stony karkhe/him. anarchist/anti-capitalist. former senior computer toucher, current primary care paramedic student, privacy advocate, sometimes hockey goalie. married, 2 cats, out of fucks.
posts do not represent the views of any employer, institution or entity besides Me, Myself and I, Inc. posts are also not medical advice, talk to your/a doctor and consider my toots either fun bonus knowledge or dangerous misinformation
stony karkJust a bit of a CW that I occasionally talk about sensitive issues (suicide, mental health, violence, etc) in follower-only posts. Posting about my experiences as a paramedic (and mental-health-condition-haver) helps me process stuff. I don't always flag things with CWs appropriately (I forget often), so reader beware.
stony karkJust a bit of a CW that I occasionally talk about sensitive issues (suicide, mental health, violence, etc) in follower-only posts. Posting about my experiences as a paramedic (and mental-health-condition-haver) helps me process stuff. I don't always flag things with CWs appropriately (I forget often), so reader beware.
stony karkFor me (so far) it’s the best combination of stimuli. You can focus solely on one thing (the patient) for the whole call. You have magic potions like naloxone and D50W which can turn someone who looks a like a corpse back to a living, screaming human in like 2 minutes. You’re useful even if there’s nothing you can do. It’s obvs not all good things, but if you have the right attitude and support network it can be a really fulfilling career.
stony karkThe medic who told my class, hauntingly, that if we didn’t cry on practicum there was something wrong with us was right. I have. You don’t know how certain calls will affect you until they happen. But, emotions aren’t weakness (ok maybe anger is). It means you care. No matter what you do in life, never apologize for giving a shit.
stony karkSitting at your desk today, in your cosy or shitty office, you hear sirens and see an ambulance whip down the street. For a brief moment you stop thinking about the quarterly business numbers in front of you and wonder “What that’s like?”. As a recovering cubicle dweller now in the final/practical portion of paramedic school, let me tell you, it’s pretty fuckin wild.
stony karkFor me (so far) it’s the best combination of stimuli. You can focus solely on one thing (the patient) for the whole call. You have magic potions like naloxone and D50W which can turn someone who looks a like a corpse back to a living, screaming human in like 2 minutes. You’re useful even if there’s nothing you can do. It’s obvs not all good things, but if you have the right attitude and support network it can be a really fulfilling career.
stony karkSitting at your desk today, in your cosy or shitty office, you hear sirens and see an ambulance whip down the street. For a brief moment you stop thinking about the quarterly business numbers in front of you and wonder “What that’s like?”. As a recovering cubicle dweller now in the final/practical portion of paramedic school, let me tell you, it’s pretty fuckin wild.
stony karkI figured it out yall. Trump is adding a $200 million ballroom to fulfil his real goal, holding underage “beauty pageants” without having to fly allllllll the way to Epstein island
stony karkCodeberg, this is your very early warning that I will abandon your platform and encourage anyone within earshot to do the same if you ever take VC money or seek acquisition. You seem like good people with the right ideas so I really hope it doesn’t come to that. GitHub was similar, once.
stony karkIf you’re a tech nerd who loves diving down weird rabbit holes and hates the work they do, medicine is really cool field to dive into. I won’t be very specific because even once I get licensed the particular med my preceptor and I discussed is out of my scope, but there’s this concept of a “ladder” in regards to dosing some medications where less is actually more “dangerous”. For someone who only knew computer shit before this all blows my mind.
stony karkI never worked for a team in tech where we’d talk about how we feel, about much of anything really. This crew is quite close and I can see how doing so has made them better practitioners.
stony karkAnyways, hug your kids/cats/dogs/etc. Don’t go to bed angry. Modern emergency medicine gives you a hell of a fighting chance, but sometimes it’s just your time to go.
stony karkIt gives me hope that I won’t be turned into a hollow shell after a few years on the road. As an example, first cardiac arrest yesterday. We worked the person until it was clear we weren’t going to be successful, called it on-scene. Sometimes there’s nothing anyone can do. Everyone asked me how I am this morning, and not as like “hey you’re good right bro?”. They know those calls can break someone, even an experienced pro.
stony karkI never worked for a team in tech where we’d talk about how we feel, about much of anything really. This crew is quite close and I can see how doing so has made them better practitioners.
stony karkNot that no one cared about anything at all in tech, I had the privilege of working with and for some great people. I’ve grown to hate a lot of what we did, but for the most part these were kind and caring humans. My new colleagues have seen the worst that humanity has to offer for years, decades even, but despite all that trauma they haven’t become totally numb to human suffering.
stony karkIt gives me hope that I won’t be turned into a hollow shell after a few years on the road. As an example, first cardiac arrest yesterday. We worked the person until it was clear we weren’t going to be successful, called it on-scene. Sometimes there’s nothing anyone can do. Everyone asked me how I am this morning, and not as like “hey you’re good right bro?”. They know those calls can break someone, even an experienced pro.