Today I worked an EMT contract job. The city opera society worked out a deal with us that I am perfectly happy with. I waltz in, and essentially get paid to watch an opera, tend to patients (only one patient the entire time last year), and could bring a date for free.
Nice, huh?
I was supposed to meet my contact at the box office. I found him, and he seemed like a nice cashier, showing me where to go and handing me my tickets. I brought a friend this first time, and we had a good time exploring the absolutely gorgeous building. The pre-show lecture was spectacular, ranking with some of the best lectures from the school year.
After we finished up the show, my contact walked up in a snazzy suit and asked if we enjoyed the show. It was indeed cute, entertaining, and just a great Gilbert & Sullivan show in general. As I flipped through the program waiting for everyone to file out, on the first page was a welcome letter from the President of the opera society, with a nice photo of my contact included. Yup.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Guardian
Your Keirsey Temperament Sorter Results indicates that your personality type is that of the Guardian.
All Guardians (SJs) share the following core characteristics:
* Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working.
* Guardians are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize
gratitude, and dream of meting out justice.
* Guardians tend to be dutiful, cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions.
* Guardians make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders.
Guardians are the cornerstone of society, for they are the temperament given to serving and preserving our most important social institutions. Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services--from supervision to maintenance and supply -- and they use all their skills to keep things running smoothly in their families, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses.
Guardians can have a lot of fun with their friends, but they are quite serious about their duties and responsibilities. Guardians take pride in being dependable and trustworthy; if there's a job to be done, they can be counted on to put their shoulder to the wheel. Guardians also believe in law and order, and sometimes worry that respect for authority, even a fundamental sense of right and wrong, is being lost. Perhaps this is why Guardians honor customs and traditions so strongly -- they are familiar patterns that help bring stability to our modern, fast-paced world.
Practical and down-to-earth, Guardians believe in following the rules and cooperating with others. They are not very comfortable winging it or blazing new trails; working steadily within the system is the Guardian way, for in the long run loyalty, discipline, and teamwork get the job done right. Guardians are meticulous about schedules and have a sharp eye for proper procedures. They are cautious about change, even though they know that change can be healthy for an institution. Better to go slowly, they say, and look before you leap.
Guardians make up as much as 40 to 45 percent of the population, and a good thing, because they usually end up doing all the indispensable but thankless jobs everyone else takes for granted.
The four types of Guardians are:
Provider (ESFJ) | Protector (ISFJ) | Supervisor (ESTJ) | Inspector (ISTJ)
Which one are you?
Purchase your Comprehensive Advanced Keirsey Temperament Reports™ now!
Use the power of your personality to advance your career, become a better leader, or improve your relationships
All Guardians (SJs) share the following core characteristics:
* Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working.
* Guardians are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize
gratitude, and dream of meting out justice.
* Guardians tend to be dutiful, cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions.
* Guardians make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders.
Guardians are the cornerstone of society, for they are the temperament given to serving and preserving our most important social institutions. Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services--from supervision to maintenance and supply -- and they use all their skills to keep things running smoothly in their families, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses.
Guardians can have a lot of fun with their friends, but they are quite serious about their duties and responsibilities. Guardians take pride in being dependable and trustworthy; if there's a job to be done, they can be counted on to put their shoulder to the wheel. Guardians also believe in law and order, and sometimes worry that respect for authority, even a fundamental sense of right and wrong, is being lost. Perhaps this is why Guardians honor customs and traditions so strongly -- they are familiar patterns that help bring stability to our modern, fast-paced world.
Practical and down-to-earth, Guardians believe in following the rules and cooperating with others. They are not very comfortable winging it or blazing new trails; working steadily within the system is the Guardian way, for in the long run loyalty, discipline, and teamwork get the job done right. Guardians are meticulous about schedules and have a sharp eye for proper procedures. They are cautious about change, even though they know that change can be healthy for an institution. Better to go slowly, they say, and look before you leap.
