Another Night on the Town
I have 53 minutes left and counting down.
We had two calls at the same location, the first for someone feeling sick. I turned to Luis and said, "Another stimulating call." He had a chuckle out of that. I went off to join the crew and head off to a sick patient.
One thing you neve want to hear is a patient say, "I'm going to die."
There are a lot of things that elicit scorn and upraised eyebrows on EMTs; this is not one of them. Few patients actually state that they are going to die to be overdramatic; when a patient states that, we take it very seriously. We have had patients who came up with perfect stats and stated that. They made the trip to the hospital and then code in the ER, dead nearly immediately. Someone told me about a man whose wife called and said that he "didn't look right". They checked his vitals, all normal. He was laughing and talking and joking the entire ride to the hospital and Bob could hear them in the back as he drove. As he was backing into the hospital bay, he suddenly heard the EMT in back shaking the man and yelling his name.
The man suddenly turned bright red and was unresponsive. He was dead on arrival - an aortic anuerism, something always and immediately fatal. And all because his wife saw something that the rest of could not see.
People are so often deluded about many things. But, it seems, not about their death.
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One night recently I had a strange episode. Felt squeezing chest discomfort, my hands were clammy and my heart was racing. After a few of them, my son said I should call 911. I did. They came immediately, my neighbor even had to move my car because in addition to the ambulance and the paramedics was a fire truck. What service! Must have been a slow night in South Jersey. LOL
Anyhoo, by the time they gave me oxygen and checked vitals and hooked me up to the monitor, things were getting better and I declined a ride to the ER, signed the necessary paperwork and they advised to see my Doc for followup. Yesterday I did that. He wants me to see a cardiologist soon. I made an appt. for Wed. next week and they'll do assorted tests.
I'm just trying to keep relaxed about it all.