight, Brian and I are going out. First we're heading to The Speakeasy to see his friend James' show and then we're going to Moore to the bar for Monday Night Football and such.

Good times.

First day of work....

Today is my first day of my new job with the ambulance service!! *squeels*

I've got my Paramedic pants on.
White polo shirt (for the first day, then they'll give us our shirts)
Black shoes and belt.

Not to mention a diamond heart necklace and my big ass pearl earrings and sport watch (set on military time, 'cuase that's how they do it in EMS)

I'm quite a vision.

Will write more later.

October, already?!?!

Wow. It's already October! That's crazy! Where has the year gone? I abolsutel love fall. It's my favorite time of year. It's only the 4th and so many things have already happened!

First, I spent this week substitute teaching in the elementary school, 3rd grade to be exact.
A one of my students said "I drew you a picture". I glanced at it quickly and set it down on the desk. Later, I get back to the desk and I look at the picture. Hey, wait a second. WHY am I riding a broom? So I called him to my desk and said, "Why am I riding a broom?" and he replied, "Becuase I drew you as a witch. But you're a very pretty witch"

Gee, thanks.

Thursday was my sister's Birthday so she came home, we showered her with prezzies and sent her on her way. I like visits with my sister to be like that (minus the part about giving her presents) Just keep the visit short and sweet and go home. *ha ha*

Friday night was her birthday party. After dinner of "Raisin' Cane's Chicken" and fondue for dessert, she wanted to make a gingerbread haunted house. We whipped up some orange and brown icing (and by WE, I mean me) and set to work. Drew decided it would be a grand idea to take a big spoonful of the black icing and eat it....yummy.

A work in progress. My sister and her boyfriend Wyatt were hard at work on their cookie house.
Today my mom had to work, so my dad and I decided to hit the Czech Festival here in Yukon. We had a great time. It was super crowded though.

A Week In The Life

Is anyone else doing Ali's "A Week in the Life" challenge? You basically just capture your week, with handwritten notes, pictures and daily "stuff". I've got a lot up my sleeve today, so hopefully I'll get some good stuff to use. I'm not fully participating, just taking her idea for the challenge and putting my own little twist on it. This should be fun.

I'm spending all day with Brian and I'm SO excited. We're going to the movies, Norman, and then Monday Night Football and adult beverages with his friends from the ambulance service. Should be buckets of fun. Yes, I just said buckets of fun.

Speaking of fun, Kim told me about this great little swap and I'm hoping I can get in on it. Wouldn't that be a trip?

Happy Monday.
Now it's time to hop in the shower....

Getting Excited

Good morning.

Another Sunday....I'm trying to enjoy the free time that I have now for crafting, cooking and sleeping in. Because all of this will change in a week when I start my new job at the ambulance service. I'll be in their Academy for about a month learning their protocols, mega codes, mapping, geography, driving, posts, etc. Then I'll be assigned to a FTO (field training officer) to ride out with for another month. I'll take calls with them, work their schedule with them and be the 3rd person on their truck. From what I hear I'll be able to perfect my driving skills, first by driving WITH a patient to the hospital code 1 (for you non-EMS people, code 1 is no lights, no sirens). After I do that a few times, they'll let me drive TO the call Code 3 (with lights and sirens). Finally I'll drive TO the hospital WITH a patient Code 3 (usually for Full Arrests/Respiratory arrest, major trauma, etc). In addition to the drivng, I'll do patient care on-scene (stay-and-play) and assist my paramedics in the truck until it's time to go.

I'm getting more and more excited each day, I've even got a count-down going (7 more days!!!) I've got my gear (trauma shears, stethoscope, pen light) all ready to go. My shoes look great, although I think I need to get some more black socks. I've been brushing up on my skills and making sure I know them by heart.

That's all for now, I need to go be crafty again, because once I start the new job, I'm expecting it all to come to a screeching hault.

Super Saturday

Made a few more cards last night. This is a smaller version of the birthday card for my sister. The inside is the same as hers, the monkey stamp that says, "Happy B-day".

A tag I made with another monkey stamp. What is it with me and these monkeys? I will never know....
These cards are oh-so-simple, however I'm going to color them in with colored pencils. I'm interested to see how they'll turn out. I like 'em though.
On Friday night I went out with my friends Val and Brittni. I haven't seen them since my EMT class this summer. It was great having a girls' night and catching up.
What's for dinner tonight? Err, well, last night....I gave my attempt at making indian tacos... Yup, just like at the Fair. I made home made fry bread, chili, shreaded up some lettuce, diced tomatoes from the garden, chopped onion, and grated cheese. Finish it up with some home made salda and I'm in heaven! These little monsters were HUGE. Seriously. I made it through about 1/3 of mine before I threw in the towel....err....napkin. It was a feeble attempt, but the Indian Taco got the best of me and came out victorious.

