IV's and Seattle

Alrighty everyone well I was hoping to keep this updated more but I am having a hard time finding the time to update this blog, but don't worry I will keep it going. You know how summer is. As I have said in earlier posts Summer has finally started and as it is really short, it's hard trying to get everything we want to do this summer done in a few short months. Anyway it has been a busy few weeks in the Fire/EMS world ending with a wedding in Seattle. So let us jump right into it.

EMT-B Endorsements


So this week I finally got the boss' okay to start my endorsements. So rather than just being an EMT-B that can assist patients with their medications I can actually give medications, place IV's and open airways etc. Well I have my monitoring endorsement already. I can place a 4-lead, monitor heart beats, check blood glucose and so on. These past few weeks I decided that I was going to just work on the cognitive parts of these endorsements myself. So I decided I was going to do the IV/IO initiation (starting) and IV/IO maintenance (monitoring) endorsements. Well the Paramedic/Instructor saw me working on these endorsements and decided to take it upon himself to teach me.

So after I got down the cognitive stuff it was time to do the psycho-motor stuff. My buddy from fire class and EMT coworker Dave decided that he was going to be my first IV poke. We were both nervous as hell but the paramedic was watching. Well the first one I totally missed the vein. Not so sucky for me, but a lot more sucky for Dave. Well the second one I nailed as you can see by the pictures. The first one is my IV technique and then my second one is the IV fully finished. After that I went 7 for 8. So that felt pretty good.

By the end of the day I was exhausted with IVs and I had fire training. We went over structure triage and went out and triaged a persons house that was out in the middle of a lot of trees. Beetle kill and all.

For those of you who don't know when I refer to the beetle kill, our winters haven't been cold enough in the past ten years to keep the pine beetle from entering Montana. These beetles burrow into the trees and lay eggs. The next spring the eggs hatch and the larva burrow and feed inward towards the core. Not only does this cause damage to the trees but when the beetles burrow in a deadly tree fungus is brought in, causing the trees to die. I don't know the science behind it but that is what I've heard.

Anyway after that it was time to head to Seattle for a wedding. The wedding was beautiful and original. The bride and groom had everyone let go balloons at the end of the wedding. It was awesome. Dinner was delicious and the band was epic. When I say epic I mean they were amazing . They went from singing 60's hits, to rapping eminem and lady gaga to Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer to end the wedding. Ending on a natural high of good food, good music and good people we all went to my car to find the picture you see here.

Apparently a lady decided that she wanted my sweetie's sister in law's purse and had to shatter my window to get it. After a police report, canceled credit cards and so on, we finally taped it up with cardboard and went back to the hotel. We hung out and played games Saturday night then drove home Sunday. All and all it was a good time and meeting my sweetie's family was fun. They all enjoy each other and having fun and it was neat to be around.

Other than that not much is going on, I hope to get my first patient stick at work tomorrow but we will see. Wish me luck, until next time, stay safe and stay tuned!