badger_14

Super stressed by everything right now (bad calls, preparing for medic school) and feeling like I have no outlets or anyone to talk to. :( I mean I have a therapist but it'd be great to converse with someone who isn't a coworker, floridly psychotic, or under the age of six.

I have Bauer reactor pads and Bauer supreme kneepads. I actually did have some trouble with the pads getting stuck on the kneepads at first, but it turned out to be a strapping issue for me. However: it seems like a lot of people find the supreme kneepads very uncomfortable and ill-fitting, so ymmv with those from the get-go anyway.

We had to take a 5 year old on a section (psych hold) yesterday. Such a little guy. He'd been witness to extensive violence in his life and was acting out in very serious ways. Everybody (including family) knew it wasn't safe for him to be at home anymore, but that didn't make it any easier. Parents went with him, whole family and neighbors would've come if there'd been room, so he has a supportive family and that's good, at least. Caseworker said he's the youngest she's ever had to section (and I know she pulled some serious strings to get him a bed close to home). I hope he does well.

As a general rule, we don't really like to involve PD on calls (I work on an EMS unit that handles solely involuntary psych holds from within the community). But there's times when there's a safety issue and we do want/need/call them in, and they take forever to show up. If the caseworker and dispatch says "we have an actively homicidal, floridly psychotic patient who needs to go to the hospital", it would be really nice if they could get there in less than, say, 45 minutes. (guess whose patient eloped into the neighborhood while we were waiting? yeah.) I get that they're not really trained for this, and you run the risk of escalating a situation by involving police, but all we want to do is get this kid to the hospital safely.

Once again, I apparently play my best hockey when sick. Not sure how that works, besides the fact that I'm not able to overthink what I'm doing. Finally taken to wearing regular knee protection after Misha tried to cripple me a couple weeks ago. Still sorting out the thicket of elastic and velcro, but the knee guards are comfortable and stay in place and prevent receiving a charley horse from an errant puck. Getting an occasional twinge along my incisions, but it's much better than the first week back. Flexibility is pretty much back in place, and increased in a couple of spots. Stamina is still dubious, but the only thing that fixes that is actually playing. A friend found me a copy of Vladislav Tretiak's Manual for Young Goaltenders. It's got some interesting exercises in it. And, of course, reading about hockey from a Soviet perspective is interesting. (the book is in Russian, published around 1986 I believe). Lots of agility, hand-eye coordination.

An EMT at my company died on Tuesday, and we're not a large company, so it's been a disconcerting week for everyone. I'd worked with him only a few times, but as a person, I feel for his family - he was very young, only 29 - and on top of that, as an EMT, I feel for his regular partner. My regular partner and I, it's not even as if we're good friends, but I can't imagine waking up after a 12 hour shift to find out he's dead. It's awful. And it's so surreal to see all his shifts pop up available on the shift scheduler - like a ghost.

Bad news: Did not do well on my math placement test last night. Good news: Spoke with an admissions counselor and found a loophole. Great news: Admitted to the college's Paramedic program, starting in January!

First day back on the ambulance today. So happy. I may regret that statement later, but for now I am content.

FINALLY PLAYED HOCKEY AGAIN AFTER SIX WEEKS OFF. Also, the choir went caroling this afternoon for an event put on by the city arts' council, and many, many people stopped us to take video and tell us how good we were.

Well, today went... not so bad, actually. My original plan was to skate at the local school on Tuesday to gauge my readiness for real hockey, but when I got there, that skate was cancelled. (so I went to PIAS and bought a 20 year old stick for @bunnyman666 instead). So, forging ahead, I told the Russian Embassy that I would come back today anyway. I started off ... pretty wobbly, I guess. (I'm also recovering from a cold - when it rains, it pours), let in a few soft goals, felt like I was going to puke. I'm surprised I managed to get dressed in proper order. But after 5 minutes or so I felt much better - adrenaline I suppose. I still let in some bad goals because my stamina is shot all to hell (I made the mistake of looking at the clock at 9:30am, with the skate due to end at 9:50am. Oops.) and I was just worn, but my teammates gave no quarter and treated me exactly as they had before I had surgery so I got into things pretty quickly. I made some nice saves and was pretty aggressive - I've been playing that way since the tournament in the summer, and it's working out well. I took a nice close shot off the collarbone which has left a bruise, but mainly I was just tired, so nothing for that but skating. And I am so, so happy to be playing again.

If there are not regular puns involving "hot desert Knights" I will be extremely disappointed.

That sucks. Take it easy. Meds are a beast.

The gym's proprietary software has been on the fritz for 3 weeks. On top of that, we are now down to one computer at the front desk because another employee fried the other one by turning it off/on rapidly a bunch of times.

My team is hosed. I AM 911! I will probably got to the quietest stick practice I can find beforehand, just to get myself back in order. As close to order as I ever am. Two more weeks til full clearance - better than Christmas.

I definitely don't feel ready to play yet (still waiting on that last wonky bit of incision to heal), but I've gotta at least try and build my endurance back up. Soon, though! Good luck with your skate, too.

Finally felt well enough to give the gym a try again. 25 minutes on the bike, followed by a bit of stretching and some very light strength stuff. Felt pretty good. Felt like I'd been off my routine for a month, but otherwise good. Thank god, I was going crazy being limited to walking.

This is why I stopped volunteering to play goal for my company's scrimmages. They were crazy. Goons to each other and spent the whole time screaming at me. I really wanted to enjoy it (hey, I like working there), but I just couldn't.

About an inch of one of my incisions is obviously and ickily infected. On the upside, I was already put on antibiotics on Wednesday at my follow up, so that should clear things up.

Recuperation rolls along nicely... after an extra week, the drainage tubes are finally out (I'm free! I can shower like a normal person!) and I'm allowed to reach above my head for things. Still no lifting over ten pounds, and nothing more strenuous than a brisk walk, but I feel so much better than even a week ago. On top of that, I had a surprise visit from three of my work kids and their parents on Halloween - we all had no idea we lived so close, and after two weeks away I was thrilled to see them. Looking forward to seeing them on Friday, even if I'm going to have to tell them I can't play monster or lift anybody or give any piggyback rides for another few weeks.

I've got at least another five Saturdays til I can play again, and I am going to lose my goddamned mind.

First post-op appointment went well. The incisions are healing nicely. They removed the wound vac (yay!) although I still have two regular surgical drains for another week (booooo).

Holy crap! That's a lot to take in! I'm sorry you had to go through all that, what a nightmare. Glad to hear things seem to be looking up, though.

The surgical drains are nowhere near as annoying as the wound vac to which I am tethered for another 3 days.

The Russian embassy (my Saturday pickup group) pretty uniformly wears modern equipment. There's one guy who wears a pair of Ducks-colors (teal and eggplant) Franklin gloves, and another guy has had the same skates for 20 years. Other places, I've seen the assorted jofa helmets and cat-eye cages, a Lanny MacDonald style helmet, and even one guy wearing one of those old helmets that's basically chunks of leather padding without an actual shell. A lot of socks that were clearly issued in someone's youth hockey days ca. 1975. Lots of gloves of the same vintage.