Ramblings

Well its almost midnight and I just cant sleep... I am to be up and getting ready for work in 2.5 hours. I should wear a badge tomorrow to warn others to stay away and offer apologies in advance to patients. Heaven help the bull-shitters and fakers tomorrow for they will probably bear the brunt of my wrath.

I know its been a while since I posted.. but quite frankly there hasnt been anything worth-while. I guess there have been a few calls that I might touch on, but for the most part life has been busy with web design, moving, and heart-ache. Yeah, yeah, yeah... everyone has troubles... but dammit this is my page so I get to be an emotional wreck if I want to. I am laughing to myself at the irony of being 2 hours shy of exactly 5 months that "the one" and I started our thing. While the past 5 months have flown by and save for the last few weeks have been simply put, wonderful. He is my best friend and has been for years, which makes the pain that much more. I would give back this time just to know I have my friend. We both leaned on each other, knew that we were always there for each other to vent to, get advice from, and make each other laugh when the rest of the world was against us. I miss that. Heart-breaks simply suck ass. I prayed for unconsciousness... it wouldnt come.. so now I'm typing. Therapeutic maybe... but again... I pity my patients tomorrow.

As far as crazy calls lately.... we had a psych call that makes me laugh just thinking about it. Dispatched as difficulty breathing we meet the engine crew on scene with a woman who is walking, talking, .... breathing... just fine. She informs us that a "negative energy is pulling her throat out"... we hang out with her until the basic unit arrives. We're getting some history on her and she continues with, "my heart has been ripped out too... I dont have a heart" (she was meaning literally)... and that the last time she saw her doctor they advised her that, "her vagina didnt have any cells in it"... hhhhmmmmmm... the follow up with that she gets monthly haldol shots makes sense.

Had some other calls for the standard chest pain, a kid with seizures at a chinese temple whose parents were nowhere around and NO ONE spoke english, a double GSW to the chest (my partner and I had a fabulous on scene time of 1 min 15 seconds), and a host of others I cant recall.

For those that dont know from other means, I now live in Alabama. Yep, Alabama. Roll, Tide, Roll. Never saw that coming, but.... BUT.. it is so beautiful over here. I guess I never thought about it, but I am amazed when I am driving around at all the mountains. Its like being in north GA. And I have some great friends over here, so since I was spending all my off time over here, figure why not just move over here. There is a car pool with a bunch of us on "A" shift, so the drive isnt that bad. Am getting all settled into the new place and while I love it, at the same time am adjusting my mind-set to being on my own again and not having him and the boys on their way down here. While I understand his basis for letting me go and focusing on the kids, doesnt make the wound any less hurtful. While true.. I havent had children of my own to have to care for, to taxi to and from events, and work my arse off to provide for them... but I was trying to be understanding. So many things I dont understand.. which just makes me frustrated and angry... which makes me emotional and probably irrational.

I cant think of anything else to write that makes sense or is not to personal.. so I'm gonna lay here, hope for sleep... and get highly inebriated this weekend after work. Thank God for awesome friends who will make sure I make it to a bed safely Saturday night.

Firsts....

Assigned to the engine last shift. First call out with us and the rescue was for a 2 yr old who wasn't acting right. Didn't have a history of seizures but was presenting postictal. Dad was holding her in the driveway when we got on scene and got in the rescue while I stood outside with mom to get info, history, etc. Mom was frantic, getting very vocal as to why we weren't taking off to the hospital. I told her we were assessing her, making sure she was stable, etc.... she didn't understand the delay and why we weren't taking her NOW.. "So the professionals could do their job". I looked at her and advised her "we're professionals too ma'am". I understood her being upset, but she back down and let us do our job.

Next call was for a 16yo old who fainted. The rescue had been on scene for a few minutes when they called for us. Fortunately we were literally right around the corner. Only hx of asthma. Responsive only to pain. Has periods of lucidity but they are agitated at best. Breathing at 30/min. Wheezing in all lobes. Taching at 160. Cant get a pressure. We get enroute... A basic rescue was dispatched so I am riding in with them while the engine follows us to the hospital. I am wanting to get some narcan on board to cover my bases. We are on the ramp at the hospital and he codes. Asystole. We work as hard as we can for an hour before the docs call him. Its a first for me to have a kid who was talking to me at one point and gone the next. I am guessing a PE.

