Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas has come and gone

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

I spent Christmas Eve with my family, doing the whole food and gifts thing.

Yesterday morning, I awoke to a once-again flooded basement. There was nothing I could do though, since I had to work.

We had wonderful food, and absolutely stuffed our faces. As per usual, it got busy once it got dark. We ran calls constantly until around 430 this morning. I came home and slept afterwards.

Now, I'm just relaxing around the house, staying warm and chatting with friends online.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Many things

Yesterday wasn't too bad of a day. It was supposed to continue raining off and on, but it stayed dry and ended up beating the predicted high by reaching a balmy 44. I was prepared for it to stay in the 30's, but that's ok.

Most of the calls we ran weren't very interesting, save for a late-night severe CHF patient. Her O2 sats were 71% on arrival. We hooked her up to the CPAP and she also received some medications both onscene and enroute to the hospital.

Christmas is coming, and I've still got to hunt down and buy 50% of my gifts for folks. At work, we've decided to do a potluck for Christmas day. I volunteered for dessert type stuff since I don't know how to cook many side-items and can bake everything at home beforehand. I'm all about staying out of the kitchen and relaxing when I can cook it at home and not even have to worry about reheating anything.

I do need to decide what to make and gather the supplies though. I'm definately thinking some kind of cookies, as well as brownies. I'm not big on making cakes or pies though, so they'll have to buy them if they want them.


The basement here on the homefront is drying out, slowly but surely. I've got 2 fans down there moving air constantly. The problem will be waiting on the ground outside to dry out enough to dig up the french drain, and hoping it won't rain anymore.


Enough of a break I suppose, time to get back to my arts 'n crafts. I'm determined to get this project finished by christmas eve.

Friday, December 18, 2009

On the home front

Not related to work, but I'm stressed, therefore, I post!

It's friggin freezing outside! It's 37*, but with a 16mph wind, it feel like it's 26*. It also doesn't help that it's raining.

I've spent valuable time with the 16gal shop vac today, removing water from my basement. So far, I've probably removed at least 80 gallons and I'm nowhere near done yet. The damage is immense. The only good thing is that last time this happened (although not nearly as severe), we put almost everything in plastic bins, on shelves, or somehow a few inches off the floor.

This time, the water has filled the finished room, and moved to where the motorcycles are parked.

The deepest point of water is nearly 2".

What we suspect is the real issue, is that I need new gutters, and especially need to dig up and replace where the gutter downspout routes water past the house. The craptastic 40 year old plastic corregated pipe is probably shot.

I've also had to put a plastic dropcloth on my back deck and pin it down with pots and paint cans. The water overflows a weak spot in the gutter and dumps through the porch, and onto my AC unit...which is currently frozen rock solid.

Just one of those days where I'd rather be at work than dealing with this crap.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Vacation funnies

These are things that I said, yes, I said 'em, to people on vacation. This post takes up space, proves how much of a smartass I am, and fulfills many other things only I keep track of. Enjoy.


Conversaion with Mrs Claus

MC. "Happy Holidays"

Me- *blank stare*

MC "and Merry Christmas"

Me- "OK, now you've got it right"


Conversation with cashier at lunch place

Cashier- "Your total is $15.**"

Me- "No it's not"

Cashier- *extremely puzzled look on her face*

-cue roommate from my right-

Me- "our food is together."

Cashier- "Oh"


Many, many times it was noted how the larger folks were working on the moving walkways for the rides that had them at disney. The jokes about being on a treadmill flew, most initiated by my friend (who lives near disney, and works there).

By the end of the trip, I was ready to strangle most people in sight. For reasons ranging from randomly stopping in front of me, to not controlling their children, to just breathing my oxygen.

I should mention that even though I'm far from claustrophobic, I get very anxious when strangers stand too close to me. I blame work for that.

Back to the grind tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Another day of jingle bell airhorn.

We've also broken into a house after friends and family failed to make contact with a family member for days. They had semi-barricaded themself into a room an passed away. It's pretty sad, especially considering how close to the holidays it is.

In more light hearted news, today has been a day chock full of jokes. Everything from silly ribbing, to sly comments, to farting on each other or farting in the office and locking someone inside.

I'm having an absolute blast today.



Unrelated news, I'll be taking a week off, so don't expect much from me this week. That is, unless I decide to post from my vacation spot.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

HOA toys with Medal of Honor winner over his flag

This story makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that the HOA would even argue with this hero over a flagpole is disgusting.

Also bear in mind, the story fails to mention that the HOA guidelines do NOT forbid flagpoles. There's also the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, which bars any HOA from making any restrictions on flying Old Glory on your own property.

Here's the link, but I've copied the whole story to here as well...
http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/saywhat/story/WWII-Vet-Fights-Homeowners-Group-Over-Flagpole/5kmNFbpms0GSREuU6IpHQg.cspx


RICHMOND, Va. — One of the nation's oldest Medal of Honor winners was back in the fight Thursday, this time against a neighborhood association that wants him to take down a front-yard flagpole.

Supporters, including a U.S. senator, have been falling in behind 90-year-old retired Army Col. Van T. Barfoot, a World War II veteran awarded the lofty Congressional honor for actions including standing up to three German tanks with a bazooka and stopping their advance.

Barfoot put up the 21-foot flagpole in September in front of his suburban Richmond home. He raises the American flag daily at sunrise and retires it at sunset.

"It's really ridiculous to want to keep the flag from being flown," he said in a telephone interview. "I've heard some terrible excuses out there."

The Sussex Square homeowners' association says the flagpole violates the neighborhood's aesthetic guidelines and ordered him to remove it by 5 p.m. Friday or face a lawsuit. The group has said Barfoot can display the flag, as long as it's in a way that conforms with association rules, such as from a pole mounted on the front of the house.

"This is not about the American flag. This is about a flagpole," the association said in a statement.

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., is among those offering to help break the impasse, Warner spokesman Kevin Hall said. Warner and the war hero became acquainted at veterans' events when Warner was Virginia's governor from 2002-06. Others are backing Barfoot on the Internet, including with a Facebook page.

Barfoot won the Medal of Honor for actions while his platoon was under German assault near Carano, Italy, in May 1944. The award citation says Barfoot, then a 2nd lieutenant, crept up alone on German machine gun nests, killing and capturing enemy troops in three of them, stopped their three-tank advance and helped two seriously wounded comrades back to safety.

He also won the Purple Heart and other decorations, and served in Korea and Vietnam before retiring from the service in 1974. The Sitter & Barfoot Veterans Care Center, a state nursing home for military retirees in Richmond, bears his name.

Barfoot's daughter, Margaret Nicholls, said her father has been moved to tears by the outpouring of support, and hopes the nine-member homeowners' board will use its discretion and let him keep the pole.

"A house-mounted pole? That is not an option," Nicholls said. "The flagpole is definitely what he's fighting for."

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Not sure what to think

I'm just not sure what to really think about this one, but I'm not happy. If I was, would you be reading this? Probably not.

Remember my comments in other posts about not liking being around other females at work? Usually, it's because they're sorry, lazy-ass, weak, drama-whores. This time, I'm just not sure about her.

As I was heading home from work the other day, the other shift's female started playing 20 questions with me. We were standing in the main office, surrounded by everyone else.

The basic gist of her questions were things like "do you like fighting fire", "are you scared of fire", etc.

Honestly, it put me on the defensive, and it pissed me off that she would think she even needed to ask these things, much less in front of a bunch of guys. The questions and look on her face made me feel as though I was being accused of something.

Not quite 2 weeks ago, she pulled me into the women's bathroom to tell me that if my guys were harassing me, to tell her and she'd take care of them.

Seriously? What the hell?!

I can take care of myself. I have the thick skin needed to deal with the jokes, and with the snide comments of the few women-haters in the department. *If* I ever have a big enough issue with someone that it can't be resolved, my first move will be to speak with my captain, or battalion chief. I'm not going to go running to her, that seems so ridiculously childish.

I'm hoping she means well, but her approach is absolutely horrible. All she's accomplished is making me wary of her (while I try to figure out her motives), and even more against working with other females regularly.


She's not even on my shift, so why should she even give a damn?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

100th Post

100 posts to this blog, so what should I talk about? How about the idiocy that often makes up the runs on my shift, and the good stuff that's sprinkled around?

Here's an idiot call to get us started.

I spotted this grafitti a few weeks ago and took the picture, knowing that sooner or later, I'd get the chance to use it. I'm suprised I had to wait this long.

Early 20's black male was laying on the curb, surrounded by 2 cops, wearing a wifebeater and boxers. His pants nearly to his ankles. It was pretty damn chilly out when this happened too.

There's the strong smell of puked-up booze, and it's obvious his body was pissed at the amount of alcohol it contained and tried to fight back. The officers were wearing gloves, and had stuffed the guy's ID, phone, etc, into a glove because it was all covered in vomit.

