Wild Goose Chase

Another busy day. BLS everything.

I did have a rather good call. Not one that took any skill-but it was very amusing.

We were called for a "psych eval" coming out of a nursing home/psych facility going to a hospital in downtown Chicago. I grabbed the clipboard and headed towards the nurses station. All was quiet. The nurse handed me the papers and said, "oh, he won't be a problem...he wants to go." Okay, that's good. The nurse pointed out a man in the hallway and said, "that's your patient." Okay. She yelled to him and he headed towards his room. She told him that we were here for him. That was all he needed to hear.

The yelling started..."I ain't going to no damn hospital! It's overcrowded....they'll have me sleeping in the hallway." He went to his room and the nurse got a few staff members and we headed towards the room. He was screaming and cursing. He was completely uncooperative-swinging at the nurses, and trying to spit in our faces. It took five guys to get him on the stretcher so that we could put four point restraints on him and get going. He yelled and cursed the whole way to the ambulance.

While we were walking down the hallway, I started to hear someone clapping. Then I distinctly heard that it was more than one person. There were at least 10 people who came out of their rooms with all the ruckus and started clapping when they realized he was leaving. By the time we got to the front door of the facility practically the entire place was cheering and clapping, yelling, "don't come back bozo!" and "have fun in Chicago!" I had never seen anything like it. It felt like I was in a creepy movie.

We got out to the rig and he calmed down a bit. He was still ranting and raving about not wanting to go to an overcrowded hospital and have to "sleep in the halls." Then he started yelling again, "this is all a stupid wild goose chase....just turn around....all my stuff is back there!" At about 30 second intervals he would yell at me (I was driving) to turn around and end this "Wild goose chase."

I could hear him cursing about the staff while I was driving. He said that the nurses are always drunk-drinking special Russian vodka, and that the place is run by communists. He got quiet for a couple minutes. I later learned that he was just muttering to himself the whole time. Then he yelled out, "You better not be taking me on a helicopter to Alaska!" My partner assured him that we wouldn't.

We got into the ER (38 miles later) and stood in the psych triage area. He was being rather loud again. Everybody was staring; I was just amused. Then he screamed, "I am going to f***ing wet myself!" Not even two seconds later, a Chicago firefighter walked out a patients room, walked up by the nurse that was triaging us, and asked, "where's the nearest bathroom?" The guy let out this huge sigh/growl. Both my parter and I were laughing so hard that we had tears streaming down our faces. The firefighter just looked at us like we were crazy. How ironic.

Then the guy continued on with his wild goose chase. We walked down the hall to the second set of registration cubicles to finish up the process, then headed for the elevators. The doors had just closed when the guy stated, "this sucks donkey dick!" I tried to cover my laugh because I was standing right in front of him, so I said, "I've never heard that one before." I think he thought it was really funny because then he said, "this sucks elephant dick!" We got him onto the psych floor, and out of restraints before he peed on my cot.

That call made the whole shift worth working.

Roaches

A bunch of BLS calls today. Nothing that great. Transfers, doctor appointments, surgeries, psychs. All the good stuff. I don't think I used any section of my brain whatsoever today. I went to a hospital on the west side of Chicago. I felt like I definitely needed a bullet proof vest. We had a couple hours of rest before they started kicking our asses again.

At 0300 we got a call to a home address for a patient going to Chicago for a surgery. I saw the address and realized that we were going to the ghetto. The caller gave the wrong road-they only spoke Spanish and minimal broken English. Oh well. We ended up finding the place, only it was much deeper into the southside than the address we thought we were going to. The last time I was in this area I was on a call for a multiple GSW-gang fight. I was hoping this would turn out okay.

