Walking into the foothills of South Dakota’s badlands tomorrow morning…. If you don’t here back from me in a day or two just assume the deer won!
On EMS news, I ran my first call at “second job” today. 9 shifts, 1 call. LOVE IT!
Archives for home
Seriously. It did. I take ambien for sleep(12.5mg XR), as the chances of me sleeping on my own are not so good. But if I am awake past that first 40 minutes it makes me do crazy crap. Like post on my blog. Or clean out the fridge. OR trim, cut and cure 40 lbs of deer meat for Jerky slices. I’ve rearranged my 75 gallon aquarium and not remembered. I’ve don a LOT of things and not remembered.
It is mildly terrifying to know how much can happen with so little control. MY wife sure like the cleaning version of me though, so I doubt I’ll be changing over soon.
Do any of you have first hand experience of the crazy things meds made you do? We hear stories all the time from patients and coworkers, but I’d like to hear your own stories.
ON a clinical note, what do we need to look for with these odd situations? Can a patient sedated with ambien be reliable?
Drop me a line!
Ambien Side Effects
- Constipation
- Difficulty with coordination
- Hallucinations
- Disorientation
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Binge eating
- Memory problems (see Ambien CR and Memory Problems)
- Spinning sensation (vertigo)
- Nausea
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) – heartburn is the most common symptom
- Heart palpitations
- Fatigue
- Muscle pain.
Ambien Dosage:
Dosage in adults
The recommended dose for adults is 10 mg once daily immediately before bedtime. The total Ambien dose should not exceed 10 mg per day.
Special populations
Elderly or debilitated patients may be especially sensitive to the effects of zolpidem tartrate. Patients with hepatic insufficiency do not clear the drug as rapidly as normal subjects. The recommended dose of Ambien in both of these patient populations is 5 mg once daily immediately before bedtime [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6)].
Use with CNS depressants
Dosage adjustment may be necessary when Ambien is combined with other CNS depressant drugs because of the potentially additive effects [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5)].
Administration
The effect of Ambien may be slowed by ingestion with or immediately after a meal.
Harvard has a new “healthy plate” out to give guidance on how we should eat. Here it is:
Here is the MedicThree version of a healthy plate:
It’s ok. I’m sure Harvard will figure it out eventually.
As I head into day two post sinus surgery and Christmas day, I realize I have much to be thankful for. So much I won’t try to list it all here.
So….. Merry Christmas, my friends. To those of you working the streets: be safe, warm, and come home in one piece.
Godspeed, friends.
M3
Seriously? Do you? This is a question my wife and I have been talking about for a while as she considering going back to school for various things. I know she doesn’t care for her job, but has always stayed because it pays well and we needed the money.
I switched jobs several times in a small time frame(and chronically through life) but have been with my current job for about 20 months. The pay leaves something to be desired… no seriously, but most of the rest of my job leaves me feeling satisfied. I am finally on a shift I like, get to see my family, and do a job that I am passionate about. We have our fair shair of office politics and typical personality clashes associated with a company full of type-A personalities, but as a whole, I love my job.
This leads me to my current predicament. I am always interested in other jobs and opportunities. Not because I need to be… And I know that in this economy we should just be happy to have ANY job. Still, I find myself looking at other options. Next week I interview for what could be a very interesting opportunity–still working as a medic, but in a smaller hospital/ambulance setting.
So the questions persists, do you love your job? Do you look around?
So Tuesday night I took my wife to see Hanson. Yes, the mmm bopping 90′s teens you are thinking of….
She likes them. A lot. So I was a nice guy and drove up to the Minnesota Zoo amphitheater and took her.
In the rain. The pooring friggin rain.
Mind you… their new music is actually decent–you just haven’t heard it because they have their own record label and thus can’t get any radio love… but still… I took my wife to Hanson. In the Rain. After a 4 hour drive.
I might be the best damn husband. Ever.
Oh, and cutest baby ever says hi!
I told you all about my decision to finally go to the doctor and take care of myself…
Well I did it. My doctor agreed with me that my symptoms seem very much like Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. She prescribed be Strattera, rather than one of the controlled substances(per my request) so that I a) won’t have to worry about habit forming medications, b) won’t have to worry about work drug screenings.
While the medication has only been in my system for 4 days, I feel better already. It most certainly is partly placebo effect, but whatever it is, I am happy to have finally done something about it.
I am dedicated to being a better person–at home and at work, and this is my first step in that direction.