The guy's friends rolled up and tried their damndest to pull drunk guy to his feet and shove him into their car. They wanted to take him home to momma for her to deal with, afraid he was going to jail. Idiots, he already had the ticket in his pocket and wasn't under arrest. Our jail nurses would've refused him anyways, they refuse hangnails.

Finally, everyone gave up and we were able to drag him out and onto the stretcher. As we were putting on the seatbelts, drunk guy ripped one, right in my seatman's face. I looked up, then thought about laughing, and then I smelled it. I had to back off immediately. So help me god, that was the worst fart that's ever terrorized my senses.

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A BLS crew requested us out for ALS. Their patient had thrown up, and was starting to slip in and out of consciousness.

As soon as we arrived, we helped them move her to the stretcher and get her loaded. The monitor and drug box were loaded into the ambulance from our truck, and after a quick set of vitals, they took off.

The patient was complaining of a really bad headache. She didn't look like she was feeling good. It turns out, she had a massive brain bleed. If she survives this, she'll probably be a vegetable the rest of her life.

It always makes you think. This person was talking to us onscene, even if we had to get her attention, she was talking to us. Those may have been the last words she'll ever speak.
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As for some good stuff, first and foremost........

Georgia beat Georgia Tech!!!

I'll give both teams credit, it was a helluva game. It was definately a runner's game, with UGA running over 300 yards.


In other news, I got to spend some time in the mountains recently. 2 friends came back to GA for their families to throw them a baby shower. She's 7 months along now, and I haven't seen her in 6 months, so it was great to see how much she's grown.

Me and her hubby had fun geeking out with our guns in the back yard.

Ahhh, the joys of being in an area where shooting in your backyard is perfectly legal.

Every orange spot in the trees is a clay target. Since there are other houses nearby, we set targets at the base of trees, on stumps, or on knots where limbs were.

I grabbed my .223 and my buddy grabbed his .22 rifle. After the first couple of shots, her dad joined us on the deck with his 38 revolver. But, he wanted to fire my rifle. I only had a couple rounds left in the magazine, so I handed it to him, making sure he knew where the safety was, etc.

His first shot was way off, as was his 2nd. So, he turns to me and immediately complains about how I need to sight my rifle in.

How about no. Does that work for you? Oh, too bad.

It's my rifle, it's sighted in for the way I shoot. Get over it.
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As far as silly news goes.

You've never had fun until you've played christmas carols with the airhorn while responding to a call.

I was laughing, the seatman had a silly grin on his face, and the driver was oblivious.
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All in all, we were up almost all night. I came home and went to bed.

I swear, somewhere, somehow, somebody at dispatch managed to sneak those pressure sensors back into our beds. As soon as we layed down, we got right back up for another call. It happened twice in a row.

We ran more calls after midnight, than before midnight. Everyone was beat.

Friday, November 27, 2009

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving yesterday.

I spent the first half of my day sleeping, recovering from my shift. Later, it was off to enjoy the festivities at my brother's house.

The shift started out early, and with a patient that had us wondering about the weight rating of some of our equipment. I don't think people over a certain weight, especially those with medical problems affecting their ability to walk, should be allowed to live anywhere other than the ground floor unless there's an elevator.

An extremely rare occurence happened when a frequent flier kicked us out and refused transport. Sad thing is, they probably actually needed to go this time.

Another frequent flier called and was indeed needing transport. Once on the monitor, it was very obvious that her pacemaker had a good capture and was pacing her. Her only complaint was related to breathing, even though her oxygen levels were in normal limits.

The only other call of any real interest had us awake at crazy hours. The call came in as an accident with injuries and entrapment. Strangely enough, the address was on a residential street, so we assumed it must have been where the street intersected with the main drag. We were wrong.

At retard-o'clock, a 20 year old was driving her SUV home from a party, drunk. She made it all the way into the very back of this neighborhood before jumping a curb and driving across a large front yard. But she didn't stop there. She drove through the homeowner's small sedan, spinning it over 90 degrees and sending it into a tree, then she continued across what has to be the largest cul-de-sac I've seen, jumping the curb, and finally coming to rest after striking a fire hydrant and tree.

Of course, she was fine, not a single scratch and she refused to even let us check her vitals.

The officers asked her if she'd been drinking, and she innitially lied "no". She later changed her story to say that she'd just come from a party. Here, the legal drinking limit is .08, but it's .02 for underage. With her being 20, we were positive she was screwed. We were right.

Once the DUI task force officer arrived, he chatted with her for a few minutes in front of his vehicle (camera rolling, no doubt), then hooked her up. No roadside sobriety tests, no mini-breathalyzer, not even so much as a nystagmus check. She was toasted.

Earlier, when she walked over to her car from where we were at, she tottered over to the side and nearly ran into the back corner of my ambulance. It's not like we were the least bit suprised to see the cuffs go on.


As expected, we didn't get much sleep. Our last call ensured that we'd be late getting offduty. Oh well, it happens I guess.

I'm just happy to finally be back where I want to be, and getting the experience I need (no thanks to the command staff I begged for a transfer well over 6 months ago). I have a great crew, and the guys are really settling down and starting to pick on me when we all start ragging on each other. They seemed hesitant at first, but I don't blame them, so many females are ever-ready to roll paperwork. I guess that's why I don't like working with other girls either.

I'm in a fair rotation between the engine and the ambulance. Both units usually get hammered at night, especially the ambulance. It sucks, but I don't really mind right now because this is where I'd rather be. I know the area better from working a few years there. I know what to expect from most of the patients. I know which buildings are nothing but a tinderbox, and which one's are death traps (in a few cases, even if they aren't on fire).

I still have a lot to learn, and I'm a bit rusty on the territory. I just have such a better grasp on things here and it gives me the confidence in my own knowledge that I was lacking at the station I spent the last year at.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

CPR on dead folks

It's a necessary evil in the world of EMS. We see dead people, sometimes we can change that, most times we can't.

Let me give a little backstory first.

A few shifts ago, we responded to a hoarder house where the female is a frequent flier with breathing problems. She has a tendency to wait until she absolutely is in trouble, then call 911. About 2 months ago, she was in cardiac arrest and was one of the "lucky ones" our crews revived. Well, she was given 6 months to live because of her other medical issues.

We responded to a call at her residence because "she couldn't walk". As it turns out, her feet were dying. As in the worse of the 2 was half-dead. The dead parts were textbook, and it's the first time I've seen this outside of the pictures in those books. The dead areas were pitch black and much smaller than the rest of the foot. The skin had split in at least 1 place, and I was shocked to not see maggots.

We tried everything to convince her to be transported to the hospital. We warned her about the impending sepsis, threatened with DFACS, and called to try for orders to hold on a psych evaluation. We even offerred to carry her to a family member's car, but she refused everything and was in too good of a mental capacity to be held on a psych order. Our last resort was to have her sign a refusal of treatment/transport, and have dispatch send a police officer that has a nurse with them to try and see if the nurse would place he under psych orders (our hope was since the nurse could actually see he living conditions an the dr couldn't, that he/she would force the patient to go).

Well, 2 shifts later, we found out that she did have her feet looked at and bandaged. Her body being too weak for the surgery to remove the necrotic tissue. Unfortunately for us, we found this out when we picked her up for being in cardiac arrest.

We did all we could for her, but she was pronounced dead just minutes after arriving at the ER.

Earlier in the same shift, we went to a hospice-at-home arrest. The daughter had medical power of attorney, but couldn't find her form stating it. There was also a DNR, or do not resussitate order, but it was missing the dr's signature, so it wasn't valid.

We had to initiate CPR, and after finally giving enough drugs and attaining both a patent airway and IV, we received orders to terminate CPR from the hospital.

I didn't know it, but apparently because of the DNR (a valid one was brought to the scene by the hospice nurse), the daughter wasn't supposed to have called 911. She just freaked out when she realized the patient stopped breathing. I'd probably do the same to be honest.



Here's something I've noticed recently though, that in a way, really bothers me. Why are ER docs so ready to pronounce without hardly even assessing the patient themselves?

I realize that by the time we get there, the average patient has had 3 rounds of epi, 3 rounds of atropine, and a bicarb, but shouldn't you at least let me get them off my stretcher and get it out of the room before you call them? Is this a new trend/standard I missed another memo on?

What's it like where any of you folks that work EMS are? Do your ER docs work everybody for a few minutes, maybe just the old folks get a rapid termination, do they base it on being asystole or PEA? I'm curious.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

If the ladder goes up...

I don't know if fire season has started and I missed the memo, or if it was just a hint of what's to come, but there were quite a few fires where I work yesterday. Sadly, I only got to go on 1 of them.

