Another busy day. BLS everything.
I did have a rather good call. Not one that took any skill-but it was very amusing.
We were called for a "psych eval" coming out of a nursing home/psych facility going to a hospital in downtown Chicago. I grabbed the clipboard and headed towards the nurses station. All was quiet. The nurse handed me the papers and said, "oh, he won't be a problem...he wants to go." Okay, that's good. The nurse pointed out a man in the hallway and said, "that's your patient." Okay. She yelled to him and he headed towards his room. She told him that we were here for him. That was all he needed to hear.
The yelling started..."I ain't going to no damn hospital! It's overcrowded....they'll have me sleeping in the hallway." He went to his room and the nurse got a few staff members and we headed towards the room. He was screaming and cursing. He was completely uncooperative-swinging at the nurses, and trying to spit in our faces. It took five guys to get him on the stretcher so that we could put four point restraints on him and get going. He yelled and cursed the whole way to the ambulance.
While we were walking down the hallway, I started to hear someone clapping. Then I distinctly heard that it was more than one person. There were at least 10 people who came out of their rooms with all the ruckus and started clapping when they realized he was leaving. By the time we got to the front door of the facility practically the entire place was cheering and clapping, yelling, "don't come back bozo!" and "have fun in Chicago!" I had never seen anything like it. It felt like I was in a creepy movie.
We got out to the rig and he calmed down a bit. He was still ranting and raving about not wanting to go to an overcrowded hospital and have to "sleep in the halls." Then he started yelling again, "this is all a stupid wild goose chase....just turn around....all my stuff is back there!" At about 30 second intervals he would yell at me (I was driving) to turn around and end this "Wild goose chase."
I could hear him cursing about the staff while I was driving. He said that the nurses are always drunk-drinking special Russian vodka, and that the place is run by communists. He got quiet for a couple minutes. I later learned that he was just muttering to himself the whole time. Then he yelled out, "You better not be taking me on a helicopter to Alaska!" My partner assured him that we wouldn't.
We got into the ER (38 miles later) and stood in the psych triage area. He was being rather loud again. Everybody was staring; I was just amused. Then he screamed, "I am going to f***ing wet myself!" Not even two seconds later, a Chicago firefighter walked out a patients room, walked up by the nurse that was triaging us, and asked, "where's the nearest bathroom?" The guy let out this huge sigh/growl. Both my parter and I were laughing so hard that we had tears streaming down our faces. The firefighter just looked at us like we were crazy. How ironic.
Then the guy continued on with his wild goose chase. We walked down the hall to the second set of registration cubicles to finish up the process, then headed for the elevators. The doors had just closed when the guy stated, "this sucks donkey dick!" I tried to cover my laugh because I was standing right in front of him, so I said, "I've never heard that one before." I think he thought it was really funny because then he said, "this sucks elephant dick!" We got him onto the psych floor, and out of restraints before he peed on my cot.
That call made the whole shift worth working.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Roaches
A bunch of BLS calls today. Nothing that great. Transfers, doctor appointments, surgeries, psychs. All the good stuff. I don't think I used any section of my brain whatsoever today. I went to a hospital on the west side of Chicago. I felt like I definitely needed a bullet proof vest. We had a couple hours of rest before they started kicking our asses again.
At 0300 we got a call to a home address for a patient going to Chicago for a surgery. I saw the address and realized that we were going to the ghetto. The caller gave the wrong road-they only spoke Spanish and minimal broken English. Oh well. We ended up finding the place, only it was much deeper into the southside than the address we thought we were going to. The last time I was in this area I was on a call for a multiple GSW-gang fight. I was hoping this would turn out okay.
I had to go the wrong way on a one way street to get to the building. It looked pretty gross from the outside, but we were in for a real treat. It took about 10 minutes of standing in the freezing cold for someone to come open the door after repeated beatings on it. I looked inside and realized just how bad it really was. The flooring was coming up, the paint was peeling off the walls, and the apartment numbers were written in spraypaint on the doors. The guy lead us up a creaking staircase with rotten wood that would sink with every step and threaten to swallow you up, to the second floor. He led us inside, past at least 8 sleeping people on an assortment of mattresses and couches to a bedroom where a man in his late 30s was lying in bed. Nobody spoke English. I introduced myself to our patient and out of the corner of my eye saw something move. I looked up and there were several cockroaches running up the wall. Eeew. I made note of it, but nobody else seemed to notice at all. My partner continued to speak with the family, and I walked back out to the rig to get the stair chair. I made my way back up the stairs, carefully avoiding one particular step that almost threw me down the staircase on the way down. It isn't completely attached and lurches forward when stepped on. I set the stair chair inside the apartment and put it together, making sure to tape the latch at the bottom for extra security. While I was doing that, a cockroach scuttled right past my knee. I was starting to feel sick.
