Supposed to be posted 5/28. Oops. 

Late call this morning coming in at 06:15. Headache. She's in so much pain on arrival, moany groany the whole transport, and shuts up as soon as we get her into the runway. She also quieted down a fair bit when I told her I wasn't going to give her drugs.

On the bright side, I had to stay late and do charts, where I got to see a friend of mine. Apparently a female at his other company texted him describing me, saying that she really liked me because I was happy,

Had my first fire standby in my year working for the company tonight. Two dead shipped before we got there. We did rehab for the firefighters. 

Of course, literally everyone that I know from the department was there. "Hi chief, hi chief, hi chief, hi chief, hi lt, hi friend." Holy cow. 

I love standbys because it lets me get up close and personal with the firefighters so they can figure out that I'm not a bad guy. Plus they're cute. Hehe. 

Dear sir;

As I was walking into the bank yesterday, you for some reason you felt the need to say, "Damn, if I tried to wear that, I'd be arrested" in regards to my clothing. A tank top, flip flops and shorts with my hair pulled back. Nothing scandalous, no crop top, no short shorts. Just normal, ninety degree weather clothing.

As I walked past you, I could feel your eyes on my backside, staring at it, in my light clothing. I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life. To have a complete, random stranger walk by me and comment on my clothing just because it's hot, in whatever sense of the term you'd like to take it.

Let me tell you why I was wearing these clothes.

For one, it's ninety degrees out in this wonderful region. It's hot. You're wearing shorts too. You get it.

Number two: I worked from 5:30 last night to 5:30 this morning on an ambulance, in full uniform. Warm socks, heavy boots laced tight, thick pants, white undershirt, black uniform shirt, hair tied back out of my face. I lifted huge patients with just me and my partner, I sweated my ass off working fast and responding in to the hospital with a stroke. I responded to the projects, to a woman calling for an ambulance, to find no one. Five minutes later, woman calls back at a different address in the projects, saying she's been stabbed. I worked that by myself. I dealt with people without legitimate emergencies, but were good fakers so we had to go with it. I didn't eat until 3:00 in the morning, ten hours into my shift. I went to three different hospitals, which each had a minimum of two stretchers ahead of me in line upon arrival. I sat in an ambulance when I wasn't working, posted at the most boring of places where there's nothing to do ever, let alone in the wee hours of the night.

Sir, while you were sleeping in your nice, cool house last night, I was out working my ass off in the city with sweat dripping down my legs at all times. I didn't get many breaks. Not for one second did I have the chance to stop and think about something other than work. While you were at home asleep, I was out saving people's lives.

If you were out doing that last night for twelve straight hours, you'd want to wear a tank top too.

And I'm back in at 6:30 tonight.

Next time you feel the need to comment on someone's not inappropriate dress, think twice. You don't know their story. Nevermind the psychosocial issues with the comment.

I'm not a feminist, but I still don't appreciate the unnecessary comments.

Sincerely,
I can't help the heat, leave me alone

Day 2 of sprained foot. Already want to get back to work.

Ace wrap works miracles and helps my foot feel better.

Hoping boots will give me enough support to let me go in tomorrow for four hours. Actually, praying.

Sprained my foot being a clod. Had to call in to work for this afternoon.

Not regretting my part-time/full-time decision. Working out nicely. Thank god for not using sick time.

There have been a few fatal residential fires in the area that I call home lately. An adult male died as the result of a fire in a large, old house that was converted into a multi-apartment building a long time ago, and a two-year-old girl died in a house fire after her mother left food on the stove and ran after her brother who escaped the yard.

Whenever tragedies like this happen, my faith in humanity is restored. In 24 hours, over $50,000 was raised via crowdfunding to help support the family of the baby girl after their home was a total loss. As of today, over $78,000 has been raised.

But.

In November of last year, a fatal house fire claimed the lives of three people in the same area, one of them being a four month old baby boy. The fire originated from a gas stove top, but the stove was so damaged by fire that investigators couldn't determine what exactly caused it. There was one brief mention of a fundraiser, created by the mayor of the city, and that was it.

One of the things that I hate about in memoriam crowdfunding is that it places a value on human life. The baby girl was "worth" multiple news articles and $78,000. The baby boy was worth one or two articles and a brief mention in the paper. Why the difference?

All that I can think of is socioeconomic. Baby girl was from a white, upper-middle class family. She lived in a house with three other people. Her parents owned the house they lived in. The house was a fairly well-to-do part of the county. Baby boy was from a white, presumably low or working class family. He lived in a house that was owned by a landlord and rented by his family, living with eight other people. The house was in the inner-city, in the middle of the ghetto.

Baby girl's friends and neighbors cared enough about her and her family to raise thousands and thousands of dollars for her. Baby boy's? Who knows. I can imagine it wasn't nearly as much. Even if they raised $75,000, split between the three people killed, their lives were valued at $25,000 each.

$25,000 for a human life.

Money for a human life.

I would never dare to say that baby girl's life was more important than baby boy's. I would never dare to say that anyone meant it as such. All that I am saying is the socioeconomic inequality between two homes just thirteen miles apart as the crow flies needs to stop. There is no way to put a value on human life, but to value one more than another? Simply egregious. 

Rest in peace, babies. Neither of you deserved to die.

First call of the day: got hernia juice spurted all over me.

Only two hours in and this day is shaping up to be fantastic.

Update:

The entire shift sucked. Hernia juice, respiratory failure, stabbing, and two late calls. Peachy.

Every single time I go to a nursing home or long-term care facility, the staff have absolutely no idea what happened.

Unwitnessed fall of an elderly lady.

So what's going on today?

"I don't know. I'm not normally here. I'm just watching." 

What happened to stay with the patient? I understand you have things to do, but can't you at least wait five minutes at 2 in the morning so you can tell us what you saw?

Honestly though. 

I love my partner tonight but...

Good god he won't be quiet. Alzheimer's is a touchy subject for me. Had a patient with it tonight who seemed just like my grandmother who fell victim to it. So what does my partner do? Talk talk talk talk talk about Alzheimer's and human euthanasia and how my grandmother wasn't the person I loved at the end. 

Now I'm just waiting for his lazy ass to get out of the hospital so we can actually do some work. 

Four...more...hours.