Ok breath normal...back and forth....on the next breath take a big breath all the way in and BLAST it out hard and fast, keep blowing out all the way, I know you feel empty keeeeeeeppp going, almost there and BIG breath in all the way in, in, all the way to the top... good job you can come off the mouth piece now.
Ok BLAST!! hard fast keep going!!
So that is pulmonary function testing in a nutshell. I thought I would hate this rotation. I hated PF in school. It's so boring. You look at lots of numbers, funny graphs and (in my opinion) random stupid rules. But I actually had a lot of fun this week. You get to be really social with the staff and patients. It's no easy feat for someone who can barely breath to do these tests, so it can be a challenge to get an adequate test.
That goes where again?
I was also in the bronchoscope suite. It was soooo cool. They put a fiberoptic flexible snake into a patients and take a look into their lungs. The RT is really involved and it was soo cool to see inside someone's lungs and take little samples of things here and there.
Allison is coming next weekend!!! yeah
So week two in the hospital a surprising success. I now need to go hit the books hard. One of the first lessons I've learnt is that I have so much to learn. And Allison will be down next weekend and I have a feeling the two of us are going to get into so shenanigans, so I need to get ahead on the school work, so I can take it easy next week.
What a week it's been. My first real week in a hospital as a student respiratory therapist and to quote my good friend Allison "1 week in the hospital poking patients with needles and have caused no known death or dismemberment". Everything was exciting... like connecting a flow meter to oxygen. It's amazing to finally see what RT's really do for a living, and it's really cool. The people I've been working with are amazing, I'm pretty sure RT's are the coolest people in the world. I learnt so much this week it really boggles the mind (well it more mangled my mind). I can't wait for next week. All my fellow classmates, can attest that school can be a rough go. This week has really reinforced that it was really worth it. I think I'll really be happy working in the hospital, but I realize there is still a lot to learn about the job. I'm not going to lie I questioned going back to school, more than once. The fact that I couldn't believe how fast a 12h shift went by or the fact that I really helped people shows me it was all worth it.
I'm doing this on real people now, no more plastic arm for me!
This week also made me reflect on my experiences being a patient in the hospital. I usually end up in the hospital alone. I hate going with people, being a burden, and people seeing me struggle to breath. As a result of that I've spent many nights in my adult life in the ER on my own by my own choice. It's hard to explain the feeling of an asthma attack or how all the drugs make you feel but Ventolin one of the drugs to treat asthma attacks, gives you the shakes, makes your heart race and of course causes nausea for good measure. I remember one night I had headed to the ER on my own with a particularly bad, and stubborn attack I couldn't get over. I was getting tired and scared. They loaded me up on a shit load of drugs even by my standards because I was getting worse. I was on so much Ventolin my heart rate was about 220, and I was shaking so bad I couldn't hold things. Then I started to vomit. I broke down, I could barely breath and now I was violently vomiting. I remember crying as I puked into a cardboard bowl. A nurse came over and started rubbing my back. She got the doctor to give me a shot of gravol and waited with me till the nausea passed. I can't explain what that meant to me, she made a terrible time more manageable. I realized this week I want to be like her. My goal this year is to learn as much as possible but to never forget the human aspect. Compassion, caring and hope go a long way and I don't want to ever forget that.
My brother is extremely talented... no one can piss me of as fast or intensely as he can. I mean I can not talk to him for five month, and within the first two words he utters to me, I'm ready to end his life. It's really impressive. We are trying something new now that we are both living under the same roof again acting like adults around each other. Crazy idea I know. Historically, for most of our interaction we revert back to acting like five-year olds (hair pulling and all). I must say so far so good. It ends up he's a really cool guy... much cool than I am actually.
The Cover of his EP
He's a musician, producer, extraordinaire. I'm not sure when or how or why really. (I mean he's my brother it's not like we share information) but he got into DJing, and making music.I usually find out the next morning he had a show. I've only seen him spin once, and he made sure to tell me not to talk to him, or embarrass him under any circumstance.
What can I say things like this cover make me proud of my bro.
The music he makes is chilly disco. To me it sounds like a hot summer night and his tunes go well with them. Next time the sun is setting, the bbq is going, the booze is flowing put on his tunes, you wont be disappointed. Check out my new favorite song of his... million dollar party and the rest of his SoundCloud while your at it.
Ok.... so my ego took a hard hit recently. I moved back home. I'm a boomerang kid. I cringe just writing the sentence. I mean it was the smart thing to do, rental prices in Vancouver are crazy and this is my second round of post secondary (I have a BSc in Psychology and the student loans to go with that undergrad). But shit lets be honest, I'm 26 (another thing I cringe at when I write). The choice really came down to the fact my only other real other option was to move into a homeless shelter. I have student loans but they barely cover my tuition let alone, rent, food etc.. So I moved back home with my parents and my brother also moved back home to go to school also, so it's a full house.
Me and Mom (We don't look related)
What takes the edge off is the fact that my family rocks. Apart from a rare squabble here and there we get long great. When we all manage to eat dinner together it's always a good time. I really love spending time with my family and I count myself luck that I have such a great relationship with them. I'm fortunate I also have a few places I can go to hide when I need to get away.