We got the guy moved over to the stair chair, but there was only one problem. His legs were paralyzed, so he couldn't bend them properly, and his butt wouldn't sit on the chair enough. We made the decision to just go with it, so we strapped him in and made our way out of the room. Mind you, this whole time, the rooms have been rather dark because everyone was sleeping. One of the people in the apartment flipped on the light for us as we were leaving and no less than 20 cockroaches ran for cover into surrounding boxes, under couches, and no doubt, onto the people sleeping on those items.
It took us a few minutes to maneuver this man down the stairs because his legs were practically around my partners neck (he couldn't bend them). Then we transferred him onto the cot, into the ambulance, and we were on our way. The rest of the trip was, thankfully, uneventful.
We got a call almost as soon as we got back. A psych. No biggie. Ha, that's a good one. Our patient was a 15 year old kid that had to have weighed no less than 350 pounds. Great. I called dispatch for a lift assist, and was told that there was nobody. I made the kid walk to the ambulance. He was cool and was going for "depression" so I wasn't too worried. Before we even got to the psych facility, our pager and computer went off again with another page for a wait and return ultrasound. At this time I had already been held over for 30 minutes. We dropped off the psych and picked up our next patient. By this time it was almost 0900. My partner was supposed to pick her baby up at 0900, but our relief (that should have been there at 0800) was sent on an emergency call, and we never even saw them. We ended up getting a BLS crew to relieve us around 1000. Now I have bills to pay and a house to clean before I go back to work at 1700 at the firehouse.
At 0300 we got a call to a home address for a patient going to Chicago for a surgery. I saw the address and realized that we were going to the ghetto. The caller gave the wrong road-they only spoke Spanish and minimal broken English. Oh well. We ended up finding the place, only it was much deeper into the southside than the address we thought we were going to. The last time I was in this area I was on a call for a multiple GSW-gang fight. I was hoping this would turn out okay.
I had to go the wrong way on a one way street to get to the building. It looked pretty gross from the outside, but we were in for a real treat. It took about 10 minutes of standing in the freezing cold for someone to come open the door after repeated beatings on it. I looked inside and realized just how bad it really was. The flooring was coming up, the paint was peeling off the walls, and the apartment numbers were written in spraypaint on the doors. The guy lead us up a creaking staircase with rotten wood that would sink with every step and threaten to swallow you up, to the second floor. He led us inside, past at least 8 sleeping people on an assortment of mattresses and couches to a bedroom where a man in his late 30s was lying in bed. Nobody spoke English. I introduced myself to our patient and out of the corner of my eye saw something move. I looked up and there were several cockroaches running up the wall. Eeew. I made note of it, but nobody else seemed to notice at all. My partner continued to speak with the family, and I walked back out to the rig to get the stair chair. I made my way back up the stairs, carefully avoiding one particular step that almost threw me down the staircase on the way down. It isn't completely attached and lurches forward when stepped on. I set the stair chair inside the apartment and put it together, making sure to tape the latch at the bottom for extra security. While I was doing that, a cockroach scuttled right past my knee. I was starting to feel sick.
We got the guy moved over to the stair chair, but there was only one problem. His legs were paralyzed, so he couldn't bend them properly, and his butt wouldn't sit on the chair enough. We made the decision to just go with it, so we strapped him in and made our way out of the room. Mind you, this whole time, the rooms have been rather dark because everyone was sleeping. One of the people in the apartment flipped on the light for us as we were leaving and no less than 20 cockroaches ran for cover into surrounding boxes, under couches, and no doubt, onto the people sleeping on those items.
It took us a few minutes to maneuver this man down the stairs because his legs were practically around my partners neck (he couldn't bend them). Then we transferred him onto the cot, into the ambulance, and we were on our way. The rest of the trip was, thankfully, uneventful.
