Busy Busy Busy

So yeah every time I go to write this blog I somehow get distracted. It seems that 40 hours of work a week, plus 19 credits of school keep me busy enough that time escapes me. Seriously, wasn't it spring break like last week? But now that we get down to it we have 14 days of school left. It has been a very busy few weeks. Here's the scoop.

Classes are going well. Driving class has been by far the most fun. We've spent a few days driving on the interstate and in town driving. But the most fun came last weekend when we learned how to operate the engine water pump and aerial ladder. It ended in us using the 1.5" pre-connects to wash the aerial truck and having a water fight. Yeah it's been 70's in Montana and beautiful. I spent some time outside today. The driving instructor has kind of zeroed me out to get things done which is both good and bad. Good because it means I am doing well, bad because it means I'm on his radar. So yeah we have a presentation to work on for driving and that's it. Strategies and Tactics has been productive. We've run a bunch of scenarios and Monday we practiced flat roof venting. Chainsaws, pike poles, and ladders oh my. Tell you what, 70 degree weather on a black roof midday is a bit toasty. PT is going well for the most part. Basic working out and doing my own thing. As I have said 14 days of school left. I'm okay with that. I'm ready for summer.

Speaking of being ready for summer, we are starting to pick up in calls EMT wise. The other night I had my first real trauma call. Car vs. Elk. The car was a ford festiva type car. It rolled a few times, everyone is thinking 4. Anyway I was inside the car holding c-spine and trying to move the patient on the backboard when my boss came up and started cutting the patients clothes. A.) he was in a roll over, bleeding pretty good and probably had shock, B.) I didn't find this out until I was in the car already, the car was leaking gas and starting to smoke. Did I worry a little, yeah. C.) The patient was shivering and showing signs of hypothermia.  We finally got the patient out and backboarded and in the ambulance. We went code to the hospital after bandaging and placing an IV because the patient was losing feeling in his left side. We got the patient to the hospital and checked out. He from what we gathered had a possible broken shoulder, neck and knee, and bleeding somewhere. That's all I know on that patient. We did bring a patient in later that morning and my previous patient was still backboarded. Scary.

The next day, yesterday, we ended up going on a 911 to a nursing home for a man with difficulty breathing. He had a stroke previously and was feeling dizzy. We hooked him up with a 3-lead heart monitor and he was throwing up random beats and problems so we got him into the ambulance. After that it was fluid like in how we operated. My boss was the main EMT on the call and I was his assist, I was hooking up the IV bag and getting it spiked and ready to go along with the blood draw kit ready. Well the IV wasn't pushing fluid and we didn't know why. My boss thought it was because he blew a vein or the iv stick closed off somehow. Well after fiddling with the iv for a bit he gave up and went to give a patient report to the hospital and I was sitting there looking at the patients arm and I noticed it was turning purple. I was uh oh, a clot or something then I saw it, the tourniquet. My boss forgot to take it off. After that the IV started flowing. We got the patient into the hospital and I didn't know what happened after that. That's the problem I guess, patient confidentiality stops us from knowing what happened and if the patient made it.

But yeah that is about it with the calls, I'm starting to work more on my endorsements that allow me to do IV's and advanced airway stuff. Then I will be able to do more than I could before on calls. Looking forward to that. But yeah other than that, life is plugging along, it's amazing how fast time goes when you don't have time to sit and think. The next two weeks will be busy, then I will have some time to breathe. We are going to be playing with live fire at the ARFF trainer on May 5th so definitely expect pictures and a blog about that. Until then hopefully I will be able to find time to work on the blog. Stay tuned!