While enroute to the ER with the kid above I am calling in report and the nurse from hell answers. She is advising me that they are on neuro diversion and she keeps cutting me off... I have other things to be doing with this kid than argue with this idiot. I give her what I have.. basic hx, pulse, respr., treatment til now and adv that we cant get a pressure. And she asks again, what is his pressure and I really should know that they really shouldn't be taking him b/c they are on neuro diversion. By this time I am ready to hurl the phone through the window... my EMT in the back is laughing cause I'm losing it. I hang up on her after adv her that this is NOT neuro, that we cant get a pressure and that we ARE coming. This is also the same moron who while we are working this kid in the ER is running around worried about him bleeding a little from an attempted IV stick. Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!?! She is well known to field people as the idiot at that ER.


Had several fire calls throughout the day. A guy who wanted to fry fish in his turkey fryer on his deck lit it off. A few more bells and smells. Fixed my brothers mexican casserole for dinner. It's super easy and usually goes over well.

Ran a few other calls late in the night that were nothing notable. Usually disregarded by the rescue once onscene. Ended the shift with a call about 5am for an unconc/unknown laying in the street. Enroute PD advised a possible heart attack. Once there the guy was pretty distressed saying he had been laying there for an hour like this. Got him in the rescue (again the basic.. cant figure out why the basic rescue is getting dispatched to these calls) and ride in. He is in textbook SVT. Has a hx of SVT (imagine that), has been doing street candy and gin for the last day or so. All 3 rounds of Adenosine dont touch him. Have the pads on him in case he decides to crash, but we are now 3 blocks from the ER and I'd rather cardiovert in the ER than in my box. And by the time I could draw up the Versed we'd be opening up the back doors. He gets another round of Adenosine and still nothing. They pull out their pads and who'la... he converts.

Was supposed to flying off to MI for the week but plans got a little fubar'd. Dont want to stick around town so I'm heading to NKY to visit friends for the holiday weekend. Camping next weekend. Life is good. I am fortunate, thats not a first.

Lessons Learned

So much to write, so little time. last shift was one that will be memorable but not for any good reasons. I know I was having a bad day for personal reasons, but my partner and I were knocking heads at every turn. While we may be fine with each other when we're not riding a truck, I am to the point where if we have to work together I am going to have to start taking meds.

It isnt so much a "their style of patient care isnt mine"... its a "what the *bleep* are you doing and why are being such a complete and utter jerk to the patient. I would have to say that it borders on neglegt. This isnt the forum for details on the shift, but just a marker for myself on what a shitty day it was and lessons learned on being more aggressive with a partner who isnt doing their job.

Last day....

Well, its my last day before being cut loose on a box with an EMT. All the EMT's on my shift are good so I've got no worries and we can finally get into a good rotation between the engine, the box and being sent off. Ran 2 full arrests, a DOA, and a stroke. Responded to a guy who was hit in the head with a hammer. He ended up refusing with a nice lac to the head. I cleaned him up and gave him some 4x4's... he asked if we had any gauze wrap. My partner accommodated him with a full on head wrap topped off with a gigantic gauze bow on the top of his head. The cop on scene was doing his best not to bust up laughing. Good thing the guy didnt ask for a mirror.

A nasty line of storms rolled in in the evening which had us running for a while. We bounced from dwelling fire to dwelling to MVC's on the highway. Gee... if its pouring down rain, flooding, and storming super bad, wouldn't it maybe be a good idea to SLOW DOWN on the highway? Maybe its just me. When we were responding to the house fires from all the lightning, I lost the engine several times as it was flooding so bad the water would wash over the box and I couldnt see a dang thing. One of those storms where you're waiting for the lightning to light up the road so you can see where the road is at. We got back for a little bit and I just stayed in the drivers seat.. I knew it wouldnt be long before we got called out again.

20 min later we get called for an OB call. On scene we have a 40yr old F, 4th pregnancy, has been in labor for 2 days, no prenantal care at all and recreational drug user. I should have driven a bit slower... she was crowning as we were in the hallway heading to L&D.

Finally got back and fell into bed about 3am. Woke up @ 0530 for a structure fire at an elementary school in another territory. We were 2nd in and dressed out so Boz and I head up to the roof. We just had a small 9'x9' area that was burning from a vent. Overhauling a freshly tarred roof is dirty to say the least. But it was all good. Did our thing and cleared so we could hand the box off to the oncoming crew and get a shower. It was a good shower indeed.

Butt-aches

The last two shifts have been a progression of BLS and social work calls. Nothing very note-worthy of the first shift so this is just a compilation of both.

