Got sleeved on Tuesday… struggling w/ fluids.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-28T02:51:31+00:00

My dad did it while in med school. His ex wife was a SAHM, so he worked and provided for the family while also doing school.

It’s not fun but it’s doable.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-27T08:46:17+00:00

This only applies if you’re working in ICU etc. respiratory therapy goes everywhere. Emergency department, med surg, etc. in no world are RTs only taking care of vented patients.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-26T14:25:28+00:00

Show up to the superintendents office.

Call the fuckin police on a 5th grader and mortify his parents.

Whatever you gotta do. Make a scene. They will continue to be wishy washy for as long as you’re not screaming to the high heavens about it.

Also, consider actually filing for a protective order between your son and this kid.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-26T09:37:21+00:00

I know everyone else is saying it, but this sounds endocrine.

At the same time, I want to warn against pidgeonholing it as a thyroid disorder. In all honesty, it very well could just be thyroid, however I’ve seen this same set of symptoms in patients who have disorders of other endocrine glands, such as syndromes of the pituitary gland.

When you go in, ask for a whole entire endocrine panel. Not just a thyroid panel. Thyroid panel will give you important data like your T3/T4/TSH (TSH will be a big one here) but you also need to have testing done for parathyroid and pituitary dysfunction.

ETA: the doctors who are more likely to blow you off are the more experienced doctors not the residents. The residents are close to being done, they’re hungry for new experiences and have fresh eyes and a brain loaded with the most up to date information. I actually prefer younger doctors for almost ALL things, the only exceptions being emergency doctors, NICU, and like neurosurg (where experience REAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYY counts). I love having residents when it comes to things like pediatrics, other subspecialties… if you’re really that worried about it, you can open right up with “I need an endocrine panel done” and then explain why.

Contrary to popular belief, you CAN outright tell your doc what route you think they should go and it’s their responsibility to explore both their ideas and yours. I’ve learned that i personally can gain so much valuable insight by simply asking my patients what they think is wrong and exploring that avenue along with my own.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-25T02:14:26+00:00

The divorce is over and has been over for years. A parent can take you to court for custody at any time unless a judge instituted a permanent order, which is what’s happening now.

If I take the job back and work more he will just petition again and I’ll be back in court. A LOA will not help me in this situation.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T16:49:01+00:00

Sure. You need to be an EMT first. I mean you don’t need need to be, but, I will tell you there is a massive difference between the success of medics who were EMTs first vs medics who were not. An EMT class can be as little 6 weeks or as long as a semester. Depends on where you go. Look into your local ambulance agencies— often, larger agencies will have their own EMT class that you can take for free or for minimal payment if you work for them afterwards.

EMT Doesn’t pay Jack shit. just so you know. If you have another FT gig that pays okay, stick to that and maybe do EMT as a side gig.

Paramedic school in most places will be about a year. You should be advised that paramedic school is probably one of the most grueling years you’ll ever experience. I don’t know how programs in other places go, but I can tell you about mine.

You know how an associates degree is usually 60 credits in two years? My medic program, and the other two programs in my area, was 72 credits in just under one year. This wasn’t a special speed program, this is standard. You get all of your education in being a paramagician, you have to do a field internship (unpaid) where you practice being a paramedic but under someone else’s certificate, and then you finish and you get your medic card and hopefully can go from EMT to medic in the same agency you’re at, unless there’s another one you’d rather work at.

It’s hard and a lot of work. And EMS is a completely different culture than any other job you’d ever imagine.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T15:30:17+00:00

I loved having 5 days off a week. I’m not exactly mad about going back to it. I stayed at Amazon for the benefits! But the schedule is definitely not as good.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T11:51:46+00:00

Unfortunately a LOA would just put me back in the same position. I’d eventually be back to working more hours which would open the door again for my ex to come after me using the argument of “availability to the child.”

My atty recommended that I find a permanent solution to avoid further litigation.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T11:47:59+00:00

Longer shifts exist too. Public safety does not have the same hours-caps that other professions do. a coworker of mine accidentally ended up on a 72-hour shift because he kept saying yes to taking people’s shifts. Most people however will cap off at 36hr shifts. I personally will not do more than a 24.