Guardians make up as much as 40 to 45 percent of the population, and a good thing, because they usually end up doing all the indispensable but thankless jobs everyone else takes for granted.
The four types of Guardians are:
Provider (ESFJ) | Protector (ISFJ) | Supervisor (ESTJ) | Inspector (ISTJ)
Which one are you?
Purchase your Comprehensive Advanced Keirsey Temperament Reports™ now!
Use the power of your personality to advance your career, become a better leader, or improve your relationships
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Jesus is alive. I repeat, Jesus is alive.
Just found out, one of my most serious patient's name was Jesus. Hah. I saved Jesus's life.
I wonder what happens next.
I wonder what happens next.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I wish things had turned out better
Where do I start?
A long day at lab was winding down. I took out the dialysis bags, reading to purify my samples.
Then the pager cried out angrily. Wall collapse.
For a brief second as my neurons organized a response, life was still, and simple. 50-70 mph winds blew rain horizontally into my face as I dashed to my car. A line of scared construction works frantically waved me into the construction site after I waved my EMS sign for clearance.
I haphazardly parked next to what looked like anti-tank mines from "Saving Private Ryan." (Later I would have to jack up my car to dig out the spikes that destroyed one side and almost punctured several wheels.) I joined an officer and we sprinted towards the collapsed walls. From the talk afterwards, it looked like the crazy hurricane speed horizontal winds collapsed one side, and the domino effect created this insane scene from a movie.
The officer and I dashed into the mess of bricks. I scooped a helmet off the floor, and dodged rebar waiting to stab me. I climbed up the ladder, and it really was like a scene from a movie.
Over 20 construction workers were frantically pulling rubble off their fallen coworkers while the rain and wind overpowered my feeble attempts at medical Spanish. Lighting flashed to illuminate the black afternoon sky, while a circular saw screamed in agony in order to free someone trapped under layers of cinder blocks.
I found the ranking officer on scene, and tried to work the worst patient.
I searched for a pulse, praying for even a weak rebound against my fingers.
None. I stepped back and searched for more patients while they continued CPR.
The rest of the day blended together. Fire/Rescue arrived, and they used the massive construction crane to gently float patients down to the ground. The city's finest pulled a sheet over the traumatic arrest. God help his family.
Sometime in that hour, the rain stopped and the sun creeped up and said "surprise!"
What was f'king messed up was when my mud caked shoes kissed the ground again, we had a page to my dorm, several individuals trapped under a stairwell collapse. Can you say Cluster F'k?
Turned out to be a false alarm. I don't know who to thank.
Crap loads of people kept calling me. When my mom called, I promptly dropped the phone into a pool of mud. She thought I was dead for an hour or so.
A psych came by the conference room, and we just talked about the call. We were all fine.
What a day.
A long day at lab was winding down. I took out the dialysis bags, reading to purify my samples.
Then the pager cried out angrily. Wall collapse.
For a brief second as my neurons organized a response, life was still, and simple. 50-70 mph winds blew rain horizontally into my face as I dashed to my car. A line of scared construction works frantically waved me into the construction site after I waved my EMS sign for clearance.
I haphazardly parked next to what looked like anti-tank mines from "Saving Private Ryan." (Later I would have to jack up my car to dig out the spikes that destroyed one side and almost punctured several wheels.) I joined an officer and we sprinted towards the collapsed walls. From the talk afterwards, it looked like the crazy hurricane speed horizontal winds collapsed one side, and the domino effect created this insane scene from a movie.
The officer and I dashed into the mess of bricks. I scooped a helmet off the floor, and dodged rebar waiting to stab me. I climbed up the ladder, and it really was like a scene from a movie.
Over 20 construction workers were frantically pulling rubble off their fallen coworkers while the rain and wind overpowered my feeble attempts at medical Spanish. Lighting flashed to illuminate the black afternoon sky, while a circular saw screamed in agony in order to free someone trapped under layers of cinder blocks.