We were dispatched on the 2nd alarm (staging) of an apartment fire overnight. First crews onscene reported that the building was fully involved. On the way there, the radio traffic was buzzing as crews got water supplies on 2 sides of the building and set up for aerial operations on both sides as well. They went into defensive operations, conducted a PAR, then started flowing both aerials.

After knocking down the majority of the fire, a crew was allowed into a certain area with a 2 1/2". Another crew was detailed with checking for structural stability to see if we could send crews into other areas.

We sat in staging for roughly 5 minutes before being ordered to the scene to hurry up and wait. After some intense handshaking and hugs from guys we hadn't seen in a while, we were ordered to the command post, along with other crews for an assignment.

We ended up performing a secondary on a few apartments, and were going to do a primary on a few others, but all doors were locked and chief said not to worry about it instead of forcing all of the doors.

We were released from the scene shortly after. The fire seemed to be on the 2nd story and it also burnt the roof off. I think I heard them say 25+ people were displaced.


I've worked fires in that complex before. It's not a major tinderbox, but they (the fires) can get out of hand quickly if you don't act fast. Sadly, the first crews learned the hard way that a single crosslay will not really put enough of a dent into one of these to stop it.



Somewhat offtopic, we went through training for new SCBA's many months ago, but they weren't issued to us because of some issues the manufacturer had to deal with. How sad is it that now that some units finally got the new SCBA's, many, many people have dead battery issues? I have to include myself in this group and it irritates me to no end. We aren't allowed to change the batteries, and we don't have the correct tools anyway.

It's hard enough trying to remember what we briefly learned 6+ months ago, it's even harder when the pack and/or mask have dead/low batteries.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Another new beginning

Like I said before, sorry for the hiatus. On to the fun stuff!

After exactly 1 year to the day, I started working in a new (to me, at least) station at work. I'm back in the busier area, and even though I already miss those I worked with for the last year, I'm content.

My first shift was spent riding tailboard on the engine. It was a Sunday, and thankfully it was slow for us. My only reason for saying this is because I've been sick. We only ran a handfull of calls, and most of us relaxed once the daily chores were completed.

At night, we were sent to an apartment fire that turned out to be just a car fire. I was excited to have anything actually burning. I had all my gear on and just had to put my mask and gloves on once we got onscene. Another engine that had 2 brand new rookies asked if they could come play, so I didn't really do too much. The engine was acting up and having issues engaging the pump anyways.

Once the rookies arrived (and de-nutted enough to remember how to get all their gear on), I handed over the nozzle and helped direct them a bit. They did great backing each other on the line, and swapped out so they both had plenty of nozzle time.

They put away the trash line used for the fire, and while the tank was refilling from the hydrant, put the line away again. This time, so it would actually fit in the tray.

Some things don't work the same as what the academy teaches.

The last shift I worked, I was on the ambulance. We were up almost the entire 24 hour shift. We slept maybe 2-3 hours total. I came home and crawled into bed after putting some food in my belly, and slept for 8 or so hours.



No guarantees on catching up on the entries I've missed reading over the last month. So for those that follw me back, don't be suprised to get random comments on old posts over the next few days.

Monday, October 26, 2009

I'm still alive, mostly

On hiatus for another week. I've been working between 90-105 hours a week since the first of the month. This is the last full week, then the next 2 weekends are shot, along with the week after next for tactical training. Hopefully, things will get back to normal soon, my sanity might depend on it.

I'm just so exhausted and sore, this blog is at the bottom of my to-do list.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

She's back?!

I'm sorry, but if you come into the hospital after being cited for DUI, and they get you a taxi home (after removing the drugs from your bra), stay home. Don't get in your car and get busted driving down the sidewalk. While it's entertaining, your decreasing level of consciousness isn't.

It is really funny to hear one of the nurses that saw you an hour ago describe you as a "dumb fucking whore" though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not exactly sure what she got into, but my guess is meth and marijuana, because that's what was removed from her possession earlier. We got her loaded and I got IV access while my partner was talking to PD. He gave narcan to help perk her up a bit since her respirations were much slower than they should've been at 8.

She never did come around while in my truck, or before we left the hospital that I know of. I do hope she gets the help she needs.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Bring a swimsuit, it's wet out there

No big suprise, it's been raining for days in many parts of the country. Over the course of the night last night, many, many areas in my department flooded out.

As bad as I want to, I'm gonna have to resist going into any fine details about my activities of the night. I'm afraid they'll give too much away about who I am.

I will say this much, we ran into a few cars, with our boat.



Here at home, I've been under flood warnings for 4 days I believe, with a current flash flood watch in effect. It's 1830 right now and we've had 6.53" of rain since midnight. Pretty close to what we've had the past few days. The fun part is that it's not expected to get any better for a few more days, and there's another wave of storms getting close.

I'm just really thankful I live on somewhat of higher ground, and the water diverts around my house and down a hill. There's been no soil erosion close to the house, and no water has made it inside either.

The roof is barely a year old, but this has cemented that the gutters are next, and soon. They've needed replacing but it's been put off for too long apparently.


I'm so glad I'm off for a couple of days.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Updates and such

Life has been keeping me extremely busy the past few weeks and the internet, much less this blog, has fallen to the side.

I've spent a lot of time with my horse lately, and it somewhat payed off this weekend. We placed 5th in a halter class, behind 3 horses that are ranked in world standings! Now, my boy is nowhere near a halter horse. He was bred for cutting and reining, but will not focus enough to cut and was sold because the past owner didn't need another turnbacks horse.

My goal is to have him dead-broke for trail riding, and for us to someday compete in a reining competition. For now, I'm trying to save up money I don't have to pay for lessons for both of us. At $40 an hour, it's cheap, but still more than I can spare right now.


As far as work is concerned, some things change, while other things stay the same.

I'm still awaiting the transfer that never was.

I'm continuing to be sent off quite a bit to drive. It's not ideal, but it's better than nothing, so I'll take it.

The department has decided after getting all this new equipment, and making so many people scramble to get training that was thrown together and mandantory, to remove the entire style of units from a few stations. They replaced them with ambulances. I'm not saying it's made anyone happy, but we severely needed the extra transport units. Especially with the way we dispatch units to ALS calls.

As for the calls, I ran one while at another station that made me laugh in a way. We were dispatched to the parking lot of a VERY busy nightclub that's in the corner of an old mall/plaza. All we were told was that the patient was assualted, and they'd be waiting by a red car.

Ummm, can we get some type of a better location? It was so busy when we passed by earlier that evening, I knew we'd never get in the parking lot.

As we were driving around hoping PD would locate and help us out, I just happened to notice an update on the MDT that said the patient was moved to a different address. Gee, thanks for the heads-up on that vital tid-bit of info radio. Not like you're overly busy at 3am...

Anyways, we get to the new location and the patient is holding a tshirt to the side of his head. Since I don't speak a lick of spanish, one of his buddies said the blood would spurt if he took the shirt away. I grabbed a stack of 4x4's and a roll of cling. Using the friend as a translator, we made 1 fairly swift motion to remove the shirt and replace it with 4x4's. I didn't get a very good look at the laceration, but I knew it was in front of his ear and at least an inch long, and we all know how great any head laceration will bleed.

In the truck, we got a 16gauge IV, and I gave a bolus of ringers (was fresh out of saline bags). His blood pressure was stable, but we weren't exactly sure how long ago or where the assault occured, so I figured I'd play it safe and give a bolus, then titrate it back to KVO.

I called the hospital of choice to give a report, gave them vitals, what little of a story I had, and made sure to tell them that he possibly had an arterial bleed. The nurse said "ok", so no worries, or so I thought.

Enroute, I continued having a helluva time controlling the bleeding. Having used all the 4x4's I could reach, I grabbed a nearby spare sheet and held pressure the remainder of the way to the hospital. I also continued to use the buddy from onscene to translate to the patient what was going on. **NOTE- we are not supposed to allow friends or family, except in rare circumstances, to ride in the back. I felt it justified by my need for a translator to gain info about medical history and such.**

At the ER, one of the male nurses made a very snide comment about 'this is the type of patient better suited for, ya know, a trauma center.' I bit my tongue, hard.

#1- The nurse that took my report was made aware of the bleed and still accepted.

#2- The patient wanted to come here.

#3- Since when are trauma centers the only one's that can do stitches?! (what I really wanted to ask)

#4- I called in on a recorded line. Therefore, I have PROOF that your facility was aware and still accepted my patient without question. Get over yourself, you weren't even the least bit busy.

I stayed in the room for a few minutes once the patient was moved off my stretcher. The Dr was preparing to start putting in the stitches, and I basically just held the other side of the patient's head so he wouldn't move it around. The Dr was done by the time I finished and brought a copy of the PCR, and my partner was done decon'ing the rig.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Just a rant

I'm so tired of the BS.