We got a call almost as soon as we got back. A psych. No biggie. Ha, that's a good one. Our patient was a 15 year old kid that had to have weighed no less than 350 pounds. Great. I called dispatch for a lift assist, and was told that there was nobody. I made the kid walk to the ambulance. He was cool and was going for "depression" so I wasn't too worried. Before we even got to the psych facility, our pager and computer went off again with another page for a wait and return ultrasound. At this time I had already been held over for 30 minutes. We dropped off the psych and picked up our next patient. By this time it was almost 0900. My partner was supposed to pick her baby up at 0900, but our relief (that should have been there at 0800) was sent on an emergency call, and we never even saw them. We ended up getting a BLS crew to relieve us around 1000. Now I have bills to pay and a house to clean before I go back to work at 1700 at the firehouse.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Trapped
I accomplished next to nothing today. I visited with my grandparents in the morning. They came down from northern Wisconsin to visit. I was supposed to work on the house today, but I got so frustrated with everything that I thought for sure I would crack up if I even saw the house. So, instead I was a lazy slug for most of the day. They other several hours of the day I was in my car. Trapped. This, of course, has been the other 25% of my stress. My car is less than a year old, and has given me nothing but trouble in the last couple of weeks. It has gotten progressively worse-now to the point that I don't even try. The ignition has been sticking, forcing me to sit in my car until I can convince it to spit out my key. Damn it. The car has a mind of its own, and for some reason it doesn't realize that it is in park. The key sticks in the half-on position and holds the key, acting like it does if you try to stop the car when it is still in drive. So, needless to say, every time I tried to get out of my car, I would have to sit and wait 15 minutes (or more) until the car would give up its fight and hand over the keys. I think this is the most quality time I have spent with my car-ever. I was probably in the car, not including driving, for a couple hours cursing like a sailor. Someday, maybe I will have time to take it back to the dealership to get fixed before the warranty runs out.
I was ready to take a sledge hammer to the car when I finally got home, so instead of giving the car what it wanted, and waiting for it to give in, I simply took the remote off the keychain, threw a jacket over the steering wheel, and locked the keys in the car. Problem solved (unless, of course, somebody tries to break into my car).
Around 1900, when I was just starting to relax, I got a phone call from the fire house asking me to come in for shift. There was no medic on duty on the schedule, and nobody that was on the schedule (as firefighter, EMT, engineer, and officer) was a medic. I gave in. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I refused to come in, there was no medic, and something terrible happened. I dragged myself out of bed, into the shower, and to the firehouse. No calls. Absolutely nothing. I checked out the rig, watched part of a movie with the guys and hit the sack.
I was ready to take a sledge hammer to the car when I finally got home, so instead of giving the car what it wanted, and waiting for it to give in, I simply took the remote off the keychain, threw a jacket over the steering wheel, and locked the keys in the car. Problem solved (unless, of course, somebody tries to break into my car).
Around 1900, when I was just starting to relax, I got a phone call from the fire house asking me to come in for shift. There was no medic on duty on the schedule, and nobody that was on the schedule (as firefighter, EMT, engineer, and officer) was a medic. I gave in. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I refused to come in, there was no medic, and something terrible happened. I dragged myself out of bed, into the shower, and to the firehouse. No calls. Absolutely nothing. I checked out the rig, watched part of a movie with the guys and hit the sack.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Diamonds
First call was from the ER directly to the cath lab at another hospital. She had a history of an angioplasty a few years back and also had a history of diabetes and hypertension. She was 28 years old. I was shocked when I realized how young she was. I noticed while we were chatting on the way to the hospital that there was something in her two front teeth. I looked a little closer and they were diamonds. I asked her and she said that she had her dentist implant them. I thought it was pretty wierd (for anybody to do that). She is so concerned with the appearance of her "grille," and yet she had B.O. and leg hair that was at least 1/4" long. Yuck. I don't think I will ever understand.
After that we took a lady to a women's center for premature labor.
We cleared up, just north of Chicago and grabbed some lunch. We were on our way back to the highway and dispatch keyed us up. They said they needed us on a priority to Lindenhurst, IL, which is at least 45 minutes to an hour away. So, needless to say, I flipped on my blink blinks, and turned on my woo woos and headed off. Of course we hit traffic, and construction. I had to take side roads to get to a different entrance, which was also in a construction zone. It took several minutes, but we made it onto the highway. There was a BLS crew on scene that brought the patient in the the facility. It was a wait and return MRI appointment. During the scan the patient started to have chest pain, so they wanted ALS to transport. Dispatch beeped us again and said that the crew wanted to call 911. We told them to go ahead-we were still about 15 minutes away. The called 911, but we were told to continue in; 911 would initiate care and we would transport. Of course, we got stuck in traffic again, and we were disregarded from the call about 5 minutes later. We were about 7 minutes from the scene. 911 was going to transport. I made it from just north of Chicago to southern Waukegan in 15 minutes. Scary.
