An interesting few days.

I did my 911 time on Tuesday. It was interesting. I went to an adjoining county to do it, just because I wanted to. This county has everything from city (small cities, though) to absolute EBF country.

I left the house around 0530 because I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there. It only took me about an hour. I went in a little before 7, got introduced to the 3 people working the night shift (they normally only have 2 on at night, but the way they do scheduling, there's three people on once a week or so). I learned some interesting stuff about that county from those guys.

One thing I learned was that the county is about 28 miles East-West and 90 miles North-South.

At night, there is one, MAYBE 2 State Trooper cars that cover the whole county... There is a sheriffs dept., but they pretty much just cover the correctional facility and the courts. There are a few town/city PD's, most of which will or do respond to or cover other areas of the county.

The guys told me about one call in the far north of the county... You're gonna laugh, but you can't make this stuff up. There was a cardiac call up by one of the lakes to the far North of the county.
The ambulance responded, parked part of the way there, the crew got their stuff off the rig, GOT ON A RAIL CAR (I shit you not... I believe we're talking one of those old hand powered jobs.) and took the rail car up the rest of the way and got to the Pt. Then they loaded the pt. onto the rail car, got back to the rig, then transported. The guys told me it was like 2.5 hours from Alert to Arriving at Hospital. Either that or 2.5 hours until they got back to the rig. I can't remember which. I'll never make fun of North Nowhere again. Welllllll, maybe. We'll see.

I also learned about a place called the Adirondack League Club. It is almost a compound. This huge chunk of land is fenced and gated, owned by a bunch of rich people, and patrolled 24/7 by their own security force. The place is one of those rich people's paradise places, with alot of land and alot of multi-million dollar homes. This place is so secretive and exclusive that the members won't even allow 911 personnel in to assign addresses and find out what's on the property. But I'd be willing to wager that when one of those places goes up, the owners want FD there yesterday. Then again, maybe they're just so hell-bent on staying private that they'll let everything burn and rebuild?
Maybe you're curious as to the clientelle up there? Kevin Bacon has a place there. The phone number is even listed in the area's phone book. Figure that one out. Also, several NASCAR drivers snowmobile up there during the off-season. Someone said something about Shania Twain having a place there too, but they weren't sure. I know she used to own a farm up near Lowville, I believe was the town. This state is full of stuff no one would guess. I've also heard that Charlie Daniels owns land in North Nowhere, but I don't know for sure. I guess that would be a good explaination as to why he puts on a concert every year in North Nowhere.

There were some interesting calls, too. I think the first call after I got there started out sounding like a code, then got downgraded to difficulty breathing. The caller had a really heavy accent. Then there was some mix-up with the ambulances. It was one of those deals where the call was in another county, came to this county's 911 center, they called the county the call was in, etc etc etc. It worked out though.

After the day shift showed up and took over, there was a 3rd party call for a 75 y/o female possibly with a gun to her head. Turned out to be nothing. No gun, probably just looking for attention from the sound of it.

Shortly after that call, some guy called 911 because his dog was having a seizure.
The dispatcher was like "What do you want me to do??? About all I can do is give you the number to the dog control officer or tell you to take it to a vet!"
Then the guy started getting pissy with the dispatcher and the dispatcher said "Sir! 911 is for actual emergencies! Human emergencies! I can't send an ambulance because your dog is having a seizure!" Then the caller went off about how "Well, you're 911! You're supposed to help people AND animals!!!" Dispatcher said "Sir! 911 is for HUMAN EMERGENCIES!" Caller then said "Well we'll just see about that!" and hung up. After laughing and shaking our heads for a few minutes, the dispatcher got on the radio and asked for the Trooper car to landline. When the trooper called in, the dispatcher told him about the call and asked him to go have a talk with the caller to "Remind him what 911 is here for".

Other than that, nothing really big happened. A few calls here and there, a lot of talking, alot of sitting around doing nothing. It was pretty fun though. Alot of cool people working up there. Some of the other dispatchers showed up to talk, a trooper and his wife came over for lunch, the wife of one of the dispatchers came over for lunch and brought cake cuz it was her husband's birthday.

After that, I went over to VO for an overnighter. You know, some people that i've mentioned before are getting more and more tolerable. I'm noticing that the BS factor is alot less on this Supervisor's shift. Then again, a few of our more rambunctious employees weren't working Tuesday night, so that had alot to do with it. Plus, I think this S.S. lightens up a bit when you present yourself as willing to learn stuff and asking for advise/info. He still has his moments, but it doesn't seem as bad.