Me and Papa having at laugh at the PNE
Another great thing about moving home is every time I come home I'm greeted by the family dogs; Sam and Pippin. It doesn't matter how bad my day was they always put a smile only face when they run up to the door when I come home. They arn't the brightest dogs; they chase lights, lazers, and skunks.... I'm not kidding they get liked skunked every second month and it sucks as much as you think it would.
Sam and Pippin, cute as hell not so smart
Anyways. This year I learned the hard way that life rarely goes as you plan, and it's best to let the narrative of life write itself rather than trying to predict them, as that can lead to much heart ache when those stories don't manifest themselves. So I moved back home... it's great.... my ego needs to get over it. Life is good, I'm surrounded by people who love me.
Today was my first day at St. Paul's Hospital so absolutely very thing is so exciting. I mean I had butterflies in my stomach just walking to the bus. I arrived at the hospital 45min early, I mean I didn't want to be late but that was a bit of over kill. I was so excited that I took pictures of the entrance and leaving the house. To start off the day our clinical site coordinator quizzed us and the questions we get wrong we got assigned as homework!
My first day of clinical! Ekkkkk
We did a lot of house keeping before going off to go get mask fit with the M95, they are special masks, you may have heard about them during the SARS epidemic. They are essential in keeping health care professionals protected from things such as TB and other communicable disease. To get fit tested they put you in this fun space suite looking think a squirt a substance that tastes like a mouth full of Tylenol. If you can taste it with the mask on you don't fit it,they test you until you find one that fits. We finished the day off with a two hour test. Not bad for a first day!
The Gorge!
(Sad fact there is a town called George close by and I kept on getting confused, I would get excited when I saw road signs and Allison would point out they said George not Gorge, argh I mean it's only one letter off!)
Main Stage, is just breath taking
Wow Sasquatch was unreal! It was epic from start to finish and I had the pleasure of sharing the experience with two of the most amazing people I know, Allison and Rebecca! We drove down together in one car and shared a tent (I am not ashamed to say we spooned to stay warm at night!). We drove down via the Kamloops/Penticton root. I was briefly concerned that we had some how traveled back in time to January. I'm not kidding there was an intense snow storm we drove threw, it got us all riled up for everything else that followed. I could write a small novel about Sasquatch but I'll let the pictures(courtesy of Rebecca's camera) do most of the talking but I'm not gonna lie, I drank my freaking weight in booze a few times over this weekend.
The shit snow storm and it got worse than this, snow was sticking to the roads at the end of MAY!!!
Another highlight of the weekend, after seeing City and Colour, I spotted Dallas Green milling about with us common folk , Rebecca had the balls to ask for a pic, (and I am so happy she did)
At "Foster the People" one of the best sets of the weekend for shiz!
The Ladies (Rebecca, Allison and me)
The rest of the gang, we went down in a convoy, there was ten girls and two boys (poor boys, so much estrogen!)
Rocking out at main stage to Against Me!
RAWWWWWWW
Allison and Rebecca
Sets that rocked my socks off and/or were as some drunk guy said "Danced my dick off" too:
Day One: Rocked out hard core to Foo Fighters and Against Me!
The Foo
Day Two: (I was a little too intoxicated for my own good this day, too much sun and not enough water so it's a tiny bit fuzzy in some parts, but amazingly I didn't get sick or hung over), Local Natives were amazing, moshed to Death From Above 1979. I really liked Pink Martini. A huge disappointment was Iron and Wine they were hands down the worst of the weekend, it was a bit crushing I really love their music. Last but not least Glitch Mob.
Local Natives
Day Three: City and Colour was so beautiful, I love their music so much, and they sound better live. Meeting Dallas Green after the show priceless, what a nice man. Flogging Molly was fun. Gayngs was pretty awesome because their lead singer looks Ron Jeremy, the voice and the man didnt match. Their song Faded High is currently on high rotation on my iphone well worth checking out. Yeasyer just made me smile. I lost my shit when they played ONE. I was looking forward to Modest Mouse, and they did not disappoint despite the fact Isaac Brock is bat shit crazy, like when dude talked it was just words, pulled out from random places in his brain. He was also probably shit faced but man he can rock!
Modest Mouse being bat shit crazy!
Day Four: This was my favorite day. Chromeo was probably my favorite set. Their lead singer was so surprised by how many people came to see their set, he had the best smile on his face. Dancing in the sun with thousands of other happy people. A very very close second for favorite show was Foster the People. They were on the smallest stage and that shit was packed like sardines. When they played Pumped Up Kicks, some people had scaled the wall and were dancing on top of the food hut's roofs. I can't really explain the feeling but it was good. To end the night off, I went to the dance tent. Bonobo, Skrillex and Major Lazer where unreal. My feet hurt so bad from dancing by the end of the night. Unless you've seen me dance, you can't really understand how hard I go. I love the energy, the moshing, just plain pure and simple rocking out. Skrillex is like death metal of the electronic world, and I really appreciated Skrillex telling the audience to look after the girls, in the crowd. I would go see him again in a heart beat.