A chest pain call that turned out to be an elderly woman who was very obese who is extremely depressed and lonely. She claims when we first get there that she is in pain all over and just wants to sleep. Seems to be a huge problem lately with people not being able to sleep. She says her belly and chest hurts and cant stand. She is crying and keeps asking us if we'll take her by the cemetery to see her daughter. We finally get her to stand, pivot her on the stretcher and she instantly finds health and said she isn't going anywhere. It doesn't take long to figure out that she is very lonely, and just needs some attention. My partner is annoyed that we're not just taking the refusal and leaving. I offer to walk her downstairs to the cafeteria to get one breakfast. It was a long 90 minutes that we spent with her.. getting her pants on, shoes on, purse, keys, etc.... she was doing everything in her power to stall us actually saying good-bye. While its not actually written anywhere that our job entails social work... It's there. And I have a soft spot for old folks. Most of the time their brains are there, but their bodies are failing them and they've lost their independence. I just cant write them off that easily to say, "you have a roof over your head.. be happy with that"

Ran a call for an allergic reaction to a bee, a malnourished man who wasn't acting right to his family (gee, I wonder why), an ab pain/seizure pt, an asthma attack, and a few other calls that were TNT's

A previous "possible stroke" who was now having a diabetic issue. I knew where we were going cause I had just had this lady last shift. Walking in she looks fine, is talking to us fine.. and say she just took her sugar and its only 45. My partner tells he there is no way its only 45 and he promises when he takes it it'll be higher. Ha ha ha... he takes it and yep.. its only 45. Makes you wonder how long she has been compensating like that and what really is "low" for her. Give her some glucose and an amp of D50 and she bounces up to 230. She says she is taking her meds like normal but isnt eating as much as she used to. Her next Dr's appointment isnt for a month. I tell her she needs to get in now.. get her meds re-evaluated.

21 calls

A pretty busy shift to say the least. Our other box got called into the city for a shooting which downgraded into a full code. We get called into the same neighborhood 20 minutes later for a 6yo boy who fell off his bike and was bleeding from his rectum. The street was filled with people all antsy about the shooting and relatives of the victim were around our scene so it was chaotic. Little kid laying on the couch who says nothing hurts and after looking him over he isnt bleeding anymore. Mom is good with not taking him in and while talking to her and trying to keep track of the 7 kids in the house.. she tells her 3 boys to tell us their names. All 3 of them, all hers, tell us their names are Michael. Michael 1, Michael 2, Michael 3. No kidding. Guess it makes it easier to call them in for dinner.

Ran a full asthma protocol while the engine company we were with sat there and watched. We were wanting to get her going and asked one of them to drive.. no.. they just sat there at the back doors and watched and kept asking us if we were serious. Umm... YEAH I'm serious! another 3 minutes of getting my partner set up and we headed out on our own. A Duo-Ned treatment, Epi, Solu-Medrol and Mag on board and she was ready to go home by the time we pulled into the ER.

Got a call for chest pain and ended up being a woman who was just diagnosed with lupus last week. She was put on prednisone and Coumadin. She was having a massive meltdown. Apparently hadnt slept in days, was getting very paranoid, shaky,... was on her way to getting some haldol. I've had moments kinda like these, especially when I've been sick for a few days where you just get SO tired that you just crack, emotionally. You are begging for any sort of relief.. to just rest. I felt for her... She said she didnt have any history of psychiatric diagnosis. She passed out for a bit on the trip in but once in the ER and everyone asking questions again it set her off. Checked in on her later in the night and she was getting a CT.

Ran a head-on MVC with an open tib/fib. A syncopal pt who refuses transport even though she is brady, hypotensive and has a sugar of 78. A couple of vomiting/flu-like patients. A possible stroke. Ran a call for a chest pain who was an alcoholic.. who advised that he was allergic to alcohol when asked about allergies and then proceeded to say that he's been drinking for the past 3 days and could we give him something for DT's. mmmm... I dont think so darlin.

Ran another MVC who had a deformed lower arm who still adv that she would get her own way to the hospital. Ironic that here is a woman who was t-boned on her side at a moderate rate with a hit-and-run, what looked like a closed fracture and she'll wait for her family to take her in.. and 20 minutes later we'll get called to take someone into the hospital for a splinter.

