Oropharyngeal airways, ukemi, and towels.
My week and a half of stress has come to an end this afternoon.
Going into my First Aid test with nowhere near as much studying this time round; feeling I had to either live up to and exceed the 96% written and 100% practical that I had received two years previous, or at least not completely and horribly bomb the test.
The written part of the exam started at 10 am. I elected to wake up at 6am, ready myself, and head over to the Starbucks a block away from St. John's Ambulance shortly before 8 am to get some studying done. This gave me time to wake up, to go over things I wanted to review, go over things I hadn't even read yet, and generally give myself time to work up a good amount of pre-test nausea.
Once it neared 10am, and my stomach felt it was sufficiently housing a herd of garden gnomes doing backflips, I headed on down to meet four of my fellow classmates for the written exam.
Now the written exam, providing you know your stuff, is pretty easy. Actually, it would be a feat to manage to fail it. Comprised of fifty questions, each one worth 2%.
It probably wasn't a good idea to not double check my answers under the reasoning of not wanting to second guess myself. Perhaps if I had I would have noticed the question where I managed to shade in "D" when I was aiming for "C". Or perhaps I would have noticed the wording for a few questions that led me to believe the scenario involved an angina attack, as opposed to "dust inhalation", to which it was supposedly referring.
Or mayhaps I should have had the answer memorized that I specifically got wrong two years ago when I did the test. 'Cause dammit! I got it wrong again.
I suppose I shouldn't complain about 90%. But I get frustrated knowing I made silly mistakes.
The second part of the test started at 1pm. The five of us had done decently on the written, but it's the practical that's the killer. We bumped into the group of our classmates who tested the practical before us. At least two of the six from that group had failed.
So guess who got the first scenario. That's right kiddies. All eyes on me. No pressure, but by the way that guy right there was thrown off of an ATV going downhill and hit his head on a log and has a serious avulsion going down his right leg. Here's a photo of what it looks like. Now....GO! And don't screw up!
Scene 1: The Major non-Rapid Transit.
It was actually nice to get one scenario over with right away, even though that's the scenario I lost points for. Improper packaging, or lack thereof. Hey, the ambulance was on the way, they were just going to take off the bandage any way right? Okay, I was stressed. But it only lost me 5%.
The four hours in that room were pretty stressful. It was painful watching some of my classmates who were drawing blanks in some of their situations. Somehow it's easy to know what you are supposed to do when you are watching. For some reason, being the attendant, with a patient lying in front of you, and an examiner looking over your shoulder yelling "He's not breathing! Attempted ventilation does NOT go in!", can make you a little shaky.
However, I only lost that first 5%. I'm sure if my examiner wanted to she could have nitpicked another percent or two off of me, but overall, I rawked!
Other than ATV head injury avulsion man, I had three other scenarios to pass.
Next I got to play with the Annie doll.
Scene 2: Annie; CPR and Airway Control. "First Aid to the board room we found Annie lying on the floor not breathing!"
Wheee! Poor Annie. Two of my classmates managed to kill her today.
I run up yelling at Annie. "Wake the #$@! up!!" (okay, maybe not). No answer? Alrighty, ambulance please with sugar? Thank you muchly. Not breathing. Alrighty, I'll breathe for her. Doesn't go in. Hmmm. Re-adjust, try again....doesn't go in. Damnit Annie. Measure and insert oral airway. Attempt ventilation. Still won't go in..so take that out. Fine. I'm going to pound the #$@! out of your chest. How'd you like that?
Finally got her to pop out a candy. But will she breathe for me....nooooooo. Air goes in, air goes in...no pulse.
Thanks Annie. Thanks a bunch.
Let us start CPR shall we. What's that? Ambulance caught in traffic. Fine, I'll just put in the oral airway and hook up oxygen all by my lonesome in between breaths and compressions. Still stuck in traffic? FINE. I'll just set up a bag valve mask, fill it with oxygen and switch to that, between breaths and compressions.
Piece of cake. No really Annie. Just relax.
Scene 3: The Major Rapid Transport. "Hey um, we found Mandy on her chair slumped over, drooling and mumbling. You're the first aid attendant right? Dooooooo something!"
This one was pretty easy. Although since we practice mostly traumas and usually find unconscious people on the ground it may have thrown someone else for a loop. But for me this was a gift of a scenario.
Scene 4: The Walk In. "Hi there," *hobble hobble hobble* "I twisted my ankle going down the stairs...". Score for me. I love tensoring sprains. My tensor wraps are works of art. All this after my scene assessment, primary survey, and modified head to toe Circulatory, Sensory, and Motor assessment, of course.
