Sunday Update

Its been a rough week- and I'm exhausted. I worked myself silly this week, building up stamina and making loads of progress. Monday going to the gas station to buy coffee wore me out. Tuesday I walked the library. Wednesday it was Wal-Mart. Thursday I was exhausted- screaming kids and family drama. By Friday I was tired, but couldn't sleep, between then and Saturday I only slept an hour.

Finally I had an idea. Lortab makes me sick, phenergren is on my hate list and Ive only been on tylenol. BUT I did have some ultram. Switched to that last night, pain was gone and I slept 10 hours, with Officer Bubba having alarms set every 4 hours and waking me up to take meds.

I feel better now, but know I need to catch up more, which is what I plan to do.

The stitches are pink and itchy, an excellent sign, or so I'm told. I have a follow up appointment on Tuesday, maybe it'll bring good news.

I Love my Dad -A Thanksgiving Funny

Let me tell you how awesome my dad is. We had extended family over, which includes a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old. Both we are not familiar with our family at all. They are also girly girls.
During dinner it was the usual battle with young children to eat, so my dad offered to help.

"I don't like chicken!" The 3-year-old said.

"Oh its not chicken." My dad said. "Its big bird."

Her eyes got huge then squinted. 'Nuh-uh.' She retorted. But dad wasn't gonna give up, he set down his fork then smiled at Kanoosh (my little bro), Officer Bubba and I.

"It is!" He exclaimed. "Kanoosh and I hunted him down last week. He jumped on his back, knocked him unconscious and then I clubbed him like a baby seal."

"Oh my!" Grandma chimed in, nearly more horrified than the 3-year-old as she too now stared in awe at this great tale.

This caused me to shoot my coke out my nose and all over my clean shirt. Kanoosh has lost control and is choking on his green beans and Bubba is trying to hide his laugh while I regain composure.

"MOM!" the 3-year-old yelled. "Is this big bird?"

"Yep hunny, turkey is a big bird." her mom replied, apparently not paying attention.

"Told ya so." Dad said, taking a big bite of turkey. "Feathers are in the garage if you don't believe me."

She was very well behaved after that...and quiet.

Wednesday Photos

The more I see my battle scars the more iffy I get about my emotions towards them. On one hand, I think they are awesome. On the other, not so much. Im working on getting the surgical graffiti off but I'm not allowed to scrub or rub, so its difficult.

Great part is that I have a huge pain tolerance, which is great since the narcotics make me ill. My life is planned around pain meds and it sucks. Im not fond of feeling 80 and clock watching.

However, my body responds to pain by making me nauseated- the same effect the narcs give me. Guess what I was up doing last night?


Happy Turkey Day,

Monday

Hey folks, Dani here. im one handed and medicated so ill make this short but i wanted to thank everyone for the comments and well wishes- it means alot to me!

So far its been a rough ride. They had problems with my lack of blood clotting and had to give extra meds. The injury was a 100% closed dislocation and a 360 degree labrial repair, a total of a 5 and a half hour surgery. Pretty freakin intense if you ask me.

Having not held anything down for 24 hours we were sent back on sunday for more meds and an IV. That was scary- the cheif anesthesiologist couldnt get a vein at all! Finally he found a deep one and a got meds,which got me til last night- thankfully i got to sleep and drink, which was excellent.

My future sister in law pulled the block for me last night while i slept and today has been simple pain control. Pain sucks, but its not as bad as I thought. Today I got to take the dressings off and shower- it was heavenly.

The photo is of three of my seven incisions. The most is four stitches on an incision. Now hello kitty bandages cover it up.

Other than that there is nothing to report. Hope yall are doing great!

update time

this morning dani went to the hospital again she wasnt feeling very well and was throwing up like crazy. she was dehydrated and was givin an IV as well as some anti nausea pills. as soon as she got home she took a very long nap witch was good. sense she didnt get much the night befor. she slept for most of today and is doing much better than last night. we are waiting for her bupivcane block to finish so we can take it out.

more updates soon to come. cadet bubba

post-op

Hey every one this is Cadet Bubba. Just giving an update on Dani after her surgery. She had a 360 degree labrium tear. As well as a 100 percent dislocation. The surgery took 5 hours for the doc. to complete. they gave her a bupivcane block. witch has numbed her whole arm. and she isn't very happy about it. first night of sleep was a little rough. but she has taken a few naps and is doing a little better.

