Falls

So up here in the Not Currently Frozen Northlands (it's supposed to maybe hit 90 today...ew) trauma weather is in FULL swing. I do not have a problem with this, as trauma is something we can FIX (sometimes). Yesterday I was dressed nicely, for me, in a cute scoopneck and jeans with a great necklace coming home from doing chores with my mother when she spotted M, one of our EMTs going past with his lights on, back to the station, 200 yards away. I spun the car around, and hopped into the rig with M, and NO idea of what we were actually responding to...a FALL FROM A HORSE!!!

The woman's only complaints were pain at the costo-vertebral angle and both wrists. She hadn't really moved much, but we could clear her C-spine, and only short-board her. M and I were really only worried about her kidney...only time will tell!

In Which I Clean Up My Act

During the semester, my apartment (flat, for any Brits) often appears as if a small tactical nuke has detonated in the center. It's never DIRTY, but stacks of papers pile up, especially patient records that I keep so I can shred them properly. So now, with my parents coming into town tomorrow for "graduation" (I dont ACTUALLY graduate until August 2) I find myself having to dig through 3 months of accumulated debris...some of it hilarious.

Case 1. Patient notes I took on a post-partum patient before I actually knew what half of the abbreviated words MEANT. Therefore, there are statements like "she was induced for postdate and she's a TPAL 1122" with notations like "post what?" and "what does TPAL mean? How many kids is that?" Now i know that "postdate" means the docs started her labor because she was after her due date and hadn't given birth. TPAL is a way of noting Term (t) Preterm (p) Abortions (misscarriages or therapeutic) (a) and Live children (L). Sometimes, as I learned, the numbers DONT add up, then you have to go in and ask the patient to repeat HOW many children she has, how many times she's been pregnant, et cet. Very odd.

So now, as I move on to Home Health (shudder) and Health Promotion (postpartum unit, as it turns out) I realise just how much I learned in the past few months. Woah.

In Which I Have Seething Rage

Dear VeryCatholic University,

I understand that our health promotion and home health class begins June 2nd, and that we have VACATION until then. Therefore, to email me TODAY and tell me i need to research and write six pamphlets before MAY 24th to then EDIT AND FINISH THEM before June 2nd, and PRINT 50 COPIES OF EACH AT MY OWN EXPENSE all on my vacation

is not ok.

No, in fact it is WORSE than not ok, it is unethical. The university isn't actually OPEN, and we need to have our site approved, which might take another day or two. This means we actually have more like a week and a half to do OUR ONLY PROJECT for a semester that DOESNT START YET and for which I will not be GRADED until August 2nd.

Furthermore, I have WORK lined up for the next few weeks, AND i'm TRYING to...um...GET A JOB! Plus, my financial aid still hasn't come through. Again.

So yeah, VeryCatholic University. Just TRY calling me again for a "class gift". I think I'll just go cry now.