We're getting a nice break from the stifling heat and humidity, but the calls for difficulty breathing are still up. Was able to get some cleaning and stuff done around the house before getting going for the day. Started with a diff. breathing. An elderly woman who was alert, but not oriented and non-verbal. According to her caregiver, who was excellent at keeping track of her stats every morning, she hadnt eaten anything all day and had not taken any of her meds yet. Her O2 was 84.. that'll explain a lot. Just a brief 2 min on some O2 and Bam! she was talking, wondering what all these people were doing in her bedroom. Glucose was also only at a whopping 50. An amp of sugar and she was all about, "whats for lunch and how did I miss The Price is Right?" Took her off the O2 to reassess room air and she dropped back down to 84 within 30 seconds. Gave her a breathing treatment enroute which by the time we got her to the ER she was quite chipper.
The next diff. breathing we had was a complete opposite. Frequent flier who utilizes the 911 EMS system as her personal taxi. She was fine in the house... enroute she became a tazmanian devil who didnt want us to touch her, talk to her, ... anything. Once in the ER.. again... as nice and calm as a nun. Weird. If I had told the ER the profanities and irate behavior of this women, they would have looked at me like I had 3 heads. Ugh... oh well.
Ran a call for a postpartum fever, an infant with an insect bite on her face, an intoxicated cry for attention, a "I'm at work and I've developed chest pain, see.. right here.. touch my chest... Ouch!, it hurts when you touch it!... I must be having a cardiac problem", and a couple of fire alarms and smoke showing.
Next shift my kelly day. Just bought a new laptop to work on the website projects I have, so between playing with my new toy and John coming into town, I will be busy enough having the next 6 days off.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Jelly & GI's
Saturdays are always house day. Today we stripped and waxed the floors in the house. Although I know I'm always saying how I love being busy, it was nice to have a pretty quiet day. Got in a nap or two before dinner. Started off the morning with a guy who laid down his motorcycle on an exit ramp. No major trauma.
Ran a call for a woman with an unknown problem. She was slapping on her phentnyl patches like a 7-yr old girl does with gold star stickers. Mom found her and was unable to wake her. BP was 56/palp. Talk about taking her to the hospital brought her around to tears and she tried to give us the info we wanted that would maybe qualify for a refusal.. but no.. she bought herself a ride. She complained of dry lips on the way out and I told her I'd give her some petroleum jelly when we got in the ambulance. Narcan brought her around a little and while my partner did his thing, I opened up a small packet of lubricating jelly. Squeezeed a little out and gave it to her and told her to apply some to her lips. Before I could get the last word out she put the whole thing in her mouth, she sucked out the jelly and swallowed it! I couldnt even get out "No, wait..." and it was already down the hatch. She looked up at me like, "What, .... what else should I have done with it?" Its a good thing I was standing behind her, I couldn't stop laughing.
Now anyone who is in this field knows that GI bleeds are one of the more nauseous calls that we get. Got called out for a pt vomiting. Walking in.. the filth and the roaches that were all around the pt was enough to make it an accomplishment to not hurl myself. Very thin man with supposedly only a diabetic hx who obviously doesnt care for any of his wounds. I didnt dare set my bag down while trying to assess him. We get ready to roll him onto a sheet to carry him down the stairs and he hurls all over the floor at my feet. It is all I can do to not be a sympathy puker. Nothing like upper GI bleen vomit. We coccoon him into the sheet and start carrying him out side and down the stairs and 2 very large palmetto bugs (flying roaches) come scurrying out of his shirt. "Dont drop him.. Dont drop him.." We get him loaded and on the way. I was very glad I was driving this call.