Q & A Day Answered

Sophie asked:
Where do you live?

Dani answers:
Hahaha. I've gotten this one a few times before. I will NOT give up my location. The banner is from a city I once lived in, not one that I am living in now.

Jeremy asked:
Where do you get inspiration for the blog?

Dani answers:
Honestly- before I clock in I pretend my life is a show worth watching. I think about how all the episodes of television shows have themes, and then I pay attention to my colleagues and patients. At that point it unfolds. If I am at a loss but know a topic- I pull from a once-upon-a-time patient.
Music is another huge inspiration. When I get up in the mornings I turn on CMT or GAC (yep, I'm a hick) and if a song catches my eye and my ears then I'll keep listening. Every now and then a song makes you cry, or feel strong, or even both. Thats when I post the lyrics on the sidebar. Those help me out when I re-read the blog, seeing the lyrics that got me through.

Justmyblog asked:
What is your opinion of using a Sager on a open femur fracture vs. a closed one.

Dani answers:
I'm sorry, what? I'm a CNA and an EMT-B...and I couldn't even google an image of this thing to make sure I wasn't missing something. Oh, and to top it off, I'm Blondie and left handed. Sorry to be useless with that one.

TEMTI asked:
What inspired you to create the blog?

Dani answers:
Actually my best friend. I have been through a hell of a year, and I was sitting outside the campus in march, pouting a little bit about how frustrated I was. I worked at one unit, was looking for another and am legally too young to work as an EMT. There are only about 3 of us who continued on with EMS, one is a firefighter in a small town and the other is an ER tech at a local hospital. Sadly, me working an ortho unit is the next best thing to working EMS. Everyone else gave up.
He read Peter Canning's books, 'Paramedic' and started his own blog. He gave me the link and asked me to read it and I agreed. I thought the idea was fantastic. Suddenly I started my own. He didn't get past one post before deleting it. I kept writing. Suddenly, the blog bloomed.

Kanoosh asks:
What do you like about your job? What do you hate about it?

Dani answers:
Good question!
A) I love the people, namely on the ortho unit. The patients are so awesome, always so nice, funny, polite, and even if their not, their still great! The staff is incredible, its definitely a family and I love being a part of it. I also love that they let me learn, I've been in on surgeries, I've seen scans and radiology reports and surgical images. Its been an amazing job.
B) I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE feeling like I'm working a care center. When I have 4 patients and all of them are dying, have brief changes every 5 minutes and are mean, ICK! In care centers the residents are sweet, in hospitals- ACK!

Archie asks:
What do you hope will come from this blog?

Dani answers:
Honestly I hope to take my best-of posts and turn it into a small book. I would love to turn this into something more for myself and my readers. I hope that somehow, someday I will have inspired someone to keep going in medicine, to start a career, or to wait another year before quitting. I hope that one day I can go into Barnes and noble and see one copy of my book on the shelf and smile, even if my mother is the only one who buys it.

Time to Burn

If you have time to burn, I found a funny website. It is called faceinhole.com. You add your photo to any scene and ta-da! You've become famous. I've added two of the ones I did yesterday.

Scared. Worried. But Ok.

Last night was offically my last shift for the next 12 weeks. After that I am going to become an 'assistant' and do all the paperwork and such that the charges can't keep up with. It was an easy shift- all great patients who needed no lifts or special care. My problem was that I did some lifts and today I am hurting.

At this point I have accepted that I will be having surgery. I have also accepted the fact that its for a good reason. When Im awake only 3 hours and immediately need pain meds, it's a good thing. Somehow within he last few weeks it must have damaged more, but I'm gonna fix it.

Yep, I'm still terrified. I am still scared, but its not as bad. The fear of my boss seeing me naked isn't as bad. My catherter is in when I am out and is removed before I wake up. My bupivicane block will prevent pain for the first few days.

On the day of surgery I have asked that my fiance post for me. I may wake up early and post something. He will post photos, updates, and anything else he sees fit. I will see it all later on, so don't be afraid to comment or e-mail! As soon as I am used to the heavy narcs and can see straight (lortab makes me fuzzy) I will post again.

