Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Rude Awakening

I wake up nearly every morning at around 0500. Whether I get out of bed or not is debatable but come Five AM I am awake. If I'm not due in at the firehouse I usually get up, hit the bathroom, check the weather report and go back to bed. If I have to work I shower and start my day.
When I'm at work, I wake up at about the same time and hit the laterine. Sometimes I'll check the weather or work out just to be up for the day. Occasionally I'll be really ambitious and start cleaning the ambulance and getting breakfast ready for the on coming crew.
My last tour I woke up, like clockwork with no pun intended and pulled on my boots to go downstairs and take a whiz. I'd been laying in bed for about fifteen minutes or so when I'd decided to give into the call of nature. It was one of those rare tours where we had a three man crew covering the house, myself, BT (station 1's lieutenant) and DG, a firefighter EMT. Downstairs there was a clattering sound like one of the screens on the outter windows had been torn loose and was swinging in the wind, so I pulled on my sweatshirt and didn't bother with a pair of socks, leaving my boots unzipped.
To get to the restroom, you need to walk through the front foyer, past the main entrance.
A guy in a denim work uniform emblazoned with a plumbing company logo was pounding for all he was worth on the front door, his brow damp with sweat and a grimace on his face.
"Shit," I muttered. At five in the morning his pounding on the door could herald nothing good.
When I let him in he blurted out. "My chest really hurts. I don't have my nitro. You guys have some, right?"
As I ushered him into the back of the ambulance he tells me he's had three heart attacks and this feels worse than his other ones. I pull a nitro out of the drug box and place it under his tongue. Then I hop upstairs to wake my crewmates up to get me some help.
We do a 12 lead and find elevations in V 3 and V 4. A 16 guage IV goes into his left AC and he gets another nitro tab before we pull out of the bay. He states his doctor's found a 75 to 80 per cent blockage on the right side of his heart and I catch a memory of the V 4 R technique my medic instructor beat into us in school.
I move the V 4 lead to his right side but find inconclusive evidence of a right side involvment. He gets another nitro with no relief so I move onto morphine and end up giving him the full 4mg before the pain lessens.
We transmit both EKGs to the hospital, surprsing them with the V 4 R.
From the time he banged on the door at the station to the time he was on the table in the cath lab was exactly forty one minutes. I should also point out that is with a brief pee break before starting transport.

1 Comments:

Blogger brendan said...

Jeez. You're lucky it wasn't the right side infarting. If he'd coded after that nitro, you never would've gotten your pee break. LOL :-p

1:21 AM  

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