Ran a call for a woman with an unknown problem. She was slapping on her phentnyl patches like a 7-yr old girl does with gold star stickers. Mom found her and was unable to wake her. BP was 56/palp. Talk about taking her to the hospital brought her around to tears and she tried to give us the info we wanted that would maybe qualify for a refusal.. but no.. she bought herself a ride. She complained of dry lips on the way out and I told her I'd give her some petroleum jelly when we got in the ambulance. Narcan brought her around a little and while my partner did his thing, I opened up a small packet of lubricating jelly. Squeezeed a little out and gave it to her and told her to apply some to her lips. Before I could get the last word out she put the whole thing in her mouth, she sucked out the jelly and swallowed it! I couldnt even get out "No, wait..." and it was already down the hatch. She looked up at me like, "What, .... what else should I have done with it?" Its a good thing I was standing behind her, I couldn't stop laughing.
Now anyone who is in this field knows that GI bleeds are one of the more nauseous calls that we get. Got called out for a pt vomiting. Walking in.. the filth and the roaches that were all around the pt was enough to make it an accomplishment to not hurl myself. Very thin man with supposedly only a diabetic hx who obviously doesnt care for any of his wounds. I didnt dare set my bag down while trying to assess him. We get ready to roll him onto a sheet to carry him down the stairs and he hurls all over the floor at my feet. It is all I can do to not be a sympathy puker. Nothing like upper GI bleen vomit. We coccoon him into the sheet and start carrying him out side and down the stairs and 2 very large palmetto bugs (flying roaches) come scurrying out of his shirt. "Dont drop him.. Dont drop him.." We get him loaded and on the way. I was very glad I was driving this call.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Seizures
Busy doesnt even begin to describe yesterday. Started off the morning with a call into ATL's immediate for a person down. It was at their firehouse. A woman on her way to church with a history of CHF was having chest pain and DIB. Hadnt taken her lasix in a couple of days cause she didnt want to be going to the bathroom during her busy social weekend. Gave her some lasix and her 12-lead looked unremarkable. She was getting more anxious than anything by the time we got to the ER.
Considering how freakin hot and humid it was all day I'm surprised we didnt have any heat related calls. Had a few calls for seizure pts.
One kid we got called on had had a witnessed seizure a couple of hours before and was having another and not coming around. 19yr M who is on Dilantin, as far as everyone knew on scene he had taken his meds. Someone gave us a cell phone with his parents in the phone. Dad didnt want us to transport and said he would come and get him and take him in on his own... that he always has these. We loaded him anyway.. I wansnt letting him go like that. We're pulling out of the apt complex and dad pulls in front of the ambulance to block our path. Asked the cop behind us to take care of it so we could get going. He was in between unresponsive to postictal, and very combative. Gave him some narcan to cover the bases. He was still in pretty much the same state as when we picked him up but a few minutes in the ED and he was finally able to tell us some info.
Got a call for someone with back pain after an accident. The call that we had last shift with the four people from Africa? It was them. All four. All four wanted to go back to the hospital becaue they hurt. They were lucky they werent killed, of course they're gonna hurt. But... they had the same complaints as the other night so we collared and boarded them and sent them off with a basic unit. The paperwork alone sucked. Wait, what am I talking about... we dont use paper, we use those silly tablet notebooks. Ugh! Tap, tap, tap... an 80% accurate handwriting recognition... I would kill for paper on runs like these.
Got back to the station and started dinner... fixed a fairly good dinner for the crew and got toned out 10 min before it was ready. We didnt get back til 0230. Running all over the county and covering other territories... I was a tired puppy. Back up at 0500 for a a couple of calls. Nothing worth writing about. Tomorrow is another day.
Considering how freakin hot and humid it was all day I'm surprised we didnt have any heat related calls. Had a few calls for seizure pts.
One kid we got called on had had a witnessed seizure a couple of hours before and was having another and not coming around. 19yr M who is on Dilantin, as far as everyone knew on scene he had taken his meds. Someone gave us a cell phone with his parents in the phone. Dad didnt want us to transport and said he would come and get him and take him in on his own... that he always has these. We loaded him anyway.. I wansnt letting him go like that. We're pulling out of the apt complex and dad pulls in front of the ambulance to block our path. Asked the cop behind us to take care of it so we could get going. He was in between unresponsive to postictal, and very combative. Gave him some narcan to cover the bases. He was still in pretty much the same state as when we picked him up but a few minutes in the ED and he was finally able to tell us some info.
