(Only Tez, Max and my names are real – other names in this post have been changed to respect privacy – but the story is true).
As a paramedic, people often say to Tez “Gee you must see horrible things”. He usually responds and states that most of the work is routine, but sometimes “jobs” are tough, sad, dramatic or challenging. Interestingly Tez does not come home and download very often. Most days I would have no idea what sort of “jobs” he did at work. Of course, when other paramedics are around they seem to all love sharing the “war stories”, but again, not much detail settles into my conscious brain space. In fact, in the last year there have probably only been three jobs he has come home and “downloaded” that I have any recollection of. The three of them all involved young people, this bit of background is significant for later in the story!
Early last Saturday morning a young brown pup wandered into our yard and started to play with our Max. I have renamed the brown dog Rover for the story. Of course our big gentle black Labrador, Maximillian (Max) welcomes any dogs into the yard, shares his bones, bed and toys with them all. He likes to welcome guests, just like we do, apparently! Well Rover stayed all day. He spent the night and then enjoyed the art of conviviality the next day with 15 other people and four other canine visitors. By Monday morning, Tez thought it wise to take Rover to the vet to see if he was micro-chipped and his real home could be located. He was (micro-chipped), the owners were located and the vet arranged for Rover to be collected from the surgery. “If the owners want to call you, are you OK if I pass on your contact details?” the vet asked Tez. “Sure”, he said “I would like to know he got home OK.”
Several days later, Tez was leaving for a night out with mates and as he was leaving he commented that he was a bit surprised he had not heard from Rover’s owners. Oh well, we lamented, we know we did the right thing taking him to the vet and that was important. A few hours later I answer the front door bell and a woman introduces herself to me as Lorraine (my name for her) and she has a lovely young woman with her named Sami (my name for her as well!). Lorraine was holding a gift bag in her hand and told me she wanted to say thank you to us for taking Rover to the vet and that he had been returned to them well cared for and they were very relieved. She gave us a lovely big box of choccies and many thanks. It turns out that he had wandered a few km’s to reach PCH and we chatted about how he found his way, as it was not a direct or obvious trail.
Of course the conversation flowed from one thing to another (as I have said before, that often happens with me) and she recognised me from when I worked at LRH etc., etc. The dialogue eventually reached the cooking school story and Lorraine suggested that Sami might like to know about the classes. I grabbed a piece of paper and pen for Sami to write her details down for me. As she started to write, I noticed she seemed to have a little trouble holding the pen. As I thought to myself, “this young lady has some motor skill deficits”….Lorraine said to me “Sami has some trouble writing sometimes. We almost lost her not long ago, in a car accident!”. “OMG,” I exclaimed, “I know your story.” As I shared the details of what I knew, it became apparent this was one of the “jobs” that Tez had shared with me. A young woman in a car wreck that was a tough job, she was in bad shape and had to be air lifted to Melbourne. Tez had periodically followed up to see how she was doing and told me each time he had some news. “My husband, Tez was one of the paramedics who attended to you,” I told her. I showed her some photos and not surprisingly she did not remember much or his face.
We chatted for a while and I marveled at the tenacity of this young woman to survive and overcome her injuries. As they drove off, I found myself wondering why did Rover find our place out of all the houses around, to come and stay for a few days??
DC
As a paramedic, people often say to Tez “Gee you must see horrible things”. He usually responds and states that most of the work is routine, but sometimes “jobs” are tough, sad, dramatic or challenging. Interestingly Tez does not come home and download very often. Most days I would have no idea what sort of “jobs” he did at work. Of course, when other paramedics are around they seem to all love sharing the “war stories”, but again, not much detail settles into my conscious brain space. In fact, in the last year there have probably only been three jobs he has come home and “downloaded” that I have any recollection of. The three of them all involved young people, this bit of background is significant for later in the story!
Early last Saturday morning a young brown pup wandered into our yard and started to play with our Max. I have renamed the brown dog Rover for the story. Of course our big gentle black Labrador, Maximillian (Max) welcomes any dogs into the yard, shares his bones, bed and toys with them all. He likes to welcome guests, just like we do, apparently! Well Rover stayed all day. He spent the night and then enjoyed the art of conviviality the next day with 15 other people and four other canine visitors. By Monday morning, Tez thought it wise to take Rover to the vet to see if he was micro-chipped and his real home could be located. He was (micro-chipped), the owners were located and the vet arranged for Rover to be collected from the surgery. “If the owners want to call you, are you OK if I pass on your contact details?” the vet asked Tez. “Sure”, he said “I would like to know he got home OK.”
Several days later, Tez was leaving for a night out with mates and as he was leaving he commented that he was a bit surprised he had not heard from Rover’s owners. Oh well, we lamented, we know we did the right thing taking him to the vet and that was important. A few hours later I answer the front door bell and a woman introduces herself to me as Lorraine (my name for her) and she has a lovely young woman with her named Sami (my name for her as well!). Lorraine was holding a gift bag in her hand and told me she wanted to say thank you to us for taking Rover to the vet and that he had been returned to them well cared for and they were very relieved. She gave us a lovely big box of choccies and many thanks. It turns out that he had wandered a few km’s to reach PCH and we chatted about how he found his way, as it was not a direct or obvious trail.
Of course the conversation flowed from one thing to another (as I have said before, that often happens with me) and she recognised me from when I worked at LRH etc., etc. The dialogue eventually reached the cooking school story and Lorraine suggested that Sami might like to know about the classes. I grabbed a piece of paper and pen for Sami to write her details down for me. As she started to write, I noticed she seemed to have a little trouble holding the pen. As I thought to myself, “this young lady has some motor skill deficits”….Lorraine said to me “Sami has some trouble writing sometimes. We almost lost her not long ago, in a car accident!”. “OMG,” I exclaimed, “I know your story.” As I shared the details of what I knew, it became apparent this was one of the “jobs” that Tez had shared with me. A young woman in a car wreck that was a tough job, she was in bad shape and had to be air lifted to Melbourne. Tez had periodically followed up to see how she was doing and told me each time he had some news. “My husband, Tez was one of the paramedics who attended to you,” I told her. I showed her some photos and not surprisingly she did not remember much or his face.
We chatted for a while and I marveled at the tenacity of this young woman to survive and overcome her injuries. As they drove off, I found myself wondering why did Rover find our place out of all the houses around, to come and stay for a few days??
DC
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