I had to go the wrong way on a one way street to get to the building. It looked pretty gross from the outside, but we were in for a real treat. It took about 10 minutes of standing in the freezing cold for someone to come open the door after repeated beatings on it. I looked inside and realized just how bad it really was. The flooring was coming up, the paint was peeling off the walls, and the apartment numbers were written in spraypaint on the doors. The guy lead us up a creaking staircase with rotten wood that would sink with every step and threaten to swallow you up, to the second floor. He led us inside, past at least 8 sleeping people on an assortment of mattresses and couches to a bedroom where a man in his late 30s was lying in bed. Nobody spoke English. I introduced myself to our patient and out of the corner of my eye saw something move. I looked up and there were several cockroaches running up the wall. Eeew. I made note of it, but nobody else seemed to notice at all. My partner continued to speak with the family, and I walked back out to the rig to get the stair chair. I made my way back up the stairs, carefully avoiding one particular step that almost threw me down the staircase on the way down. It isn't completely attached and lurches forward when stepped on. I set the stair chair inside the apartment and put it together, making sure to tape the latch at the bottom for extra security. While I was doing that, a cockroach scuttled right past my knee. I was starting to feel sick.

We got the guy moved over to the stair chair, but there was only one problem. His legs were paralyzed, so he couldn't bend them properly, and his butt wouldn't sit on the chair enough. We made the decision to just go with it, so we strapped him in and made our way out of the room. Mind you, this whole time, the rooms have been rather dark because everyone was sleeping. One of the people in the apartment flipped on the light for us as we were leaving and no less than 20 cockroaches ran for cover into surrounding boxes, under couches, and no doubt, onto the people sleeping on those items.

It took us a few minutes to maneuver this man down the stairs because his legs were practically around my partners neck (he couldn't bend them). Then we transferred him onto the cot, into the ambulance, and we were on our way. The rest of the trip was, thankfully, uneventful.

We got a call almost as soon as we got back. A psych. No biggie. Ha, that's a good one. Our patient was a 15 year old kid that had to have weighed no less than 350 pounds. Great. I called dispatch for a lift assist, and was told that there was nobody. I made the kid walk to the ambulance. He was cool and was going for "depression" so I wasn't too worried. Before we even got to the psych facility, our pager and computer went off again with another page for a wait and return ultrasound. At this time I had already been held over for 30 minutes. We dropped off the psych and picked up our next patient. By this time it was almost 0900. My partner was supposed to pick her baby up at 0900, but our relief (that should have been there at 0800) was sent on an emergency call, and we never even saw them. We ended up getting a BLS crew to relieve us around 1000. Now I have bills to pay and a house to clean before I go back to work at 1700 at the firehouse.

Trapped

I accomplished next to nothing today. I visited with my grandparents in the morning. They came down from northern Wisconsin to visit. I was supposed to work on the house today, but I got so frustrated with everything that I thought for sure I would crack up if I even saw the house. So, instead I was a lazy slug for most of the day. They other several hours of the day I was in my car. Trapped. This, of course, has been the other 25% of my stress. My car is less than a year old, and has given me nothing but trouble in the last couple of weeks. It has gotten progressively worse-now to the point that I don't even try. The ignition has been sticking, forcing me to sit in my car until I can convince it to spit out my key. Damn it. The car has a mind of its own, and for some reason it doesn't realize that it is in park. The key sticks in the half-on position and holds the key, acting like it does if you try to stop the car when it is still in drive. So, needless to say, every time I tried to get out of my car, I would have to sit and wait 15 minutes (or more) until the car would give up its fight and hand over the keys. I think this is the most quality time I have spent with my car-ever. I was probably in the car, not including driving, for a couple hours cursing like a sailor. Someday, maybe I will have time to take it back to the dealership to get fixed before the warranty runs out.

I was ready to take a sledge hammer to the car when I finally got home, so instead of giving the car what it wanted, and waiting for it to give in, I simply took the remote off the keychain, threw a jacket over the steering wheel, and locked the keys in the car. Problem solved (unless, of course, somebody tries to break into my car).

Around 1900, when I was just starting to relax, I got a phone call from the fire house asking me to come in for shift. There was no medic on duty on the schedule, and nobody that was on the schedule (as firefighter, EMT, engineer, and officer) was a medic. I gave in. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I refused to come in, there was no medic, and something terrible happened. I dragged myself out of bed, into the shower, and to the firehouse. No calls. Absolutely nothing. I checked out the rig, watched part of a movie with the guys and hit the sack.

