Hitting the Streets

Last night was my first night out on the streets. It was quite interesting. We had 7 calls and stayed pretty busy.

1st call: Assault on a woman. Apparently she got in a fight with another gal. She definitely had a broken collar bone and a nasty abrasion to her back.

2nd call: Seizure.

3rd call: The patient and his friends were in a church parking lot. The patient puked and gasped while he was puking which made his friends think that he couldn't breathe. Upon arrival patient appeared to be fine. Patient did not want to be transported and signed a refusal.

4th call: Patient was released from the hospital on Friday. Pt was supposed to get his pain meds filled but "didn't have a ride". Therefore he called 911 because he needed a ride to the hospital to get his meds filled.

5th call: Elderly man complaining of dizziness. Let me just say that I have a soft spot for old people. Really, I do. This man was the most precious thing I've seen. He lives alone and has a little dog. He didn't want to leave until his friend came to pick up the dog. So cute!

6th call: Nastiest, grossest place I've ever been at. Chief complaint: seizure. Upon arrival we entered the residence to find food all over the floor, roaches on the walls and bugs everywhere. The patient was sitting on the floor and had just had a "seizure". However, he was not post ictal. Which made us immediately question the validity of the seizure. His wife was also at the residence and couldn't keep her mouth shut. Finally she said, "Look! He's about to have another seizure" and right on cue, the man farts, puffs out his cheeks to hold his breath and then shakes his fists. However, his core isn't shaking and neither are his legs. His pupils are equal, round and reactive. This was the funniest fake seizure I've ever seen. Then the wife proceeds to tell us exactly how much valium it takes for his seizures to stop and *gasp* it's an insanely high dose. Nice try. We transported him to the hospital and they told us to take him to triage instead of straight back to the treatment area. Five minutes later they were walking out the door and flipping us off for not giving them the meds. Thought you could pull a fast one on us, huh? Next time why don't you do some research on seizures and then maybe we'll believe you.

7th call: Gunshot wound to the upper thigh/hip area. Drive by. Upon arrival, she was cool, clammy and diaphoretic. Once we got her calmed down and into the truck she seemed to get better. I had to stabilize her leg and straddled the cot sitting on the foot of it the entire way to the hospital.

All in all, I had a great day. I got to do a little bit of driving and today I'll be driving all day. Yes, WITH the lights and sirens. Woo hoo! I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm sure I'll make it.