Newton

This is my second shift working on one of the Newton 911 medic trucks. Before starting this post we were out on a call – fairly straight-forward stuff. A 47 year-old female having what appeared to be an allergic reaction to anti-biotics. She had the typical symptoms, including systemic erythema (red skin), some difficulty breathing, and some nausea. She’d taken some Benadryl before we got there and it helped her. Over the 15 minutes or so she was with us she became markedly less nauseous and her work of breathing was much easier. And, as a precaution, we transported her to the hospital.

So far, I think I like working here. I’m located at Station 4 at the corner of Crafts and Watertown Sts. It is, from what I’m told, one of the better stations to work in because of the crews and their close-knit nature. My partner, Keith, is also a part-time supervisor – he covers Saturdays in Newton and Boston – and working with him is a good thing for me. I don’t have anything to worry about in terms of clinical stuff, but I’m learning the geography of Newton, and it is tricky. Lots of multiple street names, as I think I’ve mentioned before. And traffic is always interesting. One thing I have been told is to “drive it like I stole it”, for lack of a better term. Apparently the drivers in Newton don’t really have much regard for emergency vehicles. So it’s as though you have to nearly push them out of the way.

Kind of reminds me of Manchester, in that regard. But I know Manchester like the back of my hand. I don’t have anywhere near that level of confidence in Newton. But it will come; it will just take lots of time.

I am still working on the rehab class I talked about previously. It’s kind of tedious because of the amount of material involved. But it is coming along. I’m going to attempt to get it finished by the weekend so I can teach on Tuesday.

As I think, more will follow. It’s been a long day.