Apart from that let me see.
I got to see my Kimlett this friday! Her, my main man, and myself went to the opening night of Hitchhiker's Guide.
I loved the fellow they had playing Zaphod. Thought he did a wonderful job with the script he was given. Trillian on the other hand, not so much. I kinda wanted her to die off or disappear. I've read reviews that seem to imply that she is a very nice specimen of the female gender. Perhaps if I had a penis I would have enjoyed her acting.
She just seemed a bit too stupid for someone who was supposed to have a degree in astrophysics, and a bit to indecisive for someone who is supposed to be so spontaneous she wanted to up and move to Madagascar and/or outerspace. Sounds nitpicky? Yeah. I think I just didn't like her.
Kimlett pointed out we didn't bring towels. And then I was sad. I had also wanted to bring some bobble antennae that I had. But, oh well. Technically I should have been home studying like a fiend. That's my excuse for being forgetful.
Doot doot, what else? Ah. Aikido starts back up in...er, two weeks? I'm currently suffering from withdrawal. Who would have thought that being thrown around and put in painful joint locks would be so darn addicting?
I stopped by the Maple Ridge Aikido club.
They allowed me to join them for a class (also when I should have been studying instead). This club is a different style from my own. I tried to emulate it as best I could. They seemed to focus on different things training wise. Terminology is different, and I was surprised to find back rolls were frequently used to get out of techniques and throws, whereas our club does lots more ground slapping and considers backrolls a bit more advanced. I will definitely try to backroll more out of throws when I go back to my club. Plus, it just plain looks cooler :)
I think a reason (and I found this out the hard way) that they backroll more often, is that they don't throw the attackers as hard or as fast. So, meanwhile, I'm throwing this blackbelt girl to the ground and she's all "No, you have to give your partner time to adjust or they'll just hit the ground". I'm thinking yeah, they're supposed to hit the ground. Well, oops on my part.
I enjoyed the difference in styles and teaching techniques. I think training in this other style will help me answer questions that linger in my mind from my style, since their approach to receive the the same result is so different. Hopefully I'll get to stop by the Maple Ridge club before the new semester starts up.
That's the end of my long ranty post I suppose. Lots of house cleaning for me to do tomorrow morning. Hooray!
FIN.
Going into my First Aid test with nowhere near as much studying this time round; feeling I had to either live up to and exceed the 96% written and 100% practical that I had received two years previous, or at least not completely and horribly bomb the test.
The written part of the exam started at 10 am. I elected to wake up at 6am, ready myself, and head over to the Starbucks a block away from St. John's Ambulance shortly before 8 am to get some studying done. This gave me time to wake up, to go over things I wanted to review, go over things I hadn't even read yet, and generally give myself time to work up a good amount of pre-test nausea.
Once it neared 10am, and my stomach felt it was sufficiently housing a herd of garden gnomes doing backflips, I headed on down to meet four of my fellow classmates for the written exam.
Now the written exam, providing you know your stuff, is pretty easy. Actually, it would be a feat to manage to fail it. Comprised of fifty questions, each one worth 2%.
It probably wasn't a good idea to not double check my answers under the reasoning of not wanting to second guess myself. Perhaps if I had I would have noticed the question where I managed to shade in "D" when I was aiming for "C". Or perhaps I would have noticed the wording for a few questions that led me to believe the scenario involved an angina attack, as opposed to "dust inhalation", to which it was supposedly referring.
Or mayhaps I should have had the answer memorized that I specifically got wrong two years ago when I did the test. 'Cause dammit! I got it wrong again.
I suppose I shouldn't complain about 90%. But I get frustrated knowing I made silly mistakes.
The second part of the test started at 1pm. The five of us had done decently on the written, but it's the practical that's the killer. We bumped into the group of our classmates who tested the practical before us. At least two of the six from that group had failed.
So guess who got the first scenario. That's right kiddies. All eyes on me. No pressure, but by the way that guy right there was thrown off of an ATV going downhill and hit his head on a log and has a serious avulsion going down his right leg. Here's a photo of what it looks like. Now....GO! And don't screw up!
Scene 1: The Major non-Rapid Transit.
It was actually nice to get one scenario over with right away, even though that's the scenario I lost points for. Improper packaging, or lack thereof. Hey, the ambulance was on the way, they were just going to take off the bandage any way right? Okay, I was stressed. But it only lost me 5%.
