"A" in conversation

Yesterday was another one of those days where a patient actually made me feel good about my job. She was going a fairly long way with us, about an hour, and was very coherent for her age and the fact that we picked her up in a locked down dementia unit. During the ride, we talked about her hospital stay and roommate there, her family, her desire to go home but knowing that she was a burden to the family, the painful process of outliving your friends and being mostly house-bound and bored, and just generally chatting. About half way there, she suddenly looked at me and said, "This is the most I've talked in a month. It is so nice to have someone to listen." I may not get to provide actual medical care, but sometimes I get to provide some small amount of happiness for people who may not have a lot left to be happy about.

I finally got brave and talked with one of the supervisors about transitioning to part-time and he said I needed to talk to the director of the company. Unfortunately, that man is based in the other city the company covers, and while we have to go there regularly, we usually don't have time to stop and talk. But, luck was with me, as he appeared in our city yesterday for unrelated reasons and I was able to talk with him. He seemed fine with the idea, just needing something in writing, and my shift already got posted as needing to be filled yesterday afternoon. Hopefully, less craziness ahead!

I've worked with 2 men since D's been out of town, and it is definitely an improvement over the share-too-much women. Yesterday and today I'm working with Bandicoot, who also works as a ff with K but on a different shift. I was a little nervous about it yesterday, for no good reason, but things went well and I was even able to relax enough to harrass him a bit by the end of the day. Since he's a paramedic, we should be able to run as an ALS truck, but there are only so many trucks and drug boxes to go around, so starting at 10a means that we're BLS all the way. It probably works out better for me in the end, because then I get to take my turns with the patients instead of driving all day because the patients need a higher level of care.

I checked the schedule and there will be one day that D and I get to ride together before I'm gone to Texas, so this will be quite an extended break for both of us. I hooked D up while I'm gone though - I found a very nice, young, attractive, single woman to cover 2 of the 3 shifts I'll miss. It won't surprise me if he's slightly less single when I get back! If so, I think it will have to be his turn to buy ice cream.