I’ll be at EMS Expo in Dallas from Wednesday through Friday, hanging out, catching a session or two, and meeting fans while I’m there.

I’ll be at the Zoll podcasting booth in the exhibit hall on Wednesday, sitting in on MedicCast with Jamie Davis at 3:00 pm, and with Greg Friese of EMS EduCast a 4:00 pm.

Wednesday night, you can find me and a whole bunch of other EMS bloggers at Gator’s Croc & Roc for the JEMS Fire/EMS Blogger Meetup. Come on out and share a brew and a few tall tales with your favorite EMS bloggers!

Thursday at noon I’ll be hanging out with the EMS Garage guys, and at 3:00 pm I’ll be at the JEMS booth meeting and greeting fans. If you’ve got a copy of my book, bring it by and I’ll sign it, and if you don’t, swing by the National EMS Museum booth (#341) and buy one!

Thursday night at 8:00 pm CST, EMS Newbie Ron Davis and I will be guests on the Dr. Anonymous Show, so be sure to call in with your comments or questions.

In between, you can probably find me at the EMS1.com booth (#3215) or the National EMS Museum booth (#341).

Ya’ll look me up!

She was one of my first blogchildren.

She doubts herself.

She wonders if she’ll be able to handle the Big Bad Call, when or if one finally comes her way. Sometimes she obsesses about it.

She doesn’t think she knows enough.

She struggles with striking a balance between compassion and professional distance. And sometimes, she falls on the wrong side of feeling too much. Yet somehow, she still manages to do the job, no matter how much she cried or how much her hands shook as she was doing it.

She takes crap from her coworkers and past employers that she really shouldn’t. I’m constantly telling her to stand up for herself.

She calls at odd hours of the night, seeking reassurance or wanting an answer to a technical question. Sometimes she wants to talk about a particularly bad call, or a good one. And she has this maddening habit of apologizing for the contact, despite my having told her a thousand times that i don’t mind. In fact, I’m honored.

And sometimes I give her that reassurance, and tell her that she did okay. Other times, I plant my foot in her ass and tell her to suck it up and pull up her big girl panties and start acting like a medic.

And she tries to play like a badass and snarl back, hoping that will impress me. But on the Threat Scale, she ranks somewhere between garden slugs and baby ducks. She might be able to whip the Snuggle fabric softener bear, two falls out of three. Maybe.

She always seems surprised that I’ll answer my phone when I see her number on the caller ID. . She’ll IM me, and then sign out before I get a chance to respond. And sometimes she wonders why I put up with her at all.

Well, this is why.

They don’t teach that in paramedic school. Either you have it, or you don’t.

… and you can find him over at Life, Up Close and Personal: EMS On the Streets.

I’ve participated on a few podcasts with Medic 33. He’s a sharp guy, and I look forward to reading his stuff.

Y’all go welcome him to the blogosphere, and add him to your blogrolls!

As Mostly Cajun is fond of saying, “Not only will electricity kill you, you’ll hurt real bad the whole time you’re dying.”

I just had the privilege of caring for a man who, as he put it, “Took a crash course in high voltage about 20 years ago, and flunked miserably.”

He was erecting a derrick over an irrigation well, and raised the derrick straight into a line carrying 2600 volts. The plasma ball blew off both legs and his right arm, mangled the other arm, and burned a hole in his chest where his pocket calculator had been.

He says he remained conscious throughout most of the ordeal, including the quote that is the title of this post, and to confirm what MC says, it did indeed hurt like hell.

He was a funny, boisterous (well, after we got him stabilized*) and cantankerous old coot.

Probably the only reason he survived his encounter. Such things kill lesser men.

*Ever tried to start an IV in someone with no legs, and only one arm that is little more than a twisted mass of scar tissue? I gained some serious street cred with a little volunteer fire department tonight. Kelso, however, just yawned. He’s become so used to seeing me perform such feats, he’s downright blase about it.

Calling 911 for respiratory distress: N/C

Cardiac monitor electrodes: $ 0.35

Calming down an anxiety attack with my impression of Goofy having an orgasm: Priceless.

Once again, from Gay Cynic:

Further, if a bunch of religious sorts whose skin is so thin and faith so fragile that the mere burning of a non-unique volume sends them into a literally violent hissy fit…then, in the same manner we must deal with a rabid dog or a zombie invasion, I suggest the appropriate response to a public hazard of this sort is to fix bayonets and hunt over bait until one runs out of crazies.

RTWT. He’s on a roll today.

… from my buddy Gay Cynic.

All you need do is change a few words around, and that same advice could apply to your heterosexual daughter or son.

It really is all about being a good person, making careful decisions, and treating yourself and others with respect.

27 different medications…

… in 78 different bottles…

… prescribed by 9 different physicians, all of them ER docs at 4 different hospitals.

Of course, none of these doctors talk to each other, many of the medications are redundant, and some of them interact with each other in harmful ways.

In his case, it’s a good thing for him that he’s a non-compliant, substance-abusing drug seeker. If he took all of his other medications as faithfully as he takes his narcotics, he’d be dead.

… Episode 14 of the podcast is up on Confessions of an EMS Newbie.

Ron and I discuss his entry into paramedic school, why you should choose an accredited paramedic program if you can, and also answer the age-old question, “Should I go straight into paramedic school, or get some street experience first?”

What was our answer? Well, you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out. It’s Confessions of an EMS Newbie, the only podcast known to cure erectile dysfunction and sagging boobs.

Never, ever say, “I’m just an EMT-B.”

If it falls your lot to be a street cleaner, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry, sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, ‘here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.’

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never, ever say, “I’m just an EMT-B.”

Your certification may be entry level…

… but that level is the most important one, by far.

Take pride in your work, and be proud of what you are.

Among the other new additions to the JEMS FireEMS blog network is Prehospital 12-Lead ECG, by Tom Bouthillet.

I’ve probably known Tom (at least in cyberspace) longer than any of the EMS bloggers other than perhaps TOTWTYTR, having interacted with him in various EMS forums for close to 10 years now.

When it comes to 12-lead EKG interpretation and knowledge of cardiology, I’m no slouch, but Tom Bouthillet is the cardiology geek I want to be when I grow up.

If you don’t have him blogrolled, you should. His blog is one of the best EMS resources out there.

One’s a local prostitute we know by sight. The other looks and acts suspiciously like a john. They’re both drunk. They’ve also both been fighting, which explains our presence here.

One swears they were having sex for money. The other swears she’s his daughter.

The disturbing thing is…

… they’re both telling the truth.

Another gunblogger throws his hat into the ring, and one of his first posts is a thing of beauty.

I ROFl’ed, I really did.

That’s yet another blog added to my Bloglines reader…

On June 5, 2010, an F-4 tornado ripped through Lake Township and Millbury, OH, leveling much of the town, including the EMS station, the police department, and the high school.

Several people lost their lives.

And after the devastation, the people have have struggled to put their lives and homes back together.

Enter Kohl’s department stores, and their Kohl’s Cares program,which is giving $500,000 to twenty different high schools. The top 20 vote-getters receive the money, and voting ends tomorrow at midnight.

Epijunky has the details. Vote NOW, and tell your friends.

Thanks.