Why am I always being told last minute that my days are cancelled. It doesn't matter if it's class or vacation. Is there no way to figure this stuff out and tell me more than 10 days before?!

I understand we didn't have enough folks to spare to let me take an "onduty" class while onduty. I scrambled and busted my ass working 48 hour shifts to make it. Not once, but twice. I had 5 days notice on the first one, and a couple weeks on the 2nd.

I really appreciated being able to be onduty for the 3rd part, even if I was told to work the remainder of a shift I'd previously been told I'd have off. The "freebie" day off the following weekend was great I guess.


I still don't understand why I haven't been transferred yet. I've gone pretty dang far up the chain of command, twice, and was shot down both times. Every transfer list since is nothing more than a slap in the face. I'm afraid to ask again for fear of ego's preventing a transfer as retrubution or something.

I want to run the calls and get the training, I've practically been begging to run the calls and get the experience to match my training, why not move me somewhere I can? God knows we have enough lazy-asses that'd love to be where I am.


I'm beyond sick and tired of being told that I don't have money problems because I don't have kids. Seriously, did I miss a memo or something? Because last time I checked, I'm worse off than a lot of other guys at work right now. At least they have a spouse to help with the bills. Oh, and I'm sorry, but since I don't drink coffee, read the paper, watch TV, or use any of the condiments, I could care less about paying our ridiculously high station dues right now! I have more pending issues, like, oh I dunno, the power bill at my own damn house?! I've already cut out everything else I can, and am even looking into turning in the tag and suspending the insurance on my beloved harley.




Yeah, so, if you just suffered through my lil rant, I'm sorry. This has been building up for a long time now, since November in fact. Recent events have brought it to a boiling point within me and I need an outlet.

I'm tired of feeling like I'm stuck in a dead-end at the FD. I want to love my job again, I really do, but right now, I'm just sick of all the BS.

I just don't know what to do anymore.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I'm such a brat

Short, non-work related story.

We all know cops and firefighters have a light-hearted rivalry going. Always have, always will. We pick at each other and crack jokes, but we will have the other's back, no matter what.

A few days ago, I spent the night at a friend's house. Her hubby is an officer, and fellow harley enthusiast.

On my way home the next day, he was onduty, and I knew I'd be passing through his territory. Sure enough, I spotted his car parked off the road from quite a distance away.

Now, I'd NEVER suggest the following if you aren't 150% positive you have the right officer and they're not in a bad mood.

As I approached, I was going about 42mph in the 35 zone. I could see the brake lights come on, so I suspected he knew it was me, or was at least ready if it was. As I passed in front of his patrol car, I flipped him off while, of course, grinning like a fool, then wrapped the throttle on the bike and took off. I doubt I was going too much over 50 when I let off for the stop sign.

As expected, he'd pulled out behind me and caught up, then lit me up. I looked back over my shoulder laughing, and he turned off to go back to his (not so stealth-mode) hidey-hole.

Later, talking to his wife, she said he'd probably have gotten his feelings hurt if I hadn't shot away from him like I did. We'd been joking quite a bit the night before about "blue canaries", "hosedraggers", and more.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Teaching the cops

Because we all know Firefighters were created so cops could have a hero.

I guess these 2 cops have higher aspirations and are trying out for the FD.


Photo found on the web.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I'm still around, life's just been busy I guess.

Over the past month, I've spent over 100 hours in some type of training. I've also spent probably around 50+ hours at the barn or driving back and forth, and that's a modest guess.

As far as work stuff is concerned, it's status quo. I still haven't been transferred even though many lists have come out. The only highlight is that I've been sent off to drive a lot the past few shifts I've worked.

I was sent off to drive one shift and ended up being rolled to tailboard when another person was sent over who had seniority on me. I tried not to show it, but I was a bit upset at first. My mood dramatically changed when we were sent to an apartment fire and I spotted the header.

But for now, I'm evil, therefore, I'm going to leave you all hanging. I found pictures on a news website and I still need to edit them before posting. My department is getting strict about taking pictures so I'm going to have to start hunting my pictures offline, or finding a similarly built building and using photoshop to give a rough idea of how it looked.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Opinions needed

Ok folks, here's the deal. I received an email from someone over at JEMS FireRescue magazine. They want to see about including my blog in a new site they plan on launching soon.

As long as they don't want me to actually identify who I am and where I work, or start to censor myself, I don't see a huge issue with it I guess. I'm just very apprehensive right now, mainly of what will happen if PTB find this blog (if they haven't already), and suddenly have a reason to turn their attention onto me.


So, what do you folks think? Should I go for it as long as I can remain anonymous and uncensored?

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Photo proof

A couple of pictures from the class, as promised.


This one was an absolute blast. We were put into a bullet-proof vest (normal cop type, not ceramic plates), a MOLLE vest, and another vest, masked, and blindfolded. We were given an M4 airsoft rifle, and then timed as we negotiated a maze that'd make any fire academy proud.

After locating our medical supplies in the maze, we had to climb into the box and intubate the patient. This would be when the picture was taken.





This picture was taken earlier in the week while learning new ways to cover open ground while approaching a building.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Class Completed

Another class has come and gone. Once again, I'm sore, bruised, worn out, and lovin' it.

I won't go into too much detail, but I will ALWAYS recommend this course to anyone acting as a tactical medic, or anyone on a swat team. You will learn the intubation, IV, and suturing skills(and more), but you will also learn movements and practice some other things.

I don't have an exact count, but I took a few airsoft rounds, and have some nasty bruises from some of them. I have scrapes all over from getting tangled in thorns this morning during a scenario. My abs are so freakin sore from trying to cross a river on a rope with only a harness and a carabiner (no pulley's here, unfortunately). I'm gonna crash hard as soon as I finish writing this.

It'll be a few days at least, but as soon as I get the pictures, I'll toss up a couple. The stuff we got into was too much fun not to share at least part of.

The class was geared towards making us better so we can help out and step up as adjunct instructors. It was also trying out a new format and new set of scenarios and rules for future classes. Everything seemed pretty successful.

The first 3 days of class were early morning until late night. Thursday started at 10am, and finished Friday around 7am. A few of us went to eat afterwards. I was home, in bed, asleep, by 10am. I woke up shortly after 5.


By the way, any police officers or firefighters out there with a K9 that can track want to come to the class to help on one of the days? Your K9 will get to track at least 1 person and we promise a challenge.

Email me for more info on the class or if your K9 tracks and you're interested.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

away for a week

Sorry folks, I'm attending more tactical medic training all week. Hopefully will be returning to my "normal" lack of posting soon.

Assuming I can get a pic of me doing something without revealing who or where, I may throe up a pic soon.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Blue Ridge Parkway Trip

I'm a slacker, I know. Here's a couple of pictures from my trip last weekend.


This one was taken at the Tanbark Ridge Overlook, obviously. It had started to rain, so we stopped to put on rain gear. Or just a jacket in my case (I'd grabbed the wrong pants and they're a couple sizes too small). I snapped the picture just before hopping back on the bike and leaving.




This one was taken on the way up, at the Richland Balsam Mountain Overlook. It's the highest point on the entire 469 mile parkway. With a backdrop like that, I can only wish I had a better camera.

Motorcop and 2WheelTerror...eat your hearts out!



In case you're wondering about the bag strapped onto the back seat, I decided to pack everything into the bag and not in the saddlebags. The reasoning was that it'd be easier to carry my clothes and all into the hotel. It worked out great.

On the way home I crammed everything into the bags though, bad weather was in our forecast.

When we first hit the road, it was nice out. The longer we rode, we got into the clouds, literally. I was a bit worried, I'll admit it. I was following fairly close behind my dad and visibility was around 100'.

After 45 minutes in the clouds, I was more than excited to be out of them after passing through another tunnel.

We stopped at Mount Piscah for lunch. The view! Holy hell it was awesome!! Apparently, I lost a highway peg somewhere between Little Switzerland and Mount Piscah, because that sucker was GONE when we got ready to leave. Oh well, it was loose before and I guess I didn't get it tight enough after all. I've already got the new pegs, skulls. The bike has skulls all over, both in actual HD parts, and all over the paint job.

The only problem I had on the trip, other than a severe case of numb-butt while racing bad weather home, was a HUA driver less than 3 miles from home.

I'm cruising along, feet propped up on top of the crash bars. This charger (I think) wanted to change into our lane from the left, but me and dad were too far along for him to get over. So he tries to come into the lane directly alongside me. I held my lane and opened the throttle a bit more to help him get the idea that he wasn't gonna fit ahead of or with me.

He slowed down just enough to not hit me as he got behind me, then changed to the lane to my right and was quite obviously cussing me out, and my dad once he was alongside him, all the while with his window down.

Not that I could hear him over my own pipes.

He took an exit ramp and as I looked over, he was still cussing me out. I try not to let road rage get to me, but when he flipped me off I couldn't help but do the first thing that came to mind.

