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I never signed up for this job just for the rush—that comes with the territory along with the hazards. If zipping through traffic doesn't get you, maybe an infectious disease will. Add some post-traumatic stress and depression and you're all set!

Yes, I've been an adrenaline junkie since the onset of puberty—a good four decades worth of daredevil-ing should cover the fix.

Now, I live for days like today when I get up close and personal with a patient: talking in a calm voice, finding out what it is that ails her or holding an old lady's hand just to reassure her that underneath that cloak of anonymity—that confounded, PPE suit, lies another human being with a face and a name.

I was trained to be de-sensitized long before I ever dreamed of becoming an EMT. My personal life has been colored with episodes and chapters which have all but numbed me th0ough every time I'm on a call such as today, I rediscover the Art of Being Human. 

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