On our way back to the station at 0300am, we pass a convienent store down the block from the station with a woman laying on her belly in the parking lot.. just hanging out... laying like you'd lay on the beach with your head resting on your arms... just watching the people and cars go by. My partner and I take bets on who and when we'll get called for her. We're on our way back from a late call so we can complete shift change and we hear the box from the next territory over get called to the convienence store for the woman... what a world....

And life says... surprise!

I cant even begin to explain or describe how freakin happy I am. Finally getting a few minutes to update this thing. So much has happened the past week so sit back, this may be a long one.

John flew in this past Saturday to stay for a week. It was the fastest 6 days of my life and I didnt want him to leave. Of course spent the couple of days before cleaning up the house. We spent the week driving around all over GA. Went over to Stone Mountain one day and climbed it. Was gonna take the gondola up but it was broke down so we just walked it. It was a nice climb. Just sucked that when we got to the top, these was a drinking water ban/advisory so we couldnt get any water. But the view was beautiful and we had a great time just being together. Stayed later on into the evening for the laser light/fireworks show and it was wonderful being out there with him.

One of the days we decided to drive down to Fort Benning so he could show me the base and were hoping to watch a few training jumps into Fryer Field. Fort Benning is about an hour and half drive or so south of us... we get all the way down there and since noodle-head here has expired tags on her truck they wouldnt let us on base. We did get to see 5 jumps though from the road that runs along side the base. Took him over to Kennesaw Mountain on our way back and we climbed that too. Almost the same distance as the climb on Stone Mtn but a little steeper... and in the middle of a lightning storm. But we both love storms and I'm sure standing on the top during a lightning storm surrounded by a metal fence wasnt the smartest.. but oh well.

We talked a lot about him and the boys moving down here and all that that would entail. We've started looking at possibilities and I cant even begin to describe how ecstatic I am about it!!! We will just leave it at that for now. John rode with me on one of the days that he was here and wouldnt you know it... we didnt do a darn thing. Ended up being on the box which was fine, but didnt transport a single patient til 8pm and after that we didnt even have a call. I dont know how much he believed that we do normally run a lot of calls. LOL

Now.... last shift... THATS a whole other story. Thursday after I took John to the airport I got into the station about 12N. We grabbed some lunch and then caught a structure fire in our immediate. I was a happy girl since I was on the engine for the day. First in on a fire in a kitchen of an unoccupied rental property. Was out and overhauled with about 200 gallons.

One our way back we get dispatched for an infant in full arrest with CPR instruction being given over the phone. Still all dirty from the fire we go heading in and the baby is breathing and alert. 3 month premie on O2. Not much for us to do so we leave the rescue crew and head home. About an hour later catch another structure fire with flames showing. 2nd in on that one to E-7. Cap and I were doing primary search... I so thought of Darin... but the house had small bedrooms and we were bumping into the crew already inside... once done we just waited for E-3 to finish overhauling and clearing the attic We were there a lot longer, but got everything cleaned up and put away. Was looking forward to that shower.

Did a couple of butt-ache calls in the middle of the night but other than that it was a good shift. I miss John already and cant wait for him to come back. Hopefully in a few weeks I will get to see the boys. I'm sure it will be another fast but wonderful week. I am the happiest girl right now... I am truly amazed how God has blessed me.. and so very very thankful. I am at the threshold of having an awesome job that I've worked my butt off for, an awesome man who loves me and him alone is worthy of a blog entry, 2 great kids and life that I have only dreamed about. I only wish everyone could be this happy. If I could bottle this stuff, I'd give it away.

GA summer

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.

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.

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.

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....

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.

The concept of triage

Didnt even get through drug checks before getting a call for a difficulty breathing. Enroute was upgraded to airway obstruction, then to CPR in progress. Arrive to find a naked guy blue, and I mean dark blue, nipple line up. There was no CPR in progress and the people staying in the house couldn't even give us his name. Started working him on a filthy floor with no room to work. But that's not unusual. Worked the code.. cops found drugs in the living room... was preparing to call him and Bam! What do ya know... V-Fib. Had a rhythm for about 2 minutes. Lost it, got v-fib again and got a good perfusing rhythm back. Neurologically its a good bet to say that he wont be joining us for dinner anytime soon... but .. you just never know. I've seen worse patients make liars out of all of us. He maintained a good pressure all the way in.

Partner and I swapped throughout the tour. We ran a 9yr old with a deformed arm after crashing at the roller rink. He took the needle like a champ and the morphine knocked him out.

