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Worked an early morning code (a.k.a., cardiac arrest) for nearly an hour. CPR was textbook, we secured his airway with an ET tube, and every cardiac drug available was tossed his way. Transport to the hospital was indicated, since our patient continued to go into v-fib (a "shockable" rhythm). After backboarding our patient, moving him out of the bedroom, taking him down the stairs, placing him on the cot, and moving him onto the medic (with each activity having less than 10 seconds of chest compression interruptions!!) we were on our way. He stayed in v-fib all the way to the hospital. As soon as we pulled into the ER, he went into asystole (a.k.a., "flatline"). He was pronounced dead a few moments after. Poor guy was shocked a total of 14 times!

As we were at the ER collecting supplies, cleaning our rig, and finishing paperwork, I finally took notice as to who was our patient's wife... turns out she is someone I know fairly well. I spent another 30 minutes talking with her and letting her cry on my shoulder. I swear, it's the hardest part of the job. We live in a small town, and I end up knowing many of our patients and/or their family members.

Totally sucks... less than 15% of those who suffer a heart attack even make it to the hospital. And of those, less than 50% will survive. Horrible stats... Our guy was only 60 years old.

That's what I did today - going to sleep now...

Cheers,
Loonette

I really feel for you ~ sounds like a tough shift!

I work in theatres so know the score but will readily admit it is easier because I don't have to interact with relatives (usually).

It's strange how some patients/situations can cut acrooss our professional barriers & then it can be tough to switch off.

I hope by the time you read this you will have had a good sleep & feel refreshed.

Mogster, you work in theatres? Forgive my "American-ness" but is that "British" for hospital/emergency room?

And yeah I know the feeling as well. While bouncing I had to put on a pretty good barrier at one point. A guy was shot and killed not 20 feet from me.

Hi Wrider,

When we say theatre it means Operating Theatre.
I think you guys say Operating Room or usually OR.

I enjoy confusing people by telling them I am a professional scrubber (scrub nurse/ surgical assistant).

Over here scrubber has another professional meaning altogether!

I wonder if that translates?

Re bouncer/doorman I have always told my daughters to treat them like school dinnerladies ie be nice cause they might be able to help you out!

Xxxx

Haha ohhhh that makes sense!
And I'm guessing "scrubber" is not something most women want to be called haha.
When we were in New York we were on a Ferry and talking to a Danish couple, the lady was trying to figure out how to tell us she was a telephone operator and said "I'm a call-girl." hahaha We definitely let her know the implications of that.

And yes, we can definitely help out when needed! It's rather fun to take just that extra second when someone that treated you like "crumb" is needing your help... Not that I would ever do that....

JC Viper wrote: I have to find a way to break out of this before I head out to California for evaluation. It's bad enough to not have friends at home, it would be worse out there on my own.

JCV,

I'm totally with Loonette on this one.

As for the short term, a decent inspirational movie or some good music are great for me. I have a lot of music and it helps get into and out of different moods. Do something different to shake your system up. Instead of martial arts, just go for an intense run or a long jog... or a kick around in a park. I find when hiking or even wandering the neighborhood, it's often nicer just to watch and listen to what is going on out there. It's a good time to get off the computer and get moving. Dont let yourself feel to much pity for your situation, just get moving. As soon as you are doing something your body blends with your thoughts and it's easy to forget about the crap for awhile.

Friends appear out nowhere when you get out there and really mingle, especially when you mingle some sort of way with your dreams. Not that you wont find dead ends, but you'll have some resiliency to turn around and keep following your steps to a goal. If you have to write a "DO IT" list of a few things to do TODAY, to help get you closer to your goal, and then go do them, Now!

Remember to share your good qualities with people when you meet them, and be thankful for the good stuff that you do have, rather than be caught up in the bad.