Diamonds

First call was from the ER directly to the cath lab at another hospital. She had a history of an angioplasty a few years back and also had a history of diabetes and hypertension. She was 28 years old. I was shocked when I realized how young she was. I noticed while we were chatting on the way to the hospital that there was something in her two front teeth. I looked a little closer and they were diamonds. I asked her and she said that she had her dentist implant them. I thought it was pretty wierd (for anybody to do that). She is so concerned with the appearance of her "grille," and yet she had B.O. and leg hair that was at least 1/4" long. Yuck. I don't think I will ever understand.

After that we took a lady to a women's center for premature labor.

We cleared up, just north of Chicago and grabbed some lunch. We were on our way back to the highway and dispatch keyed us up. They said they needed us on a priority to Lindenhurst, IL, which is at least 45 minutes to an hour away. So, needless to say, I flipped on my blink blinks, and turned on my woo woos and headed off. Of course we hit traffic, and construction. I had to take side roads to get to a different entrance, which was also in a construction zone. It took several minutes, but we made it onto the highway. There was a BLS crew on scene that brought the patient in the the facility. It was a wait and return MRI appointment. During the scan the patient started to have chest pain, so they wanted ALS to transport. Dispatch beeped us again and said that the crew wanted to call 911. We told them to go ahead-we were still about 15 minutes away. The called 911, but we were told to continue in; 911 would initiate care and we would transport. Of course, we got stuck in traffic again, and we were disregarded from the call about 5 minutes later. We were about 7 minutes from the scene. 911 was going to transport. I made it from just north of Chicago to southern Waukegan in 15 minutes. Scary.

We had a slow-ish evening. We still ran calls, but we weren't running like we usually do.

We got a call at 0100 for a transport to Milwaukee-a kidney transplant patient who was having complications and his body was starting to reject theorgan. The ER was super busy and it took a while to get the paperwork from the RN. We left around 0200. By the time we got to the hospital in Milwaukee it was just after 0300. There were two city ambulances in front of me running hot. We barely fit in the garage because they were so busy (it's a Level I trauma center). By the time we got back out, security had moved our rig to the front of the garage and six more rigs were inside. We had to move the rig outside to clean it because two more ambulances were waiting outside to get into the garage. Flight for Life was also there. I never got the story, but there must have been a bad accident.

We were home free by 0330 to head back south. One problem. The ramp we always use to get onto the highway was closed. I'm not too familiar with the area, we don't have Wisconsin maps in our rigs, and my dispatcher didn't know where to even look to find another way to get on the highway. We ended up pulling over at the police department and asking an officer. We just had to go up a few streets and over-there was another entrance. Whew. It started storming on the way home, but since I wasn't driving, I was more concerned with catching a few Zs. I think it was just after 0430 when we got back to quarters. A very long night.

At 0715 we got a call for a psych. We took her over without a problem. She overdosed on several different types of pills. The report from 911 said that when they got on scene she was foaming at the mouth. Nice.

By the time I got done with paperwork it was 0845. Late again.

Held over yet again

Another day at the firehouse. I started at 1200. We did house chores and then headed out to the bay. We proceeded to empty all three engines of all the hand tools (pike poles, halligans, axes, pry bars, sledges, etc), clean all of them with steel wool and cleaner, towel them off, then sand all the wooden handles and treat them with linseed oil. I'm glad I don't have to do that every day. I almost took my partner out with one of the pike poles because I thought it was a short one, but it was actually about three feet longer than I thought :). Oops.

We decided in the afternoon to do some district familiarization in the newer subdivisions and repeater roads. We were out until almost 1600.

I should have been off at 1700. I was just waiting for my relief when somebody asked who was covering for one of the guys that was on overtime at his full time department. Nobody was. Since I was the medic and the other guy coming on was only an EMT, I had to stay. Not a huge deal I guess, three more hours for me. We didn't run any calls. The only thing I missed out on was watching TV. Oh well.

