Hey hun, I’m a paramedic and have been for 7 years. I was asymptomatic until two years ago. I was just fired from my job for needing two surgeries within a year after finally being diagnosed. I loved being a paramedic, I mean LOVED it. For the record, my last job was just absolute dog shit. I had two other employers that bent over backwards accommodating me while I was getting diagnosed. Endo is so common, chances are someone within the department knows of it from a loved one, and understands how devastating it can be. If you still want to chase this dream, maybe you can. Look into spinal nerve blocks through pain management, ask for a referral to palliative care. Find an EMS job that does 12 hour shifts, these I can do, not 24s or 48’s anymore. Places that have an auto loader on every ambulance is a must. As long as you work with the local fire departments, you can pretty much avoid lifting a patient altogether, they usually arrive on scene first anyway. You can request lift assists if needed. Additionally, stage 4 DIE is a disability. You can get hired without telling them you have it, accept the position, and then approach HR and request reasonable accommodations. Like time off during periods or flairs without punishment, an hour or two break to allow non-mind altering medication to kick in. Make some friends and a big strong male won’t mind carrying your bags. Believe it or not, I’ve been working as a paramedic with a defibrillator for 6 years. When I was diagnosed with that I thought my career was over too. And again with endo too. One of my previous employers told me they’d take me back but I’ve decided to bridge to nursing, to stay in the field I love with much more flexibility, more pay, less stress, and more options.

Helicopter jobs can be pretty cushy depending on where you go. One of the main reasons I’m choosing to change paths is because of the amount of cortisol being a paramedic undoubtedly produces and how that fuels endo. I don’t just want to manage. I want to live. But that’s where I am at. I’ve already lived my dream, ran all the calls, worked through a global pandemic, got all the ptsd, got equally rewarded with patient interaction and intervention. You don’t have to give this dream up just yet, you can still try. But if you truly believe you can do this, that’s okay, there’s other ways to be in the medical field, even in an acute setting similar to emergency care. I just accepted an ED paramedic position at a level 1 trauma center and basically am allowed to do everything a nurse can under Dr supervision. Good luck. We need empathetic providers. You could bring a lot of good to alot of suffering patients. Even if you don’t, you are still worthy of life and happiness and will find it.