The Winning Combo

With this combination, and the Tylenol in my bag, I should surely be able to handle whatever today throws at me!!!!!!! (Today, please understand that this is not a challenge)

Ahhhhhhh, I got robbed!!!!!!!!!

Here’s hoping youns have a wonderful day with your own wining combination!

~Emmy

Memorial Day

To everyone that has given their life for our freedom, words can never express how big the debt is that we owe you. Thank you for going when you was called and for making the ultimate sacrifice. 

For the loved ones of those we remember today, please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for your sacrifice as well. 

Update

  My supervisor just came in from outside singing Jingle Bells. I honestly am not sure why.

Progress Report

Well, it seems like I'm more likely to stitch and blog from work, as odd as that is. I thought that I had posted last shift, but it turn out I didn't! Oh well, I wouldn't know what to do if I actually did half the stuff I thought I did. On the upside, I did get to stitch a lil last shift. Here's my current progress:

Today got to be a bit busy earlier. Just as we was getting ready to bring Minion for breakfast with a couple of the others, we got our first call. A 79 yof that had syncope x2 (in plain words, she passed out twice. That med term class was expensive, so I figure I may as well use what I still remember 😉). UOA, (upon our arrival) we found her sitting on the edge of the bed. She wasn't sure what had happened, but was able to answer all of my other questions. Turns out, she has been passing out a few times a year for the past 20 years or so and the Dr.s  haven't ever figured out what is causing it. We ended up taking her to one of the Big Town hospitals. She was a very nice lady and we had a nice chat. She does have some issues with her memory, so there was a few stories she couldn't quite  finish. When I saw that one of her meds was to treat memory loss/dementia, it made sense. Sadly, we was almost to the Big Town when church services started, so I wasn't able to go today.
 After we had been back for 10-15 min, we got another call. In a roughly 20 min time period, all of our trucks were out on calls.  My plan was to finish QAing reports and then eat lunch. I should've known better. Fortunately, Minion had just finished eating, so he was good to go. This call was for a 65 yo gentleman that fell at 01:30 this morning and wasn't found until a lil before noon when his family stopped by to check on him. He told us that he had drank 5-6 beers last night (his normal nightly amount) and that he must have done too much dancing. At least he still felt well enough to joke! His only complaint was L hip pain. Which was most definitely deformed. He was laying on his R side and as soon as I saw his L hip, I knew we were either going to a Big City or Big Town hospital. Thankfully, that was his only injury. His L leg was also shortened about 2" and his foot was externally rotated. Both are indications of a hip fracture or dislocation. Fortunately, pulse, motor, and sensory were all intact (basically a pulse in his foot was present, he could move his toes, and he could feel when we touched his foot). Sadly, with the way it looked, its probably broken. I've been wrong before though; hopefully it will just be dislocated. If so, it should be a quicker recovery time and he should be able to go back to work earlier than with a fracture. After we got him moved to the ambulance and pain meds on board, I was finally able to talk him into letting me cut his jeans so I could get a better look at the hip. It was a new pair of jeans, so he wasn't too thrilled, but he finally agreed when I pointed out that it would hurt less to cut them than to pull them off. I had waited until the pain meds kicked in before cutting them because the pressure helps support the hip and decrease the pain. We have to get a better look to see if bleeding, swelling, open fracture, etc. is present, which is why I had to cut his jeans instead of letting them continue to support that hip. We can always tie a sheet around a person's hips to accomplish the same thing. In his case, it was supported sufficiently w/o it; I honestly believe placing a sheet underneath him to bind it would have just caused more unnecessary pain. His hip was most definitely deformed. I'm just excited that he was wearing underwear! Its amazing how many people run around their house buck naked  or don't wear undergarments. They don't seem to understand that being naked and/or no underwear tends to result in something happening and me having to see more of them than I ever wanted to. So please wear underwear!!!!!!    *Side Note: Once on a different call, we had a young man that had obviously fractured his femur; his jeans looked like someone had crammed a basketball mid thigh from all of the swelling/internal bleeding. Fire cut the pant leg just as I was about to say, lets get pain meds on board and move him first. That poor guy screamed as soon as the firefighter started cutting. We did get him fixed up with a traction splint (when a femur is fractured, the leg muscles tense up. This causes increased pain and the bone ends then get jabbed into muscle, blood vessels, etc. The traction splint actually pulls the leg longer than it would normally go, to help decrease that horrid muscle spasm and the pain of the bone ends rubbing/jabbing stuff) and plenty of pain meds. I just wish we could have gotten him medicated first.  On the up side, we had a student that day, so it was a great learning experience for her. *End of side note.
  Well, I think I'm going to try to watch a movie and stitch. Minion and I are up for call now, so we'll see how long that lasts! 😊 I hope youns are having a wonderful Memorial weekend!

