Absence

In all the rush of coming up to Alaska right after finals, I had forgotten about other events going on in the lower 48. My old high school's graduation for starters. Granted, there is only one person I'd have gone to see walk, but several other friends from previous years are also going to be there.

It's a shame that I won't get to see them, but practically speaking it's better for me to be up here. I'm getting experience, learning a great deal, and seeing sights most people may never see. Seeing friends would be icing, however the cake would be a lie, and what is icing without the cake?

Clinic work

When there is nothing going on EMT wise, I help out about the clinic as best I can. This partially entails getting vitals on patients in the waiting rooms, helping with basic procedures which don't require certification (like redressing wounds or filling syringes), and cleaning up after we finish with a patient. The rest of the time I get to watch everything and ask as many questions as I can think of.

The first time I had to get a full set of vitals, I forgot to record the lady's respiration. That's done by watching how many times a person's chest rises and falls in thirty seconds, and then doubling it. Right before I went back into the examination room to get it, I stopped and wondered how I was going to go about doing it without her wondering why I was staring at her chest for half a minute. You're not supposed to tell a patient when you take respiration, because they tend to subconsciously alter their breathing if they know it's being monitored. In the end, I told her I needed to take her pulse manually and just held her wrist so that I could look past it.

Not that I'm keeping count or anything, but I've now seen Tangled, oh... eleven times? Twelve times? I actually found myself singing "Mother Knows Best" under my breath whilst I was dealing with a toddler today. /facepalm At least no one else noticed it. Seriously though, I stepped into the room, started to say hel- "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And the kid disappear behind the table. I like to think I work well with children, but there's only so much I can do when I can't even make myself heard over them, nor make myself seen by them. The way he reacted, you'd think I was the bogeyman come to drink his bones.

Playing patient

For starters, I can't recall ever 'playing doctor' as a kid and I hate being touched. So pretending to be a trauma patient and letting five people I barely know essentially pat me down and feel me up was rather out of character. Still, in spite of wearing a skin tight t-shirt cut all the way up the front and jeans cut from ankle to upper thigh in a positively fridged room all day, I learned a great deal. I'm pretty sure I could go through the proper procedure for dealing with a trauma patient in my sleep. I now know how to do a proper intubation (in under 30 seconds!), successfully navigate spider straps whilst securing a prone patient to a backboard, get a sitting patient onto a backboard without excess spinal movement, and pretty much every other procedure required for the EMT-II test. Except for IO's. We didn't have a training dummy for that, and I wasn't exactly willing to let people jab a needle into my sternum (not that they would have.)

All in all, it was a great way for me to get hands on experience with many of the infield procedures without the actual stress.

On another note, since more of my extended family was in town, I baked up a storm over the weekend and managed to successfully duplicate my Oma's potato salad. I'm basically using this summer as a test run for many, many different recipes so I don't need to use The Lemming as a guinea pig next year. (Though I'm sure The Lemming wouldn't mind, I have many forgiving mouths up here so any culinary 'mistakes' disappear very quickly. This way I also get more feedback, so I can do a better job of improving the recipe for next time.)

Boundary and beyond

The other day I drove through gold country. Originally we were just going to Chicken (yes, there is a town up here called Chicken. Apparently it had a different name, but the miners didn't know how to spell it.), which is an eclectic clutter of buildings, old mining machines, a gigantic dredge, and like five people. At least when we got there. The town is empty during the winter and people come in during the summer for gold season. As with many of the small summer towns up here, there is only one road going through it, so when it washes out, you're stuck.

Anyways, once we had finished re-outfitting the ambulance stationed up there it was either "go back now and get home by 6, or go up to Poker Creek." Since I had no idea where Poker Creek was (I've never been in this part of Alaska before) I said 'sure, let's head up'. The drive... I don't even know where to begin. We climbed higher and higher into the mountains, going past Eagle and onto the Top of the World Highway. So aptly named.

