They'll never learn

I was almost finished with a really good entry, sometimes AOL can just KMA. Grrrr!!!

**I also reached 1000 hits, yaaah**

 

After reading my entry about the value of seatbelts, you'd think I might be able to avoid ejections for a little while...Think again.

Yesterday morning started out with another MVC rollover with ejection, possibly on fire. Luckily there was no fire and everyone was more or less OK. Dad was ejected and, unlike my last bad accident, the van didn't roll over him.

There isn't really much to say about everyone in the van, if they had any injuries, they were minor. Everyone was immobilized and transported as a safety precaution.

Oh, c'mon, you know I'm not going to end it like that!

Mom and Dad were taking the kids to school. As they approached some traffic, Mom tried to start slowing down...Nothing, so she stomps the brakes...Still nothing. I'll give her credit, our quick-thinking Mom tries in a last-ditch effort to stop or at least slow down and hits the emergency brake. The van speeds up! Dodging oncoming traffic, Mom goes off-road, flips, launches Dad airborne, and hits a tree.

We later found out from witnesses that the brakes were smoking as she tried to stop. Looking in the van, we found the accelerator was stuck and on the floor.

Any guesses as to how long until the manufacturer gives them a new vehicle?

Take care 

Death in my family

**2 entries in one day, making up for lost time**

Friday night, I almost spent New Year's in the ER. One of my cats became sick.

My cat Suger has been laying around a lot since Christmas, this isn't normal for her...She usually hides. I came home from work about 8 am and found black, tarry stool. I also found out Suger had stopped eating and drinking. I had to try and get her to drink so I found a 1cc syringe and used some pliers to remove the needle. I filled the syringe with water and squirted some in the cat's mouth and she just didn't have the energy to drink it...she could hardly stand up and felt really skinny. Time to go see a vet.

Saturday morning I picked her up from the emergency pet clinic and took her to a local university that is known for having THE BEST animal clinic. They learned she had a disease called DIC, similar to what humans can get. She had pus in the pleural space (around her lungs) and was also in septic shock. When her blood work came back, the 2 clotting factors they look at were slow, one was twice the normal length of time and the other was so slow their machine couldn't even read it. Not to mention her white blood cells were low.

I tried everything possible to help her, she was given fluids and oxygen, kept warm, and monitored constantly. She even received 2 packs of platelets, but it was in vain. She wasn't stable enough to undergo the anesthesia needed to put in a chest tube...They were having to do a chest tap every 4-5 hours to help her breathe. DIC is nearly 100% fatal in cats. I went this morning when I got off work to say my goodbyes. I swore to continue fighting as long as she did, no matter the cost.

Seeing the condition she was in confirmed my decision from the day before when I was on the phone with the vet...I had to make the hardest decision I think I ever made in my life....euthenasia.

I got to spend a few minutes alone with her, she was so sick I know in my heart it was the right choice but it hurt. As the vet gave her the injection, I told her again how much I loved her as she stopped breathing. They put her in a little coffin and I brought her home. I said a few more goodbyes and buried her. I still keep crying because I wish I could have her back, I wish more could be done to fight the disease but there's nothing else I could have done. At least she isn't suffering any more.

I'll try to get apicture up here later if I can figure it out.

Take care

The Value of a Seatbelt

The shift yesterday was somewhat dull, until about 2030 or so. Call came out in my territory for a MVC with injuries and entrapment. We made it onscene within a couple minutes and blocked all traffic (well, PD tried, but you can't get past a fire engine). It looked bad...There was a thick trail of blood coming from what looked like under the car. I was told to go help a rescue captain check the 2 people that were ejected from the vehicle. One was already covered with a sheet. The other was split open from about the middle of his chest to his underarm, he'd had some type of surgery recently and his stitches had burst open.

"No pulse, no respirations, pupils fixed and dialated...Cover him with the sheet."

**focus on the now** I went over to help with the other 4 patients that were in the SUV. All were relatively unscathed, they were also wearing their seatbelts. The worst (visible) injury was a couple scrapes and what looked like road rash. Each patient was immobilized using a standing takedown (yes, C-spine was maintained first with a collar) and transported to a trauma center.

These kids may not have needed to go, but due to what we call mechanism of injury or MOI, they were going. Any accident will qualify for MOI is it hits any one of multiple criteria: death in the same passenger compartment or intrusion greater than 2 feet, falls of 3x's the patient height, and the list goes on.

Having responded to an MVC with entrapment before, I came off the engine with my turnouts and helmet on. With all the patients safely enroute to the ER, we decided to try and cut the battery cables to make the SUV 'safe'. It took a while. The way the car rolled, the hood was tucked under the side quarterpanels. Since I had my gear on already, I got to start tearing apart the hood. Somebody handed me the Haligan Bar and I started swinging. We fought that stinking hood for probably 10 minutes before getting smart and grabbing the K12 saw. Let's just say it made short work of the fiberglass hood.

As crime scene, medical examiner and the traffic investigator arrived, so did the news media. We had raised the light tower on the engine to illuminate the scene but turned the lights off to try and minimize rubberneckers on the other side of the road.

It was a while before CSU and the traffic investigator were through taking pictures and marking the pavement. Once they finished, the ME came in and loaded the 2 bodies. The poor kid that was previously covered with a sheet looked like his neck was broken, and he'd bled out. The other looked bad as well, but hardly had any external bleeding.

The tow truck driver did some cleaning up and moved the SUV to level ground to try and load it. Meanwhile, I grabbed the booster line off the engine and tried to wash away the blood.