Busy, Busy, Busy

*So, I actually started this post last shift, which was on Friday. Unfortunately, things got super busy and I wasn't able to finish it then or on my days off. Hopefully, it'll work out this time!*

First off, I apologize for my absence. This week has been a busy one! It actually started off last week, really. On Monday I had my PALS class, and I worked last Wednesday and Saturday. Mom and I went to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO together last Friday, and, I must say, we found the sewing shop and showed little restraint. Ok, ok, Mom showed restraint. I most certainly did not! Hey, what can I say? That birthday money was burning a hole in my pocket. As was my other cash. And my emergency money (that part was by mistake- oopsie!). We shopped at various other stores as well, and rode the train and the Flooded Mine, but I'm pretty sure we spent the majority of our time in that lil ole shop! Here's the patterns I got there:

I apologize for the terrible photo; it was taken rather hastily the other day...

  Then on Sunday, we went to church per the usual. Our fill-in preacher had a wonderful sermon! Then we took Mom out for Mother's day. They went home afterwards while I went to the church, changed, and then went to the high school graduation of a high schooler from one of the volunteer FDs. He also rode here through a job shadowing program at his high school and when he went through EMT school. Super excited to be there for that! Also went to see a girl that rode here via the same school program. 

  On  Monday, we traveled a couple of hours to see both sets of grandparents. Had a wonderful visit with all. Tuesday I worked. We only ran one call and it was in the early evening!!!!!!! That was amazing! 

  Wednesday was spent trying  to get caught up on laundry (success- well as much as is possible for laundry... except for putting up the last load of towels and some clothes...) and cleaning (did not accomplish as much there), and running of errands (got to see the cute pharmacist when I got my allergy/sinus meds at Walmart. Its not a prescription, just kept behind the counter thanks to our local meth-heads. Gathered a few other things and chatted with a former coworker there as well!) (also had to pick up my inhaler refill at our usual pharmacy).

  Thursday, Mom, Kirst, and I went to Silver Dollar City. Since Kirstie isn't into sewing anywhere near as much as Mom and I are (don't worry, we haven't given up hope on her just yet...), we did not spend very much time at the lil sewing shop. As a result, I only got one pattern that time:

We got all sorts of other goodies, but I forgot to take pics of them. And of some of my favorite places there. And of Kirstie in the jailhouse.... It's been a long week, ok?!? (In all honesty, I probably can't blame it on lack of sleep... I tend to forget stuff like that anyway. Although, sleep does compound the forgetfulness and clumsiness). :) We had a blast going on our usual rides (the train and Flooded Mine). Definitely a great day! By the way- if you ever get a chance to try a chocolate chip cookie funnel cake- go for it! It was amazing!!!

 Then, of course, I worked on Friday, which is when this post was started. I believe the average call volume is about 8 calls in a 24 hour shift. Our volume is up from last year.  We had 13 or 14 calls... so, not very much sleep at all! I wasn't able to get coverage to come in early the next day, and my relief was late. I could only cover for a few minutes because I had plans on Sat morning and needed to leave on time to make it. 

 On Saturday, I went to help test out some EMT students out on skills. One of my prn coworkers teaches an EMT class and likes to bring in people the students don't know to make the skills test as much like the NIEMT test as possible. (The NIEMT is the skills test  that all who work in EMS must pass prior to licensure. The NREMT is its' written counterpart. It is a multiple choice test that typically has 3/4 correct answers per question. The catch is, you have to pick the most right.) I always enjoy helping with that- his students are well trained. There is occasionally a couple that are a bit shaky on it, but that's their own doing. For the first time, I did have to fail a student. I felt terrible, but she administered a medication that EMTs aren't allowed to give. She had done great until that point. Thankfully, they get one retest. She knew what she did wrong, and passed on her second try. We finished up with the testing around 3 pm or so. After that, I headed to Mount Vernon to run errands (there was a stop in Republic at McDonald's for restrooms and some sweet tea). I was able to get one errand done, but I forgot that the pharmacy closes at one on Saturdays. Minus that errand,  I headed home. I was super tired driving home and wasn't going to have time to nap before needing to get ready for the wedding. Being that tired made me a little nervous driving that late since the wedding didn't start until 7 and was 1-1.5 hours away one way. I ended up not going, which makes me feel terrible, but I doubt my coworker would have appreciated me snoring during her wedding! The pictures I have seen of her wedding are amazing though!!!! I also did not get anywhere close to getting her wedding gift finished. Here's a pic of the dismal progress: 

