What? Me bitter?

I've decided that after reading back on some of my posts that I could be misconstrued as a tired, crabby, burnt out medic. I just want to set the record straight. That's not the case at all. I still love my job! Some nights it gets old getting up in the middle of the night for the same old "bull shit" runs, but all in all, I still like it.

I still like mentals, you can mess with them and they don't even know it...

Nothing gets your blood pumping like a good ole trauma run...

And a few runs, where you know you've done something right, and done it well, still make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. We had a 53 y/o male the other day that called because of chest pain. Now, probably 7 out of 10 chest pain runs we go on turn out to be nothing. A couple of the rest may be cardiac related, but still nothing serious. But then, every once and a while, you get on the scene and take one look at the patient and just know that this one's going down the tubes.
This guy was one of those. Pale, sweaty, clutching his chest.
Where I work, we have a system in place with the local hospitals where a medic can call in and request a "Cardiac Alert". What that does is alert a cardiac team that's on stand-by at the hospital that a patient is coming in that needs to go directly to the cath lab. Now if I call the ER Dr and request a cardiac alert, but don't convince him that either it's needed or that I'm smart enough to know what I'm talking about, he'll just tell me to "come on in and we'll see you when you get here". That means that he isn't convinced that the patient is having an MI, (heart attack), or is a candidate for the cath lab.
This guy was a walking "Cardiac Alert". I called the ER Doc and told him about ST elevation in V1, V2 and V3, with reciprocal changes in Lead II and AVF, narrow QRS waves, blah, blah, blah... All stuff relating to a 12 lead EKG. Anyway, I must have convinced him, because he went ahead and called the alert.
Now what this alert also does is save time in what they call "door to cath" time. On an average, if a person comes into a hospital ER with chest pain, it takes 140 minutes to make it to a cath table. They have to run tests, do an EKG, gather the cardiac team, get a bed, so on and so forth. On average, if a patient comes in via medic with a cardiac alert called, it takes less than 100 minutes. The record in the city I work in is 12 minutes from door to cath.
This guy didn't make it there in 12 minutes, but was there quick. Turns out he had 3 blockages, had 3 stints placed, and now is doing ok. On the way to the hospital, he began saying "I don't want to die, don't let me die". It's a fact that 70% of people having a heart attack that start saying "I'm going to die" die. The ER Dr told us that we made a good call with this guy. Turns out he's the same Dr that taught my last 12 lead EKG class.
So, that was a good run. All warm and fuzzy... Guy was dying, we intervened, and now the guy is alive and well. He can call 911 at 3 am some other night...
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Well, you see... I'm having severe back pain.... It's been going on for the past 6 weeks, but I just can't stand it anymore."
"OK sir, the medics are on their way...."


Back to the reason for this post, I'm not bitter, I still love my job. I just started this blog because people I talked to, such as friends & family, couldn't believe some of the stupid things people called medics for. So, that's the kind of things I try to tell in here. No one wants to hear about the everyday stuff, just the dramatic, bloody, gory and ridiculous.

Today's been slow, which is sometimes a good thing. I'm on the ladder today instead of a medic, so even if we get called out for a medic assist, we don't have to go all the way to the hospital with them. Unless it's an honest to goodness medical emergency... we haven't had one of those today. Our medic has been busy. They've been out on a couple auto accidents, a few sicks. We went with them for a lady with "severe" abdominal pain. We of course go screaming out there in 750 thousand dollars worth of equipment because she called 911, only to learn that she has had this pain for about 6 months and decided that she should probably get it checked out. Our medic has also gone out today for a splinter in a finger. Yep, that's right, a splinter in a finger.
We've had our drill for the day. We've been to the garage to have some work done to the ladder. We've done our house duties... We've even gone out and checked hydrants. It's not like we haven't been busy, just not dealing with sick people.
Tonight we fly helicopters... At least 'till the "big one" comes in.

"I'm not good with numbers"

Drama, it's a killer. People have nothing better to do that sit around and stare at each other, that is until they can't stand the sight of each other anymore, then there's drama.

Picture this... it's you, your baby's momma/daddy, and 2 other screaming/baggy diapered kids. Nothing to watch on TV because you didn't pay the cable bill. You could do laundry, but nah, that would mean going from room to room picking up the piles of clothes. Oh, and I like this, "Sorry the house is a mess, we're getting ready to move". Even if you did pick up the clothes, then you'd have to pick through em to sort out the beer cans/cigarette butts/Ho Ho wrappers.

I was at this apt. the other day, at 3am, and this is what this guy decided to do. He had a seizure. There are different kinds of seizures, petite mal, grand mal... seizures that last a few seconds to seizures that can last minutes and repeat several times. That's a bad thing. During a bad seizure you don't breathe well and you become hypoxic. During a seizure you have no purposeful movement, no reflex. You could aspirate, even cause brain damage.

So this poor guy had a seizure. His poor girl friend/baby's momma/significant other, who he's been arguing with all night, calls 911 because she's so worried. And here we come to save the day.

