0400 call for chest pain, not far from the station. It was a reasonably slow night, so we were actually sleeping, but less than 4 minutes to get there from dispatch. The door was answered by a woman with a tracheostomy who was still on the phone with 911. She leads us down a hallway to a man in bed. She points us to him then wakes him up.
Everybody catch that? We were called for chest pain and she had to wake the patient up. And no, this was not the "shake and shout", patient circling the drain kind of wake up, he was sleeping peacefully.
Upon seeing us, the man begins to get annoyed. "That crazy bitch called you? I'm fine and I don't know what her problem is." When asked why she called she responds, "His pancreas is acting up." What?!? First point, pancreas does not = chest pain. Second, do you have some sort of special diagnostic capabilities in this apartment?
Man adamantly refuses transport or even any sort of evaluation, tells us and her to go away and let him sleep. Woman tries to talk us into taking him with arm gestures and eye contact. We refuse to kidnap him, she apologizes for disturbing us.
1200 call from ambulance co. management about "that call last night." Sorting through calls in my head, I don't even notice this one as a call that might result in a phone call from management. He asks open-ended what happened on the call. I relate the above (minus the commentary, of course). He sounds intensely relieved and I finally ask why he wants to know, did something happen? His answer, "It is a long story, but at the end of it, she's dead and it is a little troubling to have an emergency call for chest pain where we didn't transport followed by a dead body at the same address." She's dead? But the "chest pain" wasn't even hers.
I follow up with the crew that ran the second call and it turns out that there was a friend of the woman's in the apartment when they arrived. The friend was there because the woman had been making suicidal statements the night before. Woman was found surrounded by empty narcotics bottles, vodka and tomato juice. Was the first call a cry for help? I think not since there were several times she was alone with us and could've said something, but still I feel a little bad that there wasn't something more we could've done for her.
28 August 2007
20 August 2007
Been a long time
Hello again. I know, I missed you too. Yes, I'm a jerk because I never write and I never call. Sorry 'bout that.
I've been writing for quite some time now about EMT stuff with less about where I think I'm heading in life. Transitions take time, patience and an unending supply of optimism. I usually run 1/3 and have been feeling stagnant. I finished all this year's medical school apps, and just today got an invite for my first interview, so I feel like at least I'm moving again. Seven apps takes a lot of motivation to finish when there were some with 3-4 essay questions on them, including such gems as dinner with someone famous, motivation to be a physician, and personal unique contribution to the class. Blech.
I'm still working as an EMT and enjoying it. I have a new partner, "The Asian". Only in NH could you nickname someone like that, implying that they are the only one because here, he is. He's had that nickname for longer than he's been working for our company, so don't gripe at me about it. The 3-and-1 schedule has been quite nice. Company-level b.s. still happens on my transfer days, but at least it is only once a week. I remain pretty much a white cloud, but every now and then we get something interesting.
There is still unrest with family issues and for some reason I always let it affect me more than other people think is rational. Yes, TX is a long distance from here, so I don't have to get involved with the day-to-day difficulties. When it involves the only family I have, I give myself the freedom to be a little irrational at times. I had a period of two days where I was struggling just to keep afloat and the littlest negative comment was leading to overreaction and near- hysterics. Thankfully, I've now got the experience to be able to realize what is happening. It doesn't stop the hysterics but at least I know that it will pass.
Yes, I will try to write more. I'm toying with the idea of joining fantasy football, so that will eat some time, but now that I'm not volunteering with the FD any more, I've got a little more time. I do have another volunteer opportunity in the works, but it hasn't panned out yet...
I've been writing for quite some time now about EMT stuff with less about where I think I'm heading in life. Transitions take time, patience and an unending supply of optimism. I usually run 1/3 and have been feeling stagnant. I finished all this year's medical school apps, and just today got an invite for my first interview, so I feel like at least I'm moving again. Seven apps takes a lot of motivation to finish when there were some with 3-4 essay questions on them, including such gems as dinner with someone famous, motivation to be a physician, and personal unique contribution to the class. Blech.
I'm still working as an EMT and enjoying it. I have a new partner, "The Asian". Only in NH could you nickname someone like that, implying that they are the only one because here, he is. He's had that nickname for longer than he's been working for our company, so don't gripe at me about it. The 3-and-1 schedule has been quite nice. Company-level b.s. still happens on my transfer days, but at least it is only once a week. I remain pretty much a white cloud, but every now and then we get something interesting.
There is still unrest with family issues and for some reason I always let it affect me more than other people think is rational. Yes, TX is a long distance from here, so I don't have to get involved with the day-to-day difficulties. When it involves the only family I have, I give myself the freedom to be a little irrational at times. I had a period of two days where I was struggling just to keep afloat and the littlest negative comment was leading to overreaction and near- hysterics. Thankfully, I've now got the experience to be able to realize what is happening. It doesn't stop the hysterics but at least I know that it will pass.
Yes, I will try to write more. I'm toying with the idea of joining fantasy football, so that will eat some time, but now that I'm not volunteering with the FD any more, I've got a little more time. I do have another volunteer opportunity in the works, but it hasn't panned out yet...