I found the ranking officer on scene, and tried to work the worst patient.
I searched for a pulse, praying for even a weak rebound against my fingers.
None. I stepped back and searched for more patients while they continued CPR.
The rest of the day blended together. Fire/Rescue arrived, and they used the massive construction crane to gently float patients down to the ground. The city's finest pulled a sheet over the traumatic arrest. God help his family.
Sometime in that hour, the rain stopped and the sun creeped up and said "surprise!"
What was f'king messed up was when my mud caked shoes kissed the ground again, we had a page to my dorm, several individuals trapped under a stairwell collapse. Can you say Cluster F'k?
Turned out to be a false alarm. I don't know who to thank.
Crap loads of people kept calling me. When my mom called, I promptly dropped the phone into a pool of mud. She thought I was dead for an hour or so.
A psych came by the conference room, and we just talked about the call. We were all fine.
What a day.
Friday, May 30, 2008
I've taken a two week hiatus from my main EMS job, to sit back and finish up med school apps. Worst decision ever.
I essentially fell into this slump, where I caught up on sleep, let my family know I'm still kickin', and became homeless for a week (interesting story there). However, I did not get any work done, other than surf a crap-ton of medblogs on a wild-goose chase for any advice on how to wrestle with my apps.
Only when I jumped a call this morning did I realize I've been floating along, only half awake. I will hopefully be back in action tomorrow. For now, I am running Incident Command for the C-USA baseball regionals. The cot I set up next to my laptop is starting to smell like burgers and fries. Mmm yum. No patients, please.
You are a Sock. A funky personally quiz declared my existence as 100% cotton-weave. I thought it was an appropriate name for this blog. Socks go in haphazardly into my drawer, which is also a place for me to stick stuff. Dr Au describes it best:
Because your your underwear drawer is where you stash all your demons. All the private stuff that you don't want your parents to find. All the embarassing stuff that you jam all the way to the bottom right before your new boyfriend comes to visit. All the private valuables from your adolescence that you might find years later (tucked away under that dingy pair of granny panties that you never wear but keep around for contingency), the significance of which, years later, you can barely remember.
"http://theunderweardrawer.homestead.com/files/00-10-27.html"
Agh. Do you see how I've fallen into the dark side?
I essentially fell into this slump, where I caught up on sleep, let my family know I'm still kickin', and became homeless for a week (interesting story there). However, I did not get any work done, other than surf a crap-ton of medblogs on a wild-goose chase for any advice on how to wrestle with my apps.
Only when I jumped a call this morning did I realize I've been floating along, only half awake. I will hopefully be back in action tomorrow. For now, I am running Incident Command for the C-USA baseball regionals. The cot I set up next to my laptop is starting to smell like burgers and fries. Mmm yum. No patients, please.
You are a Sock. A funky personally quiz declared my existence as 100% cotton-weave. I thought it was an appropriate name for this blog. Socks go in haphazardly into my drawer, which is also a place for me to stick stuff. Dr Au describes it best:
Because your your underwear drawer is where you stash all your demons. All the private stuff that you don't want your parents to find. All the embarassing stuff that you jam all the way to the bottom right before your new boyfriend comes to visit. All the private valuables from your adolescence that you might find years later (tucked away under that dingy pair of granny panties that you never wear but keep around for contingency), the significance of which, years later, you can barely remember.
"http://theunderweardrawer.homestead.com/files/00-10-27.html"
Agh. Do you see how I've fallen into the dark side?
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Code Blue
Well. Last post up until now, the volunteer ambulance service I ride with fielded fairly routine calls, more medical cases than anything. Nothing really exciting or crazy.
I was waiting for a chance to...do something crazy. Save someone's life. Work a code.
Earlier this morning, I got my wish. Damn it...I wish it never happened.
