Slow blogging month

It has (quite obviously) been a slow blogging month for me. It is not for a lack of things going on, that's for sure. I have been busy with school and packing and wedding stuff. It has been a busy month to say the least. We'll start with the first weekend of the month:

I dragged my fiancé back to where we will be living in a few months. It's "home"...sort of. It's where both of us spent the majority of our time growing up. It's where our parents and most of our friends live. But, it's not really "home" right now. Boone is our home, for now. (That changes in a few and short 3 weeks.) Anyway, Friday was an all around good day. I spent time with my wonderful fiancé. We went to see the "new" Narnia movie since it was at the $1.50 theatre. It was good -- quite a few laughs from it. I really enjoyed it. We also went for dinner at Chipotle, one of Jon's favorites restaurants. I quite like it too. For that weekend, I also found myself working for a whole 24-hour period. The day wasn't too bad of a shift...until about 11am. We didn't run a single call throughout the first 4 hours. I got myself a little nap in there (which was of great benefit later that day). Then, everything broke loose. There were structure fires and cardiac arrests everywhere. I found myself working a structure fire at a nursing home. We have jokingly talked about how this particular one should be burnt to the ground. Well, a portion of it tried. Something in the laundry room (presumably the dryer) caught on fire. Thankfully someone had the forethought to build the laundry room as a separate building from the main nursing home. However, as this building has a U-shape to it, they did put the laundry room in the middle of the U. The day was super-windy and we were worried that the wind might make the fire jump to the main structure. It didn't and the fire department got it under control rather quickly. The rest of my day was pretty much steady straight through until 6am the next morning. That was pretty much the extent of that weekend.

Spring break, part 2

Spring break flew by! It's strange to think that this is really going to be the last spring break I have as a student. If I do, in fact, go into teaching, I will continue to have them...just from the employee side. So, here's how the rest of the week went...

Monday, I worked a 24-hour shift. It was exceptionally busy but the night was wonderful. We slept all night but we're not too sure if it was as a result of a truly slow night or if it was due to the pagers not activating (there were LOTS of issues with them all day). Either way, I was happy to take it.

Tuesday, after I got cleaned up from my shift, Jon and I spent the morning and first bit of the afternoon looking at apartments. We settled on one that we loved, filled out an application and are currently waiting to hear if we get it. The one that's on "hold" for us at the moment, the current tenants move out on April 30 and with a 5-day turnaround from the apartment complex between tenants, it will work out well with our desired move-in date of May 8 or 9. I also had dress fitting number 1. It went pretty well and it should be finished the last week of March. I'm excited!

Wednesday, I had to head off to work for meetings and training. It was fun and informative (helped me catch up a bit on what I've been missing out on over the last few months that I've been in school).

Looking ahead...

I have yet to complete my second degree (but my first bachelor's degree); however, I am looking ahead to determine what it is that I am going to do with my life from work, to the possibility of continuing school, to getting married (that's already determined)...to whatever else may come. I'm a planner. And, because of that, I like to know what's coming up. No surprises.

Yesterday, I filled out my application for graduate school. Just about anyone who has heard I am looking at continuing my education at graduate school has made the remark that they think I'm crazy. I have been in school (college level) every semester since the spring of 2005. Honestly, yes, I'm tired of school. However, I know me and I know that if I quit school now, I may never go back. So, the next logical question is: what are you going to grad. school for?

That's easy. Teaching. The program I have chosen, after a lot of deliberation and searching, is a Masters of Art in Teaching with my specialization area being in elementary education. My associate's degree is in EMS and my bachelor's degree will be in psychology. That knowledge being known, the logical question that follows is: why not pursue a degree furthering one of those degrees?

These things I know to be true

These are things I was reminded of this weekend while at work:

• There is no cure for stupidity.
• Laziness is contagious.
• When the support in a home is underwhelming, the patient generally has something wrong with them.
• When the support in a home is overwhelming, it's generally an over reaction.
• Those who don't need to go to the hospital will have several family members at the home and several functioning vehicles in the driveway.
• People refuse to vomit in the bag or bucket provided to them.
• If you touch me again, you will meet your friends: the police.
• If you refuse to do what I tell you, you will also meet your friends: the police.
• Telling me that you take a "water pill", a "sugar pill" and a "high blood pill" doesn't help me. I need to know names.
• Showing me the pills without the pill bottle is not helpful either.
• You also need to tell me all of the medicines that you take.
• I won't intentionally kill you; however, you might kill yourself if you take off your seat belts.

117. :-)

Whirlwind few days...

