firedoc5

I have a "friend" that for years now have had achilles tendon/ ankle/ problems, and sometimes feet. It's like having chronic sprained ankles and the tendons constantly painful, just different degrees in pain. Also, more pain of calves. Over the last three years they've kind of snowballed. More pain, more swelling, less degrees of motion. There is a long history of severe widespread fibromyalgia and all this was contributed to the FM. But lately started to have B-12 shots at home and had a bone scan yesterday. Couldn't get a straigt answer from anyone on what they might be looking for. Would anyone from here hazard a guess?

chbare had one of the best answers. And on the question of having a pt. with severe facial injuries / fx's, a npa may your only way of obtaining a stable airway. The best would be able to intubate, but if you're not an ALS unit then that might be your only action. I have heard many "horror" stories of these situations, but I've never heard if any of them were absolutely true or not. Mostly it was stated as a "possible" situation.

"Dream On" - Aerosmith

Luckily I wasn't the one that had to do the "dismissing", but I've worked with many that had to be let go. One thing that was done was to initiate a new physical agility test for everyone once a year. It did work on getting rid of some of those that had no business being there. But you also run he risk of losing someone who is working out geat. And it would be very hard to pick an activity that you know your problem worker will have problems with, but everyone else can do easily. How did this guy get on in the first place? Or was he "normal" at first then gradually changed orver? Other things you can look at are having training sessions you know he would absolutely hate doing, but others could tolderate them. The easiest way to fire someone is to make them want to quit.

"Cat Scratch Fever" - Ted Nugent

"Mid-Night Special" - CCR

This is where experience, well trained dispatchers, crews, good communication skills, and good old fashion common sense from all comes into place. There's no way you are going to ba able to sit down and put into polocies and / or procedures that you must/must not use L&S. I'm not going to go on a rant and rave on it here. All I'd be doing is repeating and going in circles. I will mention that when I first started there was an unusual "unwritten" policy in place. Where it came from I had no idea. You have to remember it was a very small volunteer service. And no one had honestly worked with or got first hand knowlege from an actual EMS professional. But there were a few that talked of how much they did know. And one of those facts was that "it was the law that anytime you had a patient on board, emergency or not, you had to have at least flashing lights on." This was actually practiced for awhile. We'd be sitting in traffic at a stop light with flashing lights on waiting for the traffic light to turn green. All it did was cause confusion. People with the green light wouldn't go waiting for the ambulance with "emergency lights" on to go, others trying to get out of the way of the ambulance to give them room to get through traffic. It was a true mess. Finally the coordinator and a couple of others asked the right people (which they should have done in the first place) and got it straightened out. I was there and I felt embarrased for the "verterans" I was running with. Come to find out that the guy who came up with the 'rule", who tended to sound important was just trying to think of an excuse to use the lights. And of course he started backing up saying he was misquoted.

I would have done the same thing. And besides, it was not a pet. He was a fellow Police Officer. Or at least that's what I would have argured. I know it had to be one of the hardest situations any of those there would ever have to face in their careers. If MS was not available, or any other pain meds, I wonder if moving him with a scoop stretcher would have been feasible.

I can just hear a few dispatcher buddies of mine talking to suicide callers. They'd start argueing with them when they said that they just took pills or drank something or whatever. The first thing they would say would be, "No, you're not trying to kill yourself. You just want attention. If you were going to kill yourself you wouldn't have called." And if someone else called for the "suicidal" person, they'd just give them instructions to be more attentive to them and give them all the attention in the world. Of course Terry and Roy, the dispatchers, wouldn't have actually done it, but I could just hear them now.

Howdy, welcome, greetings and salutations, and all that jazz.

"Bad Company" - Bad Co.

Didn't the same guy get busted a week or two ago for getting in a fight with a hooker or something? Showed him with a split lip on the news.

Laundry is done, now you only have dishes to do, ironing, folding, vacuuming, etc. Wish there was a class in "Everything you need to learn about computers and you weren't too lazy to read it.

"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" - Shelly West & David Frizzel

Granted, now you have to pay all the taxes on those things...yearly. I'll ask a question later, can't think yet BTW: Wasn't there an X-Files episode strangely familiar to this?

"Carry On My Wayward Son" - Kansas

It'll go along with my bunny feet pj's and slippers.

I think there might be something wrong when you have to help your partner up off the floor because they are too heavy to do it themselves. I'm not say that thi is always the case, but stop and try to remember how many times you have had to do that.

Wonder how many years will be required of the Secret Service Agent to walk the First Pooch.

Things are now gone (assuming those things that were wanting to be gone0 Wish there was a way to learn things from a classroom with the most minimal effort.

Agree "Midnight Rider" - Bob Seger

Outstanding issue to discuss. I've had a couple of them done, but was put out for only one of them. I don't know what the embarrassment is when it comes to having one done regularly, especially after 50. I don't know how many times I've heard people that did have a condition and said that that they should have had one done much earlier. Even if nothing is found, it's worth knowing that it can be one less thing to worry about. And earlier the detection the better. My first wife had ulcertive colitis and saw what what she went through. Those with UC and Crohn's go through so much. So I will echo what Jewli said. Please get tested.

Back when I started it wasn't required by IL to have your National so many never bothered with it. What was the point? I guess some thought it might look good on a resume. And at one time, if you passed the IL test you were automatically given a National patch. They stopped doing that a year before I became an EMT. I guess I fell into the catagory of, if it's not required then why bother with it. Then there are states that don't have their own Registry, like LA, unless it's changed in the last three years or so. So, if it's not something you must have why take take? But if you do take it, more power to ya.

Congrats. Just don't forget one thing, have fun.

Welcome to the City and to EMS. I started the summer between my Jr. and Sr. years in high school. One suggestion I will make to you is to stay devoted. When others your age biggest issue of there lives is how to cover a zit, you'll be making decisions of life and death. Keep up the good work.