Time for another of my now famously infrequent posts.  Finished paramedic last year and felt the urging to seek more training.  Spent the last three semesters taking prerequisites for PA school (A&P, developmental psych, advanced A&P, and others).  PA schools are not standard in their prereqs so the more schools you apply to, the more preparation to meet the requirements is needed.  Submitted my CASPA application last fall to seven schools and after two interviews and five rejections and one waiting list spot it was looking like another year of waiting was possible.  Woke up in the middle of the night last night to wrestle with Rom 12:1 and what the future might hold.  How to discern the choices ahead knowing its not just me who suffers if the path taken is a winding one, but the family too.  To make a long story short, we have been accepted at a PA school that will allow my faith to be expressed along the journey.  Won't tell the left hand what the right hand is doing.

Well I see that I'm so overdue for a post.  Past the midpoint in paramedic school which means we've completed the foundational core and are moving into specialized care.  Today we completed NRP (neonatal resuscitation program) What a rewarding and beneficial program that focuses on getting the first breaths into a struggling newborn.  But its not a new idea.

A history of neonatal resuscitation

Nephrology gives me a cold sweat

Just began studying the kidney, hint, the study of it may never end.  My initial thoughts are that it exists to filter waste from the blood which is a nice service to the function of the body, but more critical is its role in maintenance of blood pressure.  BP too high?  Excrete water.  BP too low?  Retain sodium.  According to Dr. Najeeb each kidney actually has over one million blood pressure and sodium sensors.  Now is this the reason for those sudden urges to pee 35 miles before the next rest stop?  An amazing system, that I probably abuse daily out of ignorance.  It tirelessly maintains my body in homeostasis despite repeated stresses, the coffee, the protein, oh my.

Introductions

Fearfully and wonderfully made are we, by the one who made all things.  

By way of introductions, the author is a student pursuing a career change from engineering to health care.  Over the summer he finished EMT-B and is presently doing prerequisites for Paramedic.  He still wonders how planes fly, even though he understands the principles.  He hopes to retain that sense of wonder, and amazement of how the body functions as he humbly learns more of its physiology.