STRENGTHEN AND BE STRENGTHENED ONE DAY AT A TIME

Today I started my morning doing my internship hours in the hospital Emergency Room.  My heart nearly fell seeing one mother's anguish and her husband's strength keeping himself humble and tear free while consolling his wife and then seeing their young baby's strength really gave me an amazing perspective.

I had an amazing ER Tech to shadow. She showed me areas of the ER I hadn't seen before as well as showed me how to make sure the areas were properly supplied with necessary items.  Some of the tasks were indeed tedious, but at the end of my 8 hour rotation I didn't want to go home.  For me its not so much the job that defines me but the job helps me define my greater purpose.

I was leaving and a patient was being brought in by helicopter.  If I didn't have my national registry EMT exam scheduled I would have loved to see the operations of how to care for someone that is transported to the facility in that manner.  This timing couldn't have been any better it made me look forward to my helicopter internship time. I can't wait to schedule my day to ride along with CALSTAR and see the daily operations of the helicopter and its crew.

I took my exam which is a timed 150 question exam and I was blessed to only be required to take 60 of the questions.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that the news I receive is glowing.  I have to wait to receive the results.

When someone says you have great potential say "Thank You" and believe them that was my strengthening lesson today!

In time you will do it

Today is the day where I affirmed my little red sticker that I kept stuck to my emt textbook all quarter long.

Months ago I donated blood and they gave me a little red sticker that said I did it. Those were the three words I wanted to be able to say when I obtained my certificate of completion for the EMT academy.

Today I did it. That certificate is still nice and flat and has only been viewed once for errors and now it is tucked away while I look forward to the next step.  That next step is a written state exam that is only a few weeks away and I have some more studying to complete, but Im very much looking forward to the upcoming months.

I came home and went for a run.  I started academy excited to think that we would be doing a lot more running I think in 16 weeks that the academy as a whole entity may have logged an entire mile of running. We did do a pushup or nearly 200 one day, but I was expecting a much more physically demanding class.  What this academy lacked in physical demand it made up for in emotional and intellectual demand.

This is not something I thought I would ever do, but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life as I found hidden strength even as I was sitting in my room yesterday evening reflecting as the tears of mixed emotion fell. Tears of knowing all the people that were so supportive along the way, tears of knowing it was over, tears of fear of facing that next challenge, but mostly just tears that I had overcome one more obstacle.

And the lesson I learned in all of this is in time it can all be done.

I have my BSI is my Scene Safe

I started the EMS academy back in February and 2 weeks ago I got to participate in what was probably my most enjoyable day of class aside from the day I got to run and do situps and pushups and pullups.

Our class was invited to participate in a mass-casualty incident at the airport in order to assist emergency personnel in being more prepared should a real incident occur.

I was chosen to get a black triage tag which means I was a dead victim.  This was a lot of fun and at the end of class when I took a picture of my arm it actually looked very realistic. I could almost convince people I was in some sort of accident and my arm was bloody and covered in dirt and gravel.

My clothes were a mess I think I have yet to wash the white shirt I was wearing which conveniently said on it,"I eat mud for breakfast." I looked like I dined with pigs for breakfast.

I am thoroughly enjoying my EMS academy and in a short two weeks when all goes as I intend for it to I will be blessed to attend graduation from the academy and then move on to my summer internship and health class.

a little dirt

Of all the runs I have participated in which isn't too many I am certain I liked this one the best.


I got up Saturday morning at 6:00 am to drive to Orange County a 3 hour drive from where I was and I participated in the Eco Mud Run 5k. It was a 5k course with mud pits and wooden saw horse hurdles.  My knees got a little scraped my time could have been a little faster but I really had a great time.


I drove back to Santa Barbara after the run to celebrate the birthday of my strongest example and supporter in life Patty. I got to enjoy the evening picking up my 12 year old Godson from the bowling alley and then stayed up til 2 am with some 15 year olds to make sure they had a great evening. I have no idea how I even stayed awake for 20 hours.

I even got up the next morning and took my Godson's dog for a run as if I didn't run enough in the mud run.  The motivation to run that I thought was lost from last year's half marathon now has a new drive and appreciation.

opportunities to be in the right place at the right time

I had one of the most patience trying weekends at work I have faced in my one plus year of working in the Elderly care field. However it also taught me something about myself.  It taught me that I have to look at things differently than I currently was.

