The Itch

No... not THAT itch. Hanging around cops, medics and ER nurses makes the mind go to the gutter pretty fast. I'm STILL fucking sick, hence the non-psycho patient posts. I've been watching movies on the TV, TV shows on the computer and hacking my lungs out in the process.

I've got the itch to go somewhere again. I know I've just gotten back from vacation... twice, but if I don't have *something* in the works I start to go a little stir crazy. It doesn't help that 29 the sequel is looming next week and the Caribbean Travel magazine the cop bought me is staring from the floor.

Sick

One of the pilots gave me the creeping crud. We were flying with wondermedic and the pilot had the hacking cough and a sore throat. I flew feeling crappy last weekend. NOT a good idea. My ears were hurting and flying to altitude didn't help, my ears weren't popping.

Of course I get this shit right before I have 4 days off from the busy base. The cop cancelled the cable (it was expensive... plus we only have 1 TV anyway)so I have spent the past 2 1/2 days watching movies and playing on the computer. I'm determined to be better by tonight since we have dinner reservations.

I was actually offered a "long term transfer" of almost a year and a half to the busy base. My answer, "no thank you very much." The drive alone is killing me, plus its not my community that I'm helping and while the crews up there are nice, its not the same. Our shift starts at 7am. Throughout my nursing career I learned that you don't get there AT 7am/pm or whenever your shift starts. You get there early, that way the person you are relieving can go home on time. Its a courtesy that (you hope) is returned. This is even more important when you fly since a 645 flight can ruin the rest of your day. You may not get home until noon depending on how far you have to go. At my base we generally get there about 45 minutes early, but we don't get a ton of flights, so the chances of getting"stuck" are not that great. At the busy base, I still show up early. Its a combination of that same theory, plus the fact that I drive two hours to get there and don't want to get stuck in traffic. The rest of the crew shows up at 7, or as late as 720... pretty much whenever they feel like it. So the chances of getting fucked over with a late flight are pretty good. I am waiting to be up, packed and ready to head home and to get stuck going on a flight (possibly out of state... since we get those from time to time). Trust me..... I may not be welcome back after I comment on that situation.

My (home) base flew a 4 year old with 85% 2-3rd degree burns the other morning. What the hell she was doing at 4am with a lighter and gasoline in a bedroom we may never know. The medics who flew her said it was not a pretty scene.

The C Word

There is a word I don't use. Most women find it offensive (as do I). On the extremely rare instance that the thought even crosses my mind it has to be a pretty extreme situation. So yesterday I flew with a new flight medic that was in the same academy as I was. He seemed nice enough, but as we learned, is married to a really psychotic girl. For example, if he doesn't answer his phone then she will start calling our communications until she hears from him. I made the mistake of emailing him on his birthday to say....(what else) Happy Birthday. I received an email from him about my "unprofessional" email (birthdays aren't professional I guess) 2 emails from his psycho wife and 2 voice messages from the psycho wife. Obviously he thought giving her my info was a good idea. This was back in December, so imagine my joy after waking at 3, driving for 2 hours and showing up to the busy base and he is covering the day shift. Ugh.....


I remained professional, but didn't say much. He proceeded to describe what a great time he was having at his base, all of the great flights that he has done etc etc. I really don't give two shits what his experience is..... you are married to the C word and are lucky that I didn't kick your ass (or let the cop do so) when you gave her my contact info. Sometimes I just want to get on FredricksofHollywood.com or a sex toy web site and send him catalogs. I think that would truly send her over the edge! (but I'm too nice for that!)

We did 3 flights together. All in all, I was not impressed. Maybe I'm a little more of a Type B personality, but I don't have to be "in charge" all the time and I would really rather look at the big picture rather than micro-manage. Whoooo-Saaaaa!!!

We flew a AAA that was hypertensive and had that "I'm about the rupture and die" look. There was an 18 month old in respiratory distress. This kid was looking shitty too....like he was starting to get tired and might buy a tube. In some cases, when the mom is a calming influence I will let them fly too. This mom admitted up front that she is scared of planes (much less a damn helicopter), but supermedic decided to bring her along. She spent the flight with her head in her hands, rocking back and forth. I had to keep the oxygen mask on jr. and wake him up when he started to drop his oxygen saturations as well as keep mom from having a full blown panic attack. Yeah, this didn't impress me. Our last flight I was to be "in charge." A man was working in a granite factory (they make those granite counters) and was crushed by a 1,000lb slab. He was awake and had been extricated when we got to him. Surprisingly, he was doing pretty well. Unfortunately, WonderMedic got to the ambulance first and decided he was going to run the show. The back of the ambulance is not the place for a pissing contest, so (type B me) rolled with it. He apologized later.... but I got the last laugh. You have to do the chart Buddy!! Haha!!!!!

