The WM & WMH left for Brisbane on day one of my two day Senior First Aid course which was a very intensive 8.30am - 4.30pm with a half hour for lunch on the dot two days. It was intensive as the training was delivered by being talked at as the trainer read off notes that were on overhead at the same time, followed by LOTS of role play with bandaging, checking scenarios out of mayhem using the DRABCD steps to aid recovery of same. DRABCD you ask - well let me tell you, being SENIOR first aid, I have gone up several notches from the ABC of old regarding CPR and now am able to administer a defribulator and oxygen (be afraid, lol) which is the extra D at the end. I tell you, am not far away from open heart surgery, except I do not do icky bits, do not do well at the sight of blood, definitely do not do needles, so the short version is do NOT need first aid in front of me, lol. I was fine when it was A for check airways, B for breathing and C for CPR and the idea if anyone ever needed CPR they were already dead, so anything you did was a bonus ( I always liked the idea of dialling 111 for help, lol).
So, the first D is for Danger - make sure it is safe for you to assist (hmmmm does the icky bits count here?), R means are they responsive - which means are they breathing and or conscious, A good old airways - check they are open, (if all good go straight to rescue position and that has a few new bits in it as well, lol), B is for 2 breaths, and C 30 chest compressions followed by another 2 breaths. This is about the third or fourth permutation of doing CPR that I have learned since having to do these courses, it amazes me that anyone gets saved at all. The last D is for Defibrillator - woohoo (have to be non-responsive to use this machine of course - the patient I mean, lol). Of course everyone carries around a spare tank of oxygen with them - ya think - but it would seem more and more serious workplaces will have one in fact and oxygen can be applied for anything from a minor wound to death - aiding recovery much faster than anything else we were told! Apparently if you happen to drop said oxygen bottle, it can go off like a torpedo - back to D number one, (laughing lots). Topics covered were injury, suffocation, heart attack, electric shock, anaphalactic shock, massive blood loss, crush injury, abdominal and pelvic injury, sprains, strains and dislocations, broken bones, asthma, chest injuries, burns, poisons, bites and stings, eye and ear injuries, heat stroke, and hypothermia. The other complication is that the emergency number over here is 000, so have to forget 111 and 911 which are the two most common numbers that come to mind. The scenarios involved not only doing CPR practice, and how to approach a real injury scene to ascertain if person is conscious or not, but also bandaging in a host of different ways. At the end of the course we had to sit a test and wonder upon serious wonder, I got 19 out of 20, woohoo. The wrong answer was nothing to do with first aid but a systems question on what to do post giving first aid, and I only answered one part instead of the two part answer. The other comforting thought (not) is, that the trainer reckons you forget 80% of the course after completing it - so am back to using the phone calling in the emergency, lol. The creepiest of course was the spider and snake bite bit, not something I have to worry about when in NZ thank goodness. Cutting the snake bite area and sucking out the poison a la John Wayne is no longer an appropriate response (there are some plusses to this, lol). Placing a dressing over the site with the time the bite occurred and the time you start giving 1st aid written on it followed by applying a pressure immobilisation bandage from bottom of affected limb to lymph area is recommended as well as urgent medical aid. Note to self - at no time swim in the sea in Australia as there are numerous, (well, several) things that can bite and sting with much pain and or death involved. Was told funnel web spiders like lurking just above the water line in swimming pools and dive into the water once it is disturbed so no pools either!
Am not quite flying solo yet at work (not taking drive in orders) but after my first week at work am becoming mildly proficient. The frier has become my particular speciality and have mastered the basket in each hand under the filler machine to the fryer, hitting right buttons and then post cooking, bagging at speed in three different sized receptacles. Was truely tested yesterday when I walked in 15 mins early and went straight to fryer and did not stop to draw breath for another hour and a half while the place went crazy. I received comments of praise from one of the trainers at how I managed during that time so all good. Have also had high praise re my appearance - there is a way you are meant to wear your uniform and I am hitting all the marks. Have not had too many hassles with understanding what people want to order except for the first day on the till on my own. "How can I help you" "I want a large fries and coke" . "Thats fries and coke - do you want a meal with that ?" "No" (notice splendid salesmanship there, lol) ok so just a large fries and coke" "yes" - whereupon I proceeded to get a large fries and coke, rung it off on the till, to look up to an astonished look on said blokes face, only to hear him say once again "I wanted a large ...... and wait for it ........ frozen coke!!!!!! Cue me nearly wetting myself at my interpretation. Oooops, sorry bout that, lost something there in the translation, lol. The other staff thought it was hilarious and got grief from Gerard about my accent again.
I had been taking fruit for lunch to work and this is where the next tooth story comes in. I was reading my book during lunch and biting into a gala apple when there was sort of a crunchier sound than I expected, and once again a feeling of something going wrong in the tooth department, when I felt a right hand side bottom molar give way, and ended up with half a tooth in my hand as it broke in half in my mouth. Mercifully once again, there was no pain (except future pain in the wallet being stored up, lol) or blood and guess the old fangs are getting to their use by date - ouch. I can still manage to eat, though somewhat gingerly, on the teeth I have left and am rueing the fact we can not be more like crocodiles or is it sharks, where they can lose a tooth as an adult, and hey presto, there is another one to take its place. I guess there is a dentist out there somewhere working out their retirement plan on what will need to be done.
Whilst the WM and WMH were away in Brisbane, I stayed home though not quite alone with the four kids. One of the Tardun crew came to stay the first four days with her two small boys so it was quite a household and I was extremely greatful that she was back up while I had the two day first aid course and worked the weekend. Of course the next two days own my own (and working) had one of the boys off school Monday and the other on Tuesday - both unwell. Luckily they were able to spend the day with Claire and I did the night shift once I got back from work. Monday was the first day I worked full time, and I thought I was going to die as my feet were on fire up to my calves. I could barely cope with driving home, then had to drop one of the girls up to netball practice and pick her up and hour later. I am pleased to say by Thursday I was in much better shape, and on Saturday worked an extra hour woohoo without being utterly crippled by the end of the shift. It has been a shock to the body to be vertical for hours at a time after a year of doing a lot of sitting about, lol and being opposite to its preferred horizontal state lying on a couch or on a lounger outside, or on the floor in front of the heater (in NZ) reading a book. I wonder how I used to waitress for much the same amount of time in high heels!!!!!!! and then go and dance for several hours after that. Ah youth!!!!!! lol as Oscar Wilde once said, is wasted on the young!
Hope everyone has a Happy Easter and its back to NZ next week until the 24th April.
2 comments:
Oooooh - you've got your first dots on your visitors' map. I think it goes back to June 2009 because that's when you registered but never uploaded it to your blog until now. It should bump up quite nicely now.
Thanks for that :):)
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