Saturday, January 26, 2008

We rock.

I was a good little paramedic today. Actually, make that a damn good paramedic today. I saved a life. Yep, my friends, I, The Angel o' Death, saved one. Really and truly saved 'em. I pulled some great paramedic magic outta my ass and brought one back. So here's the story. Got called to a chest pain. Pt was sitting up, Talking, CAOx3. Looked fine, skin pink, warm and dry (we are all about skin condition). Tachy at 140s was our guesstimation. not working hard to breath, lungs clear, BP at 130/88. Got [the pt] out to the truck put [pt] on the 12 lead EKG (was c/o of CP pain earlier, now only generalized weakness). The EKG showed....VTach. The pt was so very stable, had a great blood pressure, no SOB, and was still sitting up talking. So I moved the 12 Lead stickers and started putting the defibrillator pads on [the pt] And started explaining that the heart was doing some funky things and that we are doing everything, but its going to be alot of stuff all at once....and that we might have to shock [pt]. I was gonna try to aviod the whole shocking thing and go with anti-arrythmics, but Versed and Cardioversion could work too. anyways... My partner starts working on an IV line and I hop over to the O2 cabinet to get a non-rebreather mask on [pt] As I'm doing that I'm also getting the hospital on the radio to let them know we are coming with a very stable but very much in VTach pt that I'm about to give Amniodarone to. Because at this point with [the pt] as stable as [pt] is, cardioversion is not first line. Until [the pt] looks at my partner and goes "I'm going to go unconscious" to which my partner responds "Are you really now?" Just as the pt flutters and in fact goes unresponsive. To which we both look up and see that [the pt] is now in V Fib. I now throw the radio mic down, mid sentance, grabed a BVM, threw that to my partner and then leaped over the pt, landing on the bench seat next to the monitor. I hit the charge button, looked up, CLEAR! and lit em' up. and then quietly prayed....please don't go into Asystole please don't go into asystole please don't go into asystole. Not Asystole...don;t know what it was...strange looking rhythm, but not asystole. [The pt] then opens eyes looks up and goes "I blacked out there for a second" Ah, no... darling you just DIED there for a second. But we saved you. The rest of the ride was uneventful. No more shocks, no more "I'm going unresponsive"s I made sure of it. [Pt] closed eyes for a second and I yelled, "Don't you be closing your eyes, you keep talking to me [M.P]!" Oh and hile all this is going on, I had forgtton all about the hospital I had on the radio, so I kept hearing "Last unit...advise...Last unit?" Sorry, Miracle Hospital, we were busy shocking our pt back to life. We got 'em back we are stable again. Here's what we have. ETA's less than 5mins. Any more questions/ orders?

So we rock today. My first day back after an 11 day vacation and my first call had to do actual paramedic work. Thinking like a real paramedic is hard. I love my job. I saved someone. We so rock.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OUTSTANDING job! You are an extraordinary medic. Some family has a loved one with them today instead of a funeral to plan because of YOU.

No

painter in hiding said...

Well because of US. I can't take all the credit, I had a great partner who helped and kept me from pinging too bad. Its always a joint effort. Or it should be.

David de Groot said...

Yep, you rock for sure :)

Anonymous said...

YES,you do so rock! Great save PIH. But why do you fear Asystole? Its only Bradycardia on a large scale, and you can fix that. ;p