It was actually a light Friday night, with several refusals and nothing close to my usual weekend crap-fest of calls slammed right after each other. I had dinner with the rest of the firemen, and relaxed while the others moved the ambulance and fire engine out into the street in order to play street hockey in the bay.
A nice normal night.
At 0145, we had a call for respiratory distress. Again, still normal considering the change in humidity and weather lately. Wooweewoowee bright flashing lights, zooming down the narrow road dodging idiot drivers.
We get on scene to find a gentleman with a mouth and tongue swollen up to Jabba-the-Hut size. He could still talk, with a odd high pitched tone. None of the firemen or us EMT's did anything on scene; instead, we walked him over to the ambulance.
Mr W, my paramedic supervisor asked me if I could handle this call. (Usually the supervisor can jet in their Crown-Vic responder cars, in order to be ready for the next call if he felt the two EMT's could transport a non-emergent patient without any complication.) I thought about it for a second. For the last couple of shifts I had always asked the paramedic to ride in since I am normally very over caution about everything. I looked at the pt, who was settling into the stretcher, who didn't look too agitated. Maybe I can finally just own up and take care of patients myself instead of defaulting to a superior. Maybe I could grow some balls.
"I've got this one, W. Don't worry about it." Mr. W looked at me, then back to patient. Our student was hooking the gentleman up to reserve oxygen, while my partner jumped into the driver's seat.
"I don't know. He is having a bit of respiratory trouble. I'll ride in," Mr W decided. I hook our pt onto the cardiac monitor, and tried to help Mr W start a IV.
Everything started to go downhill.
Mr W. couldn't get a line going. Our gentleman started to flail about. It took me absolutely too long to realize what was going on.
I looked at the monitor to see our pt's oxygen saturation drop. Drop. Drop. 95-100% is great. 90-95% Means something is seriously wrong. Any thing less means I get to shove a tube down your throat to force air into you. Your fickle body will probably be unconscious as well.
82%
63%
Our patient was flailing because his throat had swelled shut with his tongue so huge it was choking him.
We didn't have a line in. No IV benadryl or epi to slow down the reaction. I threw a dose of benadryl to Mr W, who stabbed the patient with a IM needle to deliver the drug into the muscles in his shoulder. Piss poor absorption. This man is going to die soon if we didn't do anything.
Our patient went limp. Blood oxygen saturation at 20%. His heart threw in the towel and the monitor flatlined.
Our student looked at me, then at Mr. W, unsure of what to do.
"START CPR NOW. FORGET THE DIVERSION, MR G YOU ARE TURNING THIS AMBULANCE AROUND NOW." Instead of heading to a hospital across town because they had our patient's records, we now were ripping down a sleepy road to the nearest hospital that was already on diversion for critical ER saturation. Our patient's life was literally draining out of our hands with every second we wasted on the road and NOT in a ER.
I frantically tore open compartments, looking for a bag to force air into my patient's lungs. WHY WAS EVERY BAG-VALVE-MASK PEDIATRIC SIZED?!?! The flustered student was pumping down on the patient's chest entirely too fast and too shallow, while I finally slapped together an adult BVM. I threw an Epi-Pen at MR W, who struggled to cut open the pt's pants, then stabbed the Pen in.
My God.
Thank goodness we were only several minutes away from the closest hospital. Those minutes were the most agonizing of my entire life. I tried so hard to bag our patient with one hand, but the whole endeavor was like trying to drive 80 mph down a freeway with one foot on the pedal and the attached knee steering. I am not joking. You need at least four hands to successfully bag a patient, I only had myself.
I felt like an utter failure.
We flew into the ambulance bay, and of course, the stretcher just HAD TO RUN OUT OF POWER as we tried to unload the patient. God damn battery powered stretcher. It saves us from breaking our backs trying to carry a 600 pound patient, but tonight my student STOPPED CPR in order to unjam the stretcher. ARGHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
We finally wheeled our patient into the hands of a waiting ER team, and the began to do real CPR and pump the gentleman full of drugs. Maxed out on Epi. Threw in bicarb and D50.