We had a slow-ish evening. We still ran calls, but we weren't running like we usually do.
We got a call at 0100 for a transport to Milwaukee-a kidney transplant patient who was having complications and his body was starting to reject theorgan. The ER was super busy and it took a while to get the paperwork from the RN. We left around 0200. By the time we got to the hospital in Milwaukee it was just after 0300. There were two city ambulances in front of me running hot. We barely fit in the garage because they were so busy (it's a Level I trauma center). By the time we got back out, security had moved our rig to the front of the garage and six more rigs were inside. We had to move the rig outside to clean it because two more ambulances were waiting outside to get into the garage. Flight for Life was also there. I never got the story, but there must have been a bad accident.
We were home free by 0330 to head back south. One problem. The ramp we always use to get onto the highway was closed. I'm not too familiar with the area, we don't have Wisconsin maps in our rigs, and my dispatcher didn't know where to even look to find another way to get on the highway. We ended up pulling over at the police department and asking an officer. We just had to go up a few streets and over-there was another entrance. Whew. It started storming on the way home, but since I wasn't driving, I was more concerned with catching a few Zs. I think it was just after 0430 when we got back to quarters. A very long night.
At 0715 we got a call for a psych. We took her over without a problem. She overdosed on several different types of pills. The report from 911 said that when they got on scene she was foaming at the mouth. Nice.
By the time I got done with paperwork it was 0845. Late again.
After that we took a lady to a women's center for premature labor.
We cleared up, just north of Chicago and grabbed some lunch. We were on our way back to the highway and dispatch keyed us up. They said they needed us on a priority to Lindenhurst, IL, which is at least 45 minutes to an hour away. So, needless to say, I flipped on my blink blinks, and turned on my woo woos and headed off. Of course we hit traffic, and construction. I had to take side roads to get to a different entrance, which was also in a construction zone. It took several minutes, but we made it onto the highway. There was a BLS crew on scene that brought the patient in the the facility. It was a wait and return MRI appointment. During the scan the patient started to have chest pain, so they wanted ALS to transport. Dispatch beeped us again and said that the crew wanted to call 911. We told them to go ahead-we were still about 15 minutes away. The called 911, but we were told to continue in; 911 would initiate care and we would transport. Of course, we got stuck in traffic again, and we were disregarded from the call about 5 minutes later. We were about 7 minutes from the scene. 911 was going to transport. I made it from just north of Chicago to southern Waukegan in 15 minutes. Scary.
We had a slow-ish evening. We still ran calls, but we weren't running like we usually do.
We got a call at 0100 for a transport to Milwaukee-a kidney transplant patient who was having complications and his body was starting to reject theorgan. The ER was super busy and it took a while to get the paperwork from the RN. We left around 0200. By the time we got to the hospital in Milwaukee it was just after 0300. There were two city ambulances in front of me running hot. We barely fit in the garage because they were so busy (it's a Level I trauma center). By the time we got back out, security had moved our rig to the front of the garage and six more rigs were inside. We had to move the rig outside to clean it because two more ambulances were waiting outside to get into the garage. Flight for Life was also there. I never got the story, but there must have been a bad accident.
We were home free by 0330 to head back south. One problem. The ramp we always use to get onto the highway was closed. I'm not too familiar with the area, we don't have Wisconsin maps in our rigs, and my dispatcher didn't know where to even look to find another way to get on the highway. We ended up pulling over at the police department and asking an officer. We just had to go up a few streets and over-there was another entrance. Whew. It started storming on the way home, but since I wasn't driving, I was more concerned with catching a few Zs. I think it was just after 0430 when we got back to quarters. A very long night.
At 0715 we got a call for a psych. We took her over without a problem. She overdosed on several different types of pills. The report from 911 said that when they got on scene she was foaming at the mouth. Nice.
By the time I got done with paperwork it was 0845. Late again.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Held over yet again
Another day at the firehouse. I started at 1200. We did house chores and then headed out to the bay. We proceeded to empty all three engines of all the hand tools (pike poles, halligans, axes, pry bars, sledges, etc), clean all of them with steel wool and cleaner, towel them off, then sand all the wooden handles and treat them with linseed oil. I'm glad I don't have to do that every day. I almost took my partner out with one of the pike poles because I thought it was a short one, but it was actually about three feet longer than I thought :). Oops.
We decided in the afternoon to do some district familiarization in the newer subdivisions and repeater roads. We were out until almost 1600.
