GSW and overdoses

Another great week here in the big OKC. I got so many stories that I could share but only two of the stories are really worth talking about.  The first was the GSW meaning gun shot wound if you did not know what that meant.  I heard the call over the radio and was like F I missed me another great call.  Then about 10 minutes later they said there where at least 4 patients and required assistance.  So lucky me my crew was one of the extra units that were called on to respond.  So when we got there we saw that there were already two cops there and also only the one unit on the scene.  We get the cot ready and we walk up to this creepy house that was covered by bushes.  The house was pretty secret.  We then see the other crew helping the one man that was shot three times in the chest on the porch.  A huge pitbull mix was just barking at everyone and lunging at everyone there.  I saw the blood trail from the guy outside.  It seemed as though he was crawling from the inside out for help or something like that.  We helped the man that was inside the house that was shot in the thigh, and ankle.  while we were in the ambulance I went to put the blood pressure cuff on his right arm and found another gunshot wound to his bicep.  We got the IV established and transported via lights and sirens to OU medical center.
The other call I had was an overdose.  We got the call to stage and the so we tried to stage and a man ran up to the truck saying he is in room 4 something.  we were then told by dispatch just to go in and that it was safe.  So we get to the room and we see that there was a man at the end of the bed on the ground passed out.  So we get the door opened and then Cece told me to get the IV.  So I look at the right arm, so in other words I am pretty much on top of the dude.  I get a 16 gauge needle and then boo yeah right in the ac one try.  I got to push 2 mg of narcan which was cool, because he was totally out of it then bam he was back.  his pupils were totally constricted and kind of came out of it after we pushed the narcan but en route to the hospital he was getting another high or something, the pupils began to constrict again.  Well only one more week for the night shift and then I switch to days... crazy!!!! it is half way over already.

umm that is a broken leg

Wow what a week this past week was.  I am just going to jump in with some of the crazy calls that I had. The first and foremost crazy call was a motor vs. pedestrian.  This poor homeless man was walking across the street with his shopping cart full of all the things the man owned, including a whole bunch of cans.  He was hit by a ford edge (white of course).  When we got the call we just heard that it was a vehicle collision and so we didn't think much of it.  When we got to the scene we realized that it was a motor vs pedestrian and there was a man laying on his back with cans everywhere.  We looked at his cart and it didnt even look like a cart, it looked like a mangled piece of metal.  We hurried and got out of the ambulance and we realized that there was puddle of blood that was coagulating behind his head.  I hurried over to grab the backboard, then got it ready.  I was down by his feet and seeing how I was leading the call I did a quick rapid assessment of his legs I felt some blood on his left leg and then felt some crepitus in his left leg.  So I knew that the leg was broken but did I realize it was as broken as bad as it was.  I will describe later. We would have called it at the scene but he had agonal respirations.  So we had to take him. We got him into the ambulance and I went for the intubation.  The mans tongue was swollen so I could not get around the tongue so I said to my preceptor "I'll let you take a whack at it"  and she said the same thing.  So we put a king tube in.  We then started CPR.  His rhythm was PEA until we made it to the hospital.  When we were taking him out of the ambulance the new fireman (did not have a clue what he was doing).  pulled the cot out like it was a sled and made it so hard for me to do chest compressions on him. We then got it out and here comes what I will describe later  as we were going to door the door snagged his foot and (please click the link to find out what happened) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9avT0e5KPPU.  It was nasty.  when we entered into the hospital I guess a nurse was yelling at a family because one of the family members punched him in the face.  yeah the whole call was epic.  We had many other calls but that pretty much sound up the week.  I only have a week left with my preceptor and it was so much fun.  Cece is the best preceptor out there I have learned so much.  well stayed tuned for more of the adventures of Oklahoma City.  oh ps we finally got couches in our apartment, thanks to stephen layton, josh johnson, brennan larsen, and jo mills.  what great friends they are.

attack of the one eyed man and picking up a prostitute

This last week was pretty fun.  The first call that we got was one to a homeless man outside the valero gas station.  We get him and his wheel chair into the back of the ambulance and once we get the monitor hooked up to him.  I prepare the IV equipment and the man says if you don't get it in one try I will shove my boot up your A#@ and ill do it.  So i got it all ready and went in for it and the vein rolled and then infiltrated the man then went to grab the needle because he wanted to do it himself.  It was hilarious.  We asked him which hospital he wanted to go to and so we took him to OU hospital then on the way there he wanted to go to St. Anthony hospital which it was to late and so he started to get out of the cot before we even got him out of the ambulance.  We then made it into the hospital got him into his wheel chair and next thing you know he was rolling out of there.  We told the police that he was ETOH and that he left so they went after him and I guessed arrested him for public intox.
I can officially say that I have picked up a prostitute haha.  This prostitute was so annoying the whole way to the hospital.  apparently her leg hurt real bad.  She said it hurt probably over a hundred times while hitting her hand against the cabinets in the back of the ambulance.  She had hairy armpits and hairy legs, it was nasty.  I don't know why anyone would ever want to pick up a prostitute they are all pretty nasty.
My preceptor, Cece Pasillas, is the bomb.com she has been helping me out as I lead the calls asking me questions on what I think each patient has and even giving me homework that she printed out.  It is great.  It is sad to think that I will be with a new preceptor in a couple of weeks.
I almost got sprayed by a skunk the other night.  We were waiting at lake Hefner for a missing man that went fishing 4 hours prior to our arrival, luckily after 3 hours of waiting the man finally showed up. but going back to the skunk I went to walk down to the lake and bam my preceptor pulled me back and there right in front of me was this skunk that ran right across my path.  Oh and we went to the shore in this off road vehicle and the fire truck was following us and then we looked back and the fire truck was stuck.  it was stuck for about 2 hours.  it was a long but fun night.
This week has been getting me excited to work as a paramedic here in OKC.  I love it here.  I am looking forward though to a traumatic call seeing how I have yet to have one.

http://www.news9.com/story/19610512/boat-reported-sinking-on-lake-hefner

stuck in a glass case of emotion.