We were literally driving on the ridge of the mountains, at a higher elevation than all the surrounding mountains. The weather was clear enough that we could see. For. Miles. There were green valleys on either side, split by silver white rivers and dotted with the occasional mine. Snow-capped mountains stretched out farther and farther, never ending. The packed dirt road winding before and behind us snaked precariously along the fine edge. I wish I had brought my camera with me, because the view was truly stunning. At some point, I will go back (perhaps with a gold pan >.>) and take as many pictures as I can.

On a different front, I'm finally starting to get used to being called Uncle and having someone bring me my shoes when I head outside. I am not, however, getting used to having to touch something when it is shown to me. Apparently that's how they know I've actually seen it...

Flight to the Little City

I had a fun little experience... Got to the clinic a bit early so I could shadow one of the nurses. Whilst we were in the process of restocking the ER, a call came in for an ambulance and I hopped on. Everything went smoothly and I did what (little) I could to help out. Mainly 'lift this' and 'fetch that'. Due to a whole host of issues, it was decided to medvac the patient down to the Little City and I got to go along on the flight. All in all it was pretty uneventful. The patient remained stable throughout the flight, so all we had to do was take vitals and ensure that the patient was comfortable. The most exciting thing I had to do was pump the vacuum splint a couple of times.

The flight itself, however, was pretty amazing. We were traveling in a dinky little plane with a grand total of four seats and space for a gurney. (Two seats next to the gurney, two up in the cockpit.)The flight was rather turbulent, and the plane was fishtailing most of the way. After a while my body tuned out the gentle rocking and waving, but the sudden ten foot drops and rises always caught me by surprise.

On the way back, I got to ride up in the cockpit. For all the dials and buttons the whole process actually seemed pretty simple. The plane was on autopilot for most of the flight, so our chatty pilot answered every question I had and then some. We also spotted four large-ish fires and had a stellar view of the mountains the entire time.

The Alcan

Yesterday I got to drive down to the Alcan. Such a beautiful drive, tainted only slightly by the running commentary of "this is where this one car tumbled seven times then burst into flames (apparently the guy lived. Lucky him.)" or "this corner takes out a lot of people, notice how far the trees are from the road". My personal favorite had to be "Oh, I call these motorcycle traps. Guess why."

Once we got to the American customs, we went behind the scenes (there's actually a little community back there, playground and all) to fix up the ambulance stationed there as well as resupply it. I learned several nifty uses for the 'outdated' MAST chaps. Basically they are inflatable pants which used to be commonly used for shock victims. Applying pressure to the lower body would raise blood pressure in the torso. Now they apparently see more use with abdominal internal bleeding, and other things where you need to apply pressure to the wound, but it would be difficult to do it manually.

After that we drove up to Northway. Now, I don't really understand the point of Northway. The airstrip was recently rebuilt, a multimillion dollar project, and now it is used as the air customs strip for small planes entering Alaska from Canada. But there is nothing there. You can't refuel, you can't get a snack... So basically, instead of just flying into the Tok airport and going through customs there, where you have all the utilities that you need, now you have to make two stops. Anyways, there's an ambulance kept at Northway, because it is close to several (or just one?) Native villages. Apparently one of the elders who died a few years back lived to 118. Granted, he didn't have any official birth records, but they matched his age up with major events (gold rushes and things like that). Pretty darned impressive, especially considering the trends among the younger Natives. Which makes me wonder how long the Native villages will last. They are losing elders faster than they (can) replace them.

On a different note, the EMT class hasn't started yet (*grumble*), but the EMT chief did loan me one of the textbooks, so I can start reading through that. He was surprised when I asked for it. Apparently reading and reading comprehension levels just aren't on my level up here. I won't deny that hands on experience is the best way to learn something (repetition, repetition, repetition), but I have always been able to learn things well enough to apply them just from reading about them. I think it's because of my vivid imagination. Reading about it is tantamount to doing it in my mind's eye.

