Its late November and I cant get over how warm the weather is. Maybe it just hasnt set in that I'm living back in the South and it just doesnt get as winter-y looking as it does up north. Not to much to write... just been out riding as much as I can... playing.. etc. I think I've either sprained or fractured my wrist while I was out playing a few days ago.
Have caught a few good house fires lately... the busy season is approaching with make-shift warmers being created by folks just trying not to freeze. Atlanta had a bad fire on Thanksgiving and one of their own was caught in a flashover. FF Steve Solomon got caught in the flashover and is in critical condition. Please add him and his family to your prayers.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
Turkey Eve
I am sore and have a heck of a cold starting to get settled into my chest. All I want to do is curl up into bed and sleep. Am hoping that with the holiday and everyone's family being in town, people don't get all rowdy and start shooting each other.
First call of the morning was for a medical alarm. No other information.. enroute advised also the burglar alarm is activated. PK and I go trotting up to the front door... we dont hear anything.. looks like a few lights are on inside. No one is answering the front door. I'm starting to get that "ohhh boy" feeling. I go around the side and a sweet elderly man is looking out the side door very surprised to see us. He starts to say something when the elderly woman in the back room hits a button on the alarm panel which sends the home fire alarm into a tizzy. They are blivious to the wailing alarm as we try and get her to come away from the box and tell us the code. After "What dear?"-ing us 6 times she finally tells us that this is her daughters house and she doesnt
know the code to disarm the alarm. PK and I are laughing so hard we can barely keep from rolling on the floor. The old man has retired to the living room for us to figure this thing out on our own. We finally get the daughter on the phone and get it disarmed with the right code. PK and I are now as deaf as the elderly couple as we leave them to their own devices.. unattended for the day in a stange house on Thanksgiving Eve.
Get called for a 23yo M who was last seen A/O last night. Unresponsive to everything, pinpoint pupils, tachy into the 190's. Family says he is only on Seroquel but is known to use Ectasy. One hit of narcan with no response. Monitor shows a nice SVT. First two rounds of Adenosine do nothing. Third round dropped him to 113 but by the time we got him into the ER he was back up to 160. Baby Doc inside decides to look at 3 seconds of a strip about 3' long and announces "well no wonder he didnt convert, he is in Sinus Tach... this is not SVT..." and proceeds to go off on me. We had a little pow-wow right then and there.. and while I certainly am no para-god, I know SVT when I see it. I love it when 2nd and 3rd year residents try to puff out their chest and beat on it to impress the 1st year baby docs by trying to embarass someone else... and then stick their foot in their mouth and look like an ass.
Text book stroke patient which was one of those calls where everything just went beautifully. Dispatched for numbness and tingling. Found a 59yo woman slumped in a chair.. family said just 10 minutes ago she was standing, talking, no deficeits. Now she is slurring her words, cant stand, and incontinent. Complaining of severe headache on her right side with Pronator Drift and all other deficeits on her left. BGL of 180. BP 230/160. Dispatch to delivery to the Stroke Team at the ER in 21 minutes. Sweet. Hung out for a bit with the Neuro doc to confirm her brain bleed. Watched the charge nurse and one her baby docs go toe to toe over him wanting to intubate our pt on the way to CT. You can tell the who wears the pants in this ER... and its not the resident.
The night wears on with me getting sicker and more cranky. Poor PK puts up with me crawling into the cab for a call, sleeping til we get on scene, making my way through the call and then crashing til we get back to the station. I am praying for just 5 minutes of relief. Maybe my 2 days off for Thanksgiving will be easy. I will certainly be thankful for a job, a roof over my head, friends to get full with and a family who loves me even though they are far far away.
First call of the morning was for a medical alarm. No other information.. enroute advised also the burglar alarm is activated. PK and I go trotting up to the front door... we dont hear anything.. looks like a few lights are on inside. No one is answering the front door. I'm starting to get that "ohhh boy" feeling. I go around the side and a sweet elderly man is looking out the side door very surprised to see us. He starts to say something when the elderly woman in the back room hits a button on the alarm panel which sends the home fire alarm into a tizzy. They are blivious to the wailing alarm as we try and get her to come away from the box and tell us the code. After "What dear?"-ing us 6 times she finally tells us that this is her daughters house and she doesnt
know the code to disarm the alarm. PK and I are laughing so hard we can barely keep from rolling on the floor. The old man has retired to the living room for us to figure this thing out on our own. We finally get the daughter on the phone and get it disarmed with the right code. PK and I are now as deaf as the elderly couple as we leave them to their own devices.. unattended for the day in a stange house on Thanksgiving Eve.