Until then guys, BSI

One of my Last Shifts

He whimpered softly, being a man of only few words as he reached out and grabbed my hand. I took his hand and held it, letting his mind focus on that instead of the pain. We sat there quietly and after a moment I took the side rail down and sat on the edge of the bed.

The nurse came in and gave him his meds, as I let go to leave he whimpered again. Words didn't need to be said as I turned on my heel and returned to that exact same spot. He sighed in relief as he reached out his hand again, and I took it. The sound of the television drown out all the noise from the plexi-pulse boots, the IV pump and the pulse ox. His eyes stared at the television until they got incredibly heavy, and finally he dosed off to sleep.

"You're an old school kind of aide." My replacement tells me. I had been training her all night to do my job, however she had been an aide for almost as long as I have. I nodded my head, knowing full well I was not the norm nowadays when it comes to aides.

Her patient was on the call light every three minutes, with complaints like 'my pillow hurts', 'fix my ipod', 'talk to me, i cant sleep' and even inappropriate questions like, 'what does an orgasm feel like?' We both sighed at it. It felt as if we were working peds instead of an adult unit. However, she was incredibly patient with her and finally gotten her settled, so we hope.

The night flew by so incredibly fast. I watched it sadly. This wasn't my last shift at the hospital, but it was the last one at my favorite unit. Bitterly I sighed as it hit 6 a.m. One hour left to go.

The call light from my replacements patient continued to go off roughly every three minutes. I sighed and shook my head and tried to help her answer the call, but she wouldn't allow me in there, promising me that if I was seen, I wouldn't get out of there before 10 a.m.

The day shift came in and waited to get report. The night had been spent talking, exchanging funny medical stories and our thoughts on everything from kids to Obama. I let the replacement give report on our three patients, and then waited quietly. Everyone else was doing their own thing, and in this small family everyone was always so sweet and knew what was going on in every ones lives. I waited for my nurse to return so I could say goodbye- I wouldn't see them until Feburary 10th at least- but she never did.


I said my goodbyes, but no one said anything in return. I left quietly, the weight of the world on my shoulders, worried about my patients, my replacements and my surgery.


Two nights have passed and I don't sleep anymore. I sneak out of bed in the middle of the night and watch the snow fall quietly outside. I bundle up in my pajama pants and my blankets, turning on medical shows and movies, trying to drown out the worry. All of it is unsuccessful.

I'll be doing everything so much slower, but I'll have time to do it slower. I'm ordered to a immobilizing sling for 6 weeks. I'm not allowed to lift over 2 lbs for 12 weeks. I return to work and can only lift things under 10 lbs. Impossible for an aide. I worry about work- will they fire me when I can't keep up? Will they work with me? I worry about my mental health- 12 weeks not doing anything is a long time. 6 weeks in a sling- not being able to do anything will drive me insane! Yet I just keep trying to calm myself down. I listen to bagpipes and world tunes, singing loudly to German melodies and relaxing to Hawaiian songs. We go for car rides every day, letting the road run over my stress.

This is for a reason - this is so that I can qualify the fitness portion of Paramedic school. This is so that I can keep going on with my life. Without it I won't be able to lift babies out of a crib, let alone patients into an ambulance. Without it I would be disabled in less than three years. With it, and alot of P.T. I will be in the best shape of my life, because for the first time in five years, I won't be babying a large injury.

I just gotta keep reminding myself that.

Wanna Chat?

Ever wanted to chat with me? Well I finally got this blog an IM account!

emtdani@hotmail.com

Hope to hear from you soon!

Q & A Day

I got nothin.

I can't think of a damn thing to write about, so I figured today would be a great Q & A day. Got question's about life, the blog, advice, etc? Comment below and shoot me an e-mail. I'll answer your questions and post them later on this week!

An Update

Hindsight is always 20/20. Well, i am not VERY glad I scheduled the surgery when I did. The last few days have been so exceptionally hard- I have been unable to lift my arm most days, like today and when I sleep the shoulder dislocates, so when I wake up I am swollen and puffy. Today I had to call in to work sick just so I could take my ultram. Still hasn't knocked the pain out- but if I get a perscription for any narcs this soon- it will compromise my ability to get some later.

