Over a month in....

I have been in Paramedic class over a month now and we are almost through the first book in the Brady Series. Acid Base balance and the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems were not my friends. I have pushed through them all, and so far so well. We finally got into some skills. IV access and ET tubes. IVs not a problem for me, working as a phlebotomist has given me one up on the majority of my classmates. All the times, that I thought they were so much different then drawing blood, the initial process of finding a vein and inserting the needle and IV itself aren't that different. Yay, for me! We also did our fist ET tubes, last night with "Fred the Head." Why is it, that the infant and pediatric, and laying down with the trauma patient were easy, but I struggled a lot with the normal adult? I eventually got it, but wasn't till after a bunch of slaps on the wrists for bending my wrist back which would essentially break teeth. The process of intubating a patient was rather simple, however I know that there are many factors that make it harder in the "real world." Since last night was our first night, I know a lot more practice is ahead of me, just sometimes you want to be able to catch on just as quick as your classmates, no one wants to be left behind or not as competent. I'm excited though, there have been some toughs times, and material I feel like I haven't grasped, but then we quiz on it and I think wow, I knew more then I actually thought.  I know I have support of some awesome medic friends and Twitter has been a surprising support. Its crazy that a people on a social site are so willing to help, kind of makes you jealous at times that you cant always find that in real life to people you are close to. "Practice the way you want to play." I got to keep that in mind as I study and work on my skills, I don't want to fail, failure and dropping out is not an option, I'll have to do everything I can to obtain the goal I have set for myself that is now down to 13 months away... Stay Tuned...