Welcome to another version of the bandagedOne blog. I know I may not have all the action in my blogs but I will try to cover what I can and go about it legally without revealing details that might ID a pt. or location.
Another slow night, around 0530 the tones drop for a male patient with weakness in his legs and tingling in his arms, and unable to move lower extremities. We respond lights/sirens to the location as the snow continues to fall, nothing really measureable just a cold wind and some wet snow which appears to be melting.
We find the pt in the back room of the house, we request a little assistance to get him out. Some officers stop by they happened to be not to far away. We manage to walk the patient to the cot. We slap the pt. on the monitor, nothing out of the ordinary, we obtain a BP little high, pt is complaining of a headache but has had this for some time since he had an injury. Little wierd. We transport the patient carefully to the hospital, due to the weather and chance for sliding on the roads, which are wet with melted snow.
Arrive at the hospital the doctor sees him and orders the normal things. We leave and another case we miss finding out what is going on.
We are called back in a few hours later, seems the pt. was sent out by chopper to a neuro center and the weather was too bad they had to abort and bring the pt. back. We get to the hospital and find out we are taking an extra pair of hands, we are taking a nurse. We stock the truck with what we need for the transfer, (IV PUMPS), pt is in pain, the weather is worse then when we left work this AM just a few hours ago. The flight crew mentions to me that they could see bridges were iced over from the air, so I should be careful. I listened. So we loaded and went to the hospital. The wind was blowing so hard it was like fighting a losing battle reminded me of driving into a hurricane although I know a hurricane would have been worse. You would have to have the wheels tilted one way driving down the road to stay in your lane then it would catch you the other direction. It was a tough job. We weren't able to make much time on this transfer. We made it to our destination just in time as one of our IV meds was running out. The weather didn't seem as bad here. Looked as though the sun would shine, and it did for a short time. On the way back I managed to catch about 15 minutes of sleep. I needed it, I hadn't slept in forever it seemed. We arrive back, I jump out of the truck and realize how cold it really is with the wind chill added in. I clock out and run home. I knew I only had a few hours to get back. My partner was off the night and was only covering call.
I made it to work on time and clocked in and was told to go to bed by the previous shift. I wasted no time, I went and slept for about 4 hours. (Not non stop may I add) For some reason I have the wakeup every few hours intuition.) I did manage to wakeup about the time that I had intended, I hear radio traffic from the fire dept, appears they are out on a structure fire and might need us to respond. I wait a while and nothing. So I proceed to wash down the trucks. I figured they needed it badly after the previous day's adventures in the salted road kingdom.
Well made it through the night without a single call. Not bad. I was happy went home in the morning and slept a few hours and woke up, tossed and turned then slept some more. I put in over 12 hours of sleep! NICE! I feel rested and ready for my days off now. Although it appears the weather is going to be crappy. I could agree being at home is nice because I won't have to run calls.
This morning one of the replacements for the next shift was looking through the magazines laying on the desk, EMS, or JEMS one of those. He made the comment, Who would want a management degree in EMS. Why would anyone go to school to get a degree in EMS management. It will cost them more to go to school then they will make a year. I overheard this and being the kinda goofball I am I suggested, you might as well work for the Red Cross volunteering. Better yet join the Peace Corps, or Green Peace. I was a bit tired and ready to go and humor just helps. EMS like volunteering lol..... Volunteering to put up with peoples every complaint, and whining, and hear their problems, America's streets are full of EMS professionals who are actually server as Mental Health employees who actually see living conditions and lifestyles of what causes health issues and we just keep transporting them and the conditions never get better.
Also heard an interesting comment from a medic this morning. They were discussing smoking and how one cigarette is supposed to cut your life by 7 minutes. He said "I have seen the last 7 minutes of several people lives, and usually it isn't worth a crap anyways!" I find that ironic yet it is the truth. Think about all those people with CHF that suddenly go into respiratory distress and get tubed, and the ones that have chest pain for hours before they call the ambulance then they code on you en route to the hospital. 7 minutes could be a small amount of time but in the ending of someones life it could seem like alot especially if, 7 minutes is measured by a medic pushing drugs, and starting IV's, and inserting ET tubes. I like how this blog fell together considering I started without a real plan on how I was writing every day or so I hit a hill and climb it to get a good story!