Got a call for someone with back pain after an accident. The call that we had last shift with the four people from Africa? It was them. All four. All four wanted to go back to the hospital becaue they hurt. They were lucky they werent killed, of course they're gonna hurt. But... they had the same complaints as the other night so we collared and boarded them and sent them off with a basic unit. The paperwork alone sucked. Wait, what am I talking about... we dont use paper, we use those silly tablet notebooks. Ugh! Tap, tap, tap... an 80% accurate handwriting recognition... I would kill for paper on runs like these.
Got back to the station and started dinner... fixed a fairly good dinner for the crew and got toned out 10 min before it was ready. We didnt get back til 0230. Running all over the county and covering other territories... I was a tired puppy. Back up at 0500 for a a couple of calls. Nothing worth writing about. Tomorrow is another day.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Catching up
I havent posted in almost 2 weeks... just a crazy busy schedule but I've run some pretty good calls. 2 shifts on the engine and back to the box. Picked up a car fire with some extension to a structure, by no means a real fire but it was nice to be pulling a little bit of hose again.
Last shift my friend Mike rode with us since he was down to test for a neighboring dept. I think he had a good time. The engine ended the shift with 18 calls. A semi vs a car on the highway with some entrapment and a few others but mostly EMS responses.
Was running so late yesterday morning... was literally flying down the highway. Not to much of an issue til I found out my cell phone was dead while I'm trying to call the station to advise. I hate Nextel sometimes. Service was cut off for no reason and I couldnt even call THEM to find out why. So I'm literally running into the station at 0659 and hearing us getting toned out for a structure fire. Got cancelled. 3 min after being back @ the station we get a full arrest. Getting the day started already behind the 8-ball puts me into a foul mood.
After cleaning up and got my coffee I was a bit better. Ran a call which we handed over to a BLS unit and then was sent over to another station for the afternoon to cover. Got back in time to make dinner...
Ran a call for an MVA right after clearing another MVA only 200 yrds up the street. The first one was a refusal, the 2nd... not so much. 5 unrestrained pax rear-ended by a tow truck at a respectable speed. No one spoke English except for the small words of a 2-yr old in the back. He was the easiest and considering the loud noises and tons of people working around the car to get everyone extricated, he just watched everyone with a look of amazement and conentment at the situation. Speed of response from the other companies was great. My partner and I started on the 2 adults in the back seat and he called for an entrapment response and within literally a minute we had 2 engines, a heavy, 3 rescues, a squad and a battalion there. Everyone for the most part was fairly stable, but with only having a pt's first name and literally nothing else because they cant speak a lick of English and I cant speak a lick of French, well... you do what you can do.
Last call was for a GSW to the leg. Apparently some partying went bad and a woman fired a gun at him. He was fleeing over the balcony off the 2nd floor. We werent sure if the open break was due to a bullet of jumping off the balcony. Ended up being the bullet. I really like our medical director. He is very personable and enjoys talking with medics when they bring patients in. Unlike my past MD who treated the medics like they were ambulance drivers.
I know there was more to the last few shifts but I'm exhausted and I have company coming in for the next couple of days. Sleep and cleaning of my house I must do....
Last shift my friend Mike rode with us since he was down to test for a neighboring dept. I think he had a good time. The engine ended the shift with 18 calls. A semi vs a car on the highway with some entrapment and a few others but mostly EMS responses.
Was running so late yesterday morning... was literally flying down the highway. Not to much of an issue til I found out my cell phone was dead while I'm trying to call the station to advise. I hate Nextel sometimes. Service was cut off for no reason and I couldnt even call THEM to find out why. So I'm literally running into the station at 0659 and hearing us getting toned out for a structure fire. Got cancelled. 3 min after being back @ the station we get a full arrest. Getting the day started already behind the 8-ball puts me into a foul mood.
