Woah! Way too much to do!

I had a blast at drill and I got together my entire 72-hour pack and I am now working on the required FEMA training.

But, classes are beginning to become busier. One teacher wants us to have a discussion and answer done in the middle of the week and then an assignment and quiz by the end of it. It's like, I miss those online classes where you could do everything at one time. But, oh well. The hardest part of this class will be scheduling the exams.

Today is Matthew and I's three months. Doesn't sound like much to most people but it has been a wonderful three months. Then, there's the Bensley Ball this Saturday. I totally forgot about it until yesterday when Matthew reminded me.

So, busy, busy, and more busy. I won't give up on you though blog! When I have some free time I'll talk about the topics in English that they want us to come up with.

You asked me if I am saved, well what's it to ya?

There is no song artist that I love more than Everlast or Erik Schrody. I love his music because it's real. I wouldn't suggest it for children, teenagers a little, but mostly for adults.

But, his song got me to thinking. From what we can physically see, we all leave this Earth and we are all unaware of what truly happens. Regardless of what bible or text tells you where you go, you are still unaware. But, faith lends us to believe in the afterlife.

I just wonder what a day without religion would be like. Would it be lost and hopeless? Anyways, this video is for the stronghearted. Don't click here if you can't see dead bodies or anything. Good song though. 

Letters Home from the Garden Stone...

Matthew may not know this but, every single day I think of him being deployed. Every. Single. Day. I feel sick to my stomach thinking that he would go to that prison of a 3rd world country. The one place the women of military men do not go are war zones. But, for him, ... I'd join. People don't appreciate the magnitude of what soldiers deal wtih on a daily basis.

Hoorah.

She always dreamt of a fairytale life and all the things your money can't buy.

I always dreamed of a life where I would be appreciated in the community. I wanted the fame not the goods. I wanted to be remembered for all the ways I helped people. I thought Nursing was the top choice for this, beyond Firefighters. Well, then my best friend helped me discover the world of an EMT. An EMT has to think on their toes and be in the fast lane. An EMT has to be prepared for anything. It makes me feel alive, it makes me feel wonderful. It's the adrenaline of a rollercoaster. I love helping people. I love being an (almost) EMT. Volunteering at the rescue squad is awesome. But, all organizations have their dark sides. I can't wait till the day I get to run my own ambulance.

Besides this, while I am daydreaming of my future, I want to be married. I've always dreamed of being married and having children. Trust me, I don't mind my furry kids but it would be nice to have a human child. My other goal is to finish my education. I am leaning more towards a radiologist every single day. I think I want to do Ultrasounds.

But, if none of these things ever happen, I am thankful for the experiences that I have had so far.

Today is just a reflection day for me. I truly don't know what else to say, I just had to say how much I love EMT'n.

GF Lunch today is the same as yesterday. Gotta make sure I utilize my leftovers for money saving!





My Celiac Disease Story

Let's start with my birth. I was a premature baby, weighing in at roughly 4 pounds and 2 ounces. I was born at 7 months as opposed to 9. I was so small my mother used baby doll clothes to dress me at first. I had colic as a baby. I had a full head of hair too and that all fell out and I was left with a new small clump that my mother put bows in. I think the hair thing is relatively normal for babies. As I was growing up, I was a very small child. I had problems with my ears (always needed tubes) and the enamel on my teeth was non-existent. When my teeth first grew in, they were rotting away. My dentist saved them with caps.

People used to think my mother starved me to death. Up until I was 9 years old, when my menstrual started, I was very underweight. At this point, I started gaining weight faster than ever. By the time I was in 5th grade I had to be about 40 pounds overweight. And, by the time I was 16 I was about 60 pounds overweight. Now, here I am at 23 years old and I am roughly 80-90lbs overweight.

Throughout my childhood, and even to this day, my hair constantly falls out. I've had a strong immune system up until around 2003 and rarely got sick. Around this time I caught a flu of some type that put me out for two weeks. The doctors actually didn't lend it to the flu. They couldn't figure out what it was. My mother and I concluded that it was the West Nile virus that was going around as I had been bit by man mosquitoes (it was during the summer break of school.) I was out for at least 2 1/2 weeks. I spent that entire time on the couch, throwing up, with diarrhea, and massive muscular pain. Nothing has been the same since that time. My muscles have never completely healed and I remained pretty strong for the next couple of years but I am starting to see a drop in my health.

Back in 2008-2009 I discovered that I can not have beer. I drank beer on a hot night and I woke up with body chills, shooting body pain, general overall illness and fibromyalgia-like symptoms. In fact, I have been sensitive to touch since I was young. I get angry when people touch me certain ways because it hurts. I had drank beer throughout 2008 and 2009 and each time had the same reaction. I decided to not drink beer anymore but I hadn't thought about any wheat allergy, just a malt allergy. I have also had psychological problems since childhood. I mean early childhood! I was tested for ADHD and was positive. As I got older and gained weight it switched to ADD, and now to bipolar. I was seen for counseling for about 13 years. Nobody lended those symptoms to CD either.

In 2008 or so I met my now best friend Christina. She has Celiac disease and it honestly is one of the first times I'd ever heard of it and had it explained. I constantly tried to find foods (mainstream) that she could eat. I felt sorry for her not being able to eat whatever. Prior to meeting her, in about 2007, I went to the gym vigorously for a whole year and didn't lose any weight! In fact, I gained weight! So here I am at my current state. After meeting Christina I listed all of my symptoms from the weight gain, lack of energy, muscle weakness, weak enamel, bipolar, depression, the acid reflux, the ulcers, and the hietal hernia. Well, it wasn't until I went to the hospital and found out that I had the hernia that I decided to try a gf diet. The doctor did look at my small intestine for CD damage but didn't see any. But, that testing is only about 30% accurate if I am not mistaken.

