I would second/thrid/forth getting an anatomy and physiology book. I've not read the Bledsoe one, but it sounds like a good idea. Any proper A&P/pathophyiology text will do, that is to say, a university text. That said, the internet is a great resource. The online Merck manual is my favourite place for this (1) but it requires some pre-existing knowledge of A&P to work with. Wikipedia is often wrong, but it can point you in the right direction sometimes and almost always gives you good links and references to the relevant journal articles.
Use any of these resources to get acquainted with:
-Autonomic nervous system: particularly the functions and effects in different pathologies, know the difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and what they do (2).
-Cardiovascular system: how it works, what affects it, preload, afterload, systemic vascular resistance.
-Pulmonary system: get familiar with the trip that Oxygen takes from when its in the air to when it gets to your cells (its called the Oxygen cascade), and some of the things that can stop it along the way (3).
-Basic structural anatomy: the important bones, location of the major organs, blood vessels, and the the different organ systems (circulatory, pulmonary, reproductive etc).
-Anatomical terminology: distal-proximal, superior-inferior, etc (4)
All the time be conscious of the affects that age has on all these things (children have higher heart rates, the elderly will tend to have reduced cardiac output).
If you can grasp these concepts before you get into class, you'll already be further ahead than most of your classmates will every be before you even start.
(1)
http://www.merck.com/mmpe/index.html
(2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_nervous_system#Function
(3)
http://www.nda.ox.ac.uk/wfsa/html/u10/u1003_01.htm
(4)
http://learning.mgccc.cc.ms.us/science/ap/anaterm.html
Further reading:
http://www.ccmtutorials.com/rs/oxygen/page02.htm --- This one is great but it taken me a few months to really get through it an understand it. Maybe one for when you start paramedic school.
http://www.nursingpharmacology.info/learning2.htm --- A good one for the pharmacology, but again, depending on the scope in your area, this may be one to leave until paramedic school.
