NyQuil Hallucinations

Thought I'd gotten things all taken care of with that job up north. Good people, good organization. I spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that the opportunities far outweighed the fact that I'd be miles from emergency medicine. . .(well. . .not literally, since this place was just down the hill from the hospital. . .but you know what I mean).

So last Thursday I'm minding my own business, buying gummy bears in the grocery store, trying to keep my daughter from filching out of the bulk bins, and my phone rings. It's a friend from the hospital I did all my clinicals at during school. Turns out, they need a paramedic tech in the ER, and they need to know today if it's something I'm interested in.

Well, duh.

So I head in there for an application, and it's like I'm the prodigal daughter returned. It was good to see all the nurses and techs, all the physicians I'd gotten to know so well. I even got hugs, which, really, you can never have too many of. We got all the particulars sorted out, and the head RN said he'd give me a call Monday. Which happened to be the day I was supposed to start up north.

Hmmm. Conundrum. Luckily, the EMS god Tai-ming stepped in. Saturday, I woke up feeling weird-fuzzy-lumpy. A little glazed. Thought it might have been from the illicit pizza I shared with A the night before (he keeps exposing me to gluten, on purpose, I think. I'm pretty sure he just wants the chance to use the Epi 1:1000 he carries in his med bag. But this allergy isn't quite there yet- yeah, my throat gets a little tight, my nose gets all phluggy, but mostly I just get rashy and gassy.) Anyway, Saturday. Did some laundry, but spent most of the time under a blanket, feeling cold. Went home early, went to bed post haste.

Sunday, I woke up. If you can call it that. I wasn't even feeling like death warmed over; I was feeling like death. My cheap digital thermometer, which usually reads me at around 96 degrees, had me at a temp of 104. My arm hair ached, for godsakes! I vaguely remember a friend coming over with meds, Jello, and chicken broth, but mostly I just slept. For 48 hours straight. I actually considered calling 911 because I really, really wanted an IV, but that's generally not a good idea when you know most of the responders. One of my friends from the department called to check on me, said he knew how lousy I was feeling; told me, "agree to an IO and that fluid's yours!" Which I politely declined, thank you very much.

I made it down the stairs yesterday; only had to stop twice to rest. Apparently the job up north is still mine if I want it, but I'm going to have to let them down. I've been wanting this ER tech position for a long time, now. I let it slip away once, and I'm not going to do that again. Great hours, great pay, no need to relocate. It's a beautiful thing.