Sorry Bridget, there aren't any extemely interesting things to report from EMTing last Thursday, but I thought I'd tell everyone what experiences I picked up.
So, I have kindof coined these terms: EMTing, EMTed, will EMT, etc. You all know that EMT stands for Emergency Medical Technician, yet I have made it into a verb on many occasions. Being an EMT is not about the title; it's about action. So, I feel that using the abbreviation to tell people what I am doing, going to do, or did and saying that is most appropriate.
Now to move on to the calls of last Thursday (I would have written sooner, but I went to the beach Friday-Sunday).
Our first call wasn't interesting at all. We went on standby, and as we drove to our standby location, we went off standby. It was pretty much a waste of ten minutes and 4 miles.
Then, we got a call about a 27-yr-old female who apparently went into a seizure. So we drive over to her place and find that she has recently had surgery for an extremely badly broken arm just under the shoulder (3 pins). She was on some medication that required monitoring and minor shocks to work. This is what, most likely, caused her to roll off the couch into a seizure and roll around on the floor on her broken arm. Ouch. She was dazed, confused, and mostly scared about the whole incident.
The third call of the night was the most interesting. It comes over the radio just after I went to bed as a stabbing. I got really excited thinking I was about to see some cool stuff. They described the incident as domestic violence, so when we got there we had to wait for the police to secure the area... in the cold. That wasn't fun. It was cold, and the wind was blowing and cutting through you like a cold, windy day in Boone as you walk up a hill that channels the coldest wind you will ever know.
On a side note, I need to invent insulated latex gloves. I could make a lot of money off the EMS and Fire Departments.
Finally the scene is secure. I lug the Trauma bag down a small hill to discover a 33-yr-old man with blood all over his hands. Upon further inspection, his stab wounds appeared to only be minor lacerations. This is when I got a bit disappointed. I had gotten excited for a few tiny slash marks.
Apparently, his wife is psychotic. She has been addicted to heroine. He finally got fed up, mentioned the big D word and she got pissed. She pulled out a pocket knife and started slashing at him. Then she grabbed his keys, motorcycle helmet, and their 4-yr-old daughter and sped off in her car leaving him stranded with bloody hands (as he tried to protect himself). He was mostly concerned with his daughter and not himself or his "wife."
The last call of the night was another elderly person (as we get a TON of those) with a fever, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. His fever had been too persistent for comfort so the wife called us.
Thankfully, since I had to work at 8am the next morning, we didn't get any calls after I went to bed at 1am. But I had gotten up twice, and that made me especially tired (man I am getting old, wanting to go to bed at 1015pm). Either way, I still enjoy volunteering.
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6 comments:
Aww, these stories are still pretty interesting Tamara! Keep em comin' - it's neat to live vicariously through your EMTing. : )
Bridget
Tamara,
My 21 months old son had a seizure from fever today. He turned blue, eyes rolled back, unconciense for more than 2 minutes. My wife and I both thought we were going to lose him. It seemed like a lifetime. At that time we did not know it was seizure. He had woken up from sleep, he took a sip of milk and started shaking, and turning blue. My wife screamed for me "he turned blue..". Not having kowledge of seizure, we both thought he was choking and that's what we informed 911. He recovered before the EMT arrived, and I, and my wife, got our life back. I saw how helpless I was, holding the helpless baby in my hand, trying desperately to revive him. Those 2 minutes were lifetime. EMT also told us that he probably choked on a mucous plug. Not until we took him to his doctor that we understood about seizure. He was diagnosed of throat infection and thus high fever.
It's 2:30 am and I'm on the internet, trying to understand the mechanism of a seizure. That's how I came upon your story. You seem religious. When I read your comments about minor larcerations not exciting enough for you, I feel ashamed of you. I think you chose this career for wrong reasons..just think about it.
Tamara,
My 21 months old son had a seizure from fever today. He turned blue, eyes rolled back, unconciense for more than 2 minutes. My wife and I both thought we were going to lose him. It seemed like a lifetime. At that time we did not know it was seizure. He had woken up from sleep, he took a sip of milk and started shaking, and turning blue. My wife screamed for me "he turned blue..". Not having kowledge of seizure, we both thought he was choking and that's what we informed 911. He recovered before the EMT arrived, and I, and my wife, got our life back. I saw how helpless I was, holding the helpless baby in my hand, trying desperately to revive him. Those 2 minutes were lifetime. EMT also told us that he probably choked on a mucous plug. Not until we took him to his doctor that we understood about seizure. He was diagnosed of throat infection and thus high fever.
It's 2:30 am and I'm on the internet, trying to understand the mechanism of a seizure. That's how I came upon your story. You seem religious. When I read your comments about minor larcerations not exciting enough for you, I feel ashamed of you. I think you chose this career for wrong reasons..just think about it.
I agree..
I think that you guys are misinterpreting my comments in this blog. I certainly did not mean not "exciting" enough as in I would not carry out my duties with the professionalism and training that I had been taught. To that point in my volunteering (not career as I do this on my own free time), I had been on calls that were mainly out of my scope of practice. I cannot administer the correct drugs for, for example, a seizure. I would like to be able to do more in that sort of situation. So deep down, when we got a call about a stabbing, my excitement came when I thought that I would be able to do more things in treating this patient. I was training and needed a broader scope of experiences. I had no idea what the situation was, but I was looking forwards to being able to do more than I had in my volunteering thus far. In no way, should my "excitement level" be interpreted as if I don't care about that patient. I am sorry to hear about your son and I will keep him in my prayers as he gets better.
I used this blog to get things off my chest about the situations I had gone through. A lot of the times, EMTs have no outlet to express their frustrations and experiences and that is why I used this. When our comments are misinterpreted, it is discouraging especially when comments are negative. It just makes it harder for us as EMTs to deal with difficult feelings we have in our experiences. It was distressing to come upon a man crying out about his son being taken away by his wife in a car and slashing at him with a knife. The situation was "exciting" enough, and a lot of people do not realize how much we have to go through as EMTs.
I did not choose to volunteer for the excitement. I chose to volunteer to help people and I have helped people. Even when something isn't as "exciting" for instance, I still helped someone. I just desire to be better prepared for new situations that arise by experiencing other situations that I haven't had before.
Again, I will keep your son in my prayers, and I am sorry that I offended you. Please take my response to heart and understand why I wrote what I did.
Tamara,
I apologize for the strong comment.
I misinterpreted. Please feel free to remove my comments( of 2:51pm and 2:54pm)..Regards.
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