catchin' up

Wednesday, I went down to Columbus, GA, to do a ride-a-long with a good friend who is a firemedic with CFD. Got there at 0800, and we ran down to HQ to get my forms signed, then ran another quick errand and returned to our station. Sat around until 1330, when we had to go post for the Tour de Georgia (a bicycle race). Nothing happened until about 1615 when we got our first call...Medic 10 is usually extremely busy, not today. So we get to the call, and it's a 46yo woman, sweaty, and vomiting some clear fluid occasionally. We get her into the ambulance and take off. Hooked her up to the heart monitor and actually managed to record her having a PVC. Were unable to start an IV, even she knew she was a hard stick...had to try anyway. Dropped her off and picked up another call on the way back. Keep in mind, I'm not a EMT or paramedic yet, everything I've learned has been what I was told or taught by friends... We get to the next call and even I know how ridiculous it is. A 60yo female, history of diabetes, has a pacemaker, history of cardiac problems, cataracts in both eyes, the list goes on...Her reason for calling 911? She had a headache for the past 3 days and thought by calling us, she'd see a DR. faster. She had taken 1 asprin over the 3 days, and wanted to go to the hospital by ambulance. Well, you guessed it, we have to load her up and take her. At the hospital, she's put into a "urgent" room, it was made VERY obvious in our report that she could've gone to triage. We wanted to get back to the station so we left quickly. Later on, about 2000, we picked up another call where the guy was very lucky. He had been changing the brake rotors on his truck when it slipped off the jack and the truck landed on his leg. After talking with some people onscene, he sat around for nearly 3 minutes before calling out for help. It took 6 neighborhood guys to lift the truck off his leg. He was clear of the vehicle when we arrived. We cleaned him up and found he had minor injuries, maybe 1 stitch or just a butterfly would do. "Here's the deal...we can take you to the hospital, or we can patch you up and you can go with a friend, but you need to be checked out." He promised to go with some friends. Before we left, we found out that about a year ago, he rolled his 18-wheeler down a hill. I hope, for his sake, he starts working on smaller vehicles. 

Nothing interesting yesterday, except our fridge died and we now have a new one. (it's about time the old one died, it's older than I am)

Today, I had to be at Fire HQ to fill out most of the paperwork so I can get my insurance and everything taken care of. I should be reading now, I only have until 0700 Monday to decide which insurance company I want...I have a pile of books 3 inches tall to read through. In fact, I think I'll go do that now and get it over with.