The final 2 patients of the night were both with the night medic who has been a rock star to work with. He is very patient and has accepted my learning curve as both a new flight nurse and a new person to this base. We did 2 intubated head bleeds on multiple drips. Very much down my alley after the time in NeuroICU. One poor woman had been down for God knows how long, had vomited, aspirated and had an MI (in addition to her head bleed) all prior to her family getting home and finding her. She was on Neosynepherine, Dopamine and Levophed and still had pressures in the shitter. (for you non-medical folks out there.... thats BAD despite the Tiger Woods, Shaq and Lance Armstrong of all "get your bp up meds")

The receiving nurse was unthrilled with the whole situation and went off on us, though we are still not sure why. She kept using "this patient." How and I supposed to take care of "this patient" without a vent in the room? (well, she is on ours right now!) Do you even know where "this patient's" family is for consent? (yeah lady, all 20 of them are in your waiting room) Why is "this patient" on all these pressors? (cuz her pressure sucks) Why is "this patient" seatbelted so tight? (WE FLY IN THE AIR LADY!!! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!)

Ok, so I dropped the C word in the elevator on the way out. The medic nearly peed himself and the tech gave me a high five.

I still hate that word.

Stupid drunks...again

I am NOT a computer person. When we upgraded the laptop all I wanted was to be able to shop and check my email. The folks who can take a simple blog and make it awesome with both content and style have my envy. I haven't blogrolled simply because I don't know how and the last time I tried very strange things happened. That being said... I decided that I was gonna try a little music on this thing. 2 hours later this is what we have. Like it Hate it Let me know... before I forget how to make it go away!!!

Things have been better. We remember our friends and colleagues but the show inevitably goes on. Flying at the "busy base" is just that, BUSY. I have to wake up at 3am to get out the door by 415. Traffic pending I get there at about 630. Just in time to get my stuff inside, grab a cup of coffee and start to get settled. Even then we may get a flight right off the bat and thus begins another day. The added bonus is that I have to go to bed BEFORE 9pm in order to get up at 3. We have flown either 3 or 4 times each day, but the flight times have been between 5 and 10 minutes.

It never ceases to amaze me what a drunk can do. We were sent on an "unknown" scene, landed in an elementary school soccer field to meet the ambulance. Drunk man was riding a bicycle, managed to gain enough speed to go flying through a plate-glass storefront. Now a long long time ago I mentioned these glass windows and how it would benefit one to go through backwards. Drunk dude doesn't keep up with his blogs, I guess. He went arms first through the window and managed to slice his ulnar artery. He proceeded to bleed like stink all over the back of the ambulance, the soccer field and the aircraft... all the way to the hospital. The tourniquet (a bp cuff inflated to 120) finally staunched the flow, but it started back up as soon as we dropped it below 100. Essentially a big fucking mess. I know he was enroute to the OR as I was having the aircraft stretcher powerwashed.

There were others... but nothing of note. We did land in a Home Depot parking lot with police everywhere for a stabbing... fun fun. That's why we don't deal drugs kiddos. I doubt a trauma dressing falls under the 101 uses for duct tape, but I could have used some! We also had the pleasure of buzzing a concert in progress. My apologies to Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.... maybe they waved back.

Off today and tomorrow... but going to bed before sunset tomorrow so I can get up at the ass crack again! 6 more shifts up there!

416PH

This is going to be short. I made it home safely. Weather and trip was beautiful, will give details later. I received a phone call this morning from my base manager that we (my company) lost a crew/aircraft this morning. Med 12 was out of College Station Texas. They flew in the same model aircraft as I do. I know some folks in TX, but not at this base. This has been a sad day. My mom is (understandably) freaked out and the cop is tolerating the non-stop phone calls.

Please take a moment and remember these brave, selfless individuals. You can read what we, their peers, colleagues and those impacted by this crew have to say in memoriam at www.flightweb.com

I will post again when things have settled and I am in a lighter mood. Thanks...