I ended up going to Carthage with Mom to help her drop off Dad's lunch box and pick up some large pre-filled planters for the church since 2 people loading/unloading was going to be much easier. Thankfully, Mom drove! We did get caught in a bit hail, but nothing too crazy. After the Lowes stop,  we rushed home. From that point on,  I stayed in a half-comatose state until I went to bed. Fun fact: that was also my parent's 28th anniversary! Happy belated anniversary!!!  Dad and Mom were able to go out to eat on a mini-date before Dad had to go to work. Unfortunately, the plant he works at is having to run Saturdays and possibly some Sundays right now. :(  

 On Sunday, we did something we haven't done since I was a fairly little kid. Since one of our church members was under the weather, one was in the hospital (wasn't sure that her husband would be able to get ready for church w/o her help), and our fill in preacher was not able to come then, we went to church services at Silver Dollar City! We heard a wonderful message that has kept me thinking ever since. Definitely got a blessing from that. After that, we did ride the train & Flooded Mine. That was the first time Dad had been able to go, and we couldn't let him miss out on those! (He was going to go with us on Thurs since we couldn't leave until Kirst got off work (she worked 8-11 and then came home), but he got stuck working late and wasn't able to make it then). Then, we just kind of wandered around, ate pizza, looked at the shops, watched the play at the Saloon (don't worry- its alcohol free and family friendly!),  and tried to catch some of the demonstrations. We finished it off with an Oreo Cookies & Cream funnel cake. We left early since Dad had gotten off late again that morning and we were all dragging a bit. Plus, it started to storm. We had a great time!!!!!! (Well, except for getting soaked through on the tram ride back to the parking lot). And I remembered to take a few pictures!!!! They're really not that good and I didn't get a chance to take as many as I had hoped to, but something is better than nothing! ;)

  

(Sorry folks, that's all she photographed!)

 Aaannnnddd, of course, I'm back at work. When I got here this morning, the only truck in the bay is our half stocked back line truck which had the hood up. Which typically means that something is wrong and it is out of service until further notice. So, I spent some of the time getting some of the station chores knocked out. Once the 9 o'clock truck came, the supervisor found out that it was dead. Normally, the 12 hr truck would have been there and we would have temporarily ran out of it, but a coworker came in early and took it to a school pr event. Once it was jumped and running again, we took it over to the school and traded the trucks around. And then when my truck got back from the Big City, we moved into it. After the checking, wiping down of, and washing of my truck, we all went for a late brunch. Well, except for the 12 hr, they was on a transfer. My truck has only had one call so far. Our 12 hr has ran 2, and our other 24 hr truck is on a LDT. I'm estimating that they won't be back until  after midnight. And we lose our 12 hr at 9, so it may get interesting. Well, I think I've yakked enough for now. Sorry for the long post! I've missed chatting with and hearing from youns!

 Happy Stitching!

  Emmy

Lookit!

I’ve gotten an entire word stitched! I don’t think that this will be finished by the 19th... 😬

Just for the record, the other day when I decided to stitch, I got an entire “d” stitched. Yup. I tell ya what, if I stitch any faster, I’m gonna run out of stuff to stitch! 🙄. Here’s hoping youns are trucking right along with your project!

Happy Stitching!

Emmy

Plans

 Well, during the preschool graduation both of our other trucks (we run a 12 hr truck during the day in addition to our 2 24 hr trucks) went on a car wreck. It went from unknown to one pt to 3 pts to 5 pts pretty quick. Thankfully, only 2 wanted transported and it was far enough out that our supervisor told us to stay put, that the 2 trucks could handle it. Ordinarily, we would've went and at least helped gather PRCs (pt refuses care; also called a refusal). After the graduation, we ate supper at the Mexican restaurant that Minion had wanted to eat lunch at, so he was super happy. Its my favorite restaurant, so I was pretty happy too! We ate with Minion's girlfriend's family. They were super nice folks. I did not understand 60% of the conversation (their inside jokes), but they were very nice. After that, Minion ran us by Walmart so I could get a new charger cord. Mine decided that it wanted to retire, so its retirement party was thrown and a replacement found posthaste. We then chilled for a bit at the station. I should have used the time to stitch, but I felt restless and definitely felt like if I tried to stitch, exercise, or nap, it would just bring a call. Dispatch somehow always knows.... cause you know, its totally their fault when we have to run a call! Just like the weatherman controls the weather! ;) Ok, I'll stop goofing off now. Well, at least for a lil bit. We ended up running 2 BLS transfers (BLS means that Minion got to the take the pt, giving me a break from writing reports and a chance to drive!), the other truck ran one transfer and a then fire standby that turned out to not be on fire around 7:30. Long story short, Minion and I did not get to sleep until 3 or 4 something this morning. Oh well, I did sleep really good for the portion I slept. I've been home for roughly a hour and a half. Sadly, I don't have much to show for it. The critters are fed and happy. I cleaned my spilled hot chocolate from off the floor and  the dog poop off my boots. I ate my Mexican food leftovers for breakfast (don't worry, I know I'm weird!). Once I post this, I'll take the dogs for a walk. I'm hoping to exercise upon our return, but I'm still fairly sleepy, so we'll see how that goes! Then, it'll be off for a refreshing shower, possibly some cleaning (I'm also undecided on this), maybe a nap (unlikely- when I'm not sick or at work, I have a hard time napping), and, you guessed it, stitching!!!!! I'm bound and determined to get some stitching in today! I forgot to bring it with me when we went to the graduation, so nothing was accomplished on that front yesterday. Now I've got to make up for lost time! :) I hope your needles are flying and that you get to do what makes you happy today!
 Enjoy!
Emmy