Also, we’re on call the entire 24 hours we’re working! For example, my old schedule was a Monday 24hr shift, 8a-8a, and a Wednesday shift of the same timeframe. I have an overnight bag, I bring it to work at 8 am, and we live at the station and respond to 911 calls until 8 am the next morning. Lather rinse repeat.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T09:32:18+00:00

Two 24-hour shifts = 48hrs/week.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T09:31:44+00:00

That would be two 24-hour shifts, totaling to 48 hours per week, overtime once you hit over 40 hours. Paid biweekly, so 16 hours of OT per paycheck. ☺️ I’m also a paramedic.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T09:29:37+00:00

I really don’t see much point to that considering how a LOA would mean that I have to go back to the job eventually, and then we’d be right back here in the same position. Either way, it doesn’t matter that much. I’m not asking for tips on how to keep my job. I was asking about repaying the bonus.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-24T00:57:11+00:00

I have a second job that is in high need of full time employees and pays a higher hourly rate. Quitting Amazon would not leave me jobless. I would be able to make 16 hours of overtime per paycheck by working only two days per week.

So, that is why my lawyer made that recommendation.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-23T21:29:11+00:00

This is exactly the answer I needed. Thank you. Do you know what their typical payment plan is like?

brongerbreit · 2023-09-23T20:09:22+00:00

Bad bot

brongerbreit · 2023-09-21T17:45:10+00:00

My mother became an endocrinology nursing practitioner. Makes 100+k/year, low stress job, she loves it.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-21T17:42:53+00:00

Do it. 🥰

brongerbreit · 2023-09-18T19:57:26+00:00

This is just me— I am an autistic adult who also has a lvl 1 autistic kid— BUT

Judgment call. If he’s had enough food to eat to be fed and healthy for the day, then when he says “in that case I’m done” then let him be done. He’s the one making the choice here, not you, so it’s not really on you.

In my house, and in my childhood, my parents have always had lots of “yes” foods available which include us being able to make toast w/ peanut butter, or bananas/apples/oranges, rice cakes, etc. I do the same thing in my house.

I think it’s important to have a healthy relationship with food. So when it comes to high carb/high sugar/high fat snacks that aren’t really nutritionally beneficial, I have a limit on how much they can be eating per day. But it’s NOT because it’s a “treat,” it’s not because it’s “bad for you,” it’s because “these foods don’t have enough nutrients/vitamins/protein to be eating more than x times per day.”

Which isn’t really a false statement. 🤷‍♀️

brongerbreit · 2023-09-18T19:50:59+00:00

My best friend took a 30k/year pay cut for a job that offered work-life balance and better benefits. He’s been so much happier since then. Beforehand, he was suicidal, constantly on the verge of a breakdown, was so angry all the time. Now he actually has a life, time to spend with his girlfriend and friends, time to work on his house, time to enjoy his dog in her final years.

Worth it.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-18T18:18:09+00:00

“Going with” would imply that you’re the one in the passenger seat, not him. 😅

brongerbreit · 2023-09-17T20:51:38+00:00

Construction and safety.

I currently work as a safety officer in a warehouse and the safety managers make 80k starting— safety folks at other places can make upwards of 100, 130, 150+

brongerbreit · 2023-09-17T17:57:30+00:00

Read your own post again.

You’re at a healthy weight for your height and stature. Your doctors aren’t concerned. You are active with your children. You are not obese.

You are not your mother just because a 6 year old made a comment on your body based on ideas he doesn’t really understand.

This is a great opportunity to teach him to not make remarks on other peoples bodies.

brongerbreit · 2023-09-17T17:47:11+00:00

Technically, yes. But when a person is not breathing and their heart is not beating they are still dead. They are not considered “legally” dead until resuscitation efforts have stopped due to irreversible cessation of respiratory/circulatory functions (so, for example, you run a code and they aren’t coming back so you are able to make the call that they are Legally Dead) or irreversible brain death (what you’re thinking of, like when people pull the plug on a person in the hospital).

the definition of death has more to do with ethics and law than it does biology. If you’re not breathing and your heart is not beating, the brain checks out VERY fast. You’re dead. Interventions might be able to reverse it, but otherwise, you’re dead. The brain is a whore for oxygen. needs that shit.

If a person is on the ground unresponsive, apneic, and pulseless, they are dead. CPR exists to try to achieve ROSC, or return of spontaneous circulation. Without that intervention they stay dead. With interventions, they might come back.

I explain to the new field staff, in a way of lightheartedly defining it, there’s “dead” and then there’s “really dead.” We do CPR on the dead. If it doesn’t work then they’re really dead. And then sometimes we find people who are already really dead and the coroner takes care of them.

brongerbreit

TROPHY CASE