Lost Dog

-
After a series of unexciting cancellations, we went for a call for a lady who had gone unresponsive while on the phone with 911. Like so many other calls, this had potential. We arrived on the heels of the ambulance expecting the need to bust down a door or two. (any excuse will do) Luckily (for the door) it was unlocked and we easily gained access. We were greeted by the melodious yap of a smallish dog. The dog was more annoying and friendly than a safety concern for me. I am not a fan of dogs on scene, controlled or otherwise.
Our patient laying in bed and was not unconscious (in the medically problematic sense of the word) but rather asleep. "Hello! What's going on!" I greeted her warmly as my partner pressed his knuckles into her sternum.
"OH, hi!" I said, pleased with her groggy response. The dog stood on her and yapped. She explained that she had a migraine, and now was very tired. I became confused. This prompted a 911 call? "Does this feel different than tiredness you feel when you've had migraines in the past?" I was displeased with her answer of "No." The mood of the call was now far more casual. The BLS crew had readied the cot outside and we squeezed four people into her tiny bedroom to help her get up and outside.
My partner petted her yappy dog, explaining that he just loved dogs. It was kind of cute. I led the patient down her narrow hallway as she was squeezing her eyes shut.
As I held the outside door open for her to pass, I saw the dog race past me and into the yard. It looked back expectantly, ready to play. I sighed.
"Grab him!" my partner yelled futility. I took one step toward it and off it went, circling the house. As the BLS crew got the patient settled on the cot and into the ambulance, my partner and I found ourselves chasing this dog we didn't know around the house, and unsuccessfully into the door. I went back in and found its treats. With that silly sing-song voice people reserve for when talking to babies and puppies I called the dog and shook the bag of treats. It was all I had. After twenty minutes, with the ambulance and patient long gone, we gave up. It was a warm day, and I had a feeling the patient would be home in a matter of hours.
I felt bad leaving it. I put a couple of treats on the porch, hopefully to entice it to wait there for its master. I love my job.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Love the sign - are they standard issue???
21 April, 2009
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dueling Blogs

-
I have the immense privilege to be sitting right across from Maddog Medic in the flesh. We aren't speaking, though he is listening to me. Want to solve this riddle? He is transcribing an interview he did with me for his blog at this very moment. And I too am blogging at this very moment! How crazy?! I am stationed this week at the EMS today conference to stock up on professional wheelings and dealings and learn some stuff. This is a wonderful conference full of networking and new products and I learned already that one dose of glucagon costs $130. That's out of control! I cannot wait to catch up on disaster literature and EMS tricks of the trade and get as many free pens as I can at the expo tomorrow.  As for now, I'm headed to a class on smart stuff and pediatric breathing problems.  I am surrounded by EMS nerds and I love it! I spent the day learning about things above my pay grade such as how to read a chest x-ray and how to differentiate between subarachnoi...
Click for More

Clothing Removal

-
Image
Last week I had a patient who fell from her horse while jumping at a show. When I got there the BLS crew had immobilized her and, well, that was about it. She was complaining of neck pain and at that moment couldn't remember what had happened. I used my horsey knowledge to build up a healthy rapport with a scared patient. In general, not a lot was wrong with her. My biggest problem was that she was on the backboard and still had on all of her fancy English riding clothes. I made my best efforts to get off her button up shirt with high collar and black outer riding jacket, but it caused her pain, and then I made it worse. Worse than falling off your horse, worse than the public embarrasment of having an ambulance called for you, worse than defenitly losing your show class, was the stupid paramedic who cut off your expensive riding clothes. I, too, had never felt worse for cutting someones clothes off. She cried and shrieked and you would have thought I was punching her in the gut. I...
Click for More

The Race

-
Sometimes this job is like a race. Like you're carrying this person on your back, and it's a messy race. You're tripping and sweating and you almost drop them. It's bouncy and there's trash everywhere. And if you can just get them over that line. To the line and throw them over. Throw them over and into the ER, you're obligation is fulfilled. Your job is done. You've won the race. And for a long time, that was it. Mission accomplished and I wasn't responsible for anything else. I didn't care about anything else. Get them to the hospital.  Dust my hands off and pat myself on the back. But somehow, they crept in. What did happen?  Did they live?  For the first time I asked myself.  I began to bring them home. I put them on a shelf and they stared down at me. They said, did you run fast enough?  Did you fall?  Did you drop me?  You threw me onto this island- over your line, but was it salvation?  I left in a hel...
Click for More