Friday the 13th

Paramedics are superstitious. In our business there are some things that you just do not say. For instance, the rookie who walks into the station exhausted from a late night of partying and says "I sure hope it's quiet today" is about to have something thrown at him. You do not use the infamous "Q" word.

I made this mistake my first day on the job. Since I was new, I was riding as the 3rd person on the truck in order to get a feel for how things work. We had a quiet morning and sat down to eat our lunch at a little cafe in town. Just as the waiter brought us our food (I had baked chicken, corn, and friend okra- yes, I still remember what I did not get to eat that day), I asked "How often do you guys (I still talked like a northerner at that point) get called out during meals?" Not 10 seconds later our tones went off and we left our food and went on a call. My coworkers were absolutely convinced that it was my fault that we got the call. I now know how they feel.

Since I work 24 hour shifts I have a bedroom at the station. Apparently there is a button in the mattress that causes someone in the general vicinity to have sudden chest pain when I accidentally hit that spot on the bed. There is no better way to generate a call than to try to sleep. I can sit on the bed and watch TV for 3 or 4 hours and be just fine. As soon as I turn off the TV and lay down- BEEEEP!

My partner and I also noticed that if we have nothing planned for the next day and we can go home and take a nap if we need to, we have a quiet night. If either one of us has something planned for the morning (especially the start of our vacation), forget it.

I said all of that to say that even though I truly believe that all of life and happenings on earth are in God's complete control, there is something ominous about working on Friday the 13th. The one or two other times that I can remember working on Friday the 13th, it was a very busy day. Not necessarily weird stuff (and believe me, if I call it weird . . .), just very, very busy.

Yesterday we managed to escape unharmed. The 5 of us (4 medics and a student) played Uno and Rummy for about 5 hours and we also slept most of the night. When that happens at the busiest station in the county, it is quite remarkable. The only odd thing that happened was when we got up around six to run a call, our truck wouldn't start; the other crew at our station took the call while we jumped the truck. Since we needed to drive it around to make sure the battery was charged, we drove it down to IHOP and had some coffee and pancakes (and a very good Colorado Omlette).

I am thankful it was a quiet night because I am sure I will have a honey-do list this morning and I feel very refreshed after my sleep and coffee.

P.S. Do you like the new format?