Busy weekend!

What up, blogland?
It's been a fun few days.
Class got cancelled Monday due to weather (somewhere. it wasnt snowing at our place). Being as how it was a trauma lab, I figured I would leave early and get some last minute cramming in because I have to make sure I do good on this Trauma Module. My quiz scores were 100 and 88, and I want this module to be in the 90's.
So I left my house at about 1315, went to visit my grandfather (he's in a home at one of the area hospitals. Had a bad case of hyponutremia (low sodium), which got corrected but then went to hypernutremia... kinda messed him up a bit. he wound up back home for a while, but because a few screws got knocked loose, things weren't going well... my grandma was getting sick because grandpa was keeping her up all night and not even realizing it. so now he's at the home in the hospital). I visited with him for a while, then headed out to class. Stopped at Arby's and got some grub, went to the training center, sat in the car, ate, and cranked some Metallica until about 1500, then went inside. My theory was that I would study for an hour or 2, take the exam, and get outta there. I studied until about 1630 and then I was told that we were having a lecture instead of the test. I was slightly peeved because I blew several hours of my day (I did not consider the visit to Grandpa as wasting time). So anyway, I got quite a bit of studying done, picked another one of the paramedic instructors' brains, and hung around.
At the end of our first break we heard our instructor screaming on the phone, to the tune of "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F*CKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!", followed by "EVERYBODY GET IN THE F*CKIN CLASSROOM!" followed by an impressive slamming of the door. He then began pacing the front of the room. After a few laps, he asked if anyone has started any IV's lately. Turns out someone has been pre-empting ride time and starting IVs with their home agency, somebody blabbed, and ratted them in to a MAJOR name in area EMS... You know, that one figure who's name induces a pucker factor?
So we got a nice loud lecture about ONLY starting IV's with our preceptor and no one else, or he'll have our asses for malpractice. He was slightly pissed, to say the least.
Anyway, got done with class and that was that. I talked to our instructor for a while, then with my sister and one or 2 classmates, then went home.
I went on duty at midnight last night with QVA... hung around online until about 2 am, and just before 4 the pagers went off for a cardiac. Wound up taking her to Syracuse, got back around 6ish... took a shower, went back to bed. I had some plans for the day, but I slept a weee bit too late... woke up at 1530, looked at the clock, said "Oh crap", got up, got ready, and came out here to VO where I'm doing the overnight (1700-0800). My partner and I had one call a while ago, but it was nothing big.

Tomorrow I'm going to be doing a standby for the "Old Dog Races". My bar is having snowmobile races for sleds 1979 and older. It should be fun. There isn't alot of snow though. Hopefully it goes well.
Then Sunday I'm working the day shift (0800-1700) here at VO again.
I'll be heading in early Monday afternoon to take the trauma module, so hopefully I can get a solid amount of studying in Sunday and early Monday.

Then we have a week or 2 of Pulmonology and then we get into the big stuff. Good old Cardiology, all 2 months of it. I'll be surgically implanting my book to my face for that section.

Other than all that, not much is happening around here.

Here's my second major call of note. This is the call where I learned the true meaning of the term "dead weight" and that the hardest part of a code is the family.

This call was only a month or 2 after the fatal MVC I was broken in on.
About 3am on a really snowy morning the pagers went off for an Unresponsive female, unknown if breathing... aww, Nuts.

Got up, headed up to the scene (it was just around the corner and down the road from where that MVC was)
We got there (Mom and I... Dad chauffered us) and an elderly gentleman told us to come on in when we knocked. We walked in and there was an elderly lady lying in a recliner with an eyes-closed death mask.

Mom and I tried to pick her up, but you all know that freshly dead people are quite limp and hard to pick up. We tried to get the chief inside to help us move her, but he was more than content to stay in his truck and play with his radio, so dad came in and between the 3 of us, we got her on the floor and started CPR.

As we were doing CPR, the husband told us that his wife had woken up, stated she didn't feel well and wanted to go outside and get some fresh air. So they got up, and on the way to the front door, she DFO'd. Now the impressive thing was that when the wife dropped, the husband picked her up by himself and put her in the chair. They were both in their late 60's and I was quite impressed that he got her in that chair by himself, yet it took 3 of us to get her off of it gently. (Doing the 'Grab the feet and pull' trick isn't very PR appropriate, ya know?)

So mom and I did CPR til rescue got there (I don't remember if dad was in on it or not.) and as soon as rescue got there, I immediately got displaced. I was still a Jr. Member, so they didn't like me getting my hands dirty (at least after there was enough help to bump me to the side).

As I was standing there with 2 other Juniors in the kitchen, the husband was walking around looking lost... trying to find his shoes and whatever else it was. We offered to help him, got him a few things, then as he was shuffling across the kitchen, he stopped, looked me square in the eyes with tears rolling down his face and said
"I feel like I just lost my best friend..."

I'll tell you what folks, that statement hit me like a baseball bat. It almost physically hurt. It was painful to watch him too because he just looked so lost and stunned... As his wife was making CPR noises, he kept asking if that was her breathing or coughing or trying to come back...

Codes don't usually make it out of this fire district. The ambulance that covers it is about 20 miles away, so figure in 20 miles, 3 am, snowing with slick roads. NOT a good prognosis.

Sure enough, they got there, hooked her up, and called for permission to call it. I really felt bad for that guy.

That call bothered me a bit for a day or 2. It's alot harder to let a call roll off your back when the family is involved that directly and you see their reactions to the situation.
It still bugs me when the family is there, especially at the hospital.

After a recent code that I was on, we had dropped the lady off at the hospital and myself, the driver, and the EMT from rescue that we grabbed had finished cleaning up the rig.
We were outside talking and smoking when the family walked out of the ER doors to leave. They were, of course, red and moist in the eyes, walked up to us, shook our hands and said "Thanks for trying." I understand that they mean well when they do that, but it sucks. How do you answer them? Hey, we tried? Sorry we couldn't save her? I'm sorry for your loss?

I don't know. It just sucks. I guess because when the surviving family is there, it's alot more real, for lack of better words... If it's just a dead patient and no family is around, the only reactions are those among your crew. Nice try, She was dead before we got there, blah blah blah, all the justifications we use to keep ourselves somewhat impartial so that we don't lose it every time someone bites the big one.

I would really like to be on a code save one of thse days.

The code I wrote about a few posts ago did not make it. We were in the time frame, but when your number is called, time's up.

Well, there's my thoughts for the night.
Stay safe, blogland.