Pride.

I’m a very modest man. I work hard, for little pay, doing work most don’t want to do. I don’t do it for glory, money(obviously), or fame. I do it because I’m proud of what I do.

Still, I don’t often walk into the door at home with my chin high. Often my day(or days) has been long, tough, and either uneventful, or incredibly stressful.

As a matter of fact, it is usually all of the above.

About a week ago my wife was here at the station with me and we were just hanging out. We were watching TV, I’m sure. The Advisor II gave me the “pleasing alert” (doesn’t that sound like something from a Japanese Brothel?) and the EF Johnson(wheel chock) gave half of the tones. What followed was pure chaos.

We were dispatched for a woman who overdosed on ativan, zoloft, abilify, and a few other yummy drugs. Upon arrival I found a woman in cuffs seated, alert, and otherwise fine—minus the hand cuffs!

She had tried to hurt herself—she told me she wanted attention(this was Christmas Day, come to think!) and needed someone to talk to. Instead of just calling someone, she tried to kill herself, THEN called someone(often the case).

All seemed ok… I talked her down from the rage she was in, and started her towards the door. My partner(and boss) was holding onto her and a cop was right behind. I stopped to pick up a few more med bottles(trying to figure out what the hell I was dealing with) and just as I did that… I heard my boss say “OH…. Shit.” and my response was “Fuck.” as she fell to the ground. I pushed the cop out of the way, told him to uncuff her, and went for the airway.

Nothing. She stopped breathing. Done. Within seconds I had a nasal in, while the EMT was getting the Intubation setup out. This both brought her respirations back, and woke her up.

We did our thing. The whole nine yards.

After cleaning the rig back at the station I was in working on my chart and my boss walked into the room where my wife was sitting still. He made one simple comment that made my day—hell, my year. He said “you’re husband’s a pretty damn good medic. I’d let him work on my kids.” and walked out.

It wasn’t like he went on for days. But I feel as though that was the ultimate compliment. I can honestly say that there are more medics out there that I KNOW I wouldn’t let work on MY baby to be than there are that I would LET work on him/her.

Thanks Boss Man.