It's so much more fun to signal to someone that they're a retard than to flip them off. Sticking your tongue out works too. It's such a silly move and their responses vary from shock to fury.

Acting a fool in traffic (especially around motorcycles) is such an idiotic and childish move, it's not even worthy of a middle finger.



Of course, don't get me started on the HUA crotch-rocket bikers. I can think of a few I'd love to strangle.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

2 days

18 tunnels (twice)

552 miles

6,047 ft elevation

At least 16 hours on 2 wheels


Went on an overnight ride with my dad this weekend. The main point of the trip was heading up the Blue Ridge Parkway, and spending the night in Little Switzerland. It was my first long trip and my first overnight trip out on the harley. I've got a few pictures I'll try to post in the next couple of days.


The highlight of the trip (other than the views), was this conversation between me and a drunk guy at the bar last night.

Drunk Guy: So, tell me what it's like to ride on the back of a bike.

Me: I dunno, I'm on my own bike.

The guy's jaw hit the floor and it was obvious he realized he'd just taken a bite out of his shoe, even in his drunken stupor. I thought his wife was going to fall off her stool laughing. My dad thought it was pretty damn funny too.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Friday, July 3, 2009

Grass Fire


Not really too much to it. There was power out to 2 buildings nearby, and I would wager that the electrical box started the fire.
No damage other than to some nearby bushes and a lot of pinestraw. The fire was close to a concrete parking deck, but there was little threat of exposure problems there.
We dropped an 1 3/4" handline and easily put the fire out and drenched everything with tank water. Right as the last bit of fire was put out, radio called us and said the caller just called back and said we passed the fire. Ummm, no, we just finished putting it out.
It was funny when it happened at least.
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In other news, I've got nearly a week off from work. I'll be working half a shift as payback for a friend soon. Then, working a 48 hour shift the first of next week, I'll be paid back in a couple weeks so I can attend another class.
I've spent my offdays so far staying at a friend's house. She had surgery and I've been keeping an eye on her/keeping her company/just being here for moral support. I've also been out to the barn to work with my knucklehead horse. I finally learned how to properly lunge him, and we have some work to do!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Losing faith

Whenever someone asks if I enjoy my job, my usual response is either "most of the time" or "it has it's moments, like any job".

I am, however, quickly reaching the point of being fed up with my current situation.

I finally got a meeting yesterday with 3 chiefs in my immediate chain of command. I managed to bite my tongue when needed, and I truly believe I kept my foot out of my mouth for once.

I walked out of the meeting knowing damn good and well that not a single thing will happen.

I thanked them for the opportunity to have worked with the K9 team, and told them I wanted to become proficient as a relief driver and soon, acting officer, but that I needed their help. I won't gain the experience needed at my station, and need to be somewhere where I can.


My station is slow, as in each of the units normally runs 2-5 calls per shift. I don't understand why I'm even at this station, since I only have 5 years in. I WANT to be in a busy house and run the calls, so why not put me in a busy house and let some stereotypical lazy-ass be in the slow house?



I'm so damn frustrated over this. It's been stressing me out for nearly 9 months now. I'm sick and tired of this but I don't know what else to do. I'm rapidly running out of options.

It's tempting to do like some folks have done and write a transfer request every shift.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Rookie rant

I've been sitting here for the past couple hours reading through some older posts on a lot of different paramedic/firemedic blogs.

I've noticed a bit of a trend. It scares me to be able to say that not only have I noticed it, but I've been sorely affected by it.

A lot of EMT's, especially the FNG, flat-out suck.

The reason this is so scary, is that with just over 5 years in, I know I'm still a rookie.

Even since I was hired, I've noticed a sharp decline in the quality of people making it through the academy. I'm not talking about the folks that are just hard to get along with, or that don't wanna play the whole "rookie gets the shit jobs" routine. I'm talking about the knuckle-dragging idiots that I'm surprised passed the tests, have a driver's license, or even managed to dress themselves this morning.

A few examples:

Rookie #1: Has been shown many times over how to read a map book. They constantly get lost on the main drags in their own territory. I've run a few calls with them, and seen first-hand how bad it is. Rookie strangely disappears whenever we need to lift the stretcher, carry jump bags, etc. I've also watched this person take a good 5 minutes to park their POV at the station. I don't even want to remember the horror that nearly occurred when they tried to share the bay with the ladder on accident.

Rookie #2: Is rarely visible once trucks are checked and station has been cleaned. They prefer to go sit on their laptop or cell phone. This person also was condescending to a 10+ year firemedic on a fire scene, doing stupid things like calling him rookie.

Rookie #3: Is at a station with 2 other rookies, so plenty of rotation for units and sendoffs. They pitched a damn fit when it was their turn to be sent off to another station. Granted, this rookie has some experience elsewhere, but that doesn't mean a damn thing in this department. All that matters is your hire date.

Even though I'm not currently a paramedic, I like to think of myself as a pretty decent EMT. I know my truck well and can set up/start IV's, 3-leads, 12-leads, mark drugs given on the monitor, set up for ETT, etc. I know enough about reading the monitor to make a pretty good guess at what's going on, relay a decent report to the hospital, and whatever else my partner asks me to do (if I'm not already on it).

For a long time, the ambulance I rode every shift was staffed with just 2 EMTs. It wasn't easy and I felt burn-out quite often, but I pressed on knowing it was one of the busiest trucks and couldn't really get any worse as long as I had a decent partner.

One of the things I stuck to was going call-for-call. There were a couple occasions where that didn't happen, but it was made up for. Like the time it was my partner's turn to tech and we had an 80-something y/o man who had an open ankle fracture. He was new to the idea of actually using his EMT certs and was stuck in the deer-in-headlights mode, so I asked if he needed help and wanted me to take it. He nodded and gave a pretty smooth ride to the ER. I almost waited onscene for ALS for pain meds, but decided we could have the patient at the hospital by the time ALS arrived to the scene. He was tolerating pain extremely well and vitals were stable.

Then there are the 2-20 firemen. Rookies with 2 years in, that act like old jakes with 20 years experience.

We ran a call, and the type of call has no real bearing on the story. I went out to the truck to grab the stretcher. Our trucks are large, and should kneel when the rear doors are opened. I noticed the truck wasn't in high idle and didn't kneel. When I went to the kick the e-brake thinking my partner forgot to, I was both pissed and a little bit horrified. The truck wasn't in park!

Many of our trucks seem to get "stuck" in park. All you have to do is mash the brake to the floor, push the shifter back, up and then drop the gears like normal. My partner apparently decided in his infinite wisdom to leave the truck in neutral and just hit the e-brake.

As soon as we cleared the call, I was on him. If the truck gets stuck in park, it gets stuck in park and we'll just call another unit for the transport, but you have to put the truck in park. Diesels WILL jump out of gear. His response only fueled my rage. He didn't want to listen because we're both firefighter II's, so I wasn't his boss.

Bad move on his part.

Not only was I hired before he was, I made rank before he did, AND was listed as riding seat that day. 3 strikes against him. At something crazy like 10 or 11pm, I called the station captain on the nextel and told him what happened, and my partner's reasoning for things. He met us on the front apron back at the station. Guess who got an ass-chewing that night?

The last thing I want is to be that bitch, but I'm not gonna let some lazy, knuckle-dragging, fatass, mouth breathing idiot get me in trouble if I can help it. I do a good enough job of that on my own, TYVM.


And then there's the guys with over 20 years in, that just flat out scare you with what they know is right, no matter how wrong it actually is. I'll save that one for another day though.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

I seem to be getting more and more readers lately, and thanks for visiting my lil world folks.

A lot of cop blogs do this already, so I can't claim the idea, but I'll be happy to field any Fire or EMS related questions.

Send your questions to the email address listed to the right and I'll do my best to answer.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Class = massive boredom

I know, I know. I'm in class the majority of this week, along with working my shifts, so don't expect too much from me.

So far, we've covered time sheets, incident reports, PCR reviewing, and more. It hasn't really been any new news to me other than the PCR reviewing. I've been hurt at work so I've done the incident reports, and filled out my own time sheet while on light duty.

The worst part of going through this class for me is the way it's been drug out. 3 days, wait a month, 3 more days, another month's wait, then 4 days. I'd rather just get it all over with.


Of course, as we're on break today, a small city PD officer asked what class we're attending and made other small talk in the hallway. We were cutting up a bit and I made the comment about how *some* of the LT's talk a lot of smack about pulling over people, but have yet to do so, even when that person passes through constantly in their POV. He asked who, of course, and the LT standing beside him had a huge grin on his face and said I was talking about him.

A couple weeks ago, I responded to a MVC in a major intersection. There weren't any injuries- just soreness, I had already thrown out zipzorb on the spilled oil, the wrecker was loaded, and we'd reopened 2 of the 3 northbound lanes. After the LT explained the cites to the at-fault driver and got his signatures, we were cutting up a little bit before everyone onscene went their own ways.

