And the oscar goes to....

Was running late into work this morning. Barely made it, walking in @ 6:57am. Of course I called my captain early so I was ok if I was late, but you would just not believe the traffic! Normally I am leaving my house at 3am.. yeah 3am.. to come into work. Not many people can say that they have to account for a time change when commuting into work. But it's also Atlanta traffic, so what rush hour looks like in most cities at 8am, we see at 6am. Anyway... I don't like starting the day off feeling like I'm already behind the 8 ball. My saving grace was I made the engine. PK finally made the engine too! Yea!!!! The poor kid has been stuck on Echo 4 for so long that it has become the standing joke. He has also taken on medic class on top of being a single dad. So we spend a lot of our down time reviewing strips and me quizzing him.

We ran a call with the box for a woman with heart problems. Oh my... now I told her I was gonna write about her so I can be a little more free on this one. We walk in to find a rather large woman sitting in a chair, big-eyed and not speaking with a scowl and glare on her face that could rival my mother's on her worst day. She's non-verbal (big dramatics)... and I'm trying to get a hx and she just keeps glaring at me like she's getting ready to knock my head off my shoulders! I ask her if she's gonna hit me as I'm putting the leads on her and she growls, literally growls, "No! You're trying to help me" Vitals are stable, we get her to walk down the steep stairs and get her loaded. Now is when the real Oscar performance starts.
My EMT is trying to start a line... he is using a 22G in the hand... and the woman is carrying on like he is sticking a 14G under the fingernail. (Makes you grimmace huh?) Once in the back, she started talking a million miles a minute, telling me every 18 seconds the date of her OJI and how 10 mannequins fell on her head. I tried to start a line in the other hand after she calmed down a bit and after a few minutes of dramatics I gave up. She was funny (she STILL had that "I'm gonna knock your head off " glare), but I was getting tired of the game. So we're in the triage line @ the ER and the patient ahead of us was getting blood drawn and the tech was having issues to say the least. Pt was moaning and crying.... so I'm writing up my report and I look over at my drama student and say, "See.. you should have let me start that line... look what you're in for". Her face went stone straight and said... " you wanna try now real quick?" What a goofy lady.

Ran a few smells and bells.. but nothing note-worthy. Ran a few more medical calls.. had another drama queen with a teenage girl faking all kinds of distress. Constantly covering her face (a sure sign of faking... heaven forbid she display what is really going on), rolling around on the floor. Mom is buying this act, but its amazing how she apparently cant talk, cant walk.. but when given a pair of flip-flops thrown at her feet, she has the instant dexterity to wiggle her feet into them. Gggrrrrrr.... You drag me out of bed for a temper-tantrum?! Are you serious?

Pretty quiet through out the night, which was nice ... headin to Florida next week for a little vacation. One more romp on the beach before it gets cold. It snowed 2 feet back home in Buffalo yesterday. Maybe I should head north and get some skiing in while I can... decisions, decisions...