I've just moved into a new apartment and I'm starting to feel more comfortable at work. Things seem to be moving in a totally new direction for me, and I'm okay with it at this point. There is a rhythm to the days now, even my 24-hour shifts seem to go by pretty quickly. We never really know what we're going to get (aside from our usual dialysis calls), which keeps things interesting.
I don't want to just rant about how EMTs are treated and all that, because there is a lot of complaining going on the subject out there already. One of the things that has struck me since I've started working on an ambulance is how wrong I was about why I got into emergency medicine. I originally wanted to become an EMT because I thought it would be more fast paced and exciting that working in long-term care. While that is partially true, I've made connections with patients on a ten minute transport that are still very powerful. Yes, there are plenty of calls that I forget before we've pulled out of the hospital parking lot, but there are also calls that keep me up at night wondering how the patient is doing and whether they're still alive. I feel that the connections we make as humans are very important to growing as a person and this job has helped me to see how much I enjoy interacting with people.
The job is stressful, boring, exciting, tiring, and rewarding all at once. There are times when I question whether I made the right choice in moving away from playing music. When we get a call at 3am, it can go either way- a bs psychiatric call where the patient is obviously homeless and simply looking for a bed and a meal, or a NICU call where the newborn is in critical condition and we have to go lights and sirens to the ER.
I'm still not sure what direction I want to go with my career, but I'm feeling good now with where I'm at- for the time being.
