Weekend life

Well you are supposed to relax and enjoy your weekend off, I however managed to get landed with being on call for work this weekend for the division which I have now technically left. This basically means that should something nasty happen to the people of Scotland I will be one of a specialized team of individuals to be called out to help get things sorted! I also managed to land the honour of being the TEAM LEADER!!!! for the whole weekend, so should anyone have any questions of queries about the team they contact me. I was planning to have a quiet relaxing weekend with a couple of friends (Mr R Bull and Mr P Smirnoff) but because of the "On-call" I couldn't, I did however manage to see my bf this weekend and it was lovely, we had a nice chinese take away, chilled out with my flat mate and her friend and spent a lovely relaxing Sunday afternoon going for walks and drives in the country and then finishing the day off with a lovely coffee and cake moment in a very nice, modern bar/restaurant/hotel. The only thing I hate about weekends is that they finish so quickly, especially a Sunday, it reminds me of being at school and thinking "Yes it is Friday, time to party", then suddenly wakening up and finding out it is Sunday and you have not done anything you had planned and were due back at school the next day and had not even looked at your books/homework etc etc Oh well at least I am on nights tomorrow so I get a longish lie in bed (unless the bloody mobile phone goes for a callout!)

Family Gatherings

Well there I was, stressing about my parents forthcoming 40th Wedding Anniversary as it was going to be the first time that my bf had met most of my extended family. Well the night before the party I was going out for a meal with my bf and some of his work colleagues, but prior to this I was to pick up some of my dad's side of the family and deposit them at my folks house. I collected my bf and then swung past the hotel where the relatives were staying and collected them, only to be met by this wee woman saying that she was expecting my father to have collected them and thought that both my parents would be going to the hotel for a drink, so they had just gone to the bar to buy a round of drinks...."Oh god" I thought I only have 25 minutes to get you to my parents house and then back into town with my bf to meet up with his colleagues. I explained that I was going to move the car so I was not blocking the entrance, came back out and said to my bf that there may be a slight delay and could we go in. After managing to get the relatives out of the bar we sped (keeping to the limit) to my parents house so that I could introduce my sister and her family to my bf along with my uncle and his wife who were already at my parents place. It was an interesting conversation en route to my folks house and then again once we had arrived. We said our hello's and hi's and then headed back into town and I promised to be back early the next day to collect my sister and auntie to help with the shopping and decorating of the hall for the party that evening. The meal with my bf and his colleagues was lovely, it was a nice little Thai restaurant just off cockburn street, everyone was pleasant and friendly and we all enjoyed ourselves.

The next morning the chaos started, I collected my sister and we went to pick up the cake, when we arrived it was still not ready, so we went and did some other shopping and then returned for the cake, we then swung past my aunt's and collected her and headed into the hall to look at what decorations were going to be required, once we had decided what we were doing in the hall we then had to go and track down the necessary decorations, which we eventually managed to do, only to find that once we had blown up the last balloon it said "Happy 60th Anniversary"....Unfortunately it was my parent's 40th Anniversary, so we all had a moment of blind panic checking all the other balloons, but it must have been a rogue balloon as the rest all had 40th on them to our relief. After we had finished decorating the hall (which was only scheduled to take 2hrs maximum) 4 1/2hrs later we headed back to my aunt's to drop her off and collect some of the other gifts for my parent's I then dropped my sister off so that she could start getting her 3 sons ready for the evening along with her husband, herself and both my parent's I was glad I was going home to get ready even if they do have two toilets in the house!!

I sped back to my flat to collect my kilt and then headed back to my bf's to meet him and get ready, this was nice, it was relaxed and calm in his house, I almost felt like I could fall asleep, but I knew I didn't have time, we were both ready in record time and kited out in our kilts headed out the door. Upon arrival at the hotel, which I had only left 90 minutes previously, I was slightly disappointed that my parent's had arrived before us, as I wanted to make sure that they sat in the correct place etc (which they had anyway). The hall slowly started filling up with family, friends and colleagues of my parent's and the place started to have more of an atmosphere, I introduced my bf to as many people as I could during the evening, making sure that I kept him updated with who is related to who etc etc, I think at one stage he was ready just to sit in a corner and cry as it was something like this: This is SH and S, they are the son and daughter of R and B, SH is going out with D and S is married to F, now D and SA are expected soon and they are the cousins of SH and S and me, their parent's are D and S, S is the sister of my mum and R, and R is only 3yrs older than L, you got that so far??? Good right now L is married to ST, and they have 3 sons called D, M and J and it went on. God only knows how he survived, but he did and I was so happy to see that he was getting on with the people that I thought he would and relaxing as the night went on, at one stage he even managed to get me to fall for a trick played by one of my nephew's.

