bbbrammer

My favorite line is from The Postman with Kevin Costner: "Wouldn't it be great if wars could be settled by the assholes that started them?"

I had 295. Looking at some of the things makes me feel like a goody two-shoes. I have never been drunk, arrested, had sex... well that is just private. I guess I am somewhat innocent, but at least I didn't score less than 50. I think that would have been way too embarrassing.

Any of the pneumo's stand out, as well as possibly pulmonary collapse. The only hx we got on this pt. was from the family that said "the last time he did this he was on drugs". So unknown drug usage is about it. He is a little old for a spontaneous pneumo, and as fiznat commented, very weird that all the problems were on the left side. I know deviation usually goes to the opposite side, but I am at a loss to explain what else might be going on. That is why I thought I would try to get some input from some of you guys. This guy was just different all together. He shot himself at some unknown time out in the woods, and when SWAT finally brought him out I thought he would be DOA. I couldn't believe it when they put him on my stretcher and I had a carotid pulse. When I got him on the monitor he actually had a Sinus Brady rhythm at about 44bpm until I tubed him, then it went to about 94bpm. His BP was 60/P, no PMS, hypothermic (91.5F), pupils dilated, skin cold, pale, dry. Like ridryder said, I have heard about bullet fragments traveling and collapsing a lung, but EVERYTHING was on the left side. Weird enough that I am having trouble explaining it. Any other thoughts? PS: the guy was about 6'2" and 230lbs. That is why I didn't want to back the tube out past 21cm. Would you have kept backing it out, or just let it stay there at that depth?

We ran a 46yom the other day that had a self-inflicted GSW to the right side of the head, and noticed that he had tracheal deviation to the left. When I put the tube in at 25cm we heard breath sounds on the right but not on the left (no gastric), so I backed the tube off twice until I wound up at 21cm. Every time I auscultated I heard good sounds on the right, but none on the left with no gastric sounds. The ETCO2 changed colors appropriately and the pts rhythm improved, but I didn't back the tube out anymore so I didn't pull it out of the trachea. I did also have misting in the tube with a small amount of bloody mucus. I thought he might have had a pneumothorax (or even hemopneumothorax) since he did have tracheal dev. to the left, with no lung sounds on the left. (I didn't have a chance to asses hyperresonance since the flight crew took over care at this time to fly him out to the hosp.) I was wondering if anyone out there has had a case or heard of a case where a gunshot headshot caused one of the lungs to collapse. I know theoretically it is possible with bullet fragments and all, but it seemed unlikely since it was small caliber (.22 I think) and it wasn't fragmenting ammo. Thought I would get some opinions from some of you guys to see what you think it might have been.

JD, Here are three services that I found that operate in Midland County around Midland, TX. You have the company name, the administrator's name, the address and phone numbers. I also put in what kind of units they have and how many. I hope this helps you, best wishes in your move. CRITICAL CARE TRANSPORT Admin. RODD HUBER 2200 W ILLINOIS MIDLAND TX 79701 Ph.(432)685-4949 Fax (432)685-6916 BLS/MICU - 3 units MIDLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT Admin. CLIFFORD BALZER PO BOX 1152 MIDLAND TX 79702 Ph. (915)685-7338 Fax (915)686-1638 MICU/RW/Air - 6 units TEXAS WEST AMBULANCE Admin. MARVIN D WOOD PO BOX 50542 MIDLAND TX 79710 Ph. (432)570-4892 Fax (915)520-2501 BLS/MICU - 2 units

Obviously we don't want the public to regard EMS in this light, but you have to admit, we have to have some humor somewhere in our profession or else we won't keep our sanity. I thought it was funny, and took it as the 'hidden camera' spoof it was presented as. Why try to make something funny into something serious when it was obviously meet to just be funny? Watch it again and if you don't laugh at least once then maybe you should consider a new profession.

I would have to agree with the others that they were probably talking about Deep Vein Thrombosis, or DVT.

I got to the green with about 57.56yds on the third try before I stopped. Kinda fun to play. Takes a couple of tries to get the hang of it.

I call it "rig" most of the time, after that it is "truck".

I got 21. Missed all the directional ones-counter or clockwise. Apparenly I am looking at them all from the wrong side! Also couldn't remember Bashful. I have a gift for missing the obvious, so I went into this completly expecting to bomb it. Gotta admit I am suprised at what I have noticed. Who knew?

Thank you. Someone else who realizes where all this is going. Everyone else is missing the point. But don't worry, I am sure that you all will figure out the point of things before you die from the seriousness. I'm done with this thread. :banghead:

I have read this before and had to read it again. It is just too funny!

The trouble is I am not off duty. To balence out the 96hrs straight that I work, I am allowed to go home when on duty instead of staying in the miniscule bunkroom all day and night. My husband doesn't complain about the radio mostly because he has to put up with it to have me at home. Fair enough trade off. As for being off-duty? That is three days a week. The reason I do monitor the radio on my days off is I am a Paramedic in an extremely rural BLS system, and when I am off it is a double basic truck. I am the only ALS provider around. So when the call comes out for the 4yr old who is choking, I go because the basics can't scope the pt and I can if needed. We are a minimum of 30mi/30min from the nearest hosp. at 90mi/hr. There are a lot of people who would die before they got there without certain ALS interventions. THAT is why I often monitor the radio on my days off. JPINFV: Thank you for correcting the spelling of HIPAA. I never could spell very well. And it isn't like I am saying this is the hardest job in the world for S/O to deal with. I am just giving them credit. Lighten up. Yes you run into disease and long hours everywhere. But Secerataries, Lawyers, Phone Operaters all have less opportunity than we do to bring home the flu, Hepatitis, AIDS, TB, and many other things. That is all I was pointing out. ASYSIN2LEADS: Actually, around here, if I give anymore details than CP/O2/IV, my husband will know who I am talking about. He hears the radio and the directions, and we know almost everyone around here. So I can't actually say anything because he WILL know who I am talking about. Small town/rural, you know how it goes.