Well, what a week this has been! Thursday, Jon proposed. Friday, he left for Canada. Saturday, I had a wedding and a bridal show to attend (yes, I move fast). Sunday, I went to church. Monday, I worked a 12-hour shift. Tuesday, I worked a 24-hour shift. Wednesday I went dress shopping and Jon got back from Canada. And, today, I made a trip to the dentist and then went to see my wonderful fiancé. (Tomorrow, we're meeting with the church to try and set a wedding date before we head back to Boone.) I have kept myself busy, that's for sure...but it's been a good busy (aside from work...that was a bit rough).

Some notes on cardiac arrest

When I work in the field as a paramedic, there are many strange things that I come across. Strange things in relation to a cardiac arrest situation are no different. Here are a few things I've noted that are funny (though not in the circumstance) that made me take a step back when I got there:

Here's the picture: dispatched out to a 70 year old man in a nursing home..."cardiac arrest". We get there and the patient is, indeed, in cardiac arrest. He is on the bed (which has little cushioning...but it not a firm surface in the least bit) and the staff are doing "chest compressions". Instead of really doing chest compressions, all they are doing is pushing the guy into the bed and letting him bounce back up. No compression of the chest is occurring -- just a lot of bouncing.

This is useless. You can bounce the patient to high-heaven...but unless you compress their chest to squish (really technical terms here) their heart between the sternum and spinal column, you are not going to get a pulse back. Sorry. Compress the chest and there's a chance.

Fall break fun

Tomorrow is the last day of my fall break from school. I have enjoyed being back home and getting back to work for a few days. But now, I'm ready to go back to school. Work is my break from school...and school is my break from work.

This week, I worked 12 hours on the south side of the county, with which I am very familiar since I grew up there. I enjoy working down here for a few reasons, first of which is that my commute to work is very short. I can get to 4 different rigs in under 15 minutes. We did not do much patient care that day -- only two calls. However, we toured the entire east and south side of the county. And, we got a new rig. It rode so much better than the one we were on for the first half of the day. (And when I say "new"...I mean brand-spankin'-new. Just inspected by OEMS and put into service for the first time by myself and partner.)

Yesterday, I played in "the city," or center of the county. I like these trucks (city rigs) because they provide a variety of calls to keep me "entertained" and steady throughout the day (and sometimes throughout the night, unfortunately). I would rather be busy than not (nothing to do leads to being bored). The reason I don't like these trucks is because of the long haul into work -- and the busyness of the shift (yes, I like it busy...but I want time to breathe). I think we ran 15 calls that shift...I stopped counting after 10 (and I got too tired to even remember). We were short a rig during the day...and had several down during the night (4, I think). It made for a long shift (we put enough miles on the truck that I could have gone to Boone and back...400+ miles) -- but a good one. We helped some people and made their days just a little better.

What did you do for Labor Day weekend?

Well, what did you do? Perhaps go to the beach? Or maybe the mountains? Spend time with family or friends? Time off from school? Time off from work? Have fun? Go to a cookout? Just relax?

I can honestly say I did one of those things. Just one. I had time off from school for three whole days. I, along with my wonderful boyfriend, drove home Friday after class (with the rest of Boone) only to get on a rig Friday night for 36 hours. I was so excited and ready to get back to work, though -- I really was! I miss work when I'm not there. I was greeted with a rough night. Ended up being awake most all night for a combination of tough calls. The worst was for a patient who had been stabbed and had the whole posse around her. Then, to top it off, the patient's very angry father showed up and insisted on hopping up into the rig. However, my friend the deputy pulled him out before he could get too close. He shut the doors and stood guard (thank you, sir!). (I like my police officers.)

In the morning, I went to another truck for the rest of the shift (24 hours) -- it was also on the south side of the county which is probably one of my favorite areas to work because I know it so well. We were pretty busy there, as well. The first call on that rig was the toughest one there: an elderly gentleman fell and his wife called us because she couldn't get him up (his legs just went out from under him...no injury, thankfully). We arrive to find him on the floor, unharmed. We pick him up and get him settled in his chair. We come to find out the story from his wife that he has been having increasing problems such that she really is having a very difficult time caring for him. She hands us paperwork from the patient's physician and we look over it to discover that the patient has a debilitating disease that will soon take him from her. However, as his wife, she wants to do everything she can to care for him at home as long as possible. On a personal note, it was like watching my grandmother telling this to me about my grandfather as he suffered from the same disease. We were able to call in some help to get them set up with some assistance to help make that possible, at least for awhile longer. That's what she wants...to be able to do it for at least awhile longer.

Stomach-churning content. Readers beware.