Did a call for a chest pain but turned into bladder pain when we got there. No basic squads were available so we took him in. He wanted to go to one of the furthest hospitals away, but, its his choice. He says his belly hurts, has been able to urinate fine and is just an all around cranky elderly man. "Just take me in or leave me alone, stop asking me all these questions!" Its my turn to drive and I'm laughing listening to this guy giving my partner all kinds of grief. We get to the ER and they send him to triage. He will have none of this. Demands that we take him somewhere else or take him home, neither of which we're doing. So my partner doesn't stroke out, I play buffer and lay it out for the guy. Choice 1: you can sit here in triage like everyone else who also has an emergency that is not life threatening or Choice 2: you can walk out of this hospital and walk to a pay phone and call 911 again. He was furious over the audacity of an ER to implement triage when he called 911 and since when did they start this triage stuff! We let him be and he eventually walked out on his own into the night. It the abuse of the EMS system and mentalities like that that burnout so many great medics.

Speaking of burnout... we had finally gotten back to the station around 3a and got called out @ 0400 for ab pain. When we get there.. the guy is rambling about losing $20 in the couch, would we help him find it and no... his belly didn't really hurt.

Normally it wouldn't have annoyed me as much, it just that at 0700 when I was getting off, I was hitting the road to drive to FL for 7 hours. Yeah I know, my choice, but still.... ugh. Handed over the drugs and radios to the crew, showered and hit the road. Florida for a week to visit my parents and relax. I am a happy camper.

Rollover

Started off the morning with a 6-month pregnant homeless woman who hadn't had anything to eat in 24 hours. She called 911 from a payphone in a Pizza Hut parking lot. She says that she sleeps in a vacant house across the street. Complaining of ab pain but not having contractions. She looked just so exhausted. I don't know if she was truly having ab pain for not, but it appeared that just being able to lay down in a clean environment and close her eyes was a great relief. I spoke with the nurse in L&D about trying to discharge her to a women's shelter. The nurse who took report was pissed that we brought her in. They would have been pissed had we brought ANYONE in... we interrupted their Sunday morning coffee and sitting on their butts. After I got her signature, I apologized for ruining her day and told her to perk up... she could be homeless and jobless too. If anything has been a shock to get used to its the attitudes of the ER to EMS.

Thunderstorms moved into the area and the next 5 hours were rollover after rollover after rollover. We had 8 or 9 but I could hear all the other stations too having them all day. None of ours were terribly serious. All self-extricated. First one, both folks restrained with no airbag deployment. Pax had no complaints, just shook up. Assessed her and BP was 168/100. She was refusing transport, and after she signed off and was heading out the back of the squad said her chest wasn't feeling right. Put her on the monitor and at first looked ok.. a little tachy with crazy tall R waves. Nothing terribly alarming. No past hx of cardiac. Another minute or so and she starts throwing trigeminal PVC's. She says her chest hurt and it was going straight into her back. She was pointing more to the Angle of Louis... I was thinking possible aortic bruise or tear.
So the refusal was out the window and we took her in. Kept watching the monitor as it would oscillate between trigeminal and bigeminal PVC's. 12-lead looked perfect. Am glad she didn't leave on the refusal.

Didnt see much of the station throughout the day. Got a little sleep and was called for a chest pain around 2:30am. It was really a post-delivery epidural wear off. She looked miserable... but the baby was adorable.
But it was that call that I almost blew the house up. We're pulling back into the station around 3am and there is a very strong smell of natural gas in the bays. I hop out of the drivers seat and notice part of the plug from the shore line is still in the ambulance port. My old dept had auto-ejectors for the shore lines. We do not. I say a little oops and we start opening the bay doors and investigating where its coming from. Walking around the bays I walk over to the shoreline cord and am looking it over.. three exposed wires.. wow.. I did a doozy on that one... I drop it and sparks fly everywhere! I'm realizing that I sure am glad there isnt a huge concentration of gas in the bays or that I started playing with the wires! I follow the cord up the wall to the ceiling, along the ceiling, along the top of the bay doors and back down to the wall plug and unplug it. It's about now that I'm looking again and the shoreline cord had been wrapped around the gas line on the ceiling that goes to the bay heaters. Yep, I broke the gas line when I pulled out on the earlier call.
"in the news today.. a firehouse was blown to smithereens in the middle of the night..."
We woke Cap up and he had to call the Bat.Chief to make a report. Good one rook... good one.
In the grand scheme of things not a big deal.. everyone forgets to pull the shorelines. I've seen engines flying down the road with 25' of cable following them. Bad part is.. "B" shift now cant cook or have hot water til the line is fixed. Oops.

