Dark and Stormy Night

Tonight it raining hard and most people are safe at home watching football. Then there are exceptions like the woman who called 911 three times within the hour. First, she reported a man with a broken neck on the bike path. Of course, that is pretty unlikely, but we still had to spend twenty minutes hiking down the path in the driving rain. The second time she called, she reported that the man was now floating face down in the canal. That too is bad, so we spend thirty minutes slogging through the wet grass and frightening the sleepy ducks. We then looked for the caller with no success.

On returning to the station, I decided to walk over to the dispatch center and see what else I could find out or probably to be more honest...make sure that they knew that this was a police problem and NOT a fire department problem.

In dispatch, I found the staff discussing that the police had found the "body". He was walking around in Taco Bell and the woman who kept calling was looking for him in Shari's Restaurant. Truly...it WAS a police problem.

Career Firsts

After almost 20 years as a firefighter, I often feel that most of the calls we run are so routine as to almost be boring most days. So it was quite a shock to find that I have had four "never before in my career" experiences in about one week.

It all started with the horse being ejected from the trailer (see last post). Then the weirdness continued...

#2 - We have always said that if you have a panic attack, start hyperventilating, and do nothing to correct the situation, eventually you will pass out and your body will correct the problem for you. Well, that had been somewhat theoretical in my mind up to the point we were dispatched to a 24 year old woman who actually breathed so rapidly for so long that she did pass out. All was well as her body "rested" and was allowing the carbon dioxide levels to built up to a normal level. Of course, while this was happening, her body had no desire to breath...so the husband called 911, received CPR instruction, and started crunching on her chest. We arrived just in time to have her somewhat wake up only to get startled by the firefighters and the pain in chest. This caused the panic, rapid breathing, passing out, etc. for another cycle or two until she finally calmed down and was transported for a bruised chest.

#3 - While working at the airport station, life is mostly a slow, somewhat boring routine. At least, usually it is that way. On occasion, we are tapped out on time trials, which consist of dashing out with our truck, spraying some water, and satisfying the FAA requirements. When the tones went off last week, it was one of the time trials again...or so I thought. Actually, it was a small airplane with its engine on fire. Although it was a fairly small fire and I was able to put it out with a hand extinguisher, it was one of those calls that most people go their whole careers without actually having an aircraft fire.

#4 - They say things come in groups of three. With that in mind, I would have preferred not to add this one to the list of career firsts. It all started with a routine respiratory distress call. As the house was rather cluttered, I was crouched down by the couch, sorting through the patient's medications, and typing up the report on the laptop. All was going well until someone opened the back door. Suddenly there was a small bulldog prancing on my keyboard and barking in my face. I immediately closed the lid on the laptop to protect the keys, just in time to have a family member reach over the couch to grab the dog. Apparently, this was like squeezing a lemon because the dog promptly urinated all over my paperwork, clipboard, and everything else in the vicinity. Like I said, could have gone the rest of my career with out this particular experience!

A Horse of Course

Last shift at about noon we were dispatched to a motor vehicle accident on the freeway near our station. Enroute, we learned that a horse was involved. Already, we were thinking this was going to be a issue, since horses and freeway traffic do not mix so well socially. When we arrived we found that no humans were hurt, but a horse trailer has come unhooked from the pickup, swapped ends, backed into the concrete barrier, and ejected a horse out the back. The horse was lying at the back of the trailer with flailing feet beneath the trailer. I took one look at the wild eyes and decided that we were going to have a problem when that horse finally got to it's feet and ran out into the heavy freeway traffic going by on the blind corner.

As luck would have it, a veterinarian was on scene within minutes. He was a little guy, but he just reached down, grabbed a handful of mane, and dragged the horse out from under the trailer. He then sedated the other horse in the trailer that was about to come uncorked. Within a few minutes the horse on the ground slowly stood up on three feet, gradually shifted weight onto the fourth leg, and decided that the experience of crashing on the freeway was something not to be repeated. The horse inside the trailer calmed down and was led out on the shoulder of the freeway. A few minutes later, the horses calmly were led to the nearest exit, boarded another trailer, and continued their much interupted journey.

Diagnostic Insight

Sometimes when trying to diagnose a medical problem or complaint, one must use all of the experience, tack, insight, and training you can muster. Such was the case the other day when my firefighter/paramedic Mike was dispatched to a seemingly routine chest pain call at a nursing home.

Old ladies are somewhat like young children - they do some interesting things and use somewhat obscure logic on which to base their actions. This came into play as Mike tried to determine the nature of this lady's chest pain. Since some cardiac problems are brought about by exertion, he asked what she had be doing that day. "Shopping" was her short answer. After he did a bit more of the exam, he determined that her chest was actually very painful to pressure. This pretty much rules out cardiac problems as the source of the pain...and leads to muscle or skeletal issues.

So - next question he asks is "What did you buy?" thinking that she might have bought a large item like a vacuum cleaner or something that strained her ancient frame. No, she said - just a bra.

At that point, Mike summoned the staff nurse and quietly asked for her to unhook the old lady's bra in the back. Immediately, the old lady exclaims, "Wow! All my chest pain just went away!"

And You Think YOU are Having a Bad Day?

A few shifts ago we were sitting in the station drinking our morning coffee and waiting for something exciting to happen. At that point, the tones went off and we were dispatched to a pedestrian vs. auto. Usually, this is of some significant concern (mostly for the victim) but since this was in a small parking lot, we immediately assumed this was probably some minor scrapes and bruises sort of call.

As we arrived, I saw a well-dressed 60 year old lady lying on her back in the middle of the parking lot. Not so much unusual about that, until I noticed and very distinct tire track that ran diagonal from shoulder to hip. And yes...she had been ran over by her own vehicle (Ford Escape) as she tried to stop it from rolling as she forgot to set the brake.

The long and short of the story is that she was really was not hurt badly. Since in my assessment, she had some built-in "padding", the vehicle caused some bruising and broken skin, but really not much beyond that. In the end, as she was trying to straighten her wig, I realized her dignity was probably bruised almost as much as her body.