And on a completely different note, it would seem that my hair is perfect for small hands to use for balance. Go figure.

Home

That picture up above is one of the many, many sights to see on the drive from Familial Home Base to my Home. And the mountain... Almost everywhere you look, there are mountains in the distance. Most of them are white-capped, but a few aren't. Instead they look velvety green, completely covered with the stunted pines which grow up here.

I've been in Home for two nights now and I'm pretty well situated. I've cleaned my living space, and settled in. The crazy sunlight is screwing with my sleep cycle a little, but then again it was never very stable to begin with. It's light outside when I go to sleep around midnight, and it's BRIGHT outside when I wake up at six. There's still some snow on the ground (it was actually snowing three days ago) and it's getting below freezing at night, but during the day it's usually about 60F. The evening wind, while cool (and sometimes cold) is still a blessing. It blows the mosquitoes away. Mosquitoes that are the size of the last digit on my thumb. State bird indeed...

Yesterday I met with the EMS coordinator, got a radio and have been arranging things with them. I'll going back in on Monday and hanging about, learning what I can. I know the clinic is looking for extra help, and I'd like to apply to fill any holes I can, but it could conflict with EMT duties. Sad to say, but most of that is going to be sitting about, hoping that someone, somewhere needs an ambulance... Also, some of the trips can be upwards of eight hours...

Anyways, gotta run, uE is here.

First full day in Far Far Away

I am about to conclude my first full day back in Far Far Away. I have also been awake since about 7am yesterday, so I'm a little... addled. Yeah, let's go with that. Anyways, I was picked up on time by bD and spent the morning with him. Once he went off to work I was picked up by uE, who actually got there a little before us. Perfect timing in my book. Anyways, we spent the day gallivanting about the Little City attending to various odds and ends and finally concluded our business there with a trip to the movie theater. We saw Thor. It was very entertaining, especially since I was almost to the point of sleep deprivation where I find everything endlessly amusing and can't help but giggle.

Anyways, before I risk rambling on more and making an even greater fool of myself, Hypnos calls and I must go to him.

Departure and arrival in the City of Roses

As is usually the case for me, my initial departure went smoothly. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time for me to breeze through security and reflect upon everything I forgot to pack. Like my coat, which I actually left sitting in the back seat of the car. Or the sheet music resting on my music stand. But alas, not much to do about it now. Besides, google has more sheet music than I ever will.

Initial departure was a little late, the flight was turbulent, but the landing was as smooth as could be. And as luck would have it, I was sitting next to the ONLY empty seat on the entire plane. ^_^ the view, once we got halfway through the trip was pretty stunning. Towards the end of the flight we were treated to an amazing shot of Mt. Hood and Mt. R... I can't spell it, and since I'm doing this from my phone googling it would be very inconvenient. Anyways, I was also reminded as to why I always pack multiple books. Finished Road of the Patriarch and made a decent start into Lord Foul's Bane. I had forgotten just how messed up the first few chapters of the Thomas Covenant trilogy is.

On an entirely different note, this airport is nice and quiet, as it always is whenever I pass through. It lacks the busy bustle and cluttered crowds of SeaTac and its smaller size lends it a sort of warmth. Either that or I just don't hold any bitter feelings for the place since I've never gotten lost here.

I must admit, I am excited to be seeing my brother tomorrow, even if I will be a zombie. Even though I won't get to spend much time with him. Even though part of that time will be devoted to various and sundry tasks... I'm also looking forward to seeing my other family members up there with whom I shall be spending a deal more time.

Anyways, I think I shall spend the remainder of my time in this terminal buffing up on website design. Of course, I already know how to monetize a site, but the rest has become foggy and faint since I learned about it in England.

I think my phone is about to have a fit, my fingers move too quick for it. Poor thing.

P.S. This was all typed out from my amazing little phone. I did not go back to proof read. Any errors will stay until I can use a computer. Then I might go back and change them. >.>