Stars

As a Scout and Scouter, I’ve spent countless nights sleeping in tents – ranging from one-man backpacking tents to supersized wall tents on huge platforms when I was staffing Science camp. Many of the nights have been in my own, small tent… and many nights have been spent in tents at Horseshoe Scout Reservation…

Still, there is one night that stands out as being different… I was about 13 or 14, and still involved with my local scout troop.

It was a clear, warm fall evening, and as the campfire burned down and the troop members headed off to bed, everyone went towards the tents they used the previous night.

Then one of the scouts my age, actually a year older than me, points out that he was using a jury-rigged tarp as a shelter. The tarp is very large, and an idea is planted… there will be no rain. It is a clear night, and lots of stars are in the sky. We discuss, and several of us agree that we should try to sleep “cowboy style” under the stars… no tents, just using the large tarp as a ground cloth to put our sleeping bags on. If things go wrong, our tents are still set up – and empty.

Thinking back, I remember two things about that camping trip – one was the idiot scout that used gasoline to get the fire going, and the other was falling asleep under the stars… no tent, going back to a more primitive time.

Since then, I’ve only had the opportunity to repeat that once… about 8 years later, on my OA Ordeal, where I was “required to sleep alone, apart from other campers” and using the same minimalist supplies of a ground cloth and blanket/bedroll. That was a much colder fall night. And it was wet… and we were under trees. It wasn’t nearly as pleasant, but it was a formative experience.

That said… one of my goals for this year is to find a perfect time to yet again sleep out under the stars… not in a tent.

Why I avoid Bars

I went out to a bar for a drink after class, and I found myself thinking back to something I remember reading by Rob the Bouncer.

I'm looking around the bar, at all these OBLITERATED people at midnight on a Tuesday, and I really wanted to know why none of them seemed to have jobs to worry about being at the next morning. And then I realized why I felt uncomfortable... I was barely intoxicated... and had no intention of getting more so, because I've got stuff to do in the morning. In fact, I wonder why I was even out at all.

Still - if those people don't need to be ready to work in the AM - how can they afford to go drinking?

And so long as I continue to act like a responsible adult... I will continue to be reminded of why I DON'T drink in bars.... although I have been known to occasionally work the door.

Did that just happen?

Dispatched to a local SNF (Skilled Nursing Facility) for "Respiratory Distress"

After we went responding, was advised by dispatch that the facility had called back, Pt. was an "Obvious DOA", they had a DNR, and they would not be needing our services after all.


Unresponsive Person --> DOA I can see
Change in mental status --> DOA I can see
But "Respiratory Distress" --> DOA? That means they determined the patient was having DIFFICULTY breathing and called 911... then realized they were dead.

WTF?

Medic Students say the darndest things.

So in class tonight, we learned some new descriptive phrases – this is meant mostly as humor, and also evidence and reminder for the T-shirt or “remember this” list that we’ll be coming up with eventually.

Pulmonary function is now summed up in one word: Flowability. “Doc, the patient has bad flowability and we're CPAP'ing 'em"

And 12-lead interpretation got easier… if the ST segment looks like a smile from a smilieface… that is good. If it is a frown, it’s bad. So from now on, when we call a certain doc on the command line, we can say “I’ve got smiles on the ST segments and good flowability… I’ll see you in 10. Of course, if we get any other doc… this could be really bad.

And Miles to go before I sleep.

So we use this program called FISDAP to track all of our clinical hours for school. We have 72 hours to enter in all our data, and we also need to turn in a paper form with our clinical preceptor's signature, etc. I was up until 0300 taking care of school paperwork. Today starts at 0500, working 0600-1400, then clinicals 1800-0000.

As I was typing last night, I thought back to a poem I once read... Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening". I can appreacate some poetry, and I remember this one from middle school englis

The line that kept running through my head was "And miles to go before I sleep." Given my current schedule, sleep has become the "optional" part of my scheducle. So When I got to work this monring, I took several shorter naps, and probably slept for close to an hour.

Anyway.... I need more sleep.

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
~Robert Frost