Get called for a 23yo M who was last seen A/O last night. Unresponsive to everything, pinpoint pupils, tachy into the 190's. Family says he is only on Seroquel but is known to use Ectasy. One hit of narcan with no response. Monitor shows a nice SVT. First two rounds of Adenosine do nothing. Third round dropped him to 113 but by the time we got him into the ER he was back up to 160. Baby Doc inside decides to look at 3 seconds of a strip about 3' long and announces "well no wonder he didnt convert, he is in Sinus Tach... this is not SVT..." and proceeds to go off on me. We had a little pow-wow right then and there.. and while I certainly am no para-god, I know SVT when I see it. I love it when 2nd and 3rd year residents try to puff out their chest and beat on it to impress the 1st year baby docs by trying to embarass someone else... and then stick their foot in their mouth and look like an ass.
Text book stroke patient which was one of those calls where everything just went beautifully. Dispatched for numbness and tingling. Found a 59yo woman slumped in a chair.. family said just 10 minutes ago she was standing, talking, no deficeits. Now she is slurring her words, cant stand, and incontinent. Complaining of severe headache on her right side with Pronator Drift and all other deficeits on her left. BGL of 180. BP 230/160. Dispatch to delivery to the Stroke Team at the ER in 21 minutes. Sweet. Hung out for a bit with the Neuro doc to confirm her brain bleed. Watched the charge nurse and one her baby docs go toe to toe over him wanting to intubate our pt on the way to CT. You can tell the who wears the pants in this ER... and its not the resident.
The night wears on with me getting sicker and more cranky. Poor PK puts up with me crawling into the cab for a call, sleeping til we get on scene, making my way through the call and then crashing til we get back to the station. I am praying for just 5 minutes of relief. Maybe my 2 days off for Thanksgiving will be easy. I will certainly be thankful for a job, a roof over my head, friends to get full with and a family who loves me even though they are far far away.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Trauma, Life in the woods.
Its been a great few days. After work last week, headed back over to GA to visit friends and go riding. Went to the FD vs SO football game up in Banks County, it so reminded me of home.. Good game... SO kicked the fire guys all over the field. Retribution for the past 2 years.
Worked at the plantation on Sat, had a kid who was riding his atv in the woods and got his leg caught between the back tire and a tree and then hit the gas. At first we thought it was a compound fracture but after looking at it and the flesh left on the tree, he split the back of his leg open. He hollered more over getting a line started than his injury. Bad part was he was from a city 200 miles away, was there with a friend and his dad, and the friends dad had no information on him. No easy access to his parents phone number, no history on him... nothing. It also didnt help that the kid was wearing sneakers instead of riding boots. If he had any ALOC we would have flown him, but we was taken straight into surgery once at the ER. Ran a couple of other calls, a broken clavicle and a sprained LCL/MCL injury. Considering we had a hare scramble race and an all day race we did good with no significant injuries.
Then went riding and had a blast. The weather wasn't bad so I went through some serious mud. Met up with some new folks and took them back on the trails. Until next time...
Work was pretty steady yesterday. Ran a call on a pt with nausea/vomiting / heart problem. Walk into the nursing home to find a 59yo woman, alert and oriented,.. but pasty white and a pulse of 23! Hx of CHF, hyperkalemia, acute renal failure and DB. Couldn't get a line for nothing. She was compensating very well considering, but both EJ's, and 3 tries on the arms gave us nothing. Tried pacing and but couldnt get capture. We're trying to get a standing order to give Epi sub-q for cases like this...
Ran a call for chest pain.. the guy was NSR and his 12-lead was normal.. but he LOOKED sick. he looked like he was having an MI in front of us but he flat out refused everything. After trying to convince him to go, and him still refusing, his wife announced she would take him against his will to the ER. He had another MI as they were walking in... and while in the ER was still refusing care. Guess stupid is as stupid does.