I was on with a paramedic and we only ran 2 calls. Well, 2.5. We got hit for an MVA rollover with entrapment, and my partner and I were up in rotation, so we got rolling. Then the other rig took the call because they went to the SS's house to get something a little while earlier, which put them about 5 miles closer to the scene. The call wound up being nothing though. No injuries, anyway... FD cancelled the ambulance right after the FD got on scene.
Then we had a call at the local hot spot for S.O.B. We walked the stretcher through what seemed to be half the building, through hundreds of people.
Our Pt. was an elderly English guy. He was a riot. We ALSed him, so my partner had the pleasure of talking with the guy on the way to the hospital.

Later on we got called to the local ER for a transfer to Syracuse for an 86 F. with a leaking AAA. (Abdominal Aortic Aneurism). We weren't really surprised, because my mom and sister brought the lady in on QVA an hour or 2 before we got called. We ran into them at the hospital right after they had dropped her off and they told us she had a AAA, so we were thinking we'd probably be taking her to Syracuse sometime that evening and sure enough, we did.

After the hotline rang for the AAA transfer, I asked my partner if they had labelled it a Stat Tranfer and he said "Ehhhh" while doing the "So-so" hand wobble.

We got to the hospital, walked in, the nurse pulled us aside and said "I just want to let you guys know that there is a very real possibility that she may not make it to Syracuse." Lovely. She then proceeded to tell us the vitals and other info and ended her report with "Lights and Sirens, guys. Get her there fast and have a safe trip." THAT got our attention (the very little bit that might have still been wandering after the "She may not make it to syracuse" part). I have worked for VO for 2 years now and I have been on plenty of transfers that have been obvious "Deisel Drip" trips, but I cannot recall one trip where the hospital actually used the words "Lights and sirens". And the nurse who said that to us is one of the most level headed, unrattleable nurses at that hospital.

So we got the lady loaded up, her son jumped up front with me, and we got going. We had a safe, fast, and rather adrenaline inducing trip to syracuse. With the exception of the nice gust of wind that broadsided me as I came past a Semi and started to change lanes. That was a little hairy.
Our times for that run were quite impressive. Made to from the local hospital to the syracuse hospital in 32 minutes. :-D Total time from when the hotline rang until we pulled into the hospital in syracuse? 50 minutes. Those are some pretty impressive times. We were at the local ER for maybe 10 minutes before we left.

My partner told me "This is crazy. I've been in EMS for 6 years, 2 as a paramedic. I have never seen a Triple A before today, then I get 2 Triple A transfers in one day."

By the time we got back, I was not tired at all. I don't know what the deal is, but for the last few months, whenever i work a night shift at VO, I don't sleep. And if i do, it's from 0400 or 0500 til 0700 or 0730. I wound up getting to bed around 0500, woke up at 0745, got up, washed and mopped the rig out, and left. I got right home because I went on duty with QVA at 0900. As soon as I got home I went to bed because I was really tired. I was hoping to get up at 1300 or 1400 and do some studying. Yeah right. I woke up at 1445 because my pager was doing the dying battery beep (and it had been in the charger the whole time. figure that out) I got up and changed the battery out and I was so tired that I was half numb. I laid back down, fell asleep, and woke up at 1740. I rolled over, looked at the clock, and said "Well this is gonna be a long night." It's 0500 now and I'm barely tired.

We have had a few calls so far. We got a call around 1750 (literally 30 seconds after I got in the shower. I hate when that happens.) for a 7 month old with difficulty breathing. We (Driver, Paramedic, and I) got up there and the baby was doing these little grunts with each breath. The mom said that she was feeding the baby, then right after feeding, the baby started grunting with each breath, turned blue around the eyes and mouth, and his legs got mottled. By the time we got there, there was only a little bit of blue around the mouth and he was still grunting a little bit, but he quit grunting before we got in the rig. Gave him some blow-by O2, kept an eye on him, and had a safe, uneventful ride to Syracuse. That kid loved that O2 tubing. spent the first 10 minutes of the trip chewing on it and looking around the rig, then decided to take a nap. This kid was incredibly calm! He only whimpered when the paramedic stuck him for a blood sugar check. And it wasn't a sick calm either. Color was fine, breathing was fine... I was glad. A shitty peds call is not my idea of fun. It isn't anyones idea of fun.

Once I got home, I pulled out my drug cards and my notebook and started working on memorizing some stuff. So far I have Methylpredisolone, Metaproterenol, and Terbutaline down pretty good. What sucks is I have to know about 15 more for class 13 hours from now, and i'm gonna have to sleep sometime today. I got a feeling I am not gonna know them all by tonite.