Went back to bed after we aired out the place and woke up to the bell.... thank goodness for crews that come in a little early and take that call. God luv ya. I'm going back to bed.

Meds.... what meds....

With the horrendous heat here for the last few days, lots of heat-related calls, seizures and respiratory calls. Did a call for a 400+lb guy with difficulty breathing. My partner had him a few shifts ago for the same thing. 30yrs old, on O2 at home... and hasnt gotten any of his prescriptions filled from the last hospital visit. SpO2 said his pulse was 78 but thats not what I felt. Put him on the monitor and he was taching away at 162 with occasional PAC's and PJC's. 12-lead showed some ischemia and a possible infarct. He denied any pain... just couldnt catch his breath. His lungs were so full of junk. BP wasnt to high. Gave him a couple of breathing treatments and some solu-medrol while we waited for the bariatric squad. Signed him over and left thinking that he ever arrests, that'll be a MASH call.

The majority of our calls today were BLS which we sign over to AMR if they have a unit available. Several folks with just flu like symptoms who were perfectly able to walk out to their squad... right past their vehicle sitting in the driveway. It doesnt make me mad... just baffles me. Now I'm not really from po-dunkville, I've lived in several decent sized cities, but compared to where I have lived and worked... I feel like a small town girl from Iowa coming to the big city for the first time. Nationwide I know there is a horrible abuse of the EMS system on many different levels... we had our frequent fliers from where I came from. But I'm multiplying that by thousands here.

Did a call for a 90yr old woman in the middle of the night who woke up with respiratory distress. Again.. had been at the hospital about 2 months ago.. was prescribed Albuterol, Atrovent, and a bunch of others but has never gotten them filled. Hx of asthma and emphysema. Engine crew on scene had a pressure of 142/92. Partner got a pressure of 160/110. Gave her a couple of breathing treatments enroute and started to feel better. Temporary fix for a sweet woman living with minimal care... I know there is no easy fix, but the need for social services for the elderly living alone is overwhelming.

On my way out, the guy from above was in the room next to her getting ready to be discharged. Sounded like a brand new man who could actually complete a sentence.

Did a call for a seizure in the Wal-Mart parking lot... postictal all the way in. A chest pain with a known 90% blockage. A diabetic/syncopal episode.

We use the computer tablets here and thats usually what takes most new folks the most time to get used to. It would be so much faster if I could just write out the reports... the constant poking around with the pointer.. ugh! I do admit it makes you be as thorough as can be. It wont let you finish until you have everything accounted for. It has its pro's/con's. It can help you work the call while you sort out the complaints vs the pertinent negatives.. but its so time consuming it can be distracting. Another day... another dollar. I'm going to deposit my paycheck.

"Are you lost?"

Arrived at my new house with a "Are you lost?" LOL... Have heard all sorts of stories about just how busy the station is and figured we'd be hitting the ground going. Nope. My wheel chock cloud followed me through most of the morning. Everyone is great and I'm sure I'll create some nicknames suitable for the characters on my shift. It's gonna be fun.
Started off the day just before lunch with a chest pain at a dialysis center. He had enough Heparin in him to bypass the ASA, but a couple shots of NTG and into triage and he was a happy camper.
Ran an MVA, a structure fire, and a few others before dinner.
The night time.. well now that is another story. We ran and ran.. I think I got maybe 45 min of sleep. A shooting, in the leg, through and through... an infant with a high fever with unexplainable seizures. Apparently he has had them everyday since he was born, diagnosed not as epilepsy, but something else. He seized while we transported and it only lasted maybe 20 seconds with zero postictal time. Less than a year old, but mom says that he can be playing and just pass out. I am intrigued. He is as cute as a button and regardless of being sick, feverish and 0130 he is surprisingly alert and happy.
Ended the shift with a guy @ 0430 feeling weak and disoriented and some chest pain. Hx of HTN but his pressure on scene never got higher than 96/58 with a pulse never higher than 58. I felt bad asking to guy to crawl to the door since he said he couldnt walk, but he was a pretty big fellow and any help he could give us would surely help. Main hospital of choice was on full diversion enroute so we switched over to another one. Poor guy's wife never knew we switched and when I called the 1st hospital to adv that she was coming and to redirect her to the new one... they acted like they were being asked to raise the titanic.
Anyways... got back to the house and had a half hour before shift change. I still crashed for a while. I needed a little sleep for the hour and half drive home.