Worked at the plantation on Sat, had a kid who was riding his atv in the woods and got his leg caught between the back tire and a tree and then hit the gas. At first we thought it was a compound fracture but after looking at it and the flesh left on the tree, he split the back of his leg open. He hollered more over getting a line started than his injury. Bad part was he was from a city 200 miles away, was there with a friend and his dad, and the friends dad had no information on him. No easy access to his parents phone number, no history on him... nothing. It also didnt help that the kid was wearing sneakers instead of riding boots. If he had any ALOC we would have flown him, but we was taken straight into surgery once at the ER. Ran a couple of other calls, a broken clavicle and a sprained LCL/MCL injury. Considering we had a hare scramble race and an all day race we did good with no significant injuries.
Then went riding and had a blast. The weather wasn't bad so I went through some serious mud. Met up with some new folks and took them back on the trails. Until next time...
Work was pretty steady yesterday. Ran a call on a pt with nausea/vomiting / heart problem. Walk into the nursing home to find a 59yo woman, alert and oriented,.. but pasty white and a pulse of 23! Hx of CHF, hyperkalemia, acute renal failure and DB. Couldn't get a line for nothing. She was compensating very well considering, but both EJ's, and 3 tries on the arms gave us nothing. Tried pacing and but couldnt get capture. We're trying to get a standing order to give Epi sub-q for cases like this...
Ran a call for chest pain.. the guy was NSR and his 12-lead was normal.. but he LOOKED sick. he looked like he was having an MI in front of us but he flat out refused everything. After trying to convince him to go, and him still refusing, his wife announced she would take him against his will to the ER. He had another MI as they were walking in... and while in the ER was still refusing care. Guess stupid is as stupid does.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Everyone should have a Kelly.
Life is good. Last shift was fine... again another case of Murphy's Law coming to bite us in the butt. Our rescue is one of the top 3 busiest rescues in the county. And my partner is in medic school so he is itchin to learn and put to use the stuff he is learning. He's a great guy and we have a blast. We're both good coffee addicts so we spend our time out and about hitting the java shops in Little Five Points. Well... our rescue didnt turn a wheel until 3:30pm. Now I'm certainly not complaining, but its just one of those... you just know.. for every minute of peace you get during the day, you gonna pay double for running your butt off at night.
We ran a call on a deaf/mute who seized and did a face plant in the grocery store. We tried.. but I'm sure it was comical watching us trying to do pseudo-sign language. I need to refresh my sign skills. Ran another call for a woman stabbed. She took a steak knife to the lateral scapula area. We were dispatched that she was stabbed by a family member, but she tells us that she was cooking, toko some sleeping pills and rolled onto the knife. Yeah lady, right. Sure. She didnt need a decompression, but baby doc in the ER put in a chest tube. We proceeded to run the rest of the night with taxi rides into the ER.
Spent the weekend out at the plantation and had a blast. Took the atv's out on the trails to go muddin and watched these awesome little kids doing 360's with their motorcross bikes on the jumps.
We ran a call on a deaf/mute who seized and did a face plant in the grocery store. We tried.. but I'm sure it was comical watching us trying to do pseudo-sign language. I need to refresh my sign skills. Ran another call for a woman stabbed. She took a steak knife to the lateral scapula area. We were dispatched that she was stabbed by a family member, but she tells us that she was cooking, toko some sleeping pills and rolled onto the knife. Yeah lady, right. Sure. She didnt need a decompression, but baby doc in the ER put in a chest tube. We proceeded to run the rest of the night with taxi rides into the ER.
Spent the weekend out at the plantation and had a blast. Took the atv's out on the trails to go muddin and watched these awesome little kids doing 360's with their motorcross bikes on the jumps.
These kids rock! A buddy of mine works part-time out there and hung out with some of the other medics who also used to work at my dept. We had talked about it earlier but we finally got everything in the works to work out there PT. I'm gonna be driving the wheels off my truck with mileage. Durhamtown has miles and miles of trails... hit a few jumps accompanied by the pucker factor as my front end was coming down before it should have... but I didnt break anything. The close course is a trail that is about handle bar wide, so there were a few times of, "shit, shit.. there's a tree.. turn, turn, .... whew! That was close" LOL ! ! ! So, I've found my new toy. If you're ever looking for a fun place to play, check out Durhamtown Plantation. Had great weather while we were riding but once we're on the pad to hose off the machines, a torrential downpour came through. Its been a great weekend. I'm sore, but it's all good. ATV's and paintball will do that to ya. Kelly days are such a wonderful thing. Life is good.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Truckie for a day
Havent posted in a while but there really hasnt been much worth while to post. Have been pretty busy the past few weeks but more with life stuff than work. So if I repeat anything that I've already posted, just read it again and enjoy the moment!