After cleaning up and got my coffee I was a bit better. Ran a call which we handed over to a BLS unit and then was sent over to another station for the afternoon to cover. Got back in time to make dinner...
Ran a call for an MVA right after clearing another MVA only 200 yrds up the street. The first one was a refusal, the 2nd... not so much. 5 unrestrained pax rear-ended by a tow truck at a respectable speed. No one spoke English except for the small words of a 2-yr old in the back. He was the easiest and considering the loud noises and tons of people working around the car to get everyone extricated, he just watched everyone with a look of amazement and conentment at the situation. Speed of response from the other companies was great. My partner and I started on the 2 adults in the back seat and he called for an entrapment response and within literally a minute we had 2 engines, a heavy, 3 rescues, a squad and a battalion there. Everyone for the most part was fairly stable, but with only having a pt's first name and literally nothing else because they cant speak a lick of English and I cant speak a lick of French, well... you do what you can do.
Last call was for a GSW to the leg. Apparently some partying went bad and a woman fired a gun at him. He was fleeing over the balcony off the 2nd floor. We werent sure if the open break was due to a bullet of jumping off the balcony. Ended up being the bullet. I really like our medical director. He is very personable and enjoys talking with medics when they bring patients in. Unlike my past MD who treated the medics like they were ambulance drivers.
I know there was more to the last few shifts but I'm exhausted and I have company coming in for the next couple of days. Sleep and cleaning of my house I must do....
Monday, July 03, 2006
Brotherhood no matter where ya go
My kelly day is this weekend and rather than bum around the house decided to head to Fl to visit my parents and help them with the closing on the house. They are retiring to north GA and bringing along my grandparents. The house was bought back in 1960 when my maternal grandparents moved the family from Buffalo. While I really dont like Tampa, its sad to see the house finally being sold. I was born and raised in this house. So many changes... what used to be the carport is now a den/computer room. My old bedroom which turned into Grandpa's office when WE moved back to NY is now the living room in the mother-in-law suite. And on it goes.
So anyways... I saw that the Suncoast FOOLS was hosting Chief Lasky who I've always heard a lot about but hadnt met yet. Since I had a free day I headed down. Had a blast meeting some cool guys and Chief Lasky was awesome. Wish more people could hear how he puts things in perspective, and gives you ideas and motivation to keep the traditions, pride, honor & integrity in the fire service.
Had a good time as we always do when you put family together for a few drinks. KO... you still owe me that beer man.
The rest of the weekend was great! Met up with my brother.. my long lost brother and had the moment that I've been playing in my head for the past 20 years. It was awesome. Lots of questions answered and feelings laid out on the table. I am so excited! ... words on a screen just dont do them justice, as to the relationship that I've been hoping for and dreaming of for the past 20 years. He is such a great kid with SO much potential and talent. I truly cant wait to watch him fulfill his dreams and be his loudest cheerleader when he succeeds.
So anyways... I saw that the Suncoast FOOLS was hosting Chief Lasky who I've always heard a lot about but hadnt met yet. Since I had a free day I headed down. Had a blast meeting some cool guys and Chief Lasky was awesome. Wish more people could hear how he puts things in perspective, and gives you ideas and motivation to keep the traditions, pride, honor & integrity in the fire service.
Had a good time as we always do when you put family together for a few drinks. KO... you still owe me that beer man.
The rest of the weekend was great! Met up with my brother.. my long lost brother and had the moment that I've been playing in my head for the past 20 years. It was awesome. Lots of questions answered and feelings laid out on the table. I am so excited! ... words on a screen just dont do them justice, as to the relationship that I've been hoping for and dreaming of for the past 20 years. He is such a great kid with SO much potential and talent. I truly cant wait to watch him fulfill his dreams and be his loudest cheerleader when he succeeds.
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