So... day one is down. Even though it is not the house I had really hoped for, I am really happy where I am at. The cross-section of people stretches across all socio-economic ranges and the territory covers a good range of different kinds of buildings. I am estatic to finally see the last two years come full circle. I drive down the highway with this big cheesy grin on my face.

No sir........ I am not lost.

Bill Craddock

Bill Craddock died from doing what he loved most: fighting a fire.

Mr. Craddock, a rescue specialist with the DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Department, had a heart attack May 4 while fighting a house fire in south DeKalb County. Two strokes followed, and he died Tuesday at Emory University Hospital.

Bill Craddock loved fighting fires and teaching other firefighters how to stay safe.

"Bill was what every fireman aspires to be what we call a jake, a fireman's fireman," said Christopher W. Holcombe of Buford, a firefighter who worked with him at DeKalb County Fire Station 24.

"Every time the fire department asked for volunteers, Bill was out in front. He not only was a dedicated fireman but an instructor on the local, state and national level known throughout the country for his teaching of technical rescue and firefighter survival. When they teach us to be firemen, they teach us to put fires out. But things can go bad in a fire. Bill taught the best way to save ourselves in emergencies and get other firefighters out."

As a rescue specialist, Mr. Craddock could do it all, said Mr. Holcombe. He was adept at high angle rope rescue from tall buildings, confined space rescue from places like sewer pipes, trench rescue from construction sites, scuba diving rescue, swift water rescue and extrication from vehicles. "Firefighting was Bill's passion," said his wife, Shainti Craddock of Jasper. "He called it his first love."

The funeral for William Leroy Craddock II, 37, of Jasper, is 2 p.m. Saturday at First Redeemer Church in Cumming. McDonald & Son Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

The Florida native served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a helicopter mechanic, Mr. Holcombe said. After moving to metro Atlanta in 1996, he worked as a car mechanic and began volunteering with the Hickory Flat Volunteer Fire Department in Cherokee County.

In 1997 Mr. Craddock joined the DeKalb fire department and soon was going through the arduous training to become a rescue specialist. Besides his extensive teaching, Mr. Craddock worked part-time for the Forsyth County Fire Department and was an assistant chief with the Bethany-Salem Volunteer Fire Department Station 8 in Jasper.

To help unite Georgia firefighters, Mr. Craddock joined with several other firefighters in 2001 to establish the fraternity Georgia FOOLS, a branch of FOOLS International. FOOLS stands for Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society.

"It is an organization that promotes brotherhood and the traditions and lifestyle of firefighters," Mr. Holcombe said. A major part of the Georgia FOOLS agenda is teaching firemen across the state how to save people and get out safely, Mr. Holcombe added. The program has grown to numerous chapters, said co-founder Brian Gary of Forsyth County, a lieutenant with the Forsyth County Fire Department.

For fun, Mr. Craddock rode bulls in rodeos, went horseback riding with his wife and played hide-and-seek with his 4-year-old son Colby Craddock, who loved to come to his father's fire stations.

A fund for Mr. Craddock's widow and son has been set up by the DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Department. Donations to the William L. Craddock Fund can be made at any Bank of America branch. Other survivors include his mother, Gail Schueren and his stepfather, Bob Schueren, both of Epworth.

-Courtesy of AJC.com

It is finished

In more ways than one....
First off.. I said goodbye to a good friend yesterday. A brother in the fire service, Bill Craddock, an incredibly smart and funny man went home to be with all the other firefighters that have gone before him. 40 days ago, May 4th, 2006, Bill was fighting a house fire and went down from a massive heart attack. Since that day he has fought the battle in ICU. It was a roller-coaster of good news/bad news.
Compared to 99% of everyone else who knew him, I only knew him for a short time. But in the short time he taught me lessons that I will take with me for the rest of my career. Craddock was a gruff, no holds barred kind of guy who through tough words but a gentle spirit only wanted everyone to be able to go home the same way they got on the truck on the way to the call. He was... he is.. the poster child of firefighter training and safety. Full of mischief and piss & vinegar he stood out as a guy who loved this job so passionately and only wanted to share the knowledge he had with all his brothers and sisters.
Craddock is known throughout the nation as a hardcore firefighter who loved to train. Both himself and others to, quite simply, always be the best. There was no excuse for not giving 110%.
And just as much as he amazed me, his wife has amazed me. Throughout this whole ordeal she has been so kind, so thoughtful... in a time of utter heartache, she has so often thought of others before herself. I hope she always remembers that we will always be here for her and her family. We are all a family.

