Didn't get much sleep
Lack of updates to be made up for immediately.
Last night started out with a diabetic problem at our local arena. Sounds simple enough, right? Well firstly, the circus is in town. We got to go in before anyone else and see them cleaning up and what not, it was cool. Also, since the arena is across the street from the station, we have had regular zebra and camel sightings.
So anyway, this guy was acting pretty normal and his sugar was 67. We kicked it old school and had him force down a delicious tube of sugary gel. Well, he hated that but we figured that if his sugar went up, he could be on his way like he wanted. After finishing that, we checked again, and his sugar actually went down. Dammit! His mental status was deteriorating as well, so we went to start an IV to give him a quick solution. Four attempts later, we still don’t have a line. Dammit! So, I go out through the gathering crowd and grab the glucagon. What an annoying drug. Draw the saline up, inject it into the other bottle, shake it, draw it up, give it IM, only this guy had such thick skin that the needle nearly broke off, it was crazy!
So, we finally actually treated this guy and wheel him out to the bus. I hate when cut and dry becomes not so cut and dry, but that’s what keeps it interesting. His sugar and mental status were improved when we arrived at the hospital.
Our next call was for psych problems. I swear, every other call that goes out is for psych problems. I don’t understand it. We made our way there and we were warmly greeted by the patients daughter. Apparently her mother was trying to leave the house and find her husband, which is fine, except that it’s 2 am, raining, and the husband died 14 years ago. This is a sticky situation, I can tell. So I get the background, and the patient has done this before, but not recently. I talk to her, and she’s pretty with it otherwise. She knew most of her birth date, and got the first three digits of the current year right. She didn’t appear to be a threat to herself or others, she was perfectly willing to have a nice chat. The daughter could not legally forcer her to go to the hospital. It’s getting stickier, like maple syrup. I’m not really sure what to do, and can’t envision a good ending to our scenario. We tiptoed around the fact that her husband would never answer the phone, and spent about 20 minutes convincing her to go with us before I asked if she’d let us test her blood sugar. “You’re so nice…sure!” Luckily for us, it was over 500 (way high), and we finally had our bargaining chip. It’s a lot easier to say “Let’s get your sugar level sorted out.” than “We think you’re losing touch.” She happily came with us after this, and hopefully she’s getting the help she needs.
We also had a sprained ankle, the most pointless call ever, and a very spry 90 something year old with abdo pain. It's been a while since we had a busy night shift. It seemed that every time my head hit the pillow I was asleep, and 10 minutes later I'd be woken up again.
Last night started out with a diabetic problem at our local arena. Sounds simple enough, right? Well firstly, the circus is in town. We got to go in before anyone else and see them cleaning up and what not, it was cool. Also, since the arena is across the street from the station, we have had regular zebra and camel sightings.
So anyway, this guy was acting pretty normal and his sugar was 67. We kicked it old school and had him force down a delicious tube of sugary gel. Well, he hated that but we figured that if his sugar went up, he could be on his way like he wanted. After finishing that, we checked again, and his sugar actually went down. Dammit! His mental status was deteriorating as well, so we went to start an IV to give him a quick solution. Four attempts later, we still don’t have a line. Dammit! So, I go out through the gathering crowd and grab the glucagon. What an annoying drug. Draw the saline up, inject it into the other bottle, shake it, draw it up, give it IM, only this guy had such thick skin that the needle nearly broke off, it was crazy!
So, we finally actually treated this guy and wheel him out to the bus. I hate when cut and dry becomes not so cut and dry, but that’s what keeps it interesting. His sugar and mental status were improved when we arrived at the hospital.
Our next call was for psych problems. I swear, every other call that goes out is for psych problems. I don’t understand it. We made our way there and we were warmly greeted by the patients daughter. Apparently her mother was trying to leave the house and find her husband, which is fine, except that it’s 2 am, raining, and the husband died 14 years ago. This is a sticky situation, I can tell. So I get the background, and the patient has done this before, but not recently. I talk to her, and she’s pretty with it otherwise. She knew most of her birth date, and got the first three digits of the current year right. She didn’t appear to be a threat to herself or others, she was perfectly willing to have a nice chat. The daughter could not legally forcer her to go to the hospital. It’s getting stickier, like maple syrup. I’m not really sure what to do, and can’t envision a good ending to our scenario. We tiptoed around the fact that her husband would never answer the phone, and spent about 20 minutes convincing her to go with us before I asked if she’d let us test her blood sugar. “You’re so nice…sure!” Luckily for us, it was over 500 (way high), and we finally had our bargaining chip. It’s a lot easier to say “Let’s get your sugar level sorted out.” than “We think you’re losing touch.” She happily came with us after this, and hopefully she’s getting the help she needs.
We also had a sprained ankle, the most pointless call ever, and a very spry 90 something year old with abdo pain. It's been a while since we had a busy night shift. It seemed that every time my head hit the pillow I was asleep, and 10 minutes later I'd be woken up again.
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