I feel like I can think clearly without my all too common cloud of thoughts bouncing around. I hope this works. I really do…
Godspeed, Friends
m3
Asher had another VCUG and Lasix renogram today for his hydronephrosis. Won’t have results for a day or two, but it looked like it always did… delayed draining of the left kidney. Hoping they find something diagnostic soon.
Until then, here is a pic of the little monster(who does not like anesthesia… fought it really hard).
After a dose of chloral hydrate and 2 doses of versed… the walk BACK to PEDS is what put him to sleep… Stinker.
In EMS there are a few tools we use as coping mechanisms. CISM(Critical Incident Stress Management) is the most common, despite many organizations not having active CISM systems. While I find CISM to be useful, it is rarely deployed for run of the mill EMS calls. Death and Dying is our business, and if we had a CISM meeting(which includes everyone from first responders to ED doctors and Medical Directors) for every death in the field, we would spend more time in meetings that in our trucks.
This leads many of us to find our own personal stress management tools and techniques. Some people vent to coworkers, some people blog… Some people pray, or drink, or work out, or smoke. Me…. I drive home.
Every morning when my shift gets over at 0700 I hope for a partly cloudy sky. This winter has been good to me. With crisp, cool winds, light cloud cover and beautiful sunrises, I have done more call reviews on my drive home, alone with Country Music in the background than any CISM meeting or Jack and Coke could provide me.
I use the 9 mile long, 15 minute drive to go over the night before. By the time I am home, I always feel better than I started. The roads are clear in my direction, everyone headed into the city for work while I head out on my way home. I drive a hilly road straight into the sun and every morning is a great reminder that the cycle keeps going.
People live. People die. In between we can only keep on trying. Finding a tool to review, learn from, and sometimes forget bad shifts is one of the most important things I have done in my short bid in EMS. Without my drive home to a different kind of chaos, I really don’t know what I would do.
Fortunately I don’t have to.
For months I have struggled to keep this blog alive. I have posts inside me. I have posts started. I just can’t muster them out. This is really the way a big chunk of my life is going. I am incredibly happy with my wife and son, but something is amiss.
I am often distracted, barely able to pay attention to the simplest of things. Medically, I am an undiagnosed ball of annoying symptoms–not debilitating but the sum of them is wearing me–and my family–out. I stugle to be the man I promised my wife I would be, while being a father I respect and a paramedic I would trust.
That is all I want–to be a good husband, father, and paramedic. Just like the subtitle to my blog. That is me. There is little more to me than those three things. Sure, I am a son, a brother, a friend. But the sum of these three things defines the man I am today. Yet I find myself uninspired. I have an amazing wife, an adorable 1 year old son and a job I love doing and I am just uninspired. When I get home, I kiss my wife, hug my son, and go to bed. I fail miserably at sleeping all day and then repeat the cycle.
I make goals–to work out, eat better, spend wiser, study harder–yet I never follow through with any of them. I set these goals again and again and I always end up where I started. Uninspired.
I have the desire to move past all of this, but I just need the right push? What will that push be?
I’ve been a paramedic for about 19 months. Not very long, really. My first year was spent working for two teeny tiny services with teeny tiny call volumes. The last seven months with a service that runs right around 10,000 calls a year with 3 trucks covering. Needless to say, I have experienced a lot more in the last 7 months than I did in the year prior to this.
I have been a father for just under a year. 11 months and 7 days, to be exact. As a father I know I will be learning what to do for the rest of my life. My son is amazing and if I didn’t have the amazing wife that I do–well, there isn’t a shot in hell I could do this on my own.
What I didn’t expect was for the lessons EMS would teach me about being a father. The skills I’ve learned since becoming a father are less about medical procedure and more about communication, lessons, and reality.
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Reality is the hardest part. Shit happens. Inevitably Asher will get hurt. Inevitably Asher will get sick. Inevitably Asher will make us mad, and I’ll be forced to discipline him. Some how, working in EMS has taught me some skills to be better prepared(or so I am hoping!).
The most surprising skill tune up I’ve gotten while working on the streets came in the form of communication. My communication skills suck. I bottle things up, take them out on those I love, and then don’t understand when they get mad about it. I can be hot tempered, ill mannered, and down right inappropriate. Dealing with frustrating, rude, and down right worthless patients over the last 19 months has taught me that sometimes despite what you think and feel about someone, you have to be able to do your job with self restraint.