Cookie to the Rescue!

Well, I'm back at work today. It's been a wonderful day so far! I love the feeling you get when you wake up with the windows open in the morning. Bonus points if my allergy meds are all up and working! :) My drive in was nice and sunny. Got to listen to some good music on my way in as well. The CD I was listening to has a song called "Stupid Cupid." I don't know why, but I love that song! Its just a fun song that feels like a throw back to my beloved oldies. Our truck was in poor shape, so after griping about it, remedying that situation, and griping about it some more (seriously, if my partner and I forget to empty a trash can, it escalates quickly. And there was way more going on than a trash can. There's no point in bothering with this; I doubt that anything would be done if we did, and it doesn't pay to make enemies with coworkers. Oh well, the truck is good to go now and that is all that really matters), we chatted with the insurance guy. Turns out, I ended up being able to afford their accidental injury, which may very well be beneficial since I'm a bit clumsy at times and work EMS (a former preceptor nicknamed me Grace...), so that was awesome! The insurance guy enjoyed listening to Purple Minion (my partner- I'll probably refer to him as Minion or PM for short. And yes, there may be times I'll put PMS. Just know that it will probably not be on accident. Although, he's been doing better the last couple of shifts, knock on wood...) and Ms.'Cilla (may also be referred to as Ms. Priss- both terms are used affectionately, I assure you. :) Especially since she's my crafting buddy at work!) debate Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings stuff. I would better describe their debate, but I know next to nothing about either of those topics, so they may as well have been speaking some other language. Anyhow, the insurance guy nicknamed me "TooTall." I must say, I do enjoy that nickname. Beats Midget (which I will not answer to, as one supervisor found out- if it was said more out of love and friendly banter, maybe. Eh, still probably not.) So, we did the whole insurance acquiring stuff, and had our picture taken by the insurance guy. I have no clue why. I told our Office Manager, Ula , that I would hide in the back. (Ula is a super sweet lady. I can usually get her to laugh w/o even trying, which just further endears her to me. Interesting fact; she has a granddaughter, even though she looks way too young. She's just in her 40s. Gotta say though, her grandbaby is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!). Sadly, with just 7 of us- the insurance guy was in the pic and Ula took the picture, so I did not have that option. I so sad! Then, the lil local hospital fed us lunch and I still have my giant seran wrapped cookie left over!!!!! I'm saving it. What for I don't know, but I'm saving by George! That said, I seriously doubt it will last long- it is chocolate chip w/ M&Ms after all! Minion had griped about going to it ever since it was mentioned to him. He wanted bacon and eggs, but then the insurance guy brought breakfast. Then he wanted Acamboro's, but was told about this. His argument was that they hate us so there's no point in being friendly. There are a couple of employees that are not fond of us, but for the most part, we all get along just fine. We tease them, they tease us. When the doc ordered Lasix before sending the pt to Big City Hospital about 50 min away in decent traffic), one of the nurses (one of my favorites, even before this) begged the doc to allow her to place a Foley in this guy since it would be a pain for us to deal with the effects of the Lasix on the road. Long story short, the doc refused, the guy filled up the urinal and we got to clean urine off of the cot and floor. Yay. Still, it was sweet that she tried, so we brought the ER some treats for caring. Anyhow, I think Minion was just griping because he was bored and had nothing else to gripe about. Ms Priss got  him to admit that the food was good (he still maintained that the hamburger was overdone, "although not as bad as last year"). And all without ever saying a word. Her facial expressions don't leave much up for question, which makes everything more entertaining! We ended up getting our call while I was in the middle of QAing run reports. An 8 yof (year old female) was having a nose bleed. One of my favorite FD was there, which is nice. The family was very friendly. The kiddos, pt included, translated for us since the Dad and Aunt are fluent in Spanish and speak very broken English. Everything was good there. We got to take her to a local hospital that is in our nemesis' area (the neighboring ambulance co that loves to dump pts that need services that are only provided at SCity Hospital or Big Town Hospital at our lil local hospital. This turns into transfers for us. Transfers aren't bad during the day (nothing is really enjoyable during the night except getting to sleep) unless it gets really busy. Then it turns into a mess. We end up needing mutual aid and have found that we can beat them to our town when we are running nonemergency, and stuck in traffic to boot, at a town about 30 min away). For a chest pain call, no less. Sometimes they do good [like when one of our employees that also works  there is on], but the above scenario has happened too many times for them to just have been out of their area or a fluke. Oh well, it'll hopefully get better. I'll stop venting now.) She shouldn't need to be sent anywhere else, which I’m sure her family will be glad for.  Since she loves to draw horses I left her a pen and some paper out of my notebook. It can be hard to keep pens in EMS so we tend to guard the ones we have on us, but she was too cute not to! We got back and I finished QAing. Now I'm just chatting with youns and using my giant cookie as a mouse pad. Usually my computer mouse works well on the desk in my bedroom, but not today. And a folder didn't work. So, cookie to the rescue!

