Well, this looks like this is the beginning of the end of my career at my current service.
I started surg tech school this Monday--and hopefully after we get through orientation, we won't have as much downtime as we have had this week, because I am about to go bat shit. I've already completed some assignments, which for this procrastinator means we really do have too much time on our hands. The schedule, until sometime in April, is going to be light for me, because I already took anatomy and physiology last semester. I don't have to come in until 18:30, which means if I could get onto another shift--one that ends, say, between 16:30-17:30--I could stay with this service until April, which would be nice for the money--although less nice on the psyche.
We've been running non-stop. Some days running twelve in twelve, some only running eight to ten, but most days we don't see post. And, even when we do see post, it's from the inside of the truck, which we're stuck in all day, every day, unless we're on a call or at the hospital. Which was all fine and dandy until the end of last year, when I started to feel a little...cabin feverish. I'm sure the burn out is so bad I reek of smoke.
So, I am sort of at a crossroads. I most definitely do not want to work another job. I need something in health care--I NEED it!--but this service is sort of the major one in the region and I would have to travel kinda far for most of the other good ones--or good enough ones. I don't want to stay where I am for too much longer, because I know I am on the brink off extra-crispy, but the money is almost too good to pass up.
I am trying not to think about the money. School is paid for and I really don't need much to live off of--yes, it's more than I used to need, but expense-wise I am about what I was in Chicago, and there for a good while I was living well on $1000/month. I'd like $1200, to be comfy, and I would kill for $1600...but the thing is, I don't necessarily NEED it to get through this year. And so, I am not pushing for it. I am pushing for what I need to live on, because that might open a few more doors.
Interviewed today for a company a couple counties south of the city. About an hour forty to get there. Not terrible, really, for someone who drives all day anyway. I knew they would want me simply based on my experience at the big, high call volume system I am in now, and it seems I was right because he told me he was going to try to get me in, hours wise. You see, I need to work weekends and he has weekends full at the station he wanted me for. So, he's working on it. But he did try to assure me he would try to fit me in where he could so I could do a forty-eight and make the trip worthwhile each week. I'm hoping that he can, because I would love to work for him, even if I spend most of my time on the road, either getting there and back or transporting patients some 1000 miles a shift,
It would be great, because he runs some BLS trucks. He mentioned that, clearly, running a truck would be something I would enjoy and look forward to doing. I emphatically agreed. You don't get a lot of leadership, call/scene-running, decision-making opportunities at an ALS service when you're a basic. The experience is definitely something I would cherish--well, there is more paperwork...ah, who am I kidding? I love paperwork!
Anyway, fingers crossed on that.
Onto other news: an elderly lady I ran on for a fall hired me to come in and help out with her elderly, bedridden husband. She pays me $15/hour to change his diaper in the morning, maybe cook him breakfast and help make him comfortable. She is highly independent and rarely asks for help, so she doesn't ask for much more than that. But, I assured her anything she needs, I am available to help her with. Eventually it is going to get more difficult for her to care for him and his condition is going to deteriorate. She and her sons desperately do not want to place him in a home--and I don't blame them, after walking through every one in the city, the only good ones are thousands a month--so there is an opportunity for me to be more helpful down the line. Which is good for me. Although, probably not good for anyone else involved....
As far as class, I already made a friend! She is a lot like me, same intelligence and same aptitude--although she already has a degree, but fell-off the school wagon after her bachelors. She has a young son now and they are from Wisconsin, so I can already feel that slight Mid-West accent I picked up in Chicago coming back. As for the rest of the class...90% seem very nice and cool. There is one guy who never shuts up and another woman who makes a snide comment ANYTIME I open my mouth. My friend, Emily, is about to pop her in the face. I'm about to ask her if there is something we need to discuss, and, also, if she is going to make snide comments about me to at least move back another row, because her bitchy, hypocritical tone of voice is really distracting me from finding busy work while I wait for orientation to be over. You know, she really doesn't want to go to war with me. It won't end pretty for her. Especially if she doesn't want to come off looking like a petty, hypocritical bitch. Which she will.
Anyway, I'm letting it slide for now, because, fuck her, I'll probably have the highest score in this class and probably go on to get a job at the best hospital in the city, so whatever. She is very infinitesimal on the Scale of Shit that Matters.
Well, that's that.
Off to be bored for another six hours. GodIhopethelearningstartssoon.
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