I find that insulting. We don't live in a trailer park, and I was trying to find a funny way to give our significant others some credit for what they go through in dealing with our proffession. Not everyone can deal with our being gone to work for 12-24hrs a day, most of the days of the week. Not to mention what we bring home on our clothes, the flu and head colds we bring home for them, the radio going off and disturbing their sleep, not to mention just the secrets we have to keepp from them just because we can't tell them what we REALLY do in the interest of HIPPA. EMT's have a high divorce rate because it is hard to deal with for alot of people, and I was giving the significant others a bit of respect for sticking around anyway.

Interruptions and cold food are a way of life My vocabulary includes words like cardiac arrest and respiratory failure The phrase 'code 3' means something to me The radio keeps me up all night God only knows what the washing machine has been put through I am an expert at ironing shirts and polishing boots I frequently use ten codes without knowing it I am NOT an EMT, but heaven help me I MARRIED ONE!

I also would have stopped at the 4th floor, but oh, how tempting to keep going and find out what was on the other two floors!

Very true. No one ever questions those lines at that holiday.

Oh, that was great! I sent a copy of it to all my friends, they loved it too.

=D>

The other guy's story gave me the idea for the thread, but I didn't want to start up that discussion again. (Hint for future posters.)

I'm sure anyone who has been in the field for awhile has a "Did that just happen" story that was something that shouldn't have, couldn't have, or statistically was just unusual. Thought some people here would like to submit. I'll start: I had a 56yoM with SVT that was symptomatic, but relatively stable. So we decided on Adenosine instead of cardioversion especially since the pt was conscience and we don't carry versed. So we loaded him up with 6mg Adenosine and waited. Nothing happened so we drew up 12mg and were fixing to push it when the pt when "whoa" and we saw conversion on the monitor. According to the time stamp it was 43sec after the 6mg was pushed. So much for the 6sec half-life. I also had a pt who was a non-witnesses arrest (68yoM w/ cardiac hx) and found him in asystole. The wife found him within five minutes of the arrest and CPR was started w/in 3min of the 911 call, so I decided to give it a go. 34min later, after 2 rounds of Epi and 1 of Atropine with asystole the whole way, we actually got a pulse back. Now without trying to read to much of the "quality of life" stuff into this, the point is that alot of services have a cease-effort protocol after 30 min of asystole and he came back at 34min. That is statistically unusual. Does anyone else have a "well that was different" story that they want to tell about?

Timmy: I had a problem with math from 7th grade until halfway through my senior year in high school. For some reason the light bulb suddenly came on and I understood it. Which was a good thing because the only way I was going to college was to take a math scholarship. In alot of ways math is not hard to understand. It just depends on whether you are more left brain or right brain. Most people are right brained which is why most people don't get it. The problem most people also have with learning it in class is most of the time people go into proffesions that they are good at. So if you are good at math and then go on to teach it, you won't be able to understand why so many people have problems with it because "its so easy". To them it is. They don't understand how to teach it several different ways because they get it one way. My advise is like the others, you do have to have a basic understanding of algebra, but even if you don't get the graphing, the pythagream theorum, or any of the other 'math' names, make sure you learn how to approach a problem with logic. That is the main reason everyone has to take math for every major now. It teaches logic and problem-solving. Not to mention rules and how to follow them. Learn the basic rules of how to do the calculations, practice doing them until you can get them right, and don't worry if you don't understand why you are doing that way, just do it the way it works. People don't understand how they breath in order to breath, they just do it. Maybe later they understand why. Math is like that. Once you learn HOW to do it, the WHY will come later. When you were younger you probably didn't understand why you had to memeorize the multiplication tables, but you learned how to do it and now most multiplication is probably second nature. Have faith, and give it a try. You WILL make it if you really want to.

When I worked as a gas station clerk years ago I actually had something like Idiot #5 happen at my store. He walked out with beer at 0300 (sales are prohibited between 0200 and 0600), and then tried to run across the street with it. He tripped in the middle of the street and busted the 30pack open. He picked up as many as he could carry and kept running. He forgot that he gets beer there regularly so I knew him, and knew where he lived. Not to mention that he kept dropping cans all the way home, so he left a trail for the police that led to his front door. He was arrested within 30 minutes.

I should have thought of this when I was younger. I would have been grounded for a year, but it would have been worth it.

...when the non-medical police officer calls dispatch before you get there informing them that "hey, you better call a bird or two". ...when your pt with sudden paralysis tells you that he fell 13 times in the last two days while you are enroute w/o c-spine because he initially told you "No, I havn't fallen at all". ...when you try to contact medical control and they put you on hold for five minutes. ...when you are toned out for a 60yoF with chest pains and find out she is having chest pains because of the 4yoM who was just pulled up from the bottom of the pool.