LT and I had fun ribbing each other about everything from the cameras in his car, to me living so close and never being stopped by him or his guys.

He threatened to come by the station and stake out my car so he could catch me on my way home one morning. Being the smartass I am, I told him to bring it on.

We got our giggles and soon parted ways. He still hasn't caught me (not that I'd give him a reason to).

Back to today's conversation... I again told him to bring it on, and that I'm still waiting.

As we were going back into our respective classrooms, he said he's gonna get me, he'll let me go, but he's gonna get me.

Bring it on my friend, bring it on.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Flirting not welcomed

For the second time, I've been creeped the fuck out by someone trying to flirt with me while onduty. You can read about the first time here- http://i-am-911-archive.blogspot.com/2005/04/flirty-old-guy.html


We were sent to a call where the person fell. As we're dealing with our patient, getting information for our report, etc, this Creepy Old Guy walks up behind me.

COG: I think I might be feeling faint and need some CPR.

Awesome Medic (my partner): You're gonna have to get in line.

COG: No, I want her to do it **motioning towards me**

Ummm, what?! Ok, not only is your attention not wanted or welcomed, I'm dealing with a patient! You're interfering with my scene you old perv!

I know I had a look of fear, confusion, irritation, and more on my face. The patient and her friend seemed to sympathize judging by the looks they gave me. I was able to bite my tongue and thankfully, the guy wandered off immediately.

As we were returning to our truck to leave, I asked AM if he saw COG's shirt. Sadly, he didn't.

"Annoying the world one person at a time"

More like 5 at a time.

I can't make this shit up, folks.

********************************
Later in the shift, we'd responded to a call where a very nice older gentleman accidentally flipped his scooter and more than likely broke his hip. We moved him to a backboard as gently as we could and tried to pad under his knees to keep him comfortable.

As we cleared the call, I realized it was getting late and I was ready for dinner. Seeing as A.M. had already eaten, I figured on hitting Subway. 10 minutes before closing, they were locked up tight. I was really looking forward to a meatball marinara too.

Being in a nicer part of town and so close to a major mall, there aren't a lot of food options under $10, McD's here I come.

As I'm walking towards the Walmart entrance (McD's is just inside), an older gentleman who had stopped his car to let an older woman get in, called me over. He reached out to shake my hand and said "Thanks for doing what you do and God bless."

I'd noticed his FBI hat as I'd exited my truck moments earlier, but that doesn't really matter. It was a small gesture of thanks, and it made my day.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Calls and an upcoming class

It doesn't seem like anything really interesting has happened lately, but as I wrote this, more things came to mind and I guess it *is* interesting after all.

A couple weeks ago we went to a fatality MVC on the expressway. The sedan had stopped for whatever reason in the middle of the road at about 5am. The 18-wheeler hit the car hard enough to rip the roof and driver's side off the car, and sent the vehicle over 100 yards by the looks of the debris field. The 18-wheeler left tire marks for at least another 100 yards beyond where the car stopped, as he locked his brakes to stop. Thank god his tanker full of fuel didn't have any damage.

As we looked around, I didn't even realize where the driver was at first. I was sent to the truck to grab our TIC (thermal imaging camera) and look around for any ejected victims. As I was walking back towards the car, I saw the hot spot on the ground under the doors/roof that were ripped from the car (it was still attached, just barely). A closer look with a flashlight showed that was indeed the driver. I never did find anything with the TIC, and we left shortly after. The wreck occurred outside my department's territory, and the sedan came to rest not even 50 feet from the county line.

Due to it being a fatality, there's no pictures to show of the vehicle. Sorry folks. I try to get pictures as much as I can, but I'm not risking taking a picture and having a body in it. I value my job too much, and it's morally wrong to do that anyways.

***********************************

I'm hesitant to go into details about another call. I'll simply say a gentleman barricaded himself into a room and hung himself. His family had no idea why nor did they suspect anything wrong. He didn't leave a note.

***********************************

Recently, one of our engines was on the expressway working a MVC. I don't know if their truck was parked correctly or anything else, but the engine was hit by a passing 18-wheeler. Our crew was outside the truck and all were fine, the driver of the rig had some injuries though. I was listening to the radio traffic and the media got a pretty good aerial shot of the scene. The engine sustained quite a bit of damage. It's a real shame too, that was one of our newer trucks and it's going to take a long time to repair, if they don't just total it out.

**********************************

In other news, I'll be working a 48 hour shift this weekend, so pray for my sanity. Then I'll be attending acting officer class next week. I've been trying to attend the class for over 2 years, and have always been screwed out of it (for some asinine reason or another).

The only reason I'm even able to go this time is by swapping shifts with someone. We're too short on people and it's considered an onduty class, but my chief said he'd allow me to go if I could find someone to cover for me. 20 phone calls and a lot of stress later, I found someone to cover.

Honestly, I'm very hesitant about the class. There's not really any prerequisites for it, but I wish I had more experience. If I could at least ride an engine that runs a bunch of calls, I could watch and learn, and try to absorb. Where I'm assigned just flat out lacks the call volume. Don't get me wrong, I've thoroughly enjoyed eating warm meals and (usually) sleeping all night, but break-time has been over for a while and I'm more than ready to get back into the action.

I'm still extremely sore about having been transferred and the lack of reasoning for it. I constantly try to "get over it", but it always comes back and I tend to dwell on it.

I've got a meeting with my shift commander and the chief of operations in a week and I'm really, really hoping to achieve closure and move on, both mentally, and physically. My initial meeting request was kicked back and they wanted to know why I wanted the meeting. My response was an outline of the things I'm expected to learn and become proficient at, and the reasons I can't. NOT excuses, but reasons. IE, I'm unable to progress as a relief driver because there's no engine at my current assignment.


I just hope it goes well.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Training day




Not exactly what I was expecting for today, but I can roll with the punches so it's ok. I came in this morning and was called into a meeting with both of my captains. We discussed the things I've been limited in doing since being transferred here, and what they plan to do to get me as well prepared for my next promotion. It's nice to know but understand my standpoint and are backing me all the way.

We got the trucks checked off and relaxed for a few minutes before pulling the trucks around back. We pulled all the extrication equipment off both units.

We have an old car sitting behind the station that has already been cut on a few times. All the glass is gone, the tires are flat, the hood has been cut, and 3 of the 4 doors have been forced open.

It started with me giving the sizeup (what I saw, establish command, etc). I was also asked what I'd do and have other crews do once they arrived. We put on all our gear and cranked the power plants.

I had to hook up 2 tools using the hose reel and manifold, then we tested how it affected the pressure on the tools when used at the same time.

Finally, I was handed a haligan and told to create a purchase point to remove the door that was still attached. I created an opening and grabbed the "jaws". Why are those damn things so heavy?? It took quite a few attempts of sticking the tips in and making little to no progress before I finally got a good spread. I haven't been able to use the tools much since the academy so I had to stumble a bit on the best way to do things. With some help, the door was opened.

We switched the other set of tools to the cutters and I got to cut 2 posts with the sawz-all, another tool I've never used before. It's a lot harder and takes so much longer than the hydraulic tools.

We removed the roof, and I used the jaws to remove the drivers door, the passenger side door was already off. We then made relief cuts and rolled the dash.

We played around with the tools for a bit longer before putting everything away. We did have to remove one of the hydraulic lines from service though, the rubber seal was stuck halfway out of it after we disconnected everything. Our larger ram was also tagged for not retracting properly.

We ran a call later that was a multi-car collision on the Interstate with 1 rollover. The patient lost a lot of skin on their hand/wrist, and it's a good reason why not to hang your arm out the window while driving.

Only other thing is we just had a random civilian bring us a new flag for our pole out front. The old one is looking tired and our supply guys are slower than molasses about getting us a new one. He said he noticed it a few weeks ago. It's sad, really, when a civilian has to spend their money to help a fire station get a new flag. We had a guy here before that made sure we got new flags in a timely manner, and that the old ones were properly retired.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I'd choke you with that stethoscope, but you might like it

First of all, I want to welcome and say thanks to my newest followers.

I've been out of town over a long weekend for a convention, so sorry for the lack of posts. The convention was 100% unrelated to work, and I had a lot of fun just hanging out with my friends and being silly. We did have a couple of military personnel present, and they put on a beautiful inpromptu flag-folding ceremony on Sunday morning.

Back at work, we went almost the entire shift without any calls. We did run 1 call shortly after dinner.

Lady is shopping at the local hobby store and accidently dropped a glass bowl. She said she didn't even realize it'd hit her foot until she felt the warmth of her blood after a few steps.

