Ready? Set? Go!

Sunshine in the thunderstorm

2008-01-01T19:04:00.000-05:00

So as we enter 2008 i have decided to sit back and reflect on things that i truly am grateful for. I know most of you are thinking what brought this on?

My last shift this past weekend was nearing an end, and sure enough we had gotten woken up in the middle of the night for a transport, not uncommon... So we had completed that and i had just gotten back into bed and started to doze back off and the tones drop over the building's alert system, BEEEEEEEEPPPPPP BEEP, something isnt right i think to myself, because in the city after midnight they just call on the phone, unless its a incident involving the resources of more than one station, then the dispatcher's voice begins and i catch the last half of it....

".....respond to an head on mva, occupants trapped, both vehicles on fire at this time."

I look over at the clock and it reads 02:04:51,this cant be good at all i say to myself, so i roll out of the bed right into my awaiting boots and bunker pants and made a run for the unit. Jump right into the seat and flip open the computer screen to see if i can get any more information about this call, and as luck would have it thats a big negative, we race into the night, lights and sirens and the occasional airhorn blast, i know at 2 am there was noone on the roads to blast the horn at, but i think it was more for my own benefit to keep myself awake, and i begin to see flames in the distance. We are onscene, game time baby....

Im immediately directed to this mass of metal that used to be a car, no resemblance anymore thats for sure... and i look in the car to see what im working with, and i feel my heart sink, i see a infant in the back seat, and without looking twice i already know one of the parents is dead.......

And soon to be both......

and just like that, this infant has become an orphan, just like that...

Everything else is a blur....

Total of that wreck, head on impact, the car that hit them was excessively overspeed, and now 3 people are dead, and a baby is left alone...

Moral of the story: Life is fragile, dont ever take it forgranted...

So all of that prompted me to make sure the people in my life that are most important know this, to start with my amazing friends,they are the best i could ask for, my biggest fans, and my backbone during my hardest times, and not to mention the ones that can stop me from completely breaking down after something like this.
Second, My station family, they are my second family, and honestly without them i dont think id last very long in this line of work either, and for that im also grateful for them

So heres to the new year, 2007 has been full of ups and downs, but 2008 i think will be a different story, because life isnt about what you have or how much u have, life is about who you have, and i have the best :)

Right Here

2007-12-28T23:23:00.000-05:00

Sometimes people give you words of wisdom, words to live by, even though they make think it is nothing, its something that will forever stick in your mind, and present itself at the most needed times.

Some of those words of wisdom that came back to me recently were those said by Chief Russell Stevens during my firefighter 1 academy...

"What are you gonna do if you get in a house, you get trapped, you dont know where to go...
You gonna give up???
Or are you gonna try to get out???
NEVER EVER EVER GIVE UP!
If you give up your DEAD,

END OF STORY!"

I think these words of wisdom can be applied to almost anything in life, and i have found that these words have popped into my head alot lately, No matter how hard it gets you stick by those you care about, just as it relates to the fire service, you never ever leave your partner, many of us have certian "rituals" or sayings before we enter a fire, one utilized by my partner and i, was "going in alive, coming out the same way" or "you go, i go" and that same attitude so be applied to things outside of work, such as the ones you care about.
Ive learned firsthand lately how things like that work, and its mind blowing because it completely defies my character and everything ive ever done before, and im sure there is a reason for that. Things may not be working out perfectly just yet, but i have faith that they will.
Just like another great piece of wisdom to live by, as spoken by Winston Churchill,

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no happiness. "

The phrase ...victory however long and hard the road may be... thats the one that hits home the hardest, because as we all know, nothing worth having in life comes easy, so that is why im prepared to sit..and wait.. just like my favorite song

I've made a commitment
I'm willing to bleed for you
I needed fulfillment
I found what I need in you

But you always find a way
To keep me right here waiting

And thats what i intend to do.....

My tooth hurts

2007-12-26T00:36:00.000-05:00

So the saturday night shift started fairly normally, as normal as things can get working ems in a city, we had just cleared from a bls call (basic life support) meaning anybody and their mother could have done what we did, and sure enough as i look down at the computer screen i see my worst fears brought to my eyes....

WE ARE THE LAST AVAILABLE MEDIC IN THE CITY!!!

As i look over at my partner and he looks down at the screen we both look at each other and say SHIT! and sure enough before the "T" gets out of our mouths, "BEEEEPPPPPPP BEEP" the radio comes to life "Medic 9 Engine 5, Rescue 1, Battalion 2," before the rest of the sentance leaves the dispatcher's mouth i know what we have just gotten, a mva with entrapment, and sure enough the dispatcher says, " Respond for a 2 vehicle mva with multiple p.i. and entrapment." I dont waste any time and pick up the radio mic and say "Medic 9 to LynComm, enroute!" the dispatcher then comes back and says " Medic 9, be advised that we are getting multiple calls about this mva and callers are stating multiple p.i's some walking some entraped." I quickly process the information in my head and quickly reply with, "Go ahead and see if you can get another 2 engines sent this way and get as many medic's as possible sent this way." and the she replies "..roger.." as if to say im sorry, your on your own...
Its John Wayne time

Luck was on our side and shortly after that radio traffic i hear 2 more medic units clear fromthe hospital and mark enroute, now i know that we will beat them to the scene by a long shot, but at least we have someone else coming to our aid.

I see the cars in the distance, and just from looking at them i know that we are in for it, we arrive and i jump out of the unit with trauma and airway bag in hand and head for the car that looks the worst, and there i see it, my patient. She is laying in the backseat of a car, except the backseat is where the trunk should be. (i later find out that they were struck by a car doing 50mph, and they were going 30) She looks up at me and says "mister... help...." and thats when you realize that this person needs you, So i begin my rapid assesment of her as i thought to myself, thank God i paid attention to this part of the EMT classm and almost immediately my eyes fixate to her lower left leg, where i see a laceration about 6 in long and i see clean down to her bone and thats when i tell me partner, get the stryker (our automatic lift assisted stretcher in the unit), because she needs to go now! Luckily, for her sake and my own, she wasnt pinned, she slid out flawlessly. We load her into the unit and my partner asks how do i want it, meaning how do i want him to proceed to the hospital, and i tell him without hesistation, code 3. Code 3 meaning, her injuries are serious and life threatning, and he looks at me like a kid right before he gets on a roller coaster and says never a problem. I think to myself, what in the hell did i just sign myself up for. But i have no time to think about that right now, i have a patient that needs me, and right off the bat i yank the gauze tray out from its storage compartment and take two 4x4 pieces and roll them up and stick them into the laceration, the patient lets out a scream of discontentment, which was to be expected, but at least i know she still has nerve feeling there and shes got an airway, 2 things im all to happy to know. I then proceed to take a gauze roll and secure my dressings in place, now that i stopped her from potentially bleeding to death its now on to a more detailed assesment, but as luck would have it, i didnt make it that far either becuase she looks at me and says my tooth hurts, i think to myself you have a hole in your leg that can swallow my hand and your tooth hurts?

By then we had arrived at the ER and my work was done, i passed her off to a waiting trauma team, and later i found out, her little toothache was a jaw that was broken in 6 places, and had to have pins placed through it. And her blackhole in her leg required surgury also and 394 stitches..

Later on that evening while still sitting in the EMS room, i had found out, that a total of 5 patients were transported but i had gotten the worst, score 1 for me, my decision was the correct one, this time.

"Medic 9 LynComm"
"Medic 9?"
"Medic 9 Clear, Ready!"