Weekend

This Blog Post was originally published on adagia.org.

On Saturday, I started a 12-hour paramedicshift. As I walked into the standby room, I encountered an emergency doctor I hadn't seen in a while. Right after breakfast, we were called to our first trip, so I couldn't talk much to him, but later on, we got to play the typical "what have you done" game.

He is a family doctor in a smaller town around one and a half hours away, and I've known him for quite some time. So, I asked him if I would have time to give me the Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio combo vaccination. Why ask my family doctor to do it and pay money when I've got a friend who does it for a coffee? He agreed, and I set off with my codriver to get the vaccine from a nearby pharmacy.

After a bunch of shorter missions (which I can't remember anymore), we drove off to the blood bank in Graz to get blood for the local hospital. A group of paramedic colleagues brought a sample to the blood bank beforehand so the lavatory could perform a cross-checking test.

Sometime in the afternoon, another paramedic colleague asked if it would be possible for me to extend my shift through the night and make 24 hours instead of 12. Since nobody else had time, I agreed, and at 7 pm, I switched codrivers.

After a long trip with a manic depressive patient, we arrived back at our home base at around 00:30. I quickly went to sleepbecause you never know when you have to get up again. I wasn't sleeping long. At 03:04 am, the radio was already delivering a new mission.

A guy needed to be transported from the local hospital to the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. So it was a drive with an emergency doctor, blue lights and siren (tho I didn't need to use the siren as nobody was on the road anyway).

We came back around 6 am, so I didn't bother to sleep again, as at 7 am, I would go home.

After the two and half hours of sleep on duty, I was pretty exhausted when I fell asleep at home. But the day wasn't over yet.

At 1 pm, I woke up again, ate lunch, did some laundry, and at 6 pm, I was on the road again to see KISSin Vienna with my parents and a good friend.

I think I don't have to say I started working late today. Luckily with the flexible timing, starting later just means going home later. It is almost eight now, so I will be preparing for bedtime again. Luckily there shouldn't be anything to interrupt today's sleep apart from the heat in my Apartment.