More cards!

Made a few more cards today. This one is for my sister, her birthday is on Thursday. I just LOVE this paper. The sock moneys are flocked on their mouths, hands and feet with white fuzz. SO super cute.

Inside of Whitney's card.
From the same paper line, the owl card. I love owls right now.

Cutest little thing...

Brian's friend Matt is taking his EMt test soon. So, in honor of this accomplishment, I already made his "Congratulatoions on Passing" card. See that ambulance? Yup, I made it. I'm quite proud of this little beauty.

And, no, I'm not going for a Christmas theme. Those are just the colors of the amblance service that Matt works for.

See the lights? Yup, glittered. And the window? Plastic!

Hope he likes it! Good luck Matt!

So what? I am a rock star

I'm currently loving P!nk's "So What". Google it. Listen to it on Youtube. It's great.

I'm in a funk lately. I'm not sure how to get out of it, that's the problem. I think Brian and I need to have a talk. I feel like I'm coming in second place. He had the past 5 days off and I saw him once in the past 5 days. We were supposed to go to Tulsa this past weekend, but we didn't. I saw him for about 6 hours on Saturday evening/night. But, he's been spending a lot of time with his friend, Matt playing video games. I really want to say something, but I'm a really non-confrontational person. I don't want him to feel cornered or pressured.

But....I'm not happy. I don't feel like my needs are being met. I am a girl. I require some attention (as most girlfriends do). I've never dated someone who didn't always want to see me or spend time with me. I sometimes feel like he doesn't really care if he gets to see me. But when we are together, we have a great time.

Our work plays a big part in our relationship. He works evenings from 3:30-midnight and has Mondays and every other weekend off. For the next month I'll be in the EMS Academy daily from 8:00-5:00. So, we'll pretty much have Monday evenings and weekends to get to see each other. I knew this though when we started dating. That's one of the evils that comes with dating someone else who works in the emergency field. However, I love how we get to share details of our days and we understand how EMS works.

Today is his last day off and we're going to see "Burn After Reading" tonight.

Maybe then, we can have a little heart to heart.

Wish me luck.

And I can't live, I can't live another day without you....

Kara and I went to the fair on Friday night to see our favorite band, Hanson. They played a show out there as part of their "Walk Around the World" tour. We have been to every show Hanson played in Oklahoma for the past 10 years! We always have so much fun, and this time was no different.

There were SOOO many people there. We stood on our metal folding chairs (I know, I know, it's dangerous!) and we looked back and there was a sea of people. Pretty darn awesome if you ask me.

They played for about an hour and a half. The funny thing, the night before Kara and I made a list of songs we hoped they'd play and they played all of them except for 1. They did a great Beatles cover of "Oh Darling!" and a Hoyt Axton's "Never Been to Spain". Sooo good.

Nothing says "I Care" quite like a....

Card! Right? I spent most of the day today making cards. Ahh, it feels so nice to be crafting again. It's been entirely too long. The best part about making cards is that I'm not pressured to do any journaling with photos.

I'm crazy about cupcakes and I finally made the CUTEST cupcakes ever. The sprinkles are stitched on. I also added some clear/white glitter to make the "icing" sparkle.
This is the one I made Brian. When I told him I was making cards he said, "Ooh. I want one". So I decided to continue the cupcake motif. I'm sure he really appreciates everyone knowing that I call him "Sweet Cakes".

Who's That Lady?

It's me! It's me!

Check out that new 'do. Like it? It's not that different, but still. It's sleeker, flatter, less....poufy. Is poufy a word? Anyway, it's just barely touching the top of my shoulders. I'm loving it. I took these in the kitchen. Yup, I'm in my apron, being all Pioneer Woman-ish.

Wake me up before you go go....

I almost forgot! Lately I've been addicted to bubble baths. I take one every night before I go to bed (and then I take a shower again in the morning). I'm one of those weird people. I love love relaxing and soaking in the hot water. Brian makes fun of my bubble baths all the time. Really? Do you need a bath? But you just took a shower this morning. Have you honestly gotten dirty throughout the day? Well, no. But there's just something about hopping in the tub after a long day. Bubble baths make me happy, and it would be in your best interest to keep your girlfriend happy, don'tcha think buddy?

The set up. I'm currently using Victoria's Secret bath gel in "Love Spell" and Bath and Body Works "Strawberry Mint".

My bubble baths just aren't complete without reading material.
I was feeling special and decided to make a screwdriver (oj and vodka - but I'm a weenie and I used wayyyy more oj than vodka). And as usual, I can't have my phone too far away.