We get there and this guy's laying in bed, unconscious. We try to get him to respond, but he's out like a light, or so he wants us/her to think. You see, like I said before, if you're truly out, you have no reflexive movements. If someone raises your hand above your face, then drops it, you'll smack yourself in the face. This guys hand fell off to the side. If you're truly out, and someone brushes your eyelashes, there's no response. This guys eyes fluttered, he can't help it, it's involuntary. We used to do sternal rubs. That's when you rub your knuckles hard on a persons sternum. Hurts like the dickens. When we didn't do a sternal rub on this guy, he suddenly became conscious again, and pissed. Another little fact about seizures is that after one, you have a post-ichtal phase. You're tired, your brain is tired, and it's probably still a little hypoxic. People tend to be aggravated at this time because you can ask them questions and they don't understand, or they do understand but they can't form answers. This guy went from 0 to 60 in no time flat.

So, needless to say, being the observant type medics we are, we quickly determined he is faking. And that's when my job gets fun.
I figure that if you call me out at 3 in the morning, for nothing, I get to have my way with you.
What's your name?
"John Doe"
Do you know where you are right now?
"Yes"
Where?
"Home"
What's the address?
"### Some DR., Apt###"
Why are you faking a seizure?
"Fu*k you, I'm not faking."
So we explained that this isn't the first time we've ever been on a seizure, we're not new medics, and we know he didn't really have a seizure. We explained about hypoxia, post-ichtal phases and such...
So why are you faking? Fighting with your girlfriend?
"Man, I'm not faking.. I have seizures sometimes."
Been seen by a Dr. for your seizures?
"Yes"
Take any meds?
"No, he said they weren't that bad..."
What's you're SS#?
Now, since he's full of new information, he's suddenly post-ichtal....
"I can't remember right now... give me a minute"
We give him a minute...
Can you tell me your SS# yet?
"Hold on, I'm not good with numbers"
So by this time, we've had enough. He doesn't need to go to the hospital, and I'm tired of being in his dirty little apartment.
Not good with numbers huh? I don't need you to add em all together. I just need your SS# for my report. My report that says that you've faked a seizure, and you're not going to the hospital.
I didn't think you were good with numbers because if you were you'd be an engineer, have a job, and not call me out here at 3 in the morning for a little drama in your boring life.
Oh, and I need you to sign this refusal form....

Boys and their toys

Luckily last Saturday wasn't a busy day, because we had much better things to do. A couple of the guys at the station and I decided to order Havoc Helies...

They're stupid, simple little micro RC helicopters, and damn are they fun! We were way too busy to save lives or anything like that.

We would charge them for 30 minutes, get our 10 minutes of flight time, (that's all they fly before they need to be recharged), then fly some more. We buzzed all around the apparatus room all day. Of the 3 of us that got em, mine's the only one that's still alive. The other 2 have fried. It's kind of funny because of the 3 mine looks the worst. First thing I did was modify it, rip it's little stickers off and jam a paper clip in the nose of it to make it fly foreward faster. Of the 3, mine definitely looks the worse for wear, but hey, it's still flying and theirs isn't.

Today, (Tuesday), I'm on the medic and it probably won't be quite as slow of a day. Our first run involved a guy that was assaulted with a baseball bat on his way to work. We got him to the hospital and they asked what we had.

Us "Assault, beat with a baseball bat"

Nurse "Another one?"

We had the third person brought in this morning. Seems that a group of kids were driving around, looking for people to beat. They got 5 people in 3 towns before the police got em. I know of at least 1 of their victims that had to have surgery. Cop told me later that the sad thing is the guy we brought in was a concealed weapon permit holder, and had a gun in his car. He just couldn't make it to the glove box before passing out. Those guys don'y know how lucky they were.

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Today has been a banner day, if you like rain. Although it's been busy, it's been a lot of the same old stuff.
Little old ladies fall down.
We had a patient today that had a triple by-pass on the 3rd of this month, was sent home yesterday, and called 911 today because her chest hurt. Well no shit! You just had your chest cracked open a week ago!
We also had a guy today that somehow managed to poke himself in the face with a rake. A garden rake. Not one of the big leaf rakes that can get out of control, but a garden rake... with the little short steel tines. He managed to run one of those tines thru the bridge of his nose into his sinus cavity. Luckily it missed his eye, and missed the tear drop tattoo's at the corner of his eye. Hate to see that artwork messed up. When asked about any medical history, he admitted to a previous stabbing, and a previous shooting. I've had several with one or the other, not many with both. Now he can add a "raking" to his list.
And the latest, a double overdose. Mom took 20 Ativan, son took 19 Xanax. I have no idea what the story is behind it... I can only imagine the conversation before hand. "I'll see your 19 and raise you 20!"

It's been a little while...

I decided to try to resurrect my blog after a short hiatus. It's just been a break of say... almost 2 years. Not a lot has changed, lots of stupid runs, a few exciting ones, and even a couple odd balls.

We had one guy at the station that no one really cared for, and he has since retired. That makes work a lot nicer. It's amazing how one guy can change the mood of a whole engine house.

There are still the same drug overdoses, the same assaults, the same regular customers. Still shootings, stabbings and auto accidents. And still the same old "I've felt this way for about 4 or 5 days, but I just can't take it any more", even though it's now 4:30 in the morning and they've been drinking all night.

And just when I think I've seen everything... Boom! Something really off the wall happens. And that's the reason I started this blog.

But that's for another day.