During the entire scene described above, I was not scared nor freaked out. A weird detached calm blanketed me, my body was in automatic mode. Well, at least until I saw the patient's brother, sitting in a chair around the corner. Scared, uncertain eyes locked mine, until I forced my self to look away. Suddenly a flood of emotion rocked my body, all the way through my sweat-filled gloves. If the ER doc running the code didn't succeed, this man was going to lose a family member.
With the ER team in controlled chaos trying to save the gentleman's life, we EMT's were suddenly useless, so I waited outside while Mr W transferred the last of our patient data to the scribe. I stood outside with Mr G (my partner and driver for this night) and our student. After a minute I couldn't take it, and peeked back into the room. Seconds later, the nurse pounding the CPR stopped, and everyone relaxed a notch. Spontaneous heartbeat. Soon the gentleman was breathing on his own again.
Everyone involved was credited with a CPR save. "We" all worked together to save his life.
I don't know any more.
I was waiting for a chance to...do something crazy. Save someone's life. Work a code.
Earlier this morning, I got my wish. Damn it...I wish it never happened.
It was actually a light Friday night, with several refusals and nothing close to my usual weekend crap-fest of calls slammed right after each other. I had dinner with the rest of the firemen, and relaxed while the others moved the ambulance and fire engine out into the street in order to play street hockey in the bay.
A nice normal night.
At 0145, we had a call for respiratory distress. Again, still normal considering the change in humidity and weather lately. Wooweewoowee bright flashing lights, zooming down the narrow road dodging idiot drivers.
We get on scene to find a gentleman with a mouth and tongue swollen up to Jabba-the-Hut size. He could still talk, with a odd high pitched tone. None of the firemen or us EMT's did anything on scene; instead, we walked him over to the ambulance.
Mr W, my paramedic supervisor asked me if I could handle this call. (Usually the supervisor can jet in their Crown-Vic responder cars, in order to be ready for the next call if he felt the two EMT's could transport a non-emergent patient without any complication.) I thought about it for a second. For the last couple of shifts I had always asked the paramedic to ride in since I am normally very over caution about everything. I looked at the pt, who was settling into the stretcher, who didn't look too agitated. Maybe I can finally just own up and take care of patients myself instead of defaulting to a superior. Maybe I could grow some balls.
"I've got this one, W. Don't worry about it." Mr. W looked at me, then back to patient. Our student was hooking the gentleman up to reserve oxygen, while my partner jumped into the driver's seat.
"I don't know. He is having a bit of respiratory trouble. I'll ride in," Mr W decided. I hook our pt onto the cardiac monitor, and tried to help Mr W start a IV.
Everything started to go downhill.
Mr W. couldn't get a line going. Our gentleman started to flail about. It took me absolutely too long to realize what was going on.
I looked at the monitor to see our pt's oxygen saturation drop. Drop. Drop. 95-100% is great. 90-95% Means something is seriously wrong. Any thing less means I get to shove a tube down your throat to force air into you. Your fickle body will probably be unconscious as well.
82%
63%
Our patient was flailing because his throat had swelled shut with his tongue so huge it was choking him.
We didn't have a line in. No IV benadryl or epi to slow down the reaction. I threw a dose of benadryl to Mr W, who stabbed the patient with a IM needle to deliver the drug into the muscles in his shoulder. Piss poor absorption. This man is going to die soon if we didn't do anything.
Our patient went limp. Blood oxygen saturation at 20%. His heart threw in the towel and the monitor flatlined.
Our student looked at me, then at Mr. W, unsure of what to do.
"START CPR NOW. FORGET THE DIVERSION, MR G YOU ARE TURNING THIS AMBULANCE AROUND NOW." Instead of heading to a hospital across town because they had our patient's records, we now were ripping down a sleepy road to the nearest hospital that was already on diversion for critical ER saturation. Our patient's life was literally draining out of our hands with every second we wasted on the road and NOT in a ER.