While I was studying, I watched Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs (yes, i can do both at the same time). Then we got called to North Nowhere for weakness and abdominal pn. I went down to the station, pulled out the rig, sat there for a few, then the paramedic (Andy) pulled in. We sat there for a minute and looked for our destination on the map while we waited for the driver. Apparently he didn't hear the call come in, because he was not showing up. So we called en route. We got up there and finally found the house after some confusion with the addresses. We heard what was going on with the pt., then Andy looked at me, smiled, and said "She's all yours, get in there."

She told us that she felt a little better, but there was still some stomach pain, etc etc.
We got her info, got her into the rig, and Andy got up front to drive and off we went.

I was asking her questions, talking to her, and all the while I had this strange inkling that this call wasn't going to stay BLS forever. I took her vitals and got 80/50 and 88 and irregular. Hmmmm. No mental status change, no color change, she's still alert, talking, not complaining of anything... I asked her what her normal BP was and she told me that she had been to the doctor the other day and her pressure was "In the 70's". I asked if the doc had given her anything for it and she said no, that that was pretty normal for her. Ok... Maybe I misheard the pressure due to road noise and bumps?

Then she said that her right arm was kind of numb, so I did a recheck of her vitals....
Now I get 70/44 and 100 and very irregular. Ok, I'm not liking this.
I ask her again about her BP and this time she said that it's the bottom number that's normally in the 70's. Ok, that's what I though. I told her I'd be right back, that I had to talk to my partner for a minute.
I popped my head up front and said "I don't know if you're interested or not (I knew he would be. This call has definately entered ALS territory), but now we've got right arm numbness, a BP of 70/44, and an extremely irregular pulse of 100". He replies "Uh, yeah, I'm definately interested. Hang a bag for me, get the IV stuff and the monitor ready while I find a place to pull over." I pulled out the IV stuff and started getting everything set up while I told the lady that we were gonna pull over and Andy was going to take over because her BP was low. She asked how low, so I told her and she said "Oh wow, that is pretty low, isn't it."
I got a bag spiked and hung, got the IV start stuff out, and got the monitor in place. By now, the rig was pulled over and Andy jumped in back. Got the monitor fired up and I saw 148 for a rate. Andy says "Whaddya know, A. Fib!"
So he got her ALSed and told me we were ready to continue our trek to syracuse.

The fun was not over. It's been a while since i've been to this hospital. It has a horseshoe drive for the ED entrance, first driveway is the entrance, second is exit. Guess which one i picked? Yup. As I enter, I see the "Do not enter" sign. Too late now. As i'm going around the horseshoe I hear Andy laughing and saying "you're going the wrong way, you know that, right?" No shit, Sherlock. (not my actual response) So I take the driveway back toward the road, get really strange looks from the pts family (or friends, whoever they were) because they must be wondering where the hell we're going... Pulled out onto the road, backed up a little bit, then went down the correct part of the drive. I had noticed the first time I drove past the ambulance bay (which had 2 rigs in it already) several people watching my screw-up. So I backed into the last spot, shut off the rig, got out, and just as I got out, who walks around the back of my rig with a big smirk on his face but one of my friends from paramedic class. He says "What the hell was that maneuver???" and I immediately responded with an upturned middle phalange. (out of site of the pt, of course.) He started laughing and as he walked back toward his rig he said "You won't be hearing the end of this one anytime soon, trust me." By now I had the stretcher out of the rig and Andy heard the last little exchange there and said "Dude, it's crazy. This guy (referring to me) can get us to the far reaches of North Nowhere without a map, but you get him into the city and he gets lost in the hospital parking lot!" Thanks, Andy. Thanks a bunch. He repeated that phrase again in the hospital because one of the docs or nurses had been smoking outside with my friend and his partner when I pulled in the wrong way.
Then to top it off, as we were leaving, Andy asked if I had trouble getting dressed earlier. I'm checking my fly, looking to see if maybe i have 2 different shoes on or something, then he points out that my shirt's inside out. Nice. This whole call has been back asswards.

So that was the excitement of the last few days. Hopefully I can get more of these drug cards memorized today. After class though, my short vacation begins. Once I drop my sister off at home after class, I am going to visit a friend near Geneva. I'll head out tomorrow night and come back saturday night because I have to work the day shift at VO on sunday. I've got a feeling there is going to be some alcohol flowing this weekend. There may even be some ink in my future. More on that later if it happens. Have a good weekend.