When we arrived, store personnel were with her and had unrolled quite a bit of papertowels and were trying to stop the blood loss. We took over and I put a nice stack of 4x4's over the wound and wrapped it with both some cling and an ace bandage before propping her foot up as best we could.

With no other transportation (not letting her drive), we called for a transport unit. The glass had gotten deep enough into the top of her foot to cut a vein and she needed to see a Dr for it.

She was very nice, although extremely worried, so we told her that as long as we weren't running around like idiots, she'd be ok. She seemed to relax a bit and was enjoying watching us picking on each other.

Our ambulance arrived and were filled in on the story. One of the guys loves picking on me (I pick back) and immediately started in as soon as he saw me. The title of this post was one of my comments to him, and it got a hearty laugh. We got a couple of good giggles as we helped the lady onto their stretcher, and said our goodbyes.

Back in quarters, the driver asked me to walk him through our PCR program. It took a while as he's very slow with typing, but we got it done. I don't think he has much grasp of the SOTC format for the narrative, but we can certainly work on that.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Horse Troubles

Another non-work related blog, 2 for 2, sorry guys and gals. I'll keep it short.

Tried to go ride my horse this afternoon. He was doing ok, we'd gone on the trails and I had a friend along on another horse.

Normally, if a horse spooks and is going to buck, you can feel and see it coming. Not this time.

Out of nowhere butthead threw his head down and his ass up. I remember seeing his face in mine, as I was upside-down in mid air. My friend heard the clatter and turned around in time to see me hit the ground, and bounce.

When I got to my feet and grabbed butthead's reigns, he stuck his head out and lipped at me like he might try to nibble. I hate to admit it, but I slapped him square in the face. It's a bad habit he's picked up, I wasn't in the mood for it, and boppin him is the only way I've ever been told to break habits like that.

Anyways, I was and still am, pissed off royally. I tried to call the lady I board him with and when I finally got to talk to her, she was beyond rude with me. I've paid this woman $8,505 over 23 months to keep my horse, but 30 seconds of her time over the phone is apparently too much to ask.

I ended the conversation by just saying "I'm done" over and over. She wants him out of there soon, and so do I. BUT, I reminded her I've already paid for 14 more days of board with her. My plan is to find a new home ASAP and get him the hell out of dodge. I just need to find a place I can afford.

My only problem will be finding what they've done with all my tack. I keep my grooming kit and treats here at home, but the only things I saw out there were his nylon halter, english saddlepad, and my western saddle/ saddlepad. The saddle cover is missing (WTF??), and I have no clue what they've done with his nice leather halter, nylon clipon reigns, both of his bridles, or the bit I had. They will either find it all or replace it - no if's, and's, or but's about it.

And shame on me for not having our agreement in writing, because they're reniged on some things and I have nothing I can do about it. A mistake I won't make again.


Now, excuse me while I go dose myself up on tylenol or something. It's bad enough to hurt from the fall, but I have a killer headache from stressing out.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Spreading the Love

I know I usually only gripe about work on here, or some other assanine thing. Today, I have a non-work related post so bear with me.

Abuse manifests in many different ways, not only physical. Some people have the unfortunate experience of verbal/mental abuse as well.

Some people fall victim to this abuse and end their life, while others simply tolerate it. Some realize what's happening early on and get out of the situation. Then, there are a few who stay around for whatever reason, for an undetermined amount of time, before finally leaving.

Those people have 2 options after leaving: blunder through life as a shadow of their former self, or become stronger for what they have endured. Out of the strong ones, a few choose to relay their story to others, hoping to get some closure or even open another victim's eyes to their situation.

http://brokenbunnies.blogspot.com

This lady is one of the ones who has become stronger and has moved on to a much better life.

I don't ask much of you guys, and I'm glad to have readers...So how about helping me spread the love by visiting the blog/future book of a wonderful woman, who spent many years surviving hell?

I'd appreciate it muchly.

Boring times

Work has been 99% boring lately, hence my lack of posting.

It's driving me batshit-crazy (for lack of a better term) to be at such a slow station. We ran 1 call in 24 hours. I'm used to running between 8 and 14 calls. I usually wake up a couple times during the course of the night.

The only thing I'm still torn about is the dogs. I still really would love to get on the team. I helped yesterday and this morning with some training. I usually try to be around for training because at some point, I will have a dog (even just as a pet) and I want to have some kind of idea how to train the pup for agility and more in-depth obedience.

This morning, the on-coming captain asked me when I was getting my dog. I wish I could've had a different answer for him.

It's been 7 months since I was moved to my current station. I've been told I wasn't going to be there long, so not to worry about trying to get a dog. I don't think it'd be fair to the animal to sit at home while I work my 24 hour shift. I KNOW I can't trust my roommate not to undo anything I would work on with the dog.

Every month, I'm told my name will be on the next transfer list. Every month, I'm still here.

My career is at a standstill right now and I'm sick and tired of it. I've written another letter to have a meeting with 2 of the big chiefs. My first meeting was 3 months ago and nothing has happened. It was over 2 months from the date I wrote the first request, until I finally had the meeting that I'd requested be ASAP.

Let's see how long it takes this time.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Well, after spending a few hours in the CISM meeting this morning, I can honestly say it wasn't as painful of a meeting as I expected. Of course, I've never been through one of those meetings so I didn't really know what to expect either. The meeting was led by 3 guys, 2 of which are firefighters, the other, a pastor among other things.

It was an interesting experience. It was definately odd to sit and wait while each person told the same story from their own perspective. I'm used to us standing around rehashing things in our own way. It wasn't a bad experience though.

They mentioned/ pointed out how each of us is dealing with this a different way. Some get angry, others sad, I'm not quite sure where I fall. I'm sad about the little girl, angry at other things.

Overall, today's been an ok day. I didn't get much sleep last night, but that's not unusual for me when I work. I usually don't get more then 4-5 hours of sleep the night before I have to work. We've run 1 call so far, and never even got out of the truck. I've been able to spend a little time playing with the dogs both before and after shakin' a boot for the burn foundation.

I'm working a 48 hour shift right now to cover for a buddy, he'll have to pay me back in a couple weeks for a vacation day I was denied on. It's definately going to be an early night for bed tonight. I'm planning to get up early (for once) so I can get showered and into a clean uniform. I'm hoping to have my relief here early enough so I can shower and bug out to the other station without having to worry about a late call.


I do want to send a heartfelt thank you for the comments. It means a lot to me.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The calls that make you question doing this job

If you've been an EMT, Medic, Firefighter, Police Officer, or even Dispatcher, for any amount of time, you're already starting to sympathize with me. You've been to or taken the calls that make you look deep down inside and ask yourself why?

Why do we do this job?

Why do some calls have to hurt, when other calls can be shrugged, or even laughed, off?

Why can't we just move on?

Why don't people watch over and take better care of their children?

Why did she have to die?

Why wasn't there anything we could've done?

Why didn't the driver show the slightest hint of emotion, or remorse?

Why can't I get the image out of my head???


Last night, a 21 month old little girl was run over by a truck and died (probably instantly). She could have been inside the best hospital when it happened, and still wouldn't have been able to survive.

1 momentary lack of focus on your surroundings, 1 moment of inattentiveness, 1 distraction, 1 child that will never see her 2nd birthday.

We stayed onscene to keep an eye on mom. At one point, she was hyperventilating and we were told she nearly passed out. Once the media started arriving, she was moved to the backseat of one of the patrol cars, along with 2 other people who were trying to keep her calm.

It took a while for the medical examiner and traffic specialist units to arrive and take all the necessary photos, and mark everything with spraypaint. Once they were ready, we held up tarps and sheets to create a privacy zone around the child so the pictures of her could be taken without the media, or anyone else catching a glimpse.

They finally wrapped her in a sheet and placed her into the body bag. The medical examiner chose to put her in the backseat of his car, and somewhat sneak off the scene. It beat waiting on the ME's van to get there, and he was able to pull his car into the crime scene so close, I'm not even sure anyone noticed the child being put into the car.

Once we finally cleared the scene, everyone met for a quick, 15 minute debrief. We will all attend a 2-3 hour CISD meeting next shift.

As we were headed back to our own station, we were sent to another call. The female was roughly 3 months pregnant, and had a miscarriage into the toilet. Unfortunately for us, the hospital needs to look through everything to make sure no part of the placenta is left inside mom, or she could become extremely sick.

We used what we had, which turned out to be the bag that a sterile burn sheet comes sealed in. Everything was collected and transported with the mom to the hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We all deal with things in different ways. Some drink, some paint, some smoke. I guess I'm fortunate not to have children right now. I slept, and now I'm writing. Sleep did not come easy, but at least there weren't any nightmares, for now. I've never claimed to be a good writer, but these are my stories through my eyes.

If you have kids, be thankful for every moment. You never know how many more moments, good or bad, you will have. And give them a hug for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, in the end, why do we do this job?