Self Restraint. Compassion. Patience. Even now when Asher is so young and innocent, these qualities are getting more fine tuned. After a long night at work, coming home to a screaming baby isn’t easy. Then again, Mrs. MedicThree was home alone with him all night–I don’t imagine me coming home and ignoring them helps her get out the door much either. Before being a medic, father, and husband it was all about me. Now, it rarely is.
Being a medic has taught me how to diffuse situations that could otherwise end badly. Calming a psych patient down, giving stern advice to someone abusing the system, and making sure I am doing so within the bounds of being a Paramedic–and not a judge–is more than a challenge at times. When I first started doing this, I would jump down someones throat for “wasting my time”. Now I understand that sometimes it is easier and better to spend a minute or two trying to figure out(and make the patient) what the hell is going on.
When it comes to life at home, it is more logical to take a breath and treat my family with the respect they deserve. Does this mean I am always cool and calm? Nope. I get stressed. But I like to think that when big things come up I can handle myself–this is something that prior to EMS I’m not sure I could do.
The most unexpected part about being an EMS dad is how being a dad has changed being a medic. Pediatric calls give me a different chill I couldn’t imagine pre-fatherhood. The way I communicate with patients and families has evolved greatly since being married and becoming a father. I spend a little more time trying to make my patients feel better than I did before–most of the time this is done by talking. Sometimes I am a little stern–call it honest–but sometimes that is exactly what the patient needs, and sometimes it is what they want.
Trying to pick and choose the parts of EMS I bring home to my family is the hardest part. Learning how to cope with the realities of my job and the challenges of being a husband and father will continue to be the hardest thing I encounter on a daily basis–but I’m excited for the challenge.
In this line of work it is easy to try and separate your personal and professional lives completely–but it is impossible to succeed. Finding a way to allow them to compliment each other is the key to survival.
Yesterday was Mrs. medicTHREE and I’s 2 year wedding anniversary. I spent the night working, sadly, but we still managed to make it special over the last few days.
It has been a pretty crazy two years for us, with more changes that I could have imagined. During the past two years, I finished medic school, got my first job, we moved, we moved again, I changed jobs(a few times), we got pregnant, had our son Asher, my wife got promoted, I had surgery, and my wife had a few medical scares too.
But we got through it, and are better off because of it. Without her, I couldn’t have done any of it. I couldn’t have made it through medic school, and I most certainly couldn’t do the job I do now. It is so incredible to be able to come home and have someone who understands me and can help me cope with the stress of this job.
The most exciting part of it all for me is the future. Who knows what and where it will bring us, but together, I am sure we can get there.
Thank you, babe. I love you more than you will ever know.
In No particular Order.
Enjoy:
Gyro Pita, Global Market—Minneapolis, MN
While waiting at a light on the way toa call. Yes, that is plexi and plywood for a window.
Asher out and about in the Best Damn Stroller Ever(Chico Cortina…)
Headed to work I saw this. Yes, that is a motorcycle with a trailer… and a dog in it.
Sunrise on my way home from work yesterday. I take a long way just for this.
Fog over the river. Part of the reason I take the long way home.
My dogs in a moment of bliss. Not often do they give us this peace…
All photos taken with my BlackBerry Storm. Feel free to add me to BBM on your Berry, medicthree@gmail.com
Life has been very busy/stressful/challenging lately. I have been having a hell of a time with my current job and have been looking for my way out. My boss doesn’t seem to think that 2×24 hr shifts + 3×24 hr call shifts is “working us too much”. Funny how 3 months ago he stopped working real shifts altogether since it was destroying his family life.
My family is supposed to magically survive though.
Don’t think so dude. No job will ever be worth sacrificing my family. My wife, son, and even my dogs are more important than a paycheck could ever be. The stress this job has put on my family for the last 3 months is incredible.
I’m realistic. I know that having a 4 month old son is hard. I know that the stresses a new baby can put on a relationship are rather intense. But they are nothing compared to what this job does.
I hope to have magical results for you all in 48 hours.
Godspeed, friends.
I found myself sitting at work, thinking of food. I then found myself wandering through LifeHacker.
The fine folks at LifeHacker had a post about SuperCook.com I didn’t read the post, but the blip got me going…..