The evening was in my opinion a success and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I just hope that the next lot of gatherings goes as well (of which there are a few this year, my 30th, my uncle's 50th, my Dad's 60th and my sister's 40th).

Oh how I love a good party! Especially if they play cha cha slide :)

Weather

It is amazing how a little bit of snow can suddenly cause so much chaos on the roads, I am sitting here listening to the radio road reports, and it seems that ever single road in and around Edinburgh is either heavily congested or blocked by the sudden change in weather conditions, as I look out on my kitchen window all I see is white, yes it has snowed quite heavily, but with some care and attention it should still be relatively easy to get around, but oh no, not the people of east central scotland, we only have to see snow and we panic, I was chatting to my bf this morning as he is preparing to go to work (I have the day off ha ha ha) and he was slightly worried about driving in, now he comes from the Highlands and he said that if there was snow like this in his village, then the higher ground would be thicker and deeper, making driving hazardous, but this is not the Highlands, in fact, I am higher up than his work so it should be easier for him to get to work, but the rest of the people out there will probably make his journey into Edinburgh interesting.

Childrens TV programmes......

I have just received an email from a friend, it was all about childrens tv programmes of the past, check out the site, especially if you remember Rainbow
Remember to have your sound on!

Observers

I have just experienced two shifts with observers. It is common place that when you get an observer out with you the calls you attend are normally easy to handle, trivial and sometimes down right c**p.

Well this is not the case for me, on both shifts we were kept going constantly, on the second occasion with the observer, we had 10 calls in the space of 12 hrs, yes I know it is not a lot, but they were all jobs that required full focus on the patient and their situation. The night started out relatively slowly, but built up to an almost constant case of clearing and going for the next call. We were called to one of the local night clubs twice, back to back, it was interesting to see the observer becoming more confident and relaxed when arriving on scene at incidents. We then had the call that makes every observer think "YES this is the one for me" an RTA with 4 patients after a car left the road and rolled down an embankment. Upon our arrival, all 4 patients were out of the car and had relatively minor injuries compared to the mechanisms of the incident. I loved seeing the observers both thinking to themselves, wow, this is not how I imagined it would be in this division. I would be happy to have either of the two out with me observing again, especially if I am attending, as they may get to be more hands on!

Hogmanay 2004

I sit here recovering still from the Edinburgh street party. I am not long out of bed after celebrating my very own 2004 Hogmanay with one of my friends.

I was working on the 31st of December at the Street party with various other dedicated volunteers from St. Andrew's Ambulance, British Red Cross and even St. John Ambulance providing part of the event medical services to the people who had chosen to come to Edinburgh to celebrate the New Year. I had a pleasant evening in one of the 4 first aid posts for the event, and to make it even more special, I was working (not planned) with my BF (He had been designated the Social Work Vehicle First Aid Escort for my post). The evening started out quite slowly, but gradually the workload increased as did the amount of alcohol people were consuming on the streets, we had a few interesting patients, but the majority were under the influence of alcohol and suffering badly, some were even at the stage that they were found sitting in their own vomit..... :( Our job as first aiders that evening was to clean them up, patch them up and ship them out to either the event, home, hospital or pass on their care to Social Services. I often ask myself why I still volunteer when I work in the Ambulance Service, the answer is easy, I love the feeling of knowing that you have helped someone. If anyone is reading this and thinks that they could volunteer some time then go ahead and give some time, go on you will love it!

