Missing

I met a really good friend last year, and he went back to Vancouver once his time here was done.  I miss him.

My room mate went to Ottawa to study.  I really miss her.

Her boyfriend got made redundant.  He’s going to Ottawa to be with her. I’m going to miss him, too. More than I think I know, now.

I found some photos of my ex-wife on the web, pictures of her and her new husband and their new baby.  Funnily enough, the thing I focused on was how my ex-mother-in-law just looks disapproving in all the shots.

All of these things might make me sad, but they just made me reflective.  I need to hold on to the experiences I have, and make sure I stay close to my friends, near and far.

Jazz Hands

Last night at my St. John Ambulance Volunteer First Aid Response Services meeting we had some good training on Scene Survey and Primary Survey protocols.

One of the general questions was “What are the names given to certain types of abnormal posturing you may see as a result of a serious head injury?”.  I replied “Decorticate and decerebrate!”.

“Good!” said our instructor, “But which is which?”.  “Decorticate is flexing inwards, decerebrate is extending outwards!” I said.

“Wow”, asked another member, “How do you you remember all of these things?”.  “Oh, he’s a medical geek for that kind of stuff” said another.

“No no, that’s not it at all! It took me a long time to get a mnemonic for this!  Decorticate is inwards to the core, decerebrate is outwards in celebration!” I explained.

Our instructor continued, “You will rarely see these types of posturing, and usually because of a really bad head injury”.

I chimed in, “Of course, the way you can tell if it’s a serious neurological insult is if they’re doing jazz hands.  Anyone who does that has a definite brain injury”.

I swear if they had bread rolls they’d have pelted me with them.