Some of the people I meet

First some house-keeping....I finally saw that I got comments! w00t!!! Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the button that sends me a message when I get comments. Help, anyone? (I am so illiterate at some internet stuffs)

Anyway, a good deal of my patients come in vegetable form, but I do occasionally get those that are alert and oriented x 3. The other day I had a gentleman who had worked as a technician for the FAA, and had traveled all over the state testifying in various state courts for an organization against rape crimes. Not because he personally knew someone who had been raped and murdered, but because he heard about the crime against a bright, beautiful young woman, and felt so strongly that he just HAD to do something. He was bed-bound due to a previous stroke, and yet his mind was as sharp as any I have ever encountered. I truly believe what I told him...That he had experienced and forgotten more history than I had learned thus far. He laughed.

Then I had another gentleman with whom I had a very interesting conversation about politics. It started about 2A rights, and extended into politics in general. I gave him some websites to peruse, which he said he would when his wife wasn't home, since she didn't like him reading political stuff, as it made him angry all the time. (heh)

I had an elderly woman who had grandchildren and great-grandchildren in abundance, who were coming to visit her for Mother's Day. We talked about her children and them visiting her in the hospital. When we left her, she wished me a Happy Mother's Day. When I told her I wasn't a mother (aside to my dogs), she said that she wished it to me anyway, since she wouldn't be able to wish it to me when I did have children.

I had a patient who lectured me on my 'adventurous ways.' He countered my complaint that C doesn't want to come rafting with me because it's too dangerous with evidence from his friend (who fell out of a raft and hit his spine on a rock, becoming an instant paraplegic). It doesn't make me want to go rafting any less, and I felt horrible leaving him in the absolute HOLE of a nursing home he was stuck in.

The patient's family is also very fun. When I was still 'training,' a patient's wife and I had a long conversation about anything and everything while we were stuck in traffic and then taking a detour to her house.

On the other hand, dealing with people all day, everyday, is taxing my poor, introvert brain. I had thought originally that C was the one who had a bit of a stabilizing effect on my temper (and the judicious application of the hormones from the birth control I started taking about the same time). Now I'm wondering if it was the lack of 'people' in my day. In the lab, I could escape people fairly easily, and most of my co-workers knew that I didn't like people much, and left me alone.

Now that I'm back in an ambulance, I'm finding that my road rage is back, although it is still somewhat less than it used to be. Perhaps I'm finding balance.