I'm back at home now until 0800 tomorrow. Just enough time to do some laundry, straighten things up and try to get some sleep. My schedule is killing me recently. I have to work over time to pay for this stupid house. I had over a 60 hour stretch going until last night at 2000. I work a 24 tomorrow and I am off until Sunday night. Woohoo! I will be working at the house the whole weekend trying to get it in liveable condition. Wish me luck.

Pre-Connects

I worked at the firehouse today from 0800-1200 and then 1700-2000. No calls. We did some training around 1830. We practiced pulling pre-connects and having the newer engineers see if they can get water before the tank runs out with two lines running. Good times.

I am exhausted. I didn't do any calls, but I was cleaning all day. I'm ready to go to bed.

Psych City

First call was for a possible stroke. The lady had slurred speech and facial droop. The nurse said the speech was normal for her, but the drooping was new. The son noticed it yesterday. That's always nice. Other than that she checked out okay. We went priority to the ER on a "stroke alert."

We did mostly BLS bounces during the day. My youngest patient was 92 years old until the late evening.

One guy was a real cutie. He was in for a syncope. We took him out of the ER. He refused to be admitted because he said if he didn't get home his wife would die. So, eventually they let him return. He passed out because he has 100% blockage of one carotid artery and 25% of the other. He said he didn't want to get it fixed because he wants to go when his wife does. We got him back to his room at the nursing home, and as we walked in his wife's face got red and she teared up. She was really glad to have him back. I brought the cot into the hallway and my parter did paperwork as I remade the cot. I glanced back in the room and I saw the man walk over to his wife's bed, sit down and give her a big smooch. They had been married for 71 years.

Shift was downhill from there. All hell started to break loose in the evening.

We did psych after psych after psych. We didn't even wait for the hospital to call. We just headed back for the next one as soon as we cleared from the call. They kept us up almost all night. I think I just started to fall alseep around 0630. At 0715 they beeped us and told us we had one coming out. I figured it was just another bounce. Nope. It was going about 40 miles away. Thank God we convinced an oncoming crew to take the call because I had to work at 0800 at the firehouse. Whew. That could have been bad.

Easter Sunday

I got off at 0800. Ready to have a day off. I completely forgot that it is Easter today. I got home and called the church to get the times for the services. We decided on the 1200. I ran some errands in the morning and went to church. It was a really good service. I went out to brunch with my mom afterwards.

I worked at the firehouse from 1700-2000. A very boring night. We took out the trash and did dishes, then sat and waited for the tones to drop, which never did. I was hoping for a call to pass the time. Oh well. Now it is time for relaxation, seeing as I have to be back to the firehouse for a 24 tomorrow, then a 24 at the ambulance company on Tuesday. I am not off again until Wednesday at 0800 (hopefully).

Tardiness

I took the Hazmat test this morning. I think I actually did pretty well (third time's a charm :)). I got to work around 1030 at the ambulance company. I had one of the crew members from yesterday hang over until I got there. They hadn't done anything yet.

I wasn't working with my normal partner. She was at a baby shower until 1600. I fell asleep by 1100. I didn't wake up until 1600 when she got to the station. Yep. No calls. We went to our other headquarters to get our stuff set up. We were only there for about an hour or so. We got a call-a return to a nursing home. Nothing special.

We got back to quarters for a few hours and then got another call. Another return from the same ER to a nursing home. The guy was really tall and said he wore a size 18 shoe. He had to bend his knees so that we could close the ambulance doors. A couple minutes before we pulled into the nursing home, dispatch keyed us up to let us know that we had another call holding. It was for a psych that tried to escape the facility needing to be re-evaluated and medically cleared to return.

He was cooperative. We took him to the same ER that we had been taking people out of. All that was left was a bed in the hallway. They were really busy. There was a shooting-2 people shot. One was just shot in the foot, the other had one in the chest and one in the neck. I stood by the nurses station to hear the doctor give report report to the trauma hospital. He said that the patient had a hemo and pneumothorax, a bullet near the spine, and a bullet in his neck that may have lodged in the esophagus. The the doctor proceeds to say that that patient is "stable." I was hoping we wouldn't get the transport. He sure didn't sound stable to me. In the end the doctor at the trauma hospital requested flight for life and we got to go back to quarters.

