It's been a couple of weeks since I've updated ya'll in the world of saving or not saving lives. One reason is due to the emotional toll one of my calls had on me, and the other is that last week I had a serious stomach bug that lasted about 5 days. Did I call 911 because I had a splitting headache or because everything I ate and drank made it's way back out quickly? NO. I went to work and sucked it up.
So ever since we got our student/intern, we've been making some pretty good calls. What I mean by that is that we actually got to help some people instead of just giving them a ride to the ER.
There was this nice gentleman who happened to be an ex NFL fullback who has an internal defibrillator to shock his heart when it takes off into a fast rhythm. Well it had already shocked him 3x and he was showing some pretty serious complications on his EKG. So we gave him an amiodorone drip, and it cleared up his messed up rhythm to an almost perfect one. We got him to the hospital and he was 100% better. We had to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.
There were the usual diabetic problems where their insulin drops their blood sugar levels way lower than the brain can tolerate putting them into insulin shock. One fella was on his riding lawn mower when we got there, out cold. We gave him sugar to his veins and he came to and went to eat lunch. He said he loves being on his riding lawn mower, and that it's like a toy to him. He knew he needed to eat but wanted to keep riding. He can come do my yard any day. Another fellow's wife found him when she woke up and he was cold and mumbling inchorently. He had been a diabetic for 20 something years and she had never seen him like this. She thought he was having a stroke. Just lack of sugar. It took a few times stabbing him, but we finally got the IV and the "sugar daddies" score again, saving lives left and right. High 5!
Then we had a fella pass out in the parking lot of Foodarama. In the hood there is a Foodarama on every other corner. They have awesome prices. Anyway this fella had a low blood pressure for whatever reason, which was making him weak and causing him to pass out. We got there and he was about to pass out again so we picked him up onto the stretcher and got him in the ambulance. We elevated his feet, which is always a good thing for people who pass out. We then gave him some fluid. By the time we got to the hospital. He was better as well.
By now we are starting to get big head syndrome. There have been some people who seriously needed us and we have answered the call. Just doing our job feels sooo goood. God says pride comes before the fall. Every instance in my life where I believe my own hype, I'm always brought down to earth by own limitations. Read more to understand that concept.
More often than not, there are people we cannot help as medics. There are people who we have no idea what is wrong with them and therefore we have no measures pharmacologically that can help. OOo that was an SAT word.
A wife found her husband still in his car out cold. He was supposed to have gone to the grocery store-probably Foodarama, but never made it. He had wet himself and was disoriented. He was a big fella and we had to pull him out of the SUV and onto the stretcher. He just sat looking into space not uttering a word and not obeying our commands. Could have had a seizure, a stroke, EKG looks fine, sugar is good. All we could give him was oxygen and take him in. We were stumped.
Again we were stumped when we met a guy who had a seizure but never fully awoke from it. Generally minutes after a seizure people come back to their senses. Well this guy's mind was telling him that we were the enemies and he fought us. It was like he had super human strength. We weren't able to do anything. We tried oxygen and he ripped 2 masks to shreds. An IV was out of the question- one of us would have gotten stabbed. We had to tie his arms to the stretcher and he still whipped us all the way to the hospital and we stayed another 30 min to an hour in the hospital holding him down as the nurses and doctors gave him shot after shot of sedatives. What caused this behavior? A bleed in the brain, drugs, electrolyte imbalance? We checked on him later that night and the doctors were still stumped because all the tests came back negative
This next patient didn't stump us, we knew exactly what was going on with her, but we failed in being able to help her. A rather large woman woke up at about 3am feeling her heart beat extremely fast. The EKG showed SVT at a rate of 184 beats per minute. Her heart was flying and she was sleeping when it started. Can you say not normal? We have a drug called Adenosine that actually stops the heart for a brief period so it can reset itself and beat normally. It's amazing and has worked every time I've given it. The only problem was that this woman had terrible veins. We probably stuck her 10 times before we got to the hospital with nothing to show for it. Talk about being frustrated. You know how to help someone, but you can't. It's even more frustrating when you get to the hospital and the nurses get an IV established in a couple of tries. The good thing is that they were able to help her and she was feeling much better once she got the adenosine.
I'd like to think that most of our calls don't affect me in a negative manner. I think a life of gory movies, and video games has prepared/conditioned me to not whince at the trauma that happens to the human body. Well my faith and heart were put to the test on a recent Saturday morning. We got the call for a cardiac arrest. We get on scene and someone tells us they are doing CPR. One thing I've always tried to do is stay calm so we can do our job with a clear mind. It turns out that the latest victim of life and sin was a 5 year old girl. This was the first time I've seen and touched a lifeless child. I've always been told that children will be the hardest calls I will ever make. It's true. As a father all you can do is picture your own children. So I touched the child to feel for a pulse and she was ice cold, but it's a 100 degrees outside, and I go to open her mouth and it's clenched shut. Rigor mortis has already set in. I asked when the last time anyone saw the child awake and it was 10:30 the night before-12 hours ago. I told the mom that the baby was cold and that her jaw was stiff. The mom asked, "so what are you telling me?" I told her there was nothing we could do. She screamed a scream I will never forget. She then went on a rampage tearing down pictures from the walls and blinds from the windows. There's nothing more I wanted than to be able to bring life back into the child. I couldn't. I'm not God, but how I wished I were. It took every ounce of energy for me to keep it together. It took a lot of deep breaths and biting my lip. We are supposed to be the strong ones. I didn't want that responsibility, but I accepted it. I just wanted to be alone in a dark room and cry my eyes out for however long it took. It was a quiet ride back to the station. We all called our wives and just wanted to embrace our kids and not let go. I told them that I loved them and that I always will.
Moments like those make you appreciate your loved ones. So often we take them for granted. We get comfortable in the fact that they have always been there. The reality is that they won't always be there. Life is short. My partner asked why did God allow this girl, who happened to be sick from birth, have to be born, or have to die so young. I can't say I can answer that question. I have a few ideas though. I'm sure she taught her family how to love, how to laugh, how to cry, how to have faith in God when things don't go as planned, how to lean on others for strength, how to cherish every breath you take and to treat every day as a gift. Every day is a gift- a chance to make things right with those around us and especially with our maker, our creator, our savior. This world has a lot to offer, but it can't even come close to living an eternity in a perfect heaven. That little girl is now in a place without, fear, prejudice, crime, disease, hunger and sadness. It is those truths learned in the Bible that keep me sane and ready to take that next call, whatever it may be.
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