Last weekend was the much awaited FOOLS Convention 2006 in Chicago. Had a blast! Hung out with old friends and met some new brothers, learned some great lessons from the wise seasoned leaders up in Chicago (EE and Mac) and partaked in the fun and foolishness of the nightlife up there. Having our band of pipe players follow us to each bar on the pub crawl and play was awesome. Nothing like having an entire club that we invaded raise their glasses while our boys played. We honored our fallen brother Bill Craddock during the seminar portion of the convention and everytime the guys played you just knew he was there, sitting on the edge of the stage with a beer in his hand, big grin on his face, raising a glass with us.
Last weekend was the much awaited FOOLS Convention 2006 in Chicago. Had a blast! Hung out with old friends and met some new brothers, learned some great lessons from the wise seasoned leaders up in Chicago (EE and Mac) and partaked in the fun and foolishness of the nightlife up there. Having our band of pipe players follow us to each bar on the pub crawl and play was awesome. Nothing like having an entire club that we invaded raise their glasses while our boys played. We honored our fallen brother Bill Craddock during the seminar portion of the convention and everytime the guys played you just knew he was there, sitting on the edge of the stage with a beer in his hand, big grin on his face, raising a glass with us.
Shanti, Tristen and Chris and I were there from GA. The FOOLS from FL, NJ, NY, CA, KS, MI, IL, and IN were all there. There is just no better group of people who define, reaffirm and practice brotherhood! Cant wait for next year!!!
Now... came back.. dehydrated and pumped up. We're on the engine yesterday on the way to an MVC in the middle of a downpour and the damn thing just dies right on the highway. Right on the entrance ramp on I-20. Well, what are ya gonna do but just call the chief and wait for a tow from motor maintenance? 7 hours.. yep, 7 hours later we were finally swapping out into a squirt. Chief had taken off, motor maintenance was closed, we're starving for dinner (its about 1930), we've finally found a place for everything on a rig that has about 30% less space and... it wont start!! After another 25 minutes of trying to swipe a jump box we finally headed back to the house. And as usual karma is a bitch as we ran our butts off all night for BS.
Now... came back.. dehydrated and pumped up. We're on the engine yesterday on the way to an MVC in the middle of a downpour and the damn thing just dies right on the highway. Right on the entrance ramp on I-20. Well, what are ya gonna do but just call the chief and wait for a tow from motor maintenance? 7 hours.. yep, 7 hours later we were finally swapping out into a squirt. Chief had taken off, motor maintenance was closed, we're starving for dinner (its about 1930), we've finally found a place for everything on a rig that has about 30% less space and... it wont start!! After another 25 minutes of trying to swipe a jump box we finally headed back to the house. And as usual karma is a bitch as we ran our butts off all night for BS.
Ran a call for a 19yo unconscious, recently assaulted. What's recent? 2 days ago? Yesterday? Just now? We wait for PD and finally get cleared to enter an apartment with characters that Jerry Springer would drool over. This girl has gotten bopped upside the head by her SISTER by a little plastic snow globe. The drama was nauseating and didnt sit well with my lack of patience for such nonsense. Pt is groggy and does in fact have a lump on the side of her head but with a little whiff of amonia, Who'la! is right there with us. Left her with the ambulance crew who would then wait for a BLS truck. Ran another call for a drama ladden woman who said she didnt hurt now and felt fine, but woke with vomiting and tingling in her hands. She says she has poor circulation in her hands (really?! shocking!) but wants a ride in to "get a full examination of my possible ailments" to the farthest hospital that we transport to. Nevermind that there are 6 other adults in the house and 4 cars in the driveway. I feel for the ambulance crew as we head back to the house.
So.. thats my update for now. Life is awesome as just 3 weeks ago I was in FL... last weekend in Chicago and this next week is my liberty day again. Hhhmmm... what sounds good?
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