My trip North

Well I was working over Christmas, but on the 27th I was due to travel North to meet my boyfriend's parents. I made sure that the car was running ok and that I had packed enough clothes (including the emergency shirt, which my commented on) and my camera etc. I set out eventually at 12 mid day, expecting the roads to be quite bad because of the recent weather, I had an audio copy of the new Ian Rankin book to listen to whilst driving. I arrived 3 1/2 hrs later safely in Cromarty where I met my bf and his folks, now I had already met his mother, she is lovely and puts you at ease as soon as you meet here, but I was a bit worried about meeting his dad. I got out the car and thought to myself "I hope I am at the correct address" when two lads cycled passed and called out "Hi J" and I thought , yup I must be at the correct place as they think I am my bf (apparently we look quite similar....god help him!) I knocked on the door and felt my stomach twisting when it opened, I really just wanted to run away, but I missed my man so much as well. The door was answered by my bf and he invited me in and I spotted his mum immediately and strangely felt a bit more relaxed, then his dad came through and introduced himself, he is a really pleasant guy, I was not sure what I was expecting but I was made to feel at ease very quickly, The rest of the time up north I was "Dragged" around to meet various friends, some who I took to more than others. I enjoyed my time up north, it was a beautiful place to be, nice crisp weather, fresh air and stunning views, I did have a moment of panic however, we were visiting some of my bf's friends and they were discussing various things and I heard "Yeah but you would have to move back here, you couldn't do it in Edinburgh" I thought to myself "Oh my god I am loosing him already, we have not even had a fight and he is thinking about moving north and leaving me!!!!" Oh well I will have to wait and see if it comes true... I hope not :(

Festive Period

To everyone who reads my blog, I just want to say have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I hope 2005 brings you all your wishes and is filled with happiness.

Take a moment to think about the less fortunate of us who have to work over Christmas / New Year!

Have a good one whatever you are doing.

Exams

Well I survived the terrors of the Assessment, yes for those of you who understand the stresses of this type of assessment, then you will sympathise with me when I say that I have just finished a 3 hour written assessment after a previous on the road assessment this week with my Training Officer. All I can say is YEAH!!!!!!!!! I PASSED, I PASSED, I PASSED :)

Christmas Shopping

Why is it that when you have a day off and you think to yourself "Oh I will go and do some shopping for prezzies whilst it is still quiet" you get to the shops and everyone else in the world has the same idea. You stand for ages trying to get to the counters to pay for the goods, stand in line waiting to find the items you are going to purchase only to be pushed, pulled and shoved all over the place by some mad woman with a SCREAMING child clinging to her!!!! Then when you think you have successfully got what you need and get to the tills to pay, the pre-pubecent teenage chewing gum machine behind the till is too busy talking to her colleague to take notice of the fact that if she does not remove her finger from her a** and do some work the queue that is forming will probably cause a crush within the tiny area in front of the counter which is surrounded by items stacked so high you cannot actually reach anything on top to buy it without causing yourself some injury. OH I hate Christmas shopping!!!! Don't get me wrong I like shopping, I like looking at things and thinking yeah that would be nice for ..... but not when the whole bloody world has gone MAD and no one actually wants to serve you in the shop!!!!!!

Anyway I am now fully de-stressed at the minute, just finished wrapping some of the items I actually did manage to purchase today, but now studying for a 2 1/2hrs written exam tomorrow before I start my night shift. Oh god how I have a great life!

p.s. if my boyfriend is reading this, your prezzies are hidden at my folks... :P

Death

I know that it is still a taboo subject in some peoples eyes, I have recently experienced my first "Cot Death". It was a strange surreal experience, which, not withstanding the emotional aspects left me thinking about what had happened. I have spoken with some of my colleagues about the incident and when I got back to my boyfriend's flat I could not speak fully to him about it, even although I am sure he would have understood. The call was a typical call to start with, however, we were updated by the EMDC (Control) that it was a cardiac arrest of an infant, with CPR on going. It was then that it started to hit us, we were going to a baby (not long into this world) who had died. When we arrived on scene we went into auto-pilot and did what we had to do, we then transported the baby to the hospital and it was then that it started to hit us fully, seeing this baby, who looked so peaceful and doll like, lying on an adult resuscitation room bed, with the full resus team working in him. My partner left to complete her paperwork and I stayed in the room, willing the baby to start breathing, there was a moment when the team thought they had a pulse, but this was due to the CPR ongoing. After I went back to the vehicle and started to clear up with my colleague it finally hit us both, full on like a train traveling at 100mph striking us clean on in the face. We both cried, my colleague probably more than me as she has a young baby boy. We eventually cleared at the hospital and were returned to the station, where we sat and spoke about the incident with our other colleagues who were on the station. I felt so sorry for the parents, to have lost a child must be the worst thing that could ever happen. I hope I never find out how that feels.