Right before we left the ER I heard the secretary on the phone. The patient's mother (I don't know which GSW victim it was) called to inform the ER that someone called and left a message on her answering machine that they were coming back to "finish him off" at the hospital. That was my cue to get as far away as possible.

That was our last call. We got back to quarters and slept until 0730. The only thing that woke us up was our stupid pager misfiring. We get news, weather, etc. on the pager on a regular basis. It is sent to a separate inbox that doesn't set off the pager-we can just view it at our convenience. This pager was going pyscho. All these messages were being sent to our regular inbox that sets the pager off. So, starting around 0100 the pager was going off about every half hour with stupid news and entertainment. Grrr. Normally I would just turn it off, but some of the dispatchers choose to page us out and then call like 20 minutes later just to "make sure" that we are en route. Never a good thing, because that makes us late for the call. They limit our response time. It actually gets quite ridiculous.

For example:

2000: They page us for a transport out of the ER.

2008: We are finally en route after using the restroom, etc.

2009: Dispatch rips me a new one because we took too long

2010: We should be on scene by now, but instead I am still waiting in traffic a block away from where I started.

2012: Dispatch calls for our location, and to inform us that we are late.

2015: I hit the on scene button so that we aren't too late ( I am going 70 mph in a 35 to try to be a little less late, and so dispatch has less time to track me and realize I am, in fact, not on scene)

2017: I pull up to the hospital after feeling like I was in a high speed chase, not anywhere near on time

2019: I make it into the hospital and find the nurse to get the paperwork. The nurse isn't ready. She says she wasn't expecting us for at least 15 minutes. I wait.

2045: Still waiting. The nurse is copying the chart

2046: Dispatch calls to ask why we haven't left yet

2055: The patient is ready and I have the paperwork

2100: We're out the door

2103: We get a page informing us of our tardiness

2104: We are told that we have another call holding

2105: They put us en route to the second call before we even arrive at the nursing home to drop off the current patient.

2115: I turn over care to the nursing home staff and get my paperwork.

2116: Dispatch is calling again to inform me, that I am, in fact, late to another call, when I haven't even had a chance to clean my cot and get back in service.

Someday, a little lightbulb will go off in someone's head that this system ISN'T WORKING!!!

Anyways:
We get up and get out to the rig, which usually takes about 7 minutes unless it is an emergency call and we run outside. We are kept locked away on the second floor of an abandoned hospital and it takes a little while to wind down and around the halls and outside to the parking lot. Anyways, they give the hospital a 20 minute eta. We are supposed to be on scene 10 minutes before the given eta, so the page comes in at 2000, which means the pickup should be at 2020. We should be on scene, according to these times at 2010. With the 7 minutes to get outside, that gives us three minutes to get across town. Yeah, like that's going to happen.

Another thing that gets us completely screwed is that, depending on the dispatcher, our times will be different. Some dispatchers put us en route as soon as we tell them that we got the page. Others will wait until we get out to the rig and hit the computer screen in the rig. That is where they get us, because if we don't run down and hit that button and go en route, we are late. We are allotted only 5-7 minutes to get to the rig. This isn't quite enough if you have to use the restroom or button up your shirt (except in emergencies). Then they get you again because, even with the 7 minutes, and we are left with 3 minutes to get to the hospital, we get in trouble for being late. You get written up if you take more than 7 minutes to go en route on the computer, and no matter what we are late to the call at the ER because it is 2.9 miles to the hospital and there is always tons of traffic. Whatever, I can't ever win.

I figure maybe they will realize that it takes more than 3 minutes to get across town. Until they equip my rig with something that can make me fly across town, they will just have to deal with us being late.

Stand By

I worked on the house all day. There are no longer any interior walls except for the bathroom. Thank God I am finally getting somewhere! I am actually off all day today. It is an absolute miracle!

I didn't leave the house until around 1930. I got to the next town south and the tones dropped. (That figures) It was mutual aid to a town about 10 miles south for a grass fire at a state park. I saw the brush truck go by and an engine from a department in Wisconsin. Cool. I drove home, dropped off some stuff, picked up my uniform just in case, and headed back up north. I was on standby at the station for several hours.

