Next to the middle.

Today I have officially been in camp for a week. It is located right beside the middle of nowhere, up in Northern BC. Business is pretty quiet, which in most ways is good, considering that means that there are few people getting injured. Doesn't do much for the experience or keeping the practical skills sharp, but that is ok.

A month or two ago I read on the blog of an experienced EMT his story of first starting out, and how he was always anticipating his chance to get "the big call" so he could have a good story to share with the other vets. It finally came, that call that was very intense, very serious, and extremely unpleasant. He finally had a call to share when sitting around the proverbial campfire (read: coffee shop or ambulance bay at the hospital) with the other medics...but wished he hadn't.

I am anxious to do some calls, but I am cautious about wishing for something major. If all I do up here is treat a minor slip and fall, a sore back, or headache, I am perfectly ok with that. There will be plenty of calls that come along in my career that will stand out as major incidents, and I am confident that there will be a good many of them that will result in being something I wish I had never seen. In fact, I already have one of those from my practicum days. You know, the kind that becomes material for when someone asks "what's the worst thing you have ever seen" question. Funny thing is, I don't often share that story with people. Even though they ask, I don't think they want to know. They might think they do, but on the rare occasion that I answer the question truthfully about the worst thing I have seen, I can tell that they wished they hadn't asked. And I don't blame them...I wish I didn't know it either.

I can wait for the big call. I know they are out there and I am in no rush to get them, even if it will give me a good "guess what happened this one time" story.