The Best Laid Plans
So my original plan was to post all of this live through the day, as something of a play-by-play of a day in the life of me while I'm at work. I'm probably overestimating the readability of such a thing, but modesty was never a concept I excelled with.
Unfortunately, for the first 5 hours of my shift, we've been running non-stop, so this is the first chance I've had to write anything down, thus defeating both the "live" nature of my original idea, and the perfect recall I hoped to acheive. Anyway, here goes my best shot:
04:25- I get up from bed. Note- get up, not wake up. That's because I never actually managed to sleep. I laid in bed, talked on AIM, read stupid things on the internet, became irrationally enraged, and did everything I could to make myself fall asleep, and failed miserably.
04:50- Out of the shower, freezing. Into uniform, still freezing, but damn I look good. There's something inherently manly about wearing a duty shirt, and having a radio on your belt.
05:15- Out the door. It's freaking snowing outside. It was 70 degrees 3 days ago. What is wrong with this place?
05:40- I arrive at Orange County Emergency Management. 20 minutes early, because that's just who I am. My pathological fear of being late has turned into compulsive earliness. I sit around looking at other people who seem to be having as much trouble with being up at the ass-crack of dawn as I am. One of the medics, Country, actually falls asleep sitting up. Not slumped over, or bent down on the table, but sitting up straight. I vow to emulate her.
06:00- The daily briefing starts. A lot of information about stuff I don't care about, and that doesn't affect me is discussed. I sit and try to be more like Country.
06:30- Briefing ends, and we head outside to start the truck, and head to our area. We jump in our ambulance, and mosey on down the road.
06:34- Supervisor calls and tells us to come back. The truck we're in is scheduled for maintenance today. Now that would've been something to mention in the briefing.
06:45- New truck, back on the road.
07:00- Make it to Carrboro, and start breakfast. Elmo's does a pretty good egg/biscuit/home fries/country ham breakfast.
07:30- My breakfast is interrupted. I almost got to finish my biscuit.
07:35- Onscene at an apartment complex in Carrboro. 90 year old man having chest pain. He has an extensive list of heart problems, including a potentially faulty pacemaker. He's clutching at his chest and moaning, and is in legitimate pain. We move quickly.
07:40- We're in the truck, on the way to the hospital, and with some relatively minor treatment, this guy is looking a lot better. Oxygen and nitroglycerin will go a long way for a lot of people.
07:50- First patient of the day arrives at UNC, slightly better off having known me. Success.
08:10- I make it back to the station, and start to think about maybe taking a nap.
08:10:37- Second call of the day goes out, and it's in the middle of BFE. If your only experience with Orange Co. is visiting UNC, you never realize how big this county is, or how rural most of it is.
08:30- After 20 minutes of driving, with lights and sirens, we arrive at this house out in God's country. I step out of the truck expecting to hear dueling banjos
08:31- I realize that our patient is crazy.
She's telling us that she's having a stroke. Unfortunately, this is untrue. She's 80 some years old, and totally full of crap, and is ineffectively faking her symptoms. She only remembers to slur her speech sometimes, and she can't keep straight which side of her body is supposed to be weak and/or numb.
She also decides to refuse transport to any hospital we can transport her too, and instead sits around telling us every grievance she can think of against every doctor she's ever met.
-One doctor told her she wasn't having a heart attack, and was instead having a panic attack. She called him a "pisshead".
-She railed against UNC, and everything associated with her for putting her with a "student doctor" and said she didn't need someone who "don't know no more than my dumbass husband" taking care of her. They also made her sit through multiple MRAs (By which she means MRIs).
-She saved her greatest venom for a mysterious "Dr. Steele" at Alamance. This doctor apparently referred her to mental health professionals ("damn shrinks") after her last "stroke".
After 20 minutes of random verbal abuse of various healthcare professionals, we finally manage to talk her into simply letting us help her to her van, where her meek shadow of a man husband is waiting to drive her to Moses Cone, 50 miles away.
09:05- I make it back to Carrboro. As soon as we're within sight of the station, another call goes out.
09:15- We're onscene at a nursing home that's infamous for letting patients die without noticing. We're dispatched to this as a difficulty breathing call, but it turns out that this guy is having trouble breathing because he's having a massive stroke. No muscle tone at all on his left side, he's pulling to the right, unresponsive... totally FUBAR. I hate doing it, but I ask his daughter who's onscene if he had any wishes regarding end of life care. She tells me he's a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) like she's saying that he takes 2 sugars in his coffee. The staff failed to mention this. Dumbasses.
09:30- Medic arrives, and we head to the truck. IV, o2, and monitor set-up, and we hit the road to the hospital.
09:45- We get to the hospital, and my mouth drops in shock at the mess the medic made in the back of the truck. He blew the IV with the BP cuff, and there is blood everywhere. We take the patient inside, and push him off on the nursing staff. I spend the next 40 minutes cleaning the truck.
10:25- We finally clear the hospital. Head back to the station.