I figured I would spend the time studying. My captain was also there and asked if I could hang out for a while because there wasn't a medic there (she was on the brush truck). I figured what the hell, I could use a good call. Yeah...we sat there for several hours studying and there weren't any calls. Oh well, at least I studied. I have my Hazmat test tomorrow morning.

Time for some good ol' sleep.

The Easter Bunny is real!

Today was a rather odd day. It was way too slow for a Wednesday. We did a psych transfer in the morning. It was for the same lady that I took yesterday with the fire department. I didn't even recognize her. Yesterday she was slumped over and had snot running all over the place. Today she was yelling and cursing, in 4-point restraints. She was so combative that the hospital's security actually followed behind us just in case she got out of hand. Then we could pull over and he could help. Yeah. She was okay for the ride over. The first thing I recognized was her name on the face sheet. She told me the last name yesterday, but the police officer told me that it wasn't her real name and gave me a different one. Her face sheet had her "fake" last name on it. The second thing I noticed was her clothes. They were in a belongings bag, and they were the same ones she was wearing yesterday when I picked her up. What a small world :)

Our second call didn't come until mid-afternoon. We got called for "abnormal labs." It wasn't even given as an emergency call, just a call going to the ER. We went non-priority to the nursing home. My partner spoke with the nurse as I got vitals, etc. The guy's blood pressure was only 87/50. I tried it on the other arm: 87/50...it was the same manually. Great. We did the entire ALS workup and headed towards the hospital. I was driving. By the time we got to the hospital, our patient's blood pressure was down to 70 systolic. A wierd call. Good thing they dispatched the call ALS.

Around 1900 we met five other crews at an ice cream place. We all parked in the back, turned all our radios to the same station and had a little get-together. You know how it works-it didn't last too long before a crew got a call...then another...then another. Eventually only the two shift crews were left, so we broke up the party. Good times though. It was still 70 degrees and sunny outside.

Back to quarters again for a few hours before we got another psych. This one came from a government facility. Nothing special. Just a routine transport.

Our final call didn't come in until 0720. I was supposed to get off at 0800. Damn it. This always happens. It was for a psych. We were late on the call as it was. Traffic was backed up something awful. I should have expected it because we were going south in the prime time for rush hour. Anyways, we got to the hospital about 10 minutes late. Another patient in restraints. What a way to end the shift. I really didn't read into the paperwork in the ER. I just made sure that we had the petition/certificate, etc. and was ready to go. The nurse handed me a belongings bag while my partner was getting the cot ready out in the hallway. Inside the bag was something covered in polka-dots and something white and furry. I looked at my partner and said, "what the hell is this? A bunny suit?" We both laughed and went into the room to get our patient moved over. She was relatively calm, so we decided not to put on the 4-points unless she got out of hand. We got the lady out to the rig, and as I was climbing in she asked, "can't we drive with the doors open?" I just shrugged it off. She would fade in and out. One minute she would be talking like a normal person, the next she would be talking to absolutely nobody. About two minutes later (and about every two minutes throughout the transport) she asked me, "Do you have my bunny suit?" I nearly choked when she said that. I just replied, "yes." The she asked me for her purse. I told her I couldn't let her have that until we got to the hospital. I had to hide my snickering because all I could think of was, "what does she carry in there? Carrots? I finally read her history after I realized that it was, in fact, a bunny outfit. The paperwork stated that she was wandering around a mall in the bunny suit muttering to herself. The police were notified, who then called rescue. I've got to give her some credit though. At least she was in the bunny suit and not dressed as Santa or something. She's got the right holiday in mind. When we got to the psych hospital she recognized one of the staff members from her previous stay. She told him, "I told you I would wear my bunny suit next time, but they wouldn't let me put it back on...I told you I'd show it to you, only I didn't think it would be this soon..." Nice. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall when she was brought in the ER. All I can envision are the scenes from the tv show ER around halloween where all sorts of crazy things were being wheeled in. Definitely worth being held over until 0930 for.

