Drive
☆ October 11, 2011
This morning, I drove the ambulance on a call for the first time. I didn’t want to. The PRESSURE! Not just one life to be responsible for, but three! The patient’s, my partner’s, and mine. And everyone else on the road, for that matter. And the rig is huge ~ it’s an off-road, 4WD, mountain ambulance. I sat straight up in the driver’s seat, clenching my abs so that the rest of me – mind and body – would not be so tense.
Five minutes in, I was loving it. Lights flashing, I sped by two highway patrol. Cars, trucks, and semis slowed and parted in deference. I didn’t even have to wait at the wretched construction zone ~ the flaggers waved me through, and the pilot car, midway through a one-lane-only stretch, pulled his string of vehicles over to the shoulder as I zipped by unhindered. This, I thought, is what it must be like to be Mick Jagger.
Driving back from the hospital, I was relegated to “normal person” status: no patient, no lights flashing. I was alone – my partner stayed in town to go linoleum shopping with her husband – and while I was sitting, waiting, waitingggg at the construction zone, I found a camera in a side pocket of the ambulance. And I took pictures. And then I fixed the date. It hasn’t been 2010 for a while.
And when I got back to the ambulance barn, I backed that baby in. She’s just a tiny bit crooked.
Comments
24 Responses to “Drive”
Leave a Reply
MY NEW BOOK!
More, Elsewhere
- No Tweets Available
October 11th, 2011 @ 1:47 pm
Good for you, Shreve — way to go!
October 11th, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
Sounds really exciting and also incredibly special, considering there was a patient in the back depending on your driving skills. I’m pretty sure in California you’re only allowed to drive an ambulance with specialized training and permits. What were the circumstances that allowed you to do that? It sounds like a heroic journey, but I’d love to know more about the driving side of things. All very interesting.
October 11th, 2011 @ 2:12 pm
:)
October 11th, 2011 @ 2:20 pm
Cool!
Carla: she’s got the training; dunno about the permits, but Wyoming ain’t California (less traffic, I expect), so it was probably on the up and up.
October 11th, 2011 @ 2:30 pm
C ~ We’re all licensed and trained to drive, but usually one particular crew member drives – just force of habit, really. Today he wasn’t there, it was only myself and one senior crew member; new EMTs have to crew for a year before we can be in the back alone with a patient, and so that meant I had to drive!
October 11th, 2011 @ 2:51 pm
omg! S~ moves like Jagger! haaa haaaa can’t get this song out of my head and now you’ve sealed the deal. it’s not exactly ‘rollin in the deep’ but it’s pretty good. http://vevo.ly/o8DV5z
October 11th, 2011 @ 2:54 pm
At least they pulled over for you!!!! I used to work in the EMS business and I can recall a certain call when we were working a full arrest in the back of the ambulance and traffic wouldn’t pull over. The driver had to pull into the oncoming traffic lane to go around. And we were Code 3!!!!! Go figure!!!
Loved the pictures. It brought me back to a time I really enjoyed. Thanks!!!
October 11th, 2011 @ 3:34 pm
There is just no end to your competence! Love it!
October 11th, 2011 @ 5:38 pm
I’m jealous of anyone who can back a vehicle of any kind into a parking spot…
October 11th, 2011 @ 9:44 pm
That would be the ultimate power trip for sure. My but it is shiny and new looking.
October 11th, 2011 @ 9:56 pm
Mick ain’t got nothin’ on you!
October 12th, 2011 @ 2:27 am
Way to go, Shreve! You are a woman of many talents.
October 12th, 2011 @ 4:57 am
Wow. What an immersion experience of being back in civilization. You obviously rose to the challenge, as always. Now, take a break!
October 12th, 2011 @ 7:38 am
Cool. I’d like to know what all the buttons are for … or is that privileged? ;c)
October 12th, 2011 @ 7:56 am
Ahhh the power! LOL the Mick Jagger bit!
October 12th, 2011 @ 8:18 am
Awesome!!!!
October 12th, 2011 @ 8:24 am
Awesome! Thanks for the morning adrenaline rush! I love the way you write.
October 12th, 2011 @ 9:15 am
You rock Shreve Stockton! Thanks for bringing so much light into my days :)
October 12th, 2011 @ 9:31 am
yep waaaayyyy cool!!! :)
October 12th, 2011 @ 10:18 am
you go girl.
October 12th, 2011 @ 4:43 pm
Sweet! Nice job. It’s cool to be Shreve.
October 12th, 2011 @ 6:36 pm
You GO Girl!!! WHOO HOO!!!
Cool reading and cool pictures. Thanks for the update!
HUGS :)
October 16th, 2011 @ 5:42 am
I miss those days!
Nice looking rig!!
You have found a new and rewarding addition to your life now!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I was doing that!!
Don
http://exposeyourblog.com
October 16th, 2011 @ 6:50 pm
how did the patient do ?