I frantically tore open compartments, looking for a bag to force air into my patient's lungs. WHY WAS EVERY BAG-VALVE-MASK PEDIATRIC SIZED?!?! The flustered student was pumping down on the patient's chest entirely too fast and too shallow, while I finally slapped together an adult BVM. I threw an Epi-Pen at MR W, who struggled to cut open the pt's pants, then stabbed the Pen in.
My God.
Thank goodness we were only several minutes away from the closest hospital. Those minutes were the most agonizing of my entire life. I tried so hard to bag our patient with one hand, but the whole endeavor was like trying to drive 80 mph down a freeway with one foot on the pedal and the attached knee steering. I am not joking. You need at least four hands to successfully bag a patient, I only had myself.
I felt like an utter failure.
We flew into the ambulance bay, and of course, the stretcher just HAD TO RUN OUT OF POWER as we tried to unload the patient. God damn battery powered stretcher. It saves us from breaking our backs trying to carry a 600 pound patient, but tonight my student STOPPED CPR in order to unjam the stretcher. ARGHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
We finally wheeled our patient into the hands of a waiting ER team, and the began to do real CPR and pump the gentleman full of drugs. Maxed out on Epi. Threw in bicarb and D50.
During the entire scene described above, I was not scared nor freaked out. A weird detached calm blanketed me, my body was in automatic mode. Well, at least until I saw the patient's brother, sitting in a chair around the corner. Scared, uncertain eyes locked mine, until I forced my self to look away. Suddenly a flood of emotion rocked my body, all the way through my sweat-filled gloves. If the ER doc running the code didn't succeed, this man was going to lose a family member.
With the ER team in controlled chaos trying to save the gentleman's life, we EMT's were suddenly useless, so I waited outside while Mr W transferred the last of our patient data to the scribe. I stood outside with Mr G (my partner and driver for this night) and our student. After a minute I couldn't take it, and peeked back into the room. Seconds later, the nurse pounding the CPR stopped, and everyone relaxed a notch. Spontaneous heartbeat. Soon the gentleman was breathing on his own again.
Everyone involved was credited with a CPR save. "We" all worked together to save his life.
I don't know any more.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
I am completely bored, the day after Christmas, stuck in my dorm room. I made the trek back on the hopes of getting some work done...but after watching a movie and aimless websurfing, I know that it is hopeless. I guess some rambling wouldn't hurt.
So on my last ambulance shift for the class, I had a good time with a long time preceptor. We were out in the country for one of the last calls of the night, and I actually saw STARS in the sky.
It was amazing. My preceptor stated that he regularly sees shooting stars. I had no idea they actually existed. We were called into the backwoods, almost exactly like the home of the poor but smart kid from October Sky. I mean even the lights and crumbling steps mirrored the movie.
Through out that day we transported to a hospital that had the coolest nurses. There was one I just instantly had a crush on for the day (don't worry I don't normally do this). She was so...spunky. Looked just like Liv Taylor, but a lot funnier. I normally take a while to get used to people and places, but man, with her it was hard not to flirt back...
Anyway. Okay calls that day. Pretty crazy calls with this new service I'm hoping to volunteer for permanently...a kid with o2 sats at 45%, a couple of seizures here and there, mvc's...
The only sucky part is the ever present call at 4 am, and the last call 5 minutes before your shift is over. Oh and last shift, just when I take that last call guaranteed to make me home late by an hour, a Code Blue call goes out. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY...
So on my last ambulance shift for the class, I had a good time with a long time preceptor. We were out in the country for one of the last calls of the night, and I actually saw STARS in the sky.
It was amazing. My preceptor stated that he regularly sees shooting stars. I had no idea they actually existed. We were called into the backwoods, almost exactly like the home of the poor but smart kid from October Sky. I mean even the lights and crumbling steps mirrored the movie.