“SuperCook Turns Your Kitchen Contents into Yummy Recipes”
So I thought I’d give it a try. After 20 minutes and inputing the contects of my kitchen(from memory… I’m at work, after all!) It maxed out at 2000 recpies…. And a TON of good looking ones! I’m very excited about the prospect of this… My wife and I have the hardest time trying to decide what to cook, which usually ends with a trip to (insert fast food restaurant here). I hope to try some of the recipes out soon!
If you try it out let me know!
Some of the features, according to www.supercook.com
Overview
Supercook wants to make life easier for everyone who cooks at home! Our mission is to enable smarter, quicker decisions about what recipes to make and what ingredients to use using advanced technology and all the recipe content on the web. Created in 2007 and based in San Francisco, Supercook has a distinct focus on solving the practical problems of modern home cooks: how to waste less food, how to use up perishable or seasonal ingredients, how to keep track of everything in the kitchen, how to save time and money. For more information on what makes Supercook unique and how to use the service, see our FAQ.To see what people are saying about us, check our Buzz page. Contact us here with any feedback on the system, press questions, or investor inquiries. We’d love to hear from you!
a2a_linkname=”Medic Three”;a2a_linkurl=”www.medicthree.com”;
For dinner I am making nummy roasted potatoes with broccolli, covered in cheese whiz!
With that will be Sam’s Choice Pepper Jack & Swiss-American Cheeses & Bacon Stuffed Chicken Breast… Surprisingly nom nom good for a Sam’s Choice product.
Post with substance to follow!
Just how hard being away from my baby would be. Tonight is my first shift away from home–away from my little boy.
I hate it. It leaves me with the worst feeling in the world. I can’t describe it at all.
I had no idea something so small and new could have such a strong pull on my emotions.
I love you Asher.
Mrs. M3–I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything for V-day. I promise I will make up for it on your Birthday–next friday(see! I do remember). Thanks for the cards… they were so very sweet.
Take care of our little boy. His daddy misses him…..
Baby M3 is coming…
Soon…
We had a checkup today, with ultrasound—concerning the size of baby’s kidneys per the last two ultrasounds. The left Kidney is still measuring a few millimeters(seriously, millimeters!?!?!) too big and thus the OB/GYN has recommended a visit to the perineonatologist(try saying that 1234 times fast. Or 1).
We are to go Thursday morning—hoping I can get a few hours off from work to be able to make it to this appointment.
Possible results could be a few simple procedures after delivery, or an in-utero procedure. Early induction of labor could be a possibility too. There is a pretty good chance they won’t do anything at all and I will just get closer to the deductible that much sooner!
Further, we attended a Breastfeeding class tonight. While it wasn’t information heavy on things I could possible understand—it did teach me that my wife is amazing—well, more amazing that I already knew!
I will let you know when we have more info!
The National EMS Memorial Service is a sad-that-its-necessary, but glad-someone-stepped-up organization. Something I hadn’t realized was that one of my childhood neighbors is on that list.
Hit closer to home than I would’ve liked. I was only 14 years old when they died. He had a son a year older than me and a daughter two years younger than I. It is amazing that someone I honestly only met once or twice has made me feel the way I do right now.
Maybe its a case of whoa-is-me, maybe its a case of –I’m-having-a-baby-and-I’m-terrified-of-fucking-up. I’m not sure…
May God have Mercy on your Souls.
May God have Mercy.
Be safe out there, friends. Godspeed.
Today is a solemn day of remembrance. Today, September 11th, 2008 is the 7 year “anniversary” of one of the most infamous days in American history.
For my family and I today is more. Sept. 11th, 2001 was also the day we burried my grandfather.
I remember everything about this day. I remember waking up to the phone in our hotel ringing–my grandmother telling us to turn the TV on. I remember watching the second tower fall–and I remember praying for all involved–especially those who ran IN despite the impending danger.
I also remember the tears in the eyes of the VFD members who came to mourn my grandfather–undoubtedly more to those tears than our day of mourning…
I remember the vintage fire engine that lead our way–not knowing who would be left to maintain it now that grandpa was gone.
I remember everything. I think about these things every day.
You are not forgotten Grandpa… None of you are.
May God have Mercy on your Souls.
Sorry… I ate half of it before I took the pic…. Best part about it is that pan–as bad as it looks, pretty much wipes clean.
So I do the cooking around our house… Partly because I love to cook, and partly because my wife HATES to cook. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I make lots of “new” things, and rarely follow recipes–which only has one downside–duplicating is next to impossible.
