The Pool is Green

Having a little trouble with algae. Tomorrow I will shock it, likely for the last time this season, but they say we're going to have a warm summer-like weekend. It would be nice to have it clean before we have to close it....

This past Friday was my last shift at the track for the racing season. It was nice to close out my participation with no accidents or incidents. That made me happy. That said, Friday night on ALS-14 we took a 98 year-old female from CMC to Dart. She had a displaced fracture of the left hip. It looked pretty gnarly; the nursing staff in the ED weren't even able to put a foley cath in, and that's saying a lot, in terms of severity. She was not incontinent, however, which was an extreme surprise. She'd gotten a total of 12mg of Morphine in the ED before we'd arrived, so she at least was hopefully comfortable. Hard to tell when the patient also has dementia..... Anyway the transport was uneventful and we did what we had to so that she would stay somewhat comfortable en route. With that said, 73 miles is a long way to go with someone in that condition. It will be interesting to see what her outcome is if I have the opportunity to do so.

Yesterday's reverse-24 wasn't so much busy as it was timed badly; I was awake pretty much the whole 24 and when I got home at 5:00 last night I was so ready for bed. We had a couple of interesting calls, though: a 72 year-old male with a history of COPD having exacerbation. Started at approximately 4:00AM with increasing severity. Fire arrived first, and he was on a non-rebreather when we arrived. I listened to his breath sounds, and he had inspiratory and expiratory wheezes and rhonchi with increased work of breathing. We kept the NRB on until we loaded him aboard the ambulance, where he the got a breathing treatment of Albuterol and Ipratroprium; that seemed to help in the short term as we were able to get his SaO2 from 79 to 95% in short order. When we arrived at the hospital he went back into the same distress pattern; the doc ordered BiPap for him nearly immediately. I got back to see him about an hour later and he was doing much better, able to talk in full sentences for me, and his breath sounds were improved. I don't know if he got admitted, but I wouldn't be surprised.

We did a public assist call which I won't forget anytime soon. Called to help an engine company on scene move a person out of a second story apartment. When we arrived, there was not only the pump but also a white van and a family of people waiting for us. Turns out they were taking their mother to the beach. Approximately 55 years old with terminal cancer, in a wheelchair, unable to get her out of the house. The pump needed our stair chair, which when they explained the situation to us we gladly not only brought up the chair, but we also helped get her down to the van and let the family know that they could call our dispatch directly as well and we would go back to help when they got her home. I'm not sure what time that was but I know another crew went over to help them and the Fire Department later on.

It was one of those situations where anyone in our shoes would have done the same thing. The woman's sister was in tears as we were bringing her out, as was her husband and two adult daughters. I suspect this woman's days are numbered in low digits and the family is doing all they can for her now. Having been there myself, I know what it's like to be in that place.

I'm working in Goffstown tonight. Hopefully nothing stupid will happen in town as tomorrow is the first day of school here. I can only wait to see, however; it seems that on days that precede major events strange things do happen. I'm cautiously optimistic that today will be different. That said, I'll report on it next time I write.

In my random searches on YouTube I found something rather amusing. Watch and enjoy.