Slacker

 Sorry for being such a slacker last week! My last shift ended up being a bit rough. We had a non-injury lift assist in the morning. A sweet elderly woman had fallen out of her wheelchair trying to clean up broken glass. We helped her back up, cleaned up the glass, and gave her super friendly dogs their due attention. After that, we went and got lunch, which is like the best time of the day ever! Well, my lunch did not agree me with very well. Sooooo, even though we had several hours of nothingness that I normally would have filled with stitching, napping, reading, movie watching, and, I know its a dirty word, exercise. Instead, I spent it throwing a pity party for myself interrupted by the occasional trip to the bathroom. At this point, I should probably let you know that I'm a bit stubborn, and had decided that I was not sick enough to go home. After a few hours, I felt better and quit whining about life. At some point, we took a lady to Crappy Big City Hospital for diarrhea from the night before and body aches. She absolutely could have gone to the hospital in town instead of one a hour away, but she insisted, so off  we went. She complained the whole way there. I started her IV on the way. When I saw that beautiful flash in the chamber, she snarkily stated, "You're not very good at this, now are you?" Now, ordinarily I would have just ignored this. However, I was feeling my cheerios and decided to respond. In the lightest, friendliest voice I believe I have ever used in the history of my whole-entire-life, I said, "I'm not really sure why you think, since I got the IV on the first time while we was moving." She totally missed this and was surprised when I flushed her IV out. She asked me what I was going to do with that, and I told her I was going to put it through her IV. The dumbfounded look on her face when she realized I had already gotten the IV was priceless! We was instructed to bring her out to triage. Totally appropriate for this patient. She was super upset over this and almost refused to get off the cot. My partner and I allowed 1.75 min to complain and then helped her up and into a wheelchair. Had we not, we would still be standing out in the hospital foyer.
 Later that night, we ran on a gentleman in town. FD advised us to stage because PD had already been there 3 times in the past couple of hours for a gentleman possibly hallucinating. Oddly enough, we hadn't been called out then. So we staged. It felt really weird to do so since the call was for a chest pain, but I would much rather stay away for a few minutes then rush in and shot by some guy thinking that I'm a gang member there to kill him. Anyhow, the police arrived, cleared the scene, and away we went. As soon as we stepped out of the truck, we was both slapped by the incredibly strong smell of marijuana. The closer we got to the house, the stronger the smell of BO. This gentleman was living in horrid conditions that included junk piled up, no heat, no running water, and an extension cord running out a window, presumably to a neighbor's, that powered a rusted out and shorted out toaster oven (at least I think that was what it was; it was too dark in there to tell). My EMT, a firefighter, and a police officer stayed outside because of the stench. A second officer stood at the door in case we needed help. He kept his head stuck outside for easier breathing. My favorite police officer came inside with the other firefighter and myself. The gentleman was very scattered and adamant about going to Tiny Local Hospital. He was alert and oriented, so I couldn't force him to go elsewhere. While he gathered his medications, I distracted myself from the roaches I was trying to not see by trying not to laugh at the police officer trying incredibly hard not to gag. Good show, officer, good show! Once we got him out to the truck, we started checking him out and explaining why he really needs to go to one of the Big City Hospitals. He refused and started getting angry. We called Tiny Local Hospital at their request, answered a billion questions, and was told that they would divert us. No surprise there. Well, telling the pt (abbreviation for patient) this resulted in extreme anger, so we called Tiny Local Hospital back and spoke with the Doc. He just told me what I already knew, and I explained that I knew that he would be transferred out and that he needed to go elsewhere, which was why we tried to get him to go to a bigger hospital, and how he was now becoming extremely aggressive and refused to go anywhere. By this time, my partner informed me that the gentleman had lice (again, no surprise).... just as the Doc asked to speak to him. I reluctantly handed my phone over to my partner (I stood outside the truck while making the phone call), and the pt told the Dr. the same thing that he told us. The phone was handed back to me. I put it on speakerphone as the Dr. reiterated everything that he already said that I already knew while the firefighter laughed at me. I'm sure I looked like a small child getting a scolding. Well, we calmed the pt down again and transported him to the local hospital. They was none too happy to see us, but they'll be ok. The rest of the shift was uneventful until a little before 05:00 when we had a transfer. As it turns out, the transfer was for a pt that my partner is related to. Thankfully, the transfer went without incident and the pt and I had a lovely chat all the way to Big City.
Yesterday was spent running to the Big Town for lunch and shopping with Mom and Kirst. Today, we went to church, had an amazing service. After we got back home. the 4 of us enjoyed fajitas. My time typing this and stitching while enjoying my fuzzy pajama pants was interrupted when my family decided to take a drive to see what we could see when they kept hearig sirens. Vasically, my family helps compose the rubberneckers that tend to annoy paramedics, EMTs, firefighters, police, etc. while they're working. Keep in mind, it was/still is snowing. I tagged along to try to keep them out of trouble. Anyhow, we saw nothing, but did get fuel and milk. Now I'm back in my chair and hoping to get to stitch! I'll try to post more in a bit. I hope youns are all warm, safe, and happy today!
 Happy Stitching!
 Emmy