I’ve made things that were awesome, and some things that were just…. ew… Tonight though, I made the BEST pot roast EVER. It all started today at 1030. I melted butter with olive oil in my pot. Then cranked the heat up and let it start to sizzle, then braised my roast(I should note, the best ingredients are free–and by free I mean come straight from your parents freezer…) on all sides until a nice golden brown was formed.
When the braising was done I turned down the heat, added about 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce. Lea & Perrins is the only acceptable Worcestershire sauce. Do not substitute!
I then added 3 cups of water, some garlic powder, salt, and 2 Tbsp of Steak Sauce–the brand of this does NOT matter…
Set Oven to 275 degrees, put lid on pot, and place in oven. After 5 hours I added some carrots, and a pinch of minced garlic. 2 hours later, I served it with Mashed Tators and all was well…
It definitely meets this medics standards!
Actually, all was heavenly. Seriously. I don’t brag about my food much to my wife, but I HAD to inform her that she is damn lucky to have married me!
Now we must prepare for 7 days of glory and fun!
So… I’ve made it through 2 days of practicals at school. It is definitely weird to be in class again…
We took a 210 question test yesterday that is supposedly very indicative of the pass rate with registry. I got an 80%. Not thrilled, but it helped me identify some areas I need to study.
Next… I found a job. It’s with the service described below. I’m pretty excited about it. Now all I have to do is actually become a paramedic…
We found a house in said town too. Pretty nice older house, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, blah blah. It’s cheap, nice, and only a block from the station.
Finally, the exciting news. We’re expecting! Not real far along right now, but we couldn’t be more excited. And terrified. We have dogs–but that doesn’t exactly equate to children…
Anyways… time to do a little studying(by osmosis), get some rest, and get at it again tomorrow…
Every Day some little old lady, or young kid we transport asks the same question during my small-talk sessions with our patients… “so why do you want to do this? Why do you want to be a paramedic?”
Most of the time it’s a little hard to just mutter out a response that isn’t clichéd. The “I like helping people” response is pretty common.
But its a lot simpler than that. It’s who I am. It’s what I am. This is me. I’ve worked on political campaigns–big and small. I’ve spent nearly a year with a Congressman 3 foot away from me. Spent time with more Presidential candidates than you could imagine, more business moguls and old money.
But none of that matters. In the end, win or lose–and I’ve had both–it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel anything like giving 23 minutes of comfort to a 79 year old woman who just knew she was going to die. She knew it. I couldn’t do anything for her. My med bag, my gear only does so much. But I know that for that 23 minutes she was in my truck, she was relaxed. I got her joking. We talked about her grandkids–her husband’s business, everything.
That is who I am.
I won’t get rich doing this. Unless you ask Marty.
The book linked above is a book that we were required to read in one of my more bogus classes in college. Some places use it for management and team building, some use it as a motivational tool. Most people read it because someone told them to take the time. Whatever way it is, it relates a lot to the world we live in. We are rarely thanked, often forgotten, and only appreciated when needed. But simple things can make it all worth while. Every now and then we get a save. More often than not, we spend time comforting friends and family. Remember–often everyone in the room is our patient–most of them need something we don’t carry in our trucks.
Compassion.
There are going to be countless times in my career that I will be called to act selflessly. I hope I hold true to that. I want to be able to go home at night, look my wife in the eyes and be proud of what I do. I will not turn into a lollipop!
It’s not what I DO. It’s who I AM.
The weekend(3 days!) is winding down. I’ve had a great weekend at home and we’re ready for this to be done! This weekend the wife and I met with the Manager of a local service in the outstate area. He was nice enough to spend an hour and a half showing us around town, pointing out all the fun stuff, where NOT to live, etc… It was very nice of him to take the time.
I’m really hoping to get a position there and it looks like a great opportunity for both of us! Now just to find someone who will let us have 3 dogs… maybe we’ll just say “2″ like we do now… Maybe we’re nuts!
Anyways, my computer is all kinds of f’d up right now and it’ll be a few days before we get it fixed(hopefully). My brother was nice enough to say he’d give it a go…
Anyways, less than 120 hrs of riding left to go! I’ll get back on here soon!
Didn’t still miss home, you’re nuts. I made it home for about 30 hrs this weekend and it was great–just too short.
I’ll get a full fledged 3 day weekend starting Friday.
Wanna Give a Shout out to EE at Bandaids and Backboards(see link left). She’s proven to be a great resource for me and I truly appreciate any help I can get to becoming a better medic.
