Goodbye 2007!

So it’s almost the end of another year. It also means I’ve had a blog for about 8 months. I’ve not wrote as much as I’d have liked but, looking back, I’ve done not bad. No idea who is or why anyone is reading this but I hope it’s at least vaguely interesting.

Christmas was pretty good. My brother got a Wii, which is slightly shared with me, so that dominated most of Christmas Day and a good deal of Boxing Day too. Went to the sales on the morning of Boxing Day but couldn’t find much that interested me. Still managed to spend a bit on clothes. My other vouchers will go on stuff for my bike most likely which I think I’m taking back with me to Glasgow

After Boxing Day I went back to Glasgow to do some St Andrew’s work on the Ice at George Square. I managed, somehow, to get the wrong day - I went on the 27th and wasn’t meant to be doing anything till the 28th. So I went and bought a copy of Runner’s World (in an attempt to motivate me, not sure if it’ll work) and also another paramedic blog book and went back to my (rather empty) flat.

The day later I was back on the ice proper, although the weather was terribly and we were some of the few. I met 2 British Red Cross members who were on with us and learned a lot of interesting details about the differences between StAA and BRC. It’s not really too relevant to me since, at the end of the day (hopefully), I’ll be a fully fledged doc. However for those looking to maybe go into the ambulance service, the training provided by the Red Cross is far beyond any offered by StAA and within about a year they’ll be almost training to the level of an EMT.

Some of the differences are common sense (anaphylaxis is integrated into the standard first aid), others seem to cut down the red tap - I wouldn’t have to be a member for a year to take an AED training course - and then there is the general higher training level, involving medical gases and transport to hospitals.

I’m not really in the mood to convert over - not yet anyway - but had I known any of this before joining StAA I may have been tempted the other way.

Anyway, the event itself was dead. We had only a couple simple casualties. I did, however, get asked to come back the day later. Unfortunately there was relatively little for us to do that day as well, despite the much increased number of people on the ice. I did marvel at the insistence of one mother who wasn’t having any of her son’s injured knee and made him walk home. Mother’s know best, apparently.

I could be at the castle for hogmanay, thankfully not doing any first aid. See you in 2008!

[Posted a bit late, but I did write it in 2007...]

When in (R|h)ome…

…Do nothing (much).

That’s certainly what I’ve been doing. Nothing important anyway, such as revision. I did manage to fit a bit of that evilness in today, but nothing extraordinary.

I did go back to Glasgow on Thursday for our first aid night out. This was tremendously drunken night which involved me drinking lots. At one point, shown below, I had a full glass of wine, pint of Miller and a cocktail (festively called Blue Christmas). This ended in a pretty bad combination - drunk/south of Glasgow/needing to get back to bed. So guess what I go and do but lose my phone. Gah!

How lucky was I that it got picked up by the taxi driver and I got it back the next day? Not sure what I would’ve done without it, it’s my lifeline!

And yet here I go out again, taking my camera with me tonight. Better not go dropping that somewhere.

December!

December already, it’s been such a quick year. This means I now have to accept that Christmas is near and should probably make more of an effort on the present front. It also means I have to open my two advent calendars (neither of which I bought!). Guess I’m going to be taking my running stuff home with me…

Now that I’ve actually spent some proper time with St Andrews I get an understanding of the real disadvantage that must plague ambulance staff. Whilst we can do a lot for things like cuts and stuff, we never really know what happens to people afterwards. Take a suspected fracture. Did the guy go to A&E and get it seen to? Was it even a fracture? Will he be playing this weekend? I don’t know whether it’s medical curiosity or just general need-to-know that makes this bug me. Kind of makes me wonder whether I could deal with working in A&E or not.

At the end of the day though, I don’t have any choice but to move on. The more serious the casualty though, the more I want to know.

In other news, I only have 1 more day to go! This is followed however by 2, maybe 3, nights out. I’m having a real problem enjoying nights out this year. I don’t know whether I’m just bored of people there or if I don’t see the point in getting quite so drunk quite so often. Who knows, but I feel compelled to go anyway.

Block 8 coursework was handed in on Tuesday. I wasn’t ecstatic that it was my best work but I feel it was a pass at least. We get our Block 7 results this Friday, which will either put me in a good or bad mood for the rest of the holidays. Oh the fun.