22 June 2009

Where there's one, there's two.

After the call with the drunk lady and broken ankle, we had a second call involving a suspected broken ankle. Arriving on scene, we find a dude trying to crawl across the pavement away from us (picture every Hollywood scene involving a robot/android which has lost its legs and is still coming to get you). Dude had jumped an 8' fence and not seen the 20' drop on the other side of the fence. His story was that "Some Mexi-cans were chasing me! I di'n't do nothing to them! I just wanna go home." I think maybe they were relatives or maybe a Mexican outreach program for Sumdood ?

I don't know the end of the story, but my bet was actually more on heels and hips being his injuries based on the yelling and squirming he did during our exam. Dude also had an amazing recollection of his alcohol intake, including 9 16 oz beers and 3 or 4 shots of tequila. Young, stupid and fearless, is there any combination that makes for better ambulance calls?

20 June 2009

Entertainment

Sometimes I wonder whether the ambulance job has changed me, or just let my natural inclinations shine through. We went on a call for a fall with possible broken ankle, usually calls like this are just sprains and an over-reaction from whomever was being helpful enough to call. This time I walked around the corner of the ambulance just in time to see The Asian lift the woman's leg a little and see a bone end poking up under the skin. Ouch.

The patient was convinced she was fine, arguing it wasn't broken and this was all just silly. Of course, the day-long alcohol binge might have a little something to do with that. She even offered to get up and walk back in the bar. I voted that we should let her, just for the entertainment value. No point in arguing with a drunk since they're immune to logic, just let her prove to herself that she should go with us. Unfortunately, it is a bit against protocols to let her fall down again. Still, it would've been entertaining.

09 June 2009

Countdown

The clock is ticking for the start of school, two months and counting down. During that two months I have to: find a place to live, find enough stuff to live separate from K without depleting the house or the bank account, move, figure out my work schedule and when my last day will be relative to the previous item, set up utilities at the new place, and all the other tiny details that come with moving while not moving. The office job is officially over now and my computing needs for school are taken care of, at least there are a few less things to worry about.

04 June 2009

Posting

It is frustrating when I take the time to write an entire post only to have the network disconnect and effectively delete it. I'll try to get motivated enough to write it again.

02 June 2009

Premature posting

Apparently I worried too soon about bad-luck ambulance calls. In the last three overnight shifts, in four days, I have seen exactly 0 patients who needed to go to the hospital, much less by ambulance.

I took a frequent flier who "we" have begun telling children's stories to, recently, "The Little Engine That Could" and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". I think most folks are operating on the assumption that she never had the kind of caring family environment to learn these stories and morals and clearly needs some intervention, or they're just trying to entertain themselves on yet another B.S. call. I can't even bring myself to care that much.