Through out that day we transported to a hospital that had the coolest nurses. There was one I just instantly had a crush on for the day (don't worry I don't normally do this). She was so...spunky. Looked just like Liv Taylor, but a lot funnier. I normally take a while to get used to people and places, but man, with her it was hard not to flirt back...
Anyway. Okay calls that day. Pretty crazy calls with this new service I'm hoping to volunteer for permanently...a kid with o2 sats at 45%, a couple of seizures here and there, mvc's...
The only sucky part is the ever present call at 4 am, and the last call 5 minutes before your shift is over. Oh and last shift, just when I take that last call guaranteed to make me home late by an hour, a Code Blue call goes out. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY...
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Finally, a decent call.
My supervisor, another emt, and I were watching a sweet musical (Jesus Christ Superstar) when our pagers went off. Good timing, right during the final song. It was a weird moment, when all of us jerk up when the vibrating pager went off.
"Head Injury. No detail."
Oh crap.
All three of us start jogging out to the truck parked in the driveway, then halfway there we sprinted for it.
Lights and some sirens, speeding down a lane in 5 seconds that normally takes me a minute to bike.
The guy looked fine, but had blacked out. Crap.
A car full of guys had driven up to him, rushed him, mugged him, and popped him on the head with....something....then drove away.
After awhile, we finally convinced the guy to go to the hospital. I was frozen by now, since my friend who wasn't on duty needed my official EMS hoodie...to look official...
Things are getting pretty nasty.
College isn't safe. Be careful guys and girls.
My supervisor, another emt, and I were watching a sweet musical (Jesus Christ Superstar) when our pagers went off. Good timing, right during the final song. It was a weird moment, when all of us jerk up when the vibrating pager went off.
"Head Injury. No detail."
Oh crap.
All three of us start jogging out to the truck parked in the driveway, then halfway there we sprinted for it.
Lights and some sirens, speeding down a lane in 5 seconds that normally takes me a minute to bike.
The guy looked fine, but had blacked out. Crap.
A car full of guys had driven up to him, rushed him, mugged him, and popped him on the head with....something....then drove away.
After awhile, we finally convinced the guy to go to the hospital. I was frozen by now, since my friend who wasn't on duty needed my official EMS hoodie...to look official...
Things are getting pretty nasty.
College isn't safe. Be careful guys and girls.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Wow that was a hectic month. Combine living at the ER on the weekends with crazy biochemistry studying and epi lectures to give...
I am going to miss my ER rotations. A lot. The one particular hospital I spend every weekend at, a county hospital level one trauma center, has basically been my new home this semester.
I am going to miss:
On a related note, I started an IV on myself the other night. Sweet. Now I just need to keep the ingredients for an banana bag in my room for those pesky hangovers =)
More on my first ambulance shifts later on.
I am going to miss my ER rotations. A lot. The one particular hospital I spend every weekend at, a county hospital level one trauma center, has basically been my new home this semester.
I am going to miss:
- The really nice pediatric trauma fellow who loved to let us do cool things like hold a screaming kid while he stitched up a 8 inch laceration while thoroughly explaining everything he was doing as he was doing it. First of all, pediatric trauma? Wow. Second, a really really nice guy/doctor in a super busy ER who obviously has better things to do than show EMT students cool random things on the xray scans? Now that's rare.
- The smell of vomit, feces, urine, sweat, blood, rotting flesh, cleaning solution. Oh wait, never mind, I have a weak sense of smell =)
- The helicopter pad. I swear if I find a really cool girlfriend, I am going to bring her to the top. On a clear night. Yes.
- One word: nurses.
- Please please keep extra gloves in your pocket.
- DO NOT BE A WALLFLOWER. Seriously. That is the only thing separating our class from all of the normal paramedic students.
- Stop with the AC IV's.
On a related note, I started an IV on myself the other night. Sweet. Now I just need to keep the ingredients for an banana bag in my room for those pesky hangovers =)
More on my first ambulance shifts later on.
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