Here's the news article from one of the TV stations that came out, the pictures of the SUV don't show much damage...Most of the damage was on the passenger side of the car, I guess the cameras had to stay on the driver's side of the car so the bodies of the victims wouldn't be shown.

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=56908

We finally made it back to our station shortly after midnight.

 

 

bell? Oh, that bell!

Yesterday was, well, very out of the ordinary. I was on the engine (yaaay!) and it was quiet. Almost too quiet for our station. I can count all the calls for the entire 24 hour shift on one hand- we normally run 10+ every shift. It was kinda nice, I did all my chores and had a nice day hanging out with the guys at the station. I doubt it will ever happen again, but it was a nice day.

I'm a happy camper now, me and Dad went for a nice long ride on the Harley earlier. There was little traffic so it was just about open roads. When we got home, I pulled out my go kart and rode it around the neighborhood a couple times...until I almost ran out of gas.

I'll try to get back online either tonight or tomorrow and write up a call from a couple weeks ago that was pretty interesting...'till then try not to get too drunk tonite.

I not under the alcofluence of incohol Mr. occiffer. I only had 2 beers (holds up 3 fingers)

take care and happy new year

another LONG shift

I honestly don't have the energy to write much about the past couple shifts. Christmas was slow considering how busy my station usually is. I was on the rescue yesterday and we ran like scolded yard dogs. We barely made it to the station to fill up on gas before getting another call. My partner (whom I usually work with if I'm on the rescue) is really starting to get on my nerves. As time goes by, I'm starting to realize just how inconsiderate he is. I'm going to leave it at that because I'm not going to mention any names or identifying features or anything else...He's just really starting to irk me.

CPR in progress

Last shift was pretty good overall, I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep so I was happy. We ran a few boring calls, but had an interesting diabetic call and the one I'm going to write about...cardiac arrest.

Radio: respond to 123 anystreet for a person down unconsious, not breathing.

While enroute (it was in the next territory over), the engine company onscene gave a update.

Engine: we have CPR in progress at this time, tell Rescue to step it up

Minutes later we were onscene. We grabbed ALL the gear off the unit and headed inside (both jump bags, the monitor, drug box, and suction kit). As we made it inside and into the room with the patient, the engine crew looked somewhat relieved. The paramedic I was working with replaced the pads from the AED with the ones from our monitor and hooked up a couple leads.... The patient was in asystole (I'm sure Scott could explain this better than I could). CPR continued while the patient was intubated. Moments later, we found a good sign, he had a pulse.

Don't get your hopes up, it didn't last long. The engine crew had already shocked him twice with the AED before we arrived.

A couple IVs were started and Epi and Atropine were pushed through one, a lidocaine drip was also hung. One of the guys on the engine rode in the back with us and another drove us to the ER. The gentleman had to be shocked a few times between the time we got him loaded until we dropped him off at the hospital. But another good sign was that he was trying to breathe a little on his own.

I've only been out of training a month and a half and I'm still learning how to do things even on a routine call. I'm starting to get more comfortable with my patient assessment and other skills. I can fill out the paperwork but need a little help with my narrative. I'm still struggling, but I'm learning my territory fairly quickly.

I'm not going to lie and say I knew what was going on the whole time, I've never been on a cardiac arrest before. I helped out by handing things to the people who needed them and really just trying to stay out of the way. Now that I've been on one, I'll have a better idea what needs to be done next time and will gladly jump in without being told what to do. I guess I was a bit overwhelmed in the controlled chaos of it all. But that's OK, I'm still learning and worked with the engine crew a couple weeks before... They knew it was my first cardiac arrest and helped me get through it.

Looking back, I'm not sure if there was much I could have done. There were 5 of us plus the patient in a bedroom, on the floor in what was maybe a space as big as a doorway.

I'm not trying to jinx myself, but if I'm assigned to the rescue again tomorrow, I kinda hope to transport another patient to that ER so I can try to see if the gentleman made it. Either way, I can't help but feel for his family, especially at this time of year.

Tell a loved one that you love them, and take care as always

What does it look like?

Last shift can be summed up with just one word....Murder. Halfway through the shift I was starting to forget what the inside of my station looked like.

Thus far, working 24-hour shifts hasn't been that bad. At least until last shift. From a few minutes after 0700, as soon as the previous crew came back from their call, we were off and running. We caught call after call. A few minutes before midnight, we made it back to the station. I put the calls into the logbook and the computer and went to bed. MAYBE 45 minutes later the bell rang for a fire. Caught another call as we left that scene. I think it was almost 4 when we got back to the station. The EMS Gods were cruel. Right as my head hit the pillow I took a nice, refreshing sigh... Just as the bell rang again. So much for sleep.

30 minutes to shift change and we were back at the station, my partner started some coffee and turned on the TV while I dozed in the recliner. The new shift came in and we gladly passed the rescue to them (They got a call before I could even make it to my car).

There weren't any interesting calls to report-at least not that I can remember. We ran 1 MVC, 1 fire call, and everything else was medical. Most calls lately have been boring, the cold weather is making people sick. First-time moms don't know what to do with their sick baby or somebody has the flu... Things that most people in the EMS field won't even bat an eye over, but these people freak out and call us. I know that's what we're there for, but I guess I'm still cranky from getting tortured last shift. 

As soon as I got home yesterday I went straight to bed, I'd basically been up over 28 hours. It was after 7pm when I finally woke up and got something to eat. 

Hopefully, tomorrow won't be nearly as bad. I'm going to be working at another station for the shift and I'm not sure how busy they normally are. It should be interesting, at least I hope so.

Take care