A great powerful work book I highly recommend in enabling yourself to make progress despite all the chaff in the world is Pyscho-Cybernetics, 1959, by Maxwell Maltz (updated as The New Pyscho Cybernetics in 2000, edited by Dan Kennedy). This book covers some essentials about ourselves, and is a grandfathering book to many other present day texts. Sort of like Headspace Engineering 101 It's much better than the newer texts that have pilfered from it's fundamentals. You can pick and choose chapters for stuff that resembles your thoughts and skip out other stuff. The principles are heavily used by professional athletes and business people, as it really covers core principals of who we are as humans.

In a belated 'whadidyoudotoday'... i went for a day hike... still snow in them thar hills, but totallymo in town.

It's embarrassingly easy to be absorbed by mother nature here.

Backpacked all weekend, woke up this morning to realize me and one of the dad's on the trip had pitched our tent in a dip . At least the standing water was mostly on his side . But in all seriousness we had thick enough sleeping pads it did not bother us until we were awake, so not too bad. Skipped breakfast and hiked out three miles in pouring rain back to the cars.

Great hike, great backpacking trip, and I got a job offer this weekend! My recruiter called me and my heart started to race and then he started talking about other jobs to apply for, I tried to make it clear I was driving a bunch of eleven year olds out into the wilderness for their first backpacking trip and could not really talk. He called back twenty minutes later, I thought I had made it clear I was busy, this time it was the good news. Pretty stoked, not bad for my first post-university career level interview eh? It is not a great job, but the pay is very, decent, and the potential for advancement is huge, and it should be a great company to work for. Will share more after I start, but probably should not say much since I have not technically accepted the offer yet even .

JC, I'll say some prayers for you. I know it never helps at the time, but sometimes it is better we know who our flaky friends are before we need them. Best friends can come from all over, some of my best friends I met in college (not long ago), and I am horrible at making friends (never felt comfortable with my peers, largely raised around kids older or younger than me), so do not think you are stuck with the friends you have. New, better ones will come!

Damn, my dad is being all pissy with me because he thinks I have all this money to go on trips which he thinks the one to California is my vacation. I come home to ask a favor or talk about whatever to my brother or mom and he becomes real annoyed and demands that I start supporting my sister if I have all this money to blow on random garbage. Meanwhile my sis goes to Hawaii and the Caribbean and lending her all this assistance. My sis is also wondering how the f* did I get all this money to do all this stuff I've done and the mission to California.

Nice to know I can't even come back to visit without getting into some kind of fight.

JVRR wrote:Backpacked all weekend, woke up this morning to realize me and one of the dad's on the trip had pitched our tent in a dip . At least the standing water was mostly on his side . But in all seriousness we had thick enough sleeping pads it did not bother us until we were awake, so not too bad. Skipped breakfast and hiked out three miles in pouring rain back to the cars.

Great hike, great backpacking trip, and I got a job offer this weekend! My recruiter called me and my heart started to race and then he started talking about other jobs to apply for, I tried to make it clear I was driving a bunch of eleven year olds out into the wilderness for their first backpacking trip and could not really talk. He called back twenty minutes later, I thought I had made it clear I was busy, this time it was the good news. Pretty stoked, not bad for my first post-university career level interview eh? It is not a great job, but the pay is very, decent, and the potential for advancement is huge, and it should be a great company to work for. Will share more after I start, but probably should not say much since I have not technically accepted the offer yet even .

JC, I'll say some prayers for you. I know it never helps at the time, but sometimes it is better we know who our flaky friends are before we need them. Best friends can come from all over, some of my best friends I met in college (not long ago), and I am horrible at making friends (never felt comfortable with my peers, largely raised around kids older or younger than me), so do not think you are stuck with the friends you have. New, better ones will come!

Cool, but my current friends are beginning to question me about having other friends so I would kinda stop hanging around weekly. Plus I lost it when I went to a get together and no one bothered to get any contact info from me as opposed to everyone else. I usually just bottle it up and move on until another breaking point.