I should have been off at 1700. I was just waiting for my relief when somebody asked who was covering for one of the guys that was on overtime at his full time department. Nobody was. Since I was the medic and the other guy coming on was only an EMT, I had to stay. Not a huge deal I guess, three more hours for me. We didn't run any calls. The only thing I missed out on was watching TV. Oh well.
I'm back at home now until 0800 tomorrow. Just enough time to do some laundry, straighten things up and try to get some sleep. My schedule is killing me recently. I have to work over time to pay for this stupid house. I had over a 60 hour stretch going until last night at 2000. I work a 24 tomorrow and I am off until Sunday night. Woohoo! I will be working at the house the whole weekend trying to get it in liveable condition. Wish me luck.
We decided in the afternoon to do some district familiarization in the newer subdivisions and repeater roads. We were out until almost 1600.
I should have been off at 1700. I was just waiting for my relief when somebody asked who was covering for one of the guys that was on overtime at his full time department. Nobody was. Since I was the medic and the other guy coming on was only an EMT, I had to stay. Not a huge deal I guess, three more hours for me. We didn't run any calls. The only thing I missed out on was watching TV. Oh well.
I'm back at home now until 0800 tomorrow. Just enough time to do some laundry, straighten things up and try to get some sleep. My schedule is killing me recently. I have to work over time to pay for this stupid house. I had over a 60 hour stretch going until last night at 2000. I work a 24 tomorrow and I am off until Sunday night. Woohoo! I will be working at the house the whole weekend trying to get it in liveable condition. Wish me luck.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Pre-Connects
I worked at the firehouse today from 0800-1200 and then 1700-2000. No calls. We did some training around 1830. We practiced pulling pre-connects and having the newer engineers see if they can get water before the tank runs out with two lines running. Good times.
I am exhausted. I didn't do any calls, but I was cleaning all day. I'm ready to go to bed.
I am exhausted. I didn't do any calls, but I was cleaning all day. I'm ready to go to bed.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Psych City
First call was for a possible stroke. The lady had slurred speech and facial droop. The nurse said the speech was normal for her, but the drooping was new. The son noticed it yesterday. That's always nice. Other than that she checked out okay. We went priority to the ER on a "stroke alert."
We did mostly BLS bounces during the day. My youngest patient was 92 years old until the late evening.
One guy was a real cutie. He was in for a syncope. We took him out of the ER. He refused to be admitted because he said if he didn't get home his wife would die. So, eventually they let him return. He passed out because he has 100% blockage of one carotid artery and 25% of the other. He said he didn't want to get it fixed because he wants to go when his wife does. We got him back to his room at the nursing home, and as we walked in his wife's face got red and she teared up. She was really glad to have him back. I brought the cot into the hallway and my parter did paperwork as I remade the cot. I glanced back in the room and I saw the man walk over to his wife's bed, sit down and give her a big smooch. They had been married for 71 years.
Shift was downhill from there. All hell started to break loose in the evening.
We did psych after psych after psych. We didn't even wait for the hospital to call. We just headed back for the next one as soon as we cleared from the call. They kept us up almost all night. I think I just started to fall alseep around 0630. At 0715 they beeped us and told us we had one coming out. I figured it was just another bounce. Nope. It was going about 40 miles away. Thank God we convinced an oncoming crew to take the call because I had to work at 0800 at the firehouse. Whew. That could have been bad.
We did mostly BLS bounces during the day. My youngest patient was 92 years old until the late evening.
One guy was a real cutie. He was in for a syncope. We took him out of the ER. He refused to be admitted because he said if he didn't get home his wife would die. So, eventually they let him return. He passed out because he has 100% blockage of one carotid artery and 25% of the other. He said he didn't want to get it fixed because he wants to go when his wife does. We got him back to his room at the nursing home, and as we walked in his wife's face got red and she teared up. She was really glad to have him back. I brought the cot into the hallway and my parter did paperwork as I remade the cot. I glanced back in the room and I saw the man walk over to his wife's bed, sit down and give her a big smooch. They had been married for 71 years.
Shift was downhill from there. All hell started to break loose in the evening.
We did psych after psych after psych. We didn't even wait for the hospital to call. We just headed back for the next one as soon as we cleared from the call. They kept us up almost all night. I think I just started to fall alseep around 0630. At 0715 they beeped us and told us we had one coming out. I figured it was just another bounce. Nope. It was going about 40 miles away. Thank God we convinced an oncoming crew to take the call because I had to work at 0800 at the firehouse. Whew. That could have been bad.
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