PT ain't no joke!

OK, start time 1730...let's see how quickly I can do this before I get distracted, again

0700 yesterday, started doing PT as usual- just to do a warm-up. The instructors came down and told us to get all our turnout gear except our facepieces. Once we all got our gear on, we went to the 5th floor of the tower to get a section of 3-inch hose. The clock starts ticking. We had to go back down the tower and unroll our hose, then get it back up onto our shoulder in an 'approved carry'. Almost everyone went for an accordion fold. The reason for all of this is simple, physical conditioning. You have 1 hour to try to climb the 7-story tower as many times as possible, aiming to make 10 trips. A lot harder than it sounds. When there was about 20 minutes left (according to a classmate), I made it to the top again and knew I wasn't feeling too good-something just felt wrong. First thing I did was dump the hose, take off my helmet and gloves, and sat down. I figured since my vision was a little blurry, I'd sit down a minute so I couldn't fall down. One of the instructors was up there along with a paramedic from our class, she told him that he'd better not come down without me-then left.

I'm sitting there and, since I was in full turnout gear, very warm and trying to catch my breath. The medic comes over and asks "you OK?" I guess I didn't respond very well since he started telling me I was really flushed and felt too warm, then suggested I take the SCBA and coat off. No arguments here, I reached down and popped the release for the SCBA and let him get it all off. Next thing I know, about 6 more classmates come flying up the stairs. One looked at me for all of 2 seconds, then yelled down to the instructors that I was down and not moving a lot. A bunch of them stood me up and took the rest of my gear off, them laid me back down. By this time, 2 more classmates that are medics made it up the tower. One literally stood over me and tried to get me to slow my breathing down-I was hyperventilating and big time. Luckly, there was a chair on the roof and they loaded me into it and carried me down.

Once out of the tower, gatorade was brought to me and ice packs were shoved in all kinds of places (there was even one on top of my head!). My BP was 96/P, PaO2 100%, Resp. upper 30's-low 40's I think, and pulse was 140. The big problem of the moment was my breathing. With a real case of hyperventilation, you blow off too much carbon dioxide and as a result, your hands and lips become numb. Well, let's just say the lower half of my face was numb, and my hands were so numb that my left hand 'locked' open- I could barely make a fist. By now, it's been about 15-20 minutes since I went down, and here come both Captains from the admin. trailer, both are paramedics also. I was taken out of the chair and laid on the ground. While one Captain asked me a line of questions, the other called our dispatch and requested an ambulance. About this time, one of the medics from my class started an IV (18 in left AC) and ran a bag wide open with the first medic squeezing the bag (NS with a macro set). They checked my vitals again, BP was coming up, pulse down to 130, accu-check was 95, still numb and hyperventilating a bit. A minute or two later, the ambulance pulled up. I already had about 350-400cc's from the IV bag into me. I was loaded and did a bit of questioning while my Captains made sure everything was in order. Then enroute to the hospital. While on the way, the IV was slowed down to half-speed and vitals were repeated.

0936...Once in the hospital, I was triaged just long enough to get my fancy new bracelet before I was moved to a room in the ER. After a few minutes, the Dr. came and briefly checked me over. Then a chest x-ray was done. A bit later, the nurse came in to remove the actual IV (had to put the INT on it, classmates were in a hurry I guess)  and take some blood- 6 small tubes. I was happy about it, since I had a good line established, she hooked her stuff right into it and didn't have to stick me again to get the blood samples. Shortly after that, the tech came and tried to do an EKG. As soon as she touched my shirt she figured out why I kept asking for a blanket, I was still soaking wet from sweat. I was quickly told to ditch the shirt while she grabbed a gown and some dry sheets. She came back and did the EKG (everything was normal), then hooked me up to the monitor in the room and checked my vitals. They even checked orthostatic BP (does blood pressure drop significantly when standing up compared to lying down), all normal. By this time the numbness was gone, even from my hands. She changed the wet sheets and brought a warm blanket and then went on about her business. Occasionally, a nurse or tech would come in and talk to me, but nothing of any real signifigance. The highlights were watching other medics and EMT's from my county drop off patients. One of theguys that brought me likes to mess with me whenever he gets the chance. I saw him go by and yelled out "Ambulance driver!" A moment later, he backed up and spotted me. He cracked a couple jokes about me still being there and wanted to know what had been done/ found out. I filled him and his partner in and we talked for a few minutes until they had to get back to the truck. 

Literally hours later, I was released-but allowed to remain in my room until my Captain came to pick me up. About 1430, a nurse asked me when I ate last (the night before around 1700) then quickly brought me a meal. That nasty hospital food has never tasted that good before. There was a huge mixup about -get this- actually picking up the phone to the academy and letting them know I was ready to leave. I got to hang out a couple extra hours because of that. Once the Captain finally made it, we realized the Doc forget to sign one of my release forms. It was the one that allowed me to return to full duty, the same one I fought him over hours earlier. How convieniant. If I would have listened to him and taken today and tomorrow off, 1-I'd never catch up on the material, and 2- I'd NEVER live it down from the instructors.

We made it back to the academy minutes before final formation time...My luck, they released early and I saw half the class leaving as we pulled in. Oh well, break my heart I didn't have to stand at attention forever. I went into the classroom to grab my stuff and the remaining classmates burst into a round of applause, a couple even stood up. (It was the majority of the class, all the ones that didn't pass National Registry have to stay late for extra remediation this week)

Today wasn't too bad, I was expecting to get ribbed by everyone. By the end of the day however, some of the jokes had turned cruel and were starting to get on my nerves. The line had been crossed. It was mainly one guy who I've been annoyed by constantly in the past, I told him to (in no uncertain terms) kiss my ass and screw off. As an old movie once said "Nasty little boys like you will get their come-uppence some day." 

On the bright side, tomorrow we get to put our newly-acquired rescue/extrication knowledge to the test. We get to cut up 3 cars. The icing on the cake is that a local news station is going to be filming it for a special report. The only down side is that we will be in full gear all day, and it's expected to be hot. In fact, I guess I'd better go continue hydrating before dinner is ready...I don't want to repeat yesterday ever again. Oh, I plan to take pictures (Flapsdwn, I promise I'll send them if you remind me to upload them).