Like it or not, admit it or deny it, we love this job. Why else would we put up with the people and the pay if we didn't?

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Interesting things

Granted, I have a pretty in-depth tracker on this blog, but I usually only look to see how many returning visitors and new visitors I have each day.

Just now, I got a bit bored and went to look at the keyword hits.

"Can I ride in a cop car, as a rider not a cop, with a gun on my belt?"

I have no idea how google thought my lil fire/ems rant of a blog was very relevant to that search. But, the person proceeded to spend just over 2.5 hours on here. Wow.

And here I thought my mind-numbing ramblings were, well, mind-numbing.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A "good" stroke

I dare say there is such a thing, but those of us in EMS see so many false calls, any "good" call, is simply a truely legit call.

We were toned out for an 80 year old having a stroke. Unfortunately, I work for a very busy department and our ambulance was coming from a great ways away.

We quickly locate the patient and without even touching her, I knew she was stroked out. She's laying on the bed, and her gaze is fixed to the left. As a family member relays her history to my partner, with me interrupting with questions I felt were more pertinent than her birthday and social security number.

She's had TIA's in the past, and had a stroke without any lasting defecit just a month ago. She's normally walking and talking just as good as you or I. The last time anyone spoke to her was last night, and it's around noon now.

As we start getting some vitals out of the way, my heart sank a bit. Her blood pressure was quite low, 88/42. To me, this basically means it's been too long since the onset of symptoms for any treatments to be overly successful. There's a maximum 6 hour window for thrombolitics (if appropriate), and she's most likely surpassed that.

Of course, being only EMT's, all I could do was gain IV access, administer a bit of oxygen, and wait on the ambulance to arrive. Thankfully, they made awesome time and we didn't have to wait long.

I relayed the story, vitals, and our treatments to the medic.

Found after unknown down time, normally ambulatory without assistance, B/P 88/42, pulse 80, sat. 92% on room air- 96% with 3 lpm by nasal cannula. 20 ga INT in the left AC. Fixed left lateral gaze, slightly responsive to verbal.

She didn't really respond to me, just nodded while her partner pushed the stretcher around the bed to us. One of the guys from my truck grabbed the lady's torso while I got her legs, and we moved her to the stretcher (I'd already ensured she was wearing a long nightgown). We put a sheet over her, secured her with the seatbelts, and moved her outside to the ambulance.

After giving the EMT directions to the hospital since he wasn't the least bit familiar with the territory, we returned to service. The last thing I saw of the lady was the medic preparing to start another IV.

I'm not very optimistic, but I hope she's ok.

My good friend and "adopted" dad, was working one of our dispatch channels. Seeing as the call came out as a possible stroke, I sent him a text, something along the lines of "I know you're extremely busy and may not see this till your lunch, but that lady was definately stroked out." He never responded but I could hear how busy he was so it's ok, I understand completely. I just hope he had a moment to pass the news along to the calltaker.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Thoughts on going private

As someone who has dealt with issues and bogus complaints from citizens over any personal opinions posted on the internet, I 100% understand and support anyone who chooses to make their blog private. There's just one tiny thing I have to ask of those of you that make this difficult decision.

If you are willing to add some folks to the approved reader list, PLEASE post your email address in your final post. It's impossible to view it if it was on your sidebar, and there's no way to even access your profile unless we can hunt down a comment of yours on someone else's page.

However, using google reader, or blogger's dashboard (depending on your settings), we can see the final post and grab the address to shoot you an email.


A lot of the people I follow have gone silent, or private lately... With 5150life being the most recent one. All the fun blogs are disappearing.

Monday, April 20, 2009

OMG, fire?! What's that???



In the picture, things look very hazy and kindof blurry, and, well, they were! The fire was out, but there was still a LOT of smoke (I was still on air), and the sprinkler had not been plugged yet.

This morning, we're getting ready at shift change for a class over the new airpacks we're getting soon. As we're walking out to the trucks to head towards the academy, the bell rings.

The call was dispatched as a vehicle fire on the top level of a parking deck near the station. Not quite halfway to the scene, I'm already in all of my gear (minus facepiece), and we get an update that the fire alarm has now gone off.

Onscene, we go down the hill as if we were going to enter the parking deck. The exhaust fans were on and were blowing LOTS of smoke out. As we came into view of the entrance to the parking deck, we observed thick, dark grey, charged smoke coming out of the opening, with the bottom being about waist height. The entrance was to the middle level, and the entire hotel is above the parking deck.

I had a box light (couple million candlewatt power), and could not see my feet once 20 feet inside the opening and up the ramp. I also had the nozzle over my shoulder and thankfully, the car was less than 100' inside. If we would've had to use the standpipe inside the parking deck, the call would have sucked so much worse.

As I was advancing the line, read as, trying to find my way to the car without running into a wall or tripping over a car, a tire blew. Now, if you've ever heard this, it's loud. Move it inside a spacious concrete structure, and it sounds like a gunshot even more. I stopped dead in my tracks for a moment, shrugged it off, and took about 3 more steps when another tire blew. A small part of me wanted to walk out right then. The more reasonable part said, hey, 2 down, 2 to go worst-case.

We finally found the car, and it was definately burning, but not badly since it was parked under a sprinkler that had activated. It probably went off and triggered the fire alarm, we know hotel security/maintenance called it in originally.

I had some fun with the nozzle, putting out the fire around the front wheels. I was sent back to the truck to get a set of irons (haligan and flat-head axe). We used the haligan to pry open the hood enough to stick the end of the nozzle in and douse the engine. I went to the truck again to grab the K-12, the air was too poor for it to run originally. I got a lil saw-time and cut into the hood so we could open it and have better access to the motor.

We finally got the fire out and hammered a wooden wedge into the sprinkler head to nearly stop the water flow.

After picking up all our gear, reloading the hoses used, and everything else, we were on the call 3 hours.

We returned to the station, ate lunch and cleaned up, then went to the 2nd airpack class (2 classes a day). I was sitting between 2 goofballs and laughed my way through the class. Some things I really like about the new packs, some things I don't, and a couple I'm on the fence about. However, I greatly love and respect at least 1 of the guys that tested and recommended these airpacks, so I will give it a fair shot.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Too nice of a day



No calls to relay today. The weather was too beautiful when I got home from work so I cranked up my Harley and turned the wheels for a while. I didn't have anywhere to go or anyone to see either. Just me, my bike, and all the idiots in their cars.

It amazes me just how stupid people can be, you don't notice it as readily when you have 2000lbs of metal and safety systems around you either. When your safety system consists of little more than a helmet, your clothing, and your ability/awareness, you really pick up on things.

Of course, I was always taught to ride like I was invisible because nobody will see me. It's a good thing to remember too. Within the first 5 miles of riding, I had more than one vehicle do something stupid that I was able to avoid. Whether it be changing lanes too close/without looking or tailgating me, the idiots were out in force. I was able to dodge them without incident and put about 50 miles on the bike. Not as much as I'd hoped for, but it was time for rush hour and the weather is supposed to turn nasty tonight.

I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit of a fairweather rider. I don't like to ride if it's below 50 or wet out. I blame my dad for that too, since he's my usual riding partner and part of the reason I love riding. The other one at fault would be my grandad. I remember being really little and having to stay in the sidecar of his Goldwing because I was too small to ride behind him. We used to have a lot of fun cruising the mountain roads.

Anyways, I need to get together with the head of the PD's motorcycle unit someday soon. I've chatted with him many times and he extended the offer of teaching me some of the maneuvers they use. Anything to make me a better rider!

I'm not as good at it on my bike because of the work that was done to it, but I can do a pretty decent slow-ride. I'm getting more comfortable leaning deep in turns, and I've only gotten deep enough to scrape my boards twice (I caught one today making a somewhat quick turn onto the expressway). I've seen a lot of the cone courses PD has to run through, and wow, I really want to be that comfortable with riding.

--Edited to add picture of my bike

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Not much interesting has happened during any one shift lately. There have been calls that I've been procrastinating about writing up.

Went out on a female that attempted suicide by taking a LOT of narcotic pills (the legal/prescribed kind) and chasing them with vodka. She changed her mind and called 911. When we arrived, PD had the note she'd written, and we set to work on getting her loaded onto the stretcher. Quickly got IV access and pushed Narcan to perk her back up some.

Last I heard, they were going to pump her stomach and she'd probably not suffer any physical effects.


A couple days ago, as we're about to make our plates for dinner, we get toned out for a MVC with entrapment.

Here's what we find on arriving to the scene



The van's driver gave a couple different stories, but it looks like she stomped the gas pedal on accident. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. We hung around to watch the tow trucks separate and load the cars. We were mainly curious how they were going to handle the van.

We made it back, ate dinner, and didn't do much of anything the remainder of the shift.