How to Prevent Air Emboli, by a Crackhead.

Man tries to amputate own arm at Denny's
Associated Press

"Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action.

Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny's restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table.

They say that when that knife didn't work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Police Sgt. Brian Findlen says Lasiter told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection." click here for the full story.

I couldn't help it...

But really... kudos to my lovely, bunny-rescuing local fire dept. (sometimes they save people too).

Actually, I feel obligated to point out just how phenomenal these people are, and how honored I am to work with them on calls, trainings and the ride-alongs they've graciously allowed to me to come on.

If this call isn't one of the most amazing, most expertly-handled calls you've ever read about, seen or heard about, you're lying.

A lawn worker struck by a car, drug underneath it for a distance, and then pinned and trapped, left with an evisceration through his back along with other injuries.

Total scene time, with extrication: 5 minutes and 26 seconds.

Time from 911 call to comprehensive care at a level 1 trauma center: < 20 min.

Best part of it all: the patient lives.

I got it!

I got the job at the OB GYN clinic!

I'm very excited. This job has more patient care than any other job I'd be able to get right now, and the clinic is a part of my university's schools of medicine and nursing.

I'll be admitting and discharging patients, taking vitals and bloods, setting up rooms, assisting hands-on with procedures and sterilizing equipment.

It's not an ambulance or the ER, but I think it's a pretty darn good start. Wish me luck.

Designer scrubs

I found an even better job with more patient care at a OB GYN clinic associated with my school. I interviewed for it today, and hopefully I'll get it.

I got bored and started browsing online for scrubs, because I'll probably need 2 sets for this job. It's cracking me up though, because there's all these designer scrub companies like...


Baby Phat Scrubs by Kimora Lee Simmons - includes the "Leopard Chic" and "Bling" collections.

Scrubs, by a sexy fake doctor!

Going along with the Katherine Heigl collection is the Grey's Anatomy Scrub collection!


Man, I dig the cool colors and fits and stuff... but people need to realize that no matter how much you try to stylize the uniform, you're still wearing pajamas to work.

A job!

Looks like I could be getting a job pushing patients around for radiology at a local hospital.

We all gotta start somewhere. :)

FRI

I attended a very large Fire/Rescue/EMS conference recently. It reminded me of the commercialism in this business.

The ability to save lives is a commodity... it comes in different colors and sizes and prices. At the Zoll booth I performed compressions on a dummy for 2 minutes and won a Zoll t-shirt based on my efficiency. I saw the local fire dept's EMS chief wandering around, shopping for prams and monitors and ambulances and god-knows-what. A skinny lady with big boobs and a thick layer of makeup strutted around in a tight-fitting shirt and a fake pair of low-cut, form-fitting bunker pants... I have no idea what she was selling.

SCBAs, fire engines, mobile command posts, helmets, thermal imaging cameras, stair chairs, radios, spreaders, cutters, rams, forcible entry tools, turnout gear, burn buildings... the list of crap for sale is endless.

Fire, rescue, EMS... they're all industries and of course there's going to be entrepreneurs that capitalize on a need in any industry. But when is the purchasing just masturbatory? How many agencies spring for the really big pretty fire truck when the smaller version would be just fine? Why did my local police department just dump hundreds of thousands of dollars buying brand new cruisers with giant push bumpers and fancy paint jobs when the department has a "no-chase" policy (therefore no need for push bumpers at all) and the old cruisers were only a few years old and functioning just fine?

Holy crap

I start college on Monday. It's so early and I'm still not sure if I'm ready.

Unfortunately I got lazy and registered too late to get into any really good classes, but I'm still taking all nursing program pre-reqs like psych, global political issues and "racial minorities in the US".

The pressure is on though. To get into the BSN program I cannot earn anything but As and Bs. Period. They do not consider applicants with GPAs below 3.0 but the program is so competitive that the bar is set much higher than that even. I'm extremely determined though so I'm confident that I'll take care of business, even if I have to spend every waking moment studying.

Wish me luck.