Another slow night, around 0530 the tones drop for a male patient with weakness in his legs and tingling in his arms, and unable to move lower extremities. We respond lights/sirens to the location as the snow continues to fall, nothing really measureable just a cold wind and some wet snow which appears to be melting.
We find the pt in the back room of the house, we request a little assistance to get him out. Some officers stop by they happened to be not to far away. We manage to walk the patient to the cot. We slap the pt. on the monitor, nothing out of the ordinary, we obtain a BP little high, pt is complaining of a headache but has had this for some time since he had an injury. Little wierd. We transport the patient carefully to the hospital, due to the weather and chance for sliding on the roads, which are wet with melted snow.
Arrive at the hospital the doctor sees him and orders the normal things. We leave and another case we miss finding out what is going on.
We are called back in a few hours later, seems the pt. was sent out by chopper to a neuro center and the weather was too bad they had to abort and bring the pt. back. We get to the hospital and find out we are taking an extra pair of hands, we are taking a nurse. We stock the truck with what we need for the transfer, (IV PUMPS), pt is in pain, the weather is worse then when we left work this AM just a few hours ago. The flight crew mentions to me that they could see bridges were iced over from the air, so I should be careful. I listened. So we loaded and went to the hospital. The wind was blowing so hard it was like fighting a losing battle reminded me of driving into a hurricane although I know a hurricane would have been worse. You would have to have the wheels tilted one way driving down the road to stay in your lane then it would catch you the other direction. It was a tough job. We weren't able to make much time on this transfer. We made it to our destination just in time as one of our IV meds was running out. The weather didn't seem as bad here. Looked as though the sun would shine, and it did for a short time. On the way back I managed to catch about 15 minutes of sleep. I needed it, I hadn't slept in forever it seemed. We arrive back, I jump out of the truck and realize how cold it really is with the wind chill added in. I clock out and run home. I knew I only had a few hours to get back. My partner was off the night and was only covering call.
I made it to work on time and clocked in and was told to go to bed by the previous shift. I wasted no time, I went and slept for about 4 hours. (Not non stop may I add) For some reason I have the wakeup every few hours intuition.) I did manage to wakeup about the time that I had intended, I hear radio traffic from the fire dept, appears they are out on a structure fire and might need us to respond. I wait a while and nothing. So I proceed to wash down the trucks. I figured they needed it badly after the previous day's adventures in the salted road kingdom.
Well made it through the night without a single call. Not bad. I was happy went home in the morning and slept a few hours and woke up, tossed and turned then slept some more. I put in over 12 hours of sleep! NICE! I feel rested and ready for my days off now. Although it appears the weather is going to be crappy. I could agree being at home is nice because I won't have to run calls.
This morning one of the replacements for the next shift was looking through the magazines laying on the desk, EMS, or JEMS one of those. He made the comment, Who would want a management degree in EMS. Why would anyone go to school to get a degree in EMS management. It will cost them more to go to school then they will make a year. I overheard this and being the kinda goofball I am I suggested, you might as well work for the Red Cross volunteering. Better yet join the Peace Corps, or Green Peace. I was a bit tired and ready to go and humor just helps. EMS like volunteering lol..... Volunteering to put up with peoples every complaint, and whining, and hear their problems, America's streets are full of EMS professionals who are actually server as Mental Health employees who actually see living conditions and lifestyles of what causes health issues and we just keep transporting them and the conditions never get better.
Also heard an interesting comment from a medic this morning. They were discussing smoking and how one cigarette is supposed to cut your life by 7 minutes. He said "I have seen the last 7 minutes of several people lives, and usually it isn't worth a crap anyways!" I find that ironic yet it is the truth. Think about all those people with CHF that suddenly go into respiratory distress and get tubed, and the ones that have chest pain for hours before they call the ambulance then they code on you en route to the hospital. 7 minutes could be a small amount of time but in the ending of someones life it could seem like alot especially if, 7 minutes is measured by a medic pushing drugs, and starting IV's, and inserting ET tubes. I like how this blog fell together considering I started without a real plan on how I was writing every day or so I hit a hill and climb it to get a good story!