The four hours in that room were pretty stressful. It was painful watching some of my classmates who were drawing blanks in some of their situations. Somehow it's easy to know what you are supposed to do when you are watching. For some reason, being the attendant, with a patient lying in front of you, and an examiner looking over your shoulder yelling "He's not breathing! Attempted ventilation does NOT go in!", can make you a little shaky.
However, I only lost that first 5%. I'm sure if my examiner wanted to she could have nitpicked another percent or two off of me, but overall, I rawked!
Other than ATV head injury avulsion man, I had three other scenarios to pass.
Next I got to play with the Annie doll.
Scene 2: Annie; CPR and Airway Control. "First Aid to the board room we found Annie lying on the floor not breathing!"
Wheee! Poor Annie. Two of my classmates managed to kill her today.
I run up yelling at Annie. "Wake the #$@! up!!" (okay, maybe not). No answer? Alrighty, ambulance please with sugar? Thank you muchly. Not breathing. Alrighty, I'll breathe for her. Doesn't go in. Hmmm. Re-adjust, try again....doesn't go in. Damnit Annie. Measure and insert oral airway. Attempt ventilation. Still won't go in..so take that out. Fine. I'm going to pound the #$@! out of your chest. How'd you like that?
Finally got her to pop out a candy. But will she breathe for me....nooooooo. Air goes in, air goes in...no pulse.
Thanks Annie. Thanks a bunch.
Let us start CPR shall we. What's that? Ambulance caught in traffic. Fine, I'll just put in the oral airway and hook up oxygen all by my lonesome in between breaths and compressions. Still stuck in traffic? FINE. I'll just set up a bag valve mask, fill it with oxygen and switch to that, between breaths and compressions.
Piece of cake. No really Annie. Just relax.
Scene 3: The Major Rapid Transport. "Hey um, we found Mandy on her chair slumped over, drooling and mumbling. You're the first aid attendant right? Dooooooo something!"
This one was pretty easy. Although since we practice mostly traumas and usually find unconscious people on the ground it may have thrown someone else for a loop. But for me this was a gift of a scenario.
Scene 4: The Walk In. "Hi there," *hobble hobble hobble* "I twisted my ankle going down the stairs...". Score for me. I love tensoring sprains. My tensor wraps are works of art. All this after my scene assessment, primary survey, and modified head to toe Circulatory, Sensory, and Motor assessment, of course.
Apart from that let me see.
I got to see my Kimlett this friday! Her, my main man, and myself went to the opening night of Hitchhiker's Guide.
I loved the fellow they had playing Zaphod. Thought he did a wonderful job with the script he was given. Trillian on the other hand, not so much. I kinda wanted her to die off or disappear. I've read reviews that seem to imply that she is a very nice specimen of the female gender. Perhaps if I had a penis I would have enjoyed her acting.
She just seemed a bit too stupid for someone who was supposed to have a degree in astrophysics, and a bit to indecisive for someone who is supposed to be so spontaneous she wanted to up and move to Madagascar and/or outerspace. Sounds nitpicky? Yeah. I think I just didn't like her.
Kimlett pointed out we didn't bring towels. And then I was sad. I had also wanted to bring some bobble antennae that I had. But, oh well. Technically I should have been home studying like a fiend. That's my excuse for being forgetful.
Doot doot, what else? Ah. Aikido starts back up in...er, two weeks? I'm currently suffering from withdrawal. Who would have thought that being thrown around and put in painful joint locks would be so darn addicting?
I stopped by the Maple Ridge Aikido club.
They allowed me to join them for a class (also when I should have been studying instead). This club is a different style from my own. I tried to emulate it as best I could. They seemed to focus on different things training wise. Terminology is different, and I was surprised to find back rolls were frequently used to get out of techniques and throws, whereas our club does lots more ground slapping and considers backrolls a bit more advanced. I will definitely try to backroll more out of throws when I go back to my club. Plus, it just plain looks cooler :)
I think a reason (and I found this out the hard way) that they backroll more often, is that they don't throw the attackers as hard or as fast. So, meanwhile, I'm throwing this blackbelt girl to the ground and she's all "No, you have to give your partner time to adjust or they'll just hit the ground". I'm thinking yeah, they're supposed to hit the ground. Well, oops on my part.
I enjoyed the difference in styles and teaching techniques. I think training in this other style will help me answer questions that linger in my mind from my style, since their approach to receive the the same result is so different. Hopefully I'll get to stop by the Maple Ridge club before the new semester starts up.
That's the end of my long ranty post I suppose. Lots of house cleaning for me to do tomorrow morning. Hooray!
FIN.