I told you that I might decide to share the story about the worst thing I have ever smelled or seen and I think I have decided to do it. So, if this title caught your eye and you have a weak stomach (or just ate), I suggest you skip this post and go to the next.

I get to work, right? Right. (Just go with it.) I put my things on the truck and go through it to check to be sure everything that I may need for the day is on it and stocked. We were good to go. Soon after completing the check, my partner and I find ourselves being dispatched to a sick call. The comments on our computer state that there is a malfunction with the patient's colostomy bag.

Let me explain a few things to those who are not medically inclined. First: a colostomy (colo -- colon, ostomy -- a surgically created opening) is hole that is made in the abdomen that bring a healthy piece of colon to the surface so that the feces produced have an alternate method of exiting the body. This can be done for a number of reasons, such as colon cancer. A bag is placed over the ostomy to collect these feces. Second: a malfunction of some device would typically refer to a "clog" or something of that nature, most definitely not what we found.

Trouble comes in 3's

Do you know the saying "bad things always come in 3's"? It's true! Although, I think I need to alter the statement: "bad things come in 3's or more".

I am coming off of a 3-day work stretch tonight. I spent Monday, Tuesday and today, Wednesday, on a rig. I had a fabulous time! ...for the most part. A few rough calls but I made it through (and all of my patients got to the hospital alive). The Sundays that I am home, I volunteer my medical expertise at church and provide on-site care to anyone who may fall ill or get hurt (the first is usually the adults and the latter is usually the kids). I enjoy what I do there. And, people think I'm crazy because I have voices in my head while I am "working there" (an ear piece to the radio). The funniest part is that sometimes, if you are close to me, you will hear the voices too. So, I can confidently say that it is NOT all in my head.

Well, as the story goes, I was on-duty this past Sunday at church. Usually there is a doctor and a nurse on-call as well, but for the past two weeks, these people have not been there. Our head of the safety and security team decided to skip out on the day (to move his daughter into school) so we had a thought that we would have some trouble. Without fail, if he is not there, trouble starts to happen.

I got in about 8:45 that morning, grabbed my radio and walked around until service at 9:30. No trouble then. Smooth sailing through the hour. The second "hour" started at 11 am and had no problems at the beginning of that hour. I went to my class and about 11:30, I was alerted to the fact that a child had fallen on the playground and I needed to come make sure he was okay. He was. He just took a little tumble as he tried to jump off of the equipment and be adventurous, like little boys are. Crisis averted. I returned to class. Around 12:00, I received another message that an older lady was unconscious. I made my way over to her and found her conscious, alert and oriented. From what the people said around her, it sounded like she had had a mini-stroke (also called a TIA). She had some facial drooping on the left side but she had equal on both sides of her body with a clear speech pattern. After sitting with her for a few minutes (while doing all of my paramedic-y things), she had a 15 second episode of slurred speech and then it was right back to normal. EMS (the real paramedics with an ambulance) was called to come and take care of this sweet older lady. When they arrived, I was very familiar with the paramedic on the truck as I have worked with him in the past. He looked at me with a puzzled look and then looked over at his preceptee and told her "you can get report from [me]". So, she was transported but I do not know exactly what happened with her and how she is now.

That was the morning. I know that trouble comes in 3's (or more). For example, if there is a code in the county, there will be at least 2 more in a short amount of time following the first. The same goes for car accidents, shootings and stabbings (the last two are usually grouped together). So, thinking ahead, I came back to the evening service in the event something was going to happen. I knew it would happen Sunday night or Monday morning at work. Sunday evening was quiet. Monday morning started out with a bang.

"I understand that you're in pain but..."

This is a phrase that none of my patients like to hear. As soon as you say you "understand", they usually fly into a sermon about how you don't understand because you've never been in such pain like they are now. The other part, the "but", gets people too. Basically, it is my reasons why I am "causing" their pain. And they really don't like that.

Some of the reasons include:

- this is the best thing for you

- I have given you all of the pain medication that I can

Nobody likes those "excuses". Today, I had a patient who drove herself to her physician's office. She was involved in a car accident about 3 weeks ago and has been having increasing pain, numbness and tingling along the left side of her body since then. The physician was worried about a cervical spine fracture (very, very bad). So, in order to transport her in the best way to protect her neck, we had to put a collar around her neck to help her remember to keep it still and we put her on a long spine board (which are very uncomfortable). She was not happy with me for requiring this of her and even after explaining the reasons why (i.e.: keep her neck and back straight, protect the spinal cord to prevent more damage, prevent paralysis, keep her breathing...) she was still not thrilled with me. However, she managed to get on there and lay relatively flat.