Surgery is approved- I am now on the schedule. Nov 20th is the big day. I will have Officer Bubba post a couple updates during that time- so let me know now and comment then on the info you want to know- if anything. I will be out of work until Feburary...so posting may be very boring.

Until then medibloggers- BSI!

Y'all are gonna kill me for sayin this...

But this weeks episode of Trauma was actually really good. Not alot of errors, and those that they had were forgivable. Alot of good character scenes and funny one liners.. I LOVED the crazy psych patient that kept conducting music. I have had my share of psych and they hit the nail on the head.

If they kept the series going in the direction it is, they could've had something really good by the start of Season 2.

Still taking info!

For those of you who already shot me an e-mail and talked with me, THANK YOU. You have helped more than you ever will know! For those of you who haven't, there is still time!

Again, the call is for EMT's, FireFighters, Police, Nurses, Docs (PA's), Aides, anyone in a public service or healthcare. If you fit that category, then shoot me an e-mail at bmxchic7@yahoo.com and let me pick apart your brain!

A question for the masses (answer as a comment below):
If you could tell the world anything about EMS, what would it be? Why?

EMT's and FireFighers - Lets TALK.

Hey folks

This week my creative non-fiction class is working on interviews and literary journalism. I honestly haven't picked a topic yet, but I would love to talk with anyone I can about life in the field.

EMT's, Paramedics, Firemen, Cops, Dispatchers, Nurses, Aides, even Doc's- send me a e-mail at bmxchic7@yahoo.com if you are interested in participating. No need for full names unless you prefer it. If not please provide an alias or a user name.

Information I need to begin an interview process is:
Name (or alias)
Age
Years in the field/ Training
Country
What it is that you do

After that I will send over my questions for you. No need to be overly formal- more than anything I am just gathering information on what I love! If you have any other information you wish to share or questions feel free to add them in.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

When having extra licenses comes in handy...

This week I got to have some 'extra fun' as I call it with some difficult patients. None of the other aides wanted the new patients, a burn and a spinal trauma. Sure it was going to be some extra work, but it was going to be loads of fun.

When the ED brough the spinal patient up the nurse freaked out, yelling at the aide assigned to her that she was to have a 'more certified' aide. One of the new nurses on our unit noticed my EMT-B license and handed the patient off to me. I was EXCITED. Not only was this patient a sweet little old lady, but she had alot of COOL stuff included in her care.

Not having worked on this unit much from being sick and from my bad shoulder, the nurse and I weren't familiar with working with the other. The nurse was shocked when I could give her a complete history, easy transfers and talk to the patient like an old friend.

After about an hour or so one of the aides that floated from another unit forgot to assess the breathing on a burn patient. So they looked for someone else to give the patient to. Seeing that it was a pretty good sized burn I accepted it and sat reading his chart with a big ass grin on my face.

Times like these I love that EMT license.

Before the night was done my shoulder was torn out twice. Once in a psych patient lift and the other catching a little old lady. Still recovering today. Tramadol and Tylenol wont kill it, so I gotta ice up and take my mind off of it.

Level 6.2 Care - How are we doing?

For those of you who missed the original post-

http://medicdani.blogspot.com/2009/10/level-62-care.html

If you took the challenge feel free to step up and brag- I would love to hear about everyone and what has come easily and what hasn't. Here is my report card:

This week I focused on the little details with my patient care. Generally speaking the hospitals are all about saving money, so when the patient is admitted, the less you give them the better for the hospital. Instead of just giving them the incenstive spirometer, big yellow bin, kidney basin, mug and tissues- I added lotion, comb, toothbrush and toothpaste, an extra pair of socks and deoderant. This not only helped the patients want to do nightly and moring cares, but they felt better about themselves and their care.

Another trick I tried was focusing on snacks. Usually my patients are all regualr diets and can eat anything they desire, so I made sure they got dinner and a snack of their choice. One patient even disliked his supper, so we let him have food ordered in.

One thing I have noticed is that rules sometimes just dont exsist. Like overnight guests. I thought it was against the rules, til I asked. Now that I know better I actually take a cot from the pre-op and recovery area, make it up like a bed and bring it into the patients room. This makes both patient and visitor more comfortable.

However I still need to work on being compassionate about everything. I still sigh when the patient who has peed twice and hour every hour rings her bell. I still treat her kindly, but I need to stop the whining in the hallway.