Or maybe it’s the Reverse…
EE over at Backboards and Bandaids can’t seem to make her mind up! First she’s done blogging–and understandably so, and now she’s back. 8 hrs and our responses seemed to change her mind!
Hopefully she’ll stick around to give us a little bit of her antics from time to time! But we all understand that “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans”.
So you all know my fascination with the lollipop. I have the utmost respect for good nurses–and most nurses are at least there cause they like to be there. If you don’t like your job–quit! There are plenty of “good” lollipop retirement homes out there that will take you.
Today was special. One particular private hospital in the metro area was our destination–twice today. We don’t usually have good luck there. They won’t take our STEMI diagnosis, or even CVA diagnosis. They are the only hospital that we regularly transport to that call a STEMI team upon our field recognition. So we bring in a NON-STEMI cardiac patient, SOB, pain up and down his whole left side.
Pressure was 220 on arrival, pain a 9/10. Pale, Sweaty… looks like crap. We do our thing, load up, go, run 12-lead(insignificant), throwing a few PVCs(eventually 10 a min) and do the whole cardiac workup: Nitro, Aspirin, Nitro, Etc.
Get him down to a 6/10 on pain. Pressure is 110 so we have to stop nitro now, and he doesn’t want Morpine. So we live with it.
The fun starts when I go to give report. I’ll give the highlights… It goes a little something like this:
me “He is having SOB, left sided chest pain from his shoulder to abdomen, and pain traveling through his left leg and arm.”
LOLLIPOP’S RESPONSE “He has left-sided chest pain in his leg?”
me “yup. we moved his chest”
LOLLIPOP “so why did you give nitro and aspirin?”
me “um… did you listen to the first half of report where I gave vitals, Symptoms, blah, blah…. He is also throwing about 10 pvc’s a minute now”
LOLLIPOP “ok… everyone has pvc’s….”
ME “NOT AT 10/MIN. AHA SAYS 6/MIN IS TREATABLE. WE’VE CROSSED THAT LINE. HE DOESN’T FEEL WELL AND WHY DON’T YOU ADDRESS THE OBVIOUS THINGS”
Earlier today we brought in a little old lady who was having syncopal episodes to this same facility. She had these same episodes before her last AMI about 1.5 months ago. She didn’t have many complaints, but had a very “weird feeling” and an impeding sense of doom… “I just know I’m gonna die.” So, I gave report, and including her statement. The nurse smirked. Even giggled.
When we brought our second patient back today–I found out that she had in fact had a massive MI and didn’t make it.
Fucking lollipop.
