10.24.2005

can't make this shit up

i just got off a 72 hr shift at the ambulance this morning. friday morning to monday morning. this had to be the strangest shift i've ever worked (and thats saying a lot.)
friday...
friday night i went on a call where a 12 year old kid rode his bicycle off the cement dock in the harbor and landed on a smaller wooden dock below that raises and lowers with the tide. the tide was extremely low, so the dock sat about 25 feet lower then the main dock. the kid hit the wooden dock so hard he was knocked unconscious and fell into the water. luckily, some fisherman saw the whole thing and jumped into the water and pulled the kid onto the smaller wooden dock.
when i arrived the kid was still on the lower dock, unconscious, but breathing. there was no way to get onto the lower dock as there is no ladder or stairway. i had the local fire department rig some ropes up so i could repel down to the kid. needless to say i don't have much repelling experience, so i f'ed up my arm on a rusty, barnacle ridden metal pole while trying to get to the kid (on reflection i probably should have gotten a tetanus shot afterward.) anyway, the kid was seriously injured with a broken pelvis with a distended, rigid abdomen. we had a boat come and take the kid and myself back to land and on to the hospital. the kid was quite combative, so treatment was tricky. he kept trying to take off his c-collar and pull out his IV's. the kid was flown away and fixed.
on to saturday...
we were called to a dirt-bag hotel for a man not breathing from an assault. when we arrived there was a man detained by police and a very dead-looking dude in a small hotel room. apparently the dude was being choked-out in a head lock by the other guy when the cops arrived. we tried to revive the guy and shocked him a few times, but he did not make it (obviously.) so now i have to deal with some homocide bs. hopefully i won't have to testify to anything. i estimated the guys age to be 40 and my partner thought mid-40's, but we later found out that homeboy was only 23! meth and the dirt-bag lifestyle had definaltely taken their tolls.
sunday funday...
last night we went to a house with police on scene where a guy was stabbed by his girlfirend with a 5 inch long serrated steak knike. all the way to the hilt in the dude's abdomen. this guy needed immediate medical attention, but waited 3 hours to call 911, and when we arrived he didn't want to fo to the hospital. we finally convinced him to go, but it took a while. amazingly the guy was fine.
i went on numerous other calls too, but these were the highlights. got some good workouts in on the trainer this weekend too. i'm racing up in portland again this weekend. pics and a report will follow.
-brooks

3 comments:

Lars said...

Those are some sweet calls. That kid was a huge dumbdass. Now that I mention it all of those characters were huge dumbasses. Nice work saving his ass by rope though. Is there any way for you to get EMS rope lessons? Lars

Lane said...

do you receive hazard pay?

Brian said...

Why couldn't we have gone on cool calls like that during my ride-along?