Sometimes it's good news...

More often than not we as EMT's spend time with our patients when things are going horribly wrong.

Someone is having chest pain... We're there reading the EKG when there's ST elevation.
On the scene at the car accident when our patient can't feel their legs.
Taking the Grandmother of 15 to Hospice.
Taking the two time Breast Cancer Survivor with two broken legs to her Oncology appointment to "Discuss the results" of her last mammogram...

It's uncomfortable. It's stressful. It's heartbreaking.

It's also what we do. We chose this path in life.

All of that being said, it's wonderful to get some good news once in awhile.

Today McHottie and I took a 33-year-old female to an Ortho appointment. She was in a car accident a little over a month ago and has spent the last several weeks on total bed rest with a broken hip in a particularly unpopular (I don't know a PC way to say "crappy") Nursing Home.

She's been miserable. A once vibrant High School volleyball coach and Art Teacher is now being treated for anxiety and depression. Her family is mostly from Texas and what few friends she has in town have stopped coming to visit now that school is out. She wants nothing more than to get back on her feet, literally.

We took her to her appointment where we waited for an hour and a half to be seen. She spent that entire time on her back on our stretcher. (I think I might have mentioned in a prior post that our cots really aren't built for comfort.)

It was our privilege to be with her when her Orthopedic Surgeon told her that not only was she off of bed rest, but she could check out of that Nursing Home today.

The joy, the excitement in her face... It made up for at least 100 bad runs.

We assisted her in procuring some crutches, and even helped her get on her feet. Once again, literally.

I love my job.