This week has been just great!!! I am beginning to love paramedicine so much.  besides the fact that I am stuck in the back of the ambulance the entire night.  My crew calls me the monkey and that the back of the ambulance is my cage.  We had some fun calls this week, not as fun as many of the other students but they were fun.  We had a diabetic man that was in a police car banging literally banging his head on the plexi glass window and once we got there he said he was never doing that and that he was alright.  He had this really weird bump on his side we kept thinking it was a hematoma of some sort until we got to the hospital.  The man acted drunk and the cop in the back with us just started messing with him.  We found out what that thing was on his side, it was a cyst.  Im doing much better on my IVs I have practically hit many of them pretty quick.  I had many cardiac arrest patients this week and got to administer Nitro spray for the first time which was pretty cool.  I got on the news this week as you could see in the previous post from a house fire and a couple of patients with smoke inhalation.  There was one lady when we were helping here into the ambulance that i looked up and yep HELLLOOOO no pants or underwear just a whole lotta crack.  They seemed fine as we got them to the hospital.  Another patient was twitching and had a syncope episode prior to our arrival and we could not figure out what was wrong.  We got an IV in and gave some saline, then about 5 minutes after she stopped twitching and was perfectly fine.  Come to find out she was severally dehydrated.  We had a DKA patient that was also a heroine addict.  she had like no veins so I just looked for the tract marks and bam hello there it was, got it. What a great week.  I love my crew and they are helping me so much.  I love working the night shift as well. We have watched a couple of movies posting for other calls, those being: what to expect when you are expecting, TMNT, and teenage mutant ninja turtles the first movie.  It has been so much fun.  Looking forward for this next week.  Oh and UTAH won!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wow i got on the news hahah

just a quick video of one of the calls I went on last night.
Just click the link below or (house fire and 2 patients)
house fire and 2 patients

another week of sitting in the rattling cage

So this week has been pretty uneventful here in OKC with EMSA.  I got a white cloud over me or something because I have really only gotten transfers.  I have been to 10 of the 21 hospitals now though which is cool, also I got to go and check out dispatch which was actually pretty cool.  In dispatch there is a corner for EMSA and a corner for fire and the rest of the room is for OKCPD.  We did have this one lady that has called EMSA four times in the last 5 days and the latest call was that she had eye surgery and that she is not getting enough oxygen through her brain barrier.  So in conclusion nothing was wrong with her.  She just wanted some attention.  I finally got to push a med besides aspirin, a lady was feeling nauseated so I got to push ondasatron or zofran to help with that.  I have been on a fail streak with IVs lately, missing like 4 in a row, then finally I have been getting a couple.  So there is hope.  Oh I was almost attached by a dog yesterday going into a house.  This dog was nice and calm when you were facing it and once you turned away the dog pounced.  I saw my life flash before my eyes, not really but it was kind of funny seeing how the firemen stepped in and retained the dog.
We still have no couch in our apartment so we are still sitting on the floor.  This experience is definitely a humbling one, making us grateful for all of the things we had back home. Also this experience is making me think of my career path and what I want to do with my life.  I honestly do not know what I want to do in the health field.  I really just want to help people, but most importantly helping my family.    well hopefully tonight will be a better night to be working with EMSA.

Do I smell?

OHHHHKKKLLLAAAAHHHHOOOMMAAAA City, this place is definitely not what I imagined it to be like.  It is a very big city with a lot of variety to the people.  The first day that we got here we saw some people of Walmart for sure.  One person was dressed like a woman but had a full on beard, another was dressed sort of like an umpa lumpa in all purple.  We also bought a futon down here and after a long and rigorous hour putting it together we sat down on  it and leaned back and the next thing we know the poles on the back of the futon broke. Luckily Ellen and I were able to get our money back, but for a week now we have just been sitting on the floor and occasionally have brought our mattress out and just lay on it and watch a movie.  No need to buy a couch, right?
So I have had two shifts already and they have been busy but not really anything special.  The first lady we went on was a black lady that I swear has repopulated OKC herself.  she had 8 kids in the house and still had 5 that moved away.  She called us because she ran into a playground pole and passed out, or so she says.  I love this place, we were talking in the back of the ambulance and my preceptor said people call the ambulance even if they were just bit by a mosquito because of this west nile going around I thought she was joking until the end of the night when we picked a man up that was complaining of nausea and abdominal pain.  He later said in the ambulance that earlier that day he was bit by a mosquito and that he could have west nile.  I looked and my preceptor and she just looked at me and nodded with a smile on her face.   A lot of the people down here do not smell to fresh either.  So, I ask myself if I were to stand next to one of these individuals after a good workout, would ask who smells worse?  I honestly think I would lose.  In the back of the ambulance there is a pump that takes the air in the cab and pushes it out of the cab and is supposed to remove some of the smell of these people but yeah the smell is like mixing dog puke with a rotten egg and that is a smell that would be hard to get rid of or remove.  It has been a very fun experience thus far and am looking forward to filling you all in on the details of what is happening in Ellen and I's life as we have started this new adventure together.