Meeting the parents

Well it had to happen sooner or later, I met my boyfriend's mother the other evening for a meal. I had been stressing about it for a few days prior to it happening and it didn't help that he had told her "Everything" about us.......yeah I thought "EVERYTHING!!!!" OH MY GOD!!!! I am a dead man. Anyway the day arrived and I was working 7-7 dayshift so we had arranged to meet at 2015hrs in a little restaurant in Edinburgh (Very nice and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for good scottish food). I arrived dutifully at 2010hrs and saw their taxi pulling up, my stomach churned as I walked over to meet the both of them. We all stood outside the restaurant for a few moments exchanging plesantaries and went inside. Having taking our seats in the restaurant we chatted and I felt more relaxed and at ease, during the course of the evening the conversation moved from NHS changes, to IT issues, to my BF and his mother catching up on old times. The meal went well and I didn't even spill anything over myself, even although I was shaking inside. At the end of the evening we dropped off my BF's mother at her hotel and said our goodbye. I think the night went well and hope that when I meet her and the rest of the family in December it will goes just as well :)

Exams

Oh how I hate exams, I have one coming up in the not to distant future and I have finally decided to start studying for it......Yes I know I should have studied more and earlier but such is life! Anyway I am about to start hitting the books big time, but I am not one of those lucky people who can look a something and take it in, I have to draw things and see practical demos etc etc, I think it is called visual learning, oh well here I go!!!

The end of an era

Well it is with great sadness that I have to tell you that the last of the original QIU personnel will leave on Friday. Yes it is true....my colleague and supporting act who I worked with for nearly 2 years when I was in the QIU department is leaving, and she is not only leaving the department but she is also leaving the Service :(

I am sure that she will have a far more easy life working in the private sector (or what ever else she decides to do) but the place will not be the same without her (I will not have my gossip source for one.... lol)

Anyway I know that she reads my blog, so Fiona "All the best in your new career" I know that if you give half as much to the new job as you did to the department your new job will be a total success.

Last night

Well it has finally come, the last of my 7 nights. I enjoy night shift, I know I go on a bit but I really do. I think that nights are a more relaxed period to work, you can get a chance to speak to the staff in A&E and have a laugh. The staff in A&E this week have been really nice, they have a good sense of humour and supply the best chocolates and sweets going!!

I received a call from my boyfriend today telling me that he is going to a Community First Responder (CFR) meeting tonight in my area (He is a member of the British Red Cross....yeah yeah I know I am in Squinty Cross, or St. Andrew's as it is really know) and he is keen to become a CFR as he eventually wants to join the Ambulance Service but he does not have the necessary driving standards (C1 &D1) to drive a service resource so he is currently doing his bus course to get the qualifications required. Anyway I am sure he will be full of lots of information in relation to the CFR program in my area, who knows, he might end up going to the same calls as me!!!!

Right I am off to have some food, as I have noticed that I am going on a bit now.

Toodles.

Oh the decisions

Well I have just got out of bed an hour ago and I am having to make a big decision already....What do I want for my breakfast/tea? You see when you work nights your body is totally messed up, I get home in the morning and am starving, so I have supper (usually toast), but then when I get up it is breakfast time for my body but really tea time, so I have to have something that will keep me going during the night and is not too heavy just now. I usually have a cuppa soup during the night (which is lunch time for me). I have been know to drive home after my night shift thinking I wish I could have a curry or chippy!!!

Oh well toast and vegimite is calling

Time keeping.........not

Well here I am, sitting at home after my 3rd night shift, I managed to crawl out of my bed yesterday to meet my boyfriend for a nice meal, the only thing was I was due back on at work at 2000hrs, I met J (my man) at 5pm and we went to a lovely little restaurant which we are know to frequent at times, had a lovely meal and chilled out, It was then that things started to go wrong (I noticed the time) 1830hrs and I am still in Edinburgh and had to go shopping before work!

We finished our meal and headed to the local Tesco store to get what I needed, finished shopping I dropped J off at his and got changed for work and headed to my station (on the way J calls to say "I suppose you don't need your wallet?" F***, F***, F*** I think oh well can't go back now. I get to work at 1955hrs (Remember start at 2000hrs) and as I walk in the door my colleague is walking out to the Ambulance saying "We have a call already" and that was how the rest of the night was to be...... Now I am going to bed for a well deserved sleep!!

Night night x

Do people never sleep?

Well here I am again, on my 7 nights, I have managed to survive my first night back even although I felt rotten because of my sore throat and I started early to cover an organised fireworks display.

