c*laridges

we've been enjoying a good mix of friend time and down time. one of the perks of living in the city is the sheer proximity to places we like. one recent saturday, we ambled into town in the late afternoon, picked up coffee, visited a warhol exhibit, made the most of the january sales, had our japanese fix and wound down with a drink at the c*laridges bar. this was after our epic night at steam&rye, mind you. and the mind is a fascinating thing because my end-of-week reticence soon melted into a omgilovemylifemedicineissoamazing gush. the poor mister, having to listen to me go on and on about all my patients for hours at end. and then he tells me about his clients. so it's a virtual skill swap and i like to think that he's practically paramedic by now. 

oh and something scary happened that was playing on my mind all the way through drinks. in the evening, a man collapsed in the street in front of us. it's been an irrational fear of mine, one that comes with a sense of responsibility, that i'll be unable to perform under pressure. but without going into too much detail, i'm so relieved i calmly passed my handbag to the mister, walked over to the casualty (WHO WAS UNCONSCIOUS!!!) did the whole DR. ABC ie assess for Danger to myself and the casualty (he was in the middle of the road), check for a Response (he came to quite quickly) calmly introduced myself and communicated what we were going to do. when i saw he could speak (Airway patent, Breathing, Circulation pulse) i got the passerbys who'd gathered round to move him from the middle of the road, and i arranged him into recovery position on the sidewalk so he wouldn't choke on sick if he was suddenly sick. thankful he didn't need CPR but overwhelmingly grateful to have been trained to respond in a situation like that. was on an adrenaline rush after and kept going over and over the events in my mind, wondering if i'd missed anything or what i'd have done better.