how little i'm trained

today was supposed to be like any other. i take the shuttle from cpmc (california pacific medical center) to the bart station and then i take muni home. except...today...

at one of the stops, a homeless man in a wheelchair came onto the train. i was standing right in the front behind the driver watching the train drive through the tunnel, listening to my music. he was a very friendly guy, talking to the elderly sitting in the front and telling me i wasn't in his way because he wasn't getting off until later. so, i just keep listening to my music. until i notice that he's stretching for an awfully long time...and hitting his head against the glass...shaking... OH MY GOSH! HE'S HAVING A SEIZURE!

i quickly tell the driver to call for help, that this man is having a seizure. then i scream into the train, IS THERE A DOCTOR ON THE TRAIN? no response...quiet... i then turn towards the man and kneel down to see if he has regained consiousness. a very quite but strong elderly lady sitting nearby pulls me back and shakes her head at me angrily. while i tell her that it's okay, that i know what i'm doing, she still gives me angry shakes and keeps pulling me back. i shake free of her (we're at the stop now) and call 911 right away. meanwhile, muni has been called and the paramedics are on the way.

(not verbatim)
911: 911, what is your emergency?
me: i'm on the L train stopped at the west portal station and there's a man here who just had a seizure.
911: is he currently still having a seizure?
me: no, it looks like he has stopped seizing.
911: how old is he? can you tell how old he is?
me: i can't tell, but the muni people here say he's 60 years old.
911: is he consious?
me: his eyes are closed and he's breathing, the muni people are trying to talk to him (muni person: he's listening to what i'm saying, but he's not responding)
911: if you can, try to get him to lie to his side so that he doesn't choke on anything.
me asking muni: can we turn him to his side?
muni: it's best we leave him where he is. we know him, he's had multiple episodes on the trains.

when i leave the station, the paramedics are already on their way and the muni people have assured me that he'll be in good hands. but, i can't help but think how ill prepared i was for this emergency situation. i'm almost done with 4 years of schooling and i can't help a man who seized right in front of me. i kept wondering if i should have checked for a medical bracelet or if i should have looked for anti-seizure meds in his bags.

but, as one of my friends put it: "don't feel bad. on the other hand, once we get into residency and are code trained and have IV meds nearby, then you'd TOTALLY be all over it."

away again

it has been quite a while since we last posted anything. so, rather than blabbing on, let's just get straight to our vacation adventures.

for christmas, we headed down south to san diego to spend time with gladys and duke. that's when we first found out that gladys is expecting! yay!!! eugene and i will be uncle and aunt! :) the day after we arrived, we drove up north again, to sequoia national park for a few days of fun in the snow. it was absolutely freezing up there, but the gorgeous view made up for the cold. we went snow shoe-ing among the giant sequoias and found out that there were fleas in the snow (ew!). we also went to see the oldest tree, the general sherman. it was so relaxing up there not having to worry about school or anything else. :)

the day after christmas, eugene and i headed to the san diego wild animal park. the sun was out and blasting, but we were still pretty cold. eugene really enjoyed seeing the gorillas and i had fun pretending to be a flamingo.

recently, we made our way to the california academy of science in golden gate park. we attempted to go the first weekend it opened (it was free the first day), but we got stuck in traffic on the way there and then were informed by our friends that the way to get in was over 2 hours! so, we waited and waited for a good weekend to go and we finally made it! it was spectacular inside! the rain forest globe that we walked around was really warm, but the different types of animals and reptiles and insects we saw inside were truly amazing. here are some pictures of what we saw...we liked the spider-man frog the best! :)