Realization

I realized today that I got a shitty house. I mean I knew it needed work, but come on! This sucks. Just about everything that could be wrong with a house is wrong with this one. I was thinking about just donating it to the fire house so we can do live burn training. Ha. That would be the day.

It seems like I will never get the place into good enough shape to actually live in it. Damn it. The only good thing I found out after tearing apart the ceiling is that my inner walls aren't load bearing. Only the outside walls are. So, basically, I am free to move any walls I want inside.

I would give all the details, but I am too upset right now. I might just break something.

Back up needed

Only two memorable calls today.

One was a basic return to a nursing home. The nurse in the ER left as soon as we got there-it was the end of her shift. We were told the name of the nursing home and given the address. Good enough for me-it matched what our dispatcher told us. We got to the nursing home and got inside. The staff said that it wasn't their patient. Great. We had to call dispatch and get things squared away. There is only other nursing home on the same road, and I figured they just gave us the wrong address. Sure enough, she belonged at the other nursing home. Nice.

We got dispatched for another call right after that for a psych at a group home. Our pager said, "possible restraints...aggressive." This should be fun. We got on scene and spoke with the caregiver. He said that this child (13 years old) broke the door off the porch, was breaking things around the house, and was threatening and hurting other children and staff. Our patient was sound asleep in bed. He didn't know he was going to the hospital. The caregiver expected me to wake the kid up, tell him I'm taking him away, and everything would be a-okay. Not. I told the caregiver that it was his responsibility to tell the kid that he was going, and I certainly wasn't about to get into this kids face and wake him up when he had been so destructive all day. Needless to say, the child refused to cooperate and we ended up call the police. After much convincing, and threats of being tackled by several officers, he walked out to the ambulance without a fight. He was good the entire ride. When we pulled up to the hospital there were several security guards and two workers off the psych floor waiting for us. I asked how they knew we were coming and they told me that they heard us over the police scanner. Good times. He did put up a fight once we got on the floor, and ended up in the quiet room and in restraints. Never a dull moment.

Rain, rain go away

I got off this morning at 0800. I had big plans for the day. I was going to work on the house-pulling ceiling and drywall. Yeah. It was pouring rain and extremely windy. A wasted day. Damn. I hate that because I don't have much time off and now I just lost a whole day. Oh well.

I worked tonight at 1700 until 2000. We did absolutely nothing. No calls. This is the first shift in a long time that I haven't run a call. I guess I have a nice relaxing evening of nothing to look forward to.

Neuroblastoma

Long day. We only did six calls. It felt like 20. We did a few BLS calls during the day. We also did an ALS MRI that took forever. The kid was 18 and had overdosed on heroin. Crazy.

We had a transfer going to a Children's hospital. It sounded like a routine call. We were dispatched for epistaxis. I got the whole story at the ER. We were taking an 8 year old boy with neuroblastoma. He was bleeding from his eyes, ears, and nose. My partner was in back. I drove on priority all the way to Milwaukee-60 miles. His nose was packed and his eyes and ears had stopped bleeding before we left the ER, and he rested comfortably for most of the ride. The boy really tugged at my heart. He said he was going to me a fireman when he grew up. When we got to the hospital we had to wait for a few minutes for a clean room close to the nurses station. We stood in the hallway. While we were waiting for the room he reached up to his ear and pulled back his finger. He looked at it and there was blood. He said in a tiny voice, "I'm scared." I could have broke down right there. He was so innocent and so scared. There was absolutely nothing I could say to comfort him. It really made me feel useless.

We did one more call-a return to a home address. Nothing good. Just a crabby old man that wanted to call a taxi, but couldn't because he was a paraplegic.

There's no place like home

Back at the house today. What a mess. I worked mostly in the yard. It was too nice to be stuck inside. I met some neighbors-all very nice. My next door neighbor actually brought his ride-on lawnmower over, mowed the lawn, then swept it, and then came over and fertilized it. He said he was excited that someone was finally cleaning up the place. The previous owner lived there for 8 years and never touched anything. Yeah for me.

A very long day. I almost regret buying the house. It is going to cost me a lot of money :(