15 Years Ago This Week,...

The TrekPerson, having endured 15 months of class time, internship, externship, and a romance gone down the drain from a lack of personal time, opened a large manila envelope from the Pennsylvania Department of Health (large envelopes meant good news back then).

Out popped the letter from the state saying "congratulations, having passed all of the requirements, you are now a licensed paramedic" along with my test scores (don't ask,..just think about what they call the guy who finishes last in medical school - doctor!) and three neat little patches:



Wow! 9 extra ORANGE letters!

OK,..I've since gotten over touching myself about it.

I've worked for 7 private ambulance services and four 9-1-1 community-based services. I've lost count of the number of babies I've delivered, the number of "bad accidents" I've rolled on and the number of "why in God's name did you wake me up a 3 am for this??" calls.

I've been the newbie with shaving cream in his turnout gear. I've been the father confessor, and I've been in positions of responsibility.

Stuff that only highly-trained doctors were allowed to do is now commonplace in the back of my bus.

I'm 40--(cough! cough!) something. I have a partially torn rotator cuff and a bad lumbar disc or two. I'm getting arthritis in my knees and hands.

I still get a rush going to hot calls, but hate the insulated Starbucks drinkers who think they're more important than me while screaming down the road at warp speed.

I hate the job and I love the job.

I am the TrekMedic.

I am.....a paramedic.