Whenever I add to this I'll try to add in some of the more humorous moments. There've already been plenty today, but I'm exhausted.
Unfortunately, for the first 5 hours of my shift, we've been running non-stop, so this is the first chance I've had to write anything down, thus defeating both the "live" nature of my original idea, and the perfect recall I hoped to acheive. Anyway, here goes my best shot:
04:25- I get up from bed. Note- get up, not wake up. That's because I never actually managed to sleep. I laid in bed, talked on AIM, read stupid things on the internet, became irrationally enraged, and did everything I could to make myself fall asleep, and failed miserably.
04:50- Out of the shower, freezing. Into uniform, still freezing, but damn I look good. There's something inherently manly about wearing a duty shirt, and having a radio on your belt.
05:15- Out the door. It's freaking snowing outside. It was 70 degrees 3 days ago. What is wrong with this place?
05:40- I arrive at Orange County Emergency Management. 20 minutes early, because that's just who I am. My pathological fear of being late has turned into compulsive earliness. I sit around looking at other people who seem to be having as much trouble with being up at the ass-crack of dawn as I am. One of the medics, Country, actually falls asleep sitting up. Not slumped over, or bent down on the table, but sitting up straight. I vow to emulate her.
06:00- The daily briefing starts. A lot of information about stuff I don't care about, and that doesn't affect me is discussed. I sit and try to be more like Country.
06:30- Briefing ends, and we head outside to start the truck, and head to our area. We jump in our ambulance, and mosey on down the road.
06:34- Supervisor calls and tells us to come back. The truck we're in is scheduled for maintenance today. Now that would've been something to mention in the briefing.
06:45- New truck, back on the road.
07:00- Make it to Carrboro, and start breakfast. Elmo's does a pretty good egg/biscuit/home fries/country ham breakfast.
07:30- My breakfast is interrupted. I almost got to finish my biscuit.
07:35- Onscene at an apartment complex in Carrboro. 90 year old man having chest pain. He has an extensive list of heart problems, including a potentially faulty pacemaker. He's clutching at his chest and moaning, and is in legitimate pain. We move quickly.
07:40- We're in the truck, on the way to the hospital, and with some relatively minor treatment, this guy is looking a lot better. Oxygen and nitroglycerin will go a long way for a lot of people.
07:50- First patient of the day arrives at UNC, slightly better off having known me. Success.
08:10- I make it back to the station, and start to think about maybe taking a nap.
08:10:37- Second call of the day goes out, and it's in the middle of BFE. If your only experience with Orange Co. is visiting UNC, you never realize how big this county is, or how rural most of it is.
08:30- After 20 minutes of driving, with lights and sirens, we arrive at this house out in God's country. I step out of the truck expecting to hear dueling banjos
08:31- I realize that our patient is crazy.
She's telling us that she's having a stroke. Unfortunately, this is untrue. She's 80 some years old, and totally full of crap, and is ineffectively faking her symptoms. She only remembers to slur her speech sometimes, and she can't keep straight which side of her body is supposed to be weak and/or numb.
She also decides to refuse transport to any hospital we can transport her too, and instead sits around telling us every grievance she can think of against every doctor she's ever met.
-One doctor told her she wasn't having a heart attack, and was instead having a panic attack. She called him a "pisshead".
-She railed against UNC, and everything associated with her for putting her with a "student doctor" and said she didn't need someone who "don't know no more than my dumbass husband" taking care of her. They also made her sit through multiple MRAs (By which she means MRIs).
-She saved her greatest venom for a mysterious "Dr. Steele" at Alamance. This doctor apparently referred her to mental health professionals ("damn shrinks") after her last "stroke".
After 20 minutes of random verbal abuse of various healthcare professionals, we finally manage to talk her into simply letting us help her to her van, where her meek shadow of a man husband is waiting to drive her to Moses Cone, 50 miles away.
09:05- I make it back to Carrboro. As soon as we're within sight of the station, another call goes out.
09:15- We're onscene at a nursing home that's infamous for letting patients die without noticing. We're dispatched to this as a difficulty breathing call, but it turns out that this guy is having trouble breathing because he's having a massive stroke. No muscle tone at all on his left side, he's pulling to the right, unresponsive... totally FUBAR. I hate doing it, but I ask his daughter who's onscene if he had any wishes regarding end of life care. She tells me he's a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) like she's saying that he takes 2 sugars in his coffee. The staff failed to mention this. Dumbasses.
09:30- Medic arrives, and we head to the truck. IV, o2, and monitor set-up, and we hit the road to the hospital.
09:45- We get to the hospital, and my mouth drops in shock at the mess the medic made in the back of the truck. He blew the IV with the BP cuff, and there is blood everywhere. We take the patient inside, and push him off on the nursing staff. I spend the next 40 minutes cleaning the truck.
10:25- We finally clear the hospital. Head back to the station.
Whenever I add to this I'll try to add in some of the more humorous moments. There've already been plenty today, but I'm exhausted.
posted by C at 11:07 AM
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