Who You Calling a Stress Case? or, just gotta keep turning those pedals
For the better part of the past month, I’ve been a bit of a stress-case. The result of two quick conversations, I went from having nothing but free time to none at all. Agreeing to help friends build their home way out in the desert, I also enrolled in an Emergency Medical Technician[EMT-Basic] course, a big step in realizing my calling. I figured I could handle it all, no probs, I got this….
For three weeks all I did was toil in the dirt by day and bury myself in human anatomy, patient assessments, traumatic injuries and the pathophysiology of cardiogenic shock in the evenings. I was even waking as early as 4am so I could be studying by 5am. At 9am I was collected for the drive to the building site. After a day of digging holes and hauling rock, I would eat then try to hit the books again. On Fridays I was still on-call with the Terlingua Fire and EMS service as an ambulance driver. Fortunately, we don’t get too many calls down here, so I could use that time to read, study and take online tests. That was my life and it was miserable, I was miserable.
After two weeks, I was a total wreck. I had lost weight and was exhausted, desperate for sleep. I wasn’t eating well and at most, was riding my bike once a week. My patience was dropping and I was becoming surly; maybe a good thing I didn’t get to see my friends very often during all this.
Placing huge expectations on myself, I was my harshest critic, particularly as I felt myself falling short of those silly expectations. All of this despite the encouragement, support and love expressed by so many. So what was missing?
It wasn’t that the material was too difficult for me to absorb, there simply was not enough time in a week to get all the necessary readings done, never mind to review or actually study for tests. After the second of four exams I was so upset, so exhausted, so frustrated and angry with my result that I drove home yelling and crying. I went straight to the bar and got drunk. Terrible, I know, but that’s what I did. And when I mean drunk, I mean really drunk. Not cool.
The next day I had a very reassuring conversation with one of the local paramedics. I also went for a ride, the first in over a week. Afterwards, I spent a lovely evening dining with a dear friend, herself an EMT. That day I vowed to take a bit of time off from the job site. I also committed myself to getting back on the bike, the not-so-secret to keeping my head above water, where-ever the ocean of life may carry me each day.
That following Monday, I spent the day at the Station, immersed in 1600 pages of Emergency Car and Transportation of the Sick and Injured. Except, however, for the 90 I spent out on my Cervelo road bike, Shirin. The blue bonnets were in full bloom and the sun was shining. I rode hard, got a good sweat going and smiled all the while. Thursday, I did the same, but this time went for a two hour mountain bike ride. Again, I rode hard and fast, taking full advantage of the brief saddle time. Those rides must have done the trick; my attitude improved, I smiled more and my approach to the monumental task at hand softened. I would simply do all I could do and not worry about anything else.
That weekend I completed both the final written exam–which I just passed–and the skills tests(which I knocked out of the park!). Sunday, I rode.
Having passed my course, I now have several patient contacts I must log with the EMS service as well as completing two shifts at a hospital’s ER unit. There is also the rather ominous National Registry exam I must complete to become a properly licensed EMT. No sweat, all I gotta do is study hard but study smart. Essential to my success are sleep, diet and bike riding, not to mention a bit of social time now’n’again.
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For the past two days I’ve been in lock-down mode here at the Station, both studying for the National Registry exam and waiting for a 911 call to come in that I can respond to (actually got one at 12:45am, getting back to bed at 5:30am) Fulfilling that commitment to myself, I also turned off my portable radio for a few hours and went riding. I hit up a bunch of local trails including a few I’d not ridden once all this season. It was fantastic, just what the doctor ordered.
For the rest of the day I will review sample questions on youtube.com for my pending exam. But I do so with a smile on my face and the satisfaction that only a bicycle ride can offer. I know I will do well in my course, on that exam. I just gotta keep turning those pedals…