It so sucks that it is times like these that it is when we get to see long lost friends. But it will be a time to celebrate Craddock's life. To celebrate and acknowledge all his accomplishments and the advancements he has made. I came to this dept after riding with Craddock at his station. I was so looking forward to working jobs with him. To training with him. I can only work towards being the best.. to hopefully making him proud. Everybody wanted to live up to his expectations. I will miss him so much.

And... on a lighter note. Today was the last official day at the fire academy. I did it. Cav and I have to go back and complete a class tomorrow since we were at the hospital all day yesterday, but that is fine. The thee of us have our station assignments and all our stuff to hit the field. Finally! My excitement is anti-climatic... I still cant believe that I am here. .doing this... and they're paying me. The last two years have finally paid off!

I have been assigned to one of the busiest boxes in the county. It's a single company house so the amount of time I am going to get on the engine will remain to be seen. I will put my time in on the box, but I will definitely be looking to get as many fire rotations as I can. The call volume for my station is huge. In the first 5 months of this year one engine and one box have about 3700 responses. LOL... woo-hoo.. am I in for a treat. I think I might have said that I came to this dept was because I wanted to busy... maybe a little too much.
So.. needless to say.. this blog will have lots of interesting stories. Stay tuned....

2 down...

Today was a good day... PT aside, it was a good hard physical day. Hooked up with another class doing interior search and rescue and today was like being back home doing drills with Darin.
Our instructor switched it up this morning.. so the fact that I had my brain straight for what to expect flew out the window. But I had a brief moment of personal pride. As with most women in the fire service, we tend to lack on the upper body strength. I've never made excuses for that, and dont tolerate other women who do. If you want the job, then get into the gym and pump iron til you can. For all the CPAT's I've taken.. it is usually the hose hoist that eats my time. When I took the test for Dekalb it was like the others in that it really ate into my time.
In the middle of running the tower with the hose roll, Instructor S. had us stop off at the 5th floor and pull the hose. I pulled it without pausing and without that much difficulty. It was just a brief moment of "yea!" for me.
Did 3 evolutions with the group... the maze, disoriented ff, and a team search. I truly miss being all hot and sweaty in my gear, pushing myself...
I had a brain fart during one of the evolutions... LOL.. my old LT would have bopped my on the head. In the middle of the maze I was being hollered at to disconnect my regulator. I pulled off my one glove since my hood was over the regulator. Yeah.. I know. Just a brain fart. Had to re-do the maze.
Took a couple layers of skin off my knees but it's all good. I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow... something in the burn building.
I am so looking forward to being back out in the field. 10 more days.

back into the groove....

Well if anyone actually reads this... I'm back. The past few months have been spent packing up, and realizing one of my life's goals. I have taken a job with Dekalb County Fire Rescue in Atlanta. After a year of traveling around testing for departments, I've picked them. My uncle lives in north Atlanta and he is so incredibly generous to let me shack up for a while. The things I wanted in my career dept was big, busy and progressive. Dekalb fits all of those. 268 square miles, 700K people, and about 105,000 calls a year. So anyway, I've been down here for about 7 weeks. The past 6 weeks have been all county and medic orientation. A long.. 6 weeks. We are the anomily at the academy.
Normally classes range 25-35 people. We have 3. Yep... 3 people. A guy from Dallas, TX a reinstate who used to work for the dept a couple of years ago and me. Its been a good time but we're all itching to get back out into the field. Even if they put me on the box for a long time.. I dont care... I'm tired of being in a classroom.
So.... we finished all that up last Friday. Today started accelerated fire training. All of us (all whopping 3 of us) are already FF II certified in some aspect, just not GA. So basically they're running us through all the skills and getting us ready physically for the academy's exit combat challenge.
Yeah... today was hard. But it was a good hard. Morning callestetics followed by running of the tower a couple of times with a roll of 3", followed by an uphill march (with the hose) for a couple of miles.
I'm hitting the sack early. We were advised before we left that it gets much worse.... right after we got done reloading 1500 ft of 5" supply line. But like I said.. I'm not complaining... it was a good hard physical day. But a 60 min body massage also sounds utterly divine.

Ok... enough writing for now... the light from the screen is killing my head.. I know... gripe, gripe, gripe... hell, its my blog I can do whatever I want.

Nite....