I'm planning on starting a new project. Its Tandem Bicycle by Stitchline. Here's a link if you want to check it out here. It will be a wedding gift for one of my coworkers. She's getting married on the 19th. Of this month. I'm just great at planning ahead, now aren't I? Well, I've got to take my partner to to a preschool graduation- not for *him ;)- at 6,  so if I'm going to try to get a nap, and hopefully stitch and/or exercise, I had better get started! Youns have a wonderful day and please tell me about it!
 Happy Stitching,
 TooTall :)

*Please know, that he deserves all the grief I give him. Honestly, he does. At least thats my story and I'm sticking to it! :)
** Graduation time turned out to be 5:45 instead, so my nap was barely existent. Also,  this wa suppose to be posted around 4:45-5. My apologies. Also, I ate cookie on the way to graduation, so I’m not sure how my computer mouse will work now... 😄

Spring!!!!!!

 I'm very grateful that Spring has decided to come. It showed up a while back and appears to be here to stay! Well, at least for awhile anyway! Here's some pics I've taken the past few days of springy things. Hopefully, I'll be able to add some pictures of stitching on Mon or Tues. The last couple of shifts at work have been pretty full; same with my days off. I've been preparing for a class in Springfield on Monday, so that will probably consume tomorrow after church as well (I took the day off work; my shift ends at the same time as the class starts and it can be difficult to find someone to come in crazy early at times. Plus I did not want to risk taking an important class  that makes me think on very little sleep. I'm kind of a baby like that! :) ) I'm hoping to get some stitching done Monday evening though! Ok, enough yakking! Without further ado, here's the pictures in no particular order:

 Mom always has the prettiest flowers!

 And of course, youns know how much I love photos of the sunrise and, in this case, sunsets! :)

 Baby leaves!!! Aren't they adorable?!?

 We thought all the frosts and snow had killed all of this tree's blooms; but it decided to surprise us and make a few more!

 A second Killdeer bird nest in the same spot!

Of course, the boys have been loving the walks we have been taking since the weather turned so amazing. Their favorite thing to do is run to the neighbor's ponds, and then come back and get us slowpokes wet/muddy, the turds!Banjo loves to put his toys in his food bowl. I'm not sure if he thinks that they're hungry or if its just a handy place to store them for quick access when he finishes eating. He also likes to put toys in the water bowl when we're playing. That's his signal for when he gets tired and needs a break. Sometimes, he does that because he just needed a drink and didn't want me to "steal" his toy.

 Guinea feels insulted that I called him a turd earlier in the post...

"What do you mean I'm a turd?!? I'm a perfect little angel!" 

And here they are begging for treats... and quite successfully might I add!

And for what is quite possibly the most exciting news yet: I made my first sale on Etsy Friday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Woo Hoo!!!!!!!

I hope that all of youns have had a great week and that youns have an even better Sunday tomorrow!

Happy Stitching!

 Emmy

Light

Just curious... Does anyone else feel the need to dramatically throw their arms out and solemnly say, "And God said let there be light" when they turn on a light switch? And the need for this may increase if you are home alone or if everyone else is in a different room... :)