Well 1800hrs and my colleague and I are heading out of the station to cover the fireworks display, even although it is raining the park is quite busy, we arrive and position ourselves beside the main stage next to the Police and first aiders (can't be real first aiders though, they did not offer us any coffee!!). The event starts well and the music is good (Cha cha slide reminds me of my days at Ambulance College and I am caught dancing behind the ambulance by a female cop *BLUSH*), I receive a call from my boyfriend who is covering a fireworks display in a less than salubrious part of Edinburgh as a first aider (Bet he had tea or coffee or at least body armour) and we chat about each other's event (it is lovely to hear from him and he cheers me up every time he calls).

My colleague and I are supposed to be covering the event until 2200hrs when we then start our shift, but the fireworks display finishes at 2030hrs so we think that we will get a chance to have a cuppa before we start........Oh no that is not the case, as we are leaving we are approached by two Police officers who ask if we are attending the collapse at the entrance to the park, we look at each other and both say "What collapse?" and the cops tell us that they called into Ambulance Control to request an Ambulance, so we turn on the blue lights, carryout a perfect 3 point turn and proceed to the area whilst trying to contact the Control to tell them that we are attending. We pick up our patient from this and head into A/E (which is nice and quiet). After clearing from this we receive another 999 call for an assault in the park, upon arriving we discover 2 patients waiting for us, we clean them up and get them calmed down in the Ambulance whilst waiting on the Police. Once we clear from this call at 2155hrs we head back to the station to start our normal shift, we just finish checking our shift vehicle and receive our next call, and so it continues all night, the majority of calls seem to be for assaults or traumatic injuries, which result in us traveling great distances throughout the division and beyond to neighbouring areas as well. The Controller, who is new to the job, is keen to make sure that we are fed on time, which is nice, but he also makes sure that we are working for the rest of the shift. We eventually get back to station at 0500hrs for a well deserved rest and cuppa and are dispatched again to our last 999 of the evening at 0645hrs for a patient with difficulty in breathing. My colleague and I are both glad to see 0800hrs and even more happy to see our colleagues waiting at the station when we arrive to take over our vehicle. I hope tonight is not the same as last night, I think I am too old for this (My boyfriend would agree that I AM old).

Single Crewed....Not

Well there I was thinking that I would be single crewed (for those of you who have read my previous entry), but no the Control managed to find me a friend to play with in the neighbouring division so I was told that once I had checked my vehicle I was to go over and double up with my colleague. Happy to oblige I checked my vehicle and grabbed my coffee and headed out to team up. Whilst on my way I was contacted by the Control and told that the crew that had just passed me with their lights and sirens going were heading to an RTA (Road Traffic Accident) and could I attend to back them up as it was a report of 2 patients trapped thinking to myself thank god they are in front I set of with lights and sirens blazing. Upon my arrival I could not believe what I saw, it was a car on it's roof with most of the passanger compartment crushed flat at the front, my colleagues were gathering up the necessary equipment from their vehicle and asked me to request another double crewed vehicle to attend.

Now to put you in the picture, this was the main street through a fairly small village which has good speed reducing measures (obviously not good enough I hear you cry), this is why everyone who arrived asked the same question......"How the hell did that happen?"

I eventually cleared from the scene when the second patient was packaged up and loaded into the first ambulance (the first patient to leave went on the third vehicle as it had managed to turn before being blocked in by WF trucks (fire appliances). Neither of the patients had seriously life threatening injuries, but were treated as such because of the mechanisms of injury.

For the remainder of the day I worked with my colleage and we were dispatched to several calls, nothing as exciting as the first of the day (this was my colleagues words not mine).

Well at least I did not kill (kill = lose) anyone today :)

Oh to be single crewed

Well here I am, sitting in my dressing gown, munching on some cheese on toast and drinking hot chocolate and thinking about work.....yes it is true, after 2 1/2 months of being operational staff I am going out single crewed today (God help the public of Scotland). I start at 12 md and finish hopefully at 2000hrs this evening, I wonder how many people I will kill (well not literally, but kill = not save) today?

Did you know that my kill ratio is sitting at 100% so far? well it is, that is because each of the critically ill patients that I have dealt with have either expired by the time I get them to hospital (although I blame the resus teams for that one) or were well dead before I even got a chance to place a defib pad on them. I hope today is not going to be like that!!!