Work can be fun!
At my last clinical we had what I will call the “light rail incident.” It started out with a call that went out as “unconscious in a wheelchair.” We decided to find out what this meant exactly and squirreled the call. The patient was on the sidewalk, indeed in a wheelchair, wide awake, and the first thing she said to us was something to the effect of “You ain’t givin’ me any of that (expletive) Narcan!” That’s fine, but you may want to consider going to the hospital anyway. Mid conversation, the light rail train came down the road we were parked on, and all of a sudden we were all distracted by a loud scraping noise as the train tried to pass the ambulance. A well meaning firefighter then climbed in the passenger side and attempted to move the ambulance, but actually made it worse, as more scraping noises ensued, and the pieces of a light fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the patient wheeled away why we were watching this literal train wreck that we couldn’t tear ourselves away from. The patient was seen later nodding off in the middle of a crosswalk. Luckily, they suddenly regained consciousness, and we never saw them again. Although this was a hilarious turn of events we ended up out of service for about 3 hours doing paperwork, how boring.
Other than that, we had hyperglycemia in a clinic who received 7000ml of saline before we got there (which way to the bathroom?), a hypoglycemia who perked right up, a 5 year old trouble breathing, and I had a staring contest with a drunk, that was fun.
On Thursday, Ewing and I went kayaking again. At one point some people spotted us on the water, giving us some real spectators for a few minutes as if we were in some sort of professional competition, maybe we can get some sponsors to buy us gear. Amazingly, the water was already down a couple of inches from last week, forcing me to curse a few rocks to hell. Despite the water level, we had an excellent run, and no one fell in.
For the last two days, and today as well, I’ve been working. My first day in, I had a partner who was talkative to almost a homicide inducing level, but I forgot my shillelagh at home.
Yesterday was an interesting day. During the day I worked on an ALS truck, although we ended up only doing BLS calls. I learned one thing you don’t want to hear as your heading to the elevator with a patient: “Is he breathing?” followed by my partner staring at the patients chest intently before giving me a vigorous ‘yes.’ The patient actually was quite ill and I fear was on the way to wherever it is where you go when you die. The patient was a DNR and I fear more, would not have liked to be on the way to the ER, but the family insisted, and we obliged them.
Prior to our arrival the patient apparently seized, and was given some Ativan. On the way to the hospital while reading the chart, I discovered the patient was allergic to lorazepam. “Lorazepam,” I thought to myself, “isn’t that the same thing as Ativan? Holy crap!” I quickly reassessed the patient and flipped through the chart, but found nothing else useful, and when we got to the ER the family assured me that it was a misprint. Phew!
Later, I had the greatest moment in private ambulance history when I got paid to wash the truck, not just the ambulance, silly, my truck! What a brilliant move on my part when I threw the keys at Ewing, who covertly drove it up next to the ambo. Awesome!
In the evening, I did standby for the Lacrosse game here at school with my classmate Pat. The game was uneventful, but we actually won so,
“UMBC: were not just fun and board games.”
What’s better than getting paid to wash your personal vehicle? Perhaps getting paid to study, enjoy nature, and work on my tan, as I was today. We only had three calls, and I had a genuinely good time hanging out with my crew.
Google (well not Google, but a reasonable facsimile) search term of the week: “cardboard construction camper shell truck.” I can’t even begin to fathom what this person was trying to find, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my blog.
Other than that, we had hyperglycemia in a clinic who received 7000ml of saline before we got there (which way to the bathroom?), a hypoglycemia who perked right up, a 5 year old trouble breathing, and I had a staring contest with a drunk, that was fun.
On Thursday, Ewing and I went kayaking again. At one point some people spotted us on the water, giving us some real spectators for a few minutes as if we were in some sort of professional competition, maybe we can get some sponsors to buy us gear. Amazingly, the water was already down a couple of inches from last week, forcing me to curse a few rocks to hell. Despite the water level, we had an excellent run, and no one fell in.
For the last two days, and today as well, I’ve been working. My first day in, I had a partner who was talkative to almost a homicide inducing level, but I forgot my shillelagh at home.
Yesterday was an interesting day. During the day I worked on an ALS truck, although we ended up only doing BLS calls. I learned one thing you don’t want to hear as your heading to the elevator with a patient: “Is he breathing?” followed by my partner staring at the patients chest intently before giving me a vigorous ‘yes.’ The patient actually was quite ill and I fear was on the way to wherever it is where you go when you die. The patient was a DNR and I fear more, would not have liked to be on the way to the ER, but the family insisted, and we obliged them.
Prior to our arrival the patient apparently seized, and was given some Ativan. On the way to the hospital while reading the chart, I discovered the patient was allergic to lorazepam. “Lorazepam,” I thought to myself, “isn’t that the same thing as Ativan? Holy crap!” I quickly reassessed the patient and flipped through the chart, but found nothing else useful, and when we got to the ER the family assured me that it was a misprint. Phew!
Later, I had the greatest moment in private ambulance history when I got paid to wash the truck, not just the ambulance, silly, my truck! What a brilliant move on my part when I threw the keys at Ewing, who covertly drove it up next to the ambo. Awesome!
In the evening, I did standby for the Lacrosse game here at school with my classmate Pat. The game was uneventful, but we actually won so,
“UMBC: were not just fun and board games.”
What’s better than getting paid to wash your personal vehicle? Perhaps getting paid to study, enjoy nature, and work on my tan, as I was today. We only had three calls, and I had a genuinely good time hanging out with my crew.
Google (well not Google, but a reasonable facsimile) search term of the week: “cardboard construction camper shell truck.” I can’t even begin to fathom what this person was trying to find, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my blog.
Comments
and you didnt use too many commas
~mala