I got off work at 11:30 am today. I drove to my office and parked my car and took the keys out of the ignition and placed them on the center console of the vehicle and stepped out of my car and pressed the lock button. Yep really bad habit that I am going to break starting today. I don't remember this ever happening to me, but phew triple A to the rescue and off I was to my other errands. My most important errand was a bank deposit so I could secure my spot for the upcoming mud run this weekend.

I then went and got some fabric and learned how to sew burp cloths for my dear friend who is expecting her second son very shortly.  I made some king size pillow cases as well. It was less expensive to buy material and make my own than it was to try and find the color pillow case I was looking for.

I then drove over to Jamba Juice where I saw a car with its hood open and they needed a jump start.  I always keep my jumper cables in the car funny thing is I loaned them to someone and completely forgot to have them returned to me. So this young man and his significant other were stranded in the parking lot needed a jump start.  The young man found a set of cables and I was able to help him get his vehicle jump started.  I was just doing the right thing and trying to be in the right place at the right time.  This young man was so polite he handed me his cd he made and it was a great compilation of Christian rock music.

I then came home and signed up for Eco Mud Run Tour being held in Orange County this Saturday.  I had to gauge where I am in my running capabilities so I decided to just put the shoes on and run.  I have to say I haven't done a distance or endurance run, but twice since I completed a half marathon in November last year. I was pleased with my performance.

My day ended with an alanon meeting.  A friend suggested this to me last week and I decided it wouldn't hurt to see what it was about.  I can honestly say what I heard in that meeting was exactly what I needed to hear and I was thankful for one more opportunity to be in the right place at the right time today.

I had only been out of the alanon meeting for 5 minutes and I received a text message on my iphone (yes its connected to my hand almost surgically) from someone I least expected to hear from asking if I could be their sober driver for the night.  I was happy to do it and I got to learn some new things about the towns around me as well as a really neat new place to run as well as the trail to the grove of butterfly trees.

Today was just a really nice day I found serenity in my surrounding and peace in being where I wanted and needed to be.

Spring time to garden

Today with a day off and not feeling so good and certainly not feeling like jeopardizing my lungs with a run, I decided to do a little planting in the garden box and barrell.

A trip to the recycling center to clear all the cans and bottles from the deck area and off to the little hardware store I went.

Four little packets of seed and a little soil starter and I was well prepared.

I came home and cleared all the little grass and weeds that the lovely rain brought and the barrels were ready for planting.

In the barrell went some seeds for some yummy cherry tomatoes and some seeds for some sweet red peppers seeing as how my body doesn't enjoy the green peppers and maybe some little chive seeds and even a little aragula just for color and filler.

In the long box went aragula and onions mmmm can't wait for that first summer salad with a baked potato with chives and some barbeque chicken with lemon from the tree.

The only thing missing is a rosemary bush so I can use the rosemary limbs to bbq skewer the chicken.

The most rewarding thing about gardening is it is so therapeutic and rewarding and it shows a little hard work and dirt under the nails will pay off.

Intense amount of time

Academy day one objective: Don't let them see you sweat and don't make them question who you are!!!

Day one of EMT academy was supposed to be like any other day with one exception my optimism had to overrule my pessimism.

Now the last time I was addressed as Miss Andersen it was in a correctional setting usually by co-workers, supervisors or inmates often if not always wanting something. Today was no different each time I was addressed as Miss Andersen it was to get my attention and to ask for something or to advise me of an unwanted behavior the instructor had viewed me participating in.  Okay thank you now that the entire class is aware of my last name I will do my best not to get on a first name basis.  The day started out with formation and uniform inspection. My only thought was oh please oh please do not let the tac officer comment on my hair that is willfully disregarding any attempt I made to keep it in a ponytail and off my collar.  Phew so my boots needed polished my shirt needed tucked in better and I had a thread that needed attention. I nearly felt violated when the tac officer pointed at the thread on my zipper.  Awww the best part was the pushups and the markings on my hands that nearly drew blood from doing so many on the black top covered with gravel.  I thought for certain I failed the professionalism and conduct part of the day, but somehow managed to earn 195 out of 200.  I did get a card pulled on my first day but so did my squad leader who is also female so I couldn't feel too terrible.

I participated in the various patient assessment stations and am wondering how in the world I will remember each step and its order of progression, but I'm certain with a lot of repetition it will come slowly but surely.

The next fun part is getting signed off on the 50 vital sign checks I have to have completed in one month. That means finding 50 individuals in 5 different types of settings to let me take their pulse, blood pressure, and respiration.  I think I know just the day to do it.  Super Bowl Sunday is just a few days away that ought to get some blood pressures elevated.