Lee and the Technicolor Sock Day

I had another paramedic say something to me a few months ago. It went something like this...

Paramedic: "I really need you to teach me time management."

Me: "Me?"

Paramedic: "Yeah... you do all this stuff. EMS, church, Boy Scouts, travelling for work, multiple kids... I get overwhelmed with just a job and a newborn."

Me: "I am the last person you would want teaching you time management. I am simply an example of someone who overloads their schedule because they can't say no."

So, for those who would like an insight into what one of my days is like, here we go...

I woke this morning to the dog barking and someone coming in the front door. Since my wife had left for work a little before 5:00am, this caused me to sit bolt upright. I quickly realized it was my wife, which was odd. As she passed the door to the bedroom, she advised me that she had gotten ill on the way to work and came home.

It was at that point that I realized I had a severe, throbbing headache with a lot of sinus pressure. I decided to put my head back down and catch another thirty minutes of sleep.

When the alarm went off I knew I was in trouble. The pain was much stronger now. I managed to roll over and catch another five minutes. Even though she was ill too, she offered to try and get the kids to school so I could slow down and try and get rid of the headache before going to work.

I finally made it to the shower and let the super hot water open up my sinuses enough that I might be able to make some progress. Feeling slightly better, I got ready, switched a load of laundry to the dryer and went to take the dog out before leaving.

While waiting outside the house, the dog slipped out of his collar and decided to run amuck around the general area surrounding our house. My wife pulled up at that moment from taking the kids to school and of course he went straight to her. Running amuck denied.

So I headed to the rental car (as my Honda Pilot was still in the shop). As I got in the car the headache came back full force. I reached in my pack, grabbed and swallowed 600mg of Ibuprofen and made the decision to find some caffeine.

Donut Bank (a local bakery) happened to have some Highlander Grog Coffee so I got a large cup and headed to work and still made it in on time. Once in, I downed 60mg of Sudafed washed down by coffee and started to make some progress on the headache. My breakfast consisted of a bottled yogurt smoothie with pecans consisting of about 180 calories.

After checking and responding to some emails on an upcoming EMS conference, I went to check in with Dispatch to see what the day was going to be like.

It was at that point that one of the dispatchers pointed at my feet. I had put on two different socks. They were not only different... they were Technicolor different. Through the pain and confusion of the morning, I had grabbed and dressed in two of the strangest socks I have in my possession. At least I had the headache to blame...

In between routine duties of a Quality Improvement Manager, I answered emails, checked out an ambulance and returned into the main part of offices to find a puppy.


It had been found in the middle of the street. It had not eaten in quite awhile. I had dog food in my car from when we had kenneled our dog during a recent vacation. We fed it.... several times. The talk was circulating that we needed a stress dog here at the ambulance service. I have always thought that would be a good addition even though I am NOT a dog person. So... somehow a dog bed appeared along with toys. We made posts publically on Facebook trying to see if there is an owner or not.

He may have a new home with a bunch of emotionally traumatized EMS people.

Then the fire prevention folks showed up to test backflow on the sprinkler system. I still have not quite figured out how building fire safety came to fall under my role as a clinical quality improvement manager, but I then spent some time silencing fire alarms and doing my internal role in this capacity.

Then back to emails, working on my presentation for this conference in Greenwood, Indiana coming up in three days and auditing ambulance run reports for clinical care in three cities.

Throughout the day I believe I made four emergency ambulance responses... one of them was actually quite relaxing as I had the opportunity to discuss issues with a patient's medical problems and pathways to care while sitting with her on her porch swing and enjoying a nice spring breeze.

Of course responses mean run reports, so that was worked in as well. Somewhere during all of this I grabbed a chili dog from Dairy Queen and ate it quickly.

After the last call of the day, I checked in with home before heading toward the north side of town to teach cardiology in the paramedic program at IVY Tech. Once again I grabbed something fast, a small roast beef sandwich on the run and a couple of low-calorie Monster drinks for during class. At this point I noticed the headache was finally gone.

While sitting in Arby's parking lot, I answered a few email questions via my phone regarding the Wilderness First Aid class I had taught last weekend. Then had a text exchange with my oldest daughter regarding the processional at her wedding. Is that really only six weeks away?

Before class there was some discussion with two of the students where they were discussing a bread being made from a Recipe in Ezekiel 4:9. I pulled my Bible from my pack and looked it up and joined in the conversation a bit.

During class, we spent a good portion of the night practicing dynamic ECG interpretation in a scored and timed game format and then moved on to discussing defibrillation, transcutaneous pacing and vagal maneuvers.

I came home well after 9:00pm to find three of the four kids asleep (the 16 year old was out cold on the couch). I was greeted at the door by Rhiannon who promptly helped me take out trash and recyclables. She then fed and watered the dog while I took the offending little Chihuahua out one more time for the day (yes... I was still remembering the leash incident from this morning. There was no repeat of this either).

I took a couple of quick swigs from my jar of Sugarlands Butterscotch Moonshine in the fridge and headed toward the bedroom with my laptop to help the wife research some addresses for some mail that needed to be sent.

That about wraps it up.

The last child is asleep.

The wife is covered up and reading some Facebook posts.

My mind is gravitating toward the marriage retreat coming up this weekend.

I am finishing this blog entry with intent to post it, play a dice game via Facebook, say Luther's Evening prayer and hopefully get a little rest before tackling another day tomorrow.

Hopefully... just maybe... my socks will match tomorrow.

...and this is why you do not want me teaching time management.