you never know

so...tonight i said i would stay an extra 4 hours b/c the girl who works the midnight shift called off. so i'm here til 3am...which is just over 40 minutes away. i worked with one woman my whole shift, but she was to leave at 12:30am. luckily she was nice enough to help me with my first case 'alone'...it was a patient being rushed in for cardiac arrest. and not to give too much info...the man was DOA. i had to register him, with the wife giving me info..while she's freaking out b/c she just wants to know if he is gonna make it. he's dead. she had a baby no older than 3 months and it's christmas. it just makes me so sick.

working here really makes me think about life and death...of driving safely and being careful. even though this wasn't a auto accident, most of the traumas we get are auto related. you never know. these people come in here having gotten up early in the morning, thinking that this was gonna be another day, just like all the others. one couple was quietly eating dinner at Bob Evans and a car drove through the restaurant and practically ran them over. freak accident, yes, but it still happened, and to the ER they come, their whole worlds upside down.

for me being a 'quick' driver...it makes me think. mostly it makes me remember extra hard to put my seatbelt on, and be sure to be an alert driver. but it's all sobering and somber.

beyond that. it's almost 3am, and i'm not very coherent anymore. i hope my replacement walks through the door soon so i can go home and let my pooch out..it's been a long day for him too!!