After I had the diaphragm spasm on me due to the hernia, I knew it was time to go gluten-free. It was a tough battle but I gave it a trial. I took it on full-speed. So, after almost a year being off of gluten, if I eat it now, I throw up and get very sick to my stomach or have a major headache. I have seen improvements in my school-work and in my daily thinking and organization. My mood has improved a lot but unfortunately not all the way, I don't think that it will ever go away completely.

I don't need a doctors opinion to see that I need to be gluten-free. I feel FREE. I feel alive! So this is my journey so far. The one thing I hate the most is smelling wheat. I love the smell of bread, always have. (Never really cared for the taste.) But, I feel more in power now than ever. Now, I am batteling my prediabeties. Wish me luck world, wish me luck!

Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

**I took the test last night and I am confident that I passed the written however I may have failed the practicals. My nerves got the better of me and I couldn't get my calm, collective aura back. I know I failed the KED practical and I WILL be practicing with the BBVRS crew on how to operate one. I haven't ever put one on by myself. It was always myself stuck holding c-spine therefore, never quite getting the full steps. I plan to know this better when I redo it. I will find out all the results next week, mid-week. I am not the only one who's nerves got the better of them. It was a truly stressful night. I had spent 12 hours at the squad the day before until 6 a.m. that morning, went straight to work for 6 hours, and then to the testing site. I didn't get to test my practicals until about 9:30 p.m. and I was truly too tired at that point. I couldn't function and my nerves had an easy go at my heart! But, alas, they allow us up to 90 days to retest the portion failed. I imagine this is a common thing. If we all had a switch for our nerves, our beautiful minds could operate! I am a great EMT, I think on my toes, but I am also a very visual person. The practicals are NOT visual. They are all roleplaying which is the part I find the hardest. Wish me luck on my retest on January 27th! I'll still be running at the squad and practicing. Practice makes perfect!

Emergency Medical Technician (Basic)

This seems to be my current and new path in life. I am still working on becoming a Nurse in the emergency room but, this is my first stop on the medical and life-saving journey. Tonight, is a very big night for myself, and many other students on Chesterfield, VA and surrounding cities. Tonight, we will be taking our EMT-Basic exam. It consists of four parts. The written assement in which you must past 70%, then three scenarios: The Trauma Assessment, the Medical assessment, and the Random Skill which could be anything from splinting, removal of patient from car, controlling bleeding, to airway suctioning. We are evaluated using sheets in which we must gain points. There are critical points in which if we miss certain ones can automatically fail us. According to my teacher, Mr. Nevetral, our nerves will be in 'shock' mode. We will forget our names, we will stumble a little bit, but I have learned that you can do a lot in 10 minutes (per physical assessment) and to take a deep breath, calm my nerves, and get to it! There haven't been too many live scenarios that I have run with Bensley-Bermuda Rescue Squad. I am screaming for the experience but it's been difficult to get hours lately. I plan on becoming affiliated with more than one squad. I feel alive when I can help someone and save someone's life. I love working alongside the firefighters and the paramedics. I feel part of my community and I feel like I am worth something in this life.

Wish me the best of luck on the exam tonight! I ran at the station last night to hopefully have some calls but we had a 'dud' call. We got there and everyone was fine, which is great considering how bad the car looked, but... I could've used some experience and practice.

Christmas Gifts, Pondering my choices in life...

My lovely mother got me an ENTIRE B60 KEURIG COFFEE SET, PLUS A KEURIG CAROUSEL. (Not to mention tons of coffee cups to go with it.) My mother's boyfriend got me a P.F. Chang's $25.00 gift card, yummmieee! And, my best friend Christina got me a $25.00 Bonefish Grill gift card! My little cousin got me an adorable pair of slippers and a nice sweater-shirt. I was dieing to get a pencil pinstripe skrit to go with the top and my lovely boyfriend Matthew decided to buy me the few items I was panting over on Torrid.com. The items come today! It's a floral dress (black), high-heel knee-high boots, a pencil-skirt pinstripe style, and skinny jeans. I am super excited! This was one of the best Christmas's ever.

Besides what I listed above I also got: Ferngully on DVD, Kitten Journals (3-set), gluten-free cookies, hamburger mix, and Chebe pizza mix (omg yum), a purse, a martini set, and leopard TY from my aunt. My boyfriend got me an Army t-shirt and the two items that I picked out during Thanksgiving with his mom which was a chinese bistro set and a scarf. When we went to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens he bought me a beautiful (real) pearl ring.

I really missed Matthew this Christmas and was thankful to have a snow-day with him yesterday. We went to Waffle House for breakfast and then to the bowling alley for three games.

Now that Christmas is over I am trying to plan for my New Year's eve party this friday and for my EMT test on Thursday. I am very nervous about the test as it was rescheduled last time due to snow, and it really would have been nice if it hadn't been. I've been pondering if it was the right time for me to take this class but I suppose it was. Next semester I will be way too busy to take an EMT class plus all my college courses.

So, I was thinking last night of how long it is taking me to get my education. But, I remembered that not everyone is fortunate to have scholarships and a ton of financial support from home. I just truly wish I had better luck when it came to education. Sometimes I feel like an idiot for not having my education completed. But, I plan on getting a degree. I don't care if it is in general or not. I just wish I had the opportunity when I was 19 to live on campus and experience that lifestyle. But, now I have four cats and a lovely boyfriend, I would be too afraid to give up this lifestyle and freedom for a college dorm. Instead I have found other ways to make friendships through EMT'n or college or the Virginia Defense Force.