365.

It's been 365 days since I've been working in EMS. I suppose this means I'll have to get used to not being able to play the "new girl" card anymore.

When I started this job a year ago I didn't realize how much of a different world this is, or how hard it would be to work/play in what is essentially a man's world. It can definitely be overwhelming, but I try my best to go with the flow. I think one of the hardest things to get used to was to go from being someone who helped manage people and run my own ship to learning how to navigate what is a loose-based para-military style way of running things. There is a chain of command. You don't break that chain easily (at least not in my experience). There is a lot of red tape I had never had to deal with before... I never ever expected that.

But there are so many perks...

I think the most rewarding part of the job for me is to meet people who have been brought back from the dead thanks to the efforts of my new co-workers. I'm pretty sure if I were a paramedic (yes-- I know, nightmare scenario) I'd have a pretty solid god complex after my first save.

For example-- today I spoke with a patient who went into cardiac arrest and was brought back to life and is now a happy grateful human being. He actually told me that he wishes he could tell the President of the United States what a great job our crew did and have him thank them as well. That's a pretty solid compliment right there.

I've also been in touch with a woman who performed CPR on her husband for 8 minutes. She saved his life. I mailed her the 911 recording (per her request). On it you can hear her counting chest compressions.  She's frantic and out of breath. It's chilling. She never gave up. Not for a minute. She says the EMS crew are the heroes... but I nominated her for an award anyway.

I had my annual review this week. It was so much better than what I dealt with in my former life-- which basically means as that it didn't end in tears, so I consider that a positive note.

I know there are people I work with who have been at their jobs for close to 30 years. While I don't ever want to think that far into the future (beyond squirreling away money in my 401K) I could see myself getting comfortable here, taking on more of my own stuff. Helping bridge some gaps that desperately need bridging... things of that nature.

but I suppose I'll just have to take it one day at a time.